Scientists have engineered wheat to nudge soil bacteria into producing plant-ready nitrogen, a shift that could cut fertilizer use, curb pollution, and lower farm costs without sacrificing yields. 



The plants overproduce a natural compound, leak the excess into the soil, and in doing so jumpstart nearby microbes that “fix” nitrogen from the air into forms crops can use.



In this work, a team at the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, Davis</a>, led by Eduardo Blumwald, used <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/crispr-used-to-remove-extra-chromosomes-in-down-syndrome-and-restore-cell-function/">CRISPR</a> to dial up a wheat metabolite and tested the effect under low-nitrogen conditions.



The study extends earlier proof-of-concept in rice, with efforts underway to translate the approach to other staple cereals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-synthetic-nitrogen-fuels-global-harvests">Synthetic nitrogen fuels global harvests</h2>



Worldwide, synthetic nitrogen fuels modern harvests but at a steep environmental and economic price. Wheat alone accounts for about 18 percent of global nitrogen fertilizer use. Of the hundreds of millions of tons produced each year, plants capture only 30 to 50 percent.



The remainder washes into rivers and coasts, feeding oxygen-starved <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/excess-nutrients-are-creating-ocean-dead-zones/">dead zones</a>, or escapes as nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. For smallholder farmers, especially in low-income regions, cost and access make fertilizer a gamble.



“In Africa, people don't use fertilizers because they don’t have money, and farms are small, not larger than six to eight acres,” Blumwald said. “Imagine, you are planting crops that stimulate bacteria in the soil to create the fertilizer that the crops need, naturally. Wow! That’s a big difference!”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wheat-learns-microbes-nitrogen-trick">Wheat learns microbes’ nitrogen trick</h2>



Nitrogen fixation is carried out by specialized bacteria using an enzyme called nitrogenase, which only functions in low-oxygen conditions. Legumes such as beans and peas solve this by hosting the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-have-root-microbiomes-like-humans-do-vital-for-survival-defense/">microbes</a> in root nodules, which are tiny oxygen-poor chambers. 



Cereals like wheat lack nodules, which is why they rely on bagged nitrogen. Rather than trying to give cereals nodules or force microbes to colonize roots - a strategy that has long struggled to stick - the team flipped the problem.



The researchers screened roughly 2,800 plant-made chemicals and found a small set, including flavones, that prompt soil <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-bacteria-get-hungry-they-turn-on-each-other/">bacteria</a> to form protective biofilms. Those sticky microbial coats reduce oxygen exposure enough for nitrogenase to work.



“For decades, scientists have been trying to develop cereal crops that produce active root nodules, or trying to colonize cereals with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, without much success. We used a different approach,” Blumwald said.



“We said the location of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria is not important, so long as the fixed nitrogen can reach the plant, and the plant can use it.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gene-edit-flips-fertilizer-switch">Gene edit flips fertilizer switch</h2>



Using CRISPR, the researchers boosted wheat’s production of apigenin, a common flavone. Plants kept what they needed and exuded the surplus through their roots.



In soil tests, the extra apigenin encouraged local bacteria to spin up biofilms, protecting nitrogenase, fixing nitrogen, and making ammonium available for the crop. In low-fertility conditions, edited wheat assimilated the microbially supplied nitrogen and outyielded control plants.



The amazing thing lies in what the plant does automatically. It manufactures the signal, leaks it when nitrogen is scarce, and benefits from the neighborhood effect. No external inoculants are required, and the microbes remain free-living in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-type-of-microbes-found-earths-deep-soil-critical-zone/">soil</a> rather than locked inside a root.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pollution-down-resilience-up"><a></a>Pollution down, resilience up</h2>



If scaled, the approach could trim the fertilizer footprint that drives water pollution and climate forcing in wheat and other crops. Less soluble nitrogen applied to fields means less runoff during storms, smaller algal blooms, and fewer oxygen crashes in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-shock-lakes-are-losing-oxygen-faster-than-expected/">lakes</a> and coastal zones. 



Cutting back on industrial nitrogen also reduces upstream emissions from natural-gas-intensive fertilizer production.



Because the mechanism amplifies microbial activity already present in many soils, it may also help stabilize yields under input constraints. In places where fertilizer is scarce or prohibitively expensive, the crop’s own chemistry becomes a lever to unlock atmospheric nitrogen.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-billions-saved-with-less-fertilizer">Billions saved with less fertilizer</h2>



The United States alone saw nearly $36 billion in fertilizer spending in 2023. Cereals cover close to 500 million acres nationally. Even modest reductions in inputs translate into real money while lowering risk in volatile markets.



“Imagine, if you could save 10 percent of the amount of fertilizer being used on that land,” Blumwald said. “I’m calculating conservatively: That should be a savings of more than a billion dollars every year.”



Those savings would not come solely from buying less nitrogen. Fewer passes to apply fertilizer mean lower fuel use and less soil compaction. Reduced losses to waterways could also ease regulatory pressure and improve community relations in vulnerable watersheds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-proving-stability-across-soil-types">Proving stability across soil types</h2>



The road from greenhouse pots to farm fields is long, but the milestones are clear. Researchers will need to confirm that the nitrogen boost holds under diverse soils, climates, and microbiomes, and that it plays nicely with existing rotations and management. 



They will need to show stable performance across seasons and varieties, measure effects on soil ecology, and ensure that yields and grain quality are maintained.



Because the edit increases a native metabolite rather than introducing a foreign gene, regulatory pathways may be more straightforward in some jurisdictions. Still, farmers and policymakers will want transparent data on environmental outcomes, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-solar-power-can-transform-urine-into-fertilizer/">fertilizer</a> savings, and return on investment.



If the results scale, gene-edited cereals like wheat that recruit their own microbial fertilizer factories could become a practical tool in the nitrogen toolbox - cutting costs where budgets are tight, trimming pollution where waters run foul, and building resilience in the breadbaskets of a warming world.



The study is published in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pbi.70289" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Plant Biotechnology Journal</a>.



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Gene-edited wheat turns soil microbes into fertilizer

Scientists have engineered wheat to nudge soil bacteria into producing plant-ready nitrogen, a shift that could cut fertilizer use, curb pollution, and lower farm costs without sacrificing yields. The plants overproduce a natural compound, leak the excess into the soil, and in doing so jumpstart nearby microbes that “fix” nitrogen from the air into forms crops can use. In this work, a team at the University of California, Davis, led by Eduardo Blumwald, used CRISPR to dial up a wheat metabolite and tested the effect under low-nitrogen...

Recently, a team of mycologists dug up much more than a few tasty fungi. By combining genome sequencing with old-fashioned fieldwork - plus a pack of truffle-sniffing dogs - the team has reshaped the evolutionary story of some of North America’s most coveted culinary delicacies. They also identified three brand-new species.



The study, led by the <a href="https://www.ufl.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Florida</a>, clarifies which truffles belong where on the Morchellaceae family tree. The research also reveals that the legendary Oregon black truffle is not the European species it was long presumed to be.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genetically-distinct-truffle-species">Genetically distinct truffle species </h2>



For decades, chefs and foragers alike assumed the dark, fragrant tuber prized in Pacific Northwest kitchens was Leucangium carthusianum, a species first described in Europe.



Yet when pandemic shutdowns kept graduate student Benjamin Lemmond out of his greenhouse experiments, Professor Matthew Smith of <a href="https://ifas.ufl.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences</a> handed him a very different project. 



Lemmond was tasked with sifting through hundreds of dried truffle specimens borrowed from <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oregon State University</a> and museums across Europe and Asia.



“Our paper confirms what a lot of people had suspected: the North American truffle species is genetically very distinct from its European relatives,” Lemmond said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-beloved-truffle-species-renamed">Beloved truffle species renamed</h2>



DNA comparisons from Poland, Greece, Italy, France, and Japan showed a clear split. To give the Pacific Northwest lineage its own identity, the team proposed a new scientific name, Leucangium cascadiense, honoring the Cascadia bioregion that stretches from California to British Columbia.



The reclassification matters far beyond the herb-infused butter of gourmet kitchens. “Understanding the fundamental biology, and<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-life-cycles-predicting-the-impacts-of-climate-change/"> life cycle</a> of this truffle is really important,” Lemmond explained.



“It’s a very valuable commodity, and this knowledge might help us to cultivate the truffle in the future. It also supports long-term conservation and management.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forest-dogs-find-fungal-clues">Forest dogs find fungal clues</h2>



Most high-end truffles are mycorrhizal: they form an intimate underground partnership with tree roots, exchanging minerals and sugars. Mycologists assumed L. cascadiense did the same with young Douglas firs, but no one had demonstrated it.



Lemmond headed north armed with fluorescent dyes, DNA test kits, and a pair of canine collaborators named Cricket and Rye. 



The dogs located truffles buried as deep as ten inches in the leaf litter. Microscopic staining showed the fungus threading between root cells, while DNA sequencing confirmed the Douglas fir partnership.



“The truffle fungi surround the whole root, but the fungus is healthy, and the plant is healthy,” Smith said. “The two trade <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/excess-nutrients-are-creating-ocean-dead-zones/">nutrients</a> back and forth.”



That symbiosis, now confirmed, opens the door to experimental cultivation - potentially transforming a product that can fetch $800 a pound in peak season.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-forests-hide-unknown-truffles">Ancient forests hide unknown truffles</h2>



While sorting genetic data, the researchers stumbled on a pale, wart-speckled specimen from the southern Appalachian Mountains. Analysis revealed it belonged to a lineage entirely separate from other known truffles.



They named it Imaia kuwohiensis after Kuwohi, the Cherokee name for the Smoky Mountains’ highest peak. Its habitat - high-elevation spruce-fir forests - faces its own threats, making the discovery a potential rallying point for conservation.



Then came an unexpected alert from iNaturalist: a Leucangium truffle growing under eastern hemlocks in Oneida County, New York. It was thousands of miles east of any previously recorded relative.



Dense external hairs and a smooth surface distinguished it instantly. DNA sealed the case, and Leucangium oneidaense entered the taxonomy.



“It was the first time anyone had ever reported a Leucangium species in the United States, east of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rocky-mountain-snow-contains-toxic-metals-from-faraway-mining/">Rocky Mountains</a>,” Lemmond said. A second find in Massachusetts, just before publication, hints that New England’s forests may hide a larger population.



“It was great timing, and it suggests there are still a lot of undiscovered truffles out there,” he added.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-naming-fungi-protects-ecosystems">Naming fungi protects ecosystems</h2>



Beyond gourmet intrigue, the study underscores how modern genomics and citizen science converge to rewrite natural history. Accurate species names guide sustainable harvesting, inform land management plans, and illuminate the ecological webs that support foods.



The pandemic-era shift to archives led to unexpected breakthroughs from stranded students and resourceful professors.



From Oregon’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/douglas-fir-trees-will-suffer-from-drier-air/">Douglas fir</a> stands to the eastern hemlock groves of Oneida County, three new species now carry scientific passports of their own.



And in kitchens from Portland to Providence, chefs grating those fragrant truffles can savor a fresh backstory. Their prized flavor owes its existence to Cascadian forests, cooperative fungi, and a research team determined to see the forest - and the truffles - for what they truly are.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wfbi/pimj/pre-prints/content-persoonia55art2;jsessionid=1m8sb40jesb4f.x-ic-live-01" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Persoonia</a>.



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Three new truffle species discovered in North American forests

Recently, a team of mycologists dug up much more than...

Could the answer to your illness be hiding in your kitchen or garden? A new scientific review has explored how seven global superfoods, ranging from mushrooms to herbs and berries, may help protect the body from chronic illnesses by reducing oxidative stress.



Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance between the production and accumulation of ROS (reactive oxygen species), and the body's antioxidant defenses. This can damage cells and tissues, disrupt redox balance, and lead to systemic inflammation.



The latest review examined how seven medicinal plants helped attain <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4343247/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">redox balance</a>, the equilibrium between oxidation and reduction reactions within a system. This balance is essential for cells to function properly and for the immune system to be in top shape.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-superfoods-and-natural-remedies">Global superfoods and natural remedies</h2>



The review focused on time-tested ingredients that you may already know or even use in your kitchen. The researchers selected plants like shiitake mushrooms, ginseng, turmeric, black seed, berries, moringa, and holy basil. People around the world have used these plants in traditional remedies for a long time.



The study reported that many of these botanicals have antioxidative and immunotherapeutic properties. 



So, how are they beneficial at the cellular level? According to the review, these plants affected the Keap1/Nrf2 pathway, which helps the body respond to harmful stress and toxins.



The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-extracts-may-help-treat-metabolic-syndrome/">phytochemicals</a> present in these botanicals maintain immune homeostasis. The body achieves this balance by regulating two types of immune responses: Th1 fights infections and cancer, while Th2 manages allergies and inflammation. In other words, the Th1/Th2 balance is essential for immune system health.



The findings suggest that these plants offer significant health benefits. Further clinical research will be essential to translate these cellular benefits into practical dietary interventions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mushrooms-and-cancer-treatment">Mushrooms and cancer treatment </h2>



Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes) in your miso soup are doing more than just adding flavor. They contain the compound lentinan, which has been shown to support the immune system in cancer and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wolves-have-gut-bacteria-that-can-help-dogs-with-canine-ibd/">IBD</a> (inflammatory bowel disease) models.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
Principal studies suggest that lentinan may help regulate Th1-Th2 balance and can be used in cancer treatment. Patients can take lentinan as an IV infusion or in capsule form. However, it should be avoided by individuals with mushroom allergy and those taking drugs metabolized by <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557698/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CYP450 enzymes</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ginseng-protects-organs">Ginseng protects organs</h2>
</blockquote>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
Researchers found that ginseng, Panax ginseng, has antioxidative and organ-protective properties, especially in conditions like diabetic nephropathy. 



Steaming ginseng turns it into red ginseng, which boosts the concentration of active compounds, like Rg1, Re, Rb1, and Rd.
</blockquote>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
The compound Rg1 helps repair arteries damaged by high blood pressure and supports kidney function. Re protects insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and promotes healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels. 



Rb1 has shown benefits in acute kidney injury, while Rd protects renal tissues from drug-induced damage.
</blockquote>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-benefits-of-turmeric">Benefits of turmeric </h2>



The researchers also reviewed research on turmeric, Curcuma longa, a yellow spice used in traditional dishes and medicines. It contains curcumin, which is known for its <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/many-nigerian-food-plants-have-cancer-fighting-properties/">anticancer</a>, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties.



Curcumin neutralizes free radicals and, in lab studies, it reduced cellular damage caused by hydrogen peroxide. Animal studies showed less liver damage and higher levels of protective enzymes when curcumin is included in the diet.



But here is the catch: curcumin is not easily absorbed unless it is paired with piperine from black pepper, Piper nigrum.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-black-seed-supports-immunity">Black seed supports immunity</h2>



Black seed, Nigella sativa, contains a key compound called thymoquinone. Studies have shown that thymoquinone neutralizes free radicals like hydrogen peroxide and superoxide, preventing cell damage. In vivo studies show that thymoquinone supports neurological and renal health.



Human trials have shown that people who consumed black seed oil had higher antioxidant enzyme levels, lower markers of oxidative stress, and improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar.



In diabetic patients, combining thymoquinone with conventional treatment led to better outcomes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-powerful-berries-and-herbs">Powerful berries and herbs</h2>



Colorful berries and leafy herbs, like Moringa oleifera, are rich in antioxidants like quercetin, kaempferol, chlorogenic acid, and pterostilbene. These compounds <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fasting-helps-the-body-fight-inflammation-and-chronic-diseases/">decrease inflammation</a> and limit cellular wear and tear.



Quercetin and kaempferol increase the level of protective proteins like HO-1, which reduces inflammation. Additionally, they lowered ROS levels, thus protecting key organs like the liver and kidneys.



In lab studies, they were shown to reduce <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-based-diet-improves-health-in-women-with-breast-cancer/">breast cancer</a> cell growth. According to the review, chlorogenic acid improved glucose uptake in muscle cells, which helped to control blood sugar.



In vivo studies have shown that when combined, quercetin, kaempferol, and pterostilbene work synergistically to increase Nrf2 activity and provide better protection against oxidative damage.



Another herb to highlight is holy basil or tulsi, an Indian medicinal plant. It contains bioactive compounds like eugenol, polyphenols, flavonoids, and terpenes. Eugenol helps cells survive under oxidative stress by enhancing antioxidant-related gene expression.



In diabetic rats, tulsi significantly reduced blood glucose and HbA1c levels and increased antioxidant markers. This suggests that tulsi not only helps control blood sugar but also contributes to the regulation of antioxidants.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-superfoods-for-modern-medicine">Global superfoods for modern medicine</h2>



Across numerous studies, plant-based compounds have shown strong potential in boosting the <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3488923/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">body's antioxidant defenses</a>. These substances neutralize free radicals and also activate key cellular pathways.



Plant-based compounds help the body manage inflammation, improve immune function, and protect vital organs from damage.



Practitioners may one day use global superfoods and traditional remedies to complement modern treatments for diseases that are rooted in oxidative stress.



The full study was published in the <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/26/15/7316" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">International Journal of Molecular Sciences</a>.



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Seven global superfoods strengthen the body's natural defenses

Could the answer to your illness be hiding in your...

Fruit lovers often complain that supermarket <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reverse-evolution-these-wild-tomatoes-are-turning-back-time/">tomatoes</a> look gorgeous yet taste flat. Now a team in China has shown that gene editing can produce sweeter tomatoes without sacrificing productivity.



Chinese researchers used <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36171658/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CRISPR-Cas9</a> scissors to switch off two “sugar-brake” genes, thus boosting glucose and fructose in ripe fruit by about 30 percent while harvest weight stayed steady. 



The project is led by plant molecular geneticist Jinzhe Zhang at the <a href="https://agis.caas.cn/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Agricultural Genomics Institute,</a> Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Shenzhen.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-century-long-flavor-tradeoff">A century-long flavor tradeoff</h2>



The tomato’s wild ancestor was a berry scarcely wider than a pencil eraser yet rich in taste. Selective breeding for size inflated modern fruit up to a hundred-fold, but diluted sugars because the plant now spreads its photo-assimilates across far more cells.



Consumers have noticed. Panels comparing 152 heirloom and commercial tomato varieties found that sweetness contributes roughly half of overall liking, and that modern, shelf-friendly lines underperform older, sweeter ones.



Growers, though, have stuck with large cultivars because yield still sets farm income. Breaking the biological link between weight and soluble solids content has therefore become a prime target for breeders.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gene-editing-a-double-brake-on-sugar">Gene editing a double brake on sugar</h2>



Zhang’s group discovered that two calcium-dependent <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26520101/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">protein kinase genes</a>, SlCDPK27 and SlCDPK26, tag a key sucrose-processing enzyme for destruction. Knocking both out lets the enzyme stay active longer, which channels more sucrose into the fruit during late ripening.



“Gene-edited SlCDPK27 and SlCDPK26 knockouts increased glucose and fructose contents by up to 30 percent, enhancing perceived sweetness without fruit weight or yield penalty,” explained Zhang. 



Field plots in Beijing and Shouguang produced the same number of tomatoes per plant, proving that sweeter tomatoes can be just as productive. 



The team did note slightly lighter seeds, but germination rates stayed normal. That means growers will not sacrifice next season’s seedlings for better-tasting fruit.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sweeter-fruit-were-once-smaller">Sweeter fruit were once smaller</h2>



Physiologists have long shown that a tomato has a fixed pool of sugars to distribute. Enlarging each berry forced that sugar to spread thinly, which decreased the concentration that our tongues detect.



By editing only ripening-stage regulators, the Chinese team avoided tampering with early growth, so the fruit still fills out before sweetness rises. The strategy mirrors recent work in maize and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/strawberries-of-the-future-will-be-even-more-healthy-and-delicious/">strawberries</a> and could apply to apples, pears, and oranges, which carry related sugar-brake genes.



The approach also dodges the yield dip seen when breeders simply crank up sugar-making enzymes across all tissues. With the brakes released only in the ripening fruit, leaves keep enough carbohydrate for photosynthesis and plant health.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-taste-buds-say-yes-to-sweeter-tomatoes">Taste buds say yes to sweeter tomatoes</h2>



In two tasting panels totaling about 200 volunteers, 60 percent of participants picked the gene-edited tomatoes as sweeter, even in blind comparisons. The statisticians confirmed that preference exceeded chance, and matched the biochemical jump in sugars.



Sensory data back earlier market surveys showing that shoppers will pay more for fruit scoring 4.5° Brix or higher. Higher sugar also concentrates sauces faster, cutting processing energy and wastewater.



Notably, the sweeter new tomatoes did not lose bright acidity, so flavors stayed balanced rather than cloying. That balance answers complaints about some old “sweet” heirlooms that lacked the tang chefs prize.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-greenhouse-to-grocery-aisle">From greenhouse to grocery aisle</h2>



Genome-edited <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ripening-tomatoes-may-hold-clues-to-delay-human-aging/">tomatoes</a> have already reached consumers in Japan, where a high-GABA variety went on sale in 2021. Those sales show that shoppers will try to produce improvements with precise edits rather than foreign DNA.



Regulatory landscapes differ, however. England and Wales still require secondary legislation before farmers can plant edited crops, so shelves there may wait three to five years.



In the United States, the <a href="https://blog.aspb.org/policy-update-federal-judge-vacates-usda-rule-regulating-biotech-crops/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">USDA</a> exempts most deletion edits from extra oversight, so field trials could begin quickly once a seed company licenses the trait. Because the edit involves only a few base pairs, breeders can back-cross the sweetness trait into any commercial line in a single year.



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



Industry analysts expect the first commercial plantings to target premium snacking tomatoes, where sweetness commands top dollar. If consumers embrace the flavor, larger slicers and processing cultivars will follow.



The researchers are already testing whether milder edits that tweak gene promoters rather than deleting coding regions, can fine-tune <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/squats-vs-walking-the-definitive-winner-for-reducing-blood-sugar/">sugar</a> levels for different markets. They are also exploring stacked edits that pair sweeter fruit with extended shelf life, aiming to reduce post-harvest waste.



With the sugar brakes off, breeders finally have a clear lane to restore the taste that many people remember from backyard gardens.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08186-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Scientists use gene editing to make tomatoes that are 30% sweeter and healthier

Fruit lovers often complain that supermarket tomatoes look gorgeous yet...

Forests act like natural storage units for carbon. Trees soak it up and hold it in their trunks, branches, roots, and leaves. But this ability to store carbon isn’t fixed. Climate shifts and human activity can throw it off balance. What’s happening in one forest might not match what’s going on in another. 



That’s why scientists need a consistent, long-term way to track how forest biomass is changing over time.



That’s exactly what researchers from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">European Space Agency</a> (ESA) have been working on. In a recent study, they used a satellite originally designed to measure soil moisture and ocean salinity to estimate forest biomass over a 15-year period. The key data point they used? Something called vegetation optical depth, or VOD.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-soil-satellite-spots-forest-trends">Soil satellite spots forest trends</h2>



Launched in 2009, ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission was never designed to track forests. Its main tool - the Microwave Imaging Radiometer - was supposed to map <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-soil-moisture-can-predict-severe-storms/">soil moisture</a> on land and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-induced-changes-in-ocean-salinity-threaten-biodiversity-and-marine-ecosystems/">salinity</a> in oceans.



But over time, scientists noticed something else. The radiometer was also picking up signals from vegetation.



The VOD measurement from SMOS tells us how much vegetation is in the way of the microwave signal. In simple terms, the denser and wetter the vegetation, the more the signal gets blocked. 



That’s why VOD can be used to estimate how much biomass is above ground. This includes both dry material like trunks and branches, and water stored in leaves and stems.



“SMOS is able to detect how the microwave radiation signal from its instrument gets weaker when it passes through vegetation,” said Matthias Drusch, Land Surfaces Principal Scientist at ESA. “That tells us about total mass: dry biomass plus water content. It’s not direct, but it’s very useful.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unraveling-forest-satellite-data">Unraveling forest satellite data</h2>



Tracking VOD over time gives a picture of what’s happening in forests across the globe, but making sense of it isn’t always easy.



“Over the SMOS time series, you can spot major trends - big <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-is-now-the-driving-force-behind-droughts/">droughts</a>, floods, or shifts in vegetation structure - but interpreting them isn’t always straightforward,” said Klaus Scipal, SMOS and Biomass Mission Manager at ESA. “Because the signal includes both biomass and water, we need to be cautious about what we’re actually seeing.”



That’s where long-term analysis and ground data come in. Paul Vermunt, a scientist from the University of Twente in the Netherlands, emphasized this point.



“You need long time-series, but also a way to interpret them,” he said. “That’s why we’re combining satellite data with on-the-ground measurements."



"The idea is to link what we see from space with what’s happening inside forests and even individual trees.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-biomass-adds-fine-detail">Biomass adds fine detail</h2>



In April of this year, ESA launched another satellite called Biomass. This one is equipped with a radar that uses longer radio waves than SMOS. While SMOS works in the L-band, Biomass operates in the P-band. 



“<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biomass-satellite-mission-sends-first-images-of-earths-most-extreme-environments/">Biomass</a> gives us detailed structural data, especially in the tropics,” said Drusch. “But it doesn’t cover the globe and lacks a long time record. If we want maps without gaps, we have to combine multiple satellites - and that’s only possible if we understand the uncertainties in each.”



Scipal added, “Biomass has a much finer resolution than SMOS, so it helps us zoom in on the structural details. But to see long-term trends, you still need SMOS. Together, they tell us more than either one alone.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-forests-across-decades">Tracking forests across decades</h2>



The SMOS dataset now spans from 2011 to 2025 and provides consistent global observations. That’s invaluable for tracking how forests are responding to climate change and human pressures. 



When paired with the more detailed view from Biomass, scientists can monitor both the big picture and the small shifts happening inside <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forests-rich-tree-diversity-adapt-better-changing-climate/">forest ecosystems</a>.



“SMOS allows us to look on long-term trends on a global scale - and Biomass is now zooming in on spatial details and specifically at structural changes in the canopy,” said Scipal.



The findings from the SMOS study also line up well with other climate monitoring datasets, including those from ESA’s Climate Change Initiative. With more satellites coming online and better tools to interpret their data, researchers are building a stronger, clearer picture of the world's forests - and how they’re changing.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/17/1101/2025/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth System Science Data</a>.



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Satellites capture dramatic shifts in Earth's forests

Forests act like natural storage units for carbon. Trees soak...

Terrestrial vegetation has been the foundation of food webs and a crucial ally in climate regulation for eons. From 2003 to 2021, that green land engine began to outpace its blue counterpart.



A new analysis draws on six independent satellite data sets to show that land plants increased their net primary production by roughly 0.2 billion metric tons of carbon each year. In contrast, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invisible-forest-of-phytoplankton-thrives-in-a-warming-climate/">marine phytoplankton</a> lost about half that amount.



The bottom line, write Yulong Zhang and colleagues from <a href="https://duke.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Duke University</a>, is that global photosynthesis still crept upward - just not everywhere, and not for the same reasons.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-land-surge-in-net-primary-production">Land surge in net primary production </h2>



Because satellites can detect the chlorophyll pigments that make leaves and plankton appear green, researchers can turn those brightness maps into estimates of carbon fixed by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/revealing-the-secrets-of-photosynthesis-through-pep/">photosynthesis</a>.



For this study, the team blended three terrestrial and three marine products, covering nearly two decades. They then traced the annual ups and downs in each realm.



The land situation stood out immediately. “The shift toward greater primary production on land mainly stemmed from plants in higher latitudes, where warming has extended growing seasons and created more favorable temperatures,” explained study co-author Wenhong Li.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forests-thrive-oceans-decline">Forests thrive, oceans decline</h2>



In addition, temperate zones benefited from “local wetting in some areas, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forests-will-struggle-without-winter-snow/">forest</a> expansion, and cropland intensification.” These gains more than compensated for a stubborn patch of stagnation across tropical South America.



Ocean productivity told a different story. “Rising <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-are-substantially-changing-the-seasons-of-the-ocean/">sea surface temperatures</a> likely reduced primary production by phytoplankton in tropical and subtropical regions,” said Nicolas Cassar, senior scientist on the project.



Warmer surface layers, he noted, form a cap that suppresses the turbulent mixing needed to replenish nutrients in sun-lit waters. The result, ocean productivity declined by roughly 0.1 billion tons of carbon per year, with the Pacific basin leading the retreat.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ocean-carbon-tied-to-climate">Ocean carbon tied to climate</h2>



Although land plants dominated the long-term trend, oceans dictated much of the year-to-year variability.



“We observed that ocean primary production responds much more strongly to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/el-nino-climate-shifts-date-back-250-million-years/">El Niño</a> and La Niña than land primary production,” said study co-author Shineng Hu.



Indeed, a trio of La Niña events after 2015 temporarily reversed the downward slope in marine photosynthesis. This underlines how tightly plankton communities are lashed to climate oscillations.



The researchers parsed several environmental drivers - light, temperatures, precipitation, and mixed-layer depth - to understand why land and sea diverged. Their conclusion was that warming (and, in some places, wetter conditions) favored northern forests and fields. Meanwhile, the same warming starved tropical waters of nutrients.



“Whether the decline in ocean primary production will continue - and how long and to what extent increases on land can make up for those losses - remains a key unanswered question," noted Zhang. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ocean-losses-threaten-biodiversity">Ocean losses threaten biodiversity</h2>



Photosynthetic organisms not only fuel ecosystems; they also shape the planet’s carbon balance. Terrestrial plants, boosted by longer growing seasons and human land management, currently outweigh the losses at sea, but the margin is slim.



Should ocean productivity continue to sag, tropical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/protected-areas-dont-always-protect-food-webs/">food webs</a> - already strained - could fray further, jeopardizing fisheries and weakening a major carbon sink. 



As the authors caution, declines in plankton and stagnation on tropical land can weaken the foundation of tropical food webs. This will have cascading effects on biodiversity, fisheries, and local economies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-monitoring-net-primary-production">Monitoring net primary production </h2>



The synthesis highlights the need for an integrated monitoring network that treats forests and phytoplankton as parts of one global engine.



“If you’re looking at planetary health, you want to look at both terrestrial and marine domains for an integrated view of net primary production,” Cassar emphasized.



Many of the foundational studies that stitched land and sea together are now more than two decades old. Updating that picture is urgent as climate patterns shift.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-carbon-fight-shifts-from-ocean-to-land">Carbon fight shifts from ocean to land</h2>



Net primary production, the authors argue, is effectively Earth’s scoreboard for life. It registers how much solar energy is converted into the organic matter that nourishes everything else.



According to Zhang, net primary production is the amount of energy photosynthetic organisms capture and make available to support nearly all other life in an ecosystem. That metric shows if the biosphere is gaining or losing ground in sequestering atmospheric carbon.



For now, an energetic Northern Hemisphere offsets a flagging equatorial ocean. But the equilibrium is delicate, and the drivers - temperature, rainfall, nutrient mixing - are changing fast.



“Long-term, coordinated monitoring of both land and ocean ecosystems as integrated components of Earth is essential," concluded Zhang. 



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02375-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Climate Change</a>.



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Oceans lag behind forests in Earth’s carbon fight

Terrestrial vegetation has been the foundation of food webs and...

It’s common knowledge that plants need water to survive, but what’s less obvious is how differently they manage it. From forests to grasslands, plants have developed remarkably varied strategies to cope with water stress.



Some plants burn through water like there’s no tomorrow. Others ration it carefully. The kapok trees of the Amazon have different tactics than the tough grasses on the American plains. 



But until now, scientists had no easy way to compare how these strategies play out across different ecosystems and how they change when the environment shifts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-water-shortages-and-plant-behavior">Water shortages and plant behavior</h2>



Scientists at <a href="https://www.ucsb.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UC Santa Barbara</a> and <a href="https://www.sdsu.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">San Diego State University</a> have found a way to make sense of this. They built a model that uses soil moisture data to detect how plants behave when it comes to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/not-all-plants-handle-water-the-same-heres-why-it-matters/">water</a>. 



The team applied this model to a global dataset, covering ecosystems all over the planet. The results show that two key factors drive plant behavior: how dry a place is, and how dense the vegetation is.



“When plants face water shortages, grasslands act like spendthrifts (using water aggressively until it’s gone). In contrast, forests act more like careful budgeters (cutting back water use early to avoid disaster),” said senior author Kelly Caylor, a professor at UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science &amp; Management.



The study also points out a flaw in existing models, noting that they likely overestimate how quickly ecosystems lose water during droughts. That has big implications for climate models, agriculture, and water planning.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-smarter-way-to-read-soil">A smarter way to read soil</h2>



Plants respond to water stress in a wide variety of ways. That’s part of what makes them so good at surviving. But it’s also made it hard for scientists to find broad patterns in their behavior.



Lead author Bryn Morgan noticed something others had missed: the way soil moisture changes over time might hold the key.



Until now, models of soil drying were focused on being easy to calculate, not on accurately reflecting how plants actually use water. Most treated the relationship between plants and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-much-energy-do-plants-use-to-lift-water-from-the-soil/">soil</a> as linear - simple input, simple output.



“But there is nonlinearity in the data,” said co-author Ryoko Araki, a joint doctoral student at UCSB and SDSU.



To address this, Araki led the development of a new, nonlinear model. It captures how soil dries after rain - not just as a mathematical curve, but in a way that reflects how plants take risks (or don’t) when water is scarce. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-plants-spend-their-water-budget">How plants spend their water budget</h2>



With this model in hand, the team looked at soil moisture readings from a global network of sensors. They found the parts of each record where soil was drying and fit the model to each episode.



By studying the shape and slope of each drydown curve, they could tell how aggressive or conservative the plants were.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/grasslands-are-racing-to-adapt-to-climate-shifts/">Grasslands</a> and dry regions tended to show more aggressive water use. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forests-provide-different-health-benefits-based-on-their-structure/">Forests</a> and wetter regions leaned more conservatively.



“If water is the currency of vegetated ecosystems, grasses are out here like, ‘YOLO,’ while trees are investing for retirement. They’re playing the long game," said Morgan.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-risky-behavior-vs-cautious-planning">Risky behavior vs. cautious planning</h2>



It’s not just about water - it’s about strategy. Grasses often live fast and die young. They might only have one shot at life per year. Trees are in it for the long haul. They can’t afford to damage their water-transport systems.



“Grasslands are like sprinters who give everything they have until they hit the wall,” Caylor explained. “Forests are like marathon runners who pace themselves and slow down strategically to finish a longer race.”



“This is the overall behavior, but, of course, we see a range of aggressive to conservative strategies within a given ecosystem," said Morgan. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-adaptive-behavior-of-plants">Adaptive behavior of plants</h2>



Once the researchers had a sense of how ecosystems differ from each other, they looked at how behaviors shift within a single ecosystem.



The team found that as things get drier, or as water demand rises, plants change their strategy. They become more aggressive. For example, in a place like the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/burrowing-animals-in-the-mojave-desert-escape-the-heat-of-climate-change/">Mojave Desert</a>, where rainfall is highly seasonal, plant behavior can swing wildly across the year.



Until now, scientists mostly studied water use either up-close in the lab or from afar using satellites. This model bridges that gap.



“Bryn’s approach is clever in using in-situ measurements at a global scale,” Araki said. That middle-ground perspective helped them see patterns that had been hidden.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-building-better-climate-models">Building better climate models</h2>



Soil moisture plays a role in global carbon and climate models, but these models rarely include the subtleties of plant behavior. 



“The uncertainty in estimates of the global carbon cycle is really sensitive to how vegetation responds to soil moisture limitation,” Morgan said.



Better models mean better predictions. Morgan has submitted a proposal to NASA to explore how this new nonlinear parameter could be folded into existing earth system models. She’s also interested in how these plant strategies feed back into the system over time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-capturing-soil-moisture-dynamics">Capturing soil moisture dynamics</h2>



Araki, on the other hand, is focused on scaling. Soil moisture isn’t uniform. It changes a lot, even over short distances. That makes it hard to build accurate large-scale models.



“In reality there is topography, vegetation, soil,” said Araki. “So scientists can’t apply simple statistics to the system.”



“Understanding how soil moisture values themselves scale is something hydrologists have been interested in for decades,” noted Morgan. 



The challenge now is figuring out how to capture those dynamics - from a single measurement site all the way up to an entire watershed.



The full study was published in the journal Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution.



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Plants use unique strategies to budget water in the wild

It’s common knowledge that plants need water to survive, but...

Two thousand years ago, traders hauled baskets of dates along the dusty roads of Judea, unaware that a few fallen pits would one day slip back into the light. 



This year, those same pits stand taller than a person, their feathery leaves waving over the Arava desert in southern Israel.



A new study has documented the germination of these ancient <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-plant-tissue-discovered-that-increases-seed-size-by-up-to-16-percent/">seeds</a> and traced their genetic roots to long-lost varieties of Judean date palms.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-seeds-that-outlived-empires">Seeds that outlived empires</h2>



<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sarah-Sallon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Sarah Sallon</a> of Hadassah Medical Center and <a href="https://arava.org/arava-research-centers/arava-center-for-sustainable-agriculture/csa-staff/dr-elaine-solowey/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Elaine Solowey</a> of the Arava Institute coaxed the first of the ancient seeds, later nicknamed Methuselah, to germinate in 2005.



Several companions soon followed, including female trees such as Hannah that can bear fruit when pollinated by their venerable brother. 



The pits came from archaeological digs at Masada and nearby desert caves, places where rebels once chose death over Roman capture.



Protected by the region’s bone dry air, the seeds escaped decay and insect jaws long enough to meet twenty first century potting soil.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unearthing-and-waking-the-dates">Unearthing and waking the dates</h2>



The team first soaked each pit in warm water, then bathed it in nutrient and growth hormone solutions before planting it in sterile soil. 



Some sprouted within eight weeks, while others dawdled for half a year, testing the botanists’ patience.



All the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-seeds-go-dormant-to-avoid-harsh-conditions/">seed</a> shells were sent to a lab to find out how old they were using carbon testing, confirming ages that range from the fourth century BCE to the second century CE.&nbsp;



Once green shoots appeared, the seedlings moved to a quarantine greenhouse where desert sunlight and desalinated water mimicked ancient flood plain conditions.



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



Radiocarbon results alone could have been disputed, so the team compared seed size and shape with those of 100 modern date varieties. 



The ancient pits were about thirty percent larger, <a href="https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/new-fruit-from-old-seeds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">matching</a> Roman writers’ praise for the hefty, honey flavored Judean crop.



Their thick shells likely slowed oxygen seepage and microbial attack, key factors in extreme seed longevity.



When Methuselah finally unfurled its first frond, it became the oldest known <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/buried-seeds-in-soil-help-forests-recover-faster-after-damage/">seed</a> ever germinated under human care.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reading-ancient-genomes">Reading ancient genomes</h2>



Once the palms were strong enough for leaf sampling, researchers used DNA sequencing to build whole genomes. 



The work showed that eastern varieties dominated earlier centuries, while later pits carried genes from North Africa and Mesopotamia.



That genetic mosaic backs the view that Judean farmers imported elite cultivars and pollinated them with local males, a practice that helped dates conquer distant markets. 



It also gives modern breeders clues for drought tolerance, disease resistance, and the caramel-like sweetness prized in the Middle East.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-in-seed-longevity">Lessons in seed longevity</h2>



The Judean date palms aren’t the only ancient seeds to make a comeback. In 2012, Russian scientists grew a flower from fruit that had been frozen in the ground for 32,000 years.



In the 1990s, American botanist <a href="https://aspb.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Legacy-Society-Founding-Members-Jane-Shen-Miller.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jane Shen Miller</a> sprouted a lotus seed that had slept for roughly 1,300 years in a dry Chinese lakebed.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Together, these feats show that protective seed coats, cool or arid storage, and low oxygen extend viability far beyond typical agricultural timelines.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-taste-of-history-to-come">A taste of history to come</h2>



Hannah produced her first small cluster of dates in 2020 after receiving Methuselah’s pollen, and volunteers described the flavor as subtly sweet with a hint of honey. 



If later harvests confirm that judgment, chefs and growers could someday reintroduce an authentic “biblical date” to markets from Tel Aviv to New York.



“It won’t be the typical Judean date,” Sallon cautions that today’s trees are still genetic blends rather than perfect copies of their Iron Age ancestors. Noting that ancient growers usually propagated prized females by offshoots rather than by seed.



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



Modern <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seeds-rich-in-protein-and-magnesium-help-grow-muscle-mass-fenugreek/">seed</a> banks aim to store crop diversity in case of climate shocks, disease, or war. 



Knowing that date pits survived two millennia suggests that vaults kept cool and dry could protect food security far longer than current targets of a few decades.



The old palms also stir cultural memory. People today can stand beside living organisms that first saw sunlight when the Second Temple still dominated Jerusalem, an encounter that makes the past tangible without museum glass.



Sheer curiosity drove the long experiment, yet its payoff reaches beyond nostalgia. 



Genomic clues from the revived palms may help breeders develop heat resilient dates for a warming planet, and the hardy seedlings themselves could replenish groves threatened by salinity and pests.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-024-06721-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</a>



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Scientists manage to grow plants from ancient seeds that are 2,000 years old

Two thousand years ago, traders hauled baskets of dates along...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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"Scrumping" apes may explain how humans started drinking alcohol

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Potato origins mystery solved after 9 million years

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

We hear a lot about how climate change affects animals - but what if the reverse is also true?



New research suggests that when animals disappear from forests, the forests lose one of their key tools for fighting climate change. That connection between animals and climate may be even stronger than we thought.



Scientists at the <a href="https://www.mit.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> have found that tropical forests regrow much more effectively when they still have healthy populations of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-plants-wont-survive-the-loss-of-seed-dispersing-animals/">seed-dispersing animals</a>. 



In fact, they can absorb up to four times more carbon than similar forests where those animals are missing or declining.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forests-need-wildlife-to-function">Forests need wildlife to function</h2>



Tropical forests are the planet’s biggest land-based carbon sinks. That means they absorb and store more carbon than any other type of ecosystem. 



So, understanding what keeps those forests functioning isn’t just an ecological question - it’s a climate question.



Evan Fricke, a research scientist in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is the lead author of the new study.



“The results underscore the importance of animals in maintaining healthy, carbon-rich tropical forests,” said Fricke. “When seed-dispersing animals decline, we risk weakening the climate-mitigating power of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tropical-forests-are-struggling-to-keep-pace-with-climate-change/">tropical forests</a>.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-animals-are-nature-s-forest-planters">Animals are nature’s forest planters</h2>



If you’ve ever watched a monkey munch on fruit or a bird fly off with a berry, you’ve seen nature’s version of forest management in action.



When these animals eat fruit and later defecate the seeds elsewhere, they help forests regenerate. In tropical regions, over 75 percent of tree species depend on animals to disperse their seeds.



Without those animals, seeds don’t travel far, germinate less often, and forests grow back more slowly - if at all.



Fricke has spent nearly 15 years studying this process. He’s shown in past work that animal seed dispersal helps <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trees-have-unique-fungi-partnerships-that-help-them-survive/">trees survive</a> and adapt. Now, his team is thinking more broadly about what that means for the planet.



“We’re now thinking more about the roles that animals might play in affecting the climate through seed dispersal,” Fricke said. 



“We know that in tropical forests, where more than three-quarters of trees rely on animals for seed dispersal, the decline of seed dispersal could affect not just the biodiversity of forests, but how they bounce back from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-deforestation-crisis-how-can-we-stop-massive-forest-losses/">deforestation</a>. We also know that all around the world, animal populations are declining.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-impact-of-missing-animals">The impact of missing animals</h2>



To find out just how big an impact this has, the MIT researchers pulled together massive datasets - on biodiversity, animal movement, seed dispersal, and carbon storage. They studied 17,000 plots, tracking animals’ locations, movements, and the seeds they dispersed.



The team also factored in human pressures. In areas with heavy human activity, animals didn’t travel as far or scatter seeds as widely. The team built an index to measure how much <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/insects-play-a-much-bigger-role-in-seed-dispersal-than-we-thought/">seed dispersal</a> had been disrupted and compared that to how much carbon forests in those areas could store.



“It was a big task to bring data from thousands of field studies together into a map of the disruption of seed dispersal,” Fricke said. “But it lets us go beyond just asking what animals are there to actually quantifying the ecological roles those animals are playing and understanding how human pressures affect them.”



What they found was striking. Forests lost 1.8 metric tons of carbon per hectare yearly where seed-dispersing animals had declined. That’s a 57 percent drop in regrowth potential.



The finding that disrupted seed dispersal leads to a fourfold drop in carbon absorption highlights seed dispersers as a key driver of tropical forest carbon.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-animals-make-climate-solutions-work">Animals make climate solutions work</h2>



Not all forests are equally positioned for regrowth. The team found that some landscapes are more promising than others - especially those near intact forests or with lots of tree cover. 



In these places, animal populations are more stable, which helps forests bounce back naturally.



“In the discussion around planting trees versus allowing trees to regrow naturally, regrowth is basically free, whereas planting trees costs money, and it also leads to less diverse forests,” said Professor César Terrer.



“With these results… we can understand where natural regrowth can happen effectively because there are animals planting the seeds for free.”



This research adds a new layer to climate modeling. If seed-dispersing animals are missing, regrowth estimates may be too optimistic. If animals are thriving, some areas may have more regrowth potential than previously thought.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-saving-forests-means-saving-animals">Saving forests means saving animals</h2>



The researchers suggest several ways to support seed-dispersing animals. These include restoring habitats, building wildlife corridors, and limiting activities like wildlife trade. 



In some cases, reintroducing missing species or planting trees that attract them could help restore these lost relationships.



It’s also about getting the science right. Future studies may examine whether the decline in tropical forests’ carbon-absorbing power is linked more to extreme weather or to the loss of these animal-plant partnerships.



“Forests provide a huge climate subsidy by sequestering about a third of all <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-faces-hidden-mechanical-stress-from-carbon-emissions/">human carbon emissions</a>,” Terrer said. “Tropical forests are by far the most important carbon sink globally, but in the last few decades, their ability to sequester carbon has been declining."



The team will next investigate whether the decline is driven more by extreme droughts and fires or by reduced animal seed dispersal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-losing-wildlife-worsens-warming">Losing wildlife worsens warming</h2>



Ultimately, the findings point to a deeper truth. Climate and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/diverse-forests-are-more-resilient-and-productive/">biodiversity</a> aren't separate problems - they're intertwined.



“It’s been clear that climate change threatens biodiversity, and now this study shows how biodiversity losses can exacerbate climate change,” said Fricke. “These are challenges we need to tackle in tandem."



“When we lose our animals, we’re losing the ecological infrastructure that keeps our tropical forests healthy and resilient."



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2500951122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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Forests rely on animals to help fight climate change

We hear a lot about how climate change affects animals...

Farmers lose billions of dollars each year to diseases that clog a plant’s veins and leave entire fields limp. New work from UC, Davis shows that a carefully edited immune sensor can help crops recognize some of the bacteria behind those losses - a threat that's growing as the climate warms.



The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-02049-y">discovery</a> builds on decades of study into how plants notice invaders and trigger internal alarms. It also highlights a fast moving molecular arms race, because microbes constantly tweak the proteins on their surface to slip past detection.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rebuilding-crop-disease-defenses">Rebuilding crop disease defenses</h2>



A team led by Gitta Coaker, a plant disease expert at <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UC Davis</a>, found that natural versions of a plant sensor called FLS2 can detect one piece of a bacterial protein - but often miss similar ones.



By studying FLS2 genes from different plant species, they identified specific building blocks - or amino acids - that affect how well the sensor recognizes threats. 



When they changed just 13 of these in a crop-friendly version, the sensor regained its ability to detect bacteria it had previously overlooked.



“We were able to resurrect a defeated receptor - one where the pathogen has won - and enable the plant to have a chance to resist infection in a much more targeted and precise way,” said Coaker. 



She sees the strategy as a template for updating other sensors that guard against diverse pests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sensor-targets-bacterial-tail">Sensor targets bacterial tail</h2>



Many plants use FLS2 to detect a small piece of a bacterial tail protein called <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/soil-bacteria-help-plants-balance-growth-and-immunity/">flagellin</a>. This 22-amino-acid piece, known as flg22, triggers the plant’s immune system.



When FLS2 recognizes flg22, it sets off a strong defense response, flooding plant cells with calcium and reactive oxygen to fight off the bacteria.



But if bacteria make small changes to the end of flg22, the sensor may not detect them. That allows the bacteria to spread through the plant’s water-carrying tissue. The result is bacterial wilt - a fast-moving disease that can wipe out tomato or potato plants almost overnight.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-guides-plant-edits">AI guides plant edits</h2>



To predict which edits would matter most, the team turned to AlphaFold, an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-is-taking-scientific-discovery-from-decades-to-minutes/">AI model</a> that guesses protein shapes to near-atomic detail. The software flagged residues on FLS2’s concave surface that should touch the tricky flg22 variants.



Those predictions steered the lab work, trimming months of trial and error from the project. Matching computer output with greenhouse assays confirmed that the redesigned receptor could sense multiple strains at nanomolar peptide doses.



Importantly, the new sensor left normal growth untouched, a key point for breeders wary of yield penalties. The study shows that AI can make molecular tinkering far less of a guessing game.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reprogramming-crop-disease-defense">Reprogramming crop disease defense</h2>



Plants cannot produce <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exercise-after-vaccination-improves-antibody-levels/">antibodies</a> on demand, so boosting pattern recognition is their safest bet. Replacing a handful of residues acts like a firmware update, expanding what the cell sees without rewriting the entire gene.



In one test, tomato leaves expressing the edited receptor produced a reactive oxygen burst 20 times stronger than controls when exposed to Ralstonia peptides. Disease symptoms dropped sharply in subsequent challenge assays.



“This approach could be a path toward broad-spectrum resistance that doesn’t rely on chemical sprays,” said Coaker. She added that farmers need options that fit current management budgets.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-blocking-bacteria-at-the-root">Blocking bacteria at the root</h2>



Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the world’s most damaging crop diseases, capable of infecting over 200 plant species. It causes wilt and brown rot, leading to more than $1 billion in global losses each year.



Once inside, the bacteria clog water vessels, blocking sprays and antibiotics from reaching the infection. The best defense is early detection at the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-roots-could-be-key-to-fighting-climate-change/">root</a>, where the plant’s immune system can still recognize the invader.



To help crops do that, scientists are using CRISPR to make tiny edits - just a few genetic “spelling changes” - in immune receptor genes. These edits don’t add any foreign DNA and are treated like traditional breeding in countries such as the U.S.



By combining these enhanced receptors with other resistance genes, plant breeders may slow the rise of new, harder-to-stop bacterial strains. This could reduce the need for fungicides and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-antibiotics-detected-in-hundreds-of-rivers-worldwide/">antibiotics</a>, which would also help protect soil and water.



Small-scale farmers, especially in warm regions where tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are dietary staples, could benefit the most. Healthier crops mean more reliable income and better food security for their communities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-of-plant-immunity">Future of plant immunity</h2>



Coaker’s group is now training machine learning models to rank other receptors for editability. 



Early simulations suggest that tweaking as few as eight residues can widen perception for several unrelated microbial patterns.



If that holds up, crop scientists could one day scan whole pathogen genomes in silico and pre-test receptor updates before a disease outbreak ever starts.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-02049-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Plants</a>.



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Small DNA tweak protects plants from devastating crop disease

Farmers lose billions of dollars each year to diseases that...

A recent study has revealed that immersion in virtual reality (VR) nature scenes can significantly ease the symptoms of chronic pain. 



The strongest benefits appeared in participants who felt deeply present during the experience, enhancing comfort and reducing pain sensitivity effectively over time.



The research, led by the University of Exeter, involved an immersive 360-degree <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-nature-conservation-day-2025-a-healthy-future-for-all/">nature</a> films through VR against standard 2D video images. VR proved almost twice as effective in reducing pain perception.



Chronic pain, which lasts for more than three months, can be challenging to treat. The researchers simulated this condition in healthy participants. 



The experts discovered that VR nature scenes produced pain-relieving effects similar to painkillers. These effects persisted for at least five minutes after the VR experience ended.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-virtual-reality-and-chronic-pain">Virtual reality and chronic pain</h2>



The study was led by Dr. Sam Hughes, senior lecturer in pain neuroscience at the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Exeter</a>. 



“We’ve seen a growing body of evidence show that exposure to nature can help reduce short term, everyday pain, but there has been less research into how this might work for people living with chronic or longer-term pain,” said Dr. Hughes.



“Also, not everyone is able to get out for walks in nature, particularly those living with long term health conditions like chronic pain. Our study is the first to look at the effect of prolonged exposure to a virtual reality nature scene on symptoms seen during long term pain sensitivity.



According to Dr. Hughes, the results suggest that immersive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-day-2025-innovation-takes-the-lead-in-environmental-action/">nature</a> experiences can reduce the development of this pain sensitivity through an enhanced sense of presence and through harnessing the brains in-built pain suppression systems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-virtual-nature-scenes-as-therapy">Virtual nature scenes as therapy</h2>



The study, funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences, involved 29 healthy participants. The researchers applied pain to the forearm using electric shocks and then measured pain changes over a 50-minute period. 



Participants developed pain sensitivity similar to nerve pain in the absence of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-environment-day-2025-plastic-pollution-is-choking-our-planet/">nature</a> scenes. On a separate visit, the same participants experienced a 45-minute VR nature session featuring the waterfalls of Oregon. 



The scene was selected to enhance therapeutic outcomes. On another occasion, participants viewed the same nature scenes on a 2D screen for comparison.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-feeling-present-in-vr-lowers-pain">Feeling present in VR lowers pain</h2>



The participants also completed questionnaires about their pain experience and how present they felt in each scenario. Additional visits included MRI brain scans at the University of Exeter’s Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre. 



Here, researchers induced ongoing pain using a cold gel and examined how participants’ brains responded.



The immersive VR experience significantly reduced the spread and intensity of pain sensitivity. These benefits lasted through the entire 45-minute session. Participants who felt more present during the VR experience reported greater pain relief.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-virtual-nature-scenes-work">Why virtual nature scenes work</h2>



The brain scans revealed that participants with stronger connections in brain regions regulating pain experienced less discomfort. VR nature scenes altered the way pain signals travel in the brain and spinal cord, especially for chronic pain conditions.



“We think VR has a particularly strong effect on reducing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nature-has-its-own-internet-and-were-only-beginning-to-understand-it/">experience</a> of pain because it’s so immersive. It really created that feeling of being present in nature - and we found the pain - reducing effect was greatest in people for whom that perception was strongest," said Dr. Sonia Medina.



"We hope our study leads to more research to investigate further how exposure to nature effects our pain responses, so we could one day see nature scenes incorporated into ways of reducing pain for people in settings like care homes or hospitals."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-using-vr-to-treat-chronic-pain">Using VR to treat chronic pain </h2>



The findings indicate that VR-based nature experiences could become part of pain management strategies. Future research will explore how this technology could benefit people living with chronic pain, especially those unable to access outdoor environments. 



Researchers hope these immersive experiences can complement existing therapies, improve quality of life, and offer accessible solutions for patients in hospitals, care homes, and other clinical settings where natural outdoor exposure is limited.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.lww.com/pain/abstract/9900/immersion_in_nature_through_virtual_reality.970.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pain</a>.



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Virtual nature scenes provide relief from chronic pain

A recent study has revealed that immersion in virtual reality...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The environmental problem we actually solved

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

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

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https://youtu.be/Fi2OeEwuzRM?si=vTyd2m9FMmtyWkex
</div></figure>







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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" 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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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