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...

On the night of October 22, 2017, a single flash of lightning wormed its way 515 miles from the pine woods of east Texas to the outskirts of Kansas City. The feat rewrote the distance record for an electrical discharge and forced scientists to rethink the reach of a storm’s electric muscles.



Researchers call this titanic spark a megaflash lightning event - a label reserved for bolts that stretch more than 60 miles. 



Thanks to satellites watching from 22,000 miles up, experts were able to measure the full extent of the lightning and confirmed what ground sensors never saw.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-satellites-spot-lightning-flashes">Satellites spot lightning flashes </h2>



<a href="https://www.asu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arizona State University</a> geographer Randy Cerveny guided the World Meteorological Organization panel that reviewed every pixel of satellite data. 



“Our weather satellites carry very exacting lightning <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lightning-is-zapping-forests-harder-than-we-thought/">detection</a> equipment that we can use to document the millisecond when a lightning flash starts and how far it travels,” Cerveny said.



The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (<a href="https://www.goes-r.gov/spacesegment/glm.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GLM</a>) on NOAA’s <a href="https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/flashes-the-sky-how-the-lightning-sensor-weather-satellite-can-also-track-meteoroids" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GOES-16</a> satellite alone clocks roughly one million flashes daily. Unlike ground antennas that triangulate radio pops, the mapper catches the faint optical blink of each discharge and plots it across a whole continent.



Engineers reprocessed seven years of GLM archives with sharper algorithms last year and spotted the overlooked 2017 giant. Similar rescans continue to expose other marathon <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lightning-struck-trees-release-as-much-carbon-as-the-aviation-industry/">bolts</a> hiding amid terabytes of cloud flickers.



Orbiting at the same speed Earth spins, GOES-16 stares at North America nonstop, a trait that matters when a flash meanders for several seconds. Ground arrays often miss the middle of such tracks because hills, rain static, or plain distance shield radio signals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lightning-set-a-new-record">Lightning set a new record</h2>



The record lightning flash ignited along the leading edge of a sprawling mesoscale convective system rolling northeast ahead of a cold front. It threaded rearward into the storm’s broad stratiform shield, exploiting horizontal charge pockets that balloon for hundreds of miles.



Analysts counted five ground-hitting branches sprouting from the airborne superhighway, typical for a megaflash of this scale. Energy-weighted mapping showed the tip-to-tip path at 515 miles with a total journey time of 7.4 seconds.



Above the cloud tops, bright red sprites likely sparkled as the bolt dumped its charge into the upper atmosphere, a phenomenon often tied to giant <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/eint/25/1/EI-D-20-0016.1.xml" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">positive strokes</a>. These ghostly fireworks provide researchers with clues about the electric fields that propel such long leaders.



“Adding continuous measurements from geostationary orbit was a major advance,” said Michael Peterson, first author of the new analysis at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (<a href="https://www.gtri.gatech.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GTRI</a>). 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-makes-long-lightning-possible">What makes long lightning possible</h2>



Less than one percent of thunderstorms ever spawn a megaflash, and the candidates share distinct DNA. They linger for 14 hours or more and sprawl over an area similar to New Jersey, providing a capacious charge reservoir.



In these giants, the convective line pumps charge into the rear shield where separate positive and negative layers resemble a two-prong battery. The megaflash <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lightning-near-the-north-pole-signals-major-climate-shifts/">acts</a> like a switch, stepping through those layers in incremental sparks until the energy runs out.



Critics once argued that electric fields weaken too much over long stretches to keep a leader alive. New satellite evidence shows the channel taps fresh pockets of charged ice, re-energizing itself every few dozen miles.



A similarly sized storm on October 31, 2024, produced flashes only 300 miles long because its trailing charge pool was patchy. The contrast suggests horizontal extent alone is not enough, uniform charge density matters most.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-outdoor-safety">Lessons for outdoor safety</h2>



While half-thousand-mile bolts grab headlines, the everyday risk comes from ordinary lightning that can jump 10 to 15 miles beyond rain. That reach means blue sky overhead is no guarantee of safety.



The National Weather Service <a href="https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-odds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a> an average of 27 lightning deaths each year in the United States. About nine times as many people survive but often live with neurological injuries.



“That’s why you should wait at least a half an hour after a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lightning-captured-creating-gamma-ray-bursts-on-earth-which-normally-come-from-space/">thunderstorm</a> passes before you go out and resume normal activities,” Cerveny said. The new record only strengthens that guidance, showing a thunderhead’s reach can be vast.



Modern weather apps that display real-time lightning data can warn users when bolts form within a safe-distance radius. Satellite-fed networks update every minute, outpacing traditional sirens.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-past-lightning-events-may-beat-the-record">Past lightning events may beat the record</h2>



Peterson thinks even longer discharges lurk in the data waiting for better algorithms to stitch their scattered pixels together. He suspects South America’s monster storm complexes may hide flashes topping 600 miles.



Europe’s Meteosat Third Generation (<a href="https://www.eumetsat.int/meteosat-third-generation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MTG</a>) and China’s <a href="https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/fy-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FY-4</a> satellites now carry similar mappers, extending global coverage. Cross-hemisphere comparisons will test whether geography or storm type sets the upper limit.



Machine-learning tools already flag superbolts, and researchers are training them to recognize megaflashes without false merges. Faster sorting will let forecasters know when a storm starts spitting far-flung strikes, giving crews extra minutes to clear runways and fields.



Because sprites can be spotted from hundreds of miles away, coupling optical sprite cameras with GLM data may give an early megaflash signature. Pilots could then steer around invisible electric highways in the upper cloud deck.



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



Why some storms build such orderly charge bridges while neighbors do not, remains unsolved. Updraft strength, ice particle size, and wind shear probably choreograph the dance, but measurements inside the warm conveyor are scarce.



Researchers also wonder whether warming, which moistens the air and fuels bigger storms, will change megaflash frequency. Early GLM <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/102/3/BAMS-D-20-0178.1.xml" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statistics</a> hint at a small uptick in long flashes over the Gulf Coast but the record is short.



Each megaflash discharges roughly as much energy as detonating several hundred pounds of TNT, producing a radio pulse heard in space. Understanding that energy budget may refine global electric circuit models.



For now, the 515-mile bolt stands as a dramatic reminder that lightning can redraw the map of risk in a blink. The next record might already be hidden, waiting for someone to click “reprocess.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/BAMS-D-25-0037.1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society</a>.



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Lightning bolt stretching hundreds of miles breaks world record

On the night of October 22, 2017, a single flash...

Long before they had the teeth for it, early humans were already eating tough plants - grasses and underground starches.



That’s the big takeaway from a new study led by scientists at <a href="https://home.dartmouth.edu/">Dartmouth College</a>. Their work shows that our ancestors didn’t wait for their bodies to evolve before making smart dietary choices. 



Instead, they took risks, made use of what was available, and used their behavior to get ahead - literally eating their way into evolutionary change.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-behavior-can-shape-human-evolution">Behavior can shape human evolution</h2>



The researchers examined <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-did-humans-get-big-brains-fossil-teeth-reveal-new-clues/">fossilized teeth</a> from ancient hominins, tracking chemical traces left behind by graminoids - grasses and sedges. What they found was striking: <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hominin-fossils-are-a-million-years-older-than-estimated/">hominins</a> had already begun eating these tough, fibrous plants long before their teeth were optimized to chew them.



It took about 700,000 years for molars to evolve into the longer versions we see in modern humans - teeth that are better suited for grinding and digesting plant material. But humans didn’t wait. They just found a way to eat what they needed.



"We can definitively say that hominins were quite flexible when it came to behavior and this was their advantage," said Luke Fannin, a postdoctoral researcher at Dartmouth and lead author of the study. 



"As anthropologists, we talk about behavioral and morphological change as evolving in lockstep. But we found that behavior could be a force of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/evolution-is-not-as-random-as-we-thought/">evolution</a> in its own right, with major repercussions for the morphological and dietary trajectory of hominins."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fossil-clues-hidden-in-chemistry">Fossil clues hidden in chemistry</h2>



Studying <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-humans-used-to-eat-their-ancestral-relatives-practicing-cannibalism/">ancient behavior</a> is hard because it doesn’t fossilize. You can’t dig up a behavior the same way you dig up a bone. But chemical signatures on teeth can fill in the gaps.



"Anthropologists often assume behaviors on the basis of morphological traits, but these traits can take a long time - a half-million years or more - to appear in the fossil record," said Professor Nathaniel Dominy, senior author of the study.



"But these chemical signatures are an unmistakable remnant of grass-eating that is independent of morphology. They show a significant lag between this novel feeding behavior and the need for longer molar teeth to meet the physical challenge of chewing and digesting tough plant tissues."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shifting-away-from-grass">Shifting away from grass</h2>



The researchers studied fossil teeth from several early human species, starting with Australopithecus afarensis. 



For comparison, they also examined fossils from two other extinct primates - theropiths (large, baboon-like monkeys) and colobines (small monkeys that ate mostly leaves).



Between 3.4 and 4.8 million years ago, all three species started eating more grasses and sedges and less fruit, flowers, and insects. None of them had the ideal teeth or digestive systems for it, but they made the switch anyway.



Then, around 2.3 million years ago, hominin tooth chemistry shifted again. Carbon and oxygen isotope levels dropped, suggesting a big dietary change. This likely reflects a move away from grass-eating by early humans like Homo rudolfensis.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-shift-to-underground-foods">The shift to underground foods </h2>



The team looked at three possible explanations: more water drinking, a hippo-like lifestyle of staying submerged during the day and feeding at night, or regular access to underground plant parts - like tubers and bulbs.



Their conclusion? Underground foods were the key. These plant organs, stored beneath the surface, are rich in carbohydrates and available year-round. 



The underground foods were also harder to reach, which gave hominins with stone tools an edge. Other animals weren’t digging for these starchy powerhouses.



"We propose that this shift to underground foods was a signal moment in our evolution," said Fannin. "It created a glut of carbs that were perennial - our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-ancestor-paranthropus-robustus-walked-upright-2-million-years-ago/">ancestors</a> could access them at any time of year to feed themselves and other people."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-human-teeth-and-evolution">Human teeth and evolution</h2>



To see how physical features caught up, the team tracked changes in tooth size and shape. Over time, hominin teeth shrank by about 5% every 1,000 years. The molars, though, grew longer.



It wasn’t until Homo habilis and Homo ergaster came along about 2 million years ago that teeth really adapted. Their molars had shapes better suited for chewing roasted or cooked starches - evidence of how cooking may have joined eating underground plants as a survival strategy.



Graminoids are everywhere. As humans moved through different landscapes, they were able to keep using these plants for nutrition. Over time, their teeth became more efficient at breaking them down.



"One of the burning questions in anthropology is what did hominins do differently that other primates didn't do? This work shows that the ability to exploit grass tissues may be our secret sauce," said Dominy.



"Even now, our global economy turns on a few species of grass - rice, wheat, corn, and barley," he said. "Our ancestors did something completely unexpected that changed the game for the history of species on Earth."



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado2359">Science</a>.



Image Credit: L to R: Public domain; Don Hitchcock; Fernando Losada Rodríguez (rotated)



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Early humans ate tough plants - and changed the world forever

Long before they had the teeth for it, early humans...

People usually imagine the deepest ocean floor as an empty wasteland. A new expedition to the Kuril-Kamchatka and Aleutian trenches shows that life there is anything but sparse.



Using the crewed submersible <a href="https://english.idsse.cas.cn/pf/uv/202412/t20241219_895465.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fendouzhe</a>, researchers mapped a 1,553 mile stretch of trench floor between 19,000 and 31,267 feet and found bustling <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-oceans-day-2025-sustaining-what-sustains-us/">communities</a> fueled by chemicals instead of sunlight.&nbsp;



"Blood-red tentacles unfurling like delicate flowers in the trench, a stunning defiance of the harsh, crushing darkness,” said marine ecologist Mengran Du of the <a href="https://english.cas.cn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a>, describing the scene after returning to the surface.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-life-exists-deep-in-the-ocean">Life exists deep in the ocean</h2>



The hadal zone starts around 19,700 feet below the surface and drops to nearly 36,000 feet. Water there hovers just above freezing, and the pressure exceeds eight tons per square inch.



Until the late 1970s, most biologists doubted anything complex could thrive so far from sunlight. They were proved wrong when hydrothermal vents turned up, and the new trench survey pushes the boundary even deeper.



Pressure at those levels would snap a human bone in an instant. Electronics must be oil-filled or specially potted, or they will implode.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-microbes-fuel-deep-sea-animals">Microbes fuel deep-sea animals</h2>



The team documented colonies of chemosynthesis-dependent animals at forty-one separate sites. Instead of photosynthesis, microbes embedded in the sediment convert methane and hydrogen sulfide into sugars that flow up the food chain.



“We discovered thriving chemosynthesis-based communities at an astonishing depth of 9,533 meters,” said Du, the mission’s chief scientist. Converting that figure reveals a world flourishing more than 31,200 feet down.



Laboratory <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09317-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tests</a> on pore-water samples showed methane made entirely by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-oceans-are-rapidly-changing-colors-matching-climate-predictions/">microbes</a> rather than heat-cracked rock, backing the idea that biology, not geology, drives the energy supply. 



The same study reports methane concentrations in the mud that are 200 times higher than what seawater can hold at those depths.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sub-dives-reveal-trench-life">Sub dives reveal trench life</h2>



Fendouzhe is built to shrug off the 16,000 pound per square foot squeeze that would crush most steel hulls. On earlier trials, the titanium sphere dipped to 35,790 feet in the Mariana Trench, so the 2024 trench transect fell well within its comfort zone.



The crew spent a combined 150 hours on the seafloor during 24 dives, collecting cores with robotic arms and steering high-definition cameras along fault scarps. 



At several stops, the pilots had to ease around towering clumps of siboglinid polychaetes whose white tubes formed shag carpets across the mud.



Each dive revealed something new, from beaches of clams the size of dinner plates to fields of ghostly white microbial mats. Many of those mats sat above visible cracks, hinting at seepage routes that pipe chemicals upward from deeper sediment layers.



Every core was sealed in chilled boxes aboard the mothership within minutes to keep deep-water microbes alive. Some are already growing in pressure vessels back on shore.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-deep-sea-worms-and-clams">Deep sea worms and clams </h2>



The most conspicuous animals were scarlet-tipped tube worms and thick-shelled bivalve molluscs. Both groups host bacteria inside their tissues that feed on trench gases and deliver nutrients to their hosts.



Adult tube worms even lack a mouth or gut, outsourcing digestion entirely to their microbial partners. That alliance lets them bloom in places where drifting organic crumbs from the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-nature-conservation-day-2025-a-healthy-future-for-all/">surface</a> would never be enough.



In turn, the worms create a three-dimensional forest that shelters worms, snails, and amphipods. Some clams were counted at more than 290 individuals per square yard, making these vents among the densest animal gatherings measured in the deep sea.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-trenches-matter-for-carbon">Why the trenches matter for carbon</h2>



Cold seeps pump methane into the ocean, but a lot of that gas gets locked into methane hydrate, an ice-like solid stable under high pressure. If hydrates are as widespread as the new cores suggest, trenches could store far more carbon than current climate models allow.



At the same time, trenches act like gutters that funnel dead plankton into narrow troughs where microbes chew it up fast and respire CO2. 



A recent geochemistry <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1469547/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">survey</a> found oxygen consumption in trench sediments double that of nearby abyssal plains, underscoring their role as carbon reactors.



Carbon that escapes as hydrate might stay buried for millennia, whereas carbon exhaled as dioxide could re-enter the atmosphere through upwelling currents centuries later. Knowing which pathway dominates is essential for predicting long-term climate feedback.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-deep-sea-mysteries-still-unsolved">Deep sea mysteries still unsolved</h2>



Even with Fendouzhe’s reach, the team sampled just two trenches out of more than thirty. Geological maps show similar faults in the Kermadec, Tonga, and Peru-Chile trenches, all prime targets for the next cruises.



Researchers also want to know how trench animals disperse between isolated pits separated by thousands of miles. Genetic work on the worms hints at a shared ancestry across the North Pacific, suggesting larvae may ride deep <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deep-sea-ecosystems-may-never-heal-from-mining-damage/">water</a> currents for years before settling.



Another puzzle is whether hydrates ever destabilize and belch methane into the water column during big earthquakes. Long-term observatories anchored near active faults could capture such rare events.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-deep-sea-life-may-exist">More deep sea life may exist</h2>



The discovery comes at a time when nations are racing to mine seafloor metals and drill for gas hydrates. Finding vast, fragile ecosystems beneath 30,000 feet adds weight to calls for stronger rules before industrial gear moves in.



It also broadens the search for life beyond Earth. If microbes can feed entire animal communities in pitch-black trenches, similar chemistries might support alien biospheres under the ice of Europa or Enceladus.



“Their resilience and beauty left me in awe,” said Du. Few people have seen what she saw, but the images and samples now preserve a snapshot of life at the planet’s outer limits.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09317-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Deep sea expedition reveals thriving chemical-powered life

People usually imagine the deepest ocean floor as an empty...

Some of the wettest regions in the tropics could dry out dramatically in the coming decades. New research suggests that climate change may slash annual rainfall by nearly half in places like the Amazon if a key Atlantic Ocean current slows down.



The scientists behind this work are from the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Colorado Boulder</a>. The study shows that even a modest weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could disrupt global precipitation patterns, endanger ecosystems, and put millions of people at risk.



“That’s a stunning risk we now understand much better,” said lead author Pedro DiNezio, associate professor in CU Boulder’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. He noted that some parts of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/amazon-forests-can-survive-drought-but-it-comes-at-a-high-cost/">Amazon rainforest</a> could see up to a 40% drop in yearly rainfall.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-ocean-moves-heat-and-moisture">How the ocean moves heat and moisture</h2>



The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/collapse-of-main-atlantic-ocean-circulaton-current-amoc-is-already-happening/">AMOC</a> is a powerful system of currents that circulates warm, salty water from the tropics to the North Atlantic. This flow helps regulate global climate. It also keeps the tropical rain belt - a narrow zone near the equator where rainfall is heaviest - in place.



As <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-polar-ice-sheets-cant-withstand-1-5c-warming-target/">polar ice</a> melts and rainfall increases with global warming, the ocean’s surface water becomes less salty and less dense. This change could slow the AMOC.



While we’ve only been monitoring this current directly for about 20 years, early signs of change have already appeared.



“A few years ago, this monitoring system recorded signs of a decline in the AMOC, but it later rebounded. So we weren’t sure if it was just a fluke. The problem is, we haven’t been measuring the ocean long enough to detect meaningful long-term change,” DiNezio said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reconstructing-the-past-to-see-the-future">Reconstructing the past to see the future</h2>



To better understand what could happen, DiNezio and his team looked to the past. About 17,000 years ago, the AMOC slowed down due to natural causes. That event left behind evidence in cave formations, lake beds, and ocean sediments that preserved past <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-temperatures-and-extreme-rainfall-study-reveals-a-missing-link/">rainfall</a> levels.



By comparing that ancient record with modern climate models, the researchers identified which simulations best matched historical patterns. Then they used those models to project what a future slowdown would look like.



The results were striking. As the AMOC weakens and cools the North Atlantic, that cooling spreads toward the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean. Combined with rising global temperatures, this leads to sharp drops in rainfall over Central America, the Amazon, and West Africa.



“This is bad news, because we have these very important ecosystems in the Amazon,” DiNezio said. The Amazon stores nearly two years’ worth of global carbon emissions. 



“Drought in this region could release vast amounts of carbon back into the atmosphere, forming a vicious loop that could make climate change worse.”



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



The AMOC probably won't grind to a halt entirely. But even a small slowdown could have major effects across the tropics.



How much and how fast it weakens depends on what we do next. The more <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/2023-climate-change-report-record-high-temperatures-greenhouse-gases-sea-level-rise/">greenhouse gases</a> we emit, the more likely we are to trigger a dangerous shift.



“We still have time, but we need to rapidly decarbonize the economy and make green technologies widely available to everyone in the world. The best way to get out of a hole is to stop digging,” DiNezio said.



The takeaway is clear: the behavior of ocean currents isn’t just a matter for climate scientists. It’s tied to the lives, lands, and livelihoods of people across the tropics - and beyond.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-tropics-deserve-more-attention">Why the tropics deserve more attention</h2>



For many, climate change brings to mind melting ice sheets or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-seas-are-already-toppling-coastal-cities/">rising seas</a>. But the tropics - home to over 40% of the world’s population - face threats that are just as urgent. 



Shifts in rainfall aren’t only environmental concerns; they’re deeply human ones. They affect farming, food supplies, drinking water, and public health.



In regions already vulnerable to climate stress, losing seasonal rains could push communities past their limits. 



The research highlights a growing truth: the future of the tropics will be shaped as much by global decisions as by local resilience. Ignoring this region is no longer an option.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09319-x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Slowing ocean currents could dry out the tropics

Some of the wettest regions in the tropics could dry...

The 17-mile Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located beneath the French-Swiss border, regularly slams heavy ions together at near light speed. But on July 30, 2025, researchers reported something many thought belonged to folklore: lead ions momentarily changed into gold before decaying back into more ordinary matter.



The analysis shows that a single run of lead can produce gold nuclei with a cross section comparable to the total hadronic collision rate. This makes the “modern alchemy” far more common in the tunnel than anyone expected.



“Usually in collider experiments, we make the particles crash into each other to produce lots of debris,” said Daniel Tapia Takaki, professor of physics at the <a href="https://ku.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Kansas</a> and leader of the group on the <a href="https://home.cern/science/experiments/alice" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ALICE</a> experiment.



His team developed the method that spots what happens when the ions merely graze, an interaction so clean that almost nothing else appears in the detectors besides a flash of light and an altered nucleus.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gold-from-lead-briefly">Gold from lead, briefly</h2>



Ultraperipheral collisions happen when two atomic nuclei pass close to each other without touching, but their powerful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/strong-magnetic-fields-leave-marks-on-nuclear-matter/">electromagnetic fields</a> still interact.



Instead of smashing apart, each ion showers the other with a burst of high-energy photons described by the Weizsäcker Williams method, allowing photons from one nucleus to probe or even transform its partner. That photon barrage can knock out one, two, or three protons.



If three protons are lost, the lead-208 nucleus briefly becomes a gold-205 nucleus - fulfilling the alchemist’s dream, though only for about 10⁻²³ seconds. That’s just long enough to leave a signal in the forward calorimeters.



Previous ALICE runs hinted that such clean events existed, but the detector was optimized for messy head on smash ups. Tapia Takaki’s team re-tuned readouts, added vetoes, and refined a two-stage fit to isolate neutron from proton peaks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-near-miss-collisions-reveal">What near miss collisions reveal</h2>



Because <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/precise-shape-of-single-photon-light-revealed-for-the-first-time/">photons</a> carry no net charge, photon photon or photon nucleus interactions are free from the spray of hadronic debris that plagues central collisions. The clean environment allows physicists to study nuclear structure and test QED at previously unreachable energy scales.



The Kansas-led analysis clocked a gold production cross section of 6.8 barns, only 12 percent shy of the 7.67 barn total inelastic rate for ordinary lead-lead interactions at the same energy.



That means every time the LHC delivers a hadronic ion collision, there is roughly another event nearby where a lead ion quietly becomes gold and then disintegrates.



The same data set pinned the 0 proton channel at 157.5 barns, the 1 proton channel at 40.4 barns, and the 2 proton channel at 16.8 barns. These results matched or exceeded theoretical predictions from the RELDIS photonuclear model within 25 percent.



Discrepancies suggest existing models poorly capture pre-equilibrium emission and nucleon coalescence in single proton channels.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-alchemy-at-light-speed">Tracking alchemy at light speed</h2>



The ALICE collaboration relies on zero degree calorimeters placed 369 feet downstream of the interaction point to record neutral and charged fragments.



The KU team gated on events where proton energy fell within two standard deviations of the beam energy and at least one neutron hit the neighboring neutron calorimeter. This isolated a data set of just two million events from 2.05 million triggers.



They corrected for acceptance, efficiency, and the small chance that a peripheral hadronic collision could imitate an electromagnetic event.



Monte Carlo studies using RELDIS and the AAMCC-MST transport code showed that hadronic imposters contribute less than one percent to the single proton sample, leaving the photon driven signal essentially pure.



The resulting fit revealed broad 1 proton and broad 2 proton peaks, about twice as wide as the corresponding neutron peaks. This is because relativistic protons can leak energy at the calorimeter edges or through interactions with beam line material.



A modified Gaussian model with width scaling by proton count corrected smearing - now adopted by other heavy ion groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-flash-matters-for-future-colliders">Flash matters for future colliders</h2>



Removing three protons turns lead into gold, but knocking out even one proton turns the ion into <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/toxic-thallium-levels-are-rising-in-the-baltic-sea/">thallium</a>, which bends differently in the LHC magnets.



Secondary particle beams that aren’t properly controlled can hit cold components, shut down superconducting magnets, or trigger safety systems. These issues could limit the performance of future 27 TeV upgrades and the proposed 100-km Future Circular Collider.



By measuring the full suite of 0- to 3- proton channels, the ALICE team provides essential inputs for loss maps that machine engineers use to design collimators and shielding.



The data also feed into simulations for the U.S. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/supercooled-nanowires-detect-protons-at-close-to-the-speed-of-light/">Electron Ion Collider</a> (EIC), where understanding photon induced breakup of nuclei is critical for background rejection in precision measurements.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-than-just-gold">More than just gold</h2>



Beyond gold, near-miss collisions can produce mercury, thallium, or platinum isotopes - each with unique decay paths and insights.



Light-by-light scattering, axion-like particle searches, and studies of nuclear excitation all benefit from knowing exactly how often and how cleanly these channels occur.



Tapia Takaki noted that the study may be crucial for designing the next generation of machines, because every lost beam ion costs days of accelerator time and significant operational money.



In short, catching a blink of gold is less about getting rich and more about keeping billion dollar facilities running safely and efficiently.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-next-steps-for-gold-physics">Next steps for gold physics</h2>



The team plans to extend the analysis to four and five proton emissions once Run 3 data arrive, pushing sensitivity toward nuclei around hafnium and tantalum.



They're working with theorists to refine <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lightning-captured-creating-gamma-ray-bursts-on-earth-which-normally-come-from-space/">photonuclear</a> models so neutron-to-proton ratios better match observations.



A dedicated trigger for ultraperipheral collisions is in development. It combines existing calorimeter logic with real-time machine learning filters to capture rare events without overwhelming the data acquisition system.



If successful, physicists could watch modern alchemy unfold almost as it happens, perhaps even identifying long lived isomers before they decay in flight.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.aps.org/prc/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevC.111.054906" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Physical Review C</a>.



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Lead was turned into gold - but only for a trillionth of a second

The 17-mile Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located beneath the French-Swiss...

You probably don’t think twice about smelling a jug of milk to check if it’s gone bad. But behind that quick decision is a symphony of genes and proteins hard at work.



A research team at <a href="https://www.uni-leipzig.de/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Leipzig University</a>, led by genetic epidemiologist Markus Scholz, has mapped the genetics behind our sense of smell in more detail than ever before. 



In a sweeping study of over 21,000 people from Germany, Italy, and the U.S., they uncovered how our DNA shapes which scents we recognize - and how strongly we react to them.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fragrance-fingerprints-in-dna">Fragrance fingerprints in DNA</h2>



“We identified ten genetic regions associated with the ability to detect specific odors, seven of these are new discoveries,” said Scholz. His genome-wide association study tied everyday smell performance to specific DNA changes. 



The team asked participants to identify twelve scents delivered by Sniffin’ Sticks and then matched the right answers to millions of single-nucleotide polymorphisms. The exercise generated a personal odor score for every volunteer.



Two hotspots sit inside clusters of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-story-behind-our-sense-of-smell-is-coming-into-focus/">olfactory receptor</a> genes, while others highlight specific enzymes that convert a chemical whiff into an electrical signal. Together they outline the earliest steps between sniff and perception.



One key genetic change makes people nearly four times better at recognizing the smell of fish. About one in three Europeans has it, which helps explain why some people love fish while others can’t stand the smell.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-women-really-smell-the-roses">Why women really smell the roses</h2>



Women outperform men in smell tests across cultures. The data reveal three genomic regions whose effects flip between sexes. One variant triples women’s odds of naming orange yet does nothing for men.



Sex hormone reviews link estrogen peaks to sharper sensitivity and testosterone surges to dampening effects on smell. The hormonal picture is complex, but patterns are starting to emerge.



“The findings help to explain why women perceive smells differently during their menstrual cycle or pregnancy,” said researcher Franz Förster, who helped coordinate data. His observation echoes decades of anecdotal reports from clinicians.



Anthropologists call this the embryo-protection hypothesis, arguing that a keen maternal nose guards the fetus - though evidence remains mixed. Human genetics is starting to test that evolutionary idea directly.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-smell-traits-mapped-in-dna">Smell traits mapped in DNA</h2>



Each scent in the test was linked to a different part of our DNA. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cinnamon-supplements-may-disrupt-how-medications-work/">Cinnamon</a> was tied to a gene that helps detect its main ingredient, while pineapple was connected to two separate spots in the genome.



Researchers confirmed that removing an odor from the total score erased its associated signal, proving that each variant’s effect is narrow. That safeguard against statistical noise strengthens confidence in each hit.



Your pineapple gene does not help you with peppermint. That precision matters for designing clinical smell tests.



Lemon and orange were linked to smaller genetic effects, found near genes that help send smell signals, not detect them. This suggests that how the signal is processed might matter just as much as how it's first picked up.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scent-loss-as-warning-sign">Scent loss as warning sign</h2>



Smell loss is among the earliest red flags for Alzheimer’s disease. Using Mendelian randomization, the team found that high genetic risk for Alzheimer’s lowers odor-identification scores, but poor smell does not raise dementia risk.



The strongest link pointed to a gene involved in moving materials inside cells, one that’s often found alongside a known <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-blood-test-can-track-the-progression-of-alzheimers/">Alzheimer’s risk</a> gene. This connection brings cell health into the picture when studying how smell and memory might be related.



Community studies linking odor discrimination to later cognitive decline back the idea that brain change erodes smell, not the reverse. Genetic data now reinforce that timeline.



Large prevention trials are now considering smell testing as a low-cost enrollment screen. Ease of administration makes the scratch-and-sniff format appealing in primary care.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hormones-shape-smell-genes">Hormones shape smell genes</h2>



Bioinformatic scans found more than forty androgen-response motifs near the sex-biased variants, far outnumbering estrogen motifs. This density hints at direct regulation by testosterone.



Yet genome-level screens showed no direct causal trail from circulating testosterone, bioavailable <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/men-with-low-testosterone-have-a-higher-risk-of-mortality/">testosterone</a>, or sex-hormone-binding globulin to smell scores. The null result surprised some observers.



Larger cohorts may be needed to uncover subtle endocrine effects that small studies miss. Endocrinologists are watching the space closely.



Lab teams are already planning CRISPR edits in cultured olfactory neurons to watch how these motifs alter gene output. Results from those experiments will clarify whether the motifs truly gate hormone effects.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-diverse-dna-diverse-smell-traits">Diverse DNA, diverse smell traits</h2>



A 200,000-participant follow-up inside Germany’s NAKO cohort is already underway and should expose weaker or rarer variants. The added power should uncover variants with much smaller effects.



Similar projects planned in East Asia and Africa will test whether diet or environment shifts genetic influence on smell. That diversity will reveal whether smell genetics follows food habits or remains universal.



Clinically, smell genotyping could tailor occupational screening for firefighters or chemical workers with innate disadvantages. Regulators already require smell tests for certain high-risk jobs.



In consumer spheres, recipe apps or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/home-fragrances-impact-indoor-air-quality-and-the-health-risks-are-alarming/">fragrance</a> firms might one day suggest products that match a user’s genetic sensitivity. Industry watchers predict fragrance personalization within a decade.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-personalized-smell-is-coming">Personalized smell is coming</h2>



Smell genes are not part of medical care yet, but they could soon appear in direct-to-consumer DNA reports. 



Ancestry services already flag lactose intolerance, and a future module may tell you that a low-sensitivity pineapple allele runs in the family. Armed with that knowledge, perfumers could tailor product lines to match regional genetic profiles. 



Genes never fully dictate how we perceive aromas, but mapping their influence moves the sense of smell from mystery toward measurement.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-61330-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Your DNA may explain why you love or hate certain smells

You probably don’t think twice about smelling a jug of...

The albatross is one of the largest flying birds on Earth, with wings that stretch up to 11 feet across. It spends most of its life in the air, gliding over open ocean with barely a wingbeat. That’s not just impressive - it’s efficient. And now, researchers want to learn from it.



At the <a href="https://www.uc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Cincinnati</a>, scientists are trying to bring some of the albatross’s natural skill into modern drone technology. 



With a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Professor Sameh Eisa is leading a project that could change how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) handle long-distance flight.



The goal is simple: make <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drones-can-help-monitor-the-health-of-remote-seabird-colonies/">drones</a> fly longer and smarter using the same strategies that make the albatross a master of the skies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-albatross-masters-flight">How the albatross masters flight</h2>



Albatrosses don’t flap much. They soar. They use a technique called <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/albatrosses-can-dive-much-deeper-than-previously-thought/">dynamic soaring</a>, which lets them ride the wind to stay airborne for hours - or days - without using much energy.



Eisa and his team developed a new way to mimic this in drones. They call it a “natural extremum-seeking system.” The concept is based on how birds instinctively adjust their pitch, roll, and airspeed to find the most energy-efficient flight path.



To stay aloft, albatrosses tack into the wind like sailboats. They climb until they lose momentum, then dive, using gravity and wind to push forward. Just before touching the water, they turn again, repeating the cycle endlessly. All of it happens without flapping.



“They use it skillfully. That’s the only way they can sustain such long flights,” Eisa said. “GPS trackers show these birds can fly hundreds of miles a week. By the time they die, they’ve flown 20 times the distance between the Earth and the moon.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-albatross-instincts-sensing-the-wind">Albatross instincts: Sensing the wind</h2>



Part of what makes the albatross so efficient isn’t just how it flies - it’s how it senses the environment. "Albatrosses literally have a nose for wind,” Eisa said.



They have sensitive nostrils that help them detect wind direction and speed. This helps them adjust their flight in real time, maximizing every rise and fall in the air. Eisa’s research shows that the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hundreds-of-bird-species-could-vanish-in-the-next-century/">birds</a> manage to keep their total energy use stable throughout each dynamic soaring cycle.



In literature, the albatross has always been linked to the wind. Sailors once believed the bird was a sign of good weather. 



In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, killing an albatross was blamed for a ship’s cursed, windless voyage. Now, science is proving just how vital this bird is to mastering flight.



“They are solving an optimization problem that is unbelievably complicated,” Eisa said. “They make it look natural and easy.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-drones-that-mimic-albatross-flight">Drones that mimic albatross flight </h2>



According to Eisa, simulating what the albatross does is not easy. Even powerful computers struggle with the calculations.



“A few seconds of data can take 100 seconds to generate. And albatrosses are doing it in real time with a high level of accuracy,” he said. “It seems implausible.”



For drones to match that, they’ll need to read the wind and adjust constantly. That means measuring changes in both speed and direction and altering their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hummingbird-wings-the-future-of-robotic-flight/">flight</a> path accordingly - all without human help.



“If we can get closer to how the albatross does it, we can be more efficient,” Eisa said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-turning-wind-into-an-advantage">Turning wind into an advantage</h2>



The project, named Albatross, brings together UC students, weather experts, industry engineers, and researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



Traditionally, drones have struggled in windy conditions. This team wants to flip that. They believe wind can become an asset, not a problem.



Using Eisa’s new model of dynamic soaring, they’re building flight control systems that help drones ride the wind the way birds do. The designs will be tested with UC’s DARPA industry partners to measure how much energy can be saved.



The project isn’t just about drones. It could also help scientists better understand how albatrosses do what they do.



“If we can fly more efficiently like birds, we’ll have a brighter future for unmanned aerial systems,” Eisa said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-turning-albatross-flight-into-innovation">Turning albatross flight into innovation</h2>



The potential impact of this work goes beyond the lab. It could influence how drones are used in defense, science, and environmental research.



Gautam Pillay, UC's associate dean of research, said Eisa’s pioneering work exemplifies the transformative impact biomimicry is having on next-generation aerospace systems.



“By unlocking the secrets of dynamic soaring, we’re not just advancing unmanned aerial vehicle efficiency - we're addressing critical national defense priorities, such as endurance and adaptability in contested environments,” Pillay said.



“Just as importantly, students will get unparalleled experiential learning opportunities, placing them at the heart of cutting-edge research where theory meets real-world application in collaboration with top-tier institutions and industry partners."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-flight-as-a-lifelong-fascination">Flight as a lifelong fascination</h2>



Eisa has always been drawn to flight. Ask him what superpower he would choose - flight or invisibility - and he doesn’t hesitate.



“I think <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/do-birds-dream-of-flying-scientists-say-they-now-know-the-answer/">flying</a> is fascinating. It’s something we always yearn to do because we can’t do it," said Eisa. That passion fuels his work in biomimicry.



“Nature has been optimizing flight for millions of years of evolution. So to take this gift from nature and make it available to humanity is engineering at its best.”



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Albatross flight inspires a new generation of drones

The albatross is one of the largest flying birds on...

Misplaced memories and slowed recall often accompany aging, yet the brain’s molecular decline begins long before the first "senior moment.’”



A new study zeroes in on the cell’s protein assembly lines - where proteins are built, folded, and dispatched - revealing the earliest tremors of decline that future therapies may aim to stabilize.



The research shows that when those lines decelerate, neurons choke on unfinished products, triggering a cascade that ends with sticky protein clumps and fading cognition. 



The study was led by <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanford</a> biologist Judith Frydman, who has conducted extensive research tracking the life cycle of proteins from their genesis (birth) to their eventual breakdown and removal (grave).&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-aging-slows-protein-production">Brain aging slows protein production</h2>



Cells rely on proteostasis, the steady balance between making, folding, and recycling <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wasps-might-hold-the-secret-to-slow-human-aging/">proteins</a>, to keep their inner machinery humming. Each disruption saps energy and invites damage that accumulates over decades.



A critical step is translation elongation, the moment a ribosome adds one amino acid after another to a growing chain, and that step loses tempo with age according to large-scale profiling in worms, flies, and mice, a slowdown that now extends to vertebrate brains.



“Our new study begins to provide a mechanistic explanation for a phenomenon widely seen during aging, which is increased aggregation and dysfunction in the processes that make proteins,” said Frydman.



The team also noted that chaperones which normally police misfolded chains arrive late to stalled ribosomes, magnifying the risk that malformed proteins will stick together and poison nearby circuits.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-aging-in-killifish">Brain aging in killifish</h2>



The African <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5946070/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">turquoise killifish</a> lives just four to six months in laboratory ponds, giving researchers a fast, almost time-lapse view of vertebrate aging without the budget burden of housing mice for years.



Adapted to puddles that vanish each dry season, the fish packs growth, reproduction, and decline into one academic semester, making experimental timelines feasible for doctoral students as well as grant cycles.



Its short lifespan does not mean simplicity. The killifish brain holds the full suite of vertebrate cell types, and its genome carries many of the same quality-control <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-bodies-begin-breaking-down-two-very-precise-ages/">genes</a> that humans use to police protein folding.



That compressed life course allowed the team to capture brains at three life stages and log shifts in metabolites, RNAs, and proteins without waiting years. 



The researchers have produced one of the most detailed aging atlases yet assembled for a vertebrate.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-stalled-ribosomes-harm-the-brain">Stalled ribosomes harm the brain</h2>



Ribosome profiling revealed a surge in stalling and head-on collisions on aging transcripts packed with lysine and arginine codons, transforming once-smooth molecular traffic into a shimmering gridlock.



Proteins that guard DNA and shuttle RNA, two classes dense in those basic amino acids, fell sharply in abundance even though their messenger RNA stayed stable. This points to a production glitch rather than a transcription problem.



Slowed traffic also left half-built chains exposed, boosting insoluble aggregates that are a signature of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS. In the killifish, the aggregates appeared in brain areas tied to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/defying-time-three-ways-to-slow-biological-aging/">learning</a> days before behavioral decline emerged.



The mismatch between transcripts and proteins, known as protein-transcript decoupling, now has a clockwork explanation rooted in translation speed - closing a puzzle that has bothered biologists for a decade.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-slow-protein-speed-harms-aging-brain">Slow protein speed harms aging brain</h2>



When an assembly line halts, quality as well as quantity suffers because nascent chains misfold before cellular helpers can intervene, creating time bombs that only reveal themselves weeks or months later.



“Changes in the speed of ribosome movement along the mRNA can have a profound impact on protein homeostasis,” noted Jae Ho Lee, a professor at <a href="https://www.stonybrook.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stony Brook University</a>.



The killifish data suggest that even a modest slowdown reshapes the proteome toward instability, opening gaps in genome maintenance, RNA splicing, and energy production that multiply across thousands of proteins.



Those gaps echo findings in post-mortem human cortex, where ribosomal subunits and DNA repair factors crumble first, hinting at a common aging script that crosses species and tissues.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-drugs-may-fix-protein-making">Drugs may fix protein-making</h2>



Geroscience researchers are already testing drugs like rapamycin, which targets the cell’s protein-making machinery. It has been shown to extend lifespan in many mammals and is showing early promise in Alzheimer’s trials focused on safety and biomarkers.



Fine-tuning elongation specifically, rather than throttling global protein synthesis, could sidestep side effects like immunosuppression and poor wound healing.



Researchers are screening small molecules that help separate collided ribosomes or enhance rescue proteins like Pelota. Zebrafish, nematodes, and cell cultures are being used for fast, low-cost testing of drug responses.



If those tools keep elongation on tempo, they might starve neurodegenerative seeds before they sprout, moving the field beyond symptomatic relief toward true prevention and even extension of healthspan.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-questions-still-remain">Questions still remain</h2>



Why basic proteins suffer first, and whether the same translation traffic jams appear in humans by midlife, remain open questions that high-resolution ribosome profiling in brain organoids could address.



The killifish study hints that neurons, already energy-hungry, might lack spare fuel to run sluggish assembly lines - a factor worth investigating.



The tiny fish offer a reminder that aging brains may struggle not from lack of effort, but from processes that slow down just slightly. Researchers can now measure these subtle delays - and may one day learn how to correct them.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk3079" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a>.



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Brain aging linked to sluggish production of key proteins

Misplaced memories and slowed recall often accompany aging, yet the...

In the summer, wildlife watchers head to U.S. national parks hoping to catch a glimpse of a moose, a bear, or maybe even a wolf. But even with so much wildlife around, those moments are rare. A major study has just helped explain why.



The COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020 presented a unique opportunity to watch what animals do when people disappear. A multinational team of scientists from 13 universities, including the <a href="https://www.unl.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Nebraska–Lincoln</a>, took advantage of this moment.



The researchers tracked how large mammals behaved in the absence of people across 14 national parks and protected areas in the United States.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-people-disappeared">When people disappeared</h2>



Researchers from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln were among more than 60 scientists who collaborated on this massive project. They worked with partners like the National Park Service and several state agencies.



Using GPS collars, the team tracked 229 animals, including <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lessons-from-the-past-predators-are-doomed-when-their-prey-vanishes/">predators</a> like wolves, mountain lions, grizzly bears, black bears, and foxes, as well as herbivores like moose, elk, mule deer, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep. 



The experts compared <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animal-movement-predictions-matter-more-than-ever/">animal movements</a> during the pandemic shutdowns in 2020 to the same period in 2019, when parks were bustling with tourists.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-natural-wildlife-experiment-in-parks">A natural wildlife experiment in parks</h2>



The parks studied included Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Zion, Glacier, and others - some of the most iconic and heavily visited in the country.



“COVID provided ecologists with a valuable natural experiment,” said John Benson, one of the study’s researchers. 



“We know that animals can respond strongly to humans, but it is often not clear whether they respond to the 'human footprint' of roads, trails and development, or to the humans themselves. Our study allowed us to separate the foot from the footprint to an extent."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wildlife-reaction-in-different-parks">Wildlife reaction in different parks</h2>



The main finding? Human activity leaves a mark - even when people aren’t there. While animals generally avoid roads, parking lots, trails, and campgrounds, their reactions aren’t all the same.



“Wildlife all around the world fear people and avoid areas of high human activity, but it was surprising to see that this holds true even in more remote protected areas,” said Kaitlyn Gaynor of the University of British Columbia, lead author of the study.



The team noticed that some species and individuals took advantage of the quiet, exploring areas they usually avoided. Others stuck to old habits, avoiding human infrastructure even when it was empty.



“There are so many factors that influence <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-tool-superanimal-can-accurately-analyze-animal-behavior/">animal behavior</a>: local environmental context, species, sex, age, seasons,” Benson said. 



“In a large-scale analysis with many species across so many parks, it was important to separate variation in behavior resulting from all these other sources, from changes in behavior due to reduced human activity during <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-lockdowns-had-unexpected-impacts-on-wildlife-behavior/">COVID</a>."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wild-animals-that-benefit-from-humans">Wild animals that benefit from humans</h2>



Some species are more cautious. Others seem to adapt. “Some species are just more wary of people than others, like bighorn sheep and mountain lions, while others have learned to associate humans with some benefit,” Gaynor explained. 



“The mule deer and elk in Zion National Park prefer being closer to developed areas and around humans. That could be because their predators might be avoiding people, so if deer and elk can learn to live with us, they can reduce the risk of becoming prey."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-most-animals-didn-t-change-their-behavior">Most animals didn’t change their behavior</h2>



In parks with more development, wildlife was more likely to explore previously avoided areas during closures. But the shift wasn’t as dramatic as headlines in 2020 might have suggested.



“We heard from managers in Yosemite National Park that when people came back, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-are-some-black-bears-actually-brown/">black bears</a> stayed, which caused a lot of problems because the bears got used to the abundant food in Yosemite Valley and didn't want to give it up,” Gaynor said.



Still, most animals stuck to their usual avoidance behavior - even when parks were closed.



“While some individuals and populations showed a strong response to the absence of people during park shutdowns, most did not,” Gaynor noted. 



“Because a lot of headlines in 2020 implied that animals were taking back our national parks and were on the streets everywhere, we expected to see a bigger effect. But it takes just a few individuals to start changing their behavior to create the perception of a larger impact.”



Why didn’t more animals take advantage of the quiet? The researchers have a few ideas. First, the closures were short - just 58 days on average. That may not have been long enough for animals to sense a real change. 



Furthermore, animals that avoid people might already have been pushed to quieter areas long ago. Meanwhile, those used to humans may have barely noticed the difference.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-parks-shape-people-and-wildlife">Parks shape people and wildlife</h2>



Human presence changes the game for wildlife. It affects how animals find food, avoid predators, and interact with each other. That has ripple effects on entire ecosystems.



"The national parks have a dual mandate to preserve natural and cultural resources, while also providing enjoyment of the parks to people,” said Benson. “This made national parks really interesting places to study animal behavior during COVID closures." 



"While we often think of national parks as some of the last truly wild places on Earth, some also receive intense visitation by humans.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-balancing-recreation-and-conservation">Balancing recreation and conservation</h2>



Before the pandemic, U.S. national parks saw 327 million visits in 2019. That number rose even higher in 2024 to nearly 332 million.



“Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park and the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/500-million-year-old-animal-fossils-in-grand-canyon-goldilocks-zone-early-animal-evolution/">Grand Canyon</a> are international destinations that are crowded at peak times of year, but the crowds are concentrated near the roads and visitor centers and parking lots,” Gaynor said. 



“The study provides evidence that conservation is compatible with recreation at low levels but that we do need to keep some areas exclusively for wildlife.”



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2025.1013" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>.



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Wildlife in national parks: How do they act when people are gone?

In the summer, wildlife watchers head to U.S. national parks...

Walk through any African rainforest at the height of fruit season, and you will eventually stumble upon a surprising scene: apes foraging not in the treetops but on the forest floor, scooping up fallen figs or overripe marulas that have begun to ferment.



Until now, primatologists have documented the behavior but lacked a word that sets it apart from ordinary fruit eating. 



A new paper led by <a href="https://home.dartmouth.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dartmouth College</a> anthropologist Nathaniel Dominy and <a href="https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of St Andrews</a> primatologist Catherine Hobaiter fixes that linguistic oversight by proposing a single, evocative term - “scrumping.”



“It’s not that primatologists have never seen scrumping - they observe it pretty regularly. But the absence of a word for it has disguised its importance,” Dominy explained.



By naming the habit, the authors hope to inspire more systematic data collection. This simple ground-level snack could hold outsized clues to why human beings tolerate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drunk-animals-may-explain-humans-love-of-alcohol/">alcohol</a> so well.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-medieval-word-for-a-modern-puzzle"><a></a>A medieval word for a modern puzzle</h2>



Scrumping originates from the Middle English rendering of the German “schrimpen.” The word described “shriveled” or “shrunken” fruit that had fallen off the tree. In rural England today, “scrumpy” refers to a rustic cider fermented from windfallen apples.



Dominy and Hobaiter argue that the linguistic lineage is perfect for apes pilfering fermented fruit. Both activities involve the opportunistic gathering of overripe produce with elevated alcohol content.



The name matters because, until now, field notes have lumped floor-foraging events with canopy foraging under the bland heading of “fruit feeding.” That lumping masks the ecological stakes. 



Once fruit hits the ground, it becomes a microbial playground where yeasts convert sugars into alcohols. This process often gives the fruit an ethanol punch of a few percent.



For a 220-pound chimp eating ten pounds of such fruit per day, that may add up to a low but steady dose of alcohol. If the capacity to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/living-at-high-altitude-leads-to-longer-life-by-changing-metabolism/">metabolize</a> that ethanol confers a survival advantage, then scrumping could have exerted evolutionary pressure on primate digestive enzymes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-linking-scrumping-apes-to-alcohol-genes">Linking scrumping apes to alcohol genes</h2>



In 2015, geneticists reported that the primary enzyme humans use to break down ethanol - ADH4 - underwent a pivotal amino acid tweak in the last common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and gorillas.



That mutation boosted the enzyme’s efficiency fortyfold. The genetic timeline aligns suspiciously well with fossil and climatic evidence suggesting early apes were spending more time on the ground, perhaps because <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-cooling-wont-be-a-quick-fix-for-the-state-of-our-oceans/">global cooling</a> was fragmenting forest canopies.



Dominy’s team suspected that scrumping, not tree foraging, was the behavior that turned the genetic key. To test the prevalence of ground-level fruit snacking, they combed through thousands of feeding observations for chimpanzees, western gorillas, mountain gorillas, and orangutans.



Every record pairing ground-level apes with a fruit species normally found higher in the canopy counted as a scrumping event. African apes did it routinely. 



Orangutans of Southeast Asia, by contrast, almost never did - and tellingly, the 2015 gene study shows orangutans have a far less efficient version of ADH4.



These weren’t differences of nuance - African apes scrump on a regular basis, but orangutans do not. The contrast strengthens the idea that processing dietary ethanol was an adaptive edge for African lineages.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-escaping-competition-avoiding-falls"><a></a>Escaping competition, avoiding falls</h2>



Why would a large ape bother with windfall fruit instead of plucking fresher pieces overhead? Dominy points to two incentives. 



First, avoiding the highest branches reduces the risk of potentially fatal falls - a risk he and co-author Luke Fannin quantified in a 2023 study showing that accidents in the canopy exact serious tolls on primate skeletons.



Second, staying on the ground lets apes sidestep competition with smaller, more nimble monkeys that strip trees of unripe fruit. If ethanol metabolism means an ape can safely eat the fermented fare, it gains a foraging niche all its own.



“A fundamental feature of our relationship with alcohol is our tendency to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-social-drinking-feels-so-different-from-drinking-alone/">drink together</a>," said Hobaiter. She wonders whether shared ape scrumping sessions reinforce social bonds in apes the way communal drinking does in humans.



Future fieldwork will track whether group foraging for windfallen fruit correlates with grooming, alliance formation, or mating opportunities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-happy-hour-in-the-jungle">Happy hour in the jungle</h2>



The next empirical frontier is chemistry. Researchers plan to sample ethanol concentrations in fruits still hanging versus fruits lying on the forest floor. They will also monitor ape breath or urine for ethanol metabolites to estimate intake more precisely.



If chronic low-level exposure proves common, it could reshape narratives about ancient hominin diets and even the timing of the agricultural revolution, when humans began deliberately fermenting grains and grapes.



“Scrumping by the last common ancestor of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gorillas-are-digging-for-a-surprising-food-in-the-jungle-soil/">gorillas</a>, chimpanzees, and humans about 10 million years ago could explain why humans are so astoundingly good at digesting alcohol,” Dominy noted.



He suggests that long before our ancestors brewed beer, natural selection had already equipped them with biochemical bar tabs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-will-scrumping-stick">Will scrumping stick?</h2>



Scientific neologisms catch on only if they fill a conceptual gap - think “symbiosis” in the 19th century or Richard Dawkins’s “meme” in 1976. Dominy believes scrumping meets that test.



It instantly conveys a specific behavior - ground foraging for fermented fruit - that generic terms cannot. If colleagues adopt the label, datasets will soon be searchable, hypotheses testable, and evolutionary stories clearer.



“We never knew we needed the word until we did. That’s natural selection at work,” Dominy said. Whether scrumping becomes a staple of primatology vocabulary remains to be seen. 



But the paper makes a compelling case: name the behavior, and the science of why we drink - and how we evolved - may gain a fresh ferment of insight.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biaf102/8215783">BioScience</a>.



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"Scrumping" apes may explain how humans started drinking alcohol

Walk through any African rainforest at the height of fruit...

An ancient encounter between distant plant relatives forever changed agriculture. About nine million years ago, natural interbreeding between a tomato ancestor and a South American Etuberosum species led to the first true potato. 



This unexpected hybridization created a plant with one powerful trait: the ability to grow tubers underground.



Published in the journal Cell, the study reveals how this hybrid event transformed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-psychoactive-plants-helped-build-an-ancient-empire/">evolution</a>. Tubers enabled plants to store nutrients below the surface, helping them survive climate shifts and colonize new terrains.



“Our findings show how a hybridization event between species can spark the evolution of new traits, allowing even more species to emerge,” said co-author Sanwen Huang of the <a href="https://www.caas.cn/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences</a>. “We’ve finally solved the mystery of where potatoes came from.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-potatoes-are-more-tomato-than-expected">Potatoes are more tomato than expected</h2>



While the potato resembles some tuberless Chilean <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-seeds-reveal-plant-migration-path-from-asia-to-australia/">species</a>, it shares more genetic ties with tomatoes. To investigate, the researchers sequenced 450 cultivated potato genomes and 56 wild relatives.



They discovered that all potatoes carry a stable genetic blend from both Etuberosum and tomato-like ancestors. 



The two lineages diverged around 14 million years ago, yet still interbred after 5 million years of separation. This compatibility led to the birth of the modern potato lineage with tuber-forming capabilities.



“Wild potatoes are very difficult to sample, so this dataset represents the most comprehensive collection of wild potato genomic data ever analyzed,” said study first author Zhiyang Zhang.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-origins-of-modern-potatoes">Origins of modern potatoes </h2>



By tracing the source of tuber-related genes, the study showed how specific gene combinations enabled tuber development. One gene, SP6A, came from the tomato ancestor. It acts like a timer, signaling when to begin tuber formation. 



Another gene, IT1, came from Etuberosum and drives the actual growth of the underground stem structures.



Without these two genes, tubers would not exist. Their presence in the hybrid offspring gave the new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/evidence-of-ancient-plant-farming-found-in-east-africa/">lineage</a> a nutritional edge.



This combination also solved a long-standing contradiction. While tuberless Etuberosum plants resemble modern potatoes, they lacked these hybrid genes. Potatoes, on the other hand, inherited the best of both parents.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tubers-helped-potatoes-survive">Tubers helped potatoes survive</h2>



The potato’s evolutionary breakthrough matched a dramatic environmental shift. The Andes mountains were rising rapidly during this period. These changes brought colder, harsher conditions. 



Underground tubers allowed the hybrids to store energy and survive drought, frost, and low oxygen.



Tubers gave potatoes another advantage: asexual reproduction. A single tuber can sprout new plants without seeds or flowers. This helped the species spread across diverse&nbsp;<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-turtle-day-2025-ancient-creatures-with-modern-challenges/">ecosystems</a>, from mountain slopes to temperate grasslands.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rewiring-of-plant-hormone-systems">Rewiring of plant hormone systems</h2>



The research uncovered even deeper changes. Potato hybridization did not just merge genes. It altered hormonal pathways. Tuber formation involves a shift from flowering-focused reproduction to underground storage growth.



The researchers found reduced expression of flowering genes and increased activation of genes that promote storage organ formation. These changes involved key hormones like gibberellins, which control plant development. 



The hybrid lineage adjusted hormone balances to support tuber growth while limiting flower formation when necessary.



The SP6A and IT1 genes did not act alone. They interacted with regulators of sugar transport and underground stem expansion. This suggests that tuber evolution affected entire physiological networks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-hybridization-fuels-plant-diversity">How hybridization fuels plant diversity</h2>



Hybridization between distant plant lineages is rare, but powerful. It can bypass reproductive barriers, create new species, and introduce useful traits. In the potato’s case, hybridization created an entirely new reproductive strategy using vegetative propagation through tubers.



This ability allowed potatoes to diversify rapidly. The Andes became a hotspot for wild potato speciation. Each species adapted to different altitudes and climates.



“Evolving a tuber gave potatoes a huge advantage in harsh environments, fueling an explosion of new species and contributing to the rich diversity of potatoes we see and rely on today,” Huang said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tomatoes-helped-create-potatoes">Tomatoes helped create potatoes</h2>



The potato is now one of the world’s most essential crops, feeding billions. But its success began with one wild encounter between tomato-like and Etuberosum ancestors.



Through ancient hybridization, potatoes gained the ability to thrive underground, reproduce without seeds, and adapt to varied environments. Their tubers became both survival tools and culinary staples.



Scientists have finally traced that origin story, showing how a distant botanical union shaped the potato and our diets.



The study is published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00736-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cell</a>.



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Potato origins mystery solved after 9 million years

An ancient encounter between distant plant relatives forever changed agriculture....

Tiny plastic particles surround us daily. We can’t see them, but we inhale the plastic dust constantly. 



A new study by Nadiia Yakovenko and colleagues at <a href="https://www.univ-tlse3.fr" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Université de Toulouse</a> uncovers how much more exposure we face indoors than previously assumed.



Published in the journal PLOS ONE, the research reveals just how dense microplastic pollution has become inside homes and vehicles.



Earlier studies showed that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scented-products-release-indoor-air-pollutants/">plastics</a> float in the air almost everywhere. These fragments, called microplastics, often come from synthetic clothes, car interiors, packaging, and household items. Indoor air contains more of them than outdoor air. 



Until now, most research focused on larger particles that rarely enter deep lung tissue. This study takes a sharper look at smaller particles - the ones that can reach the lungs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tiny-plastics-harm-your-lungs">Tiny plastics harm your lungs</h2>



When particles are smaller than 10 micrometers (µm), or 0.0004 inches, they become a threat to deep lung tissue. They slip past our natural filters and can reach the bronchi and even enter the bloodstream.



These particles also carry toxic chemicals and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/millions-of-people-die-from-air-pollution-each-year-yet-theres-still-a-lack-of-monitoring/">pollutants</a>. Once inside the body, they may harm vital systems.



Yakovenko’s team studied both apartments and cars using Raman spectroscopy, a method capable of detecting particles as small as 1 µm. They found that the average indoor air contains thousands of these tiny particles per cubic meter.



Homes and cars had different compositions. Polyethylene dominated in homes, while polyamide was more common in cars due to the types of fabrics and plastics used in vehicle interiors.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-smaller-particles-bigger-problem">Smaller particles, bigger problem</h2>



Most previous studies used µFTIR spectroscopy, which detects particles no smaller than 10 µm. This left out the most common size range found in indoor air. 



The new study used a more sensitive method and found microplastic concentrations up to 100 times higher than earlier estimates.



More than 90% of all detected particles were smaller than 10 µm. These particles followed a pattern where smaller particles appeared more often. 



The distribution pattern followed a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-mechanics-uncovers-hidden-patterns-in-the-stock-market/">power law</a>, meaning particle numbers rose sharply as size dropped. That means we are breathing in large quantities of the smallest, most hazardous plastics.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-indoor-dust-is-mostly-plastic">Indoor dust is mostly plastic</h2>



Sampling revealed a median of 528 particles per cubic meter (~15 particles/ft³) in homes and 2,238 particles per cubic meter (~63 particles/ft³) in cars.



These particles were mostly fragments rather than fibers. Their size typically ranged from 1 to 10 µm.



Based on combined data from this and other studies, researchers estimated that adults inhale about 3,200 larger microplastics and 68,000 smaller ones on a daily basis.



These smaller particles can cross biological barriers, reach the bloodstream, and impact organs. They may also release additives and chemicals that disrupt hormones and affect immunity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-role-of-the-gut-and-beyond">Role of the gut and beyond</h2>



Larger <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cutting-super-pollutants-could-quickly-cool-the-planet/">particles</a> usually get trapped in mucus and are removed by coughing or swallowing. This process introduces plastics into the digestive system. 



This secondary ingestion route could rival or exceed plastic exposure from food and drinks. In fact, people may absorb more microplastics through air than through meals.



Children may be even more vulnerable due to higher air intake relative to their body weight. Inhalation rates vary, but on average, children may inhale up to 47,000 small plastic particles daily. These particles can reach places in the body where they don’t belong.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plastic-dust-found-everywhere">Plastic dust found everywhere</h2>



“We found that over 90% of the microplastic particles in indoor air across both homes and cars were smaller than 10 µm, small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs," noted the researchers.



This was also the first study to measure microplastics in the car cabin environment. Overall, the team detected indoor concentrations up to 100 times higher than previous extrapolated estimates, revealing indoor air as a major and previously underestimated exposure route of fine particulate microplastic inhalation.



“Everywhere we looked, we find microplastics, even in the air we breathe inside our homes and cars," the researchers said.



The biggest concern is how small these particles are completely invisible to the naked eye. "We inhale thousands of them every day without even realizing it," the team pointed out. 



Deep inside our lungs, microplastics release toxic additives that reach our blood and cause multiple diseases.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-next-step-in-microplastic-research">Next step in microplastic research</h2>



This study also estimates potential exposure to nanoplastics, which are particles smaller than 1 µm (0.00004 inches). These may reach even deeper parts of the lungs and possibly cross into cells.



Though no direct measurements were made, the study extrapolated a likely exposure rate of over 33 million nanoplastics per day in the smallest size range.



Inhaled <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-happens-when-nanoplastics-get-into-the-soil-many-things-none-of-them-are-good/">nanoplastics</a> may behave differently than microplastics. They are smaller, more reactive, and harder to detect. Future research must develop better ways to observe and measure these invisible invaders.



The takeaway is clear. Indoor air carries more microplastics than we assumed, especially in the most harmful size ranges. 



This study urges regular monitoring and a closer look at how these particles move, settle, and affect health. Until then, the invisible plastic dust in our homes and cars remains an open hazard. We breathe it in with every passing moment.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0328011" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PLOS One</a>.



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Plastic dust is making indoor air more polluted than outside

Tiny plastic particles surround us daily. We can’t see them,...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE
</div></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

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

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">New York is the site of the world's oldest forest.</figcaption></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



-----



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

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

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Acid rain and a crisis solved.</figcaption></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The environmental problem we actually solved

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

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

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/Fi2OeEwuzRM?si=vTyd2m9FMmtyWkex
</div></figure>







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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

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

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

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU
</div></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

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

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



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



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



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Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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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

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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