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...

Late nights, alcohol, and smoking on weekends may be doing more than ruining Monday mornings. Researchers from Flinders University warn that these habits could trigger a newly identified sleep issue called "social apnea."



Published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the study describes social apnea as a weekend spike in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity caused by lifestyle changes and irregular sleep patterns.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sleep-apnea-is-underestimated">Sleep apnea is underestimated </h2>



The research analyzed data from over 70,000 people worldwide using a validated under-mattress <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-quality-could-be-the-key-to-better-metabolic-health/">sleep</a> sensor. This device, which is FDA-cleared, accurately measures the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and sleep timing.



“Sleep apnea is already a major public health issue, but our findings suggest its true impact may be underestimated,” said lead author Dr. Lucia Pinilla.



“Most clinical diagnostic testing is done on a single night, typically a weeknight, missing the weekend effect we’re now calling social apnea.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-weekend-habits-and-social-apnea">Weekend habits and social apnea</h2>



Dr. Pinilla explains that the weekend surge in sleep-disordered breathing could raise risks for heart disease, depression, dementia, and fatigue-related accidents.



Participants were 18% more likely to have moderate to severe OSA on Saturdays compared to Wednesdays. Men had a 21% higher risk, while women had a 9% increase. Younger adults under 60 faced a 24% higher risk, compared to 7% in those over 60.



Weekend catch-up <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-prepares-the-brain-for-the-future-while-protecting-memories-of-the-past/">sleep</a> of at least 45 minutes increased weekend OSA odds by 47%, while social jetlag of 60 minutes or more raised it by 38 percent.



Danny Eckert, a professor at <a href="https://www.flinders.edu.au" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Flinders University</a>, says this study is the first time researchers have found proof that OSA gets worse on weekends compared to weekdays. 



“We don’t yet know exactly why, but alcohol use, lighter sleep, and less consistent use of OSA therapies likely play a role.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-seasons-can-make-symptoms-worse">Seasons can make symptoms worse</h2>



Dr. Bastien Lechat, lead author of a related study published in Communications Medicine, says seasonal changes may trigger similar OSA fluctuations.



“OSA tends to be worse during summer and winter, with severity increasing by 8-19% compared to spring and autumn,” said Dr. Lechat.



“This seasonal spike is partly explained by higher temperatures, which disrupt <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/going-to-sleep-at-random-times-could-be-harming-your-health/">sleep</a> and lead to lighter sleep stages which is associated with worse OSA. In winter, longer sleep and later wake up times, increase time spent in REM sleep, which is also linked to more frequent apnea events.”



These findings mirror the weekend pattern and highlight that both social and environmental factors influence obstructive sleep apnea.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-weekend-changes-matter">Why weekend changes matter</h2>



The study revealed that apnea-hypopnea index levels were on average 6% higher on weekends, equivalent to nearly one more apnea event per hour at the group level.



Irregular sleep patterns were strongly linked to this effect. Those with consistent sleep schedules showed no significant weekend increase. 



Since OSA is often worse during REM sleep, weekend sleep-ins may extend REM stages, intensifying symptoms.



Such patterns could carry major public health costs. Even small increases in OSA severity may significantly impact <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-may-have-just-solved-the-mystery-of-sleep/">wellbeing</a> and healthcare expenses.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tests-may-miss-social-apnea">Tests may miss social apnea</h2>



Professor Eckert warns that relying on a single-night sleep study may lead to underdiagnosis or misclassification. OSA testing usually happens on weeknights, overlooking weekend variability.



Historically, OSA treatment adherence has been measured over five nights a week, allowing for lower weekend use. The findings suggest that inconsistent weekend therapy use could be a key driver of social apnea.



To reduce weekend spikes, Professor Eckert advises maintaining a steady sleep schedule. "Try to keep the same sleep schedule throughout the week and weekend, ensuring that you get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep a night."



“Keeping a fixed wake-up time and using your prescribed OSA therapy, even on weekends, and going to bed when you feel sleepy will help ensure you frequently get enough restorative sleep which can help combat the weekend spike in OSA.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-osa-and-its-impact">Understanding OSA and its impact</h2>



OSA affects about one billion people worldwide and is caused by repeated airway collapse during sleep. Untreated, it raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cognitive decline, depression, and even death.



People concerned about their sleep should consult their doctor for assessment. The study confirms that social apnea is a global phenomenon, with consistent weekend increases in OSA severity across different countries and climates.



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/rccm.202505-1184RL" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine</a>.



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Social events on weekends can worsen sleep apnea

Late nights, alcohol, and smoking on weekends may be doing...

In social media, not all feelings travel the same way. A new peer-reviewed study finds that anxiety, love, and surprise tend to carry posts farther, while anger, sadness, and even joy can slow things down.



The team analyzed 387,486 articles shared by more than 6 million users on WeChat, then tracked how each article spread through the network using a dictionary of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/teenagers-with-anxiety-or-depression-spend-more-time-on-social-media-according-to-experts/">emotion</a> words tied to eight distinct feelings.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-emotions-and-social-media-posts">Emotions and social media posts</h2>



The research was led by Yifan Yu, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin <a href="https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">McCombs</a> School of Business. 



The paper helps resolve the long-standing debate over whether simply classifying something as positive or negative is sufficient to explain sharing.



"Expressions of anxiety exhibit the most positive impact on online content diffusion," wrote Yu and colleagues. 



The authors worked with eight discrete <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/social-media-pressure-is-straining-teen-friendships/">emotions</a>: anxiety, sadness, anger, disgust, love, joy, surprise, and anticipation. They detected these emotions using a custom lexicon built and validated for large-scale text analysis.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-social-media-spread">Tracking social media spread</h2>



The researchers reconstructed each article’s diffusion cascade, then measured size, depth, maximum breadth, and a property known as structural virality. 



Those metrics capture how many people a post reaches and the shape of its spread through different layers of reshares.



The new study reports that anxiety, love, and surprise push cascades to reach more people and spread more deeply and broadly. Anger, sadness, and joy correlate with smaller or shallower cascades in this dataset.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-online-sharing-and-emotional-arousal">Online sharing and emotional arousal </h2>



Patterns also differed by audience. Older users were more likely to share articles steeped in anger or anxiety, while younger users were more drawn to disgust-laden <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gen-ai-and-social-media-divert-peoples-attention-from-climate-crisis/">content</a>.



Network position mattered. Users with many friends tended to share articles showing love, anxiety, anticipation, or disgust, while users with fewer friends were more likely to pass along anger or surprise.



Ties shaped the path as well. Anger and anxiety spread more through strong ties, and articles marked by sadness drew less participation from female users than from male users in this sample.



Where earlier work highlighted the power of emotional arousal, the new results show that arousal is not the whole story. 



Even when emotions share the same valence and arousal, their specific effects can diverge. Broader research on emotion and decision-making shows that particular emotions shape judgment and behavior in distinct ways.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-culture-changes-social-media-emotions">Culture changes social media emotions</h2>



Language and culture shape how emotions are expressed and understood online. On the Chinese platform WeChat, communication often blends text with stickers, voice notes, and short videos.



Emotional cues may be interpreted differently on WeChat compared to Western social networks. This makes cultural context a key factor in understanding why certain emotions may boost or hinder sharing.



Studies have shown that cultural norms influence not only which emotions are acceptable to express publicly, but also how strongly those emotions are conveyed. 



These norms can alter the meaning and perceived appropriateness of emotional language, potentially amplifying or muting a post’s viral potential.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-using-emotions-in-social-media">Using emotions in social media</h2>



Writers and editors can treat emotion as a design choice, not a blunt instrument. Anxiety and love often motivate people to connect, support, or warn, which can translate into sharing when handled with care and useful context.



Platforms could develop tools to gauge the emotional intensity of rapidly spreading content and flag unusually charged streams for policy review. This may help prevent harmful content without unfairly punishing people for having negative feelings.



Responsible use matters. Emotion can inform and mobilize, but it can also overwhelm and mislead if it becomes the message rather than the signal for what to do next.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-social-media-posts-matter">Why social media posts matter</h2>



Previous research on structural virality shows that even when two posts reach the same number of people, they can spread in very different patterns - and those patterns reveal insights about influence and how resistant content is to moderation.



Interest in how emotions shape online sharing keeps growing. A recent review of research on sentiment diffusion shows that emotions affect not just how fast information spreads, but also how widely it reaches. 



The main takeaway is simple: if you want people to share something, the specific emotion you trigger matters just as much as whether it is positive or negative.



The study is published in <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/isre.2022.0611" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Information Systems Research</a>.



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Emotions shape what goes viral on social media

In social media, not all feelings travel the same way....

A new wave of mental health research may come from an unexpected source - tiny pond-dwelling worms. While they lack the complexity of mammalian brains, these creatures share surprising similarities in how they respond to certain drugs.



Scientists are now exploring whether these simple animals could take on a big role in developing treatments for serious <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/even-simplest-organisms-like-worms-have-unique-personalities/">mental illnesses</a>, all while sparing countless mice and rats from laboratory testing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-worms-aid-mental-health-research">Worms aid mental health research</h2>



Scientists from the <a href="https://www.reading.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Reading</a> have discovered that harmless flatworms called planaria could help develop treatments for conditions like schizophrenia. 



These small creatures respond to psychiatric medicines in ways similar to mice and rats. When given haloperidol, a drug used for mental health conditions, the worms became far less active, much like rodents do.



Past research has used planaria to explore epilepsy treatments and drug addiction, as they can show withdrawal symptoms. 



The new study suggests the worms could be used to test medicines for schizophrenia and hallucinations. A <a href="https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2024/11/26/researchers-warn-360000-patients-in-the-uk-risk-being-trapped-on-antipsychotics/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2024 study</a> found that one in 69 UK adults uses anti-psychotic medication long-term.



"This finding adds to growing evidence that tiny flatworms like planaria could play a valuable role in how we study the brain. They display certain responses to psychiatric drugs that resemble those seen in mammals, but using them involves far fewer ethical concerns," noted Professor Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy, who led the study.



"Close to a million mice and rats are used in UK research each year, but using planaria instead could potentially cut those numbers and still give us the answers we need to develop better treatments for people with serious <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mental-health-crisis-half-of-the-worlds-population-will-be-affected-by-age-75/">mental health</a> conditions. It's good for science and it’s good for animal welfare."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-replacing-lab-rodents">Replacing lab rodents</h2>



Haloperidol works by calming overactive brain activity in people whose thoughts are racing or confused. Scientists often use animals, but now also study worms, to see how this drug affects the brain and to design better mental health treatments. 



UK government data shows that in 2023, 882,000 mice and 144,060 rats were used in research. A 2016 study found that rodent use in neuroscience had increased from 20% in the 1980s to over 50% by the 2010s. 



Even with growing efforts to make research more ethical, rodents remain the main test subjects. Planaria could reduce their numbers significantly.



The research explored how cyclodextrins - ring-shaped sugar molecules - can change the way haloperidol behaves in water. Types like hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin and methyl-β-cyclodextrin boosted haloperidol’s solubility up to nearly 20 times compared to its natural level. 



This works because cyclodextrins can trap haloperidol molecules inside their cavities. However, when trapped, the drug entered the worms less easily, showing that strong binding can limit delivery.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sugars-change-drug-behavior">Sugars change drug behavior</h2>



Analyses confirmed that haloperidol and these cyclodextrins form stable 1:1 inclusion complexes in worms. 



Advanced methods like nuclear magnetic resonance and thermal studies revealed that one aromatic ring of haloperidol sits inside the sugar ring’s cavity, offering insights for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-to-maximize-the-mental-health-benefits-of-exercise/">mental health</a> research.



These complexes exist in an amorphous state, meaning the drug loses its crystal form. While this can help with dissolving the drug, it may also affect how quickly it becomes available in living systems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-impact-on-mobility-tests">Impact on mobility tests</h2>



The study measured how the worms moved in different solutions. Pure haloperidol reduced their mobility in a dose-dependent way, mimicking the catalepsy seen in mammals. 



Cyclodextrin complexes caused a smaller drop in movement, likely because the drug was held too tightly. Interestingly, pure cyclodextrins also slowed the worms slightly.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-worms-teach-mental-health-science">Worms teach mental health science</h2>



The findings from this research have already made their way into the classroom at the University of Reading, influencing how future scientists are trained. 



In undergraduate pharmacology courses, students are now introduced to the effects of haloperidol on planaria as part of their practical learning.



By observing how these simple organisms respond to the drug, students gain a deeper understanding of both the medicine’s action and the broader principles of neuropharmacology.



This early exposure to innovative and ethical research methods offers more than just technical knowledge. It encourages young scientists to think critically about alternatives to traditional animal testing, showing them that valuable results can come from models that reduce harm to higher animals. 



Such hands-on experience not only builds practical skills but also shapes attitudes, potentially inspiring the next generation to develop humane, efficient, and impactful approaches to studying treatments for mental health <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exercise-reduces-depression-and-anxiety-in-children-and-teens-with-mental-health-issues/">conditions</a>.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11095-025-03909-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pharmaceutical Research</a>.



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Tiny worms could change how we test mental health drugs

A new wave of mental health research may come from...

A submarine fiber-optic cable has revealed how glacier calving stirs fjords long after the splash. The measurements capture surface tsunamis and towering internal waves triggered by glaciers that mix warm and cold layers.



The result is faster underwater melting and a powerful feedback loop that helps glaciers shed ice.



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Washington</a> and partner institutions recorded calving across South Greenland’s Eqalorutsit Kangilliit Sermiat by laying a sensing cable along the fjord floor. The work shows how to quantify a process that is accelerating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/emergency-meeting-reveals-the-alarming-extent-of-antarcticas-ice-loss/">ice loss</a> and affecting ocean circulation and ecosystems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-remote-view-of-glacier-edge">Remote view of glacier edge</h2>



The front of a glacier is no place to linger. Ice blocks the size of buildings break free and hurl into the sea. Traditional instruments cannot safely sit in the impact zone.



“We took the fiber to a glacier and we measured this calving multiplier effect that we never could have seen with simpler technology,” said co-author Brad Lipovsky, a geophysicist at the University of Washington. “It’s the kind of thing we’ve just never been able to quantify before.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-light-tracks-waves-from-glaciers">Light tracks waves from glaciers</h2>



The team used Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS). A 10-kilometer cable was unspooled from a boat near the glacier’s mouth. A compact receiver pulsed light and read tiny changes as the cable strained. 



Those optical backscatter patterns recorded ground motion and temperature at thousands of points along the line, for three weeks.



The setup turned the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-fjords-show-signs-of-struggle-in-a-warming-world/">fjord</a> into an instrument. It registered the instant of impact when ice hit the water and followed the wake as icebergs sped past - some as big as stadiums and moving 15 to 20 miles per hour. It also captured what the eye cannot see.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-glaciers-waves-and-warm-water">Glaciers, waves, and warm water</h2>



Calving first launches a surface surge. These calving-induced <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/20-years-later-remembering-the-worlds-deadliest-tsunami/">tsunamis</a> rake the fjord’s top layers. Then the surface calms. The cable, however, kept shaking. Beneath the still water, internal gravity waves rolled between density layers.



“When icebergs break off, they excite all sorts of waves,” said lead author Dominik Gräff, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington.



The internal waves were as tall as skyscrapers and lasted longer than the surface swell. They mixed the water column, lifting warmth upward and pushing cold water downward. That sustained stirring renewed contact between the glacier face and warmer water at depth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-feedback-loop-accelerates-melt">Feedback loop accelerates melt</h2>



Glaciers are top-heavy where they meet the ocean, while most of their mass hides below the surface. Warm water erodes the submerged ice and hollows the base. 



Afterward, calving sheds the overhanging top. The splash does more than make noise. It stirs the fjord like a spoon in a drink.



Gräff used a simple image. Around an ice cube, still water turns cool and forms a thin insulating layer. Stirring strips that layer away, making the cube melt faster. 



In the fjord, calving does the stirring, and the boundary layer at the ice front is disrupted again and again. The researchers observed a large event every few hours.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-it-matters-well-beyond-one-fjord"><a></a>Why it matters well beyond one fjord</h2>



The Greenland ice sheet is shrinking. It is a frozen cap roughly three times the size of Texas. If it melted, sea levels would rise by about 25 feet, inundating coasts and displacing millions. 



Scientists also worry about the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/polar-warming-could-reduce-ocean-currents-amoc-and-cause-massive-flooding-in-the-us/">AMOC</a>), which moves heat and nutrients around the globe since ice loss and freshwater inputs can weaken that system.



“Our whole Earth system depends, at least in part, on these ice sheets,” Gräff said. “It’s a fragile system, and if you disturb it even just a little bit, it could collapse."



"We need to understand the turning points, and this requires deep, process-based knowledge of glacial mass loss.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-improving-models-and-warning-systems">Improving models and warning systems </h2>



Before this expedition, no one had attempted to capture calving with a submarine fiber-optic array.



“We didn’t know if this was going to work,” Lipovsky said. “But now we have data to support something that was only an idea before.”



The cable recorded internal waves not only from the splash but also from glaciers as they cruised down the fjord. Earlier studies relied on isolated bottom sensors and strings of thermometers, which offered only snapshots.



The fiber delivered a movie, with both space and time resolved along the entire line. That level of detail can improve models and inform warning systems for calving-induced tsunamis in narrow fjords.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fiber-optics-in-glacial-science">Fiber optics in glacial science</h2>



“There is a fiber-sensing revolution going on right now,” Lipovsky said. “It’s become much more accessible in the past decade, and we can use this technology in these amazing settings.”



The approach is scalable. Cables can be redeployed, linked, and left in place. They can watch a fjord through seasons, storms, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-has-made-heatwaves-more-deadly/">heatwaves</a> and can record the subtle shifts that push a glacier toward a tipping point.



The lesson is clear: watch the waves you cannot see, and you will learn how glaciers vanish. With that knowledge, scientists can better forecast sea-level rise and its cascading effects - from coastlines to currents to communities.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09347-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Glaciers are melting from hidden underwater waves

A submarine fiber-optic cable has revealed how glacier calving stirs...

On August 12, 2025, researchers studying weaver ants announced a finding many have long wished to see in teamwork: individual effort increasing as the group grows. 



The effect showed up in simple pulling tasks that mimic how these ants build their leaf nests.



The finding runs against the usual story in human teams, where added hands often mean less effort per person. 



Here, the average contribution per <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-many-ants-live-on-earth-at-any-point-in-time-total-number-is-astounding/">ant</a> climbed with team size, and the group pulled more efficiently than a stack of single workers could deliver.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ants-work-harder-in-bigger-teams">Ants work harder in bigger teams</h2>



“Each individual <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/paleontologists-found-the-oldest-ant-species-on-earth-113-million-years-old-with-scythe-like-jaws/">ant</a> almost doubled their pulling force as team size increased - they actually got better at working together as the group got bigger,” said study lead author Madelyne Stewardson of <a href="https://www.mq.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Macquarie University</a>.



To test this, the researchers coaxed colonies to form living chains and tug an artificial leaf connected to a force meter, letting them measure output from teams of different lengths.



The result pushes back on the Ringelmann effect, a well known drop in individual effort as group size grows. This effect was first discussed in rope-pulling studies and formalized in social psychology in 1979. 



Decades of work have shown that social loafing happens across many tasks and settings.



A large meta-analysis later confirmed this pattern across 78 studies, noting strong roles for evaluation, expectations, and meaning in whether people keep trying hard in groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pulling-and-anchoring-boost-force">Pulling and anchoring boost force</h2>



The authors describe a force ratchet inside the ant chain, a division of labor where front ants pull while others act as anchors that resist sliding and store elastic energy in the system. This arrangement converts short, local efforts into a larger, steadier team force.



Physical details help this work. Ant attachment pads and friction hairs can switch between stick and slip under shear, producing strong grip when pulled and easier release when pushed, a well documented feature of climbing pads in insects.



In weaver ants specifically, dense tarsal hair arrays and the soft pads called <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4641605/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">arolia</a> generate friction and adhesion that scale with load and sliding, boosting traction in long chains that stay put while the front keeps hauling.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-weaver-ants-could-inspire-robots">Weaver ants could inspire robots</h2>



Engineers have aimed for the same mix of scalability and robustness in swarm robotics, where many simple robots coordinate through local rules rather than central control. 



Swarms can be flexible, but coordination losses often blunt the gains you would expect from larger teams.



Recent reviews of collective transport highlight the challenge, showing how controller design and contact mechanics limit how well multi-robot groups combine forces on one object. 



The ant strategy offers a practical blueprint: assign distinct roles that turn a delicate, shear-sensitive grip into stored force, then convert that force into movement with no wasted effort.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-bigger-picture-for-biology">The bigger picture for biology</h2>



Weaver ants, Oecophylla smaragdina, are famous for aerial nests made by pulling leaves together and gluing edges with silk produced by larvae, a behavior documented across colonies that span several trees. 



The species ranges across the Old World tropics, where large colonies build many leaf chambers and dominate tree canopies.



The force ratchet result adds a missing piece to that toolkit. Chains that both pull and lock down can stabilize leaf edges against recoil, then let other workers stitch the seam. That way, mechanics and behavior line up with the materials at hand and the job to be done.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-weaver-ants-without-leaders">Weaver ants without leaders</h2>



Work on weaver <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-you-give-caffeine-to-ants-many-interesting-things-happen/">ants</a> has already shown that groups can coordinate direction without leaders during cooperative transport, relying on local cues and the forces that pass through the object being moved. 



The new findings complement that picture by showing how teams scale force while maintaining control.



Together, these studies point to a consistent theme: simple rules at the individual level can yield precise, scalable performance at the group level when the physics of contact, friction, and elasticity are on your side. That alignment is what multi-robot teams often lack.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-weaver-ants-and-swarm-robotics">Weaver ants and swarm robotics</h2>



It will be interesting to see robots tested with ant-like roles, with some units pulling while others lock and store force through controlled shear against the ground or the payload. 



The authors’ description of a force ratchet suggests algorithms that manage who anchors and who pulls, and when to hand off - all while exploiting shear-sensitive contact.



These concepts are ready for lab testing, pitting straightforward linear output against ant-style scaling in teams of legged or wheeled <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/robotic-insects-may-be-the-future-of-farming-and-plant-pollination/">robots</a>. 



If successful, the method could benefit logistics, disaster response, and any situation where numerous small agents need to move something larger than any one of them.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S096098222500939X" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a>.



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Weaver ants could inspire robots that work like a dream team

On August 12, 2025, researchers studying weaver ants announced a...

For years, oxytocin has been tagged as the “cuddle hormone” - a brain chemical linked with romance, trust, and human connection. It’s known to be released during sex, childbirth, breastfeeding, and moments of warmth between people.



You might have even heard advice about boosting oxytocin with hugs, music, or exercise. But the picture is more complicated.



Recent research suggests oxytocin isn’t just about love and affection - and in some cases, it’s not even necessary for romantic bonding. The latest twist? Scientists have found that it plays a key role in forming <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-happens-in-the-brain-when-two-people-are-in-sync/">friendships</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-oxytocin-s-role-in-forming-bonds">Oxytocin’s role in forming bonds</h2>



Researchers at the <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, Berkeley</a>, working with collaborators at UC San Francisco, turned to an unlikely model for friendship: the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/social-behavior-of-voles-linked-to-oxytocin-levels/">prairie vole</a>. 



These small, furry creatures are famous for forming long-term, selective relationships, both with mates and with peers. That makes them a useful stand-in for exploring the biology of human social life.



“Prairie voles are special because they allow us to get at the neurobiology of friendship and how it’s similar to and different from other types of relationships,” said Annaliese Beery, a UC Berkeley associate professor of integrative biology and neuroscience and senior author of the study.



The team focused on what happens when voles are missing oxytocin receptors - the brain’s landing pads for the hormone. Without them, the animals could still form friendships, but the process took much longer.



“Oxytocin seems to be particularly important in the early formation phase of relationships and especially in the selectivity of those relationships: ‘I prefer you to this stranger,’ for example,” Beery said. “The animals that didn't have intact oxytocin signaling took longer to form relationships. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-missing-hormone-slows-connection">Missing hormone slows connection</h2>



In normal circumstances, prairie voles show their friendships by huddling, grooming, and even sitting on each other. But for those without receptors for the hormone oxytocin, the bonding delay was obvious.



The receptor-lacking voles also seemed less motivated to be with their friends, and less likely to avoid or act aggressively toward strangers. 



“In other words, oxytocin is playing a crucial role not so much in how social they are, but more in who they are social with, their selectivity,” Beery explained.



The change ran deeper than behavior. Using a nanosensor developed in the UC Berkeley lab of chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Markita Landry, the team found that missing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-receptor-that-controls-neurons-will-help-us-understand-autism/">receptors</a> altered the way oxytocin was released in the brain.



“That helped us understand the feedback consequences of lacking this receptor, and how oxytocin signaling was altered in the brain,” Beery said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-friendship-before-romance">Friendship before romance?</h2>



Beery has long wondered whether friendships - or “selective peer relationships” in scientific terms - might have evolved before monogamous mating in animals like voles. 



Her lab’s field studies have shown that many vole species naturally form these peer bonds, even when they aren’t <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-basis-of-lasting-love-is-more-complex-than-expected/">monogamous</a>.



"While most rodents prefer to interact with unfamiliar individuals, it turns out that the majority of vole species we’ve tested form peer-partner preferences, which is what we call these selective friendships," Beery said. "So there seems to be this widespread tendency to bond." 



"But only a couple of those species are also monogamous. Someday, I hope to be able to tell you, 'Do selective peer relationships precede the development of monogamy? Is that why monogamy has evolved so many times in this genus?' I think this familiarity preference is deeply rooted."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-friendships-formed-in-a-day">Friendships formed in a day</h2>



To explore how signaling from the hormone oxytocin shapes friendship, the researchers ran three main experiments. 



In the first, known as the bond speed test, normal voles typically formed a clear partner preference within 24 hours of co-housing. In contrast, oxytocin receptor-deficient voles showed no such preference until about a week later.



“Wild-type animals form this incredibly robust preference within one day of co-housing, but the null mutants have no sign of a relationship after 24 hours," Beery said. "After a week, they mostly get there, and the lifetime partners look no different from each other.” 



“Our conclusion from that experiment is that oxytocin isn't required to have a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/for-men-relationship-satisfaction-can-prevent-workplace-burnout/">relationship,</a> but it's really important in those early phases of a relationship to facilitate it happening quickly and efficiently.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-social-loyalty-under-pressure">Social loyalty under pressure</h2>



The second experiment, the “party test,” placed the voles in a large enclosure with multiple rooms and other animals. 



Normal voles tended to stick with their known partner before mingling, while the receptor-lacking voles didn’t show that same loyalty.



“They can all separate, they can all come together, or they can hang out in any combinations that they want,” Beery said. “The wild-type animals keep track of who they know. It's like if I went to a party with a friend, I would stand near that friend for the first part of the party and then I might start to mingle. 



"The voles that lack oxytocin receptors just mixed. It was as if they didn't even have a partner in there with them.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-the-value-of-friends">Testing the value of friends</h2>



The third experiment, called the friendship rewards test, measured how hard the voles would work to reach a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-moms-meddle-friend-disapproval-worsens-teen-behavior/">friend</a> or mate. 



In a lever-pressing setup, normal females pressed more to access a friend or mate than to reach a stranger. The receptor-deficient voles still preferred their mates but showed no extra effort for friends.



“Female wild-type voles typically press more to get their partner than to get a stranger, in both peer and mate relationships," Beery said. "The oxytocin receptor deficient mutants also press more to get to their mating partner, but not for peer relationships.” 



“That makes sense at some level because we think mate relationships are more rewarding than peer relationships, or at least they depend more on reward-signaling pathways.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bonds-and-boundaries-in-friendships">Bonds and boundaries in friendships</h2>



One surprising twist: the receptor-lacking voles’ reduced selectivity made them friendlier to strangers. 



“You can see contributions of oxytocin signaling to both sides of selectivity,” Beery said. “On the prosocial side, it’s involved in wanting to be with a known friend or peer, while on the antisocial side, it’s aiding in rejecting an unfamiliar animal."



The researchers observed that oxytocin influenced both affiliation and aggression in prairie voles, mirroring human findings on its role in in-group/out-group dynamics.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-oxytocin-s-friendship-connection">Oxytocin’s friendship connection</h2>



While this research focuses on voles, it raises big questions for human relationships. If oxytocin shapes not just our desire to bond, but who we choose to bond with, it could offer clues for conditions like autism or schizophrenia. 



In these conditions, social connections can be harder to build and maintain.



For now, the work shows that oxytocin might deserve a new nickname. Forget the “<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-love-hormone-oxytocin-may-improve-cognitive-decline/">love hormone</a>.” Maybe it’s the “friendship hormone” we should be talking about.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982225009431" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a>.



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Oxytocin has a hidden influence on who we call friends

For years, oxytocin has been tagged as the “cuddle hormone”...

Transforming the way we grow, eat, and waste food could halt and even reverse land degradation. A new analysis shows that cutting food waste and scaling sustainable ocean foods would free land on a continental scale.



 Pair that with ambitious restoration, and the world could bend the curve on climate and biodiversity while strengthening global health.



The case comes from 21 scientists who lay out a food system roadmap to land recovery. The research quantifies how much land could be spared by 2050 and sets a higher restoration target. 



To accomplish this, the authors argue that food must move to the center of climate, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-are-the-biggest-drivers-of-biodiversity-loss/">biodiversity</a>, and land agendas.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-make-food-the-priority">Make food the priority</h2>



“Food systems have not yet been fully incorporated into intergovernmental agreements, nor do they receive sufficient focus in current strategies to address <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/land-degradation-severely-threatens-planetary-boundaries/">land degradation</a>,” the authors wrote.



“Rapid, integrated reforms focused on global <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vicious-cycle-food-systems-both-suffer-from-and-cause-emissions/">food systems</a>, however, can move land health from crisis to recovery and secure a healthier, more stable planet for all.”



The scientists call for a 50 percent restoration goal by 2050, up from the current 30 percent by 2030. That level of recovery would add back about 5 million square miles of land - roughly 1.16 million square miles of cropland and 3.86 million square miles of non-cropland.



People on the land, such Indigenous Peoples, smallholders, women, and other vulnerable communities, should lead the work. It also means fair access to technology, secure tenure, and markets, backed by farm supports that reward stewardship, not depletion.



Transparent labels can guide better choices, while better data can track impacts in real time. Moreover, taxes and tariffs can favor low-impact producers and hold polluters to account.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-slash-food-waste-spare-the-soil"><a></a>Slash food waste, spare the soil</h2>



Globally, about 21.8 million square miles of land feed humanity. We lose roughly a third of that effort as waste -14 percent after harvest and 19 percent in stores, restaurants, and homes.



Cut <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/food-waste-has-a-surprising-impact-on-climate-change/">food waste</a> by three quarters and you spare an estimated 5.17 million square miles - land that need not be plowed or grazed.



Policy can drive the change, preventing overproduction and spoilage. Governments and businesses should expand donation channels and near-expiry discounts, and enforce public education that cuts household waste. 



Additionally, small farmers could improve storage and cold chains. Spain, for example, now requires stores to donate or sell surplus food and asks restaurants to offer take-home containers. 



Cutting food waste also mandates formal waste-reduction plans along the supply chain. Such steps show what rapid progress can look like.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bring-seafood-into-the-menu"><a></a>Bring seafood into the menu</h2>



Red meat produced in unsustainable ways uses vast pasture and feed, and emits large amounts of greenhouse gases. 



Nutritious <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/imported-seafood-is-spreading-antibiotic-resistance-genes/">seafood</a> and seaweed can ease that pressure. Seaweed needs no freshwater and absorbs carbon as it grows. Replacing 70 percent of unsustainable red meat with sustainable seafood could spare 6.6 million square miles of land.



If seaweed-derived foods replaced just 10 percent of global vegetable intake, more than 154,000 square miles of cropland could be freed. This shift would open vast areas for other uses or restoration.



These shifts matter most in wealthy countries with high meat consumption. In some poorer regions, animal products remain vital for nutrition, so any change must be tailored and just.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-africa-sized-land-restored">Africa-sized land restored</h2>



Two big moves - waste cuts and ocean-based foods - could spare about 11.9 million square miles by mid-century, an area roughly equal to Africa.



Combine that with restoring half of degraded land, and the total spared or restored area reaches about 16.9 million square miles between 2020 and 2050.



The climate dividend would be large. The authors estimate about 13 gigatons of CO₂-equivalent mitigated each year through 2050.



Biodiversity would also benefit as habitats recover and pressure to convert remaining natural ecosystems declines. Food security and health would strengthen as soils, watersheds, and diets improve.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-working-together-for-restoration">Working together for restoration</h2>



“This paper presents a bold, integrated set of actions to tackle land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change together, as well as a clear pathway for implementing them by 2050,” said lead author Fernando Maestre from the <a href="https://www.kaust.edu.sa/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">King Abdullah University of Science and Technology</a> (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia.



Transforming food systems, restoring land, promoting sustainable seafood, and fostering global cooperation can reverse land degradation and advance <a href="https://www.unccd.int/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UN Convention to Combat Desertification</a> (UNCCD) goals.



“Once soils lose fertility, water tables deplete, and biodiversity is lost, restoring the land becomes exponentially more expensive," said Barron Orr, UNCCD Chief Scientist. "Ongoing rates of land degradation contribute to a cascade of mounting global challenges."



“Land degradation isn’t just a rural issue, it affects the food on all our plates, the air we breathe, and the stability of the world we live in.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-joining-forces-to-heal-land">Joining forces to heal land</h2>



The authors urge the three Rio Conventions - on biodiversity, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/oases-grow-by-human-effort-but-face-threats-from-desertification/">desertification</a>, and climate - to align around land and food goals, share cutting-edge knowledge, track progress, and turn science into policy faster.



They note that Parties to the UNCCD have already agreed to avoid, reduce, and reverse degradation on agricultural lands, most recently at COP16 in Riyadh. Coordination can speed action on the ground, link national targets, and unlock finance.



The message is clear. Fix food systems, and land can recover. Do it fast, do it fairly, and the world gets a safer climate, richer nature, and healthier lives.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09365-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Global food shift could free up land the size of Africa

Transforming the way we grow, eat, and waste food could...

For decades, parents, educators, and even scientists have shared the belief that learning a musical instrument sharpens the brain’s ability to process sound. 



The idea has been simple and appealing - practice your scales, and you’ll not only make music but also tune your ears for clearer, faster hearing, even in noisy places. It’s a claim that has fueled school programs, music camps, and countless conversations about the benefits of music.



But a new large-scale study from the <a href="https://umich.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Michigan</a> and other partner institutions has taken a closer look at this theory. 



The results may surprise those who have long promoted the brain-boosting power of music lessons. The researchers found no evidence that musical training improves the brain’s earliest processing of sound.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-no-boost-from-musical-training">No boost from musical training</h2>



The team used pre-registered methods, large sample sizes of more than 260 participants, and rigorous replications of past experiments. They tested two widely cited claims, including the idea that musicians can process speech in noisy backgrounds more effectively. 



The researchers also tested whether musicians track pitch changes in speech more accurately. Neither claim held up under scrutiny, even after accounting for years of training or the age at which training began.



“Using sample sizes that were more than four times larger than the original studies, we found no relationship between musical training and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/music-and-the-mind-new-clues-about-how-we-experience-pleasure/">sound processing</a> at very early stages of the auditory system,” said Kelly Whiteford, the study's lead author.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-musical-training-and-the-brain">Musical training and the brain</h2>



Earlier research using the Frequency Following Response (FFR) - a brainwave measure of how faithfully the brain tracks sound frequencies - had reported stronger encoding in musicians. 



The findings were influential, sparking widespread belief that early music lessons could boost listening skills in daily life.



In this new study, participants listened to speech sounds such as /da/ in multi-talker babble and a Mandarin word, /mi3/, with changing pitch. EEG recordings captured their brain responses.



Musicians showed no advantage in encoding either the fundamental frequency or the upper <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-brain-map-shows-how-rhythms-instantly-reconfigure-your-mind-freq-ness/">harmonics</a> in noise, nor in tracking dynamic pitch in quiet.



Age did affect results: spectral encoding and pitch tracking worsened with age, consistent with previous research. However, musical training did not slow this decline.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-objective-skill-vs-neural-encoding">Objective skill vs. neural encoding</h2>



The researchers also examined whether a musician’s actual skill, measured through a melody discrimination test, related to better neural encoding. 



Musicians did outperform non-musicians in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/our-speech-is-full-of-melodies-that-create-language-like-patterns/">melody</a> discrimination, and this skill correlated with years of training. But it still showed no relationship to neural encoding strength in the FFR tests.



"These results highlight the importance of carrying out rigorous large-scale studies to test even the most attractive theories," said senior author Andrew Oxenham.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-past-studies-found-an-advantage">Past studies found an advantage</h2>



The authors note that previous positive results often came from small samples, varying definitions of “musician,” and methodological differences, all of which could inflate effect sizes.



Inconsistencies in how “advantage” was measured - even when the same stimuli were used - make comparisons difficult.



They also emphasize that, while no early brain encoding benefit was found, music may still enhance later, cortical stages of processing. It also offers well-established emotional, social, and cultural benefits.



“Musicians tend to have better music perception, and we also found that in our study," Whiteford said. "Any reliable differences in how we perceive sound must be reflected somewhere in the brain. Where is that happening? Not in the FFR."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-musical-training-studies">Future musical training studies</h2>



The researchers emphasize the need for future large-scale, long-term studies that follow participants over time. These studies randomly assigned individuals to structured musical training or a non-music, active control activity.



This approach could separate training effects from pre-existing traits like natural <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/music-triggers-unique-prediction-zones-in-the-brain/">auditory skills</a> or personal interests. These traits might influence both the decision to become a musician and the ability to process sound.



Such research could answer a key question: are the perceptual differences seen in some <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/live-music-connects-people-emotionally-and-physically/">musicians</a> a direct result of their training, or do people with certain innate abilities simply gravitate toward music? 



Until these questions are addressed, the authors suggest approaching the idea of music as a brain-enhancing tool with caution.



While music remains deeply valuable for cultural, emotional, and social reasons, the current findings show that its influence on the brain’s earliest sound processing is less certain than many once believed. It should be assessed using rigorous, evidence-based methods.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-62155-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Brain benefits of musical training may be all in our heads

For decades, parents, educators, and even scientists have shared the...

Four bronze discs modeled as lion faces turned up in a cist tomb, a stone lined grave, at Khirbat Ibreika in central Israel, along with four detached rings and a dozen glass vessels.



The find dates to the first or second century A.D. and was uncovered during a salvage excavation ahead of new railroad work. Elie Haddad and Elisheva Zwiebel of <a href="https://www.iaa.org.il/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Israel Antiquities Authority</a> excavated the unusual finds.



The discs were lying in a neat pile at the narrow end of the grave. Archaeologists immediately ruled out random movement because everything else in the tomb stayed put.



Haddad’s team also recovered a single iron nail that still carried slivers of decayed wood. That nail showed a wooden coffin once occupied the chamber.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wooden-coffins-and-bronze-lions">Wooden coffins and bronze lions</h2>



Most <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/archaeologists-discover-141-ancient-gold-coins-some-from-a-little-known-roman-emperor/">Roman</a> lion head discs hold their ring in the animal’s mouth. At Ibreika, the ring sat on top of the mane, which is an unusual engineering choice.



Placement mattered because a ring above the head could swing freely, while a mouth ring stayed fixed. That difference hints at a job beyond decoration.



The Ibreika rings’ freedom of movement matches wear patterns on handles from <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.14638136.8?seq=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">other graves</a> found in the Roman province of Syria-Palestina that once guided carrying poles.



Wooden coffins were costly, and iron nails strong enough to pierce them were rarer still. Four big bronze handles would let mourners thread two poles, lift the box, and lower it smoothly.



“If the discs were coffin handles, why were they stacked in what seems to have been a deliberate pile on one side of the tomb?” the team wrote, puzzling over why the rings in this grave were removed and stacked.&nbsp;



Their own answer is cautious: perhaps the handles served in a procession, were ritually detached, and buried beside, rather than on, the coffin.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-lions-meant-to-romans">What lions meant to Romans</h2>



Roman artists used the lion as shorthand for strength, vigilance, and guardianship. Stone sarcophagi from mainland Italy often show paired felines flanking the lid to watch over the soul.



In art from Persia to Greece, a lion at a doorway marked a threshold only the worthy might cross. Tomb builders borrowed that idea for the final doorway, death itself.



Persian iconologists note the animal’s link to royal power and seasonal heat, viewing the beast as a solar creature that patrols the borders between worlds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-beyond-the-empire-s-borders">Beyond the empire’s borders</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-bronze-cannon-oldest-known-firearm-discovered-in-arizona/">Bronze</a> lion heads almost identical in size to the Israeli set have surfaced in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Thomas Weber’s survey mapped at least seven regional production clusters, each with small stylistic quirks.



The Ibreika carvings form an eighth group distinguished by a flattened nose, deeply incised whiskers, and a raised brow ridge. Those signatures suggest the existence of a local workshop that served coastal communities.



Nearby <a href="https://en.parks.org.il/reserve-park/teldor/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tel Dor</a> yielded another full quartet of lion discs in 2021, supporting the idea of a coastal style tied to maritime trade and adapted fashions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-time-and-bronze-lion-crowns">Time and bronze lion crowns</h2>



Some scholars see a connection to the cult of Mithras that was popular with soldiers across the empire. Mithraic temples often display a leontocephaline statue, a nude human body with a lion head, serpent coils, and a wheel or key.



<a href="https://archive.org/details/TheReligionOfTheMithrasCultInTheRomanEmpire" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Roger Beck</a> argues that the figure embodies cosmic time, binding seasons and stars in endless return. A ring set above a bronze lion’s crown could echo that celestial wheel.



The Ibreika rings’ placement, therefore, might carry a double function: a handle for practical chores and a nod to the cycle of life, death, and renewal treasured by initiates.



Three other Israeli burials, Ramat Efrayim, Ben ‘Ami, and Tel Dor, also held lion discs, but only one grave in each cemetery used them. The pattern hints at personal status, special belief, or both.



Most neighboring tombs belonged to Samaritan communities that generally avoided graven images. A decorated coffin would stand out, marking the occupant as someone comfortable with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mass-grave-vienna-discovery-tells-the-story-of-a-forgotten-defeat-by-the-roman-empire/">Roman</a> art or foreign rites.



Samarian silver <a href="https://www.academia.edu/9216977/The_Coinage_Imagery_of_Samaria_and_Judah_in_the_Late_Persian_Period" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">coins</a> of the Persian period sometimes show a Persian king facing a lion, blending imperial power with local identity, and proving the motif already circulated in regional visual language.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-status-and-identity-in-bronze">Status and identity in bronze</h2>



Each disc weighs more than one pound and contains a high lead-tin alloy that would shine like gold when polished. Such lavish metalwork signals wealth.



Stacking the hardware may have been a statement: the deceased no longer needed earthly symbols of might, yet they were close enough to claim in the afterlife.



Lion guardians could also warn grave robbers. A pile of snarling <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/3800-year-old-hexagonal-pyramid-discovered-possibly-a-royal-tomb/">bronze</a> faces staring upward from the dark would have looked unsettling to anyone opening the lid.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-questions-for-the-next-dig">Questions for the next dig</h2>



Haddad and Zwiebel’s study closes by admitting that the most basic question, why only one grave got the bronze lions, remains open. Future chemical analyses might trace ore sources and workshop links.



Ancient DNA from the bones, if preserved, could reveal whether the buried individual was a local notable, a traveling merchant, or even a retired legionary who carried Mithraic ideas eastward.



For now the bronze lions keep their secret, reminding researchers that a small change in handle placement can unlock wide stories about belief, trade, and identity across the Roman frontier.



The study is published in <a href="https://publications.iaa.org.il/atiqot/vol117/iss1/9/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Atiqot</a>.



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Archaeologists find mysterious Roman lion heads in Israeli tombs

Four bronze discs modeled as lion faces turned up in...

Plant roots don’t just take in water and nutrients. They also send out chemical signals - organic compounds that can shape the life of the soil and help plants survive in tough conditions.



Researchers have been studying these hidden exchanges for years. They know that microbes like bacteria and fungi form close partnerships with plants. 



In return for the sugars and other molecules plants release, microbes can make plants stronger against drought or nutrient shortages. This constant give-and-take, known as rhizodeposition, plays a big role in how plants grow and adapt.



Now, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (<a href="https://www.ornl.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ORNL</a>) have taken a fresh look at this underground world. Their work focuses on understanding the specific compounds plants release - and it could change the way we grow food and energy crops.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-roots-release-diverse-molecules">Roots release diverse molecules</h2>



The ORNL team built a new framework using metabolomics - the study of small molecules - to map and categorize the compounds released by plant roots. 



The study produced a detailed catalog of the diversity and amounts of these compounds in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/soil-plays-an-overlooked-role-in-antibiotic-resistance/">soil</a>. This knowledge could guide the development of crops that produce more food, need fewer resources, and stand up better to environmental stress.



The research could also lead to more resilient bioenergy crops, strengthening domestic supply chains and energy security.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fungi-help-roots-reach-nutrients">Fungi help roots reach nutrients</h2>



Roots do far more than keep a plant standing. They act like a control center for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/its-the-timing-of-water-that-matters-to-plants/">water</a> and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-find-proteins-that-control-nutrient-uptake-in-plants/">nutrient uptake</a>. Tiny hairs along their surface increase contact with the soil, helping plants draw in what they need.



They’re also sensors, constantly reading changes in moisture, temperature, and soil chemistry. When conditions shift, roots can alter how they grow or which molecules they release to adjust their environment.



Some roots form long-term partnerships with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fungi-can-think-and-make-smart-decisions-without-a-brain/">fungi</a>, exchanging sugars for hard-to-reach nutrients. Others send quick chemical messages that repel harmful microbes or influence nearby plants.



By understanding these underground strategies, scientists can design crops that thrive with less fertilizer and water. This is where ORNL’s work takes on new importance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-two-trees-many-clues">Two trees, many clues</h2>



For their experiment, the scientists grew two varieties of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/genetically-engineered-wood-poplar-cottonwood-trees-store-more-carbon/">poplar trees</a> under controlled conditions. Some trees were given extra nutrients, others were not. Samples were collected from both young and mature root zones over time.



Instead of focusing only on known or suspected compounds, the team used an “untargeted” metabolomics approach. This allowed them to detect as many different molecules as possible. 



Scientists used high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify and measure these molecules, creating a chemical fingerprint for each sample. Advanced computational methods then grouped and compared the results.



What they found was a vast variety of rhizodeposit compounds - many never recorded before. The makeup of these compounds changed depending on plant variety, nutrient availability, location, and time. 



Using ORNL’s genomic data on poplar, the team also saw how plant genetics strongly influenced the chemical profiles.



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



"Metabolomics has mostly been limited to targeted analysis, confirming a specific compound or interaction you suspect is in the sample," said project co-lead Paul Abraham of ORNL's Biosciences Division. 



"But with an untargeted approach, we can capture a much broader range of chemical diversity, revealing unexpected or previously unrecognized compounds that may play critical roles in soil and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-circadian-systems-may-be-key-for-sustainable-farming/">plant systems</a>."



Abraham noted that the project was made possible by ORNL's ultra-precise mass spectrometry instruments and interdisciplinary environment. "The accuracy and sensitivity of these capabilities are paramount to the success of untargeted metabolomics."



"Our team of experts in genomic science, plant systems biology and bioanalytical chemistry were essential to designing and executing the study and understanding the implications of the work."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-digital-tools-map-root-growth">Digital tools map root growth</h2>



Looking ahead, the team plans to use artificial intelligence to help interpret their massive dataset. 



"The chemical space we are measuring is vast, and most of the molecules we detect can't be confirmed using existing reference standards," Abraham said.



"To make sense of that complexity, we'll increasingly depend on machine learning and AI to resolve chemical formulas into predicted structures. That's why one of our key goals is to make our data findable, accessible, and reusable for the broader scientific community."



The scientists also see potential in pairing this data with ORNL’s new digital underground root analytics system. 



This technology, located in the Advanced Plant Phenotyping Laboratory, could allow them to capture image-based details of root growth and interactions, adding another layer of insight into how plants communicate with their environment.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pce.70004" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Plant, Cell &amp; Environment</a>.



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Plant roots use a chemical code to fight stress and share resources

Plant roots don’t just take in water and nutrients. They...

Lakes are often labeled as steady emitters of carbon dioxide, yet new research suggests that view misses what happens along their edges, where plants work fast and sediments hold tight. 



A peer-reviewed analysis finds that when these fringes are included, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-oceans-are-rapidly-changing-colors-matching-climate-predictions/">lakes</a> may act as net carbon sinks at the global scale.



Lake edges are known as littoral zones - the shallow belts where land and water meet, and they wrap around an astonishing length of shoreline. 



In fact, the total shoreline of the world’s lakes and reservoirs is estimated to be roughly four times longer than the global ocean coastline. The research was led by Charlotte Grasset of Uppsala University.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-vegetated-edges-and-lake-carbon">Vegetated edges and lake carbon</h2>



Add the vegetated littoral zone to the ledger and the balance shifts in surprising ways. A commentary describes how including these zones can substantially alter, and in some cases reverse, whole-lake carbon budgets by boosting burial and trimming apparent outgassing.



The key is that littoral plants take in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) during photosynthesis, send a portion of that carbon below ground, and help trap organic matter in low-oxygen <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-some-lakes-may-disappear-faster-than-others/">sediments</a>. 



Those sediments can store carbon for long periods, changing the net ledger of what lakes contribute to the atmosphere versus what they lock away.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plants-trap-and-store-carbon">Plants trap and store carbon</h2>



Aquatic plants, known as macrophytes, often grow densely in littoral zones and can be highly productive per square foot. 



Independent global work has shown that carbon burial in lakes and reservoirs is on the same order as burial in the oceans, underscoring how potent these inland sinks can be.



That background makes the new accounting intuitive. If the most productive, plant-rich parts of lakes were omitted from global budgets, the scale would tilt toward emissions by default, even if sediments at the edges were quietly piling up carbon year after year.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-calculating-carbon-balance">Calculating carbon balance</h2>



The study links littoral zones to open-water areas using a simple transport model and a mass-balance approach. 



The research builds on recent syntheses showing that global inland waters emit substantial greenhouse gases (GHGs) but also bury a lot of carbon, with regional variation and strong dependence on surface area estimates.



By integrating shoreline vegetation into the budget, the authors report scenarios in which the annual carbon buried in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-shock-lakes-are-losing-oxygen-faster-than-expected/">lake</a> sediments exceeds the annual carbon released to the air.



This flips the global lake balance from net source to net sink in their estimates - a change driven by the sheer footprint and productivity of vegetated edges.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lakes-can-switch-to-carbon-sinks">Lakes can switch to carbon sinks</h2>



One detail is important for interpretation. Part of the CO2 escaping from open-water zones may actually come from carbon originally fixed in the littoral zone, transported horizontally, and then respired offshore. 



This suggests that previous attributions may have overestimated the portion coming directly from land.



This adjustment doesn’t eliminate emissions - it clarifies them. It highlights the multiple pathways carbon takes within lakes and shows that the littoral zones do more than just support reeds, frogs, and shallow shelves: they actively process and store carbon on a continental scale.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lake-edges-and-the-carbon-budget">Lake edges and the carbon budget </h2>



“We were planning to write a conceptual paper about how aquatic plants in the littoral zone are overlooked in lake carbon cycling," said Grasset. 



"But after doing some initial calculations quantifying the role of these plants, we quickly realized that littoral zones could be a significant player in the global carbon budget!” 



The team’s calculations revealed that factoring in vegetated lake edges can change the overall carbon balance, often transforming lakes from net carbon sources into net carbon sinks.



According to Grasset, the team hopes their findings will encourage further investigation into the importance of littoral zones and highlight the potential benefits of restoring these habitats as part of nature-based climate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microbes-in-arctic-lakes-are-fueling-a-large-methane-surge/">solutions</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-restoration-takes-center-stage">Restoration takes center stage</h2>



Marine blue carbon ecosystems such as mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes have been treated as nature-based climate solutions for more than a decade, backed by extensive monitoring and finance frameworks. 



The new lake analysis argues that freshwater shorelines deserve a similar look, not only for carbon but also for water quality and biodiversity.



There is practical support for that move. Studies show that healthy macrophyte communities help stabilize clearer water states, reduce algal blooms, and retain nutrients, all of which can reinforce carbon burial in sediments while improving ecological conditions for fish and invertebrates.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-next-for-lake-edges">What’s next for lake edges</h2>



Accounting choices for methane (CH4) matter because methane warms more per pound than CO2 over a century, and littoral habitats can be methane hotspots. 



Current assessments use IPCC AR6 100-year global warming potentials, where non-fossil methane has a value of about 27 with climate-carbon feedbacks considered, a standard that sharpens cross-gas comparisons and helps frame tradeoffs.



Improved maps of vegetated littoral coverage, better separation of terrestrial versus littoral carbon sources, and year-round measurements in underrepresented tropical and productive lakes would tighten the error bars. 



As these data become available, planners can more precisely balance shoreline restoration with other measures to achieve climate, water quality, and habitat objectives.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01739-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Geoscience</a>.



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Lakes with vegetated edges are powerful carbon sinks

Lakes are often labeled as steady emitters of carbon dioxide,...

<a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2220404120" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blinking</a> keeps the front of the eye clean, moist, and protected, and losing that motion can lead to irritation and vision problems. A new <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2508058122">study</a> maps the muscle activity of the eyelid that powers a blink, and shows it is more coordinated and flexible than once thought.



The research comes from the UCLA <a href="https://samueli.ucla.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Samueli</a> School of Engineering and the <a href="https://www.uclahealth.org/locations/david-geffen-school-medicine-ucla" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">David Geffen</a> School of Medicine at UCLA. Their team pairs engineering tools with clinical expertise to study how the eyelids actually move in real time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-mechanical-aspects-of-eyelid-blinks">The mechanical aspects of eyelid blinks </h2>



The partnership between the engineering and medical teams at UCLA began with a shared goal of improving patient outcomes for those with impaired <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/blinking-plays-crucial-role-vision-human-perception/">eyelid function</a>. By combining motion analysis technology with surgical expertise, they could study both the mechanical and clinical aspects of blinking in unprecedented detail.



This cross-disciplinary approach allowed the researchers to design experiments that captured the muscle activity and movement patterns with both precision and medical relevance. It also set the stage for applying the findings directly to device development, bridging the gap between laboratory research and real-world patient care.



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



Adults blink many times per minute, a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1714220115" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pattern</a> that supports clear vision and also shifts with attention and task demands. Each blink spreads the <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7483968/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tear film</a>, a multi-layer fluid that includes mucus, water, and oil, across the cornea to keep the surface smooth and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-does-space-travel-affect-eye-health/">comfortable</a>.



When eyelid control falters, people can develop exposure of the eye, pain, and eventually loss of sight, which is why surgeons and engineers look for ways to restore closure. This study focuses on how the eyelid muscle behaves during different kinds of closure so that future devices can copy the correct patterns.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-eyelid-muscle-with-sections">An eyelid muscle with sections</h2>



The orbicularis oculi is a ring-shaped muscle around the eye that closes the lids, and the research paper shows it does not fire as one simple unit. Instead, segments around the eyelid activate in distinct sequences depending on the action, and those sequences shape the path that the lids travel.



Researchers tracked five behaviors: spontaneous blinks, voluntary blinks, reflex blinks to protect the eye, soft closures, and hard squeezes. They found two-dimensional motion signatures for each type and tied those signatures to where and when the muscle became active.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-team-mapped-the-eyelid-blinks">How the team mapped the eyelid blinks</h2>



To capture the fine details, the group used electromyography (<a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/electromyography-emg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">EMG</a>) with tiny wires in the eyelid, and high-speed motion capture of reflective markers along the lid margin. Recordings from healthy volunteers showed that medial segments often lead the way during routine eyelid blinks, while reflex blinks trigger near-simultaneous activation across the muscle.



Two features stood out in the kinematics: an early inward pull at blink onset for everyday blinks, and a brief overshoot that follows rapid protective blinks. Those patterns match the idea that different blinks serve different purposes, from wetting and pumping tears to shielding the cornea from quick threats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-motion-to-mechanism">From motion to mechanism</h2>



The team’s data linked higher overall activation to faster, fuller protective blinks and showed that slower, softer closures rely on sustained activity with a different spatial bias. They also reported strong correlations between local activation and local shortening along the lid, which supports the segmental control model.



That model helps explain how the eyelid can wet the eye efficiently with small, frequent blinks and still slam shut quickly when danger approaches. It also offers measurable targets for clinicians who evaluate eyelid disorders and recovery after nerve injury.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-path-toward-assistive-tech">A path toward assistive tech</h2>



The study pointed to design rules for a neuroprosthesis, a device that stimulates nerves or muscles to restore movement, and that can assist blinking in those with facial paralysis. Prior <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11021255/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reviews</a> showed that electrical stimulation can elicit lid closure in people and discussed timing, pulse trains, and electrode placement, yet no portable system is currently available in clinical use.



Armed with maps of which segments should activate first and how strongly, engineers can move beyond single-channel approaches that close the lids all at once. Segment-specific stimulation could better reproduce natural wetting blinks instead of only fast, protective snaps. This matters for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vitamin-helps-prevent-cataracts-and-maintain-eye-health/">comfort</a> and vision across a full day.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-takeaways-for-patients-and-clinicians">Key takeaways for patients and clinicians</h2>



Segmental control means a future device may need several small electrodes across the pretarsal region, rather than one large contact. It also suggests that sensing on the healthy side could trigger properly timed stimulation on the affected side within tight windows that mimic natural physiology.



Because tear spreading depends on motion paths as well as speed, reproducing the early inward pull seen in routine blinks may be essential for eye health. These insights give surgeons and rehabilitation teams a technical blueprint to assess eyelid motion and to personalize therapy.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2508058122">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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How your eyelids coordinate every blink, over 15,000 times per day

Blinking keeps the front of the eye clean, moist, and...

<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...

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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.

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</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.

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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.



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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



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.

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"]</div>



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

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" 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.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

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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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



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 rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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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

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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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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