Young aspen trees in Yellowstone are doing something they have not done in almost 100 years. Rather than sprouting and being eaten back to nubs by elk and bison, they're actually growing into tall, adult forest trees rising up towards the canopy.



This matters more than it might seem, because it shows what happens when a missing piece of an ecosystem returns.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-yellowstone-aspens-and-elk">Yellowstone, aspens, and elk</h2>



In the 1920s, people <a href="https://www.yellowstone.org/wolf-project/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eliminated wolves in Yellowstone</a>. At the time, with limited scientific knowledge, managers believed it was the right thing to do.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/from-wolves-to-dogs-did-domestication-begin-without-human-help/">Without wolves</a>, elk herds grew very large. Elk love to eat aspen shoots - the tender young growth is highly palatable to them.



For roughly 70 years, elk browsed aspen sprouts down to stub height, and the trees couldn't grow. 



If you had walked through Yellowstone in the 1980s, you would have seen many tiny aspen shoots covering the ground, but almost no young trees gaining height. 



The forest's regeneration was stalled. Old trees died, and no new ones replaced them.



In 1995 and 1996, park managers reintroduced wolves into the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/yellowstone-supervolcano-eruption-study-sparks-new-debate-on-where-and-when-it-will-erupt/">Yellowstone Park ecosystem</a>. Scientists hoped and wondered whether this would change anything for the trees.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-aspen-matter-to-yellowstone">Why aspen matter to Yellowstone</h2>



Aspen groves provide habitat for many species. Birds nest in them. Beavers eat the bark and use the wood for dams. Butterflies and moths lay eggs on the leaves. 



Their canopy admits enough light for wildflowers and shrubs to grow beneath. When it rains, aspen groves hold water in the soil better than some other forest types.



In short, when aspen return, dozens of other species benefit. More trees support more insects, which in turn support more birds, enriching the ecosystem.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-checking-the-trees-three-decades-later">Checking the trees three decades later</h2>



<a href="https://fwcs.oregonstate.edu/users/luke-painter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Luke Painter</a>, an ecologist at <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oregon State University</a>, sought clear answers. His team returned to 87 aspen stands across Yellowstone that scientists had previously surveyed. 



They measured thousands of young trees, looked for bite marks, and counted how many stems were tall enough that elk could no longer reach the tips.



About a third of these stands now have many tall young aspens pushing toward the canopy. 



"About 26 of the 87 aspen stands we examined had large numbers of tall saplings throughout, a remarkable change from the 1990s when surveys found none at all," Painter said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-wolves-matter-to-yellowstone-aspens">Why wolves matter to Yellowstone aspens</h2>



Breaking it all down, the conclusions of this study are pretty simple. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wolves-move-pups-across-mountains-to-adapt-to-climate-pressure/">Wolves hunt elk</a>. When wolves came back, two things happened. First, elk numbers declined from unusually high levels. Second, elk changed their behavior. They spent less time in the same areas feeding.



With fewer elk and shorter feeding bouts, more aspen shoots survived long enough to exceed the browsing zone - about six to seven feet high. 



Once a sapling reaches that height, elk cannot easily reach the growing tip. The tree continues to grow.



"The reintroduction of large carnivores has initiated a recovery process that had been shut down for decades," Painter explained.



Scientists call this a <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/trophic-cascades-across-diverse-plant-ecosystems-80060347/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trophic cascade</a> - when adding or removing one species causes changes that ripple through the whole system.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-some-places-recover-others-don-t">Some places recover, others don't</h2>



Unfortunately, not every aspen stand has recovered yet. Some valleys still have many short, heavily browsed shoots, because it's not only elk eating them anymore. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/yellowstones-iconic-bison-have-merged-into-a-single-herd/">Bison herds have grown</a>, and bison browse on aspen as well. They are strong enough to break young trees. 



"Increasing numbers of bison may be emerging as a new constraint to aspen in some areas," Painter confirmed.



Additionally, winter snow depth varies; droughts stress trees; bears and mountain lions also hunt elk; and hunting outside the park influences elk distribution. 



All of these factors interact, which is why some sites show strong recovery, others show moderate recovery, and a few have changed very little.



The key pattern is that places with many tall saplings experience little browsing, and aspen groves that remain popular eating grounds today stay short. 



This fact is the strongest indication that tree recovery is linked directly to wolf presence, not solely to weather or soil conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-proof-in-the-measurements">Proof in the measurements</h2>



Painter's team did not rely on casual observation. They used the same methods as earlier researchers, measuring the same plots. 



They counted recruitment - when young trees surpass browsing height and begin progressing toward maturity. This measure is crucial. Sprouts are insufficient if they never grow; without recruitment, the forest cannot replace itself.



The results are robust. After being stalled for most of a century, Yellowstone's aspens are increasing in height. In recovering stands today, you will see saplings - six, eight, or ten feet tall - that were not present in the 1990s.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-future-of-yellowstone-s-aspens">The future of Yellowstone's aspens</h2>



"This is a remarkable case of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/giant-viruses-found-in-yellowstones-hot-springs-may-be-near-the-root-of-all-life-on-earth/">ecological restoration</a>," Painter concluded. "Wolf reintroduction is yielding long-term ecological changes contributing to increased biodiversity and habitat diversity."



Trees grow slowly, so even with wolves restored, it will take decades for these young aspens to form a full-grown forest. 



Some areas might never fully recover if bison numbers continue to rise or if the climate becomes too hot and dry.



Thanks to the work of Painter and his team, scientists are now certain that restoring the Yellowstone predator has restarted aspen forest regeneration. Not everywhere and not perfectly, but enough to be measured, creating hope for the future.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112725004499?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Forest Ecology and Management</a>.



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Yellowstone's aspen trees are growing again thanks to the reintroduction of wolves

Young aspen trees in Yellowstone are doing something they have not done in almost 100 years. Rather than sprouting and being eaten back to nubs by elk and bison, they're actually growing into tall, adult forest trees rising up towards the canopy. This matters more than it might seem, because it shows what happens when a missing piece of an ecosystem returns. Yellowstone, aspens, and elk In the 1920s, people eliminated wolves in Yellowstone. At the time, with limited scientific knowledge, managers believed it was the right...

Aerial,View,Of,A,Suburban,Intersection,With,Green,Grass,And

Human land use has removed a quarter of the carbon that would otherwise sit in vegetation and the top 12 inches of soil. That equates to roughly 344 billion metric tons of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-is-just-three-years-away-from-dangerous-carbon-milestone/">carbon</a>.



With pasture expansion, cropland expansion, and forest management determined to be the leading drivers, the analysis shows popular dynamic global vegetation models miss roughly 37 percent of this deficit on average.



The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590332225002180" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">estimate</a> comes from a high resolution global map built by combining Earth observations, historical land use records, and machine learning.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-land-carbon-loss-matters">Why land carbon loss matters</h2>



The work was led by <a href="https://www.geo.lmu.de/geographie/en/people/contact-page/raphael-ganzenmueller-61da7c76.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Raphael Ganzenmüller</a> with colleagues at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (<a href="https://www.geo.lmu.de/geographie/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LMU</a>). 



Vegetation and soils hold carbon that moves between land, ocean, and air, and together they store more carbon than the atmosphere at any time, which shapes temperature and risk.



Scientists track terrestrial carbon <a href="https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/5301/2023/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stocks</a> in living biomass and in soil organic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-burps-from-earths-past-warn-of-ocean-trouble-ahead/">carbon</a> (SOC). 



SOC is commonly assessed in the top 0 to 12 inches because that layer responds most to tillage, drainage, and erosion, and is mapped globally by national efforts coordinated through FAO’s <a href="https://www.fao.org/soils-portal/data-hub/soil-maps-and-databases/global-soil-organic-carbon-map-gsocmap/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GSOCmap</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-measuring-carbon-losses">Measuring carbon losses</h2>



The researchers estimated a terrestrial <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forest-carbon-credits-are-failing-so-what-needs-to-change/">carbon</a> deficit by comparing today’s actual carbon stocks with potential stocks under current climate if land had not been directly altered by people. 



That contrast shows how much carbon landscapes have lost through clearing, grazing, cropping, and intensive forest use.



They trained models on areas with very low human influence as well as protected lands, then predicted potential vegetation and SOC at roughly 0.6 mile resolution. 



That lets them attribute losses to specific land uses and benchmark the results against widely used simulation models.



“Our study reveals the far-reaching human impact on the global carbon cycle. Our study provides important insights for climate policy,” said <a href="https://www.cas.lmu.de/en/people-at-cas/details/julia-pongratz-ba7ba916.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Julia Pongratz</a>, Professor of Physical Geography and Land Use Systems at LMU.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-deficit-of-carbon-matters">Why the deficit of carbon matters</h2>



The new map quantifies depletion, not annual emissions. It shows how much carbon is missing from land relative to what could be stored if ecosystems were intact under today’s conditions.



That stock gap matters because it sets the ceiling for restoration, informs where protection avoids the largest additional <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-solutions-are-failing-but-they-can-still-be-fixed/">losses</a>, and clarifies how much headroom exists for land-based carbon removal without harming food or fiber production.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-models-missed-so-much">Why models missed so much</h2>



Most process models treat environmental changes and land use in ways that can produce conceptually inconsistent budgets.



Several recent <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39198386/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a> show models often allocate too much to the natural land sink while undercounting land-use emissions, especially where degradation has erased sinks. That mismatch propagates into remaining carbon budget estimates and risk assessments.



By anchoring estimates in observation-based carbon densities and using consistent assumptions about potential stocks, the new work reduces those inconsistencies. 



It provides a constraint that modelers can use to re-tune land processes and improve verification of land carbon projects.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-carbon-disappeared-from-land">Where carbon disappeared from land</h2>



Pasture expansion dominates the global deficit because it replaces woody vegetation and suppresses regrowth. 



Croplands follow because conversion reduces biomass and, under many systems, lowers SOC through disturbance and removal of residues.



Modern <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22702-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reconstructions</a> that blend satellites with national statistics show how fast land use has shifted, with roughly one third of the planet’s land area affected since 1960.



This is driven largely by agricultural expansion in the global South and management transitions elsewhere. The new deficit map lines up with those patterns.



Independent <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39338-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evidence</a> also shows that land conversion for crop production typically causes large SOC losses, and many forest management practices reduce soil carbon, especially where repeated disturbance limits recovery. 



That tracks with the study’s finding that vegetation losses dominate but soils contribute a substantial share in several temperate and boreal regions.



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



The deficit highlights two levers with different timelines. Vegetation carbon can rebound in years to decades when pressure eases and trees return. Soil carbon often recovers more slowly and can plateau if management does not change.



For policy, this means protection of high carbon landscapes prevents further drawdown while targeted restoration can rebuild stocks where the potential is high and competing demands are limited. 



It also means crediting systems need to separate genuine stock recovery from merely avoiding ongoing losses.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-practical-path-forward">The practical path forward</h2>



The map is a screening tool, not a prescription. It points to regions where restoring vegetation or rebuilding SOC is physically plausible under today’s climate, and where the same actions would yield small gains.



It also helps evaluate land carbon projects more honestly by comparing outcomes against the appropriate potential baseline instead of against degraded starting points. That makes additionality, permanence, and leakage tests more concrete.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-limits-of-carbon-estimates">Limits of carbon estimates</h2>



Potential stocks were trained on low influence and protected areas, which are imperfect analogs for pre-alteration ecosystems in long-settled regions. Some sparsely documented areas still carry higher uncertainty.



Even so, the estimate sets a useful lower bound on what people have already removed from land. It clarifies why relying on models alone can be risky when budgets are tight and timelines short.



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



Expect model intercomparison projects to incorporate these observation-based constraints and report revised land sinks and land-use emissions. 



In addition, national inventories need to cross-check their land carbon accounting against high resolution maps that use the same underlying datasets.



Finally, project developers must use these maps to justify where not to intervene as much as where to act.



When done well, the biggest wins will blend conservation, restoration, and smarter management rather than chase a single metric.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590332225002180" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">One Earth</a>.



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Human land use has removed billions of tons of carbon sequestration

Human land use has removed a quarter of the carbon...

An international team of researchers is looking for answers behind the mystery of Gigantopithecus blacki, a giant prehistoric primate that once lived in what is now southern China.



The species is known from its teeth and mandibles found in cave sites.



The fossils suggest it was the largest primate ever, with estimates of its size ranging from about 1.8 to 3 meters in height (5.9 to 9.8 feet) and weighing around 250 kilograms (551 pounds).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-in-search-of-gigantopithecus-blacki">In search of Gigantopithecus blacki</h2>



Gigantopithecus blacki roamed and ruled the wilderness of southern China during the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/prehistoric-kangaroos-changed-their-diets-to-survive-climate-change/">Pleistocene epoch</a>, roughly 2 million to 300,000 years ago.



Its demise is enigmatic considering that it was one of the few Asian great apes to go extinct in the last 2.6 million years, whereas others, including orangutan, survived until the present.



The cause of the disappearance of Gigantopithecus blacki remains unresolved, but new findings could shed light on primate resilience and the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tracing-the-disappearance-of-north-americas-megafauna/">fate of megafauna</a> in this region.



G. blacki - a very distant human ancestor - went extinct <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/two-species-of-human-ancestors-literally-crossed-paths-1-5-million-years-ago/">before humans arrived</a> in the region. The cause of this extinction has been a burning question among scientists.



The experts report that these primates were unable to adapt their behavior and food preferences to survive shifting environmental conditions.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-enigma-in-paleontology">An enigma in paleontology</h2>



The story of Gigantopithcus blacki is an enigma in paleontology. 



"How could such a mighty creature go extinct at a time when other primates were adapting and surviving?" questioned the study's co-lead author Professor Yingqi Zhang, from the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology (<a href="http://english.ivpp.cas.cn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IVPP</a>).



"The unresolved cause of its disappearance has become the Holy Grail in this discipline. The IVPP has been excavating for G. blacki evidence in this region for over 10 years but without solid dating and a consistent environmental analysis, the cause of its extinction had eluded us," Zhang continued.



The researchers analyzed new evidence from a large-scale project conducted in 22 cave sites spread across the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangxi" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Guangxi Province</a> in southern China.



“It’s a major feat to present a defined cause for the extinction of a species," said study co-lead author Professor Kira Westaway, a geochronologist at <a href="https://www.mq.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Macquarie University</a>. 



"But establishing the exact time when a species disappears from the fossil record gives us a target time frame for an environmental reconstruction and behavior assessment. Without robust dating, you are simply looking for clues in the wrong places," Westaway concluded.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-research-was-conducted-nbsp">How the research was conducted&nbsp;</h2>



The team used multiple techniques to date the collected samples. Researchers at <a href="https://www.scu.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Southern Cross University</a> analyzed Gigantopithcus blacki teeth to gain a better understanding of the apes’ behavior. 



Experts at Australian National University (<a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ANU</a>) and <a href="https://www.flinders.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Flinders University</a> studied the pollen and fossil bearing sediments in the cave where the primates once thrived.



“By direct-dating the fossil remains, we confirmed their age aligns with the luminescence sequence in the sediments where they were found, giving us a comprehensive and reliable chronology for the extinction of G. blacki,” explained study co-author and Southern Cross University Professor Renaud Joannes-Boyau.



Based on their detailed analyses, the researchers were able to establish the environmental conditions leading up to when G. blacki went extinct. 



They also modeled the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/baboons-may-offer-clues-to-early-human-social-evolution/">primate's behavior</a> using trace element and dental microwear textural analysis (DMTA) of the teeth.



"Teeth provide a staggering insight into the behavior of the species indicating stress, diversity of food sources, and repeated behaviors,” said Professor Joannes-Boyau.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-the-scientists-learned">What the scientists learned</h2>



The experts determined that Gigantopithecus blacki went extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago, which is much earlier than previously thought. 



Up until this time, these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pierolapithecus-catalaunicus-recreating-face-of-an-ancient-human-ancestor/">ancient primates</a> flourished in a rich and diverse forest.



Fossilized teeth and jawbones reveal that G. blacki had powerful jaws and massive molars. Those features suggest it was a specialized plant-eater, most likely thriving on a diet of bamboo, fruits, and other tough vegetation. 



Its size and teeth point to an animal adapted to grinding through fibrous plants rather than hunting or eating meat.



Researchers believe its reliance on forest habitats made it vulnerable as climates shifted and forests receded. 



As grasslands spread and bamboo thinned, this giant ape likely struggled to find enough food, especially with competition from other species. 



As a result, the giant primates grew reliant on a less nutritious back up food source. 



With less energy from their food, the apes would have ultimately became less mobile, had a reduced geographic range for foraging, and faced chronic stress and dwindling numbers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-gigantopithecus-blacki-matters">Why Gigantopithecus blacki matters</h2>



G. blacki was the ultimate specialist, compared to the more agile adapters like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-orangutan-day-2025-turning-awareness-into-action/">orangutans</a>, and this ultimately led to its demise.



With the threat of a sixth mass extinction event looming over us, there is an urgent need to understand why species go extinct.



Exploring the reasons for past unresolved extinctions gives us a good starting point to understand primate resilience and the fate of other large animals, in the past and future.



The full study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06900-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>. 



Image Credit: Garcia/Joannes-Boyau (Southern Cross University)



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Searching for answers behind the extinction of the largest primate that ever lived

An international team of researchers is looking for answers behind...

The body’s cells adapt their shape to seal wounds and other openings. This repair process depends on the curvature of the gap and the arrangement of the cell’s internal structures.



Epithelial cells form protective linings across body surfaces. They shield against physical injury, microbes, and dehydration while also helping absorb nutrients, expel waste, and produce hormones and enzymes.



Recent research highlights how the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) inside these cells reorganizes. When gaps curve outward, the ER takes tubular shapes. When gaps curve inward, the ER flattens into sheet-like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hemifusome-newly-discovered-organelle-inside-human-cells-with-immense-potential/">structures</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cell-movement-shapes-wound-healing">Cell movement shapes wound healing</h2>



The study shows that different forces direct these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-did-the-first-cells-life-form-on-earth-scientists-think-they-finally-figured-it-out/">changes</a>. The forces are linked to the type of movement cells use.



Convex gaps trigger crawling movements where cells spread broad extensions. Concave gaps instead rely on purse-string contractions, where cells tighten and draw edges together. 



This dynamic reshaping of the endoplasmic reticulum ensures epithelial cells adapt effectively to their environment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mechanisms-underlying-wound-closure">Mechanisms underlying wound closure</h2>



The researchers used micro-patterned cell layers and advanced imaging to track ER organization. They found that ER geometry is not static but highly responsive to mechanical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-cells-sense-exercise-a-new-path-to-health-and-energy/">signals</a>. This responsiveness allows cells to coordinate how they close gaps.



“Wound healing is an important response to injury. Our study opens new avenues for exploring the mechanisms underlying epithelial gap closure and their broader implications for health and disease by identifying a new role of the ER in this process,” noted Dr. Simran Rawal from the <a href="https://www.tifr.res.in" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tata Institute of Fundamental Research</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-cells-repair-and-fight-disease">How cells repair and fight disease</h2>



Mathematical modeling confirmed that mechanical cues alone can explain these ER transitions. The models showed how ER reshaping influences both crawling and purse-string <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/loxcode-tech-uses-dna-barcodes-to-track-how-cells-build-different-body-parts/">movements</a>, supporting efficient wound closure.



“The ER's role in cell movement is not just a fascinating scientific discovery but also a potential game-changer for various medical treatments and therapies," said Dr. Pradeep Keshavanarayana.



"Using mathematical models to understand how cells repair themselves may lead to better treatments for wounds, new methods for regenerating damaged tissues, or an improved grasp of how cancer cells spread - leading to new strategies to prevent or slow down metastasis." 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-link-between-organelles-and-healing">Link between organelles and healing</h2>



Professor Fabian Spill from the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Birmingham</a> noted that the project is a great example of a fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration. 



"We previously studied endothelial monolayers, which are the cells that line blood vessels, and investigated how mechanical and geometrical features regulate gaps in the monolayer that can cause leakiness,” said Spill. 



The experiments showed a novel, unexpected link between organelle and cell shape and monolayer behavior, he added. 



"The combination of these beautiful experiments by Simran and collaborators with the mathematical model developed by Pradeep led to the identification of a new, organelle-mediated mechanism of sensing mechanics and geometry.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cells-convert-mechanical-signals">Cells convert mechanical signals</h2>



The study also highlights mechanotransduction, where cells convert mechanical signals into biochemical responses. The ER acts as a central sensor during this process.



“This study started with the discovery made by Simran, who observed the ER's central role in mechanotransduction - the process by which cells convert mechanical stimuli from their environment into biochemical signals,” said study co-author Professor Tamal Das.



He pointed out that mechanotransduction is fundamental to several physiological functions, including touch, hearing, and balance, and has been studied in the context of collective cell migration.



"Our collaboration shaped the theoretical framework and deepened our understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Together, our experiments and modeling reveal a novel role for the ER in this process," said Professor Das.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-improving-future-therapies">Improving future therapies</h2>



According to the researchers, these findings expand our understanding of how organelles guide collective cell movement. 



Since epithelial migration is central to wound healing, cancer invasion, and tissue regeneration, this research could influence future therapies.



The ER’s ability to reorganize in response to forces makes it a vital player in maintaining tissue integrity and ensuring proper cellular function. 



The combined use of experimental observations and mathematical models demonstrates how cellular architecture is deeply connected to health, disease, wound repair, and overall body stability - highlighting its critical role in both healing and long-term survival.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-025-01729-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Cell Biology</a>.



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How cells change shape to heal wounds

The body’s cells adapt their shape to seal wounds and...

When puberty or childbirth happens early, it can affect health for life. Buck Institute researchers found that girls who start menstruating before age 11 or women who give birth before 21 face higher risks. Their chances of developing type 2 diabetes, obesity, or heart failure nearly double. 



The risk of serious metabolic problems can even quadruple. On the other hand, women who experience puberty or childbirth later often live longer and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pregnancy-risks-rise-with-heat-and-smoke-exposure/">age</a> more slowly. They also show lower rates of diseases like Alzheimer’s.



Study senior author Dr. Pankaj Kapahi, a professor at the <a href="https://www.buckinstitute.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buck Institute</a>, believes this matters for everyday healthcare.



“Even though women are routinely asked about their menstrual and childbirth history when they receive medical care, this information has rarely factored into the care they receive outside of OB/GYN,” said Dr. Kapahi. 



"These risk factors, whether positive or negative, clearly have significant influence on a variety of age-related diseases and should be considered in the larger context of overall health.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-puberty-and-childbirth-linked-to-aging">Puberty and childbirth linked to aging</h2>



The team studied genetic data from almost 200,000 women in the UK Biobank. They found more than 150 genetic markers linked to reproductive timing. 



Many of these markers fall into pathways that control growth and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forever-chemicals-can-alter-an-unborn-babys-immune-system/">aging</a>. These pathways regulate how the body handles energy, nutrients, and stress.



“Many of these markers are involved in well-known longevity pathways, such as IGF-1, growth hormone, AMPK and mTOR signaling, key regulators of metabolism and aging,” noted Yifan Xiang, MD, the postdoctoral fellow who led the work.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-early-childbirth-speeds-aging">Early childbirth speeds aging</h2>



Evolution cares most about survival and reproduction. That focus comes with tradeoffs. 



“Our study provides some of the strongest human evidence for this theory. We show that genetic factors favoring early reproduction come with the significant cost later in life including accelerated <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-secrets-of-a-modern-miracle-how-pregnancy-evolved/">aging</a> and disease," noted Dr. Kapahi. 



"It makes sense that the very factors that help enhance survival of the offspring may lead to detrimental consequences for the mother."



This supports the antagonistic pleiotropy theory. Traits that help early in life can become harmful with age. 



Another idea, the disposable soma theory, also fits here. It suggests the body uses resources for reproduction at the expense of repair. Over time, that choice speeds up aging.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-body-weight-matters">Why body weight matters</h2>



Body Mass Index (BMI) plays a big role in this process. Women with early puberty or childbirth tend to have higher BMI later. That extra weight then drives up the risk for diabetes, heart failure, and even cancer. 



"One can envisage that enhancing the ability to absorb nutrients would benefit the offspring but if nutrients are plentiful then it can enhance the risk of obesity and diabetes," said Dr. Kapahi.



This pattern makes sense in the context of history. In times of food scarcity, storing energy meant survival. In today’s world, with food everywhere, the same trait can backfire.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-timing-should-guide-healthcare">Timing should guide healthcare</h2>



The research shows that reproductive timing should matter in medical care. Early puberty or childbirth could serve as a signal for earlier screenings and lifestyle support. 



Dr. Kapahi noted that girls in the US are starting menstruation earlier - about three months sooner per decade since the 1970s. No single cause explains this, but obesity may play a part.



Current research methods may also need to adapt. Many experiments use virgin female mice as models, which may not reflect real-world patterns of aging in women who reproduce.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genetic-tradeoffs-shape-future-health">Genetic tradeoffs shape future health</h2>



“If evolution has shaped us to prioritize early reproduction at the cost of aging, how can we leverage this knowledge to extend healthspan in modern society?"



"While we cannot change our genetic inheritance, understanding these genetic tradeoffs empowers us to make informed choices about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/doctors-warn-that-pregnancy-risks-double-for-women-aged-45-and-up/">health</a>, lifestyle and medical care,” said Dr. Kapahi.



The study also points to genetic pathways that might one day be targeted to improve health for mothers and children alike. What helped us survive in the past may harm us now, but awareness gives us tools to act differently.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/102447" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eLife</a>.



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Early puberty linked to higher long-term aging risks

When puberty or childbirth happens early, it can affect health...

When we think about space, we often picture rockets, astronauts, and distant planets. But some of the most important discoveries are happening at the cellular level. 



Scientists are studying how our cells respond to space - especially to changes in gravity - and what that could mean for future missions and for health here on Earth.



Much of this work is being done aboard the International Space Station (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ISS</a>), where researchers are running cell-based experiments to better understand how space affects living systems. 



These studies are already yielding insights into bone loss, muscle atrophy, heart disease, and more.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-studying-cells-in-space">Studying cells in space</h2>



Scientists have been leading several recent investigations in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Their focus is how cells detect and respond to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/theory-gravity-exists-without-mass-so-dark-matter-does-not-exist/">gravity</a> - or the lack of it.



In one investigation, Cell Gravisensing, researchers explored the inner workings of animal cells to understand how they sense gravitational changes. This process is still a mystery, but the potential payoff is big. 



If we understand how cells detect gravity, we might be able to develop treatments for muscle and bone loss that happen both in space and on Earth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-heart-cells-react-fast-in-space">Heart cells react fast in space</h2>



Some <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/zero-gravity-takes-a-hidden-toll-on-astronauts-health/">astronauts</a> experience noticeable changes in their cardiovascular systems during <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/long-space-missions-in-microgravity-take-a-toll-on-astronauts-eyes/">space missions</a>. Blood volume drops. The heart pumps less. 



A previous study called STaARS Bioscience-3 looked into this. After just three days in orbit, blood vessel cells showed changes in the expression of over 11,000 genes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-cells-in-space-microgravity">Brain cells in space microgravity</h2>



Another experiment, STaARS BioScience-4, focused on neural stem cells - the kind that eventually become part of the brain and spinal cord. 



Researchers observed that in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/astronauts-are-surprisingly-good-at-flying-in-space/">microgravity</a>, these cells produced and consumed energy differently. They also broke down more cellular components, possibly to adapt to the new environment.



The study emphasized a key issue for long missions: energy. “The finding also highlights the importance of providing astronauts with sufficient energy for cognitive and physiological function on future missions,” the authors note.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-goldfish-scales-show-bone-changes">Goldfish scales show bone changes</h2>



Goldfish might seem like an odd choice for space research, but their scales are surprisingly useful. They contain many of the same proteins, minerals, and cell types found in human bone. 



The JAXA Fish Scales investigation exposed goldfish scales to simulated and real microgravity, as well as triple Earth gravity.



The outcome? Goldfish scales can be used as a model to understand how human bones react to space conditions. That could be a big help in developing countermeasures for astronauts and for people suffering from bone diseases.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mouse-cells-and-radiation">Mouse cells and radiation</h2>



Rodents are also proving valuable in space biology. In the Stem Cells experiment, scientists studied how embryonic mouse stem cells responded to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extended-spaceflight-can-affect-the-human-brain/">spaceflight</a>. Some cells were left unaltered, while others were mutated to be more sensitive to radiation.



There were no chromosomal differences in the unaltered cells between space and ground samples. But in the mutated cells, researchers found more DNA abnormalities. 



“The work could enhance the understanding of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/3d-printed-hydrogels-developed-to-protect-astronauts-from-space-radiation/">radiation</a> effects on human cancer and improve risk assessment for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars,” said the researchers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-heart-muscle-adapts-quickly">Heart muscle adapts quickly</h2>



In another related study, tissue samples from the Rodent Research-1 (RR-1) mission were analyzed using data from NASA’s GeneLab. The team discovered that the heart muscle can adjust to the stress of space in just 30 days. 



Genetic changes suggested that this adaptation could help the body survive in space - and might even inform treatment for heart disease on Earth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-space-research-matters">Why space research matters</h2>



Space is more than a destination. It’s a laboratory that pushes the limits of science in ways we can’t achieve on Earth. The unique environment of microgravity lets researchers see how cells, organs, and even entire systems behave under stress. 



Experiments aboard the ISS not only prepare us for longer missions to the Moon and Mars, but also spark new ideas for treating diseases, extending healthy lifespans, and improving life on our own planet.



Space reminds us that discovery doesn’t just happen out there among the stars - it also happens inside us, one cell at a time.



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How space changes our cells: Insights from the ISS

When we think about space, we often picture rockets, astronauts,...

Jake Johnson traces his veterinary research motivation to a simple concept with sweeping consequences. The idea is that animal, human, and environmental health are inseparable, and knowledge gains power when it crosses borders.



Johnson was captivated early by the <a href="https://provost.ncsu.edu/global-one-health-academy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">One Health Initiative</a>, which shows how discoveries in veterinary medicine can inform human health and ecosystem resilience. Sharing those insights can improve outcomes far beyond a single patient.



A cardiology resident at North Carolina State University’s <a href="https://cvm.ncsu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">College of Veterinary Medicine</a>, Johnson focuses his work on translating cutting-edge cardiology into tools that clinicians can actually use.



He prioritizes education and access for veterinary students and general practitioners who may not have specialized training or high-end equipment. He also designs studies with practical take-home value.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-building-on-earlier-projects"><a></a>Building on earlier projects</h2>



Johnson’s current efforts build on early projects, including a case report describing an unusual form of feline <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/living-close-to-bars-and-pubs-increases-the-risk-of-heart-failure/">heart failure</a> and how imaging choices can change clinical decisions.



The through-line is the same: bridging the gap between advanced knowledge and the constraints of real clinics. 



He sees research as the engine that turns individual, hard-won insights into shareable methods. Others can then deploy these methods in emergencies or resource-limited settings.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cocaine-toxicosis-in-dogs">Cocaine toxicosis in dogs</h2>



One strand of his work tackles <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-cocaine-tricks-and-hijacks-the-brain/">cocaine</a> toxicosis in dogs. Much of the available data comes from controlled laboratory studies or from human medicine, and neither dataset perfectly reflects the chaos of a real-world veterinary emergency.



Animal exposures are often uncertain - owners may not know what a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-are-evolving-to-fit-the-modern-lives-of-humans/">dog</a> picked up, or may hesitate to say - so clinicians must act on incomplete information. 



That uncertainty is exactly why better case documentation and practical protocols matter.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-dog-cocaine-case">The dog cocaine case </h2>



A small dog was experiencing collapse episodes accompanied by severe bradycardia. Due to concerns about possible illicit substance ingestion, clinicians performed a urine drug screen. 



The test returned positive for cocaine and was later confirmed by an external laboratory. For Johnson, the case demonstrates the importance of pairing clinical signs with targeted toxicology testing when exposure is a possibility.



The case also highlights the need to build a literature that helps practitioners decide what to test, when, and why.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-preventing-exposure-before-emergencies">Preventing exposure before emergencies</h2>



Dogs are opportunistic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-followed-the-first-farmers-through-the-americas/">scavengers</a>. Owners can cut risk by keeping pets leashed, watching for attempts to pick up unfamiliar items, and - when needed - using a basket muzzle during walks.



Reliable “leave it” and “drop it” cues can be lifesaving if a dog encounters dangerous substances. 



And when exposure is suspected - or a pet is simply “not quite right” - immediate veterinary care is prudent, because minutes and hours often determine outcomes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-case-reports-that-save-lives">Case reports that save lives</h2>



In veterinary medicine, case reports serve an essential role. They capture the unusual and the emergent - the very scenarios large trials miss. 



They also preserve the details future clinicians will look for when seconds matter. Over time, those reports seed better triage pathways, monitoring checklists, and treatment protocols.



A persistent misconception hampers care: that veterinarians will judge or report owners who admit a pet may have ingested illicit drugs.



However, according to Johnson, clinicians need accurate histories to save lives, not to assign blame. Honest, specific information - what, when, and how much - enables tailored treatment and closer monitoring for predictable complications.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-research-priorities-to-advance-care">Research priorities to advance care</h2>



Looking ahead, Johnson’s agenda centers on access. He calls for studies that simplify imaging so it can be performed with standard equipment. 



He also advocates for cost-effective screening strategies that identify high-risk patients without expensive panels, along with pragmatic educational interventions that convert subspecialty knowledge into routine practice.



Johnson also pushes for comparative trials of lower-cost treatment protocols that achieve similar outcomes, structured training so general practitioners can perform basic specialty procedures, and wider use of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/telemedicine-helps-address-the-ongoing-mental-health-crisis/">telemedicine</a> to bring specialist guidance into rural and resource-limited clinics in real time.



The goal is to ensure that a dog in a small town has access to lifesaving options just as reliably as one treated in a metropolitan referral hospital.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-open-science-in-veterinary-care">Open science in veterinary care</h2>



Information only helps if people can access it. Removing paywalls and sharing protocols lets students and clinicians learn and apply cardiology principles with the tools they have, not just the tools they wish they had.



In Johnson’s model, publishing is a starting line, not a finish line - the real success is a colleague using that knowledge to stabilize a patient they might otherwise have lost.



Across topics - from toxicosis to cardiology education - the constant is a One Health sensibility coupled with a practical streak. 



Johnson’s work aims to move advanced concepts out of the seminar room and into exam rooms, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-linked-to-a-surge-in-hospital-emergency-visits/">ERs</a>, and farmyards, where they can change outcomes today while building a stronger evidence base for tomorrow.



The case report of the dog ingesting cocaine is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2025.1622850/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Veterinary Science</a>.



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How a "my dog ate cocaine" incident is changing veterinary care

Jake Johnson traces his veterinary research motivation to a simple...

A planet that orbits a star nearby to us once seemed like a good candidate for being Earth-like. It’s rocky, similar in size to Earth, and lies in a zone where surface water could theoretically exist. But new findings suggest this exoplanet doesn’t have an atmosphere anything like ours.



The latest data comes from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and focuses on TRAPPIST-1 d, a planet that is 40 light-years away in the TRAPPIST-1 <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/trappist1/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">system</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ruling-out-a-potential-earth-twin">Ruling out a potential Earth twin</h2>



Caroline Piaulet-Ghorayeb, lead author of the study, is a scientist at the <a href="https://www.uchicago.edu/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Chicago</a> and the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) at Université de Montréal.



“Ultimately, we want to know if something like the environment we enjoy on Earth can exist elsewhere, and under what conditions,” said Piaulet-Ghorayeb.



"While NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is giving us the ability to explore this question in Earth-sized planets for the first time, at this point we can rule out TRAPPIST-1 d from a list of potential Earth twins or cousins."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-trappist-1-d-looked-promising">Why TRAPPIST-1 d looked promising</h2>



The TRAPPIST-1 system gained attention in 2017 for hosting seven Earth-sized, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rocky-planets-a-new-target-in-the-search-for-extraterrestrial-life/">rocky planets</a>. It's the largest group of Earth-sized worlds ever found orbiting a single star. The star at the center is a red dwarf - cooler and smaller than our Sun - which shifts the "habitable zone" much closer in.



TRAPPIST-1 d is the third planet from its star and sits near the edge of this temperate zone. But “near” is relative: it orbits at just 2% of the Earth-Sun distance. A year there lasts only four Earth days.



Despite that tight orbit, its location seemed promising for having liquid water - and maybe an atmosphere. 



But when researchers used the Webb telescope’s NIRSpec instrument to scan for signs of key molecules, they found no water vapor, methane, or carbon dioxide.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lack-of-a-detectable-atmosphere">Lack of a detectable atmosphere</h2>



“There are a few potential reasons why we don’t detect an atmosphere around TRAPPIST-1 d. It could have an extremely thin atmosphere that is difficult to detect, somewhat like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mars-glaciers-revealed-to-be-nearly-pure-ice/">Mars</a>," Piaulet-Ghorayeb said.



She explained that the planet could also have very thick, high-altitude clouds that block our detection of specific atmospheric signatures - similar to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/venus-secret-past-may-have-implications-for-earths-future/">Venus</a>. It's also possible that TRAPPIST-1 d is a barren rock, with no atmosphere at all.



The researchers aren’t ready to draw final conclusions. But one thing is clear: TRAPPIST-1 d doesn’t have an atmosphere that looks like Earth’s.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-life-near-a-red-dwarf">Life near a red dwarf </h2>



TRAPPIST-1, the star at the center of this system, may not be a great neighbor for planets hoping to hold onto their atmospheres. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/planets-orbiting-red-dwarf-stars-may-not-be-habitable-ultraviolet-uv-radiation/">Red dwarfs</a> are known for intense, high-energy flares that can blast nearby planets with radiation.



These flares can strip atmospheres away - especially from planets orbiting close in, like TRAPPIST-1 d.



Scientific interest in these kinds of stars remains high. Red dwarfs are the most common type of star in the galaxy. If a planet can hold onto an atmosphere here, there’s a chance it could do so anywhere.



“Webb’s sensitive infrared instruments are allowing us to delve into the atmospheres of these smaller, colder planets for the first time,” explained study co-author Björn Benneke of IREx at the Université de Montréal.



“We’re really just getting started using Webb to look for atmospheres on Earth-sized planets, and to define the line between planets that can hold onto an atmosphere, and those that cannot.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-eyes-on-the-outer-planets">Eyes on the outer planets</h2>



While planet d didn’t pan out as a strong Earth analog, the story isn’t over. Webb is still collecting data on the outer planets in the system - TRAPPIST-1 e, f, g, and h. 



These planets are farther from the radiation blasts of their host star, which might give them a better chance of retaining an atmosphere.



But that distance also makes it harder to detect atmospheric signatures, even with the Webb telescope’s precision.



“All hope is not lost for atmospheres around the TRAPPIST-1 planets,” Piaulet-Ghorayeb said. “While we didn’t find a big, bold atmospheric signature for planet d, there is still potential for the outer planets to be holding onto a lot of water and other atmospheric components.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-one-step-closer-to-the-big-question">One step closer to the big question</h2>



NASA sees this work as laying the foundation for something much bigger: understanding which <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/habitable-zone-planets-support-life/">planets could support life</a>.



“As NASA leads the way in searching for life outside our solar system, one of the most important avenues we can pursue is understanding which planets retain their atmospheres, and why,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 



“NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has pushed our capabilities for studying exoplanet atmospheres further than ever before, beyond extreme worlds to some rocky planets – allowing us to begin confirming theories about the kind of planets that may be potentially <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/super-earth-discovered-in-the-habitable-zone-of-its-star/">habitable</a>."



Domagal-Goldman noted that this important groundwork will position upcoming missions, like NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory, to answer a universal question: Are we alone?



TRAPPIST-1 d may not be an Earth twin. But it's helping scientists understand what makes a planet capable - or incapable - of sustaining an atmosphere. And in the search for life beyond our solar system, that’s a crucial piece of the puzzle.



Information from a NASA online <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webb-narrows-atmospheric-possibilities-for-earth-sized-exoplanet-trappist-1-d/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">press release</a>.



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)



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Can red dwarf planets support life? Webb investigates TRAPPIST-1

A planet that orbits a star nearby to us once...

For decades, the search for extraterrestrial life has relied on complex missions, new instruments, and billion-dollar budgets. 



But now, a Ph.D. student and his supervisor at <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Imperial College London</a> have shown that a device already sitting on Mars could answer one of humanity’s biggest questions: Is anything alive out there, right now?



The breakthrough comes from Solomon Hirsch and Professor Mark Sephton of Imperial’s Department of Earth Science &amp; Engineering. 



The gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) is an instrument that is already installed on the Curiosity rover and planned for use on the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover. The team realized that this common piece of equipment can be used in an entirely new way.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-old-instruments-new-tricks"><a></a>Old instruments, new tricks</h2>



“Space agencies such as <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA</a> and ESA don't know their instruments can already do this,” Sephton said. “Here we have developed an elegant method that rapidly and reliably identifies a chemical bond that shows the presence of viable <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/detecting-life-on-mars-a-breakthrough-in-space-research/">life</a>."



"The Curiosity rover just turned 13 on Mars, but who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks.”



The GC-MS has a long pedigree in planetary science, with earlier versions flying on the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/viking/">Viking missions</a> of the 1970s. Traditionally, scientists have used it to analyze gases released from rocks and soils.



But Hirsch and Sephton discovered it could also detect fragile molecular bonds inside the membranes of living cells - a marker of life that is present only while an organism is alive or has very recently died.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unmistakable-signals-of-living-cells">Unmistakable signals of living cells</h2>



The technique focuses on intact polar lipids (IPLs), the molecules that make up the external membranes of bacteria and more complex cells. 



These molecules degrade within hours of death, making them a reliable sign of living organisms. When fed into the GC-MS, IPLs leave behind a sharp, unmistakable spike on the instrument’s readout.



Researchers unexpectedly found a clear biosignature in polar lipids using GC-MS, with equipment already deployed on space missions. If scientists ever detect such a spike on Mars or another world, it will provide direct evidence of active life rather than long-extinct biology.



“If we find signs of life beyond Earth, the first question will be: Is it living right now?” Hirsch said. “It's thrilling to think that the technique we developed here could be used to help answer that question.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-searching-for-life-in-mars-extremes">Searching for life in Mars’ extremes</h2>



Mars is not a welcoming place for life. Its thin atmosphere, freezing surface temperatures, and constant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/3d-printed-hydrogels-developed-to-protect-astronauts-from-space-radiation/">radiation</a> from space make survival difficult. 



Hirsch admits that expectations of finding organisms on the planet’s surface are low. But he points out that life is resourceful. “Life finds amazing ways to survive in extreme circumstances,” he noted.



Future missions will also dig deeper into Mars’ crust, where conditions may be more favorable. The Rosalind Franklin rover, part of the delayed ExoMars mission, will drill several feet beneath the surface, where microbes could remain shielded from radiation and potentially active.



Beyond Mars, icy moons like Europa and Enceladus are even more promising. They are known to host subsurface oceans and erupt plumes of water vapor into space. 



Sephton envisions the method being applied there too. “Our active life detection method could be deployed on Mars and the plumes of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/uranus-and-its-icy-moons-broadening-the-search-for-alien-life/">icy moons</a> in the outer solar system, or in samples returned to Earth from potential alien biospheres,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-mars-science-helps-on-earth">How Mars science helps on Earth</h2>



The method could also help right here at home. Teams preparing to analyze samples returned from Mars are planning multimillion-dollar facilities to screen for possible life. 



A quick and simple GC-MS test would make the task more efficient, flagging which samples deserve deeper analysis.



Sephton sees the technique as both cost-effective and versatile. Instead of designing entirely new instruments for each mission, scientists could repurpose existing ones to do more than originally intended. 



It’s an approach that may accelerate discoveries without requiring decades of waiting for the next mission to launch.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-future-of-mars-and-beyond">The future of Mars and beyond</h2>



Whether or not life is discovered, the technique itself represents a leap forward. It shows that sometimes the tools for transformative science are already in our hands - it just takes a new perspective to see them differently.



The search for extraterrestrial life is often portrayed as a grand adventure, requiring futuristic technology and vast budgets. 



Hirsch and Sephton’s work offers a humbler but no less profound possibility: the answer to one of humanity’s oldest questions may already be riding around the Martian surface, waiting to be asked the right question in the right way.



As Hirsch put it, the possibility remains remote but real: “Our expectation of finding things alive on the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/clues-beneath-mars-surface-reveal-possible-habitats-for-ancient-life/">Martian surface</a> is low due to the hostile temperature and radiation conditions. Still, we aren't ruling out the possibility.” 



And if life does exist, this new approach may be the simplest way to prove it.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44453-025-00006-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">npj Space Exploration</a>.



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Searching for life on Mars just got a whole lot easier

For decades, the search for extraterrestrial life has relied on...

Poplar trees don’t just grow wood - they retool its chemistry as climates shift. That built-in flexibility changes how readily their biomass can be converted into renewable fuels and materials.



A team led by the <a href="https://missouri.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Missouri</a>, with collaborators at <a href="https://www.ornl.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oak Ridge National Laboratory</a> and the University of Georgia, traced how the environment reshapes lignin, the tough polymer that stiffens plants.



The work highlights a path to better <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biofuels-may-eliminate-90-of-black-smoke-emissions-from-cars/">biofuels</a> and bioplastics by matching tree genetics withy growing conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-lignin-matters"><a></a>Why lignin matters</h2>



Lignin is everywhere stems, roots, and leaves are. It fortifies, channels water, and shields tissues from stress.



“Lignin acts as both a glue and an armor - it holds everything together while also protecting the plant from outside stressors,” said Jaime Barros-Rios, an assistant professor of plant molecular biology.



“Understanding how plants make lignin could help us improve its conversion into high-value biomaterials and increase the competitiveness of U.S. biorefineries.”



That conversion challenge is huge. Make lignin easier to process, and the numbers pencil out for greener fuels and materials. Make it harder, and energy and chemical inputs soar.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-poplar-trees-across-climates">Poplar trees across climates</h2>



Poplars are already a workhorse for pulp and paper. They are also prime <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bioenergy-can-slow-climate-change-but-the-window-is-closing/">bioenergy</a> candidates. Researchers have mapped their genome, they grow quickly, and plantations cover a broad climate range.



The team leveraged that range by sampling 430 trees of Populus trichocarpa from northern California to British Columbia. Warmer sites produced wood with a higher syringyl-to-guaiacyl ratio, known as S/G. Cooler sites trended lower.



“This S/G ratio represents the proportion between the two most abundant monomers in lignin,” said lead author Weiwei Zhu, a postdoctoral researcher in the Barros-Rios lab.



“These monomers have slightly different chemical structures, impacting the properties of the wood and directly influencing how easily lignin can be broken down and processed - making it easier to create biofuels and a wide variety of everyday products.”



In practical terms, tuning S/G shifts how stubborn lignin is during pulping, pretreatment, or catalytic breakdown. More syringyl units often mean cleaner cuts and fewer side reactions. That can lower cost and carbon from biorefineries.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protein-that-protects-poplar-trees">Protein that protects poplar trees</h2>



Field patterns only go so far without a mechanism. To dig deeper, the team combined genetics with 3D protein modeling.



“We identified a mutation in an important cell wall enzyme in poplar trees called laccase, which was found to control the S/G ratio in this natural population,” said Rachel Weber, a senior biochemistry student at Mizzou who built the model.



“So, I was able to utilize a protein structural modeling software called ColabFold to pinpoint the exact location of this mutation within the laccase protein.”



The surprise was where that amino acid change sits. Not in the catalytic pocket, and not where enzymes usually do their cutting and pasting. That placement hints at upstream signals and cellular traffic shaping lignin assembly in the wild, beyond textbook biochemistry.



“This points to a more complex regulation than we initially thought and gives us new clues about how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trees-get-a-boost-from-diverse-neighbors-especially-in-wet-forests/">trees</a> adapt and protect themselves,” said Weber. “This knowledge will help us develop additional hypotheses about how this protein functions and interacts with the plant’s surrounding environment.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-rare-lignin-in-poplar-trees">A rare lignin in poplar trees</h2>



Another curveball emerged from the analyses. The researchers detected small amounts of C-lignin in poplar. Until now, scientists had found that simple, uniform lignin type mainly in certain seeds, such as vanilla and cacti. Its clean structure is a chemist’s dream: fewer linkages, less mess, easier conversion.



Because C-lignin is simpler and more uniform than regular lignin, it’s easier to break down and process into usable plant material for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nature-inspired-solutions-new-bioplastic-dissolves-rapidly-in-water/">bioplastics</a>, biofuels, and other renewable products.



“This type of lignin could help us turn plant biomass into valuable commodity chemicals more efficiently,” Barros-Rios said.



Even trace levels matter. They signal that the pathway exists in tissues where it was not expected. With the right genetic switches, engineers may be able to dial it up.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-designing-greener-plants">Designing greener plants</h2>



The immediate takeaway is clear. Climate and genetics co-author lignin’s script. Warmer, wetter sites nudge S/G higher. Specific laccase variants tweak the balance further. Rare flavors of lignin appear where no one looked before. Each lever can be used to design better feedstocks.



The long game is even more ambitious. The Missouri team is already working to boost C-lignin in poplar and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/do-soybean-plants-have-a-memory-scientists-think-so/">soybean</a>. 



The aim is straightforward: build plants whose biomass cracks cleanly into the molecules that tomorrow’s refineries need. That would cut energy use, reduce waste, and speed the shift from petroleum to plants.



None of this changes what lignin does for a living tree. It still braces, seals, and shields. But by learning how trees tailor that armor to latitude and stress, researchers can tailor it for people, too. 



The result could be faster progress toward fuels and materials that start in forests and fields - and a bioeconomy that leans more on biology and less on barrels.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2503491122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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Poplar trees changed their chemistry to survive

Poplar trees don’t just grow wood - they retool its...

Mixed,Diatoms,From,A,Small,Creek.,This,Image,Has,Been

Phytoplankton in the waters around Antarctica are changing - and the shift could have big consequences for the climate and the entire Southern Ocean ecosystem.



Over the past 25 years, scientists have used satellite data to track changes in the makeup of these microscopic organisms. 



Their findings point to a long-term, climate-driven transformation in the region’s marine environment - one that could weaken the ocean’s ability to capture and store carbon.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-detecting-shifts-in-phytoplankton">Detecting shifts in phytoplankton</h2>



The study was focused on data from the European Space Agency’s Climate Change Initiative (<a href="https://climate.esa.int/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ESA’s CCI</a>) and more than 14,000 samples collected between 1997 and 2023. The goal was to analyze changes in phytoplankton populations.



Alexander Hayward, Earth System Scientist at the <a href="https://www.dmi.dk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Danish Meteorological Institute</a> and lead-author on the paper, explained how the research team used ESA’s CCI data in the study.



“We built machine-learning models using in-situ samples, which we then combined with data from the European Space Agency, such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-are-substantially-changing-the-seasons-of-the-ocean/">sea surface temperature</a>, ocean color and sea ice concentration, to track changes in different phytoplankton groups over time," Hayward explained.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-decline-in-diatoms">Decline in diatoms</h2>



The team identified key changes in the balance of phytoplankton types across the Southern Ocean.



“We observed major reductions in diatom populations between 1997-2016 - a period where sea ice increased,” noted Hayward. 



“From 2016 onwards, the satellite record revealed a slight rebound in Antarctic diatom populations, and a related group of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/marine-algae-genes-chlorophyll-boost-crop-yields-land-plants/">marine algae</a> - cryptophytes - rapidly proliferated.”



The researchers found that diatoms - large, carbon-absorbing phytoplankton - fell sharply during the first two decades of the study. 



After sea ice retreated in 2017, diatom numbers began to recover in some regions, while smaller phytoplankton such as cryptophytes and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/toxic-plankton-algae-could-change-the-fate-of-the-arctic-food-web/">haptophytes</a> continued to grow. 



In West Antarctica, however, diatom populations have continued to decline.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-not-all-phytoplankton-are-equal">Not all phytoplankton are equal</h2>



Phytoplankton are the foundation of the Antarctic marine food web. Diatoms, haptophytes, and cryptophytes make up the bulk of the microscopic life in these waters. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tiny-plankton-play-a-big-role-in-the-global-carbon-cycle/">Diatoms</a> alone account for nearly half of the phytoplankton here, with haptophytes close behind.



But these organisms don’t all play the same role. Diatoms are heavy hitters when it comes to carbon. 



Their hard silica shells trap carbon dioxide, and when diatoms die and sink, they carry that carbon to the ocean floor. They also feed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antarctic-krill-are-natures-unexpected-carbon-warriors/">krill</a> - the tiny crustaceans that feed whales, penguins, and seals.



The smaller types, like haptophytes and cryptophytes, don’t store carbon as effectively. So a long-term shift away from diatoms could weaken one of the ocean’s most important carbon storage systems.



“If we observe a decrease in the number of diatoms, it is likely that the biological carbon pump will weaken, resulting in less carbon dioxide being transported to the deep sea,” said Hayward.



“Now more than ever, we need more research and observation to monitor the changes in this sensitive ecosystem. What’s happening at the microscopic level could impact the climate itself and needs our attention.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-satellites-track-phytoplankton-nbsp-shifts">Satellites track phytoplankton&nbsp;shifts</h2>



You might wonder how a satellite flying 815 kilometers above Earth can tell anything about microscopic plankton. It doesn’t see the organisms directly. Instead, satellites like Copernicus Sentinel-3 measure the light reflected off the ocean’s surface. 



Changes in that light - especially in the green and blue parts of the spectrum - signal the presence of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shifting-ocean-color-is-pushing-marine-life-toward-the-poles/">chlorophyll</a> and other pigments used in photosynthesis.



Different phytoplankton groups have distinct pigment profiles. When combined with data from water samples, these color signals help scientists map where different phytoplankton are and how their populations are changing over time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-carbon-and-the-ocean">Climate, carbon, and the ocean</h2>



Phytoplankton extract carbon from the air, fuel entire ecosystems, and are closely connected to climate change. But long-term records of how these creatures function exist in short supply.



That is why ESA is creating a new project known as Phyto-CCI. It will utilize advanced satellite methods for tracking phytoplankton changes from space, and make it possible for scientists to comprehend their contribution to ocean health and the global climate.



As this research illustrates, the Southern Ocean is already in transition due to climate pressures. What will follow depends not only on ice and temperature - but also on these invisible microorganisms that underpin the entire food chain.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02379-x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 



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Phytoplankton changes found in Antarctic waters could impact food webs and carbon storage

Phytoplankton in the waters around Antarctica are changing - and...

Young,Friends,Having,Barbecue,Picnic,In,The,Nature,,Playing,Guitar,

People who lead more varied social lives tend to perceive their days as a sequence of distinct moments, whereas more isolated people experience time as a single, undifferentiated stretch. 



The new findings suggest that richer social routines are linked to finer “event segmentation,” a basic process the brain uses to turn the stream of life into manageable chunks.



Researchers at <a href="https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Royal Holloway, University of London</a>, tested this idea with a movie-watching experiment and linked the results to measures of everyday variety. 



The study asked 157 young adults to press a button whenever one meaningful moment ended and another began while viewing Alfred Hitchcock’s suspenseful short, Bang! You’re Dead.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-breaking-life-into-moments">Breaking life into moments</h2>



Participants who reported greater experiential diversity - especially in their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/survival-of-the-friendliest-social-animals-live-longer/">social lives</a> - marked more boundaries, indicating a finer-grained parsing of experience. The association held even after accounting for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/practicing-mindfulness-can-quiet-the-noise-of-anxiety/">anxiety</a>, loneliness, and socioeconomic factors.



As our senses take in continuous information, the brain creates “events” so we can remember, plan, and navigate. Event boundaries typically arrive when something important changes: a goal, a place, a character, or an emotion.



People differ in how finely they set those boundaries. The new study shows those differences track with the variety of life outside the lab - and most strongly with social variety.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-watching-hitchcock-for-science">Watching Hitchcock for science</h2>



Volunteers watched an eight-minute cut of the Hitchcock film and tapped an on-screen button whenever a meaningful unit ended and a new one began. That simple number - how many boundaries each person perceived - was the key measure.



Separately, participants reported the diversity of their recent social interactions (who they met and how they met them) and the complexity of their recent spatial routines (rooms and places visited, local exploration).



Only the social side consistently predicted finer segmentation. In statistical terms, total experiential diversity correlated with boundary frequency. Social diversity - not spatial diversity - accounted for unique variance when both were considered together.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-social-life-make-the-difference">Social life make the difference</h2>



The study found that people who had more assorted experiences identified more event boundaries, and their brains were able to consume this and know when one event started and ended.



“This suggests that living a fuller and more varied social life trains our brains to pick up more information around us, and helps to collate the information in a quicker, more digestible way," said lead author Carl Hodgetts from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway.



“It’s not just about traveling to different places, or taking a different route to work each day, but connecting with a wide range of people, which helps us to understand what is happening in our world.”



This pattern fits a broader picture. Social contexts are complex and fast-changing, so frequent engagement may tune the<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-does-the-human-brain-create-retrieve-memories-engram-cells-connections/"> brain</a> to notice meaningful shifts. 



These shifts include who’s present, what they intend, and how they feel - and the brain may catch them more quickly and more often.



The team also found that the link between social variety and segmentation was stronger in participants with higher trait anxiety. This suggests that heightened sensitivity to social-emotional cues can amplify the effect.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-memory-to-well-being">From memory to well-being</h2>



Event segmentation is not just a lab curiosity. It supports how we form <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-brains-use-storage-trick-to-keep-your-memories-in-sequential-order/">episodic memories</a>, plan actions, and move through spaces and social situations.



Finer segmentation has been tied to better recall and navigation in past work, and the new results imply that broader, more varied lives could sharpen those abilities by training the brain’s internal “film editor.”



Crucially, the association remained when the researchers controlled for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/loneliness-causes-people-to-have-more-nightmares/">loneliness</a> and anxiety, indicating that the objective diversity of one’s experiences - not simply how one feels - relates to how the brain parses ongoing activity.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/social-life_experiential-diversity_life-interpretation_anxiety-levels_credit-iScience_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/social-life_experiential-diversity_life-interpretation_anxiety-levels_credit-iScience_1s.webp" alt="&quot;Individual differences in experiential diversity shape event segmentation granularity,&quot; published in iScience, investigated whether this can be partly explained by the diversity of our everyday experiences." class="wp-image-1982426"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">"Individual differences in experiential diversity shape event segmentation granularity," published in iScience, investigated whether this can be partly explained by the diversity of our everyday experiences.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-social-cues-under-the-microscope">Social cues under the microscope</h2>



The study relied on self-reports of recent experience and on boundary counts during a single film. It cannot prove causation. Still, the results provide a baseline and a direction for future work.



The team plans to use MRI to test whether brain activity at event boundaries differs depending on the variety of people’s social life. 



They also aim to drill down into which cues - social, spatial, or emotional - most strongly trigger boundaries.



The timing is also relevant. The work took place as UK <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/identifying-new-targets-to-prevent-severe-covid-19/">COVID-19</a> restrictions eased. 



This unusual mix of lingering limits and sudden rebounds in daily variety may have sharpened contrasts across participants. Replication across broader contexts will help establish how general the effect is.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-practical-takeaway"><a></a>A practical takeaway</h2>



You can’t watch Hitchcock all day, but you can widen your social world. The study points to a simple idea with broad appeal. 



More assorted social experiences may help your brain detect the meaningful beats of life as they happen, making the stream of experience easier to digest and remember.



And that may matter as much for everyday functioning as for the science of how minds make sense of busy days.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(25)01395-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">iScience</a>.



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Having an active social life helps the brain make better sense of the world

People who lead more varied social lives tend to perceive...

High in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, flashes of orange hair move between the trees. Orangutans spend most of their lives in the canopy - navigating branches, building nests, and raising young in one of the most complex ecosystems on Earth. 



Watching them is like catching a reflection of ourselves - their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/orangutan-mothers-have-unique-parenting-styles-like-humans/">intelligence</a>, habits, and even their struggles often resemble our own. Yet, despite these connections, orangutans are slipping toward extinction.



World Orangutan Day on August 19 highlights this urgent reality. The day serves as a reminder that saving orangutans goes hand in hand with protecting their forests - and safeguarding the climate we all rely on.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protecting-orangutans-and-forests">Protecting orangutans and forests</h2>



Orangutans live in the forests of Borneo and Sumatra. They act as gardeners of the jungle. By eating fruit and scattering seeds, they help forests regenerate. 



Without them, many plant species would vanish, and the ecosystems tied to them would weaken.



Healthy forests do more than shelter wildlife. They absorb carbon, regulate climate, and provide clean water. Protecting orangutans means protecting the same systems that humans depend on.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-smarter-communication-than-expected">Smarter communication than expected</h2>



Orangutans continue to surprise scientists. Just when we think we understand them, new research proves otherwise. A recent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/orangutans-use-complex-vocal-patterns-found-in-human-language/">study</a> from <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The University of Warwick</a> revealed that Sumatran orangutans use recursive vocal patterns when sounding alarm calls. 



Recursion is a language tool that allows ideas to be nested within other ideas, creating layered meaning. Humans rely on it constantly in speech and writing, but until recently, scientists assumed it was uniquely human. 



The discovery that orangutans use recursion forces us to rethink how we define language and how it is used throughout the animal kingdom.



Another study used machine learning to analyze the calls of Bornean orangutans. Researchers discovered three distinct pulse types hidden in their long calls. Each pulse seems to serve a different role, giving their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/experts-unlock-the-mysteries-of-orangutan-communication/">communication</a> more depth than expected.



For years, people described orangutan calls as simple. This evidence shows otherwise. Their vocal world is structured, varied, and much more sophisticated than we realized.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-conservation-emergency">The conservation emergency</h2>



Orangutans mirror human behavior in unexpected ways. One study describes how they recover from poor <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/orangutans-manage-sleep-much-like-humans-do/">sleep</a> by napping during the day. They even build quick daytime nests for rest. This pattern looks remarkably similar to how humans catch up on lost sleep.



Despite their intelligence and adaptability, orangutans face steep decline. Populations have fallen by more than half in the past century. 



Palm oil plantations replace diverse forests with monoculture crops. Illegal logging cuts deep into jungles. Poachers kill mothers to steal infants for the pet trade.



As their habitats shrink, orangutans crowd into smaller areas. This increases stress, reduces food, and creates conflict with humans. Without intervention, they could disappear in a matter of decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-actions-to-protect-orangutans">Actions to protect orangutans</h2>



There are many ways individuals can help protect orangutans. Opting for products made with certified sustainable palm oil is one approach. Supporting rescue centers through donations is another. 



You can even virtually <a href="https://www.theorangutanproject.org/donate/?referrer_source=GADUS_GENERIC&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=13240991473&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwwZDFBhCpARIsAB95qO3vTJ075IBt6pMnMSn9C_e0WVyfcGdiW25dHR7bmkwMgaqtFtLPMqMaAmINEALw_wcB" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adopt</a> an orangutan to help cover their food and medical care.



Responsible tourism can make a difference. Visiting orangutan habitats can help support local communities and demonstrates that intact forests are far more valuable than cleared land.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-progress-worth-noting">Progress worth noting</h2>



There are signs of hope. Rehabilitation centers in Borneo and Sumatra rescue orphaned orangutans and teach them survival skills. Some of these animals are now living free in the wild again.



Governments and conservation groups are also creating protected areas and linking them with wildlife corridors. These corridors let orangutans move safely between forest patches. 



Meanwhile, local communities are exploring sustainable crops that do not destroy rainforests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-purpose-of-world-orangutan-day">Purpose of World Orangutan Day </h2>



Orangutans cannot fight for themselves. They cannot confront corporations or push for laws. That responsibility falls on us. 



Protecting these animals is not just about saving one species. It is about defending the rainforests that regulate climate and sustain life across the globe.



The science is clear, and the threats are well known. What matters now is commitment. Governments need to enforce environmental protections. Businesses must clean up supply chains. People everywhere can support conservation and make smarter choices.



On World Orangutan Day 2025, one truth is clear: orangutans matter. The real challenge is turning that awareness into action - before it’s too late to save them and the forests they call home.



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World Orangutan Day 2025: Turning awareness into action

High in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, flashes of...

<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=3Y4eLFNYrKE
</div></figure>



On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop and sunlight barely penetrates through the polar winter. It was here, however, that an international team of scientists found <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predatory-worms-were-terror-beasts-half-a-billion-years-ago/#google_vignette" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evidence of sea monsters</a> that would change our understanding of ocean life in the past.



This video captures the discovery of Timorebestia fossils that had been hidden for more than 500 million years in the Sirius Passet formation. The "terror beasts," as they are called, are a hidden chapter in the evolutionary history of <a href="https://www.earth.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth</a>, showing that sophisticated predator-prey interactions occurred much earlier than previously envisioned.



Dr. Jakob Vinther and his research team at the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Bristol</a>, in collaboration with researchers at the <a href="https://eng.kopri.re.kr/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Korean Polar Research Institute</a>, braved extreme weather conditions at 82.5 north latitude to locate these giant creatures. Using sophisticated electron microprobe analysis, they revealed the detailed anatomy of the animals, including their muscle and nerve tissues.



The find upsets the traditional timeline of sea predators. Although we've long appreciated that Cambrian oceans were at one time ruled by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWI3-UgA3_o&amp;list=PL1QLQMW9MWDwpkFOnvgAmu7wT6rZmYqdJ&amp;index=19" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">arthropods</a>, these discoveries indicate that relatives of arrow worms were first to dominate the seas. These worms were building sophisticated food webs several million years before other predator groups arose.



Each fossil is a story of ancient hunger, with fossil stomach contents revealing these meter-long beasts dined on heavily armored arthropods regularly, cementing their place as the ocean's first apex predators.



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop...

<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=Ow3JH03PqEQ
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">New York is the site of the world's oldest forest.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-385-million-year-old-trees-discovered">385-million-year-old trees discovered</h2>



Scientists have uncovered something extraordinary just two hours north of New York City. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-oldest-forest-discovered-close-to-new-york-city/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">world's oldest forest</a>, dating back 385 million years, offers a window into how Earth's first complex forests shaped our planet's atmosphere.



Located near <a href="https://townofcairo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cairo, New York</a>, in Greene County, these weren't merely primitive plants struggling to survive. These were sophisticated trees with root systems remarkably similar to modern forests. This ancient woodland predates dinosaurs by 140 million years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cairo-forest-discovery">The Cairo forest discovery</h2>



385 million years ago, upstate New York was a tropical paradise near the equator. Thanks to continental drift, this ancient forest has traveled thousands of miles to its current location.



The fossil forest sits in an abandoned quarry, roughly half the size of a football field. This represents just a slice of what was likely a massive forest system stretching from New York into Pennsylvania.



Charles Ver Straeten, curator of sedimentary rocks at the <a href="https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York State Museum</a>, made the discovery in 2009. While scouting the former highway department property, his trained eye spotted wandering patterns in the stone that looked like marine features.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revolutionary-age-and-preservation">Revolutionary age and preservation</h2>



The site contains 385-million-year-old rocks with fossilized woody roots forming horizontal patterns up to 18 feet (5.5 meters) wide. As Christopher Berry, a paleobotanist at Cardiff University, explains: "You are walking through the roots of ancient trees."



This discovery pushes back advanced tree evolution by millions of years. The research, published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a> in December 2019, fundamentally changes our understanding of when complex forests first emerged.



Researchers believe a massive flood buried the forest floor, creating perfect fossilization conditions. Over millions of years, sediment hardened into rock, preserving these root patterns like nature's time capsule.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-meet-archaeopteris-the-first-modern-tree">Meet Archaeopteris: the first modern tree</h2>



The star of this ancient forest is Archaeopteris – not to be confused with the feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx. This tree was far older and more revolutionary.



William Stein from <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binghamton University</a> describes the roots as "strikingly modern, essentially what you'd see outside in my yard right now." These weren't simple root systems you'd expect from ancient plants.



Some fossilized roots are six inches (15 centimeters) in diameter, forming 36-foot-wide (11-meter) patterns. These giants grew up to 65 feet (20 meters) tall with five-foot-diameter (1.5-meter) trunks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-changing-impact">Climate-changing impact</h2>



These trees fundamentally changed Earth's environment. Kevin Boyce, a Stanford University geoscientist, explains how their deep roots triggered "weathering," chemical reactions that pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.



This process dropped atmospheric CO2 levels from 10-15 times higher than today to roughly modern concentrations. These ancient trees helped create atmospheric conditions that made complex life possible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-forest-ecosystem">Ancient forest ecosystem</h2>



The forest was remarkably diverse. Scientists identified Eospermatopteris, palm tree-like plants with short roots that reached 30 feet (9 meters) tall but lacked woody structure. The forest also housed cladoxylopsids and a mysterious third species still being studied.



All reproduced through spores rather than seeds – millions of years before seeds evolved. This tropical environment had no grass, flowers, or flying insects, just towering trees creating Earth's first complex forest canopy.



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



Before this finding, the Gilboa forest, located 25 miles (40 kilometers) away, held the "oldest forest" title. Cairo's trees are 2-3 million years older, showing that complex forest ecosystems developed much faster than scientists believed possible.



Patricia Gensel, a <a href="https://www.unc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of North Carolina</a> paleobotanist, notes: "The size of those root systems is really changing the picture. Even 20 years ago, researchers assumed trees with such complex root systems didn't evolve so early."



The Cairo site presents three unique root systems, suggesting Devonian period forests were diverse ecosystems with different trees occupying different environmental niches, much like today's forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modern-preservation-efforts">Modern preservation efforts</h2>



In 2022, New York State Senator Michelle Hinchey secured a $170,000 grant for the town of Cairo to construct specialized fencing around the fossil forest site. The town plans to conduct a feasibility study exploring the possibility of creating an educational center and working lab on-site.



Joe Hasenkopf, chair of the Cairo Planning Board, hopes to partner with educational institutions to create a research facility serving scientists, students, and the public.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-today-s-climate">Lessons for today's climate</h2>



Why does a 385-million-year-old forest matter today? It shows how dramatically forests can change Earth's climate. These ancient woodlands created the atmospheric conditions supporting complex life.



Understanding how prehistoric forests transformed the planet helps us appreciate modern forests' critical role in addressing climate change. Forests remain Earth's most effective carbon capture systems.



These prehistoric trees changed Earth's atmosphere by pulling massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. As we face modern climate challenges, this ancient forest reminds us of trees' incredible power to transform our planet's environment.



The next time you walk through a forest, remember you're experiencing an ecosystem whose blueprint was established 385 million years ago in upstate New York. These ancient pioneers didn't just survive – they thrived and changed the world forever.



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ New York is the site of the world's oldest...

<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=prrq8Ql81zk
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Acid rain and a crisis solved.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-don-t-we-ever-hear-about-acid-rain-anymore-the-environmental-crisis-that-was-solved">Why don't we ever hear about "acid rain" anymore? The environmental crisis that was solved</h2>



Remember the 1980s when acid rain dominated headlines? Dire warnings about rain eating buildings, killing fish, and destroying forests filled every news cycle. Then, almost like magic, acid rain vanished from public discourse. What happened? Did we actually solve one of the late 20th century's most pressing environmental challenges?



The answer might surprise you. Unlike many environmental issues that drag on indefinitely, acid rain represents one of modern history's most successful ecological recovery stories. It's a tale of science, politics, and technology working together to tackle what seemed impossible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What was acid rain?</h2>



Acid rain isn't regular rain having a bad day – it's precipitation that became significantly more acidic due to air pollution. When power plants, factories, and vehicles burn fossil fuels, they release sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the atmosphere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The science behind it</h2>



Think of acid rain as nature's chemistry experiment gone wrong. These compounds react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. When mixed with water vapor in clouds, they create precipitation with dangerously low pH levels.



While clean rain has a pH of about 5.6, acid rain could drop as low as 4.2 to 4.4 – roughly as acidic as tomato juice or coffee. According to US Geological Survey documentation, Scottish chemist Angus Smith first coined "acid rain" in 1872, but it didn't become a household phrase until the 1960s and 1970s when Swedish scientist Svante Odén documented its devastating effects on Scandinavian lakes and European forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The crisis at its peak</h2>



During the height of public concern, environmental damage was both widespread and visible. This wasn't some abstract future threat – people could see destruction happening in real-time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Environmental devastation</h2>



The most dramatic impacts were impossible to ignore. Research documented by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation shows that in the Adirondack Mountains, more than 200 lakes became so acidic they couldn't support fish life. The Adirondack Council reports that 409 lakes once supported brook trout, but many lost their fish populations due to acid rain.



By 1976, when scientists cataloged all acidified lakes in the Adirondack Park, researchers found that half of the lakes over 2,000 feet above sea level had no fish, according to studies published in environmental journals. The acidification process worked like a slow-motion disaster. As acid rain fell into watersheds, it gradually lowered pH levels. Fish couldn't survive in acidic water, and their food sources died off too.



Trees at high elevations showed stress directly linked to acid rain. It weakened them by leaching nutrients and making them susceptible to disease. Historical records show Germany's Black Forest saw nearly half its trees damaged by the mid-1980s.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Economic impact</h2>



Acid rain wasn't just environmental – it was expensive. Acidic precipitation corroded infrastructure, buildings, and monuments. Historic stone structures deteriorated at accelerated rates. Tourism suffered as lakes became fishless and forests declined. EPA economic analyses from the period documented repair costs mounting into billions annually.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The solution: government action and technology</h2>



Transformation from crisis to success required unprecedented cooperation between governments, industries, and environmental groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Clean Air Act of 1990</h2>



The turning point came with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, signed by President George H.W. Bush. This represented a fundamentally new approach to environmental regulation, as documented in EPA historical records.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cap-and-trade success</h2>



Instead of mandating specific technologies, the 1990 amendments introduced something revolutionary: a cap-and-trade system for sulfur dioxide emissions. EPA program documentation shows this market-based approach set overall limits but allowed companies to trade emission allowances.



The genius was harnessing market forces to find cost-effective pollution reduction. Companies reducing emissions cheaply could sell excess allowances to those facing higher costs. Research published in environmental economics journals and EPA progress reports shows this resulted in dramatic SO2 reduction at a fraction of projected costs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Technology advances</h2>



Policy provided the framework, but technology made reductions possible. Studies in atmospheric science journals document the widespread adoption of flue gas desulfurization systems ("scrubbers") that removed sulfur dioxide before it reached the atmosphere. By the 2000s, new installations could remove over 95% of SO2 emissions, according to EPA technical reports.



The push coincided with cleaner energy development. Natural gas produces fewer sulfur compounds than coal. Wind and solar, emerging in the 1990s, captured growing market share, reducing reliance on high-sulfur coal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-we-don-t-hear-about-it-today">Why we don't hear about it today</h2>



Why did acid rain disappear from headlines? Simple: the problem was largely solved.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Success doesn't make news</h2>



There's an old journalism saying: "If it bleeds, it leads." Environmental success stories don't generate urgency like crisis reporting. Media attention shifted to other challenges: climate change, plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss. There's only so much environmental anxiety the public can absorb, and newer concerns replaced acid rain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mission accomplished</h2>



The primary reason is beautifully simple: interventions worked. EPA monitoring data shows sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990. Academic research published in environmental science journals confirms pH levels in formerly affected areas returned closer to normal. This represents one of history's most dramatic environmental recoveries. Studies by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation show fishless lakes now support healthy populations. Forests recovered, and building damage slowed dramatically.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-it-really-gone">Is it really gone?</h2>



The crisis is largely resolved, but monitoring data shows the problem isn't completely eliminated – it's managed to acceptable levels. Some areas still experience occasional events during high pollution periods. International environmental research indicates that rapidly industrializing Asian countries face similar problems to what we experienced decades ago, though they're implementing successful strategies.



EPA research shows nitrogen oxide emissions proved more challenging than sulfur dioxide, coming from vehicles and mobile sources. Climate science studies suggest changing weather patterns add complexity to how acid rain forms and falls.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What this teaches us</h2>



The acid rain experience proves that seemingly intractable environmental problems can be solved with scientific understanding, political will, and technological innovation. Environmental monitoring data shows recovery speed was remarkable – within a decade, measurable improvements appeared in air quality and ecosystem health.



Success came from bipartisan support across party lines. Policy analysis studies show the market-based approach appealed to those preferring economic incentives while achieving environmental goals. This support created lasting policy surviving political changes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Conclusion</h2>



Acid rain's disappearance from public consciousness represents environmental science's greatest success stories. Through effective regulation, technological innovation, and international cooperation, we transformed an overwhelming crisis into a manageable challenge.



Today's silence isn't because we forgot – it's because we solved it. The 1990 Clean Air Act, combined with technology and energy market changes, reduced acid rain emissions over 90%, according to comprehensive EPA data analysis.



This success offers hope for current challenges. It proves complex problems can be solved when science, policy, and technology work together. As we face climate change and plastic pollution, acid rain reminds us that dramatic positive change is possible.



Next time someone asks whether environmental regulations work, remember acid rain. It's proof that sometimes, we get it right.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Sources: This article draws from EPA official documentation and progress reports, peer-reviewed research published in environmental and atmospheric science journals, historical data from the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation records, US Geological Survey publications, policy analysis studies, and environmental monitoring data collected over three decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Frequently Asked Questions</h2>



1. Is acid rain completely gone? No, but EPA monitoring shows it's reduced to manageable levels. US sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990, making acid rain much less severe than the 1980s crisis.



2. How long did solving take? Environmental monitoring data shows significant improvements began within 5-10 years of 1990s emission controls. Full ecosystem recovery took longer – some areas need 20-30 years for complete recovery.



3. What made the solution successful? Clear scientific understanding, visible damage motivating action, bipartisan support, available technology, and innovative market-based policies like cap-and-trade.



4. Do other countries have acid rain problems? Yes, particularly rapidly industrializing Asian countries. However, international environmental research shows many implement similar successful control strategies.



5. Could acid rain return? Potentially, if regulations weaken or we return to high-sulfur coal without controls, though effects would take years to become severe according to environmental projections.



6. Can you recommend any teaching tools on the subject of "acid rain"? The United States Environmental Protection Agency produced a wonderful teacher's guide for ages 14 and under that you can find on the EPA website here: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf</a>



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The environmental problem we actually solved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk Acid rain and a crisis solved. Why don't we...

Fresh,Radish,Harvest,On,Soil,In,Garden.

<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://youtu.be/Fi2OeEwuzRM?si=vTyd2m9FMmtyWkex
</div></figure>







Mid-July is an opportune time to kick-start a thriving fall garden, and this guide lays out the best vegetables and herbs to plant now for a fruitful autumn harvest. 



Fast-growing leafy greens such as spinach, lettuce, kale, and arugula perform especially well in the waning summer heat, with harvests beginning as soon as 30 days. 



These cool-season crops relish the transition into fall, offering repeated yields with cut-and-come-again methods.



Root vegetables like radishes, carrots, and beets also excel during this period. Radishes deliver satisfaction in under a month, while carrots and beets mature in about two months. Employing succession planting ensures a continuous stream of produce deep into the cooler months. 



For a boost of fresh flavor, herbs like cilantro, basil, dill, and chervil are excellent picks. These heat-loving varieties flourish in July’s warmth and are harvest-ready in about 30 days, especially when sown continuously.



Gardeners in zones 6 through 9 can benefit from planting bush beans and snap peas, which don’t require trellising and are ideal for compact plots. 



Maturing in 50–60 days, they’re a smart choice for quick, protein-rich harvests. For those in hotter regions, heat-tolerant crops such as okra and southern peas provide reliable yields and thrive in scorching conditions.



This guide emphasizes more than crop selection—it highlights the importance of timing, soil preparation, and ongoing sowing techniques. 



With thoughtful planning and attention to regional climate needs, even late-summer gardeners can enjoy fresh salads, hearty stews, and the satisfaction of a robust, homegrown harvest well into fall.



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

https://youtu.be/Fi2OeEwuzRM?si=vTyd2m9FMmtyWkex Mid-July is an opportune time to kick-start a thriving...

Green,Ecoduct,Over,An,Empty,Highway,During,Sunset.

<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://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU
</div></figure>



A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that wildlife tunnels significantly reduce amphibian road mortality during seasonal migrations. 



Frogs and salamanders often cross roads to reach breeding ponds each spring, but many are killed by vehicles. 



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Vermont</a>, in collaboration with local citizens and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, installed two underpass tunnels in 2015. 



Over a 12-year monitoring period, they observed an 80.2% reduction in amphibian deaths, and up to 94% for non-climbing species like salamanders. 



The study used a before-after-control-impact design and documented more than 5,200 amphibians, highlighting the tunnels’ effectiveness even in nearby buffer zones.



Funded at $342,397 - far cheaper than wildlife crossings for large mammals - the project showcased the power of community-led conservation.



Local groups initiated the effort after observing mass amphibian deaths. Wildlife cameras later captured over 2,200 amphibians using a tunnel in just one spring, along with other species like raccoons and bobcats, indicating wider ecosystem benefits.



This marks the first peer-reviewed, long-term data set in the northeastern U.S. confirming amphibian-specific underpasses work. 



The study urges transportation departments to incorporate these designs into road planning and highlights how community action, thoughtful infrastructure, and persistence can make a real difference for biodiversity.



The full study was published in the <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1617138125000780" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal for Nature Conservation</a>.



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that...

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing it with probiotics and prebiotics, aiming to create a treat that satisfies cravings while supporting gut health. 



The challenge lies in maintaining chocolate's beloved texture and flavor while adding health benefits.



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter 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://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



Prebiotics act as food for these microbes, helping them thrive. Together, they form "synbiotics," a powerful health combination.



Researchers Smriti Gaur and Shubhi Singh from India's Jaypee Institute of Information Technology took an innovative approach, using natural prebiotics like corn and honey instead of complex processing methods. 



They created five chocolate varieties: a control and four synbiotic versions containing different combinations of prebiotics, probiotics (Lactobacillus strains), and flavor enhancers (cinnamon or orange).



Laboratory simulations of human digestion showed the probiotics remained viable for over five hours, suggesting they could survive long enough to benefit gut health.



Taste tests were positive, with researchers particularly enjoying the orange-flavored variety, describing it as having "vibrant citrus notes" complementing the "rich cocoa" with a "luxurious" texture.



This research represents just the beginning. With further refinement of strains, textures, and flavors, chocolate could evolve beyond mere indulgence to become a functional food that nourishes while it delights.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00741" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ACS Food Science &amp; Technology</a>.

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"]</div>



Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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Spiral,Galaxy,,Illustration,Of,Milky,Way

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Astronomers at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> have created an interactive map of the universe, including the actual position and real colors of 200,000 galaxies. The map allows the public to access data that was previously only available to scientists.



The map was developed using data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For over two decades, a telescope in New Mexico was aimed at slightly different locations to capture the night sky.&nbsp;



"Growing up I was very inspired by astronomy pictures, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it's our time to create a new type of picture to inspire people," said map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins. "Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries. But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."



"In this map, we are just a speck at the very bottom, just one pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way which has billions of stars and planets. We are used to seeing astronomical pictures showing one galaxy here, one galaxy there or perhaps a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale."



"From this speck at the bottom, we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science."



The <a href="https://mapoftheuniverse.net/">interactive map</a> is available online, where it can be downloaded for free.



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&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> Staff Writer 



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.

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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