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...

The Quadrantid meteor shower is always the first meteor shower of the new year, and is typically very active. Despite its intensity, however, the event can be difficult to observe. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-composition-of-a-meteorite-can-make-it-more-deadly/">meteor</a> shower lasts only six hours, giving observers a relatively short window to watch.&nbsp;



The Quadrantids are brief because they originate from asteroid 2003 EH1, unlike most meteor showers that originate from comets. Adding to the thinner stream of particles from an asteroid, the shower also hits the earth’s atmosphere at a specific angle.&nbsp;



This year will be a particularly strange one for observing the Quadrantids because of an exceptionally dark night sky but a daytime peak. On January 2, the new moon will be synchronized with the sun, rising and setting at the same time, thus leaving the night sky dark for meteor observations.&nbsp;



Unfortunately, the peak of meteor activity is also during the day time for North Americans. The showers are predicted to peak around 21:00 <a href="https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/universal-time">UTC</a>. Thus, the best time to observe the Quadrantids in North America, is actually during the early morning hours.&nbsp;&nbsp;



People who want to watch the Quadrantids should start in a dark location, as far from light pollution as possible after midnight. This is before the peak but some meteors should be visible. Astronomers report that during its peak, a single observer could expect to see 120 meteors per hour in a dark sky.&nbsp;



Different sources predict the peak for the meteor shower to be overnight on either January 2nd or 3rd - although the showers could possibly be visible from anywhere from December 26 and January 16.&nbsp;



Predictions for meteor showers are like weather predictions, and the shower may actually surprise us. It’s possible that even the peak of the meteor shower will turn out to be visible at night. In past years, some have even seen bits of the Quadrantids in the southern hemisphere. The only way to find out is to get outside and watch the sky.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Quadrantid meteors will put on an early 2022 show

The Quadrantid meteor shower is always the first meteor shower...

The Covid-19 pandemic began in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, China. From there, it spread quickly all over the world, infecting until now over 287 million people and killing more than 5.43 million. During these two years, the virus suffered numerous mutations, some of them, like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/delta-variants-could-further-prolong-the-covid-pandemic/">Delta</a> or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/omicron-is-surging-but-may-cause-less-severe-illness/">Omicron</a>, proving to be more transmissible than the wild type that emerged from China.&nbsp;&nbsp;



With the manufacturing and approval of several groundbreaking vaccines at the end of 2020, people hoped that the disease could finally be controlled if not even eradicated. However, due to the slowness of vaccine uptake worldwide, particularly in developing Asian and African countries, new dangerous variants emerged, such as the particularly severe Delta in India in April 2021, and the highly contagious and immunity-evasive Omicron in South Africa in November.&nbsp;



The emergence and rapid spread of such variants shattered hopes of quickly achieving herd immunity and eradicating this disease. Increasingly more specialists argue that we will never be able to be completely rid of SARS-CoV-2 and urge us to learn to live with it instead.



However, Omicron’s advent and fulminant spread may well turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Although countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, or Spain are setting record after record of daily new cases, with infections cropping up in many vaccinated or previously infected people too, hospitalization and death rates appear to be lower than in the case of Delta.&nbsp;



Moreover, South African medical experts claim that their Omicron-fueled wave has already passed, leaving behind significantly lower hospitalizations and casualties. If Omicron turns out to be less virulent, it may quickly bring high levels of herd immunity all over the globe at much lower costs than previous variants did.



According to the <a href="https://www.who.int/">World Health Organization</a> (WHO), the “tsunami of cases” brought about by the rise of Omicron could mark <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/12/1108932">the end of the “acute stage”</a> of the pandemic. And while there is a high possibility that SARS-CoV-2 will remain with us forever, the pandemic could soon turn into an endemic, with the coronavirus becoming an ongoing part of the world’s infectious-disease landscape, while causing less severe illness and death. Whether and how soon this will happen is still not clear, and remains dependent upon a variety of factors, including vaccine rollout, the development of new drugs, and the possible emergence of new variants.



“Populism, narrow nationalism and hoarding of health tools, including masks, therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines, by a small number of countries undermined equity, and created the ideal conditions for the emergence of new variants”, said WHO’s Director-General&nbsp;Tedros Ghebreyesus.&nbsp;“This is the time to rise above short-term nationalism and protect populations and economies against future variants by ending global vaccine inequity,” he urged.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Year three: the beginning of the end of the pandemic?

The Covid-19 pandemic began in December 2019 in the city...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ab.mpg.de/">Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior</a> in Konstanz, Germany has analyzed the interaction between orangutan mothers and their infants in Sumatra, Indonesia. The researchers found that when orangutan mothers are foraging, they tailor their behavior to match the age and capacities of their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/songbirds-abandon-their-offspring-early-but-its-for-their-own-good/">offspring</a>, thereby helping them to learn.&nbsp;



According to the researchers, this study uncovered the first evidence yet of active involvement by orangutan mothers in their offspring’s learning of new skills.



“Immature orangutans acquire their feeding skills over several years, via social and independent learning,” wrote the study authors. “So far, it has remained uninvestigated to what extent orangutan mothers are actively involved in this learning process. We conclude that orangutan mothers have a more active role in the skill acquisition of their offspring than previously thought.”



During their infancy, orangutans must learn to recognize and process over 200 food items, many of which require several steps before they can be eaten. For instance, while most flowers and leaves require no previous processing, bark must be loosened from the trees and scraped with the teeth in order to access its nutritive parts. The most difficult foods, such as honey from bee hives, require even the use of tools such as sticks in order to consume it.&nbsp;



According to the researchers, immature orangutans learn such complex skills by observing their mothers while they are eating.&nbsp;



“It was puzzling that mothers always seemed so passive during these feeding interactions,” said study lead author Dr. Caroline Schuppli, an evolutionary biologist at the Max Plank Institute. “Mothers have so much time with their offspring, and maintain such a close connection, but they never appeared to be actively involved in the skill acquisition of their young.”&nbsp;



However, by analyzing over 1,300 instances of immature orangutan’s food solicitation – asking or trying to obtain food from their mother – Dr. Schuppli and her colleagues have found that orangutan mothers do in fact respond to their offspring during feeding, and therefore facilitate learning opportunities.&nbsp;



When their offspring solicit food, mothers usually adjust their “tolerance” according to their offspring's age and how difficult the food item is to process.



“Our findings suggest that orangutan mothers are actively involved in their offspring's skill learning,” Dr Schuppli said. “However, they do this in a reactive, rather than proactive way.&nbsp;Interestingly, there were very few incidents of active food sharing only.&nbsp;This means that orangutan immatures need to take the initiative during learning.&nbsp;This is very different from humans, where active teaching plays an important role and role models are much more proactive.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02901-z">Nature Scientific Reports.&nbsp;</a>



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Young orangutans learn survival skills from their mom

A new study led by the Max Planck Institute of...

Tropical cyclones (TCs), also known as hurricanes and typhoons, generally form at low latitudes and have their impacts in tropical regions to the north and south of the equator. They start as clusters of individual <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-variability-is-driving-more-intense-thunderstorms/">thunderstorms</a> that rotate weakly around a common axis but transition into a cyclone over weeks, days or even hours. Their formation is associated with the warm waters of tropical oceans, but far enough away from the equator to allow the Earth’s rotation to cause them to spin up into the spiraling vortices so typical of a cyclone.



Once formed, tropical cyclones generally move westward and poleward before they interact with mid-latitude westerly winds, known as jet streams, that circle the planet. But as the climate warms, temperature differences between the equator and the poles will decrease, which may cause weakening or even a split in the jet streams; this may allow conditions to arise in the mid-latitudes where tropical cyclones can form and intensify.&nbsp;



In a review article published recently in the journal Nature Geoscience, a team of scientists led by Joshua Studholme from&nbsp;<a href="https://earth.yale.edu/">Yale’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences</a> suggests that the 21st&nbsp;century will see an expansion of hurricanes and typhoons into mid-latitude regions, which includes major cities such as New York, Boston, Beijing, and Tokyo. These are some of the most populous cities in the world and tropical cyclones that reach them could cause untold death and damage.&nbsp;&nbsp;



For the study, Studholme and colleagues analyzed numerical simulations of warm climates from Earth’s distant past, recent satellite observations, and a variety of weather and climate projections, as well as the fundamental physics governing atmospheric convection and planetary-scale winds.



They noted that the configuration of the continents during the Eocene epoch (56 to 34 million years ago), along with the warmer climates, extratropical humidity, CO2 concentrations and shifts in the jet streams would have favored poleward expansion of the areas favorable for TC formation. Eocene simulations thus showed that TCs most probably formed in the subtropics (~25° latitude) in both hemispheres, in contrast with the situation in the modern era.



According to the authors, contemporary TC distributions were probably established towards the end of the warm Pliocene epoch, some 3 million years ago. This has remained largely stable since that time but today, as the planet warms due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, the conditions for a poleward movement of tropical cyclones could once again be established.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This research predicts that the 21st&nbsp;century’s tropical cyclones will likely occur over a wider range of latitudes than has been the case on Earth for the last 3 million years,” Studholme said.



In fact, the 2020 subtropical storm Alpha, the first tropical cyclone observed making landfall in Portugal, as well as this year’s Hurricane Henri, which made landfall in Connecticut, may already provide evidence of the trend predicted in the study.&nbsp;



Although scientists disagree about whether the number of tropical cyclones will increase as the planet warms, evidence certainly suggests that they will become more intense.



“There are large uncertainties in how tropical cyclones will change in the future,” said Alexey Fedorov, a professor of oceanic and atmospheric sciences at Yale. However, multiple lines of evidence indicate that we could see more tropical cyclones in mid-latitudes, even if the total frequency of tropical cyclones does not increase, which is still actively debated. Compounded by the expected increase in average tropical cyclone intensity, this finding implies higher risks due to tropical cyclones in Earth’s warming climate.”



“The core problem when making future hurricane predictions is that models used for climate projections do not have sufficient resolution to simulate realistic tropical cyclones,” explained Studholme. “Instead, several different, indirect approaches are typically used. However, those methods seem to distort the underlying physics of how tropical cyclones form and develop. A number of these methods also provide predictions that contradict each other.”



The new study derives its conclusions by examining connections between hurricane physics on scales too small to be represented in current climate models and the better-simulated dynamics of Earth’s jet streams and north-south air circulation, known as the Hadley cells.



The authors of the review conclude that, since at least the 1970s, the planet’s TC distribution has moved unambiguously poleward, with latitudes of peak TC intensity migrating poleward at a rate of around 0.5° latitude per decade. Should this continue as predicted, these deep-tropical TCs will most certainly become a critical feature of Earth’s climate and a potential source of devastation to human life and property.&nbsp;



“This represents an important, under-estimated risk of climate change,” said Studholme.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Warming climate will push hurricanes into more populated regions

Tropical cyclones (TCs), also known as hurricanes and typhoons, generally...

Within only a few weeks from its emergence in the United States, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/omicron-is-surging-but-may-cause-less-severe-illness/">Omicron</a> variant has fueled thousands of hospitalizations among children. Experts believe that this surge is mainly caused by the lower vaccination rates in this age category.



Between December 21 and December 27, the seven-day-average number of daily hospitalizations for children is up by 58 percent nationwide, compared to around 19 percent for all age groups. 



According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Center for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), fewer than 25 percent of the 74 million Americans under 18 are vaccinated. Moreover, young children have the lowest vaccination rates, with many families hesitating to vaccinate their youngest members.



Although the Pfizer vaccine has been authorized for use in children over five years of age, less than 15 percent of children between five and eleven have been fully vaccinated.



According to scientists, it is still too early to &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; determine whether Omicron causes more severe illness in children than previous variants. However, its extremely high transmissibility is an important factor driving up hospitalizations.&nbsp;



"It is going to infect more people and it is infecting more people. We've seen numbers go up, we've seen hospitalizations in kids go up," said Dr. Jennifer Nayak, an infectious disease expert and pediatrician at the <a href="https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/">University of Rochester Medical Center.</a>



"What we are seeing is that children under five remain unvaccinated so there's still a relatively large population of children who are naive, so they have no preexisting immunity to this virus.”



"The virus has just been able to outsmart, penetrate beyond, what it is the parents have done to shelter those children," said William Schaffner, a leading infectious disease expert from the <a href="https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/">Vanderbilt University School of Medicine</a>.



Unfortunately, many doctors reported more severe symptoms in hospitalized children this month, including high fever, difficulty breathing, and dehydration. 



"They need help breathing, they need help getting oxygen, they need extra hydration. They are sick enough to end up in the hospital, and that's scary for doctors, and it's scary for parents," said Rebecca Madan, a pediatric infectious disease expert at the <a href="https://med.nyu.edu/">New York University's Langone Health</a> hospital system.



Scientists expect the number of cases and hospitalizations to rise even more after the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holiday gatherings, and the return to schools next week.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Omicron leads to rise in children’s hospitalizations

Within only a few weeks from its emergence in the...

During the last year, the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/">National History Museum</a> (NHM) in London has <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2021/december/natural-history-museum-scientists-describe-552-new-species-in-2021.html">described</a> a total of 552 new species of animals and plants, including several new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fascinating-dinosaurs-were-discovered-in-2021/">dinosaurs</a>, two ancient mammals, 291 crustaceans, 52 wasps, 13 moths, seven crabs, six flies, five amphipods, and 90 beetles.



This year has been particularly important for the discovery of new species of dinosaurs (four in the UK, one in China, and one in Morocco). “It’s been a fantastic year for the description of new dinosaurs, especially from the UK,” said Dr. Susannah Maidment, a senior researcher in Paleobiology at the NHM, who helped describe some of these new species.



“Although we've known about the UK's dinosaur heritage for over 150 years, the application of new techniques and new data from around the world is helping us to uncover a hidden diversity of British dinosaurs. These specimens are parts of a vast palaeobiological jigsaw puzzle that allows us to understand environments of the past and how they changed over time.”



These dinosaurs include two massive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/two-new-predatory-dinosaurs-found-on-the-isle-of-wight/">carnivorous spinosaurs</a> found on the Isle of Wight, &nbsp;a “chunky” sauropod with an unusually large funny bone discovered in China, and an ankylosaur found in Morocco with had an odd series of spikes attached to its ribs.



The museum has also discovered two ancient mammals, Megalomys camerhogne, a species of rodents that once lived scattered across the Caribbean, and Borealestes cullinensis, a “Jurassic mouse” from the Isle of Skye, Scotland that lived together with the dinosaurs 166 million years ago.&nbsp;



Among the 13 species of moth described by NHM, the most impressive one is <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/moth-with-the-longest-tongue-of-any-insect-is-a-new-species/">Wallace’s sphinx moth</a>, which is considered to have the longest tongue of any insect, measuring up to 30 centimeters in length. This moth is famous for having been predicted to exist by Charles Darwin four decades before its actual discovery.&nbsp;



Some other fascinating discoveries include a large number of copepods, small shrimp-like creatures that are found in water and are critical for our planet’s ecology and carbon cycle, a pair of glitteringly purple and green metallic beetles from India, a chunky monochromatic beetle with a huge pair of jaws found in Philippines, as well as five new snakes and three lizards.



“Finding - or finding out about - something for the first time is at the root of discovery,” said Dr. Tim Littlewood, the Director of Science at the NHM. “Discovery can be a personal, community or even a global revelation, or just a nudge towards advancing knowledge. Discovering new species is what the Museum does, and it's a matter of personal and institutional pride that we continue to be at the forefront of recognizing and naming new species - especially at a time when we are losing so many.”



&nbsp;---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Hundreds of new species were discovered in 2021

During the last year, the National History Museum (NHM) in...

On a journey towards the center of the Earth, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bizarre-seismic-waves/">seismic waves</a> become very slow near the core. Scientists descriptively call these areas the “ultra low velocity zones.”



In a new study from the <a href="https://www.utah.edu/">University of Utah</a>, researchers have discovered that these ultra low velocity zones contain layers which may provide insights into the early Earth. In fact, these zones may be leftovers from the processes that formed our planet.&nbsp;



“Of all of the features we know about in the deep mantle, ultra-low velocity zones represent what are probably the most extreme," said Professor Michael S. Thorne. "Indeed, these are some of the most extreme features found anywhere in the planet."



Initially, scientists thought that perhaps the ultra low velocity zones might be partially melted mantle, and the source of volcanic hotspots.&nbsp;



However, this cannot be completely true, said Professor Thorne. He explained that most of the things we call ultra-low velocity zones do not appear to be located beneath hotspot volcanoes.



In collaboration with post-doctoral researcher Surya Pachhai and other colleagues, Professor Thorne explored an alternative hypothesis - that the low velocity zones are made of different rocks, rocks with composition dating from early Earth.&nbsp;



“The physical properties of ultra-low velocity zones are linked to their origin, which in turn provides important information about the thermal and chemical status, evolution and dynamics of Earth’s lowermost mantle - an essential part of mantle convection that drives plate tectonics," explained Pachhai.



The researchers looked at the Earth’s deep layers by using imaging from seismic waves. However, this method can be imprecise and hard to use. So, the scientists used a modeling approach with a Bayesian Inversion method.&nbsp;



“We can create a model of the Earth that includes ultra-low wave speed reductions and then run a computer simulation that tells us what the seismic waveforms would look like if that is what the Earth actually looked like," said Pachhai.."Our next step is to compare those predicted recordings with the recordings that we actually have.”



The modeling method found that it’s likely that the ultra low velocity zones are layered and that some of the layers do represent the Earth’s origins, perhaps an interesting piece of the puzzle of our planet’s past.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/">Nature Geoscience</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Chemicals near the center of Earth reveal the planet’s past

On a journey towards the center of the Earth, seismic...

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common complication of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exercise-during-pregnancy-improves-the-health-of-babies/">pregnancy</a>, with an estimated 17 percent of pregnant women worldwide developing this condition. It is characterized by high blood sugar levels and may affect the health of the baby and increase the mother’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.&nbsp;



Although the cause of this condition is not known, excess weight before pregnancy often plays a role. Along with obesity, diet has also been implicated as a key contributory factor in the onset of GDM.&nbsp;&nbsp;



To investigate the link between diet and gestational diabetes in more depth, a team of scientists from the <a href="https://www.utu.fi/en">University of Turku</a> and the Turku University Hospital in Finland recently undertook a study of 351 pregnant women and their diets. The objective of the study was to determine the extent to which diet in early pregnancy contributes to the risk of developing GDM in a high-risk group of women who were overweight or obese.&nbsp;



The women's nutrient intake was calculated using questionnaires and self-reported records in food diaries that were kept by the participants during early pregnancy. The researchers evaluated the relationship between the development of gestational diabetes and the pregnant women’s nutrient intakes, dietary patterns, overall diet quality when compared to a recommended diet, and eating frequency. They also studied the inflammatory potential of each woman’s diet using a dietary inflammatory index.



During the course of the study, 23 percent (81) of the women were diagnosed with gestational diabetes. These women had significantly higher pre-pregnancy BMI values and higher diastolic blood pressure at the start of the study, compared to those of women who did not develop GDM.&nbsp;



Analysis of the women’s dietary patterns showed two predominant patterns, which the researchers labeled healthier and unhealthier. The healthier pattern was characterized by a high intake of vegetables, fruits, berries, rye bread, pasta, rice, fish and seafood. The unhealthier pattern represented a diet focused on multigrain and wheat bread, dairy desserts (e.g., ice-cream), sweet pastries, savory pastries, sugar, sweets and chocolate, nuts, seeds, popcorn, potato crisps and dried fruits, beverages, pasta and rice, and poultry.



The study found that women who adhered more strictly to the healthier dietary pattern during early pregnancy had a lower risk of developing GDM later on. More particularly, the development of gestational diabetes was associated with higher dietary intake of fats, specifically saturated fatty acids and trans fatty acids.&nbsp;



In addition, a more inflammatory diet was associated with a higher risk of developing gestational diabetes. The authors state that low-grade inflammation is a mediator for insulin resistance and therefore foods with higher inflammatory indices (e.g., fats) could contribute to the onset of GDM. Total fat, saturated fatty acids, and trans&nbsp;fatty acids have a high inflammatory potential and are able to increase the presence of chronic, systemic inflammation in the body.



“Our research results show that following a healthy diet in early pregnancy reduces the risk of gestational diabetes," said study first author Lotta Pajunen.



One of the limitations of the study was that it focused on overweight and obese women only. The researchers feel that this is justifiable, given the fact that these women are more prone to the development of GDM than are women of normal weight, and that levels of obesity are increasing globally.&nbsp;



Overall, the findings suggest that pregnant women who are overweight or obese can lower their risk of developing gestational diabetes by consuming a diet with a low inflammatory index and more healthy foods, particularly foods that do not contain a lot of saturated fats.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Eating vegetables, fruit, berries, and wholegrain products as well as unsaturated fats is particularly important. These nutrients and foods reduce inflammation in the body and therefore also the risk of gestational diabetes. Mothers who are overweight or obese already before the pregnancy would most likely benefit from dietary guidance in early pregnancy,” said Professor Kirsi Laitinen.



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.springer.com/journal/394">European Journal of Nutrition</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Healthy diet during early pregnancy reduces gestational diabetes risk

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common complication of pregnancy,...

Kodiak, Alaska just reported the highest temperature ever recorded in the state in the month of December at 67 degrees Fahrenheit. The new high (reached on Sunday, December 26) beat the previous record from the 1980, which didn’t manage to exceed the high 40s. According to the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration</a> (NOAA), Alaska is warming faster than any other US state and at a rate that is twice the global average.



Kodiak was not the only city in Alaska fighting with record temperatures recently. Cold Bay, located on the Aleutian Islands, experienced a ground-breaking 66 degrees (after a previous record of 44 in 1999), while Unalaska’s temperature spiked up to 57.3 degrees on Monday.



This anomalous warmth has brought record moisture, since the air can hold four percent more water with every degree that it warms. This resulted in massive rains, with Fairbanks experiencing its wettest December on record, and winter rains in the Interior region of Alaska becoming increasingly more commonplace.



According to the <a href="https://ncar.ucar.edu/">National Center for Atmospheric Research</a> (NCAR), climate change could also increase the number of thunderstorms that Alaska will face during this century, which in turn could spark widespread flash flooding, landslides, and lightning-induced wildfires.



The scientists estimate that the sea ice around Alaska will increasingly melt in the warmer months, creating an ample source of moisture which, together with warmer temperature from greenhouse emissions may cause intense summertime storms.



“Alaska can expect three times as many storms, and those storms will be more intense,” said NCAR scientist Andreas Prein, a co-author of an earlier <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00382-020-05466-1">study</a> exploring the impact of climate change on Alaska’s weather. “It will be a very different regime of rainfall.”



“We suspect that the increasing number of thunderstorms might have significant impacts, such as amplifying spring floods or causing more wildfire ignitions,” added study lead author Basile Poujol, a scientist at the <a href="https://psl.eu/en">Paris Sciences and Letters University</a>.&nbsp;



“Further studies are necessary to determine whether these impacts are likely to occur and, if so, their potential effects on ecosystems and society.”



“The potential for flash flooding and landslides is definitely increasing, and the Arctic is becoming way more flammable. It’s hard to grasp what the ecological changes will be in the future,” concluded Dr. Prein.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Alaska hits record temperatures due to climate change

Kodiak, Alaska just reported the highest temperature ever recorded in...

In a recent study, Professor Kuniyoshi L. Sakai of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the <a href="https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/">University of Tokyo</a> and his colleagues set out to look at the effect of music on the human brain. Specifically, they wanted to look at the overlapping neurology of language acquisition and music. This idea was inspired by the Suzuki Method, a type of musical training based around natural language learning.&nbsp;



"In the field of neuroscience, it is well established that there are areas of the brain that deal specifically with language, and even specialized regions that correspond to different parts of language processing such as grammar or syntax," said Sakai.



"We wondered if training under the Suzuki method might lead to activity in such areas, not when using language, but when engaging with music. Our study reveals this is indeed the case."



To investigate, Sakai and his colleagues gathered a study group of 98 Japanese secondary school students. The participants fell into three categories - those who were trained in music from an early age using the Suzuki method, those who were trained from an early age using a different method, and those who were trained late in life or not at all.&nbsp;



The scientists scanned the subjects' brains to create a model of their neurological activity. While being scanned, the groups were given musical compositions with errors to fix in one of four categories. The pieces had errors in pitch, tempo, stress or articulation.&nbsp;



Interestingly, both of the groups trained from an early age showed similarities in brain activity. These students showed more overall neurological activity, as well as activity in specific parts of the brain, depending on the type of error in the music.&nbsp;



Furthermore, participants who had been trained in the Suzuki Method showed unique activation of emotion and melody parts of the brain when working with tempo.&nbsp;



"One striking observation was that regardless of musical experience, the highly specific grammar center in the left brain was activated during the articulation condition. This connection between music and language might explain why everyone can enjoy music even if they are not musical themselves," explained Sakai.



"Other researchers, perhaps those studying neurological traits of artistic experts, may be able to build on what we've found here. As for ourselves, we wish to delve deeper into the connection between music and language by designing novel experiments to tease out more elusive details."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cercor">Cerebral Cortex</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Brain activity reveals connection between music and language

In a recent study, Professor Kuniyoshi L. Sakai of the...

Begonia is one of the largest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-plant-based-diet-may-be-a-great-way-to-start-the-new-year/">plant</a> genera, comprising over 2,050 known species all over the world. Most begonias are small weeds, measuring only a few centimeters. However, a new study published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.187.75854">PhytoKeys</a> has recently described the world’s largest specimen of a Begonia species, measuring over three meters in height and 2.5 meters in width.



In 2019, study lead author Dr. Daike Tian, a plant scientist at the <a href="https://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> led a research team to perform a field survey of wild Begonias in Tibet, China. While exploring the county of Mêdog, the researchers saw a huge Begonia in full bloom. This type of Begonia appeared to be a previously unknown species.



From a small population with only a few dozen individuals, the researchers collected two of the tallest ones to measure them and prepare the specimens for future studies.&nbsp;



One of the plants was 3.6 meters tall, with the thickest part of its ground stem reaching almost 12 centimeters in diameter. In order to be able to measure the tallest Begonia recorded in the entire Asian continent, Dr. Tian had to ask his driver to climb on top of the vehicle. To carry them back to Shanghai for further investigations, the researchers had to cut the plants into four sections.



Begonia gigantica, recently described as a new species, grows on forest slopes along streams at an elevation of approximately 450 to 1,400 meters. It is sparsely distributed in Southern Tibet, and was recently added in the “endangered” category on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/">IUCN Red List</a>.



Starting on October 2020, visitors were able to see the enormous plant at the first Chinese Begonia show in&nbsp;<a href="https://tools.bgci.org/garden.php?id=4544">Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden</a>. Currently, the staff at the Chenshan Herbarium is applying for Guinness World Records for this extraordinary specimen.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer&nbsp;

World's tallest Begonia species discovered in Tibet

Begonia is one of the largest plant genera, comprising over...

Young children love to hear a good story and shared reading is a way of teaching them about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bilingual-brains-can-switch-between-languages-with-ease/">language</a> and the world, at the same time as entertaining them. However, many popular children’s books have been shown to portray protagonists and other characters in gender-specific ways and may inadvertently perpetuate beliefs and stereotypes relating to gender. 



Children learn at a young age about gender-related characteristics. By 24 months (in girls) and 31 months (in boys), children already exhibit knowledge of behaviors that are stereotypically feminine (e.g., vacuuming), masculine (e.g., building), and neutral (e.g., sleeping). For this reason, it is very important to understand how gender is represented in books for young children.



“Some of the stereotypes that have been studied in the social psychology literature are present in these books, like girls being good at reading and boys being good at math,” said Molly Lewis, special faculty in the Social and Decision Sciences and Psychology departments at the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.&nbsp;



In a new study, Lewis and her colleagues from <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/">Carnegie Mellon University</a> and the University of Wisconsin analyzed 247 popular, contemporary books written for children between the ages of 0 and 5 years. Previous work on how gender is represented in books has used “content analysis” methods that involve detailed analyses of a small number of texts. But in the current study, the researchers had a broader focus and analyzed the entire 200,000-word corpus constituting the 247 books.&nbsp;



In their analysis, the researchers quantified the extent to which words in texts were associated with males vs. females, which they termed the words’ “gender bias.” Some of these gender biases reflect well-known stereotypes, for example “pretty” (female) or “large” (male). They quantified the gender biases in individual books and in the corpus as a whole using two methods.



In the first method, adults were asked to judge which words were associated with gender stereotypes, and in the second method, statistical co-occurrence of words was investigated. In addition, the researchers compared their findings to the word use in adult fictional literature.&nbsp;



The results indicate that books for young children vary widely in degree of gender bias, ranging from strongly male to strongly female. In particular, books with gendered language were centered around the protagonist in the story. Female-associated words focused on affection, school-related words and communication verbs, like ‘explained’ and ‘listened.’ In contrast, male-associated words focused more on professions, transportation and tools.



“The audiences of these books [are] different,” said Lewis. “Girls more often read stereotypically girl books, and boys more often read stereotypically boy books.”



Furthermore, girls are more likely to have books read to them that include female protagonists, than boys. Interestingly, the books with female protagonists had more gendered language than the books with male protagonists. The researchers attribute this finding to “male” being historically seen as the default gender, making the female-associated words more striking and notable.&nbsp;



Because girls prefer books with female protagonists and boys prefer those with male protagonists, children are more likely to learn about the gender biases of their own gender than of other genders, while enjoying shared reading.



When the researchers compared their findings to the word usage in adult fiction books, they found that children’s books displayed more gender stereotypes than fictional books read by adults. In particular, the researchers examined how often women were associated with good, family, language and arts, while men were associated with bad, careers and math. Compared to the adult corpus, which was fairly gender neutral when it came to associations between gender, language, arts and math, children’s books were far more likely to associate women with language and arts and men with math.



“Our data are only part of the story – so to speak,” said Mark Seidenberg, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and contributing author on the study. “They are based on the words in children’s books and say nothing about other characteristics that matter: the story, the emotions they evoke, the ways the books expand children’s knowledge of the world.&nbsp;We don’t want to ruin anyone’s memories of ‘Curious George’ or ‘Amelia Bedelia.’ &nbsp;Knowing that stereotypes do creep into many books and that children develop beliefs about gender at a young age, we probably want to consider books with this in mind.”



Together, the findings suggest that children’s books may be an early source of gender associations and stereotypes. Clearly, the words and information used in early education books could play a role in establishing and formalizing perceptions of gender in young children.



“There is often kind of a cycle of learning about gender stereotypes, with children learning stereotypes at a young age then perpetuating them as they get older,” said Lewis. “These books may be a vehicle for communicating information about gender. We may need to pay some attention to what those messages may be and whether they’re messages you want to even bring to children.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/home/pss">Psychological Science</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Young children learn gender stereotypes from storybooks

Young children love to hear a good story and shared...

<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=2E0mn5mTvhQ
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">'Death Star' moon Mimas conceals a 15-million-year-old ocean that scientists never expected.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hidden-waters-beneath-ancient-craters">Hidden waters beneath ancient craters</h2>



Scientists have made a startling discovery that challenges everything we thought we knew about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/saturn-moon-mimas-has-remarkably-young-ocean/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Saturn's moon Mimas</a>. Beneath the heavily cratered surface that earned it the nickname "Death Star" lies a global ocean that formed just 5 to 15 million years ago—a remarkably young age by cosmic standards.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cassini-data-reveals-orbital-secrets">Cassini data reveals orbital secrets</h2>



The discovery, led by Dr. Valéry Lainey of the <a href="https://observatoiredeparis.psl.eu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Observatoire de Paris</a>, emerged from careful analysis of <a href="https://www.nasa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA</a>'s Cassini spacecraft data. By studying subtle irregularities in Mimas's orbit around Saturn, researchers detected the gravitational signature of liquid water hidden 20 to 30 kilometers beneath the moon's icy shell.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-unlikely-ocean-world">An unlikely ocean world</h2>



At only 400 kilometers in diameter, Mimas seemed like the least likely candidate to harbor a subsurface ocean. Unlike other ocean moons such as Europa and Enceladus, which show clear surface signs of internal activity, Mimas displays no obvious hints of the liquid water beneath its ancient, crater-scarred exterior.



"Mimas is a small moon, and its heavily cratered surface gave no hint of the hidden ocean beneath," explained Dr. Nick Cooper from <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Queen Mary University of London</a>, a study co-author.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-astrobiology">Implications for astrobiology</h2>



The ocean's recent formation makes Mimas a prime target for studying how oceans develop and potentially support life. This discovery adds another member to the exclusive club of ocean worlds in our solar system, each offering unique insights into the conditions necessary for habitability.



The research, published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a> journal, demonstrates how advanced orbital analysis can reveal hidden features of celestial bodies, opening new possibilities for understanding ocean formation throughout the cosmos.



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Scientists discover unexpected young ocean on Saturn's cratered moon Mimas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E0mn5mTvhQ 'Death Star' moon Mimas conceals a 15-million-year-old ocean 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.

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</div></figure>







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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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-----

Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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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

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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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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