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...

Sixty-six million years ago, North America saw long, dark winters. Fossils now suggest tiny primates were already there, coping with ice and snow.



A new <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2423833122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">analysis</a> turns the usual tropical origin story on its head. The research combines hundreds of fossils with climate models to track primate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/most-endangered-primate-species-identified-in-new-report/">ancestors</a> through time.



“Our findings flip that narrative entirely,” said Jorge Avaria-Llautureo, an evolutionary biologist at the <a href="https://www.reading.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Reading</a>. His team traced the primate family tree back to chilly northern forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-primates-adapted-to-freezing-climates">Primates adapted to freezing climates</h2>



The team worked with the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/global/climate-zones/jetstream-max-addition-k-ppen-geiger-climate-subdivisions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Köppen-Geiger</a> climate system, a scheme that sorts environments by average heat and rain. Their maps place the earliest true primates in a zone with hot summers and sub-freezing winters.



That habitat fits today’s upper Midwest more than a steamy jungle. It means our lineage started where annual temperature swings could reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit.



These ancestors likely looked like nimble squirrel-sized <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/female-dominance-in-primates-is-more-common-than-we-thought/">creatures</a>. They foraged at night, avoiding daytime chill.



Statistical models show a 70% chance that the first crown primates lived in what is now North America, with 30% pointing to Western Europe - territories then sitting near 45° N before plate motion. Their later travels reflect how moving land and changing skies steered evolution.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fossils-reveal-primate-movement">Fossils reveal primate movement</h2>



Fossils alone cannot solve the puzzle because they capture animals only where sediments preserve bones. The new study adds computer methods that simulate how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/visually-striking-primate-features-ease-tension-and-reduce-conflict/">species</a> move across shifting landmasses.



By feeding 902 living and extinct species into BayesTraits software, the group estimated branch-by-branch journeys. They then matched positions with climate layers produced by the Hadley climate model.



The results indicate that early primates stayed in cold or temperate zones for at least 18 million years. Tropical forests entered the picture much later.



Warmer global temperature spikes such as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum did not speed their spread. Instead, local temperature swings mattered most.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-early-primates-made-long-journeys">Early primates made long journeys</h2>



When ancestral lineages ventured into new climate categories, they tended to roam farther. Major moves often involved crossing climate boundaries rather than continents.



Median treks reached roughly 349 miles, compared with 85 miles for moves within familiar conditions. The bigger jumps exposed populations to novel <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/primates-face-an-uncertain-future-due-to-climate-change/">habitats</a> and pressures.



Such leaps helped generate new species by separating kin groups long enough for them to drift apart genetically. The pattern echoes broad ecological models that link dispersal to diversification.



Independent work on North American mammals predicts roughly 9 % of species will fail to outrun current warming trends, underlining the cost of slow feet. Swift past wanderers hint at which modern lineages could thrive.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-primates-survived-cold">How primates survived cold </h2>



How could small primates endure months of scarce food and sub-freezing nights? One answer is hibernation, a state in which body temperature and metabolism plunge.



Today’s dwarf lemurs in Madagascar sleep underground for up to seven months each year, a strategy first documented in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15215852/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2004</a>.



Later <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01768" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fieldwork</a> showed that other dwarf lemur species also hibernate when mountain air turns icy.



These living examples show that primate physiology can slow to bear-like torpor, supporting the idea that ancient relatives did something similar.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fast-climate-shifts-caused-changes">Fast climate shifts caused changes</h2>



The Reading group found that the rate, not the direction, of local change predicted primate success. Rapid swings in heat or rain pushed species to travel or perish.



That insight matters today because many forests are shifting faster than ever measured. Flexible species may cope, while specialists could hit a wall.



The study also separates global averages from local reality. A place can warm overall yet still see harsher cold snaps or erratic storms that jar wildlife.



Conservation planners often model future ranges with coarse climate grids. The new work argues for finer, neighborhood-scale maps.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-old-origin-ideas-were-wrong">Old origin ideas were wrong</h2>



Textbooks have long tied primate origins to lush equatorial canopies. That view leaned on early fossil finds labeled “paratropical” without rigorous climate checks.



By applying a single classification standard, the team showed that many supposed rain-forest sites were actually cool mixed forests.



The conclusion challenges popular origin theories like “visual predation,” which assume dense, warm vegetation shaped grasping hands and forward eyes. Those traits may have first evolved among conifers instead.



The researchers also found that <a href="http://cwd.huck.psu.edu/Bio414/Rosids.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rosid</a> plants, common in temperate woods, diversified around the same time, offering fruit and sap to budding primates.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-primates-adapted-to-shifting-climates">Primates adapted to shifting climates</h2>



Early primates were tougher and more mobile than usually portrayed. They met freezing dawns, marched hundreds of miles, and only later settled in the tropics where most descendants remain.



Their story suggests resilience has always underpinned primate history, yet it came with extinctions for lineages that failed to keep pace.



Modern humans, one branch of that hardy clan, now drive the climate engine. Understanding our icy roots may remind us how quickly fortune can flip.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2423833122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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Early primates evolved in cold climates, not tropical jungles

Sixty-six million years ago, North America saw long, dark winters....

Exposure to industrial pollution during pregnancy may ripple across generations. New evidence shows a child faces a higher risk of intellectual disability if a grandmother lived near clusters of industrial facilities while pregnant with one of the parents. 



The risk grows with the density of facilities, and signals are strongest through the maternal line, according to the study.



The work, led by the <a href="https://www.utah.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Utah</a>, draws on rare multigenerational records to test whether historical industrial <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/millions-of-people-die-from-air-pollution-each-year-yet-theres-still-a-lack-of-monitoring/">pollution</a> can shape neurodevelopment in descendants who were never directly exposed in the womb.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-air-pollution-s-future-toll">Air pollution’s future toll</h2>



“We know that breathing polluted air is dangerous for our own health now, but it’s scary to imagine what it could do to people’s unborn grandchildren,” said Sara Grineski, professor of sociology at the University of Utah and lead author of the study.



“The evidence from this study and many others force us to ask: What will be the legacy of the decisions that we make today?”



About one percent of Americans live with an intellectual disability. Past studies have tied risk to direct fetal exposure to toxins such as lead or mercury. The intergenerational question has been harder to test in people.



“It's much easier to study multigenerational effects on animals," Grineski said. "The research in humans is much harder to do - we have longer lifespans, we’re not going to expose people to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastics-supercharge-toxin-absorption-in-plants-and-humans/">toxins</a> on purpose, and it’s hard to get data on people who were alive 80 years ago.” 



“But it’s really important, especially as you think about intergenerational equity - what do we need to do to protect our future children and grandchildren?”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-historic-data-on-pollution-exposure">Historic data on pollution exposure</h2>



The team used the Utah Registry for Autism and Developmental Disabilities and the <a href="https://uofuhealth.utah.edu/huntsman/utah-population-database" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Utah Population Database</a> to identify children born statewide between 2000 and 2014. They selected those diagnosed with an intellectual <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-plastics-linked-to-disability-risks-for-coastal-residents/">disability</a> and a control group without such diagnoses.



The population database uniquely retains linked birth certificates and historical addresses for parents and grandparents. This allowed the researchers to pinpoint where families lived during each pregnancy.



To reconstruct industrial exposure, the study tapped Dun &amp; Bradstreet business directories. Those listings include facility locations, years of operation, and <a href="https://www.census.gov/naics/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">North American Industry Classification System</a> codes.



The codes helped estimate health-relevant hazard profiles. Using those data, the team calculated the density of industrial facilities within two to three miles of each residence during the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pregnancy-may-speed-up-aging-in-women/">pregnancies</a> of the child’s mother, the maternal grandmother, and the paternal grandmother.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-toxic-exposure-footprints">Tracking toxic exposure footprints</h2>



Roger Renteria, a doctoral candidate in sociology, and Kevin Ramos, then an undergraduate GIS researcher, led the geospatial work.



“Industrial activity often produces concentrated releases of toxic pollutants that can persist in soil, air, and water for decades,” Renteria said.



“Linking facility data to historical residential addresses makes industrial exposure data especially valuable for studying multigenerational health impacts, which is rarely possible with other environmental hazards.”



Ramos said the process changed how he saw his own neighborhood. “It’s easy to overlook how much our surroundings influence our development and overall health. While working with the data, I discovered polluting industries near my own home that I hadn’t known about,” he said.



“Very few studies have explored this issue, and we believe our work is only beginning to uncover the long-term impacts industrial pollutants may have across generations.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-generational-effects-revealed">Generational effects revealed</h2>



The analysis found a consistent signal. A child’s odds of intellectual disability rose if any grandparent had lived near industrial facilities while pregnant with either parent.



The association was strongest for pollution exposure to the maternal grandmother pregnant with the child’s mother. The relationship followed a dose–response pattern: higher facility density correlated with higher risk.



The team also estimated the mother’s exposure during her own pregnancy with the child. That allowed them to consider present-day and ancestral exposures together. The results suggest risks can stack across time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-medicine-meets-environmental-history">Medicine meets environmental history</h2>



Multigenerational effects complicate standard risk assessments. They extend the timeline of harm and the circle of those affected. They also raise questions of fairness. Communities living near industrial zones in the past may still be paying a price through their descendants today.



Grineski argues that health care and environmental agencies should respond. “Ancestral exposures, with present-day exposures, may contribute to cumulative <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/traffic-noise-exposure-increases-mental-health-risks/">health risks</a>,” said Grineski.



“The multigenerational impacts of toxics must be taken seriously by medical professionals, government agencies, and anyone concerned with protecting future generations.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-decisions-ripple-through-generations">Decisions ripple through generations</h2>



This is observational research, not a controlled trial. It cannot prove a specific <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/first-ever-detection-of-a-toxic-chemical-pollutant-in-the-atmosphere-mccps/">pollutant</a> caused a specific outcome. But the study’s strengths are notable: large linked datasets, verified addresses, and standardized industry codes across three generations.



The authors plan to probe mechanisms in future work. They will examine whether particular facility types, eras of operation, or mixtures of pollution exposures drive stronger effects.



The core message is simple: industrial decisions echo. They can shape risks for children not yet born when the smokestacks were active. That makes prevention urgent and cleanup more than symbolic. It is a way to reduce harm for families today and ease the burdens carried by their grandchildren tomorrow.



The stakes are summed up in Grineski’s question: What do our choices leave behind? The answer, this study suggests, lies not only in the air we breathe now, but also in the futures we pass along through our family trees.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969725015293?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science of the Total Environment</a>.



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Impacts of industrial pollution exposure echo across generations

Exposure to industrial pollution during pregnancy may ripple across generations....

If an extraterrestrial civilization went hunting for human-made signals, the best time to listen would be during lineups between Earth and other planets. The best places to look would be solar systems oriented edge-on to us, within a few dozen light-years.



That’s the message from a new analysis of our strongest, most persistent transmissions into deep space. The study was led by researchers at <a href="https://www.psu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Penn State</a> and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.



The experts mapped 20 years of human deep-space communications to show when and where they would be most detectable by observers beyond the solar system. The findings could improve our own search strategies for technosignatures.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-detecting-extraterrestrial-communications">Detecting extraterrestrial communications</h2>



“Humans are predominantly communicating with the spacecraft and probes we have sent to study other planets like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mars-captured-in-true-color-like-youve-never-seen-the-red-planet-before/">Mars</a>,” said lead author Pinchen Fan, a graduate student in astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State.



Because Mars does not fully block transmissions, a distant spacecraft or planet aligned with Earth and another Solar System body could detect the spillover.



“This suggests that we should look for alignment of planets outside of our solar system when searching for extraterrestrial communications,” she said.



SETI scientists sift the sky for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/searching-for-technosignatures-from-intelligent-life-in-the-cosmos/">technosignatures</a> - signs of past or present technology - as evidence of intelligent life.



“Researchers often search the universe for signs of past or present technology, called technosignatures, as evidence of intelligent life,” Fan said. 



“Considering the direction and frequency of our most common signals gives insights into where we should be looking to improve our chances of detecting alien technosignatures.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-decades-of-space-transmissions">Tracking decades of space transmissions</h2>



The team analyzed public logs from NASA’s Deep Space Network (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions/dsn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DSN</a>). This trio of powerful antenna complexes in California, Spain, and Australia that uplinks commands and downlinks data to and from interplanetary spacecraft and space telescopes.



The researchers matched each DSN transmission to the targets’ positions, reconstructing the timing and directionality of Earth’s most potent radio beams.



“NASA's Deep Space Network provides the crucial link between Earth and its interplanetary missions like the New Horizons spacecraft and the James Webb Space Telescope,” said co-author Joseph Lazio, a project scientist at <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JPL</a>.



“It sends some of humanity's strongest and most persistent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-detect-more-than-20-mysterious-radio-signals-from-space/">radio signals</a> into space, and the public logs of its transmissions allowed our team to establish the temporal and spatial patterns of those transmissions for the past 20 years.”



Most of those beams point toward Mars missions. Others target spacecraft elsewhere in the Solar System and observatories parked at the Sun–Earth Lagrange points. These are gravitational sweet spots where telescopes like the JWST hover in a stable alignment as seen from Earth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-earth-signals-during-planetary-alignments">Earth signals during planetary alignments </h2>



Because the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/interstellar-tunnel-cosmic-channel-discovered-connects-our-solar-system-to-other-stars/">Solar System</a> is essentially flat - think planets tracing paths on a dinner plate - DSN transmissions hug Earth’s orbital plane, with the vast majority within five degrees of it. Eavesdroppers are most likely to catch our signals when Earth aligns with another planet.



”Based on data from the last 20 years, we found that if an extraterrestrial intelligence were in a location that could observe the alignment of Earth and Mars, there’s a 77 percent chance that they would be in the path of one of our transmissions,” Fan said.



“If they could view an alignment with another solar-system planet, there is a 12 percent chance they would be in the path of our transmissions.”



In practical terms, an average DSN signal would be detectable with Earth-class radio telescopes out to roughly 23 light-years, the team calculated. Focusing on edge-on star systems and timing observations with planetary alignments could greatly improve success odds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-using-earth-s-signals-as-a-guide">Using Earth’s signals as a guide</h2>



Astronomers already watch exoplanets during transits, when a world crosses its star and dims it from our perspective. That same planetary alignment is when spillover from another civilization’s interplanetary chatter would most likely pass our line of sight.



“However, because we are only starting to detect a lot of exoplanets in the last decade or two, we do not know many systems with two or more transiting exoplanets,” Fan said.



“With the upcoming launch of NASA's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasas-roman-space-telescope-hopes-to-solve-the-dark-matter-mystery/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope</a>, we expect to detect a hundreds of thousands previously undetected exoplanets, so our potential search area should increase greatly.”



The team noted that this alignment-first strategy also applies to searches for optical technosignatures. Future spacefaring societies may prefer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lasers-make-quantum-materials-reveal-their-hidden-properties/">lasers</a> for deep-space links, which spill less than radio beams. These signals would still be most detectable along the transmitter’s line to its target.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-searching-for-alien-signals">Searching for alien signals</h2>



“Humans are pretty early in our spacefaring journey," said Professor Jason Wright, the director of the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center and co-author of the study. "As we reach further into our Solar System, our transmissions to other planets will only increase.” 



The next step is to identify nearby star systems that match those criteria, focusing on planetary alignments, and estimate how often any given system would have been swept by Earth’s beams over the past two decades.



In a field where vast search spaces collide with limited telescope time, aiming at the cosmic equivalents of our own “Mars call” geometry could be the efficiency gain that finally turns a faint whisper into a first hello.



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Planetary alignments may hold the key to detecting alien life

If an extraterrestrial civilization went hunting for human-made signals, the...

Moisture isn’t just a background player in the atmosphere. New research shows it can make one kind of atmospheric block dig in and linger while weakening another. 



The study helps explain why some heat waves, cold spells, droughts, and flood patterns persist for days or weeks - and why some climate models have predicted fewer blocking events as the planet warms.



The research was led by Zhaoyu Liu, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at <a href="https://www.eaps.purdue.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Purdue University</a>. Lei Wang, an assistant professor who conceived the idea and served as corresponding author, set the study in motion.



Their paper reframes a decades-old assumption about a “dry” atmosphere and replaces it with a moisture-aware view of how atmospheric blocks evolve.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-the-jet-stream-stops">When the jet stream stops</h2>



Atmospheric blocking occurs when large-scale pressure patterns stall the normal west-to-east flow. Ridge blocks are bulging domes of high pressure that shove the jet stream north and often anchor <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/africas-heat-waves-are-getting-hotter-longer-and-deadlier/">heat waves</a>.



Dipole blocks pair a high and low side by side, locking contrasting weather in place. In both cases, persistence is the problem. The longer the block, the greater the impacts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dry-theories-miss-moisture">Dry theories miss moisture</h2>



“Since the beginning of modern meteorology (around the 1940s), most classical theories for atmospheric blocking were developed based on the assumption that we are living in a completely dry world,” Wang said.



“Obviously, that assumption was helpful for simplifying the processes to its essence, but a completely dry assumption is not the case in the real atmosphere.”



In reality, moist air rises, condenses, and releases latent heat. That “diabatic” heating changes pressure patterns, feeds certain waves, and can either reinforce or erode a block. The question has been how - and whether the answer differs by block type.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-moisture-s-split-role-in-the-atmosphere">Moisture’s split role in the atmosphere</h2>



The team shows that the atmosphere’s moisture doesn’t act uniformly. It amplifies some blocks and damps others.



“We find that while moisture-induced diabatic heating is conducive to the persistence of ridge blocks, it exerts a surprising damping effect that significantly weakens the amplitude of dipole blocks,” Wang said.



That split personality helps untangle a climate-model puzzle. As the air warms, it can hold more moisture. If moisture makes ridges tougher but softens dipoles, then the balance of blocking behaviors can shift.



Some models have projected fewer total blocks in a warmer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/looking-to-earths-ancient-climate-to-predict-our-future/">climate</a>. The new mechanism shows how a moister atmosphere could, paradoxically, reduce the strength or number of dipole blocks even as it props up ridges.



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



To move beyond patterns and into causes, the researchers leaned on the geopotential height tendency equation. This is a backbone of atmospheric dynamics and links heating and motion to changes in pressure surfaces aloft.



With it, they offered a physical interpretation for how latent heat released by condensation can reinforce high-pressure domes while sapping the seesawing strength of adjacent high–low pairs. 



The result is a clearer mechanistic bridge from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/clouds-are-shrinking-and-making-the-earth-hotter/">clouds</a> and rain to the fate of stalled weather regimes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-road-rules-meet-weather">Road rules meet weather</h2>



Wang compares blocked flows to congestion on a highway. “Without considering moisture, yes, blocks can happen,” Wang said.



“However, the role of moisture is just like the road condition at the time of the traffic jam. Sometimes, if the blocks are of different shapes (such as trough or dipole), they may exert an influence to reduce the strength of the blocks.”



In other words, depending on the configuration, moisture can act like a slick surface that loosens the jam. Or, for ridge blocks, it can be the sticky pavement that slows everything down.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-moisture-improves-forecasts">Moisture improves forecasts</h2>



“Blocking events usually lead to extreme weather events, such as heat waves or cold spells or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drought-triggers-early-autumn-by-forcing-leaves-to-fall/">droughts</a>,” Wang said.



“Recognizing and unraveling these distinct roles of diabatic heating for different types of blocks will help us to better predict the evolution of blocking events.”



That prospect matters most on the subseasonal-to-seasonal timescales - two to eight weeks ahead&nbsp; where forecast skill is notoriously thin and societal stakes are high.



Improved treatment of moisture-block interactions can help forecasters anticipate whether a ridge will lock down and intensify a heat wave, or whether a dipole configuration will fade sooner than expected. 



This insight can also help climate modelers diagnose why different models disagree on blocking trends and adjust physics accordingly.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-wetter-view-of-extremes">A wetter view of extremes</h2>



Wang’s group studies large-scale dynamics on Earth and other planets, with a particular eye on blocks and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-weather-is-pushing-nature-toward-a-breaking-point/">extreme weather</a>. The goal is to close the forecast gap on events that cause outsized damage but remain hard to predict. 



This study’s message is both simple and actionable: moisture matters, and it matters differently depending on the shape of the block.



That insight updates a foundational theory without discarding its elegance. It takes the clean “dry-world” framework of classic meteorology and adds the messy ingredient that nature never leaves out. 



In doing so, it offers a path to sharper warnings for the high-impact spells that define our weather memories - when heat lingers, rain won’t quit, or cold air refuses to budge.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60811-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Moisture in the atmosphere causes extreme weather to last longer

Moisture isn’t just a background player in the atmosphere. New...

Apollo 17 carried home a sealed tube of lunar soil in 1972. More than five decades later, that core has finally been opened and analyzed, and it is changing what scientists think about how a major lunar landslide moved and settled.



The deposit in question is the Light Mantle, a bright streak in <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj//a17/a17.ppintro.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Taurus-Littrow Valley</a> at the base of the South Massif. It is the only extraterrestrial landslide ever sampled on-site, and it runs roughly 3.1 miles along the valley floor.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-old-lunar-soil-informs-new-missions">Old lunar soil informs new missions</h2>



“This research is a way of continuing the legacy of the Apollo missions more than 50 years later, providing a bridge to the planned Artemis program,” said Dr. Giulia Magnarini at the Natural History Museum (<a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NHM</a>) in London who led the work.



NASA set up the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis program, or <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/lunar-science/programs/angsa/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ANGSA</a>, to learn how to handle and study old cores as a rehearsal for new ones that Artemis will return. 



The program treated the newly opened <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mysterious-rocks-may-unlock-secrets-of-the-moons-magnetic-history/">Apollo cores</a> as a low-cost sample return mission to test tools, workflows, and cross team coordination.



Before any dissection, the tube was scanned at the University of Texas High Resolution X-ray computed tomography facility (<a href="https://www.ctlab.geo.utexas.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UTCT</a>). Images were taken at a 12.9-micrometer voxel size to preserve context and guide the lab work.



Those scans are a non-destructive way to see the internal structure and to protect fragile textures until scientists know what to cut and what to leave intact.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-apollo-soil-shows-granular-flow">Apollo soil shows granular flow</h2>



The team reports two <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chinese-scientists-have-harvested-water-from-lunar-soil/">signature features</a> of this lunar soil sample. First, the upper roughly two inches of the core is missing larger fragments. This is a clue that the shallow layer was reworked by the lunar surface environment after the landslide stopped.



Second, many particles show a rind of ultrafine grains wrapped around a central chip, forming what geologists call clast cortex aggregates. 



That texture shows granular flow, with grains rolling and sliding past each other instead of moving as one block.



Independent work on the same tube’s finest dust backs up the idea of an altered skin at the top of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-device-turns-moon-dirt-into-water-and-oxygen-for-lunar-bases/">deposit</a>. 



Researchers found the highest concentration of space-weathering products in the upper few inches. This marked a distinct surface-modified layer overlying more uniform material below.



Together, those lines of evidence tighten the case that the Light Mantle did not just slump once and sit unchanged. Grains slid downslope in a rich flow, and the airless environment later churned and peppered the surface zone.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-light-mantle-preserved-in-lunar-core">Light Mantle preserved in lunar core</h2>



The Light <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sunken-worlds-discovered-under-the-pacific-ocean-in-earths-mantle/">Mantle</a> sits at the foot of a massif that rises about 1.4 miles above the valley floor. That relief explains how debris traveled over 3 miles across a low slope without water or air for lubrication.



<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-17/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apollo 17</a> also made history for a different reason. Geologist <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/former-astronaut-harrison-schmitt/">Harrison Schmitt</a> became the first scientist to walk on the Moon. It's a decision that paid off in field notes, sample choices, and careful documentation still used today.



The mission returned about 243 pounds of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/meteorite-from-the-moon-tells-a-detailed-story-about-lunar-volcanoes/">lunar rock</a> and soil, the largest haul of any Apollo crew. Among those samples was a double drive tube that reached down roughly 28 inches at Station 3, the very core section later opened for this study.



That tube preserved both the upper skin and deeper layers of the landslide deposit in one vertical slice. It gave the team a way to compare shallow, weathered material with the less modified section below in a single continuous record.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/apollo-17_sealed-lunar-sample_new-study_NASA_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/apollo-17_sealed-lunar-sample_new-study_NASA_1s.webp" alt="The sample has been unopened since it was first collected in 1972. Credit: Dave Edey and Romy Hanna, UTCT, Jackson School of Geosciences/NASA" class="wp-image-1982929"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The sample has been unopened since it was first collected in 1972. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Dave Edey and Romy Hanna, UTCT, Jackson School of Geosciences/NASA</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tycho-impact-or-moonquake">Tycho impact or moonquake</h2>



What pushed the South Massif slope past the point of no return remains under debate. One candidate is a shower of fast-moving debris launched by the impact that formed Tycho Crater. 



Secondary pockmarks near the massif hint that some of those fragments may have hit the area and shaken the slope loose.



Another idea points to local tectonics. Studies of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/most-dangerous-part-of-this-west-coast-earthquake-fault-cascadia-subduction-zone/">faults</a> and ridges in the valley have argued that seismic shaking along the Lee Lincoln fault zone could have provided the trigger at the right time and place.



The new core textures do not settle that "starting gun" question, and the authors say more work is in progress. The textures reveal how the slide behaved after it began - insight beyond what orbital images alone provide.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lunar-soil-guides-safe-building">Lunar soil guides safe building</h2>



Understanding <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/turning-moon-soil-lunar-regolith-space-debris-into-building-materials/">how regolith behaves</a> under stress is not only an academic problem. Artemis planning needs better data on how loose lunar soil compacts, flows, and carries loads under low gravity if we want to build safe routes, pads, and shelters near rough terrain.



“These samples are about how to preserve, store and open lunar material without damaging the contents," said Dr. Magnarini. "This is already feeding into plans for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/grow-plants-on-moon-by-2026-nasa-artemis-iii-mission/">Artemis</a>’ science and helping to develop new instruments."



There is also a scientific payoff beyond engineering. With the Light Mantle, researchers can compare an on-site sample set to a well-mapped surface deposit. They can then test mechanical models against real textures at millimeter and inch scales.



The feedback loop - from field context to lab imaging to model testing - grows stronger as researchers open more cores and bring new ones home.



ANGSA has shown how to do that work without losing precious context, and that know-how will carry straight into the next decade of lunar exploration.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-artemis-missions-expand-apollo-s-legacy">Artemis missions expand Apollo’s legacy</h2>



Future analyses will extend below the upper 8 inches already imaged in detail and will refine how often clast cortex aggregates occur with depth. 



A clear rise or fall in abundance could reveal shifting shear conditions as the slide thinned and settled.



Researchers are also revisiting maps of secondary craters and small impact scars that cross the Light Mantle. 



New correlations between crater clusters, slope breaks, and in-core textures could help decide whether Tycho’s debris shower or local quakes are the better match for the trigger <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dry-side-of-the-moon-reveals-new-details-about-its-evolution/">history</a>.



Artemis will return new cores from fresh sites, including places with different slopes and rock types. 



Each one will add another test of how dry, airless slides move on a body where liquid water and thick air do not play a role.



The same methods will also help engineers read the shallow subsurface near planned habitats. 



A better handle on layering, particle size, and cohesion could steer where to build and how to protect sensitive hardware from dust and ejecta.



-----



Featured image: Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, commander, drives the Lunar Roving Vehicle during first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. July 20, 1969. Credit: NASA



The study is published in the <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024JE008422" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets</a>.



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Sealed lunar soil sample from Apollo 17 offers new insight for future moon explorers

Apollo 17 carried home a sealed tube of lunar soil...

Cement keeps our cities standing, but it also keeps them hot. Roofs and pavements absorb sunlight, store heat, and then radiate it back into the air. Air conditioners fight that heat, but they burn electricity and drive up emissions. 



Fengyin Du and her team at <a href="https://www.seu.edu.cn/english/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Southeast University</a> believe that cement itself can change the story by cooling cities instead of heating them up.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-regular-cement-fails">Why regular cement fails</h2>



Ordinary cement is dark and doesn’t bounce sunlight away. Instead, it absorbs the sun’s energy and traps it as heat. 



The heat then moves into <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/turning-co2-into-cement-a-new-path-to-greener-construction/">buildings</a>, making rooms hotter and harder to cool. It also warms the outside environment, so streets and sidewalks feel hotter too.



When cities heat up this way, people rely more on air conditioning, which uses a lot of electricity. If we continue to use the same materials, the demand for cooling will keep growing. 



By the middle of this century, the energy used for cooling could make carbon emissions up to three times higher than today.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-building-a-different-cement">Building a different cement</h2>



The&nbsp;Southeast University team took a different approach. The researchers created a cement where crystals form naturally on the surface. The mineral ettringite does the heavy lifting.



“It works like a mirror and a radiator, so it can reflect sunlight away and send heat out into the sky, so a building can stay cooler without any air conditioning or electricity,” explained Du.



The cement also lets heat escape because of tiny pores and a gel rich in aluminum. Together, these features turn the surface into both reflector and radiator.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-cooling-cement-is-made">How the cooling cement is made</h2>



The recipe starts with common <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-roman-concrete-offers-lessons-for-sustainable-building/">minerals</a> like limestone, gypsum, alumina, and silica. These are shaped into pellets, heated, and then ground. 



When mixed with water, the particles react to form both ettringite and gel. To shape the surface, the team used molds and air bubbles that left behind microcavities. 



Crystals grow inside these cavities, creating patterns that scatter light and boost reflectivity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-the-cement-in-sunlight">Testing the cement in sunlight</h2>



The researchers placed the new cement on a rooftop at Purdue University to see how it worked in real sunlight. 



The cement stayed cooler than the air around it - by 5.4°C (9.7°F) - and much cooler than normal Portland cement - by 26°C (47°F). That means it didn’t trap heat the way regular cement does.



Even at night, when there’s no sunlight, the cement kept releasing stored heat into the sky. This showed that its cooling ability doesn’t stop when the sun goes down. It can keep surfaces cooler both day and night.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-strength-and-resilience">Strength and resilience</h2>



Cooling power alone isn’t enough. Buildings need <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/recycled-cement-is-an-absolute-miracle-to-lower-concrete-emissions/">materials</a> that last. The new cement showed compressive strength above 100 MPa, stronger than many traditional mixes. 



It resisted scratches, stayed intact under freeze-thaw cycles, and endured immersion in corrosive liquids. After months of UV exposure and a full year outdoors, its reflectivity barely dropped.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brighter-city-streets">Brighter city streets</h2>



Cement is usually gray, but the new research shows that it doesn’t have to stay that way. The team mixed in special phosphor dyes while making the cement. This produced colored versions - yellow, green, and red.



Even with the color, the cement still reflected about 90% of sunlight. That means it kept its cooling ability while also giving architects and city planners more design options to make buildings and streets look brighter.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-benefits-of-cooling-cement">Climate benefits of cooling cement</h2>



Production matters as much as performance. This cement is made at lower temperatures, cutting emissions during manufacture by about 25 percent.



Life-cycle studies suggest that over 70 years, a tonne of this <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-just-created-concrete-that-could-reverse-climate-damage/">cement</a> could reduce up to 2,867 kilograms of CO2 compared with standard Portland cement. 



Some cities, like Niamey and Mumbai, could reach carbon neutrality with it faster than others.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cooler-cities-with-less-energy-demand">Cooler cities with less energy demand</h2>



Oscar Brousse from <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University College London</a> praises the material’s design but warns against simple conclusions. 



“It doesn’t mean that because the surface is 5°C lower, that the air temperature will be 5°C lower around it. The effect locally may be greatly limited,” said Brousse.



Even with that caution, the potential is clear. This cement could cut energy demand in cities, reduce emissions, and extend building lifespans. If scaled, it may help cool entire neighborhoods without flipping a switch.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adv2820" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a>.



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Cement of the future: Cooling cities and cutting emissions

Cement keeps our cities standing, but it also keeps them...

Music carries a remarkable ability to connect sound with lived experience, shaping how people recall their past. A melody can spark vivid memories, often with startling speed. Just a few notes may transport someone back to a childhood party, a first date, or a quiet evening walk.



A new study from <a href="https://www.gold.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Goldsmiths University of London</a> explores how different kinds of songs, whether soft and acoustic or energetic and loud, affect the qualities of those memories. The findings reveal a fascinating interplay between <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nostalgic-songs-light-up-your-brain-and-get-you-moving/">musical properties</a> and emotional recall.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-impact-of-songs-on-memories">Impact of songs on memories</h2>



Researchers Safiyyah Nawaz and Diana Omigie investigated whether specific features of music influence the type of autobiographical memories people recall. 



While previous studies confirmed that songs are powerful triggers of memory, few examined how tempo, acousticness, or energy level shape those memories.



The researchers asked 233 people to take part in an online survey. Each person shared memories linked to two kinds of music: <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/music-boosts-memory-but-only-with-the-right-emotional-spark/">songs</a> they chose themselves and popular songs from their younger years. 



After collecting the responses to the survey, the team used statistical methods to look for patterns.



The goal was to determine whether certain qualities of songs, like being soft or energetic, matched up with specific types of memories - such as vivid, happy, or sad.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-energetic-songs-exciting-memories">Energetic songs, exciting memories</h2>



The results drew a clear line between different types of songs. More acoustic, lower-energy pieces, like Debussy’s Clair de Lune, often brought back memories filled with calmness, romance, or even sadness. 



Such memories were described as vivid, important, and unique, though less social in nature.



In contrast, energetic and less acoustic tracks, such as Fetty Wap’s Trap Queen, stirred memories of excitement, amusement, and social energy. Participants also reported recalling these memories more quickly than those tied to softer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-benefits-of-musical-training-may-be-all-in-our-heads/">songs</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-personal-choices-carry-deeper-meaning">Personal choices carry deeper meaning</h2>



When people picked their own songs, the memories that came back were stronger and more emotional than those tied to common popular songs. 



Personal choices carried deeper meaning because they were often connected to big moments in life, like important relationships or milestones. 



This finding is significant because it shows that familiarity and personal connection make music an even more powerful memory trigger. 



The researchers propose that personally meaningful songs could have therapeutic value. 



In reminiscence therapy, for instance, playing music tied to a person’s life may help individuals with memory conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease recall past experiences more vividly and with greater positivity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-linking-songs-and-memory">Linking songs and memory</h2>



“We all know of the experience of hearing a song and being transported back in time to a vivid memory associated with that song," noted Nawaz 



"As it turns out, the properties of the music itself, characteristics like acousticness, loudness and energy, relate to the emotional and phenomenological qualities of the same <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-brain-map-shows-how-rhythms-instantly-reconfigure-your-mind-freq-ness/">musical memories</a>."



According to Nawaz, the team discovered that more acoustic songs were associated with memories that were more vivid, unique, and characterized by complex emotions like romance and adoration.



Louder, more energetic songs were linked to social, exciting, high-energy memories that were recalled faster, she added.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-countless-memories-linked-to-songs">Countless memories linked to songs</h2>



The researchers found analyzing over 1,400 musical memories both humbling and inspiring. Each song holds countless life moments for its listeners, offering a new way to see music as timeless.



Nawaz and her team also turned their work into a public project. They launched an online archive of <a href="https://memoryrecords.xyz/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">musical memories</a>, where some of the memories shared by participants are now available. 



The goal is to broaden the collection beyond Western cultural samples, giving the research a more global foundation.



Study co-author Diana Omigie pointed to another key factor in memory formation: personal connection to the music.



“Our in-depth analysis showed that it’s not just the musical features that influence memory, but also how much a person likes a song and how familiar it is to them," said Omigie.



"We hope future research will explore how musical elements interact with such personal elements to bring about the deep and meaningful memories that people experience in everyday life."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0329072" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PLOS One</a>.



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How music tunes the emotions in our memories

Music carries a remarkable ability to connect sound with lived...

The gas that shields us from ultraviolet radiation is also a heat trapper. That tension sits at the heart of a new analysis that recalculates how much extra warming will come from changes in ozone over the next quarter century.



The headline result is stark, but the mechanics matter even more. The research was led by Professor Bill Collins at the <a href="https://www.reading.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Reading</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ozone-recovery-and-pollution">Ozone recovery and pollution</h2>



A multi-model study shows that without strong air pollution controls, ozone will add 0.268 ± 0.084 W/m² of extra heating between 2015 and 2050. This makes <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-ozone-layer-is-healing-will-the-hole-disappear-for-good/">ozone</a> the second-largest driver of near-term warming after carbon dioxide.



The team separated two drivers that push ozone upward. One is recovery of the high altitude layer as ozone depleting chemicals keep declining. 



The other is the build up of ozone near and above the surface, fed by ozone <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-12/Ozone_Precursors.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">precursor</a> emissions such as methane and nitrogen oxides from industry, traffic, and agriculture.



Across seven state of the art Earth system and chemistry models, the signal was consistent. Roughly half of the added warming came from stratospheric recovery and half from tropospheric increases.



Those values exceed earlier estimates used by policymakers for the same scenario. The gap arises from the methods used to diagnose forcing and from how clouds, water vapor, and surface reflectivity respond to ozone changes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-healing-ozone-also-traps-heat">Healing ozone also traps heat</h2>



Ozone acts as a greenhouse gas by absorbing infrared <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ozone-pollution-threatens-tree-survival-across-western-u-s/">radiation</a>, particularly near 9.6 micrometers. Higher concentrations in the upper atmosphere trap more outgoing heat, but increases closer to the surface have an even stronger effect because the air there is denser and warmer.



The Montreal <a href="https://ozone.unep.org/treaties/montreal-protocol" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Protocol</a> phased out Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), saving the protective layer and cutting dangerous ultraviolet exposure, yet its success has a climate side effect because a thicker ozone layer also holds more heat.



“Countries are doing the right thing by continuing to ban chemicals called CFCs and HCFCs that damage the ozone layer above Earth. However, while this helps repair the protective ozone layer, we have found that this recovery in ozone will warm the planet more than we originally thought,” said Professor Collins.



The study’s message is not to second guess the treaty. It is to count this unavoidable warming correctly while accelerating cuts to the pollutants that create ozone in the lower atmosphere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pollution-today-warming-tomorrow">Pollution today, warming tomorrow</h2>



Near the ground, the <a href="https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/atmosphere/troposphere" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">troposphere</a> is where we live and where familiar emissions cook up ozone under sunlight. Those reactive gases are short lived, so trimming them yields benefits within years, and it eases a public health burden that hits lungs, hearts, and crops.



Ground level ozone raises risks of coughing, worsened asthma, and reduced lung function, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/health-effects-ozone-pollution" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">EPA</a>).



“Air pollution from vehicles, factories and power plants also creates ozone near the ground, causing health problems and warming the planet,” said Professor Collins.



Because ozone links air quality and climate, steps that reduce methane, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds can cool the climate while cleaning the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/more-heat-cleaner-air-the-surprising-ozone-connection/">air</a>. The dual payoff is large in cities and rapidly industrializing regions where ozone chemistry is most active.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-metrics-change-warming-numbers">Metrics change warming numbers</h2>



Climate science uses radiative forcing to tally how different agents change Earth’s energy budget. The effective radiative forcing (ERF) for ozone since 1750 is assessed at 0.47 [0.24 to 0.71] W/m², reflecting historical increases in tropospheric ozone as well as stratospheric changes.



ERF is powerful here because it includes fast adjustments in clouds, water vapor, and surface reflectivity that kick in when ozone changes, while leaving out the slower response of surface temperature. That makes ERF more representative of the actual climate push than methods that ignore these rapid adjustments.



By contrast, stratospheric temperature adjusted radiative forcing (SARF) accounts for the quick cooling or warming of the stratosphere but not other rapid adjustments. 



The new analysis shows that for ozone changes driven by declining ozone depleting substances, ERF is roughly double SARF, meaning older approaches can undercount the climate push from the healing layer.



This metric choice is not a technical footnote. It influences how we attribute warming to different pollutants, how we design near term mitigation, and how we set expectations for temperature outcomes by mid century.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ozone-recovery-needs-pollution-cuts">Ozone recovery needs pollution cuts</h2>



According to a <a href="https://csl.noaa.gov/assessments/ozone/2022/executivesummary/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NOAA report</a>, stratospheric ozone will continue to recover for decades, meaning the associated warming is effectively locked in regardless of air quality policies on the ground.



That does not weaken the case for the Montreal Protocol’s success or its health protections. It simply means climate planners should pencil a larger ozone line into their near-term forcing budgets and not assume a free climate bonus from the treaty’s chemical ban.



Where we do have leverage is on precursors. Cutting methane curbs a major source of global background <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rocket-launches-threaten-earths-ozone-recovery/">ozone</a> and reduces warming on short time scales. 



Tightening controls on nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds lowers urban and regional ozone peaks, improving health while shaving future climate forcing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ozone-recovery-speeds-up-warming">Ozone recovery speeds up warming</h2>



Ozone’s protective shield is on the mend, and that is non-negotiable for human and ecosystem health. 



At the same time, the climate system will feel extra heat from both the healing layer above and the pollution made ozone below, and counting it correctly helps us choose smarter levers.



Practical steps include updating inventories with ERF-based ozone data, accelerating cuts to methane and ozone precursors, and upholding the Montreal Protocol. These measures protect health gains while aligning energy and air quality policy with the physics that truly drives warming.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/25/9031/2025/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics</a>.



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Ozone recovery will amplify near-term global warming

The gas that shields us from ultraviolet radiation is also...

When we picture Earth’s ancient landscapes, it’s easy to imagine vast braided rivers sprawling across barren land. For decades, geologists believed this was the norm until plant life colonized land about half a billion years ago. 



Vegetation, experts argued, gave <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-river-systems-suggest-that-mars-was-much-wetter-than-previously-believed/">rivers</a> the stability needed to curve gracefully into meandering paths. A new study from <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanford University</a> now turns this long-held assumption on its head.



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



The research shows that unvegetated meandering rivers can leave behind deposits that closely resemble those of braided rivers. This finding suggests that geologists may have misread the rock record, leading to the conclusion that braided <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/discovery-about-earths-bending-rivers-could-help-us-find-water-on-other-planets/">rivers</a> dominated most of Earth’s first 4 billion years.



“With our study, we’re pushing back on the widely accepted story of what landscapes looked like when plant life first evolved on land,” said lead author Michael Hasson, a PhD student at the <a href="https://sustainability.stanford.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability</a>. 



“We’re rewriting the story of the intertwined relationship between plants and rivers, which is a significant revision to our understanding of the history of the Earth.”



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



Meandering <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-arabia-was-once-green-and-lush-with-rivers-lakes-and-grasslands/">rivers</a> create floodplains, which are among the most abundant non-marine carbon stores on the planet. Overflows deposit mud and organic matter, locking carbon into the land for thousands of years. 



These natural reservoirs influence atmospheric carbon dioxide, Earth’s thermostat. A better grasp of their history could refine models of climate, both ancient and future.



“Floodplains play an important role in determining how, when, and whether carbon is buried or released back into the atmosphere,” Hasson said. 



“Based on this work, we argue carbon storage in floodplains would have been common for much longer than the classic paradigm that assumes meandering rivers only occurred over the last several hundred million years.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-modern-rivers">Tracking modern rivers</h2>



To test their idea, the team analyzed satellite imagery of about 4,500 bends in 49 present-day meandering rivers. Roughly half lacked vegetation, while the rest were vegetated to varying degrees. 



The researchers focused on point bars, sandy features that form along inside bends. Unlike braided rivers’ mid-channel bars, point bars migrate laterally, driving meandering forms over time.



Geologists have long tracked these sandy structures in ancient rocks to reconstruct river paths. If the bars seemed to shift downstream, the conclusion was a braided system. This method led to the assumption that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rivers-are-releasing-a-massive-amount-of-carbon-dioxide-into-the-air/">rivers</a> transformed when plants first evolved.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-old-geology-lessons-were-mistaken">Old geology lessons were mistaken</h2>



“In our paper, we show that this conclusion - which is taught in all geology curricula to this day - is most likely incorrect,” said study senior author Mathieu Lapôtre, assistant professor at the Doerr School of Sustainability.



The team found that without vegetation, point bars often drift downstream, mimicking braided behavior. Using standard geological techniques on such rivers today would misclassify them as braided.



“In other words, we show that, if one were to use the same criterion geologists use in ancient rocks on modern rivers, meandering rivers would be miscategorized as braided rivers,” Lapôtre said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-meandering-rivers-shaped-climate">Meandering rivers shaped climate</h2>



The implications are sweeping. If meandering rivers, with their carbon-rich floodplains, existed long before plants, then Earth’s carbon cycle operated differently than once thought. 



This insight could reshape models of ancient climate shifts and sharpen predictions about current climate change.



“Understanding how our planet is going to respond to human-induced climate change hinges on having an accurate baseline for how it has responded to past perturbations,” Hasson said. “The rock record provides that baseline, but it’s only useful if we interpret it accurately.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revising-earth-s-story">Revising Earth’s story</h2>



The study suggests that carbon cycling tied to river style has been misunderstood. By correcting this, scientists can gain clearer insight into both the deep past and the uncertain future.



“We’re suggesting that an important control on carbon cycling - where carbon is stored, and for how long, due to river type and floodplain creation - hasn’t been fully understood,” Hasson said. “Our study now points the way to better assessments.”



Researchers from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unipd.it/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Padova</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ubc.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of British Columbia</a>&nbsp;also contributed to the study.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv4939" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a>.



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Meandering rivers shaped early landscapes before plants arrived

When we picture Earth’s ancient landscapes, it’s easy to imagine...

Honey bees are at the heart of global food systems. Their tireless pollination supports crops, ecosystems, and economies. Habitat loss, pesticide exposure, climate extremes, and poor nutrition have threatened their survival in recent decades. 



Beekeepers worldwide have reported unsustainable losses, raising alarms about the stability of food production. To address this crisis, experts are working on solutions that go beyond traditional hive management. 



Scientists have now introduced a remarkable food source that can sustain honey bee <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/national-honey-bee-day-2025-why-pollinators-matter/">colonies</a> indefinitely, even without natural pollen.



The research comes from&nbsp;Washington State University (<a href="https://wsu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WSU</a>) and&nbsp;<a href="https://apixbiosciences.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">APIX Biosciences NV</a>&nbsp;in Belgium. The trials showed that nutritionally stressed colonies thrived on this specially designed diet.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-food-for-bees-on-the-brink">Food for bees on the brink</h2>



The innovation mirrors the artificial diets long used for livestock and pets. It provides honey bees with every essential nutrient, potentially offering a critical strategy against rising colony collapse. 



This advancement will strengthen global food security, since bees serve as vital pollinators for agriculture.



The new food resembles human “power bars.” These nutrient-rich bars are placed inside hives, where young bees process and distribute them to larvae and adults. 



This directly addresses the growing issue of poor nutrition that has long plagued honey bee survival.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bees-need-better-healthier-food">Bees need better, healthier food</h2>



Changes in land use, urban expansion, and extreme weather all negatively impact nutrition for honey bees and other <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heat-and-pollution-are-changing-the-buzz-of-bees/">pollinators</a>.



Study co-author Brandon Hopkin is a P.F. Thurber Endowed Distinguished Professor of pollinator ecology at WSU.



"Honey bees are generalists and do not get all their nutrition from a single source," said Hopkin. "They need variety in their diet to survive but find it increasingly difficult to find the continuous supply of pollen they need to sustain the colony."



Patrick Pilkington, CEO of APIX Biosciences US, emphasized the uniqueness of this breakthrough. "Until this study, honey bees were the only livestock that could not be maintained on a (human-made) feed," he said.



Trials showed that colonies under nutritional stress fared much better on the new diet compared to current feeding practices.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-building-a-better-bee-diet">Building a better bee diet</h2>



The project took over a decade of research and global collaboration.&nbsp;Thierry Bogaert is the study's lead author and chairman of APIX Biosciences.



"The newly published work is the result of a Herculean scientific effort of three teams," Bogaert enthused. 



"First, the founders and scientists of APIX Biosciences who tested thousands of combinations of ingredients on honey bees over more than 10 years to create this feed," Bogart continued.



"Second, the WSU team, with leading honey bee and field expertise. And third, leading beekeepers in California, together with extension teams, made large-scale, science-based field testing of feeds possible."



A major finding during the research was the discovery of isofucosterol, a nutrient found naturally in pollen. This molecule proved critical for bee <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-bees-arrive-late-flowers-may-vanish/#google_vignette">survival</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-missing-piece-in-bee-diets">Missing piece in bee diets</h2>



The study revealed that not all sterols in pollen play the same role for bees. For decades, 24-methylenecholesterol was considered the most critical sterol, but experiments showed that colonies could survive without it, though with some decline in brood production. 



In contrast, removing isofucosterol had severe effects, including reduced brood growth and neuromuscular dysfunction.



Isofucosterol depletion caused bees to move sluggishly and exhibit impaired coordination, reducing their ability to forage and care for brood. Colonies missing this nutrient collapsed, proving it to be an essential sterol. 



The researchers suggest that the nutrient's importance may stem from how it influences cell membranes and nerve functions. 



Unlike other sterols, bees appear to conserve isofucosterol more carefully, suggesting an evolutionary mechanism to retain it for vital processes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trials-show-colonies-rebound">Trials show colonies rebound</h2>



To confirm real-world effectiveness, the WSU team tested the diet with colonies in blueberry and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sunflower-family-tree-explains-evolution-of-flower-symmetry/">sunflower</a> fields. These environments are known to have poor pollen quality and typically stress colonies.



The study showed that colonies receiving the complete diet maintained higher survival and growth, while those on commercial substitutes or no feed declined sharply.



Interestingly, colonies on the new diet also displayed feed efficiency similar to natural pollen. For every capped brood cell produced, the bees consumed almost the same diet mass they would have with pollen. 



This finding highlights that the artificial feed can truly substitute pollen, not just supplement it.



"Some beekeepers don't pollinate blueberries anymore because colonies suffer or die and the pollination fees don't cover the losses," Hopkins explained. 



"<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/disease-attacking-blueberry-plants-is-spreading-around-the-world/">Blueberry</a> pollen isn't very nutritious for honey bees, and they aren't adapted well to pollinating that crop. But if they have this supplemental food source, beekeepers may return to pollinating those fields since they know their bees are more likely to survive."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-saving-bees-securing-food">Saving bees, securing food</h2>



Annual colony losses remain alarmingly high, highlighting the urgency of this breakthrough. The study demonstrated that colonies given the complete diet remained strong from spring through autumn, even during periods of transport, high-density storage, and natural pollen scarcity. 



These larger, healthier colonies are better prepared for overwintering, a key predictor of survival in temperate climates.



"We are confident that the product will positively impact <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/smart-sensors-help-beekeepers-monitor-hive-health/">beekeepers</a> and growers once it's available to purchase in the U.S., targeted for mid-2026," Pilkington said. 



"We are working with WSU and the beekeeping community across the U.S. to develop the best way to make use of this new tool in agricultural settings."



By addressing nutritional gaps, this innovation could reshape pollination practices, reduce losses, and strengthen the&nbsp;food systems&nbsp;that depend on honey bees.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2024.3078" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences</a>.



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Scientists create pollen-replacing superfood for honey bees, hoping to prevent extinction

Honey bees are at the heart of global food systems....

For decades, biologists thought isolation on islands nudged animals toward smaller bodies, tamer behavior, and shrunken brains - an energy-saving suite dubbed “island syndrome.” 



However, a new study of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/channel-island-foxes-threatened-by-low-genetic-diversity/">Channel Islands foxes</a> complicates that picture. Most of these cat-sized predators evolved relatively larger brains than their mainland gray fox cousins, suggesting that cognitive demands - more than isolation itself - can drive brain size.



The work, led by researchers at the <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/">USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences</a>, argues that brain evolution on islands is shaped by the pressures of survival on the ground.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fox-brains-break-the-mold">Fox brains break the mold</h2>



Lead author Kimberly Schoenberger argued that the results overturn a long-held assumption.



“It was most surprising to discover that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-reveals-how-darwins-giant-daisies-spread-into-distinct-niches/">island syndrome</a> isn’t one-size-fits-all," said Schoenberger. "When we looked at carnivores like Channel Island foxes, the pattern of smaller brains didn’t hold.”



That departure matters because most previous brain-size studies focused on island <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forest-biodiversity-benefits-from-large-herbivores-like-elephants-and-moose/">herbivores</a> - animals that face different challenges than hunters and omnivores. 



By spotlighting a small carnivore, the team shows that the “rules” of island evolution can fracture along ecological lines.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-six-islands-one-natural-experiment"><a></a>Six islands, one natural experiment</h2>



The Channel Islands - an eight-island chain off Southern California - provide a rare, replicated testbed. Six islands host endemic fox subspecies. 



The researchers compared those island foxes to mainland gray foxes, their closest living relatives and probable ancestors, and also contrasted the island subspecies with one another.



If isolation or island area alone drove brain shrinkage, the team would expect a simple pattern. Instead, they found that brain-to-body ratios lined up more closely with local habitat demands than with geography.



On five islands - Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Santa Catalina, San Clemente, and San Miguel - the foxes had relatively larger brains despite their smaller bodies.



Those <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/electrical-synapses-are-key-to-decision-making-in-animal-brains/">brains</a> showed deeper folds and ridges in regions tied to motor control and spatial processing. Such traits help the animals navigate rugged terrain, remember scattered resources, and compete for scarce shelter.



On two of those islands, foxes share space with rivals like the spotted skunk, raising the bar for fast decisions and agile movement.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brains-shrink-when-survival-is-simple">Brains shrink when survival is simple</h2>



San Nicolas, the most remote and resource-limited island in the study, told the opposite story. There, foxes had smaller relative brains. With few <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-chaos-caused-a-mass-extinction-of-top-marine-predators/">predators</a>, low biodiversity, and a thin menu of foods, the researchers inferred that the foxes faced fewer cognitive demands.



Under those constraints, conserving energy for the basics - staying warm, finding enough calories - may have outweighed the payoff of maintaining larger brain tissue.



“The Channel Island foxes show that brain size reduction is not a universal feature of island life,” Schoenberger said. “It depends on the pressures each species faces.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-measuring-fox-minds-from-bones">Measuring fox minds from bones</h2>



To trace brain evolution through time, the team worked with more than 250 skulls representing six island fox subspecies and four gray fox subspecies. These specimens came from the <a href="https://nhmlac.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County</a> and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.



The researchers first estimated body mass from skull measurements and validated those estimates against recorded weights from live-caught island foxes. That gave them a solid baseline for comparing brain-to-body ratios.



For brain size, they used microbeads to measure braincase volume - a reliable proxy when brains are absent. They then CT-scanned the skulls to build 3D models of the cranial cavities.



The scans confirmed the volume estimates and revealed subtle differences in the surfaces where brain folds press into bone. These patterns allowed the team to infer changes in regions linked to movement and spatial awareness.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fox-brains-bend-to-fit">Fox brains bend to fit</h2>



The digital reconstructions uncovered a telling feature: island foxes had shorter, more compact frontal areas of the braincase than mainland gray foxes. The researchers linked that to the foxes’ shorter snouts, which reduce available space at the front of the skull.



To compensate, the island foxes developed slightly deeper cortical folds and more pronounced ridges in that region. This preserved space for circuitry supporting motor control and navigation - skills especially useful for climbing trees and foraging in complex terrain.



Both island and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trees-help-gray-foxes-coexist-with-coyotes/">gray foxes</a> are the only canids known to climb, but island foxes rely on arboreal foraging more often, likely because ground resources are leaner.



The study also found no difference in brain size between males and females. This points away from sexual selection and toward shared environmental pressures as the main driver of change.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-foxes-stayed-wild-with-humans">Foxes stayed wild with humans</h2>



Genetic and radiocarbon evidence suggests foxes first reached the northern Channel Islands roughly 9,000 years ago. They may have arrived by rafting on storm debris or by swimming shorter channels when sea levels were lower.



Thousands of years later, Indigenous peoples may have helped move foxes to other islands - likely as pest control rather than pets.



Despite that long association with humans, island foxes never became truly domesticated. Unlike early <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-are-evolving-to-fit-the-modern-lives-of-humans/">domestic dogs</a>, which show brain shrinkage as they grew dependent on people, island foxes retained wild-type behaviors and brain sizes befitting self-sufficient hunters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brains-matter-for-survival">Brains matter for survival</h2>



As climate change and development carve mainland habitats into island-like fragments, understanding which traits help animals cope could guide management.



The Channel Islands fox suggests that cognitive flexibility and problem-solving can be part of the survival toolkit - when ecosystems still offer enough resources to support those costly traits. 



Yet the foxes’ low genetic diversity makes them vulnerable to disease and rapid environmental shifts, underscoring the need to protect habitats that sustain both bodies and brains.



Island syndrome, it turns out, is not a single script but a library of local stories. On five Channel Islands, small bodies came paired with relatively big brains. On the sixth, the opposite prevailed. 



Together, those outcomes point to a simple conclusion with big implications: the brain follows the work that needs doing, and on islands, that work depends on the world outside the skull as much as on the DNA within it.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0328893" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PLOS One</a>.



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Island foxes evolved bigger brains to help them survive

For decades, biologists thought isolation on islands nudged animals toward...

A sweeping analysis of the “tree of life” finds that most living species belong to a relatively small number of lineages that diversified unusually quickly.



Across plants, animals, and other kingdoms, most branches have not grown evenly through time. Instead, a few have exploded into dense thickets of species, while many others remain sparsely populated.



The British evolutionary biologist J.B.S. Haldane is said to have quipped that any divine being evidently had “an inordinate fondness for beetles.” 



The joke contains a truth biologists have wrestled with for decades: some groups dominate the ledger of life, while others are comparatively species-poor.



More than 40 percent of extant insects are beetles, 60 percent of birds are passerines, and more than 85 percent of plants are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tree-of-life-created-for-flowering-plants-using-400-million-specimens/">flowering plants</a> - an unevenness that begs an explanation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spanning-earth-s-many-species">Spanning Earth's many species</h2>



To move beyond anecdotes, researchers compiled a vast cross-taxonomic dataset. They then asked whether the concentration of species in a few very large groups is a general feature of life on Earth.



The team analyzed the distribution of <a href="http://v">species richness</a> and diversification rates across clades - lineages that share a common ancestor - spanning land plants, insects, vertebrates, all animals, and a synthesis “across life.”



For land plants, the tally included 10 phyla, 140 orders, and 678 families, together representing more than 300,000 species. For insects, 31 orders and 870 families covered over one million known species.



Vertebrates made up 12 classes encompassing more than 66,000 species, while animals overall accounted for 28 phyla and 1,710 families, totaling more than 1.5 million species.



A final roll-up across 17 kingdoms and 2,545 families included more than two million species. The team compared species counts, clade ages, and diversification rates for each clade.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-earth-s-diversity-comes-from-rare-explosions">Earth's diversity comes from rare explosions</h2>



“Here we show for the first time that most living species do indeed belong to a limited number of rapid radiations," said John Wiens, a professor at the <a href="https://www.arizona.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Arizona</a>. "That is, they form groups with many species which evolved in a relatively short period of time.” 



“If we look among the kingdoms of life, among animal phyla, and among plant phyla, we find that more than 80 percent of known species belong to the minority of groups with exceptionally high rates of species diversification.”



The result stayed consistent no matter how researchers sliced the tree - by high-level phyla, mid-level orders, or family-level groupings. They found that most species cluster in a few branches with above-average diversification rates, while the majority of branches remain comparatively species-poor.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-spark-behind-biodiversity-surges">The spark behind biodiversity surges</h2>



So-called rapid radiations can follow the opening of new ecological opportunities or the evolution of key innovations.



When a small founding flock of grassquit birds reached <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/people-around-the-world-are-helping-save-galapagos-iguanas/">the Galápagos</a> roughly 2.5 million years ago, it diversified into Darwin’s finches.



When powered flight evolved in early bats about 50 million years ago, it unlocked a rich set of niches. Such episodes don’t just add species; they reset the balance of diversity across the tree.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-traits-that-tip-the-scales"><a></a>Traits that tip the scales</h2>



“Our results imply that most of life's diversity is explained by such relatively rapid radiations," Wiens said. "We also suggest key traits that might explain these rapid radiations, based on our results and results of earlier studies."



“These traits include multicellularity in plants, animals, and fungi across the kingdoms of life; the invasion of land and the adoption of a plant-based diet in arthropods among animal phyla; and the emergence of flowers and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/urbanization-causes-massive-decline-in-insect-pollinators/">insect pollination</a> in flowering plants among plant phyla.”



These innovations changed the rules of engagement with the environment, allowing lineages to exploit new resources, spread into new habitats, and diversify faster than their relatives.



The statistical signal is not unique to one group or one rank. It appears from the vast diversity of insects to the great branches of land plants and vertebrates.



In practical terms, most of the species we encounter - and most of the biodiversity we aim to conserve - sit within a minority of lineages. These lineages experienced unusually fast growth spurts through evolutionary time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bacteria-remain-a-vast-unknown">Bacteria remain a vast unknown</h2>



One major caveat is the kingdom <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-bacteria-get-hungry-they-turn-on-each-other/">Bacteria</a>. Scientists have formally described only about 10,000 bacterial species, yet they estimate true bacterial diversity to be in the millions to trillions.



At the same time, bacteria originated roughly 3.5 billion years ago, which spreads speciation events across immense time and implies a low overall diversification rate.



The authors point out that if bacteria actually have far more species than we currently know, then bacteria would make up most of life on Earth - very different from what their study found. They emphasized that their results mainly apply to the species we’ve already identified.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-conserving-earth-s-species-diversity">Conserving Earth’s species diversity</h2>



Recognizing that most species are concentrated in a handful of fast-diversifying clades reframes both evolutionary theory and conservation practice. It sharpens questions about the ecological triggers and genetic innovations that spark radiations.



It also helps triage conservation priorities: protecting the engines of diversification may conserve not only many species today but also the capacity for future diversity.



Haldane’s quip about a deity’s “inordinate fondness for beetles” captured the pattern with wit. This analysis shows the pattern is not an exception but a rule written across much of life. The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2025.1596591/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution</a>.



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Just a few explosive lineages account for most species on Earth

A sweeping analysis of the “tree of life” finds that...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The environmental problem we actually solved

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

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

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







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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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-----

Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

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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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