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...

Female songbirds sing more often than many once believed. A new study led by Professor Karan Odom uncovers why. Female song arises from a mix of climate, territory, and teamwork.



The researchers examined over 1,300 bird species. They discovered that female birds are more likely to sing in species that stay in one place year round, share parental duties, and defend territories together. These conditions occur most often in tropical regions.



This challenges the long-held idea that birdsong evolved mostly in males. Odom's 2014 study already showed that female song existed early in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hundreds-of-bird-species-could-vanish-in-the-next-century/">avian</a> evolution but was later lost in many lineages.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-and-why-female-birds-sing">When and why female birds sing</h2>



The new analysis showed that year round territoriality and biparental care predict female song better than latitude alone. These traits often appear together in tropical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-may-be-using-quantum-physics-for-migration/">species</a>. 



Species in which both sexes sing equally tend to have larger bodies and stable partnerships. When asked if busy moms stop singing, Professor Odom said "not exactly."



“But separate parental and territorial roles do appear to lead to differences in male and female behavior. Some birds have the same mate all year or for multiple years, which leads to males and females acting more similar."



“But if the birds are not monogamous, if the male breeds with multiple females, then we have observed that their traits diverge, and we find support that the male gets a really flashy, complex, long song, and the female gets a short song, or she loses her song.”



These differences arise as mating systems shift. When males breed with several females and skip parenting, female birds sing less or not at all. Singing near the nest may also attract predators, discouraging song.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-singing-to-find-faithful-partners">Singing to find faithful partners</h2>



“They might just breed once and then go and find another mate, and then the female, in those cases, does all the work on her own: she's raising the chicks and feeding the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tropical-birds-migrate-without-riding-the-wind/">chicks</a>, and that would be where you observe less female song," said Professor Odom. 



"This might be because when the female spends so much time around the nest, it is detrimental to sing.”



The study reveals that female song is not just about attraction. It is a strategy. Female birds may use song to secure a mate who will help raise offspring. The strongest female song appeared in monogamous species with cooperative males.



“I get excited about the parental care being significant because that's not something people have tested before. That’s a new result, and it reaffirms that females could be competing for good mates or good dads,” said Professor Odom.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-some-birds-sing-together-and-share-duties">Some birds sing together and share duties</h2>



The study confirmed that duetting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-are-declining-fastest-where-they-were-once-common/">birds</a> typically exhibit year round territoriality and equal parental roles.



Duetting species, often tropical, tend to have larger bodies and low levels of polygyny. This supports the idea that song helps maintain social bonds and territories rather than just attract mates.



The team found that 59 percent of songbird species include singing females. Among them, many have songs as frequent and complex as males. Others sing occasionally or only in certain contexts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-female-bird-with-hidden-songs">Female bird with hidden songs</h2>



The story does not end in the tropics. Even in temperate zones, some females sing. This occurs more often in species where males help raise young or where competition among females matters. 



Species with moderate levels of polygyny and weak territoriality still show female song, though less frequently. This suggests song is not strictly for attraction. It might help females compete for resources or nesting support. 



Traditionally, science underreported female birdsong. Observers often assumed males were the only singers. Many field guides and sound libraries underrepresent female voices.



“I truly love my work,” said Professor Odom. “I feel very passionate about it. It's a field I've been in for about a decade now, and I self-selected it out of pure enthusiasm." 



"I went where the questions guided me and what I found most exciting, and then I spend a lot of time and energy on the research."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60810-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Female birds sing to find a faithful companion

Female songbirds sing more often than many once believed. A...

Theme,Diabetes.,The,Man,Whose,Glucose,Was,Measured,By,Going

Type 1 diabetes, as most textbooks tell it, shows up early, marches in with unmistakable warning signs, and never goes away. A single drop in daily insulin can mean trouble. 



That story has shaped treatment for nearly a century, and in many places, it works. Yet most of the data behind that story comes from Europe and North America. What if a different chapter has been unfolding elsewhere all along?



In clinics across <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-Saharan_Africa" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sub-Saharan Africa</a>, nurses have long whispered to visiting researchers that some young patients labeled “type 1” seemed to hold on without insulin for weeks, even months. 



The hunch was hard to test - supplies are scarce, and lab work can be expensive - but the anecdotes kept piling up. Those whispers have now turned into evidence, and the findings are shaking up what we thought we knew <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-identify-a-cellular-switch-mitochondria-that-could-reverse-type-2-diabetes/">about diabetes</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-african-clinic-data">Surprising African clinic data</h2>



Nearly 900 children, teens, and young adults in Cameroon, Uganda, and South Africa joined a project called the Young-Onset Diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa (<a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05013346?tab=table" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YODA</a>) study.



Blood samples, genetic scans, and clinical histories poured in. The results, published in The Lancet Diabetes &amp; Endocrinology, were striking.



About 65 percent of participants lacked the autoimmune fingerprints that define classic type 1 diabetes, and the usual high-risk immune genes were missing as well. 



Only 8.5 percent carried more than one diabetes-related autoantibody, a stark contrast to the roughly 90 percent seen within months of diagnosis in Western cohorts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-redefining-the-diabetes-diagnosis">Redefining the diabetes diagnosis</h2>



Instead of the immune system destroying insulin-making cells, this new subtype looks like something else altogether - an insulin-deficient illness that has not yet revealed its trigger. 



It sits outside type 2 diabetes, which is tied to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-diabetes-rate-has-doubled-reaching-over-800-million/">insulin resistance</a>, and it doesn’t match malnutrition-related diabetes either. Clinicians had their suspicions; now the data back them up. 



“These new research findings confirm our long-standing suspicion. We have always wondered why many young people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes manage to survive without insulin, at least for some time, which would be unusual in typical type 1 diabetes,” said Dr Jean-Claude Katte of the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Exeter</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-types-of-diabetes">Types of diabetes</h2>



The YODA team compared African participants with more than 3,000 children and adolescents from the U.S. <a href="https://www.searchfordiabetes.org/dspHome.cfm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth</a> study. 



The novel pattern emerged in a small group of Black American children and was absent in White participants. That split hints at a mix of ancestral roots and environmental factors. It also rules out simple lab error. 



Every sample was tested with assays calibrated for African populations, and the same pattern appeared across three countries with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carrots-may-help-manage-diabetes-by-improving-gut-health/">different diets</a>, infections, and climates.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-urgent-and-immediate-action">Urgent and immediate action</h2>



“These findings are a wake-up call. They challenge our assumptions about type 1 diabetes and show that the disease may present differently in African children and adolescents," said Professor Moffat Nyirenda, who directs the <a href="https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/units/mrc-uganda" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MRC/UVRI–LSHTM</a> Uganda Research Unit.



"We urgently need to deepen our investigations into the biological and environmental factors driving this form of diabetes and ensure our diagnostic and treatment approaches are fit for purpose in African settings.” 



Dr Katte added, “Our next step is to investigate possible causes - ranging from infections and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drinking-this-amount-of-water-per-day-helps-control-blood-sugar-levels-in-people-with-diabetes/">nutritional factors</a> to environmental toxins. If we can find the cause, we may be able to prevent new cases and find new treatments.” 



Professor Eugene Sobngwi of Cameroon’s <a href="https://www.minsante.cm/site/?q=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ministry of Public Health</a> put it bluntly, saying, “We must invest in context-specific research. If we don’t, we risk misdiagnosing and mistreating millions of people.”



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



Roughly nine million people worldwide live with type 1 diabetes. If two out of every three young patients in parts of Africa actually have a different disease, the global numbers - and the research priorities that follow - need a hard look. 



Mislabeling matters. Classic type 1 patients need lifelong insulin from day one; those with the new subtype may respond to therapies that protect or boost their still-working beta cells. 



Catching that difference could spare families the cost and risk of unnecessary high-dose insulin while steering researchers toward fresh <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forgotten-organ-spleen-bioreactor-could-revolutionize-diabetes-therapy-forever/">prevention strategies</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-diagnosing-diabetes-type">Diagnosing diabetes type</h2>



The study leaves open questions. Autoantibodies can fade, so testing closer to the time of diagnosis could capture more detail. 



In addition, teasing apart infections, dietary patterns, and possible toxins will take careful fieldwork and, just as importantly, local funding. 



Yet the path is clear: broaden the research lens, update diagnostic manuals, and train healthcare teams to spot red flags - such as a young patient who stays stable on surprisingly little insulin. 



The YODA data show that those cases are not rare outliers; they are part of a hidden majority in several African settings.



Diabetes textbooks will need an update, but the bigger story is about equity in science. Decades of work built on narrow datasets can miss whole chapters of human biology. Broadening the map doesn’t just help the regions being studied; it fine-tunes medicine for all.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(25)00120-2/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Lancet Diabetes &amp; Endocrinology</a>.



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Scientists identify a new subtype of diabetes that will change how the disease is treated

Type 1 diabetes, as most textbooks tell it, shows up...

In the dense greenery of Brazil’s Atlantic coast, botanists have long walked past a drab shrub called Trema micrantha Blume. Until recently, no one suspected its berries and blossoms contained an active ingredient already worth billions of dollars worldwide. 



That compound is cannabidiol (CBD), widely studied for easing seizures, anxiety, and chronic pain without the mind-altering high of marijuana.



The possibility of harvesting CBD from a fast-growing plant that governments do not regulate as tightly as cannabis could reshape both agriculture and medicine. 



Hemp farms in the United States, for example, need extensive licensing, testing, and security. Trema micrantha, by contrast, spreads like a roadside weed and grows from seed to flowering in a single tropical season.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trema-micrantha-new-cbd-source">Trema micrantha - New CBD source</h2>



Brazilian molecular biologist Dr. Rodrigo Moura Neto, working at the <a href="https://ufrj.br/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Federal University</a> of Rio de Janeiro, confirmed that Trema fruits and flowers carry measurable CBD while lacking tetrahydrocannabinol (<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cbd-reduces-the-unwanted-side-effects-of-thc/">THC</a>), the chemical that produces a marijuana high. 



“It was wonderful to find a plant with CBD but without THC, because you avoid all the mess around psychotropic substances,” he says. “That means the potential is enormous.”



Using ultra-high-performance <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/liquid-chromatography" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">liquid chromatography</a> and high-resolution <a href="https://www.broadinstitute.org/technology-areas/what-mass-spectrometry" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mass spectrometry</a>, his team pinpointed the cannabinoid profile with far more sensitivity than older methods could offer. 



The work builds on research that once found similar molecules in a related Thai shrub but never led to commercial production.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-trema-micrantha-stands-out">Why Trema micrantha stands out</h2>



Early tests show the plant’s berries hold far more CBD than its leaves or stems. 



Importantly, THC remains below detection limits across samples, meeting strict rules in places where any <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-potency-why-you-shouldnt-trust-the-label/">psychoactive trace</a> would block retail sales. That feature alone could save processors the costly step of purifying extracts to strip out THC.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/cbd_found_another-plant-species_Trema-micranthum-Blume_credit-SciRep_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/cbd_found_another-plant-species_Trema-micranthum-Blume_credit-SciRep_1s.webp" alt="Parts of the plant Trema micranthum (L.) Blume: leaves, inflorescences, fruits, and branches. Credit: Scientific Reports" class="wp-image-1978631"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Parts of the plant Trema micranthum (L.) Blume: leaves, inflorescences, fruits, and branches. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Scientific Reports</figcaption></figure>



Size also helps. A mature shrub can top 66 feet, offering biomass well beyond what a typical hemp plant yields in regions where heat, pests, or legal hurdles keep hemp acreage low. 



“Lots of companies have been calling, looking to collaborate,” says laboratory director Rosane Silva, who refers to their new subject as the “magical plant.”



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



CBD already supports one U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved drug, Epidiolex, prescribed for rare childhood epilepsies. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/medicinal-cannabis-helped-patients-feel-better-for-a-full-year/">Dozens of trials</a> are probing benefits for autism spectrum disorders, post-traumatic stress, and inflammatory diseases. 



Yet patients in many countries still import CBD oils at steep prices because medical marijuana remains illegal to cultivate.



Brazil reflects that tension. Judges there often grant individual patients permission to receive cannabis-derived CBD, but growers must keep operations abroad. 



If Trema proves a viable domestic source of CBD without <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-use-in-any-form-directly-linked-to-significant-risk-of-heart-damage/">THC</a>, supply chains could shorten, prices could fall, and courts might see fewer emergency petitions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-funding-and-next-steps">Funding and next steps</h2>



A public grant worth 500,000 BRL (104,000 USD) now fuels the next phase: perfecting extraction methods and running preclinical tests. 



Dr. Moura Neto is also navigating patents for the techniques - though not for the plant itself. “If I dreamed of being a billionaire, I wouldn’t have become a professor,” he says.



Patenting a process rather than the species allows researchers worldwide to study Trema micrantha genetics, cultivation, and pharmacology. 



Open science may accelerate breeding programs to boost <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabinoids-as-pesticides-study-reveals-potential-of-hemp-compounds/">cannabinoid content</a>, just as decades of selective crossing transformed hemp into today’s high-CBD, low-THC cultivars.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-questions-about-trema-micrantha">More questions about Trema micrantha</h2>



Even with strong CBD levels in fruit, overall yield per acre currently trails specialized hemp varieties by orders of magnitude. 



Agronomists must learn whether fertilizer regimens, pruning schedules, or controlled stress can nudge Trema’s metabolic pathways toward richer resin production. 



Meanwhile, pharmacologists will compare therapeutic potency head-to-head against cannabis-derived CBD. As Dr. Moura Neto cautions, CBD from Trema micrantha “might not work as well, or at all.”



Clinical trials will span five to ten years if early toxicology proves safe. Extraction facilities must also demonstrate that oil from Trema meets pharmacopeia purity standards and remains stable on shelves.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-business-landscape">The business landscape</h2>



Market analysts valued global CBD sales at nearly $5 billion last year and project more than $47 billion by 2028. Those figures catch the eye of pharmaceutical firms, cosmetics brands, and food-and-beverage startups alike. 



THC-free sourcing could let companies bypass patchwork legislation that still treats cannabis as a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/legal-access-to-cannabis-is-proving-to-be-good-for-both-people-and-society/">controlled drug</a>.



Brazil’s vast territory offers another advantage: the climate supports year-round growth near the equator, reducing greenhouse heating costs common in northern latitudes. Fast turnover from seed to fruit may allow three harvests per year, lowering production costs further.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trema-micrantha-and-cbd-s-future">Trema micrantha and CBD's future</h2>



A shrub once written off as a nuisance now invites plant scientists, chemists, and economists to rethink how CBD reaches medicine cabinets. 



If ongoing studies confirm effectiveness and scalable yield, hemp might share the cannabinoid spotlight with its newly famous cousin. 



For now, anyone tempted to roll the leaves should heed Dr. Moura Neto’s warning: “That definitely won’t do anything for you.”



The journey from laboratory bench to pharmacy shelf is never short, yet Trema micrantha shows that valuable molecules sometimes hide in the least glamorous corners of a forest. 



With steady research funding and open collaboration, a weed could join the wellness industry - without the legal smoke clouds that follow its more notorious relative.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-80857-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scientific Reports</a>.



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Tropical weed discovered that contains the same CBD compound as cannabis plants

In the dense greenery of Brazil’s Atlantic coast, botanists have...

The growing number of rocket launches may pose a threat to Earth’s ozone layer. While the expanding space industry holds great promise, researchers warn that its environmental impacts are being overlooked.



With thousands of satellites now cluttering low Earth orbit, emissions from launches and back-end debris are making alarm bells ring over atmospheric well-being.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-space-boom-comes-with-a-cost">Space boom comes with a cost</h2>



A team of scientists from the <a href="https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/">University of Canterbury</a> and ETH Zurich investigated how pollution from rocket launches and falling space junk could slow the ozone layer’s recovery. 



The researchers used a chemistry-climate model developed at ETH Zurich and the Physical Meteorological Observatory in Davos (PMOD/WRC) to forecast rocket emission impacts through 2030.



Back in 2019, there were only 97 orbital launches. By 2024, that number had nearly tripled to 258 - and it's expected to rise to over 2,000 per year by the end of the decade. 



This increase is concerning because emissions in the upper atmosphere linger much longer than those released at ground level. 



Without natural washout processes like rain or clouds, these pollutants can circle the globe and remain in the air for years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-ozone-layer-s-fragile-recovery">The ozone layer’s fragile recovery</h2>



The model predicts that, if current growth trends continue, the global ozone layer could thin by nearly 0.3 percent by 2030. Over Antarctica, seasonal losses could reach up to four percent.



These might seem like small numbers, but context matters. The ozone layer is still recovering from the damage caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), banned in 1989 by the Montreal Protocol. 



Global ozone levels are still about two percent below pre-industrial levels and aren’t expected to fully recover until 2066. 



According to the researchers, unregulated rocket emissions could delay this timeline by several years - or even decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-ozone-layer-still-matters">Why the ozone layer still matters</h2>



The ozone layer may seem like a distant part of the atmosphere, but it plays a vital role in shielding life on Earth. It absorbs most of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which can cause skin cancer, cataracts, and immune system damage in humans.



 It also affects ecosystems, particularly marine life, by influencing the health of phytoplankton - tiny organisms that form the base of the ocean’s food chain.



Even modest declines in ozone can boost the amount of UV radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface. That is to say, any quantifiable decrease is more than a number - it’s an alarm. 



Ongoing harm could bring about additional UV-related health threats, upset delicate ecosystems, and undermine the gains achieved since CFCs were banned. 



Simply put, every percentage point of recovery counts, and every delay threatens human and environmental well-being.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fuel-type-matters-more-than-you-think">Fuel type matters more than you think</h2>



The problem lies mainly with emissions of chlorine gas and soot. Chlorine breaks apart ozone molecules, and soot particles heat the middle atmosphere, speeding up ozone-damaging reactions. 



Solid rocket motors are the main source of chlorine emissions, while most rocket types release soot.



Only rockets using cryogenic fuels - like liquid oxygen and hydrogen - are nearly ozone-neutral. But these fuels are tricky to handle, and only about 6 percent of current launches use them. 



That means the vast majority of launches still contribute to ozone depletion.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-re-entry-the-hidden-threat">Re-entry: the hidden threat</h2>



The study focused on emissions during rocket ascent, but what about the return journey? Most satellites burn up when they re-enter the atmosphere, releasing nitrogen oxides and metal particles. 



Nitrogen oxides are already known to harm the ozone, while metals could form clouds or act as chemical surfaces that accelerate ozone loss.



Scientists still poorly understand these effects and often leave them out of climate models. But with satellite constellations growing rapidly, more and more debris will re-enter the atmosphere, making this an urgent area for further research.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clean-fuels-offer-a-path">Clean fuels offer a path</h2>



“There is a risk that the rapid rise in global rocket launches could slow the recovery of the vital ozone layer,” said Sandro Vattioni. “The problem is being underestimated - yet it could be mitigated by forward-looking, coordinated action.”



The researchers believe there’s still time to act. Better monitoring of emissions, using cleaner fuels, and encouraging the switch to cryogenic systems could help protect the ozone layer. 



Setting international regulations would allow the space industry to grow sustainably.



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Rocket launches threaten Earth's ozone recovery

The growing number of rocket launches may pose a threat...

A swirl of gas and dust hangs around the young star HD 135344B, 440 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. Inside that haze, astronomers have spotted telltale spirals that most theories link to the tug of a growing world. 



Now, fresh images from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (<a href="https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">VLT</a>) point to a compact object exactly where one of those spirals begins. That bright signal, embedded deep in the disc, is likely a planet <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/astronomers-catch-exact-moment-when-planets-form-around-a-star-hops-315/">still gathering mass</a>.



Many teams have chased such a sight, yet clear proof has stayed just out of reach. A planet is small and faint compared with the glare of its star, and the surrounding dust adds another curtain. 



The new observations slice through that curtain with the sharpest infrared vision yet, revealing what looks like a cosmic sculptor caught in the act.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-a-newborn-star-feeds">How a newborn star feeds</h2>



“We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time,” says Francesco Maio of the <a href="https://www.unifi.it/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Florence</a>, lead author of the study published in <a href="https://www.aanda.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics</a>. 



The team used ERIS, the VLT’s newest infrared imager and spectrograph, to zero in on the inner disc.



The suspected planet sits about as far from HD 135344B as Neptune does from the Sun - roughly 2.8 billion miles. 



Models suggest it already holds twice the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/super-jupiter-discovered-in-the-great-bear-constellation/">mass of Jupiter</a>. At that heft, it can carve lanes in the surrounding gas, forcing material into striking spiral arms that wind outward across the disc.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spiral-clues-from-hd-135344b">Spiral clues from HD 135344B</h2>



Spirals first turned up in 2018 images captured by the earlier <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/sphere/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SPHERE instrument</a>. 



Theory predicted that a hidden planet would lurk at the base of one arm, shepherding dust the way a snowplow makes ridges on a road. ERIS has now revealed a pin-bright knot right on that spot.



“What makes this detection potentially a turning point is that, unlike many previous observations, we are able to directly detect the signal of the protoplanet, which is still highly embedded in the disc,” says Maio, now based at Italy’s <a href="https://www.arcetri.inaf.it/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory</a>. 



“This gives us a much higher level of confidence in the planet’s existence, as we’re observing the planet’s own light.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hd-135344b-vs-v960-mon">HD 135344B vs. V960 Mon</h2>



The same instrument has also probed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stunning-revelation-new-image-sheds-light-on-the-birth-of-giant-planets/">V960 Mon</a>, a star that surprised astronomers in 2014 when it flared almost overnight. Such outbursts define a rare class called <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mystery-orion-erupting-fuor-stars-solved-after-100-years/">FU Orionis</a> objects. 



The sudden brightening happens when a heap of gas plummets onto the star, releasing energy like a campfire fed fresh wood.



Earlier snapshots from SPHERE and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (<a href="https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/home/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ALMA</a>) showed that V960 Mon’s disc is laced with multiple spirals and dense clumps - hallmarks of gravitational instability. 



This process can cause parts of a disc to collapse under their own weight, potentially giving birth to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tiny-brown-dwarfs-discovered-inside-the-flame-nebula/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">brown dwarfs</a> or gas-giant planets far from the central star.



Using ERIS, a separate team led by Anuroop Dasgupta of ESO and <a href="https://diegoportalesuniversity.udp.cl/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Diego Portales University</a> detected a warm, compact source tucked beside one of those spirals. 



“That work revealed unstable material but left open the question of what happens next. With ERIS, we set out to find any compact, luminous fragments signaling the presence of a companion in the disc - and we did,” says Dasgupta. 



The newcomer might be a forming planet or a brown dwarf, but whichever it is, the object offers a rare snapshot of collapse in progress.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-hd-135344b-matters">Why HD 135344B matters</h2>



Planet formation usually follows the slower core-accretion route: dust grains stick together, build rocks, then grow into full-sized planets over millions of years. 



Gravitational instability, by contrast, can whip up a gas giant in a few thousand years, especially in the chilly outskirts of a massive disc. The candidate around V960 Mon is prime evidence that instability sometimes wins the race.



The planet inside HD 135344B’s disc highlights a different stage. Here, the disc is stable enough that a single hefty planet sculpts spirals as it circles the star. 



By catching the object while it still glows in infrared, astronomers can test how quickly such worlds capture gas and clear lanes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tools-that-sharpen-the-view">Tools that sharpen the view</h2>



The <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/eris/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ERIS instrument</a> on the VLT combines adaptive optics with a sensitive detector that covers a wavelength range where warm dust shines brightest. It builds on the legacy of SPHERE, which excels at high-contrast imaging closer to visible light. 



ALMA fills in longer wavelengths, mapping cold dust and molecular gas. Together, the trio can track both the scaffolding and the newborn objects inside.



Future upgrades promise even finer detail. The next-generation Extremely Large Telescope (<a href="https://elt.eso.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ELT</a>), set to open in the late 2020s, will have a main mirror 128 feet across, four times wider than any existing optical telescope. 



Its first-light instruments should spot planets smaller than Saturn inside nearby discs and measure their mass through the tiny wobbles they induce in gas lanes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-young-stars-and-bright-knots">Young stars and bright knots</h2>



Confirming the true nature of the bright knots around both stars will take time. Astronomers need to watch how the signals move. 



A bound planet will trace a steady orbit; a transient dust clump will disperse. Follow-up spectra can also reveal whether the light comes from hot gas falling onto a solid core or simply from heated dust.



No single discovery rewrites the story of how worlds emerge, yet each new image adds weight to ideas once left to computer simulations. 



By pairing sharper instruments with long-term monitoring, researchers are starting to catch planets in their messy, luminous infancy rather than piecing the tale together after the fact.



<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/J6SgH5LsG2I?si=IMEYFsKFwQLkOkop
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Zooming into the young star HD 135344B and its planet candidate. Credit: ESO</figcaption></figure>



The full study was published in the <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ade996" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>.



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Astronomers capture a new planet during the final stages of its formation process

A swirl of gas and dust hangs around the young...

Autism spectrum disorder has long challenged both science and medicine. Each type presents differently - from speech delays to social difficulties to repetitive behaviors - making it hard to define and diagnose in a clear, unified way.



Parents, clinicians, and researchers have often worked with uncertainty, relying on broad categories that mask the condition’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/autism-and-adhd-disorders-directly-linked-amount-of-time-kids-spend-on-screens/">complexity</a>.



Researchers at <a href="https://www.princeton.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Princeton University</a> and the <a href="https://www.simonsfoundation.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Simons Foundation</a> have reshaped our understanding of autism. They identified four distinct clinical and biological subtypes using data from over 5,000 children in the SPARK autism cohort. 



This shift toward a person-centered view may change how autism is diagnosed and treated in the future.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-autism-types-mapped-with-big-data">Autism types mapped with big data</h2>



Instead of linking individual traits to single genes, the team used a computational model that considered each child’s entire profile. 



The researchers analyzed over 230 traits per child - spanning developmental milestones, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/toddler-screen-time-linked-to-atypical-sensory-behaviors/">social</a> challenges, and repetitive behaviors.



This approach allowed them to group individuals into categories that reflect meaningful differences in both behavior and biology.



“Understanding the genetics of autism is essential for revealing the biological mechanisms that contribute to the condition, enabling earlier and more accurate diagnosis,” said Olga Troyanskaya, senior author of the study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-four-distinct-autism-types-emerge">Four distinct autism types emerge</h2>



The study defined four categories of autism. The Social and Behavioral Challenges group includes children with classic autism traits but typical developmental progress. 



The Mixed ASD with Developmental Delay group features children who reach milestones later but often lack anxiety or disruptive behaviors.



The Moderate Challenges group has milder autism traits, no delays, and few psychiatric <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-the-brain-learns-study-reveals-an-unexpected-twist/">conditions</a>. The Broadly Affected group shows a wide range of severe symptoms including delays, repetitive behaviors, and mood disorders.



“These findings are powerful because the classes represent different clinical presentations and outcomes, and critically we were able to connect them to distinct underlying biology,” said Aviya Litman, Ph.D. student at Princeton and co-lead author.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genetic-clues-behind-autism-types">Genetic clues behind autism types</h2>



Traditional genetic testing explains only a small portion of autism cases. This study went further by revealing distinct genetic profiles for each subtype. 



The Broadly Affected group showed the highest rate of damaging mutations not inherited from parents. 



In contrast, the Mixed ASD with Developmental Delay group had more rare inherited variants. Though the two groups share some traits, their genetic origins differ.



“While genetic testing is already part of the standard of care for people diagnosed with autism, thus far, this testing reveals variants that explain the autism of only about 20% of patients,” said Jennifer Foss-Feig of the Simons Foundation. 



This study begins to bridge that gap by offering a clearer map of which variants relate to which traits.



“These findings point to specific hypotheses linking various pathways to different <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-prepares-the-brain-for-the-future-while-protecting-memories-of-the-past/">presentations</a> of autism,” said Litman.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-developmental-timing-matters">Developmental timing matters</h2>



The genetic influences behind each subtype do not act at the same time in development. In children with social and behavioral challenges, key gene mutations become active after birth. This matches the clinical picture of late diagnosis without early developmental delays.



In contrast, children in the Mixed ASD group carry mutations that affect the brain during fetal development. These genetic timelines correspond to the children’s milestones, diagnoses, and symptom severity.



“By integrating genetic and clinical data at scale, we can now begin to map the trajectory of autism,” said Chandra Theesfeld of Princeton.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-direction-for-autism-research">New direction for autism research</h2>



This classification of autism types builds on years of collaborative research and was made possible through integration across genetics, psychology, and computation.



The work is part of Princeton Precision Health’s mission to connect biological insight with clinical care.



“It’s a whole new paradigm, to provide these groups as a starting point for investigating the genetics of autism,” said Theesfeld. 



Instead of searching for one common cause of autism, researchers can now examine the distinct mechanisms behind each group.



Natalie Sauerwald, co-lead author, explained, “The ability to define biologically meaningful autism subtypes is foundational to realizing the vision of precision medicine for neurodevelopmental conditions.”



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



For families, this research may offer new clarity and direction. Knowing a child’s autism subtype could help with planning school support, medical care, and therapies. 



“Understanding genetic causes for more individuals with autism could lead to more targeted developmental monitoring, precision treatment, and tailored support and accommodations at school or work,” said Foss-Feig.



Families may gain insight into what symptoms to expect and how to better plan for the future.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-autism-model-can-work-for-other-issues">Autism model can work for other issues</h2>



While this study focused on autism, its methods may apply to other complex conditions. 



By combining clinical traits with genetic data, researchers can now identify clear subtypes where once there was only disorder-level confusion. 



“This opens the door to countless new scientific and clinical discoveries,” said Theesfeld.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02224-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Genetics</a>.



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Four biologically distinct types of autism discovered in major new study

Autism spectrum disorder has long challenged both science and medicine....

Eight babies have been born in Britain through a pioneering reproductive method known as mitochondrial donation. This experimental technique uses DNA from three different individuals - a mother, a father, and a female donor - to help prevent the transmission of rare but potentially life-threatening genetic conditions from parents. 



These conditions are caused by defective mitochondria, which are passed from mother to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pregnancy-risks-rise-with-heat-and-smoke-exposure/">child</a> and can lead to serious health problems like seizures, muscle weakness, or organ failure.



By replacing the faulty mitochondria with healthy ones from a donor, scientists created embryos less likely to inherit these devastating disorders. The result was the birth of eight healthy babies, marking a major advance in fertility science. 



These children are not only medically significant but also symbolize new hope for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-secrets-of-a-modern-miracle-how-pregnancy-evolved/">families</a> who carry mitochondrial diseases. For many such families, this development offers a safe and promising path to having healthy children, something that once seemed out of reach.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-some-need-three-parent-dna">Why some need three-parent DNA</h2>



While most DNA sits in the nucleus, mitochondria have their own DNA. Mothers pass this small portion to children. If it's faulty, it can cause devastating diseases. 



Symptoms range from seizures and muscle weakness to organ failure and even death. These conditions are rare but life-altering.



Doctors use genetic testing during IVF to screen <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/doctors-warn-that-pregnancy-risks-double-for-women-aged-45-and-up/">embryos</a>. But sometimes, the results are unclear. For high-risk cases, researchers developed a backup plan - swap out the mother’s defective mitochondria with healthy ones from a donor.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-donor-dna-from-a-third-parent">Donor DNA from a third parent </h2>



This method is called pronuclear transfer. Eggs from both the mother and a donor are fertilized with sperm. After about ten hours, scientists remove the nucleus - the main genetic material - from both. 



Then they insert the mother’s nucleus into the donor egg. This results in an embryo with nuclear DNA from the parents and healthy mitochondria from the donor.



The amount of donor DNA is tiny - less than 1%. The child will not have any <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-can-reshape-a-babys-brain-before-birth/">traits</a> from the donor.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-shift-in-global-reproductive-options">A shift in global reproductive options</h2>



“Expanding the range of reproductive options will empower more couples to pursue safe and healthy pregnancies,” noted Dr. Zev Williams from <a href="https://www.columbia.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Columbia University</a>. 



The UK approved this technique in 2015, changing the law in 2016 to allow clinical use. Australia also permits it. The U.S. currently does not.



<a href="https://www.ncl.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Newcastle University</a> and <a href="https://www.monash.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Monash University</a> tested this method on 22 patients. Eight babies were born healthy. One woman is still pregnant. One baby showed higher abnormal mitochondria levels but remained disease-free. Experts continue to monitor them.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-needs-three-parent-dna">Who needs three-parent DNA?</h2>



Dr. Andy Greenfield from <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oxford</a> called the work “a triumph of scientific innovation.” He emphasized it will only help a small group. Most families can rely on early-stage embryo testing instead. But when that doesn't work, pronuclear transfer could be the only path forward.



Robin Lovell-Badge from the <a href="https://www.crick.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Francis Crick Institute</a> noted that this approach adds only a trace of donor DNA. “If you had a bone marrow transplant from a donor … you will have much more DNA from another person,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-safety-ethics-and-regulation">Safety, ethics, and regulation</h2>



The UK’s fertility regulator must approve every case. So far, 35 patients have received permission. In the U.S., Congress blocks <a href="https://www.fda.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FDA</a> applications involving genetic modification of embryos. 



“Whether that will change remains uncertain and will depend on evolving scientific, ethical, and policy discussions,” Williams said.



Critics worry that using DNA from three parents could have unforeseen consequences for future generations. Advocates argue that with careful regulation and continued research, the risks of three-parent techniques can be minimized.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-real-families-real-impact">Real families, real impact</h2>



Liz Curtis lost her daughter Lily to mitochondrial disease at just eight months old. “It turned our world upside down,” she recalled. 



Liz founded the <a href="https://www.thelilyfoundation.org.uk/charity/what-we-do/lilys-story/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lily Foundation</a> to support affected families and research. “It’s super exciting for families that don’t have much hope in their lives,” she said.



Bobby McFarland, who helped develop the approach, noted that around 1 in 5000 people carry defective mitochondria. 



McFarland treated 19 women with over 80% faulty mitochondria. Seven became pregnant, and one even had twins. In most of the newborns, no harmful mitochondrial DNA was found. Others had low, non-threatening levels.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-lies-ahead-for-three-parent-children">What lies ahead for three-parent children</h2>



The babies continue to develop normally. Some faced health issues like high blood fat or epilepsy, but these were treated or resolved. Researchers will track the children long term to understand any delayed effects.



As science advances, this three-parent method could give new life to families facing genetic challenges. For now, it remains a carefully controlled yet groundbreaking option.



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2503658" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New England Journal of Medicine</a>. 



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Healthy babies born with DNA from three different people

Eight babies have been born in Britain through a pioneering...

Sleep may not be passive rest. It may work as a protective reaction to energy overload. In a recent study from the University of Oxford, scientists found that sleep is triggered when certain neurons sense energy stress deep inside their mitochondria.



The researchers used fruit flies to reveal how a simple redox signal triggers a full sleep response. 



The team included Professor Gero Miesenböck and Dr. Raffaele Sarnataro, both experts in brain circuitry and physiology from the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Oxford</a>.



Their central finding: a leak of electrons from mitochondria acts as the physical pressure to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-quality-could-be-the-key-to-better-metabolic-health/">sleep</a>. That leak creates reactive oxygen species (ROS), which push the brain to power down before damage spreads.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-energy-stress-triggers-sleep">Energy stress triggers sleep</h2>



The researchers worked with a specific brain region in flies called dorsal fan-shaped body (dFB) neurons. These neurons help regulate sleep and wake states. Inside them, mitochondria play a central role.



When too many electrons build up, some escape from the mitochondrial chain. These stray electrons react with oxygen and form ROS. The redox balance, which reflects how reduced or oxidized a molecule is, then shifts. When the ratio tips too far, the neurons trigger <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-prepares-the-brain-for-the-future-while-protecting-memories-of-the-past/">sleep</a>.



"You don't want your mitochondria to leak too many electrons," said Dr. Sarnataro. "When they do, they generate reactive molecules that damage cells."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changing-cell-energy-changes-sleep">Changing cell energy changes sleep</h2>



The researchers used several tools to alter the electron load. They reduced mitochondrial respiration by knocking down proteins like cytochrome c oxidase subunit 5A. This caused more sleep, confirming that respiration affects redox status and sleep drive.



On the flip side, increasing electron flow by feeding flies sugar or boosting certain metabolic enzymes also raised <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/move-more-sleep-better-exercise-helps-fight-insomnia/">sleep</a> levels. Both cases overloaded the system and produced ROS.



Even replacing mitochondrial energy with light, using optogenetic proteins, caused the same sleep reaction. Energy, from any source, appears to tip the redox balance if not properly buffered.



"In certain sleep-regulating neurons, we discovered that mitochondria, the cell's energy producers, leak electrons when there is an oversupply. When the leak becomes too large, these cells act like circuit breakers, tripping the system into sleep to prevent overload," explained Professor Miesenböck.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-redox-sensors-signal-when-to-sleep">Redox sensors signal when to sleep</h2>



The experts also identified a molecular sensor called DJ-1β in dFB neurons. This protein responds directly to changes in redox state. If oxidation increases, DJ-1β activates and drives a shift to sleep mode.



The team confirmed this by modifying DJ-1β to mimic its oxidized form. Flies with this mutant version slept significantly more, even when mitochondrial conditions were normal.



The results prove that sleep <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/one-night-of-lost-sleep-can-trigger-hidden-health-issues/">regulation</a> is not just about energy quantity. It also depends on how well mitochondria maintain a chemical balance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-why-we-need-sleep">Understanding why we need sleep</h2>



The broader implications are striking. Sleep, fatigue, and lifespan might all stem from mitochondrial energy handling. 



Small animals use more oxygen and generate more ROS. They also sleep more and age faster. The redox theory could connect these patterns.



People with mitochondrial disorders often report chronic fatigue. Their mitochondria may leak electrons more often. This study gives a physical explanation for why they feel exhausted even at rest.



"This research answers one of biology's big mysteries," said Dr. Sarnataro. "Why do we need sleep? The answer appears to be written into the very way our cells convert oxygen into energy."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sleep-as-an-energy-circuit-reset">Sleep as an energy circuit reset</h2>



The research marks a major change in how scientists understand sleep. Instead of viewing sleep as a vague or passive process linked to rest or recovery, it now appears to be directly tied to the most fundamental parts of cellular biology.



The study places mitochondria - the cell’s main energy producers - at the center of this explanation. These tiny structures are not just background workers but active players in deciding when we need to sleep.



Rather than relying on broad ideas about brain fatigue or mental overload, the findings point to a specific physical process: a redox imbalance. 



This means that the chemical balance inside mitochondria gets disturbed when too much energy is processed or stored. As the system becomes overwhelmed, electrons begin to leak, producing harmful molecules.



The leak works like a built-in alarm. When the energy handling within the cell becomes unstable, the mitochondria send out a clear signal. This alert reaches key neurons in the brain, prompting them to induce sleep.



The goal is not just rest but a full system reset, protecting the brain’s delicate energy network from harm before lasting damage occurs.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09261-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Sleep begins as brain cells experience energy overload

Sleep may not be passive rest. It may work as...

Humpback whales travel thousands of kilometers each year, migrating between Antarctic feeding grounds and tropical breeding areas. This journey demands energy, timing, and favorable environmental conditions.



New research from the <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Queensland</a> has revealed that these whales now head south significantly earlier than before, by about three weeks.



This shift in humpback whale migration is not just a quirk of nature. It may be a response to deeper changes in the Southern Ocean.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-whales-are-now-migrating-earlier">Whales are now migrating earlier</h2>



Between 2003 and 2024, the southern <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/baby-humpback-whales-are-born-in-places-we-didnt-expect/">migration</a> peak shifted from early October to mid-September. 



“Acoustic and visual surveys show the peak of the southern migration in 2003 was in early October but by 2024, we observed it was in the middle of September,” noted Professor Rebecca Dunlop, lead author of the study.



This change was found across different <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-helps-humans-have-20-minute-conversation-with-humpback-whale-named-twain/">whale</a> groups: adult males, mothers with calves, and mixed adult groups. 



Singing males, tracked through acoustic surveys, also showed a 22-day shift. These consistent patterns point to a population-wide response, not just isolated variation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-less-ice-and-krill">Less ice and krill </h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/whales-blow-bubble-smoke-rings-near-humans-to-communicate/">Whales</a> feed mostly on Antarctic krill, which depend on sea ice for food and shelter. Since 2016, sea ice in regions like the Ross Sea has declined sharply. By 2024, ice levels had dropped by over six million square kilometers.



Whales do not eat much during their migration. They rely on the fat reserves built up during the summer. 



“Fewer available krill prior to the migration could be forcing the whales back to the feeding grounds earlier,” said Dunlop.



Environmental records confirm the link. An earlier return south was strongly correlated with low sea ice and specific chlorophyll-a levels (a marker of ocean productivity) during summer feeding periods.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-whales-migrate-with-growing-pressure">Whales migrate with growing pressure</h2>



The eastern Australian humpback whale population has rebounded from near extinction. It grew from just 300 individuals in the 1960s to around 40,000 today.



But this success comes with consequences. More whales mean more competition for krill. At the same time, krill fishing for fishmeal and supplements has intensified.



Earlier shifts in whale migration were not seen during past periods of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/whales-transport-nutrients-across-entire-ocean-basins-in-their-urine/">population</a> growth. But now, under growing environmental pressure, the timing has started to change. This suggests that climate impacts, not crowding, may drive the shift.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-whales-show-similar-trends-globally">Whales show similar trends globally</h2>



This pattern is not isolated to Australia. Populations along the western coast of Australia, California, and even South America have also shown changes in timing. Some arrive earlier at breeding grounds, others leave feeding grounds sooner.



“The later years of this study coincide with a pronounced decline in sea ice coverage beyond usual annual fluctuations,” said Dunlop.



These declines were especially sharp after 2021. That is exactly when the migration pattern began to shift.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-greater-energy-cost">A greater energy cost</h2>



Humpback whales are resilient. They have bounced back before. But the current situation is different. Environmental changes are now faster and broader. While whales still migrate and reproduce, the energy cost may be increasing.



“I am concerned at some point we may see a decline in birth rates because females won't have the energy to support migrating north, giving birth and getting their calf back to the feeding grounds,” warned Dunlop.



Researchers are now investigating if whales also leave the feeding grounds earlier. If both legs of the journey shift, it may point to long-term changes in life cycle and reproductive success.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-whale-migration-and-ocean-changes">Whale migration and ocean changes</h2>



Whales respond to changes in food, ice, and temperature. Their migration is tied to the pulse of the ocean. Shifts in their patterns signal broader disruptions in marine ecosystems, affecting balance and biodiversity.



Monitoring whale timing can help track how quickly the Southern Ocean changes. The data may also provide insight into the health of connected species. But more studies on whale health and krill populations are needed to understand the full impact.



For now, whales continue their incredible journey. But their timing tells a different story - one that's shaped by a changing planet.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-07010-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scientific Reports</a>.



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Humpback whales now migrate weeks early, signaling big ocean changes

Humpback whales travel thousands of kilometers each year, migrating between...

Tiny engineered processors can now live inside human cells. These cell circuits work by passing a phosphate tag from one protein to the next, turning signals into action in a matter of seconds.



Xiaoyu Yang of <a href="https://www.rice.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rice University</a> led the effort, working with assistant professor Caleb Bashor and colleagues. 



The team calls their invention a construction kit for synthetic sense‑and‑respond circuits that can sit quietly until disease markers appear and then release treatment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-phosphorylation-is-the-cell-s-fast-dial">Phosphorylation is the cell's fast dial</h2>



Cells already rely on phosphorylation to race messages from the surface to the nucleus. Each tag adds a tiny negative charge that flips a protein between on and off, often in less than a minute.



Early synthetic biologists copied <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-dna-reveals-37000-years-of-hidden-human-infections/">DNA</a> logic instead because transcription is easier to program. Projects such as the bacterial repressilator showed that gene‑based loops can hum for hours, yet their slow pace limits medical use.



The Rice group chose the faster route. They treated every kinase–phosphatase pair as a Lego‑style block, then wired blocks together to build entirely new pathways.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-building-cell-circuits-from-protein">Building cell circuits from protein</h2>



Yang and co‑workers designed substrate domains that do not exist in nature. They also built matching reader domains that bind only when a phosphate is present, ensuring clean input‑output links.



“Each module is independent, so we can tune one without breaking the rest,” explained Yang at the study launch. The modularity let the researchers stack up to four cycles without slowing the final response.



Previous attempts tried to graft synthetic parts onto native pathways, an approach that often misfired or drained cell energy. The new cell <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-use-the-same-ancient-midbrain-collicular-circuits-for-both-seeing-and-thinking/">circuits</a> run in parallel and leave natural signaling intact.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cell-circuits-in-humans">Cell circuits in humans</h2>



Because phosphate tags move fast, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/one-in-five-packaged-foods-in-the-u-s-contains-synthetic-dyes/">synthetic</a> networks respond to inflammatory cytokines within minutes. That is orders of magnitude quicker than transcription‑based drug switches that need several hours to make RNA.



In lab tests a single picomolar burst of tumor necrosis factor‑α triggered a clear fluorescent readout. The circuit then amplified the weak pulse into a thousand‑fold rise in output protein, matching predictions from quantitative models.



Many cancer therapies struggle with on‑target side effects such as cytokine release syndrome, which affects up to 100 percent of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK592426/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CAR‑T</a> recipients in severe cases. A rapid shut‑off circuit could damp that storm before damage spreads to multiple organs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-toward-smarter-therapies">Toward smarter therapies</h2>



Bashor’s group wired one synthetic cascade to a gene cassette that secretes <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3410706/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interleukin‑10</a> (IL‑10), a well‑known anti‑inflammatory mediator. 



When the engineered human T cells sensed an autoimmune flare signal in a dish, they released just enough IL‑10 to calm the response, then returned to standby.



“Programmable circuits let cells act only when and where they are needed,” noted Bashor after the first successful run. That precision opens doors to implantable therapies that do not rely on external pumps or repeated injections.



Other teams have used synthetic Notch receptors to shape <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27693353/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">T cell behavior</a>, but those tools rely on protease cleavage and downstream gene activation that can take hours. The phosphorylation kit adds a faster layer that could sit upstream of existing control schemes.



One of the biggest advantages of phosphorylation circuits is their tunability. By adjusting the expression of each component, the team can fine-tune how strongly and how quickly a cell reacts to a given input.



This level of control is important in real-world settings where too much or too little activity can be harmful. A miscalibrated <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/three-common-mental-health-disorders-share-a-single-brain-circuit/">circuit</a> could overstimulate the immune system or miss a critical disease cue, so every variable must be dialed in with care.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cell-circuits-and-the-future">Cell circuits and the future</h2>



The Rice researchers now aim to test their kit in three‑dimensional tumor models. They also plan to explore how many cycles can be chained before noise overwhelms the signal.



A key hurdle is delivery. Lentiviral vectors work in the lab, yet clinical translation will need safer cargo trucks such as non‑integrating DNA or <a href="https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Messenger-RNA-mRNA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mRNA</a>.



Regulators will likely ask how the circuits behave over months. Long‑term stability studies are therefore underway, including checks for unintended crosstalk with stress pathways.



Even with those caveats, the work shifts synthetic biology toward protein‑level control over mammalian physiology. It echoes early calls to treat living cells as programmable matter, but now at a speed that matches rapid disease dynamics.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adm8485" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a>.



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Scientists create tiny processors that function as 'circuits' inside human cells

Tiny engineered processors can now live inside human cells. These...

A glacier on Mont Blanc holds something remarkable: a frozen archive stretching back more than 12,000 years. This discovery offers an unusually detailed record of Earth’s changing climate and atmosphere that is preserved in layers of ice.



The glacier, located on the Dôme du Goûter in the French Alps, contains the oldest known glacier ice in the region.



Scientists from the <a href="https://www.dri.edu/">Desert Research Institute</a> (DRI) in Nevada, in collaboration with researchers from France and Germany, studied a 40-meter-long ice core originally collected in 1999. 



The results of the analysis show that the glacier has remained intact since the end of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/disastrous-climate-changes-of-the-last-ice-age-could-happen-again/">last Ice Age</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-extensive-record-of-aerosols">Extensive record of aerosols </h2>



The team applied <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/radiocarbon-could-be-key-in-predicting-earths-future/">radiocarbon dating</a> to determine the age of the ice layers within the core. The analysis revealed a continuous archive of aerosols preserved through time. 



The aerosols included microscopic particles and droplets such as dust, soot, sea salt, volcanic sulfur, and human-made pollutants. These samples are essential for reconstructing both regional and global climate patterns.



"For the first time, we have a fairly complete Alpine record of atmospheric and precipitation chemistry going all the way back to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stone-age-hunter-gatherers-had-a-very-organized-domestic-life/">Mesolithic Period</a>," said Joe McConnell, Director of DRI’s Ice Core Lab. 



"And that’s a big deal, because you have two major climate states - glacial and interglacial - and to get a record of atmospheric precipitation chemistry across that huge climate change tells you the most extreme natural aerosol concentrations that you’d expect."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-europe-s-climate-history-in-an-ice-core">Europe’s climate history in an ice core</h2>



According to McConnell, the ice core also captures evidence from a time when humans transitioned from small, low-density hunter-gatherer groups to developing agriculture, domesticating animals, engaging in mining, and eventually clearing large areas of land.



"All of that is happening around this ice core site. It spans the full range of natural and anthropogenic change, and it’s right in the center of Europe - where much of Western civilization evolved," said McConnell. 



The location in the Alps is crucial. It gives researchers a close-up look at Europe’s climate history without relying on Arctic records, which are farther from pollution sources.



"Ice cores collected from glaciers and ice sheets can provide such information, but since these droplets and particles stay in the air only for a few days to maybe a week, records developed from glaciers close to the sources often are the most informative," explained study lead author Michel Legrand.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-long-awaited-analysis">A long-awaited analysis</h2>



Although the ice core was collected more than two decades ago, it remained frozen in France until recently. 



The ice was then transported to DRI’s lab in Reno, where advanced techniques like continuous flow analysis were used to melt and measure the chemistry of each layer.



"Determining what year or period of time a layer in the ice represents can be challenging, so here we used a unique combination of radiometric methods to establish the chronology in the ice," said study co-author Werner Aeschbach.



"We were relieved to find that even under the unusually warm climate of the 20th century, the cold temperatures at over 14,000 feet near Mont Blanc’s peak had preserved the glacier so that the ice record hadn’t yet been impacted by melting," said co-author Nathan Chellman.



The depth of the ice core told its own story. While the Dôme du Goûter ice contained ancient layers more than 12,000 years old, a nearby glacier less than 100 meters away held ice only about a century old. The difference likely comes from stronger wind patterns at the Dôme site.



"It's exciting to find the first ice core from the European Alps containing an intact record of climate that extends back through the current ten-thousand-year warm period and into the very different climate of the last ice age," noted study co-author Susanne Preunkert.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ice-core-reveals-climate-changes">Ice core reveals climate changes</h2>



By studying the chemistry preserved in the ice, researchers identified a shift of about 3 degrees Celsius between the last Ice Age and the present <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/holocene-vs-anthropocene-debate/">Holocene Epoch</a>. 



Pollen data showed that summer temperatures during the Ice Age were about 2 degrees cooler in western Europe and 3.5 degrees cooler in the Alps.



Phosphorous levels in the ice also gave insights into vegetation changes. Levels were low during the Ice Age, rose sharply during the early Holocene as forests spread, and then declined again with modern agriculture and industrial land-clearing.



Sea salt concentrations helped the team track wind patterns. Higher sea salt levels during the Ice Age suggest stronger westerly winds across western Europe. Since sea salt affects cloud formation and solar radiation, it plays a direct role in climate dynamics.



Dust aerosols told a more intense story. During the Ice Age, dust concentrations were eight times higher than in the Holocene. That’s a much bigger difference than current climate models predict, which usually suggest just a doubling. 



The discrepancy might be due to Saharan dust reaching Europe more frequently during colder, drier periods.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-to-come-from-the-ice">More to come from the ice</h2>



This study marks just the beginning. With a firm timeline now established, researchers plan to analyze the ice for signs of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-activities-are-weakening-earths-air-circulation/">human activity</a> across the centuries.



"Now we can start to interpret all these other records that we have of lead and arsenic and other things like that, in terms of human history," said McConnell.



Beyond the historical context, the ice core also helps scientists improve climate models. McConnell said that if you’re really going to go back and examine all possible climate states - past and future - you need a model that captures true climate variability.



"It’s a laudable goal, but to evaluate how good the models are, you’ve got to be able to compare them to observations, right? And that’s where the ice cores come in."



As the team continues their work, this ancient glacier may reveal even more about how natural forces and human activity have shaped Europe's past - and how they might shape its future.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/6/pgaf186/8157585">PNAS Nexus</a>.



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Europe’s oldest ice core reveals 12,000 years of climate change

A glacier on Mont Blanc holds something remarkable: a frozen...

At first glance, the Orion Nebula Cluster, the Pleiades, and the Hyades appear to be separate star groups, scattered across different parts of the night sky. Their distinct locations and appearances make it easy to assume they have no connection to one another.



However, new research suggests that these well-known star clusters might be more than neighbors - they might be snapshots of the same system, seen at different stages in life.



This surprising connection comes from scientists at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS) in Iran and the <a href="https://www.uni-bonn.de/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Bonn</a> in Germany. 



The study shows that the Orion Nebula Cluster, the Pleiades, and the Hyades likely formed from the same original star system. The findings are changing how we think about star formation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-star-clusters-at-different-life-stages">Star clusters at different life stages</h2>



The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/massive-stars-shape-planetary-systems-like-ours-with-ultraviolet-radiation/">Orion Nebula</a> Cluster (ONC) is the youngest of the trio - just 2.5 million years old. It’s also the most active, filled with thousands of young stars and surrounded by the gas cloud that birthed them. 



You can spot it in Orion’s Sword, although it looks like just one bright “star” to the naked eye.



Then there’s the Pleiades - visible as a tight knot of stars nearby in the sky. At 100 million years old, its stars are more spread out, having had time to drift away from each other.



Finally, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hyades-star-cluster-may-contain-the-closest-black-holes-to-earth/">Hyades</a> is around 700 million years old. Its stars are far more scattered and fewer in number.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-snapshots-of-an-evolving-star-system">Snapshots of an evolving star system</h2>



Despite their different ages and distances, scientists believe these three clusters are linked. 



“Our highly precise stellar dynamics calculations have now shown that all three star clusters originated from the same predecessor,” said study co-author Dr. Pavel Kroupa.



“The Orion Nebula, Pleiades and Hyades are like three different photos of the same person. These three photos show this entity at different ages: as a baby, adolescent and elderly.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-star-clusters-follow-a-growth-pattern">Star clusters follow a growth pattern</h2>



This discovery isn’t just poetic - it’s pointing to something deeper about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fluffy-molecular-clouds-may-change-our-understanding-of-star-formation/">how stars form</a>. According to the researchers, open star clusters might follow a consistent pattern in their development, regardless of the specific molecular cloud that births them.



“It is a bit like if the same person was being born over and over again,” said Dr. Kroupa. “From this we can learn that open <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stunning-star-clusters-captured-in-the-extreme-outskirts-of-the-milky-way/">star</a> clusters seem to have a preferred mode of star formation.”



“It appears that there is a preferred physical environment in which stars form when they evolve within these clouds.”



To test this idea, Dr. Ghasem Safaei and his team at the <a href="https://iasbs.ac.ir/">IASBS</a> used powerful computer simulations.



The experts modeled how a dense, young cluster like Orion could naturally transform into the more spread-out Pleiades, and then into the elderly Hyades, over hundreds of millions of years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-millions-of-years-of-star-life">Millions of years of star life</h2>



The simulations were based on careful calculations of how the stars interact with each other and with their environment. Over time, a cluster loses stars and gas due to gravitational forces, both internal and external.



“This research shows that it is entirely plausible that star clusters such as the Orion Nebula Cluster follow a development path that transforms them into systems like Pleiades and later on Hyades,” said study co-author Professor Hosein Haghi.



The models ran for 800 million years and started with the latest real-world data - high star density, compact shapes, and a high number of double stars. 



“The results show that clusters such as the Orion Nebula Cluster can lose up to 85 percent of their stars but nevertheless retain a coherent structure similar to Hyades, after they have passed through an intermediate stage similar to Pleiades,” said Dr. Safaei.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-star-clusters-with-a-common-origin">Star clusters with a common origin</h2>



What makes this even more intriguing is the fact that all three clusters sit in roughly the same region of the night sky. For decades, astronomers have wondered if this is just a coincidence or something more.



The team believes this alignment supports the idea that they share a common origin. It could reflect how these clusters form and evolve in the same part of our galaxy, influenced by similar conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-stellar-story-in-motion">A stellar story in motion</h2>



Understanding these connections also helps astronomers grasp how internal and external forces shape a star cluster’s fate.



“This research gives us a deeper understanding of how star clusters form and develop and illustrates the delicate balance between internal dynamics and external forces such as the gravitational pull of the Milky Way,” said study co-author Professor Akram Hasani Zonoozi.



The research doesn’t just reveal how one star cluster ages. It shows how theory and observation can work hand-in-hand to reconstruct a cosmic story billions of years in the making. 



As researchers refine these models, they may unlock similar patterns in other parts of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cozmic-simulations-of-milky-way-use-strange-physics-laws-to-study-alternate-universes-cozmic/">Milky Way</a> - and perhaps even beyond.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/541/2/1753/8202867" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</a>.



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Trio of star clusters may be the same system at different ages

At first glance, the Orion Nebula Cluster, the Pleiades, and...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

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

<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.

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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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



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.

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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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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