Environmental,Technology,Concept.,Sustainable,Development,Goals.,Sdgs.

Every year, humanity reaches&nbsp;Earth Overshoot Day, the point when the year’s planetary budget is spent. This marks how quickly we use resources compared to Earth’s ability to renew them. 



In 2025, Denmark’s <a href="https://www.overshootday.org/">Earth Overshoot Day</a> arrived on March 19, one of the earliest in the world. If everyone lived like the average Dane, more than four <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-day-2025-what-were-really-fighting-for/">Earths</a> would be required to sustain humanity.



This reality raises an urgent question: Which daily choices matter most? 



Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (<a href="https://www.dtu.dk/english" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DTU</a>) tackled this question by linking everyday activities with the Planetary Boundaries framework. 



Their findings help separate symbolic actions from those that truly bring us closer to a sustainable future.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-measuring-true-environmental-impact">Measuring true environmental impact</h2>



“One problem is that it’s hard for people to distinguish between what is better for the environment and what is good enough,” said Teddy Serrano, Ph.D. at DTU. 



“If you get a three out of 10, it's better than a two out of 10, but it's still a bad grade. So the question is: When can we say that the grade is good enough?”



To address this, the researchers created annual <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-urgent-plea-sustainable-climate-solutions-save-earth-humanity/">environmental budgets</a> for individuals by downscaling global limits on an equal per capita basis. 



Six categories were used: climate change, functional biodiversity, land occupation, marine eutrophication, resource use, and water consumption.



Each lifestyle choice was compared to these budgets, showing how much of the yearly allowance it consumed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-food-choices-shape-planet">Food choices shape planet</h2>



Food emerged as the single largest driver of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mutual-relationships-with-nature-offer-hope-for-a-sustainable-future/">environmental pressure</a>. An omnivorous diet overshoots climate, biodiversity, and land budgets all by itself. By contrast, vegetarian and vegan diets dramatically cut these impacts.



A vegan diet uses only 22 percent of the climate allowance, while a vegetarian one consumes around 33 percent. 



Replacing cow’s milk with oat milk also shrinks biodiversity and land pressures from substantial portions of the allowance to near negligible values.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-commuting-and-climate-costs">Commuting and climate costs</h2>



Mobility choices carry similar weight. Driving a gasoline or diesel car for daily distances can use up the entire climate budget in a single year. 



Small electric cars reduce this to about half, but increase demand for mineral resources due to batteries.



Commuting by e-bike, however, lowers climate impacts to just 5 percent of the allowance. 



Air travel remains especially damaging, with a single round trip across the Atlantic consuming as much as three-quarters of a person’s yearly climate budget.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-homes-and-climate-strain">Homes and climate strain</h2>



Housing adds further strain. Building and living in a detached home overshoots the resource budget entirely. 



Heating with oil takes up more than 80 percent of the climate allowance, while switching to heat pumps reduces that figure dramatically.



Adding <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/solar-panels-are-1000-times-more-powerful-with-new-tech-breakthrough/">solar panels</a> improves results across categories, cutting climate impacts from double-digit percentages to much lower shares of the budget.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/environmental-budget-choices_infographic_TUDenmark_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/environmental-budget-choices_infographic_TUDenmark_1s.webp" alt="Share of the individual environmental budgets consumed by activities assessed in the publication. The colors indicate how much of the yearly budget each activity consumes, from 0 % (green) to above 100% (purple). The impact categories are listed with icons (from left to right): Functional biodiversity, climate change, marine eutrophication, land occupation, resource use, water consumption. Credit: Technical University of Denmark" class="wp-image-1983764"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Share of the individual environmental budgets consumed by activities assessed in the publication. The colors indicate how much of the yearly budget each activity consumes, from 0 % (green) to above 100% (purple). The impact categories are listed with icons (from left to right): Functional biodiversity, climate change, marine eutrophication, land occupation, resource use, water consumption. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Technical University of Denmark</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-misconceptions-about-small-actions">Misconceptions about small actions</h2>



Not all popular changes have meaningful effects. Using reusable grocery bags or washing clothes at lower temperatures only shifts results by a small fraction. 



While such actions may save money or offer convenience, they cannot bridge the vast gap between current lifestyles and sustainable living. 



The study highlights that attention must be placed on high-impact areas such as food, transport, housing, and aviation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-action-beyond-overshoot-day">Action beyond Overshoot Day</h2>



The researchers also stress that personal effort alone cannot fully align lifestyles with planetary limits. 



Systemic change is equally important, including cleaner energy systems, improved <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/51-percent-of-the-world-relies-on-car-commutes-every-day/">public transportation</a>, and policies that support smaller, less resource-intensive homes.



“Our study draws attention to the fact that we need to make major shifts in our current lifestyles if we want to bring our impact on the environment down to sustainable levels,” Serrano notes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-framework-for-change">A framework for change</h2>



To make these priorities clear, the study points to four key lifestyle areas. Planes highlight the outsized impact of air travel, where even a single long-haul trip can consume most of a climate budget. 



Places highlight the importance of housing size, with smaller homes requiring fewer materials and less energy. 



Plates capture the significance of diet, with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-based-foods-promote-weight-loss-regardless-of-processing/">plant-based foods</a> offering huge reductions. Pedals remind us that choosing cycling first keeps transportation within a manageable footprint.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sustainable-path-on-overshoot-day">Sustainable path on Overshoot Day</h2>



The evidence shows that not all actions are equal. Minor lifestyle gestures cannot outweigh the large impacts of cars, planes, meat-heavy diets, and oversized housing. 



To live within planetary boundaries, individuals and societies alike must prioritize high-impact changes. 



By combining informed personal decisions with systemic support, humanity can move closer to a balance that one Earth can sustain.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352550925000715" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sustainable Production and Consumption</a>.



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Earth Overshoot Day shows urgent need for sustainable living

Every year, humanity reaches&nbsp;Earth Overshoot Day, the point when the year’s planetary budget is spent. This marks how quickly we use resources compared to Earth’s ability to renew them. In 2025, Denmark’s Earth Overshoot Day arrived on March 19, one of the earliest in the world. If everyone lived like the average Dane, more than four Earths would be required to sustain humanity. This reality raises an urgent question: Which daily choices matter most? Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) tackled this question by linking everyday activities...

Miners in China reported a major gold discovery. The volume of the deposit, if confirmed, would be the largest ever recorded on Earth. 



The conservative estimate given thus far is 1,100 short tons (about 998 metric tons), valued at approximately US$83 billion. 



The discovery occurred in Hunan Province, and the reported figures have drawn intense interest across the mining industry. 



Large new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/golds-glow-luminescence-caused-quantum-realm-effects/">gold discoveries</a> are increasingly rare, and most near-surface, high-grade targets were exhausted years ago.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wangu-gold-field">Wangu gold field</h2>



Consider this: 40 separate gold-bearing veins in solid rock about 1.2 miles underground. If you have never seen a gold vein, imagine streaks running through marble cake - the “streaks” are gold within ancient rock. 



The Wangu gold field was initially estimated at about 300 metric tons. New assessments suggest that estimate was far too low. Chen Rulin, a prospector with the <a href="https://www.nature.com/nature-index/institution-outputs/china/hunan-geological-bureau/6108fcff175c0849ad05417d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geological Bureau of Hunan Province</a>, has examined rock samples. 



“Many drilled rock cores showed visible gold,” he said. 



Visible gold in core samples typically indicates a high-grade deposit. Notably, computer models indicate there may be additional mineralization deeper, around 1.9 miles down.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-record-breaking-discovery">Record-breaking discovery</h2>



Most gold ore grades are low. Miners consider 8 grams of gold per metric ton a strong grade. That's roughly a paperclip’s mass of gold in a small car’s mass of rock. 



By contrast, this deposit is reported at 138 grams per ton. That is nearly 5 ounces - approximately the weight of a baseball. 



South Africa’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Deep_mine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">South Deep mine</a> has about 900 metric tons of gold; this new find appears to surpass it. China already produces about 10 percent of the world’s gold; this discovery would add substantially to that base.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/supergiant-gold-deposit_Wangu-gold-field_technicians-inspecting_Xinhua_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/supergiant-gold-deposit_Wangu-gold-field_technicians-inspecting_Xinhua_1s.webp" alt="Technicians of Hunan Province Geological Disaster Survey and Monitoring Institute check rock samples at the Wangu gold field in Pingjiang County, central China's Hunan Province. Credit: Xinhua/Su Xiaozhou" class="wp-image-1983098"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Technicians of Hunan Province Geological Disaster Survey and Monitoring Institute check rock samples at the Wangu gold field in Pingjiang County, central China's Hunan Province. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Xinhua/Su Xiaozhou</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fewer-places-to-explore">Fewer places to explore</h2>



To date, humans have extracted about 53,000 metric tons of gold. Scientists estimate there may be another 50,000 metric tons left to discover. 



The challenge is that it is buried deep, dispersed in other rocks, or located in areas that are costly to access. 



Mining was once simpler: find an ore-rich mountain, blast it, and extract the gold. Today, environmental regulations restrict practices that pollute rivers or destroy forests. 



Moreover, most easy-to-access deposits are depleted; what remains requires significant capital and technology. 



Some analysts suggest we are approaching “peak gold” - a decline in new discoveries - while others argue that finds like this indicate substantial resources may remain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-gold-pockets-form">How gold pockets form</h2>



Gold does not appear in rocks by chance; <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-discover-how-gold-reaches-earths-surface-from-the-mantle/">geological processes</a> concentrate it. For years, the prevailing model held that hot, gold-bearing fluids flowed through rock fractures and, as the fluids cooled, gold precipitated along quartz veins. 



However, the picture is more complex. Chris Voisey, a geologist at <a href="https://www.monash.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Monash University</a>, points out a problem.



“While this theory is widely accepted, it doesn't fully explain the formation of large gold nuggets, especially considering that the concentration of gold in these fluids is extremely low," Voisey explained.



Researchers from Monash University, <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CSIRO</a>, and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (<a href="https://www.ansto.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ANSTO</a>) propose that earthquakes may play a role. 



They published research in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01514-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Geoscience</a> suggesting that seismic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/geologists-discover-that-earthquakes-play-a-role-in-whats-called-the-gold-nugget-paradox/">shaking and pressure</a> changes can concentrate gold into pockets. 



Scientists find this plausible because earthquakes fracture rocks and rapidly change pressure, potentially causing dissolved gold to precipitate quickly.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wangu-gold-and-goldene">Wangu gold and "goldene"</h2>



While miners pursue conventional ore, scientists are exploring unusual properties of gold in laboratories. In April 2024, researchers produced a one-atom-thick form of gold known as “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01118-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">goldene</a>,” which behaves differently from bulk gold. 



“If you make a material extremely thin, something extraordinary happens - as with graphene,” says Shun Kashiwaya from <a href="https://liu.se/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Linköping University</a> in Sweden. 



“The same thing happens with gold. As you know, gold is usually a metal, but if single-atom-layer thick, the gold can become a semiconductor instead.” 



This suggests ultra-thin gold could have novel <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invention-turns-toxic-e-waste-into-22-carat-gold-nuggets-instead-of-trash/">electronic applications</a>. However, that topic is separate from mining.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-next-steps-for-the-wangu-gold-field">Next steps for the Wangu gold field</h2>



China holds more than 2,000 tons of gold reserves, and this discovery would greatly strengthen that position. Gold prices rose when news of the discovery broke. However, the resource still requires verification. 



The Hunan government says drilling is well underway: 55 holes totaling about 65 km, with several deep hits. They’re aiming to add roughly 55 tons of gold resources by the end of 2025 and more than 110 tons during the current five-year plan. 



A newly merged state group, Hunan Mineral Resources Group, is running an “integrated exploration” program. These are targets, not certified reserves.



A discovery of this scale raises questions about what remains undiscovered. Perhaps “peak gold” is farther off than some expect - or perhaps this is one of the last major finds. 



Core samples from the periphery suggest the deposit may extend beyond initial boundaries; if so, it could exceed current estimates. 



Either way, if these figures are confirmed, this could be the largest gold discovery in recorded history. Such events are exceptionally rare.



The initial report was published by the <a href="https://english.news.cn/20241121/cc54468169bb4c8c9db21c08885dc2a5/c.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chinese State Media</a>.



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Geologists found a "supergiant high-grade gold deposit" that may be the largest on Earth

Miners in China reported a major gold discovery. The volume...

Heat doesn’t just make us sweat - it also changes how we feel. Blistering heat can shift our emotions and scientists are now able to quantify the changes.



A massive study of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/emotions-shape-what-goes-viral-on-social-media/">social media</a> data revealed that individuals become significantly more irritable in extreme heat. The research implies that rising temperatures may directly affect the emotional health of millions of people around the world.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-heat-changes-emotions-nbsp">How heat changes emotions&nbsp;</h2>



The researchers reviewed 1.2 billion social media posts from 157 countries, all posted during 2019. They used advanced computer programs to analyze posts written in 65 different languages, giving each post a score based on how positive or negative it sounded. 



The team matched these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/virtual-forest-bathing-can-reduce-stress-and-improve-mood/">mood</a> scores with local weather data to see how temperature affected what people were saying online.



The results were clear and consistent across the world. When temperatures rose above 95 degrees Fahrenheit, people's posts became about 25 percent more negative in lower-income countries. In wealthier countries, the negativity increased by about 8 percent. 



"Social media data provides us with an unprecedented window into <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/facial-expressions-arent-enough-to-understand-human-emotions/">human emotions</a> across cultures and continents," said Jianghao Wang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (<a href="https://english.cas.cn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CAS</a>). 



"This approach allows us to measure emotional impacts of climate change at a scale that traditional surveys simply cannot achieve, giving us real-time insights into how temperature affects human sentiment worldwide."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-inequality-of-heat-s-impact">The inequality of heat’s impact</h2>



The researchers used World Bank data to separate countries by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/low-income-households-are-most-threatened-by-wildfire/">income</a> levels, with the dividing line set at $13,845 per person per year. Countries below this threshold showed emotional responses to heat that were stronger than those in wealthier nations. 



This makes sense considering that richer countries have more air conditioning, better healthcare, and stronger infrastructure to deal with extreme weather.



“Thanks to the global coverage of our data, we find that people in low- and middle-income countries experience sentiment declines from extreme heat that are three times greater than those in high-income countries,” noted Yichun Fan of the Sustainable Urbanization Lab and <a href="https://duke.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Duke University</a>. 



“This underscores the importance of incorporating adaptation into future climate impact projections.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-stress-and-human-well-being">Climate stress and human well-being </h2>



Siqi Zheng of MIT, who led the study along with colleagues from multiple international institutions, emphasized that the stakes go beyond economics or public health.



“Our study reveals that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-temperatures-and-extreme-rainfall-study-reveals-a-missing-link/">rising temperatures</a> don’t just threaten physical health or economic productivity - they also affect how people feel, every day, all over the world,” said Zheng. 



“This work opens up a new frontier in understanding how climate stress is shaping human well-being at a planetary scale.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-emotions-linked-to-heat">Emotions linked to heat</h2>



The researchers used something called Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) to analyze the social media posts. 



This artificial intelligence system can understand the emotional tone of text written in dozens of languages, making it possible to compare feelings across different cultures and countries.



The team examined posts from both Twitter and Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform. Each post received a sentiment score between 0.0 (very negative) and 1.0 (very positive). 



The researchers then grouped these scores by location - 2,988 different places around the world - and compared them with local weather patterns.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-emotional-impacts-of-heat">Future emotional impacts of heat</h2>



The researchers didn't stop at current conditions. They used <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-models-underestimate-sea-ice-melt-and-global-warming/">climate models</a> to predict how extreme heat might affect human emotions by the year 2100. 



Even assuming people will adapt somewhat to higher temperatures over time, they project that emotional well-being will worsen by 2.3 percent due to heat alone by the end of the century.



"It's clear now, with our present study adding to findings from prior studies, that weather alters sentiment on a global scale," said Nick Obradovich from the Sustainable Urbanization Lab and the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa.



"And as weather and climates change, helping individuals become more resilient to shocks to their emotional states will be an important component of overall societal adaptation."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-change-and-human-well-being">Climate change and human well-being</h2>



The research opens up entirely new ways of thinking about climate change. Most studies focus on physical health impacts, economic damage, or environmental destruction. 



But this work shows that rising temperatures also attack our psychological well-being, creating a kind of emotional pollution that spreads across the planet.



The study has some limitations. Social media users aren't perfectly representative of everyone - young children and elderly people use these platforms less than other age groups. 



Ironically, these are often the people most vulnerable to extreme heat, which means the real emotional impact of hot weather might be even worse than the study captured.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-preparing-for-a-warmer-world">Preparing for a warmer world</h2>



The research comes from the Global Sentiment project at <a href="https://sul.mit.edu/">MIT's Sustainable Urbanization Lab</a>. 



The scientists have made their complete dataset available to other researchers, hoping it will help communities and policymakers prepare for a world that keeps getting hotter.



"We hope this resource helps researchers, policymakers, and communities better prepare for a warming world," said Zheng.



As temperatures continue rising globally, understanding these emotional effects becomes more important. 



The study suggests that climate change isn't just an environmental problem or an economic challenge - it's also a mental health crisis that hits the world's poorest people the hardest.



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Climate change affects how we feel, not just how we live

Heat doesn’t just make us sweat - it also changes...

Age matters in forests. A new study tracks how the world’s trees shifted in age from 2010 to 2020 and what that means for the carbon they hold.



Forests help pull carbon dioxide from the air every year, but that help depends on how many stands are young, middle-aged, or old. A global carbon assessment found land ecosystems absorbed roughly 3.5 petagrams of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trees-in-the-tropics-cool-earth-more-than-anywhere-else/">carbon</a> per year in the 2010s, with wide swings from place to place.



The research was led by Simon Besnard at the <a href="https://www.gfz.de/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GFZ</a> Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-old-trees-hold-more-carbon">Old trees hold more carbon</h2>



Young <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forests-are-lagging-centuries-behind-in-climate-adaptation/">trees</a> grow fast, yet older stands hold far more carbon per acre. In the new analysis, old forests above 200 years averaged about 98 megagrams of carbon per hectare, while stands under 20 years held about 43.5.



Old stands are not carbon idle, either. Decades of research show many old growth forests keep accumulating carbon - just at steadier rates - and they store large amounts in wood and soils.



Stock and flow differ. A young stand can add carbon quickly year by year, but a large, old stand already holds a deep reservoir that took centuries to build.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-measuring-the-age-of-forests">Measuring the age of forests</h2>



The team used a high-resolution forest age map and paired it with satellite-based estimates of aboveground biomass to estimate aboveground carbon. They relied on the European Space Agency’s Biomass CCI v4 dataset for 2010 through 2020.



The researchers also tracked stand replacement - cases where fire or harvest removed most trees and a new cohort took over. Satellite maps of forest loss and regrowth were combined with machine-learning age estimates to pinpoint when and where these events occurred.



To link age-related forest changes with the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-weaker-ocean-will-release-more-carbon-into-the-atmosphere/">atmosphere</a>, the team compared shifts in forest dynamics with atmospheric inversion estimates of net ecosystem exchange. 



This method uses measured CO₂ concentrations to infer how much carbon regional landscapes absorb or release, providing a way to connect local changes with broader carbon flux patterns.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-trees-are-maturing">Where trees are maturing</h2>



Several regions added older forests over the decade. Europe, China, and parts of North America showed net aging, which reflects long-running reforestation and managed regrowth.



Large areas moved the other way. The Amazon, the Congo Basin, Southeast Asia, and parts of Siberia saw more young stands as disturbances replaced older cohorts.



Patterns were patchy inside countries and biomes. Some grids showed strong aging while neighbors trended younger, a sign that local fire history and logging shaped the mosaic.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-younger-forests-less-carbon">Younger forests, less carbon</h2>



“We estimate a net global loss of 140 million metric tons of carbon each year from aboveground biomass,” said Besnard. The shift from older to younger stands reduced the carbon stored above ground at a planetary scale.&nbsp;



When old forests were replaced by young ones, those areas accounted for roughly 0.10 to 0.16 petagrams of the annual global loss in aboveground carbon. That was a small slice of forest area, but a large share of the stock change.



The sink can still look stronger for a few years after a big replacement event. Young stands often pull in carbon quickly, yet they start from a smaller store and do not rebuild centuries of stock on policy relevant timelines.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-old-trees-are-irreplaceable">Old trees are irreplaceable</h2>



Secondary forests can accumulate biomass at impressive rates. A large synthesis paper in 2016 found tropical secondary forests recover a big fraction of their biomass within decades, though exact speeds vary by climate and land-use history.



High growth does not equal high storage right away. Many services linked to older, complex canopies, including deep carbon pools, take far longer to return.



Fast growing plantations can help with uptake, but uniform stands usually store less carbon and support less <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-biodiversity-crisis-is-actually-worse-than-we-thought/">biodiversity</a> than naturally regenerating, diverse forests. That tradeoff matters when the goal is both climate mitigation and durable ecosystem function.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shifting-forest-ages-worldwide">Shifting forest ages worldwide</h2>



The study’s age maps indicate a clear global pattern. In the tropics, stand replacement shifted age classes toward younger forests, while large <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/warming-climate-triggers-major-changes-in-the-temperate-rainforest/">temperate zones</a> nudged toward maturity.



In boreal regions, vast stretches kept their older structure, yet fire hotspots created younger pockets. Those pockets may grow fast, but they also highlight vulnerability to repeated burns.



Mature forests, between 81 and 200 years old, expanded in area over the decade. This expansion points to regrowth catching up in places where disturbance slowed or management favored retention.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-age-alters-carbon-balance">Age alters carbon balance</h2>



Net ecosystem exchange can strengthen in regions where old stands were recently replaced by young ones. 



The analysis reported that for every one-percent annual increase in old to young replacement, the carbon sink trend deepened by about 34 grams of carbon per square meter per year.



That correlation does not mean replacement is a climate strategy. The apparent boost leans on legacies old stands leave behind, like fertile soils, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/buried-seeds-in-soil-help-forests-recover-faster-after-damage/">seed banks</a>, and structural remnants.



As inversion tools improve, we will get cleaner signals that separate mixed-age patches. For now, the link between age transitions and regional flux changes is strong enough to inform policy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protecting-forests-preventing-carbon-loss">Protecting forests, preventing carbon loss</h2>



The researchers tested two simple futures out to 2050. Under business as usual, total aboveground carbon stayed roughly flat due to ongoing turnover, with losses in some regions balanced by gains in others.



Under a conservation scenario that halts stand replacement after 2030, total aboveground carbon rose by roughly 0.55 to 0.63 petagrams per year relative to 2020 levels. That gain came mostly from forests aging into mature and maturing classes.



“Forests are among our most important natural climate regulators," said Besnard. "Protecting old forests is essential to prevent further carbon losses, while careful management of younger forests can help maximize carbon uptake."



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02821-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.



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Old-growth forests remain Earth’s strongest carbon vaults

Age matters in forests. A new study tracks how the...

Extreme heat is creeping into more of our lives every year. Summers are hotter, heat waves last longer, and nights don’t cool the way they once did. Yet many older adults don’t see heat as a threat, and even fewer prepare for it in advance. 



A new review of more than 40 studies shows that this lack of awareness could have deadly consequences.



The new research analyzed 41 studies worldwide between 2010 and 2024. Most of them - 29 in total - looked at coping strategies during <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/older-adults-may-not-be-safe-from-heat-waves-even-inside-their-homes/">heat waves</a>, such as staying hydrated or moving to cooler spaces. Only one study focused on actual preparedness before extreme weather arrives.



“Extreme heat is not often viewed as a weather disaster like hurricanes or floods, but it should be,” said Professor Smitha Rao of <a href="https://www.osu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Ohio State University</a>. “It is not something that is visible, which is why it is often called the ‘silent killer.’”



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



Heat doesn’t feel the same at 75 as it does at 25. As people age, their bodies lose some ability to regulate temperature. 



Medical conditions and medications can make overheating worse, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wearable-sensor-can-help-prevent-dangerous-dehydration/">dehydration</a> happens more quickly. Many older adults don’t notice the danger until it’s too late, often while at home or even during the night.



That risk is growing more urgent as older adults become one of the fastest-growing age groups. By 2050, people 65 and older will outnumber children under five. 



This demographic shift coincides with climate change bringing record-breaking heat, with 2023 and 2024 among the hottest years and temperatures still rising.



“We tend to react based on past experiences in our lives and the reality has changed,” said Professor Holly Dabelko-Schoeny. “The things that worked in the past to deal with heat waves are not going to work in this new reality.”



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



The danger isn’t just outside. Many heat-related deaths occur in people’s own homes. Older adults and their caregivers may not realize that certain medical conditions or medications increase vulnerability. 



As bodies age, the natural ability to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-have-a-lower-heat-tolerance-than-expected/">regulate temperature</a> weakens. That means what once felt like a tolerable summer evening could now be life-threatening.



“We may not realize that our bodies’ reactions to heat changes as we age, and older adults and their caregivers may not realize that some of the medicines they are taking or medical conditions they have may make them prone to overheating,” Rao said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gaps-in-service-and-policy">Gaps in service and policy</h2>



Beyond individual coping strategies, only seven studies in the review looked at how services are delivered during extreme heat. Many programs put more effort into protecting against <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-extreme-cold-events-fit-climate-change-model-global-warming/">extreme cold</a> than against heat, showing how unbalanced the awareness remains. 



The fewest studies explored policies to safeguard older adults, even though that could make the biggest difference.



Changes in local policies show what’s possible. In Columbus, the Central Ohio Transit Authority now makes buses free during extreme heat events. That allows anyone, young or old, to travel without cost to cooling centers.



“It is good to see policy changes like this that are responding to what our new normal looks like,” said Marisa Sheldon, director of the Age-Friendly Innovation Center at Ohio State’s College of Social Work.



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



Preparedness isn’t only about air conditioning or public transport. Relationships matter. In a related article in the journal Environmental Communication, researchers found that older adults’ sources of information - and the trust they place in them - are key to survival.



“One compelling finding from both studies was the importance of relationship building,” said co-author Fiona Doherty, now an assistant professor of social work at the University of Tennessee. 



“Not only <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/neighbors-can-help-reduce-the-health-risks-of-living-alone/">connecting neighbors</a>, but also learning what information sources older adults trust and building trust between individuals and community agencies so that community members follow expert guidance and change their behavior when necessary.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-facing-the-future-of-heat">Facing the future of heat</h2>



As the world heats up, the risks for older adults grow sharper. Heat isn’t dramatic like a hurricane, but it is just as dangerous. 



Preparing homes, creating clear public policies, and building stronger community networks may save lives. 



What once worked may no longer be enough. The challenge now is to change how we think about heat - and to make sure no one is left unprepared.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000689">PLOS Climate</a>.



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Extreme heat is leaving older adults dangerously unprepared

Extreme heat is creeping into more of our lives every...

For centuries, humanity relied on coastal landmarks and tide gauges to understand sea levels. But satellites changed everything. Since the early 1990s, orbiting instruments have provided precise, global records of ocean surface height. 



These data revealed not only how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antarctica-is-near-irreversible-climate-tipping-point/">seas</a> are rising but also how predictions from decades ago were impressively accurate.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-satellites-changed-sea-level-tracking">Satellites changed sea-level tracking</h2>



Study lead author Torbjörn Törnqvist is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at <a href="https://tulane.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tulane University</a>.



“The ultimate test of climate projections is to compare them with what has played out since they were made, but this requires patience - it takes decades of observations,” said Törnqvist.



He noted that the team was quite amazed at how good those early projections were, especially considering how crude the models were back then, compared to what is available now.



"For anyone who questions the role of humans in changing our climate, here is some of the best proof that we have understood for decades what is really happening, and that we can make credible <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-levels-have-been-rising-longer-and-faster-than-we-realized/">projections</a>.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sea-level-rise-differs-across-regions">Sea-level rise differs across regions</h2>



Professor Sönke Dangendorf emphasized the importance of translating global patterns into regional forecasts.



“Sea level doesn’t rise uniformly - it varies widely. Our recent study of this regional variability and the processes behind it relies heavily on data from NASA’s satellite missions and <a href="https://www.noaa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NOAA</a>’s ocean monitoring programs,” he said. 



“Continuing these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/state-of-the-climate-2024-record-heat-and-rising-seas/">efforts</a> is more important than ever, and essential for informed decision-making to benefit the people living along the coast.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-satellites-confirm-acceleration">Satellites confirm acceleration</h2>



When satellites first began tracking <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-model-reveals-dramatic-swings-in-ancient-sea-levels/">sea</a> levels in the early 1990s, they showed an average increase of about one eighth of an inch per year. It was only later that scientists confirmed this pace was speeding up. 



By October 2024, NASA researchers announced that the rate of rise had doubled over three decades. That moment offered the perfect opportunity to compare real-world changes against projections made nearly thirty years earlier.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-close-call-with-predictions">Close call with predictions</h2>



In 1996, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its assessment report, just as satellite monitoring began. 



The report projected about 8 centimeters of sea-level rise over 30 years. The actual outcome was 9 centimeters, nearly identical.



However, the models underestimated melting ice sheets by over 2 centimeters. Back then, the destabilizing effects of warming ocean waters on Antarctic ice were poorly understood. Greenland’s ice was also flowing into the ocean faster than anticipated.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-components-of-sea-level-rise">Components of sea-level rise</h2>



The study shows that thermal expansion of seawater and melting of smaller glaciers were predicted fairly well. But contributions from Greenland and Antarctica were treated as negligible. 



In reality, these ice sheets accounted for nearly a quarter of observed sea-level rise. Another overlooked factor was groundwater depletion, which transferred more water to oceans than expected.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ignoring-ice-sheets-caused-errors">Ignoring ice-sheets caused errors</h2>



Early IPCC reports assumed that the dynamic behavior of ice sheets could be ignored for decades. This assumption proved incorrect. Later assessments that excluded dynamic ice flow produced unrealistically low projections. 



Once dynamic ice loss was included, estimates increased significantly. Modern assessments now highlight the “deep uncertainty” surrounding possible ice-sheet disintegration, which could drive sea levels far higher than expected.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-past-models-were-surprisingly-accurate">Past models were surprisingly accurate </h2>



Thermal expansion was slightly overestimated, which balanced out the underestimated role of ice sheets. 



This created projections that, by chance, matched reality more closely than their flawed assumptions should have allowed.



Still, the overall accuracy offers confidence in today’s more advanced models, especially since early reports successfully predicted atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-climate-projections">Future climate projections</h2>



Predictions made in the 1990s have proven largely accurate, but the greatest challenges still lie ahead. 



Ongoing uncertainty about ice sheets and human emissions makes continuous monitoring vital for helping coastal societies prepare for what lies ahead.



"Given the advances in both resolution and process understanding since the 1990s, the early success of the IPCC-SAR projection gives considerable confidence to climate projections for the future," wrote the researchers.



"Meanwhile, the importance of continued monitoring of all relevant components of the climate system by key agencies cannot be understated."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025EF006533" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth's Future</a>.



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Sea levels are rising as predicted - with bigger risks ahead

For centuries, humanity relied on coastal landmarks and tide gauges...

We drain urine away daily without even thinking about it. But what if that waste could be used to produce food, provide power, and provide cleaner sanitation? Engineers have created a new system to do just that - and it's powered by sunlight.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-waste-could-be-used-as-sustainable-fertilizer/">Fertilizers</a> are costly in much of the world, electricity is unreliable, and clean water is scarce. At the same time, most wastewater goes untreated, leading to severe health and environmental issues.



The new model provides a workable solution, converting a steady stream of waste into something valuable: power and fertilizer, all while treating wastewater to make it safer.



This system uses solar panels to recover nitrogen from urine - without needing a power grid, chemical plants, or fancy equipment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-urine-to-crop-nutrients">From urine to crop nutrients</h2>



At the heart of the system is a clever trick: pulling ammonia - a form of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nitrogen-was-plentiful-for-early-life-on-earth/">nitrogen</a> - out of urine and turning it into ammonium sulfate, a type of fertilizer. It does this with a series of chambers and specialized membranes. Solar energy drives ions through the system, separating and capturing ammonia in the process.



Solar panels do more than generate electricity. They also generate heat - typically wasted - that this system captures and uses.



Copper tubing draws heat from the back of the panels and uses it to warm the system. That heat accelerates the process of separation, allowing the gas to become fertilizer more quickly.



There’s an added benefit: when solar panels are cool, they actually generate more electricity. By capturing the heat and putting it to work, the system not only functions at a higher speed - it also produces more energy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-power-of-nitrogen-in-urine">The power of nitrogen in urine</h2>



“This project is about turning a waste problem into a resource opportunity,” said William Tarpeh, assistant professor of chemical engineering at the <a href="https://engineering.stanford.edu/">Stanford School of </a><a href="https://engineering.stanford.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Engineering</a>.



“With this system, we’re capturing nutrients that would otherwise be flushed away or cause environmental damage and turning them into something valuable - fertilizer for crops.”



Why does that matter? Because nitrogen is essential for growing food. It’s the main ingredient in most fertilizers. But producing nitrogen fertilizers the traditional way uses a lot of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-from-fossil-fuels-kills-5-million-people-each-year/">fossil fuels</a>. It's also centralized in wealthier countries, making it expensive and harder to access in lower-income areas.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-producing-fertilizer-where-it-s-needed">Producing fertilizer where it's needed</h2>



Globally, the nitrogen in human urine equals about 14 percent of annual fertilizer demand. That’s a massive, mostly untapped resource.



“Each person produces enough nitrogen in their urine to fertilize a garden, but much of the world is reliant on expensive imported fertilizers instead,” said Orisa Coombs, the study’s lead author and a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering. 



“You don’t need a giant chemical plant or even a wall socket. With enough sunshine, you can produce fertilizer right where it’s needed, and potentially even store or sell excess electricity.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-better-results-with-solar-heat">Better results with solar heat</h2>



In testing, the updated prototype showed significant improvements over earlier designs. By combining solar power and waste heat, power generation increased by nearly 60 percent. Ammonia recovery also became more efficient - up by more than 20 percent.



That’s because about 80 percent of the energy from the sun that strikes<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/solar-panels-are-1000-times-more-powerful-with-new-tech-breakthrough/"> solar panels</a> typically gets wasted as heat. This system harnesses that heat, preventing panels from overheating and turning what was once a drawback into part of the solution.



The scientists also constructed a simulation to observe how the system would behave in varrying conditions - changing sunlight, temperature, and electrical configurations. 



In places like Uganda, where fertilizer is costly and energy is limited, the system could generate up to $4.13 per kilogram of nitrogen recovered. That’s more than twice the potential earnings in the U.S.



The next step is to build a larger prototype with three times the capacity. It will process more urine, produce fertilizer more quickly, and operate more effectively under strong sunlight.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clean-energy-cleaner-water">Clean energy, cleaner water</h2>



This technology could also be a major step forward for sanitation. Right now, more than 80 percent of the world’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/un-report-wastewater-is-a-hidden-solution-to-the-climate-crisis/">wastewater</a> isn’t treated. That means nitrogen and other waste ends up in rivers, lakes, and groundwater, harming the environment and public health.



By removing nitrogen from urine before it enters the water system, the device makes what’s left behind safer to discharge or even reuse for things like irrigation. 



And it can do that without needing to be plugged in - perfect for communities without access to sewage systems or reliable power.



“We often think of water, food, and energy as completely separate systems, but this is one of those rare cases where engineering innovation can help solve multiple problems at once,” said Coombs. “It’s clean, it’s scalable, and it’s literally powered by the sun.”



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-025-00477-w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Water</a>.



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How solar power can transform urine into fertilizer

We drain urine away daily without even thinking about it....

When people think about climate change, carbon dioxide and melting ice usually come to mind. But there’s another, less obvious factor at play: iron in the ocean.



A new study from the <a href="https://manoa.hawaii.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Hawai‘i</a> at Mānoa shows how the supply of iron in the South Pacific shifted over the last 93 million years.



The shift in iron changed how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/metallic-beads-in-arctic-mud-suggest-a-comet-slammed-into-earth-relatively-recently/">marine</a> life grew and how carbon dioxide moved in and out of the atmosphere.



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



Iron feeds phytoplankton, the tiny plants floating in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-was-once-a-green-marble-before-its-oceans-turned-blue/">seawater</a>. When they grow, they pull carbon dioxide out of the air. Without enough iron, phytoplankton struggle, and less carbon dioxide gets absorbed. 



Today we know this link well, but the UH Mānoa team wanted to know how iron shaped oceans in the distant past. To investigate, the researchers studied deep-sea sediment cores collected far from any continent.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changing-iron-in-ocean">Changing iron in ocean</h2>



Study lead author Logan Tegler is a postdoctoral researcher in the UH Mānoa <a href="https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/soestwp/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology</a>.



"Over the past 93 million years, we found that five primary sources of iron have influenced the South Pacific Ocean: dust, iron from far off ocean sources, two distinct hydrothermal sources, and a volcanic ash," explained Tegler.



"These sources shifted over time as the sites gradually migrated away from mid-ocean ridges." 



At first, most iron came from underwater hydrothermal vents. Later, dust carried by wind slowly became more important. Around 30 million years ago, it took over as the main source.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-shifts-and-dust">Climate shifts and dust</h2>



The study connects shifts in iron supply directly to major climate events in Earth’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-an-ocean-of-fire-shaped-early-earths-core-according-to-a-new-study/">history</a>. 



During warmer greenhouse periods, when the planet lacked polar ice, volcanic ash and seafloor hydrothermal vents acted as the main suppliers of iron to the ocean. These sources provided a steady flow of nutrients, helping sustain marine productivity.



Later, as Earth cooled and Antarctica developed permanent ice sheets, the dynamics changed. Stronger winds began carrying larger amounts of continental dust into the South Pacific. 



The dust became a dominant source of iron, replacing volcanic and hydrothermal inputs. The change mattered because not all iron sources are equal. Some forms are more accessible to microbes, while others are harder to use. 



These differences influenced which organisms could thrive, altering marine food webs and carbon uptake. By linking climate transitions with nutrient supply, the study shows how even small elements can reshape the global carbon cycle.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ocean-life-under-low-iron">Ocean life under low iron</h2>



“Understanding this historical context helps us comprehend how iron has shaped ecosystems,” said Tegler. 



“It also raises questions about how the iron cycle might have favored certain microbes over others - an ecosystem with persistently low iron could favor microbes adapted to survive under iron-limited conditions, such as diatoms.”



In large parts of the Pacific, the amount of available iron still sets the limit on how much phytoplankton can grow. Fewer phytoplankton mean less carbon dioxide leaves the air.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-today-s-unusual-pattern">Today’s unusual pattern</h2>



“Modern dust deposition in the South Pacific is extremely low," said Tegler. “However, our findings surprisingly suggest that the South Pacific is currently receiving more dust than it has at any point in the last 90 million years, which is remarkable given its current reputation as an iron poor region!”



This isn’t just random. Rising dust relates to shifts in climate and geology. Drying in Australia, uplift of landmasses, altered wind paths, human-driven changes, and broader atmospheric circulation patterns all play a part. Compared to the deep past, today’s South Pacific is in an unusual state.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ocean-changes-due-to-iron">Ocean changes due to iron</h2>



“As human activities increase iron input to the oceans through industrial emissions and biomass burning, understanding past perturbations of the iron cycle is crucial for predicting and mitigating adverse effects,” noted Tegler.



Iron’s history shows how one nutrient can shift ecosystems and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-climate-fixes-could-worsen-the-oxygen-crisis/">climate</a>. By studying how iron availability changed over millions of years, scientists gain insight into today’s environmental challenges. 



Ultimately, the research helps predict future impacts on Earth’s carbon balance, marine life, and overall climate resilience.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2025PA005149" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology</a>.



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How ocean iron has shaped Earth's climate history

When people think about climate change, carbon dioxide and melting...

Cities do not sleep. Streetlights glow, billboards shimmer, and skies rarely turn fully dark. For humans, this makes late-night activity easier. For wildlife, especially birds, this shift in natural light can change the rhythm of life itself.



A new study shows that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tropical-bird-populations-are-rapidly-shrinking-and-now-scientists-know-why/">birds</a> are singing later into the night in areas where artificial light brightens the sky.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-light-pollution-and-bird-activity">Light pollution and bird activity</h2>



Brent Pease, assistant professor in Southern Illinois University’s <a href="https://sfh.siu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">School of Forestry and Horticulture</a>, and Neil Gilbert, assistant professor of biology at Oklahoma State University, gathered global data on more than 180 million bird vocalizations.



The researchers compared these calls with satellite imagery to study how birds respond to artificial night light.



“We were shocked by our findings: Under the brightest night skies, a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-may-be-using-quantum-physics-for-migration/">bird</a>’s day is extended by nearly an hour,” Pease said. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-classroom-project-that-grew">A classroom project that grew</h2>



Pease began this project as a creative way to spark interest among undergraduates. He installed a microphone at Touch of Nature Outdoor Education Center, sending live birdsong into the Agriculture Building miles away. Soon, students could watch <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-are-struggling-to-keep-pace-with-a-warming-climate/">species</a> activity on building monitors.



To advance the effort, Pease used <a href="https://birdweather.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BirdWeather</a> devices. These tools, linked with Wi-Fi, GPS, and sensors, connect to BirdNET, a system developed by the Cornell <a href="https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lab of Ornithology</a> and Chemnitz University of Technology. The dashboard revealed in real time which birds were nearby.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-birds-act-under-light">How birds act under light</h2>



“We started seeing - in real time - which birds were at Touch of Nature, right in our Agriculture Building,” Pease said. 



“I realized that I stumbled upon something really important for wildlife research. All of a sudden, we not only know where species are but how they are behaving 24/7.”



Pease explained that BirdWeather allowed researchers to study bird behavior across vast regions and time spans, much like trail cameras transformed mammal research decades ago.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-golden-age-of-bird-conservation">Golden age of bird conservation </h2>



“We are just now entering the golden age of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bird-evolution-timeline-pushed-back-20-million-years-by-baminornis-zhenghensis-discovery/">avian</a> conservation, all through machine learning and participatory science,” Pease said. He has long worked with citizen-science projects, including sound monitoring during the April 8, 2024 eclipse.



With BirdNET, researchers transformed audio recordings into spectrograms that visually capture each bird’s unique call. These were compared against a database of over 6,000 species.



Please noted that the machine learning algorithm makes it possible to analyze 24/7 audio recordings, which would otherwise take lifetimes to listen to.



“Neil and I are the first, to our knowledge, to apply and analyze the BirdWeather data in this way," said Pease.



"We have many research options, but first we focused on how birds are responding to global light pollution, which is a growing concern for humans and wildlife alike.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-eyed-birds-react-more-to-light">Big-eyed birds react more to light</h2>



The study revealed that the average delay in rest was about one hour, but not all species reacted equally.



“The next question was: why?” Pease said. “What is driving this response by birds? We had the idea that maybe it was a species’ photoreceptor sensitivity - their eyesight. And this turned out to be a key factor." 



"Species with large eyes relative to their body size had a disproportionately stronger response to artificial light at night. They were more sensitive to light at night than species with small eyes.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pollution-s-effect-on-birds">Pollution's effect on birds</h2>



The supplementary analysis also looked at <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-birds-get-road-rage-when-exposed-to-traffic-noise/">noise pollution</a>, which often accompanies artificial light. Birds near roads behaved differently than those farther away, suggesting that noise can shift vocal activity.



However, the researchers concluded that the most consistent behavioral shifts were tied to light, not sound.



Interestingly, nocturnal species showed the opposite pattern. In bright landscapes, they vocalized less and shortened their nightly activity. 



For example, in the darkest settings a nocturnal bird might call around 1.6 times per night, while in bright environments it dropped closer to 1.1 times. Moonlight also played a role, amplifying or reducing activity depending on its phase.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-citizen-science-at-its-best">Citizen science at its best</h2>



Whether these changes benefit or harm birds is not yet clear. Extended time awake might provide more opportunities to feed or attract mates, but it could also mean reduced sleep and higher stress.



“This is citizen-science at its best,” Pease said. “A technology designed for people to check out the species in their own backyards has acquired an unprecedented amount of data since 2021 - over 1.4 billion vocalizations from more than 11,000 locations across the globe."



"Neil and I are determined to continue to apply the technology for wildlife conservation.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv9472" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a>.



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Light pollution makes birds around the world sing longer each day

Cities do not sleep. Streetlights glow, billboards shimmer, and skies...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Early primates evolved in cold climates, not tropical jungles

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Impacts of industrial pollution exposure echo across generations

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Moisture in the atmosphere causes extreme weather to last longer

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Cement of the future: Cooling cities and cutting emissions

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

<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=0HDXqTGEmi4
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Scientists give plants superpowers against bacterial disease</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-natural-solution-to-disease-through-crop-modification">A natural solution to disease through crop modification.</h2>



The agricultural industry stands at a crossroads between productivity and environmental responsibility, and crop modification often carries a negative connotation. While chemical pesticides have long been the go-to solution for crop protection, their harmful effects on ecosystems and human health have prompted scientists to seek alternatives. The recent breakthrough by <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Southampton</a> researchers offers a promising path forward through the precise manipulation of plant-associated microbial communities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-science-behind-microbial-partnerships">The science behind microbial partnerships</h2>



Plants naturally harbor diverse ecosystems of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms that function as biological allies. These microscopic partners contribute to disease resistance, nutrient absorption, and stress tolerance. However, until now, scientists lacked the tools to deliberately reshape these communities to enhance crop protection.



The Southampton team's approach centered on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/engineered-plant-microbiomes-the-future-of-crop-protection/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">modifying lignin biosynthesis genes in rice plants</a>. This strategic intervention altered the plant's metabolic output, creating conditions that favored beneficial bacterial populations while suppressing harmful ones. The result was a living defense system embedded within the plant itself.



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



The successful demonstration against Xanthomonas oryzae, the pathogen responsible for bacterial blight in rice, represents more than a laboratory achievement. Rice feeds nearly half the world's population, and bacterial blight causes devastating crop losses annually. Traditional control methods rely heavily on pesticides that contaminate soil and water systems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-beyond-disease-resistance">Looking Beyond Disease Resistance</h2>



While disease protection represents the immediate application, the research framework opens doors to broader agricultural improvements. Future developments could engineer microbiomes to enhance nutrient uptake, reducing dependence on synthetic fertilizers. This dual benefit addresses both crop productivity and environmental sustainability.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-path-forward">The path forward</h2>



As this technology advances from laboratory to field applications, it promises to reshape sustainable agriculture. The ability to program plants with their own biological defense systems could herald a new era where crops protect themselves naturally, reducing chemical inputs while maintaining yields necessary for global food security.



The study is published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44335-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Revolutionizing agriculture through microbiome engineering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDXqTGEmi4 Scientists give plants superpowers against bacterial disease A natural...

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</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...

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

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

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



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



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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 <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> reveals how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress.



“We need to double crop production by 2050 to feed a growing global population, and not only are we not on track to do that, but climate change is further complicating things,” said Amanda Cavanagh, a lecturer at the University of Essex. 



The study is part of Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), an international research project that aims to develop food crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently.



“Using an engineering approach we designed multiple alternative metabolic pathways to photorespiration. Testing them in the field showed increases in productivity which led Amanda to significantly move the project forward by showing our engineered plants can withstand pretty extreme temperature stress,” said study co-author and RIPE researcher Paul South.&nbsp;



“As the climate changes and temperature stresses increase the pressure on our global food supply, farmers will need every tool available including engineering approaches like the synthetic biology used here to maintain safe and productive harvests.”



The experts tested plants modified to have more efficient photorespiration to see if they were better adapted to warmer temperatures.&nbsp;



The team found that the engineered plants produced 26 percent more biomass than the wild-type plants exposed to the same temperatures, and had 15 percent less yield loss under the higher temperatures.



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes the first comprehensive estimate of carbon density in the Saharan, Sahel, and Sudanian zones of Africa. In an effort to measure the amount of carbon stored across these drylands, a team of scientists used high-resolution satellite images and artificial intelligence to map nearly 10 billion individual trees. 



"The high spatial resolution (50 cm) combined with AI and field measurements used in this study is key to improving tree inventories in drylands," said Pierre Hiernaux, a French researcher working for NASA. "The ever-increasing availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery will make it possible to assess carbon pools and their dynamics at the individual tree level on a global scale."



"This study is exceptional because it is pioneering a type of approach that will revolutionize the monitoring of trees and forests on a global scale: in the short term, it will be possible to map the world's trees from the centre of the Amazon to our schoolyards," said <a href="https://www.inrae.fr/en">INRAE</a> researcher Jean-Pierre Wigneron.



"Many fields of application will become much more efficient and accurate, such as tracking carbon stocks, biodiversity, monitoring logging and protection against illegal forest degradation, in near real time.”



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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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 



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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 <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



"Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming," says NASA.



"Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands."&nbsp;



According to NASA, understanding methane emissions from wetlands and other natural sources is critically important for scientists and policymakers who are working to combat climate change by reducing emissions from human activities.



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[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 <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes how record-breaking heat expressed itself around the world in 2022.



Scientists have determined that 2022 was the 5th warmest year since 1880. Furthermore, the last nine consecutive years have been the warmest on record.



From devastating floods and wildfires to natural disasters like Hurricane Ian, 2022 showed us yet again how a warming climate affects people across the globe.&nbsp;



"As we look back at 20:22 and years past, we see that each year we better understand the challenges we face and how important it is to meet them," says NASA.



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



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.

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes how Earth is unique in our solar system for its ability to sustain liquid water on its surface. But now, the water cycle is shifting as the climate warms, and scientists must find ways to predict how these changes will affect water availability.



Overall, 96 percent of Earth's water is saltwater, and nearly all of freshwater is found in ice and groundwater. These sources of water are linked as it passes through solid, liquid and gas phases.



In a warmer climate, the water cycle will be transformed. It will be easier for water to evaporate and form clouds, and storms will become more frequent and intense. Some regions will get too much water, while others will be left without enough water. In addition, soil moisture will be lost - which threatens food security.



Scientists are using satellite data from over the last 40 years to track changes that are happening in the water cycle. This will ultimately help us prepare for extreme events and better manage our water resources, according to ESA.



Video 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.

Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> features images of Saturn from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The photographs capture the start of the mysterious "spoke season" on Saturn - when unexplained features appear on its rings. 



According to NASA, both the cause of the spokes and their seasonal variability have yet to be fully explained by planetary scientists.



"Like Earth, Saturn is tilted on its axis and therefore has four seasons, though because of Saturn's much larger orbit, each season lasts approximately seven Earth years. Equinox occurs when the rings are tilted edge-on to the Sun," explains NASA.



"The spokes disappear when it is near summer or winter solstice on Saturn. (When the Sun appears to reach either its highest or lowest latitude in the northern or southern hemisphere of a planet.) As the autumnal equinox of Saturn's northern hemisphere on May 6, 2025, draws near, the spokes are expected to become increasingly prominent and observable."



Experts believe that the spokes may be a product of the planet's variable magnetic field. When magnetic fields interact with solar wind, an electrically charged environment is created. This phenomenon is visible on Earth as the northern lights.&nbsp;



"Scientists think that the smallest, dust-sized icy ring particles can become charged as well, which temporarily levitates those particles above the rest of the larger icy particles and boulders in the rings," says NASA.



The spokes were first observed in the early 1980s by NASA's Voyager mission. Depending on the angle of the rings, the spokes can appear dark or light.



"Thanks to Hubble's OPAL program, which is building an archive of data on the outer solar system planets, we will have longer dedicated time to study Saturn’s spokes this season than ever before," said NASA senior planetary scientist Amy Simon, head of the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.



"Despite years of excellent observations by the Cassini mission, the precise beginning and duration of the spoke season is still unpredictable, rather like predicting the first storm during hurricane season."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="http://www.ntu.edu.sg/">NTU Singapore</a> reveals that some plants can remove toxic heavy metals from soil.&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed samples of various tropical plant species to test for levels of heavy metals and metalloids. The study showed that there are existing plants with high levels of these contaminants, which means that these species are great candidates for drawing pollutants out of the soil.&nbsp;



Among the plants examined in the study, 12 species had accumulated several types of heavy metals and metalloids. These plants are widely available, including species that are native to Singapore.



“In a small nation like Singapore, land may be repurposed to support new development plans, so it is important that we have a green and sustainable way to remediate land that is contaminated," said Professor Lam Yeng Ming.



"We set out to uncover how to better make use of tropical plants to do phytoremediation and through advanced characterization techniques, we showed how some of these tropical plant species can be an environmentally friendly and literally a 'green' way to remove contaminants in soil."&nbsp;



"Phytoremediation also has benefits of cost effectiveness, simplicity of management, aesthetic advantages, and long-term applicability and sustainability. The strategy prevents erosion and metal leaching by stabilizing or accumulating heavy metals, so that helps reduce the risk of contaminant spread.”



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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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.

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes why herbicides are not as effective in killing weeds anymore. In the 20th century, chemical companies developed thousands of herbicides. The most commonly used herbicide was glyphosate, which was introduced in 1974.



Over the past few decades, dozens of species of weeds have evolved resistance to glyphosate. Depending on the site of action, the part of the plant that an herbicide interacts with, weeds may even be resistant to herbicides that have not been developed yet.&nbsp;



With increasing resistance to glyphosate and other herbicides, weeds are - once again - becoming a major concern for farmers.&nbsp;



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.

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> (JPL) describes a dust storm on Mars that was nearly twice the size of the United States. As the storm covered the southern hemisphere of the planet, some of NASA’s explorers had to delay their normal activities.



NASA’s Insight lander put itself in a "safe mode" for 11 days to conserve battery power because solar power was disrupted by the dust. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter postponed flights until conditions improved.



"A fleet of NASA orbiters monitor Martian dust storms like this one and serve as lifelines to Earth by relaying data from the rovers and lander on the ground back to the team. This includes the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, and Odyssey," reports JPL.



"Dust storms like this recent one start close to the ground and are spread by wind as they rise – warming the cold Martian atmosphere."



The images in the video were captured by NASA’s Curiosity as the dust rolled in. A fleet of orbiters monitored the dust storm from above, relaying data from Mars’ explorers back to scientists on Earth.



Video &amp; Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS



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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.

NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="http://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. This strait provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.



Qeshm is separated from the Iranian coast by the Clarence Strait, also known as Khuran.&nbsp;The Hara Forest Protected Area is a network of shallow waterways and forest located between the island and the mainland. This protected region is home to sea turtles, snakes, and more than 150 species of migrating birds.



Qeshm is famous for its wide range of&nbsp;ecotourist&nbsp;attractions, such as the&nbsp;Hara marine forests. According to environmentalists, about 1.5 percent of the world birds and 25 percent of Iran's native <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/female-hummingbirds-avoid-sexual-harassment-by-looking-like-males/">birds</a> annually migrate to the forests, which are the first national geo park in Iran.



Tourists are also drawn to the island to see an age-old Portuguese&nbsp;fort, historic mosques, the&nbsp;Seyyed Mozaffar&nbsp;and&nbsp;Bibi Maryam&nbsp;shrines, and the "Valley of Stars."



The average temperature on the island is 81 degress and the region is often hot and humid. From June to August, the island is described as being oppressively hot. The ideal time to visit is during the winter season. 



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.

Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique.&nbsp;



"Inhambane Bay is a deep inlet into which the small Mutamba River flows," says ESA. "On one side of the bay lies the historical city of Inhambane, capital of the Inhambane Province, while the sister city of Maxixe, the economic capital of Inhambane, sits across from it. The province is the second largest grower of cashews, after Nampula, and it also produces coconut and citrus fruits."



The beaches of Barra and Tofo are popular with tourists. There are also coral reefs along the long coastline of Inhambane, making it an ideal destination for scuba diving and snorkeling.



"Mozambique’s extensive coastline heightens the country’s vulnerability to tropical cyclones that develop in the Indian Ocean as well as storm surge flooding," says ESA.



"More than half of the population lives in low lying coastal areas, putting communities at risk. Inhambane Bay was dangerously close to where Cyclone Idai made landfall in 2019 causing widespread destruction to the country."



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.

Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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