Every living organism relies on a genetic blueprint encoded in its DNA, yet the amount of DNA - or genome size - varies dramatically across the tree of life.&nbsp;



In animals alone, genome sizes range from the minuscule genome of Intoshia variabili, a marine parasite - which is about 200 times smaller than the human genome - to the massive genome of the marbled lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus) - which is over 40 times larger than ours.&nbsp;



Plants exhibit a similar range, with the fork fern (Tmesipteris oblanceolata) setting the record with a genome size over 50 times larger than that of humans.



This diversity in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/genome-mapping-completed-for-dozens-of-common-animals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">genome</a> size reveals the vast variety of life forms on Earth, but it also raises a fascinating question: If smaller genomes lead to faster, more efficient growth, why do some species have larger genomes?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-advantages-of-smaller-genome-sizes">Advantages of smaller genome sizes</h2>



The replication of DNA is essential for cell production and growth, making smaller genomes more efficient as they require fewer resources and time to replicate.&nbsp;



Smaller genomes demand fewer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/excess-nutrients-are-creating-ocean-dead-zones/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">nutrients</a>, especially the DNA-building elements nitrogen and phosphorus, making them ideal for rapid growth and reproduction.



Because of these advantages, it’s not surprising that most species have evolved with relatively small genomes.&nbsp;



However, large genomes persist in some organisms, suggesting that these genomes may confer certain benefits in specific environments, where the costs of carrying extra DNA are outweighed by unique growth advantages.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-exploring-large-genome-benefits-in-grasses">Exploring large genome benefits in grasses</h2>



A research team led by the <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Sheffield</a> has recently studied the potential benefits of large genomes in grass species. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fairy-circles-kill-all-newly-planted-grasses-deepening-their-mystery/">Grasses</a>, a vast plant family found worldwide from arctic tundras to tropical savannas, vary in genome size, making them an ideal group to examine how genome size affects growth in different conditions.



The study, published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.20150" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New Phytologist</a>, examined the growth of various grass species under conditions mimicking their natural environments - high temperatures, low nutrients, and drought. 



The scientists compared growth rates to each species’ genome size and observed that while grasses with smaller genomes generally grew better across most conditions, larger genomes provided advantages in two specific scenarios.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-large-genomes-thrive-in-nutrient-rich-environments">Large genomes thrive in nutrient-rich environments</h2>



The first scenario where larger genomes proved beneficial was in nutrient-rich soils. While low nutrient levels slowed down large-genome grasses, those with large genomes thrived in high-nutrient environments.&nbsp;



Here, the extra DNA content meant larger cells that produced more biomass, such as leaves, which allowed these plants to outgrow and overshadow neighbors with smaller genomes.&nbsp;



In nutrient-poor areas, however, the demands of replicating additional DNA outweighed these benefits, making smaller genomes more favorable.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-growing-seasons-and-genome-sizes">Growing seasons and genome sizes</h2>



The second advantage for large-genome grasses occurred in cooler environments, such as temperate regions with lower growing season temperatures.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-do-plants-grow-more-branches-and-become-bushy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Plant growth</a> typically has two stages: cell division, where new cells are generated, and cell expansion, where cells swell with water to help the plant grow taller or spread. 



Cool temperatures significantly slow down cell division, but they have less impact on cell expansion.&nbsp;



Consequently, grasses with larger cells, which accompany large genomes, can expand more rapidly by cell enlargement even in cooler weather, outpacing smaller-genome plants that rely on faster cell division in warmer temperatures.



This cell expansion process explains the early spring growth of plants like daffodils and bluebells, which also have large genomes.&nbsp;



These plants perform much of their cell division in warmer months, allowing them to use cell expansion to grow quickly in early spring, well before smaller-genome plants begin to compete for light and nutrients.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genome-size-diversity">Genome size diversity</h2>



The diversity in genome sizes among grasses may be one reason for their global success, as it allows them to adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions.&nbsp;



While smaller genomes typically support efficient growth, larger genomes offer unique advantages in specific environments, enabling certain species to thrive where others cannot.&nbsp;



This genetic diversity in grasses underscores the importance of variation in supporting species’ survival and adaptability across ecosystems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genome-size-and-evolutionary-success">Genome size and evolutionary success</h2>



The relationship between genome size and survival is not limited to plants. Our own medium-sized genome has supported humanity’s adaptability, though we don’t face the same nutrient limitations as stationary plants.&nbsp;



Unlike grasses, humans can move to seek out food and resources, which may allow us to bear the metabolic costs associated with our DNA without significant limitation.&nbsp;



This mobility highlights how different species leverage their genetic make-up in conjunction with unique behaviors and environmental interactions to thrive across diverse habitats.



In summary, the role of genome size in evolutionary success is nuanced and complex.&nbsp;



From the efficient replication of small genomes to the adaptability enabled by larger ones, genome size continues to shape the ecological <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/asian-forests-proving-resilient-both-climate-change-human-actions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">resilience</a> and global distribution of life on Earth.



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How does genome size impact evolutionary success?

Every living organism relies on a genetic blueprint encoded in its DNA, yet the amount of DNA - or genome size - varies dramatically across the tree of life.&nbsp; In animals alone, genome sizes range from the minuscule genome of Intoshia variabili, a marine parasite - which is about 200 times smaller than the human genome - to the massive genome of the marbled lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus) - which is over 40 times larger than ours.&nbsp; Plants exhibit a similar range, with the fork fern (Tmesipteris oblanceolata)...

Grandmothers are important caregivers in many societies and can enrich the lives of their grandchildren with their love, kindness and knowledge. In modern societies, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dads-who-spend-more-time-with-their-kids-have-different-brain-structures/">caregiving</a> by engaged grandmothers has been associated with better outcomes for their grandchildren in terms of academic, social, behavioral and physical health parameters. 



The brain functioning of healthy, older people has seldom been investigated, with more attention being paid to elucidating the neural problems related to dementia and other aging disorders. However, in a recent study scientists have, for the first time, scanned grandmothers’ brains while they looked at photos of their young grandchildren, in order to understand how brain activity may relate to the benefits that they bring to their families.&nbsp;



A total of 50 grandmothers with grandchildren between 3 and 12 years of age participated in the study. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to identify the areas of the brain that became active when they viewed pictures of a grandchild, an unknown child, the same-sex parent and an unknown adult.&nbsp;



In addition, the participating grandmothers completed questionnaires about their involvement as grandmothers, and provided details such as how much time they spent with their grandchildren, the activities they shared and how much affection they felt for them.



The results showed that viewing grandchild pictures activated areas involved with emotional empathy (insula and secondary somatosensory cortex) and movement (motor cortex and supplementary motor area) in the brains of the grandmothers.



“What really jumps out in the data is the activation in areas of the brain associated with emotional empathy,” said study lead author James Rilling, <a href="https://www.emory.edu/home/index.html">Emory</a> professor of Anthropology. “That suggests that grandmothers are geared toward feeling what their grandchildren are feeling when they interact with them. If their grandchild is smiling, they’re feeling the child’s joy. And if their grandchild is crying, they’re feeling the child’s pain and distress.”



This was in contrast to the grandmothers’ neural responses to their adult child. When viewing images of their adult child, grandmothers showed stronger activation in areas of the brain associated with cognitive empathy (temporo-parietal junction and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex), indicating that they were trying to understand what their child was thinking or feeling, but from a cognitive (intellectual) rather than an emotional perspective.&nbsp;



“Young children have likely evolved traits to be able to manipulate not just the maternal brain, but the grand maternal brain,” said Professor Rilling. “An adult child doesn’t have the same cute ‘factor,’ so they may not illicit the same emotional response.”



“I can relate to this research personally because I spent a lot of time interacting with both of my grandmothers,” said study co-author Minwoo Lee. “I still remember warmly the moments I had with them. They were always so welcoming and happy to see me. As a child, I didn’t really understand why.”



“Here, we’re highlighting the brain functions of grandmothers that may play an important role in our social lives and development. It’s an important aspect of the human experience that has been largely left out of the field of neuroscience.”



Researchers in Professor Rilling’s lab focus on the neural basis of human social cognition and behavior. Although neural correlates of maternal behavior have been well studied by other neuroscientists, the Emory team has done novel research on the neuroscience of fatherhood, in addition to this new study on neural correlates of grandmaternal caregiving.



“We often assume that fathers are the most important caregivers next to mothers, but that’s not always true,” said Rilling. “In some cases, grandmothers are the primary helper.”



When compared with the brain activity shown by fathers who viewed photos of their children, grandmothers showed stronger activity in the brain regions involved with emotional empathy and motivation.&nbsp;



Grandmothers are important caregivers in many societies and previous research has shown that their involvement with the family may bring tangible evolutionary benefits. For example, a study of the traditional Hadza people of Tanzania, showed that foraging by grandmothers improved the nutritional status of their grandchildren. Another study of traditional communities showed that the presence of grandmothers decreases their daughters’ interbirth intervals and increases the number of grandchildren.



The neural evidence derived in this current study appears to support the hypothesis that that there is a global caregiving system in the brain, and that grandmothers are part of this system.&nbsp;



“Our results add to the evidence that there does seem to be a global parenting caregiving system in the brain, and that grandmothers’ responses to their grandchildren maps onto it,” said Professor Rilling.



Although the study has some limitations, such as the fact that only mentally and physically healthy grandmothers who were involved with their grandchildren took part, it does invite further research. “It would be interesting to also look at the neuroscience of grandfathers and how the brain functions of grandparents may differ across cultures,” said Lee.



Professor Rilling interviewed all the participants personally. “It was fun. I wanted to get a sense of the rewards and challenges of being a grandmother.” He stated that the main challenge many of them reported was trying not to interfere when they disagreed with the parents over how their grandchildren should be raised and what values should be instilled in them.



“Many of them also said how nice it is not to be under as much time and financial pressure as they were when raising their children. They get to enjoy the experience of being a grandmother much more than they did being parents.”



The study is published in the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>.



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

How a grandmother's brain reacts to the sight of her grandchildren

Grandmothers are important caregivers in many societies and can enrich...

Guinea,Pig,Friends

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0451-21.2021">eNeuro</a> has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-process-speech-in-the-same-way-as-humans/">speech</a> sounds elicit similar neural responses and stimulate the same brain areas in humans, macaques, and guinea pigs. These findings may help better understand and diagnose auditory processing deficits.



The brain’s responses to sounds (“frequency following responses,” or FFRs) can be recorded by small electrodes placed on the scalp, and are generally used by clinicians to quickly asses infants’ hearing capacities in order to find out whether they may develop disorders such as dyslexia or autism.&nbsp;



If the infants’ brains produce electrical responses to sounds played through tiny headphones, their neural pathways connecting the ears to the high-level information processing areas of the brain are functional. However, until recently, this method lacked specificity.



“These tests can only tell us that something is off – but we don’t know what that ‘off’ is,” said study co-author Bharath Chandrasekaran, a professor of Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburg’s <a href="https://www.shrs.pitt.edu/">School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences</a>.&nbsp;



“Understanding the source and mechanism of FFR generation would allow for the development of specific markers of speech impairments, which would be instrumental in improving clinical diagnostics of auditory processing deficits.”



Until recently, scientists thought that FFRs arise deep inside the brain stem. However, by combining electroencephalographic recordings from the scalp with recordings from electrodes placed inside the skull, the researchers found that FFRs are generated also in the auditory cortex of the brain, only a few centimeters away from the skull surface. Moreover, they appeared to be similar across mammals such as humans, monkeys, and guinea pigs.



“Recognizing the similarities between animal and human FFRs will allow us to study neural circuitry of sound processing in much greater detail,” said study lead author Nike Gnanateja Gurindapalli, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh. “These explorations will further pave the way for new models of auditory processing in both typical and impaired auditory systems, which can eventually be used to infer auditory deficits using simple and effective non-invasive tools in the clinic.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Since FFRs were traditionally thought to be passively generated outside the cortex, scientists did not typically account for a person’s attention and alertness during FFR recordings. This new discovery will change the way FFRs are collected and interpreted and will open pathways for the development of better biomarkers of auditory processing deficits, leading to faster, more accurate, and non-invasive diagnostics.



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

Speech sounds elicit similar brain responses in humans and guinea pigs

A new study published in the journal eNeuro has found...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/">University of Nottingham</a> has found that exercise increases the body’s endocannabinoids (the cannabis-like substances that our bodies produce), which helps reduce inflammation and can thus have potential therapeutic applications for conditions such as arthritis, cancer, or heart disease.&nbsp;



The research team tested 78 people with arthritis, among whom 38 performed 15 minutes of muscle strengthening exercises every day for six weeks, while 40 did nothing. At the end of the study, participants who exercised had more gut microbes that produced anti-inflammatory substances called “short-chain fatty acids” or SCFAs, lower levels of cytokines (inflammatory substances modulating immune responses), and higher levels of endocannabinoids.



“Exercise is known to elicit a feeling of euphoria, referred to as a “runner’s high”, which recent studies indicate is the result of activation of the endocannabinoid system. The role of this system in modulating inflammation,&nbsp;muscle strength,&nbsp;and energy metabolism&nbsp;is now widely documented in humans and in other mammals,” explained the study authors.&nbsp;



The scientists found that the increase in endocannabinoids was strongly linked to changes in the gut microbiome and the anti-inflammatory substances produced by gut microbes. At least one third of the anti-inflammatory effects of the gut microbiome was caused by this significant increase in endocannabinoids.



“Our study clearly shows that exercise increases the body’s own cannabis-type substances which can have a positive impact on many conditions,” explained study first author Amrita Vijay, a research fellow in the University of Nottingham’s <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/">School of Medicine.</a>



“In this study we show that circulating levels of endocannabinoids are consistently associated with higher levels of SCFAs, with higher microbiome diversity and with lower levels of the pro-inflammatory genus&nbsp;Collinsella. We also show statistically that the anti-inflammatory effects of SCFAs are up to one third mediated by the endocannabinoid system,” the authors wrote.



“As interest in cannabidiol oil and other supplements increases, it is important to know that simple lifestyle interventions like exercise can modulate endocannabinoids,” Dr. Vijay concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19490976.2021.1997559">Gut Microbes</a>.



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

Exercise increases the body’s own cannabis-like substances

A new study led by the University of Nottingham has...

A new study carried out by researchers from the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a> looked at how partners in a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/natural-disasters-may-boost-relationship-satisfaction/">relationship</a> react to close proximity with each other. The scientists found that when older couples in particular are close to each other, a complex series of interactions occur to synchronize their heartbeats.&nbsp;



Study lead author Dr. Brian Ogolsky is an expert in the U of I Department of Human Development and Family Studies.



“Relationship researchers typically ask people how they're doing and assume they can recall properly and give meaningful answers," said Dr. Ogolsky.



"But as couples age and have been together for a long time, they laugh when we ask them how satisfied or how committed they are. When they have been married for 30 or 40 years, they feel that indicates commitment in itself,”



In an effort to collect more objective data on the nature of relationships, Dr. Ogolsky and colleagues used Fitbits to monitor heart rates as well as proximity monitors. Sensors were installed in the couples’ houses to monitor proximity and heart rate in real time.&nbsp;



“We were looking for more objective ways to measure relationship dynamics, and we know that being around other people has psychological benefits. So, physical proximity seemed like a strong candidate," explained Dr. Ogolsky.



"We’re not focusing on cause and effect, but on co-regulation, which happens when heart rates move in a synchronous pattern. That is, when the partners are close, their heart rate patterns indicate an interaction that is collectively meaningful in some way.”



The study was carried out with ten participating heterosexual couples aged 64 to 88 who had been together from 14 to 65 years. The researchers called the participants every morning to remind them to wear their Fitbits and tracking device and again at night for a survey on their well-being and relationship.&nbsp;



The scientists found that sometimes the wife’s heartbeat would lead the synchronization and sometimes the husbands would, in an intricate dance of relationship physiology dynamics. Interestingly, the dynamics in each couple changed on a regular basis, making predictions about a couple impossible beyond predictions for a particular day.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/home/spr">Journal of Social and Personal Relationships</a>.



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

Older couples have synchronized heart rates

A new study carried out by researchers from the University...

Migraines are considered to be a major public health concern and affect an estimated 1 billion people worldwide. A migraine <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/excessive-caffeine-trigger-headaches/">headache</a> is usually characterized by throbbing pain on one side of the head that lasts from 4–72 hours before abating. The pain is often accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound, and can be totally debilitating while it lasts.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The condition is classified as episodic (fewer than 15 days a month) or chronic (15 or more migraine days a month, plus migraine features on at least 8 days of the month). Treatment usually involves the use of drugs and the identification of foods or substances that trigger a migraine. The aim of successful treatment is to reduce the frequency and duration of migraines by at least half.



In a case report published today in the <a href="https://www.bmj.com/">British Medical Journal</a>, authors relate the case of a sixty-year-old man who suffered severe and chronic migraine headaches for more than 12 years. He had tried all the commonly accepted forms of treatment: he took prescribed medication (Zolmitriptan and Topiramate); cut out potential trigger foods, including chocolate, cheese, nuts, caffeine, and dried fruit; and practiced yoga and meditation in a bid to blunt the severity and frequency of his headaches. Nothing had worked.



Shortly before his referral to the clinic, the man’s migraines had reached chronic status, occurring on 18–24 days of every month. He stated that the pain started suddenly and intensely in his forehead and temple on the left side, was throbbing in nature, and usually lasted 72 hours.&nbsp;He also experienced sensitivity to light and noise, nausea and vomiting during a migraine. On a scale of 0–10, he scored the pain severity as 10–12.&nbsp;



The authors of the case report advised the man to adopt the Low Inflammatory Foods Everyday (LIFE) diet, a nutrient dense, whole food, plant-based diet. This diet includes eating at least five ounces of raw or cooked dark green, leafy vegetables every day, drinking one 32-ounce daily green LIFE smoothie, and limiting intake of whole grains, starchy vegetables, oils, and animal protein, particularly dairy and red meat.



Previous studies have found that plant-based diets can reduce migraine pain and duration, as well as the need for pain relief medication. Although the exact causes and pathophysiology of migraines is not understood, it has been well established that inflammation and oxidative stress are contributing factors.&nbsp;



Dark green, leafy vegetables are rich in carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, which are phytonutrients proven to reduce systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. By adopting the LIFE diet, the man would be increasing his intake of these particular nutrients.



After two months on the LIFE diet, the man reported that the frequency of his migraine attacks had fallen to just one day a month; the length and severity of the attacks had also decreased. He was able to stop taking all his migraine medications.&nbsp;



After three months his migraines stopped completely, and they haven't returned in seven and a half years.



Blood tests taken before the start of the LIFE diet showed that the man had normal levels of beta-carotene (53 µg/dl) but that after five months on the diet, the levels of this nutrient had risen to 175µg/dl due to the presence in his diet of leafy vegetables, such as spinach and kale. Apart from this dramatic increase in beta-carotene, his other blood chemistry remained stable.



The authors also report that the man’s allergy symptoms improved to the extent that he no longer needed to use seasonal medication.&nbsp;



The man was HIV positive, and HIV has been linked to a heightened risk of migraines, so the authors say it is possible that the man’s condition and antiretroviral drugs had contributed to his symptoms. It was clearly not possible for the man to stop taking the antiretroviral medications and so the authors of the study could not quantify the role of these factors in the man’s migraines. The authors acknowledge this as a limitation of the current study.&nbsp;



"This report suggests that a whole food plant-based diet may offer a safe, effective and permanent treatment for reversing chronic migraine," explained the researchers. “While this report describes one very adherent patient who had a remarkable response, the LIFE diet has reduced migraine frequency within 3 months in several additional patients (personal observation).”



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

Leafy greens may help relieve chronic migraine

Migraines are considered to be a major public health concern...

Dietary interventions such as intermittent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/intermittent-fasting-improves-health/">fasting</a> and caloric restriction are believed to delay age-related disease and boost longevity. Despite their popularity, it is not yet clear just how anti-aging diets may produce such remarkable health effects.&nbsp;



In a new study from <a href="https://www.aaas.org/">AAAS</a>, a team of experts led by Mitchell Lee set out to investigate anti-aging dietary interventions.&nbsp;Beyond separating fact from fiction, the researchers wanted to determine whether the interventions share the same life-extending mechanism.&nbsp;



In model organisms like mice, flies and yeast, dietary interventions appear to delay or reverse the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-have-identified-anti-aging-drugs-using-ai-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">molecular mechanisms of aging</a>. According to the study authors, it is not currently possible to know whether similar diets affect biological aging in people.



"We evaluated several of the most popular antiaging diets, including caloric restriction, intermittent fasting, fasting-mimicking diets, ketogenic diets, time-restricted feeding, protein restriction, and essential amino acid restriction," wrote the researchers.



"By characterizing these nutritional interventions in comparison with classical caloric restriction (CR), we gained numerous insights. Many studies fail to control for reduced caloric intake in the diet group, making their effects impossible to decouple from CR."



"Although often presented as uniformly beneficial, the effects of CR on life span are highly dependent on genotype and, in some cases, cause reduced survival. Despite their limitations, these studies have greatly improved our understanding of the cellular response to low nutrient availability."



"A picture is beginning to emerge of a complex network composed of multiple signaling pathways that converge on key molecular hubs; foremost among these is the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR)."



The experts explained that because mTOR and its components are well-studied drug targets, there continues to be considerable interest in pharmacologically targeting this network to increase longevity and health span.&nbsp;



"Human studies, both correlative and controlled, are consistent with health benefits conferred by a CR diet. However, it remains unresolved whether these benefits are a consequence of modulating the aging process itself or are simply the result of avoiding obesity," explained the researchers.



In conclusion, the researchers said that future studies should focus on a better understanding of the cellular and molecular mediators of anti-aging diets.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/">Science</a>.



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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

Do anti-aging diets actually work?

Dietary interventions such as intermittent fasting and caloric restriction are...

We are all familiar with the experience of needing to sleep. This need becomes more pressing, the longer we stay awake. Humans need to sleep for around one-third of their lives, and yet we do not know why. What happens to our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dads-who-spend-more-time-with-their-kids-have-different-brain-structures/">brains</a> while we are awake that causes us to become tired? What happens while we sleep that ultimately refreshes us and enables us to wake up and start a new day?



We are not alone in this either. Sleep is a universal phenomenon found in all organisms with a nervous system, including all vertebrates, and invertebrates such as flies, worms and jellyfish. Animals sleep even though they cannot forage or remain vigilant while resting, and even though they risk being discovered by predators. Throughout evolution, sleep has remained essential to these organisms but we do not know how it benefits the brain.&nbsp;



A new study conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.biu.ac.il/en">Bar-Ilan University</a> in Israel has helped to shed some light on this mystery. The research&nbsp;elucidates a molecular mechanism involved in the sleep patterns of zebrafish. The study was led by Professor Lior Appelbaum, of Bar-Ilan's Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences and Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, along with postdoctoral researcher Dr. David Zada.



In the light of research findings from other studies, the Bar-Ilan scientists hypothesized that DNA damage accumulates in neurons (nerve cells) during waking hours. This damage is caused by various factors, including UV light, normal neuronal activity, radiation, oxidative stress and enzymatic errors. Molecular repair systems within each cell correct the damage continuously, but cannot keep up with the damage that accumulates during times of wakefulness. This leads to a homeostatic pressure (tiredness) that builds up in the body.&nbsp;



The researchers tested their hypothesis in a series of experiments on zebrafish. These small, freshwater fish have been bred to be transparent, enabling the penetration of radiation. They have simple brains and sleep at night. The scientists used irradiation, pharmacology and optogenetics, to induce DNA damage in zebrafish and observed how this affected their sleep.&nbsp;



They found that, as DNA damage was increased, the need for rest also increased. The experiment suggested that at some point the accumulation of DNA damage reached a maximum threshold, and increased sleep (homeostatic) pressure to such an extent that the urge to rest was triggered and the fish went to sleep. During the period of sleep, DNA repair took place, which resulted in reduced DNA damage. The fish then awoke.



By gradually reducing the time of darkness to which the fish were exposed each night and monitoring their sleep behavior, the researchers determined that zebrafish require a minimum of six hours of sleep per night in order to repair the DNA damage such that they could wake up. Surprisingly, after less than six hours of sleep, DNA damage was not adequately reduced, and the zebrafish continued to sleep, even though it was broad daylight.



In more detailed research, the scientists investigated the molecular mechanism whereby the brain tells the organism that it needs to sleep in order to allow repair of the damaged DNA. The protein PARP1, plays a role in the DNA damage repair system, and acts like an “antenna”, signaling to the brain that sleep is needed. PARP1 marks DNA damage sites in cells, and recruits all the relevant systems to repair DNA damage. These protein molecules accumulate at DNA break sites during times of wakefulness and they decrease gradually during times of sleep.&nbsp;



Through genetic and pharmacological manipulation, the overexpression of PARP1 revealed not only that increasing PARP1 promoted sleep, but also that it increased sleep-dependent repair. Conversely, knockdown or inhibition of PARP1 blocked the signal for DNA damage repair. As a result, the fish weren't fully aware that they were tired, didn't go to sleep, and no DNA damage repair took place.



To test the validity of the findings, the functioning of PARP1 was also tested in mice, in collaboration with Professor Yuval Nir from Tel Aviv University. Just as with zebrafish, the inhibition of PARP1 activity reduced the duration and quality of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. "PARP1 pathways are capable of signaling the brain that it needs to sleep in order for DNA repair to occur," says Prof. Appelbaum.



In a previous study, Professor Appelbaum and team determined that sleep increases chromosome dynamics, the movements and attachments of chromosomes that allow DNA repair to take place effectively. Adding the new understanding about the role of PARP1 to the puzzle, the researchers could state that PARP1 increases sleep and chromosome dynamics, which facilitates efficient repair of DNA damage that has been accumulated during waking hours. If the DNA maintenance process in neurons is not efficient enough during waking hours, then an “offline” sleep period with reduced input to the brain allows all residual damage to be repaired.



This new understanding of the "chain of events" that takes place in terms of the repair of DNA during sleep, may explain the link between sleep disturbances, aging and neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.&nbsp;Professor Appelbaum believes that future research will help to apply this mechanism to other animals, ranging from lower invertebrates to, eventually, humans.



The study is published today in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/home">Molecular Cell</a>,



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

Study provides new insight into why we need sleep

We are all familiar with the experience of needing to...

New research led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> and <a href="https://www.su.se/cmlink/stockholm-university">Stockholm University</a> has found that global warming is reducing the capacity of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/agricultural-soils-contribute-to-climate-crisis-by-releasing-nitrous-oxide/">soil</a> to store carbon. This causes more carbon to be released into the atmosphere, further accelerating climate change.



By studying data on over 9,000 soil samples from around the globe, collected in the <a href="https://www.isric.org/">World Soil Information</a> database, the scientists found that carbon storage declines strongly as average temperatures increase: for every 10°C&nbsp;of increase in temperature, average carbon storage across all soils fell by over 25 percent.&nbsp;



“Because there is more carbon stored in soils than there is in the atmosphere and all the trees on the planet combined, releasing even a small percentage could have a significant impact on our climate,”&nbsp;said study lead author Iain Hartley, a professor of Terrestrial Ecosystem Science at the University of Exeter.



"Even bleak forecasts do not anticipate this level of warming, but we used this scale to give us confidence that the effects we observed were caused by temperature rather than other variables."



Professor Hartley and his colleagues also discovered that the amount of carbon that could be released depends on the soil type, with coarse-textured, low-clay soils losing three times more carbon than fine-textured, clay-rich soils.



“Our analysis identified the carbon stores in coarse-textured soils at high-latitudes (far from the Equator) as likely to be the most vulnerable to climate change,” explained Professor Hartley. "Such stores, therefore, may require particular attention given the high rates of warming taking place in cooler regions. In contrast, we found carbon stores in fine-textured soils in tropical areas to be less vulnerable to climate warming."



According to the researchers, this happens because finer soils offer more mineral surface area for carbon-based organic material to bond to, and thus reduces the ability of microorganisms to access and decompose it.



These findings will help identifying vulnerable carbon stocks and provide opportunities to improve Earth System Models that predict future climate change. “There is an opportunity to use the patterns we have observed to improve how models represent soils, and further reduce uncertainty in their projections," Professor Hartley concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27101-1">Nature Communications</a>.&nbsp;



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

Warmer soils lose their capacity to store carbon

New research led by the University of Exeter and Stockholm...

Overheated,Woman,Sitting,On,Couch,,Waving,Orange,Paper,Fan,Close

A consequence of climate change is a greater frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme heat events. According to new study published in the <a href="https://www.onlinecjc.ca/article/S0828-282X(21)00653-X/fulltext">Canadian Journal of Cardiology</a>, such events are associated with a greater risk of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/green-tea-and-coffee-lower-the-risk-of-fatal-cardiovascular-events/">cardiovascular</a> incidents, particularly in people with preexisting heart diseases.



Extreme heat events pose a significant risk to human health. The heatwave from 2003, for instance, caused 70,000 deaths in Europe, and that from Russia in 2010 caused 55,000 deaths. By conducting a comprehensive review of epidemiological studies, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.umontreal.ca/en/">University of Montreal</a>, Canada, has found that heatwaves increase the risk of cardiovascular incidents such as ischemic heart diseases, strokes, or heart failures.



“<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> (IPCC) recently reported that global temperatures are rising at a greater rate than previously projected, and that the number of extreme heat days will significantly increase across most land regions,” said study senior author Daniel Gagnon, a researcher at the <a href="https://www.icm-mhi.org/">Montreal Heart Institute</a> and the University of Montreal. “Although we don’t yet fully understand the reasons, people with cardiovascular disease are at greater risk of hospitalizations and death during extreme heat events.”



According to Gagnon and his colleagues, heat exposure puts too much strain on the heart, especially for people with preexisting cardiovascular disease, and increases the risk of blood clots in the blood vessels supplying the heart.



Preventive strategies to minimize cardiovascular risk during extreme weather events should aim to reduce the extent of dehydration and hyperthermia by insuring that people drink a sufficient amount of cold fluids and ideally have access to air-conditioning.



“Air conditioning is the most effective strategy that can be recommended since it effectively removes the heat stimulus and minimizes the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes,” said Dr. Gagnon. “However, less than one third of global households own air conditioning.” Some simple alternatives to air conditioning include electric fan use, skin wetting, or immersing the feet in tap water.



Further research is needed to better understand why heat is linked to cardiovascular disease, how cardiovascular medication affects the body’s physiological response to heat, and what cooling strategies are optimal for individuals with heart disease.



“Cardiovascular health professionals need to be aware of the negative consequences of extreme heat on cardiovascular health. A better awareness and understanding of the cardiovascular consequences of extreme heat, and of the measures to take to prevent and mitigate adverse events, will help us all assess the risk and optimize the care of patients exposed to an increasingly warm climate,” concluded Dr. Gagnon.



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

Extreme heat increases the risk of heart disease

A consequence of climate change is a greater frequency, intensity,...

During the past two years, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/delta-variants-could-further-prolong-the-covid-pandemic/">COVID-19</a> pandemic has repeatedly shown how quickly health misinformation can spread. However, new research led by the <a href="https://ki.se/en">Karolinska Institute</a> in Sweden has found that there are good health communication strategies that can debunk misinformation. The study, focused on misinformation about typhoid in Sierra Leone, proves that addressing falsehoods explicitly appears to be more effective in busting misbeliefs than simply stating scientific facts.&nbsp;



“Misinformation, amplified by social media, is a growing public health challenge. It can potentially reduce protective actions, encourage risky behavior and with that, promote the spread of infectious diseases,” said study corresponding author Maike Winters, a researcher at the <a href="https://ki.se/en/gph/department-of-global-public-health">Department of Global Public Health</a> at the Karolinska Institute. “Fortunately, our study shows that there are effective tools to counter its impact and spread.”



In Sierra Leone, there are widely held misbeliefs that typhoid is caused by mosquitoes and always occurs together with malaria. In fact, the two diseases are very different, even if they share some symptoms such as fever. While typhoid is a bacterial infection mainly transmitted through contaminated water and food, malaria is caused by a parasite that spreads through mosquito bites. Since health centers in Sierra Leone have often diagnosed patients with “typhoid-malaria” due to unreliable testing, it did not take long for the false notion that the two diseases are linked to spread all over the country.



In order to find reliable ways to debunk health misinformation, researchers from Sweden and Sierra Leone devised two communication campaigns where local actors playing physicians and nurses were recorded in videos sent on Whatsapp to 736 participants from Freetown, Sierra Leone. One group of participants received videos where the misinformation was explicitly mentioned and debunked, while another group only focused on providing correct scientific information without mentioning the false belief that typhoid and malaria are related.



The scientists found that, although both methods significantly reduced belief in misinformation, the approach of initially acknowledging and then debunking misinformation was more effective. Contrary to previous studies, this study found no evidence that discussing false information might inadvertently end up spreading it.



“These findings advance our understanding of the effectiveness of public health messaging strategies about a specific health-related myth that is not subject to politicized debate,” said Winters. “If the same strategies would work to reduce beliefs in heavily polarized misinformation surrounding COVID-19 remains unknown, but is definitely worth exploring.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/11/e006954">BMJ Global Health</a>.



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

How to debunk health misinformation

During the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has repeatedly...

Digital media have become a part of our lives more and more over the past few decades and we are all aware that using screen-based <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/green-technology-is-urgently-needed-to-save-the-climate/">technologies</a> can consume a large proportion of time in the day. Concerns have arisen about the potential effects of digital media use on cognitive and behavioral aspects of functioning, particularly in children and adolescents.&nbsp;



These concerns have led to calls for empirical data on digital media use in children and its effects on such traits as impulsivity, attention control, sleep patterns, motivation, mental health and academic achievement. Emerging literature on these topics paints a complex picture, however, with results that are often opposing.&nbsp;



Childrens’ use of media is usually measured in terms of total screen time, as though all forms of media are the same. They are not, and this approach may need to be refined in order to identify more specific effects.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Research increasingly suggests that the impact of digital media use on cognition, academic performance and health depends on the type of media (e.g., video games, social networks, surfing the net), its content (e.g., fantasy, documentary), the context (e.g., alone, in groups) and the traits of the person consuming media (e.g., age and gender).&nbsp;



With this in mind, researchers from the University of Luxemburg and the University of Geneva in Switzerland, set out to investigate three different types of media use by children – total time on media, media multitasking (using more than one digital platform at the same time) and video game play – and the ways in which the consumption of these forms of media impact the children’s normal lives.&nbsp;



They collected data about children’s media uses as well as (i) attentional and behavioral control abilities, (ii) psychological distress, psychosocial functioning, and sleep, and (iii) academic achievement and motivation. While attentional control abilities were assessed using both cognitive tests and questionnaires, mental health and sleep patterns were all assessed simply using questionnaires. Academic performance was based on self-reported grades, with motivational variables being measured through the grit and the growth-mindset questionnaires.



The participants were pupils from a public primary school in the suburbs of Geneva, and were aged between eight and twelve years. In total, 118 children (57 girls, 61 boys) took part in the study. The questionnaires and cognitive tests were completed in three separate sessions, in a classroom setting at the school.&nbsp;



The results showed that the time spent using digital media increases with age. Children aged eight consumed an average of 4 hours and 28 mins per day, while 12-year-olds spent an average of 8 hours and 14 minutes per day using digital media.&nbsp;



For each year that a child ages, media usage increases by almost a full hour per day. The total time spent using media was not different between boys and girls, although boys spent more time than girls specifically playing video games.&nbsp;



The amount of time spent media multitasking (using more than one digital platform simultaneously, such as listening to music while surfing the net) also increased with age, but the amount of time spent playing video games did not. In addition, as children get older their response speed increases, their impulsivity decreases (i.e., tendency to make false alarms), and their inattention decreases.&nbsp;



Since all these variables of interest are correlated with age, the authors used partial correlations to evaluate the specific relationship between two variables while controlling for age and different types of media use.&nbsp;



They found that higher levels of media multitasking are linked to higher levels of distress, lower socioemotional functioning, more behavioral and attentional problems (as rated by teachers and parents), and reduced quality of sleep. No significant partial correlation was observed between media multitasking and mind-wandering, mindset, grades, or any of the cognitive performance measures.&nbsp;



By contrast, more time spent on video gaming overall (considering all genres of games together) was associated with faster response speed and significantly lower levels of distress. No significant partial correlations were found involving video gaming and socioemotional functioning, attention and behavioral issues, sleep, mind-wandering, mindset, grades, impulsivity or inattention in cognitive tests. This indicates that playing video games might have a positive impact on specific measures of cognitive control and mental health.



The researchers conclude that while their study does not resolve the many inconsistencies in the field of media use and its impact on cognitive functioning, mental health, and school related variables, it does highlight the importance of not simply lumping together all digital media use under the banner of total usage time.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Media multitasking and video game playing have different effects and should be investigated in more detail. The type of media being used (such as social media, internet browsing or TV/video watching), as well as the specific types of games that are played (e.g., action versus nonaction) may all be important factors in determining the potential of digital media to impact everyday life functioning negatively, in particular during childhood.



The results of the study are published today in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS One</a>.



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

Digital media use affects children in different ways

Digital media have become a part of our lives more...

A new study has confirmed a link between the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-can-increase-the-severity-of-covid-19-infection/">COVID-19</a> pandemic and the deterioration of Earth's ecosystems. The experts also identified a reinforcing feedback loop which suggests that pandemics could become more frequent in the future.&nbsp;



The study was conducted by <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au/">University of Queensland</a> Master of Conservation Biology graduate Odette Lawler, who collaborated with a team of students in Professor Salit Kark’s Biodiversity Research Group,&nbsp;



According to Lawler, the links between biodiversity loss, habitat degradation and zoonotic disease transfer had long been understood, but it has taken an international pandemic to bring the issue to public attention.



“COVID-19 has shown the world that human health and environmental health are intricately linked,” said Lawler. “We’ve long known that issues like land-use change, intensive livestock production, wildlife trade, and climate change drive the emergence of zoonotic diseases, as they increase human-wildlife interactions."



“Now we’ve also found that these issues are being compounded by outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in feedback loops that are likely to promote future zoonotic disease outbreaks."



“For example, research has found that rates of deforestation have substantially increased in many regions around the world over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic."



“This is likely due to some combination of pandemic-related factors, including decreased enforcement of forest protections, relaxation of sustainability agreements and environmental deregulation, increased pressures on low-income communities, and threats to Indigenous land managers."



“This means that COVID-19 – a pandemic sparked by a pathogen spilling from animal to human populations – has played a part in fueling further deforestation, which in turn increases risk of future zoonotic disease emergence by increasing human-wildlife interactions.”



The researchers emphasized that responses to the current pandemic must include actions to protect biodiversity and ecosystems. Professor Kark said that such responses would benefit from adopting what is known in public health and conservation circles as a One Health approach.



“One Health is a collaborative, transdisciplinary approach that aims to optimise health outcomes for communities arising from factors operating, for example, at the intersections between people, animals and their shared environment,” explained Professor Kark.



“It’s an approach that can help holistically address outbreaks before they happen, working closely with the community and engaging people in preventative ecosystem and human health."



“Here in Australia, the emphasis should be on developing close, long-term collaboration and engagement with First Nations communities and other partners to address these risks."



“And, internationally, Australia has so many valuable ties, which can be strengthened through working together with other nations to address the drivers of zoonotic disease emergence. In this paper, for example, the team closely collaborated with a group based in Nepal working in the area."



“It’s vital we invest in protecting biodiversity and ecosystem health and address the drivers of zoonotic disease. If we don’t, we really are increasing the likelihood of future zoonotic disease emergence and further pandemics arising, and we now all know just how world-altering and high-impact they can be.”



The study is published in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/home">The Lancet Planetary Health</a>.



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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

To avoid future pandemics, we must protect nature

A new study has confirmed a link between the COVID-19...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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.

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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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.

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



"With more than 370,000 miles of coastline on Earth, there are plenty of places where epic waves build up, curl over, and hurtle toward the shore.- much to the thrill of surfers," says NASA. "There are some places where these waves are so magnificent that they can be seen from space."



"With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world’s tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest."



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&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 capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes why satellite images and measurements of our planet have become "essential to our survival, offering a new outlook of our world."&nbsp;



Rising sea levels pose one of the biggest societal threats associated with climate change. According to ESA, satellite altimeter missions such as Copernicus Sentinel-6 are essential in monitoring global and regional changes in sea level.



"Unbeknown to many, the island of Crete, Greece, plays an important role in the Copernicus satellite altimetry constellation and on an international stage," reports ESA.



"Satellite altimetry data have to be continuously monitored at the ESA’s Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration where different techniques have pioneered the use of transponders to provide the best measurements to validate satellite altimeters in space soon after launch."



Dr. Craig Donlon explains that, by understanding planet Earth through satellite measurements, we are able to find evidence of change.&nbsp;



Video Credit: European Space Agency&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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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