The fight against pain may have a new player in its ranks - gender. The findings from a recent study indicate that men and women resort to different biological mechanisms for pain relief. But what does this mean?



A team of researchers at the <a href="https://ucsd.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California San Diego</a> School of Medicine has unmasked an intriguing reality - pain management is not a one-size-fits-all solution. 



The way <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-men-and-women-react-differently-to-stress/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">men and women</a> experience and combat pain varies significantly, pointing to key biological differences in their responses.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gender-differences-in-pain-management">Gender differences in pain management </h2>



Men tend to rely on the release of endogenous opioids, which are the body's natural <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-learn-how-to-activate-the-bodys-natural-pain-killers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pain relievers</a>. These substances act similarly to prescription opioids like morphine, binding to opioid receptors in the brain to dampen the perception of pain. 



In contrast, women appear to utilize alternative, non-opioid pathways. These channels bypass the body's opioid system entirely, meaning that the pain relief mechanisms at play in women may be less reliant on the body’s internal opioids.



This finding suggests there is a biological reason for why women might not respond as well to opioid-based treatments.



The research highlights a major distinction in how pain relief strategies should be tailored based on gender, potentially altering the way we approach pain management altogether.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-opioids-may-not-help-women-in-pain">Opioids may not help women in pain</h2>



Powerful synthetic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-discovery-offers-hope-for-tackling-opioid-addiction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">opioid</a> drugs such as morphine and fentanyl are the leading painkillers at our disposal today. 



By adhering to the same receptors as endogenous opioids, these synthetic molecules pack a potent punch. However, this characteristic also primes them for a high risk of addiction.



One of the profound peculiarities of opioid therapy is the subpar response exhibited by women. 



"Dependence develops because people start taking more opioids when their original dosage stops working," explained Dr. Fadel Zeidan, an expert at the UC San Diego Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion.



"Although speculative, our findings suggest that maybe one reason that females are more likely to become addicted to opioids is that they’re biologically less responsive to them and need to take more to experience any pain relief.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-new-approach-to-pain-management">A new approach to pain management </h2>



The research was based on data from two clinical trials consisting of 98 participants, including healthy individuals and chronic lower back pain sufferers.



According to Dr. Zeidan, the results underscore the need for more sex-specific pain <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/music-therapy-can-reduce-pain-stress-and-anxiety/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">therapies</a>, because many of the treatments we use do not work nearly as well for women as they do for men.



The implications of the study are immense. For one, the findings could revolutionize the way we approach pain management.



Tailoring treatment to an individual’s gender could improve patient outcomes and decrease opioid reliance and misuse. 



After all, it is clear disparities exist in pain management between genders, and these results provide the first tangible evidence that sex-based differences in pain processing need to be considered more seriously when developing and prescribing treatment for pain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pain-treatment-for-women">Pain treatment for women </h2>



This research highlights a crucial issue that's been overlooked in healthcare - how men and women experience pain differently. Traditionally, pain treatments have followed a standardized approach, but this study suggests a shift in thinking is needed.



If men and women utilize different biological pathways for pain relief, it stands to reason they might need distinct treatments. The findings also explain why women have a greater prevalence of chronic pain. 



For women, who appear less responsive to opioids, exploring alternative methods that align with their unique pain pathways becomes important. Options like anti-inflammatory drugs, nerve blockers, or innovative approaches like mindfulness-based <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mindfulness-meditation-is-a-powerful-weapon-against-chronic-pain/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pain management</a> could offer better results.



Furthermore, the study points out a pressing concern: women might face a higher risk of opioid addiction due to the need for larger doses to achieve pain relief. This insight could shed light on the alarming rates of opioid misuse among women. 



As we move forward, it's evident that doctors will need to carefully consider painkiller prescriptions, possibly adopting gender-specific guidelines to safeguard women from the risks of dependency.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae453/7821498" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PNAS Nexus</a>.



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Why women experience more chronic pain than men

The fight against pain may have a new player in its ranks - gender. The findings from a recent study indicate that men and women resort to different biological mechanisms for pain relief. But what does this mean? A team of researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine has unmasked an intriguing reality - pain management is not a one-size-fits-all solution. The way men and women experience and combat pain varies significantly, pointing to key biological differences in their responses. Gender differences in...

It’s one thing to be told that climate change driven by human-made carbon emissions is causing irreversible changes in precipitation, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/uneven-sea-level-rise-climate-change/">sea level rise</a>, sea ice coverage, and temperatures.

These sometimes larger than life projections of a grimly warm future can be challenging to accept outright because it is not always apparent how climate change will impact someone’s immediate surroundings.

But now, a new <a href="http://www.umces.edu/futureurbanclimates.">interactive map</a> created by researchers from the <a href="https://www.umd.edu/">University of Maryland</a>, reveals how drastically different the climates of American cities will be by 2080. According to the research, climates will shift so significantly that they will more closely resemble the current climates of cities 500 miles south.

By 2080, San Francisco will feel like Los Angeles, New York City will feel more like Arkansas, and Washington D.C. will be more like northern Mississippi, hot and humid.

[caption id="attachment_1867759" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/climate-change.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1867759" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/climate-change.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="468" /></a> Image Credit: Matthew Fitzpatrick/University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science[/caption]

“Under current high emissions the average urban dweller is going to have to drive more than 500 miles to the south to find a climate like that expected in their home city by 2080," said Matt Fitzpatrick, a co-author of the study. “Not only is climate changing, but climates that don't presently exist in North America will be prevalent in a lot of urban areas.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications. 

The researchers mapped out the projected climates of different cities in North America by analyzing 540 urban areas in the U.S. and Canada.

Each area’s projected climate in the year 2080 was then compared to a present-day climate north of the Equator by measuring similarities between temperatures and precipitation.

The map projects future climate changes under two different emissions scenarios. In one scenario, emissions go unchecked and the second scenario assumes that successful policy changes will limit emissions.

Using an interactive tool that people can easily access to find out what their city’s climate will look like helps make climate change a more tangible concept and adds to the urgency of reducing emissions before the world’s future climate is unrecognizable.

“We can use this technique to translate a future forecast into something we can better conceptualize and link to our own experiences,” said Fitzpatrick. “It's my hope that people have that ‘wow’ moment, and it sinks in for the first time the scale of the changes we're expecting in a single generation.”

Even if CO2 emissions are limited, many cities will have very different climates by the 2080s, further emphasizing the severity of future climate change.

“Within the lifetime of children living today, the climate of many regions is projected to change from the familiar to conditions unlike those experienced in the same place by their parents, grandparents, or perhaps any generation in millennia,” said Fitzpatrick. “Many cities could experience climates with no modern equivalent in North America.”

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By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Climate change will make New York feel like Arkansas by 2080

It’s one thing to be told that climate change driven...

Researchers at the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a>'s Evolution and Human Behavior Laboratory set out to investigate whether or not people are still generous when there is no incentive. The team found that it is easy for people to switch off their natural inclination to share when interacting with strangers.

Study lead author Dr. William H.B. McAuliffe agrees with the idea that our cooperative behavior developed back when early humans lived in small groups. At this time in our evolutionary history, people became <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/people-heartbeat-generous/">generous</a> out of self-interest, never knowing when they may need to ask for someone else's help.

“We are actually walking around with Stone Age minds,” said study co-author Michael McCullough. “Our minds still think how we treat everyone we meet could have consequences - that everyone we run across and are either mean to or nice to will somehow pay us back. We have a natural karma built into us because our minds have evolved into thinking that what goes around really does come around.”


However, the study findings suggest that we can quickly unlearn our cooperative behavior when encountering strangers if we know there will not be any benefits or consequences from our actions.

The study was focused on 200 participants who were brought into the laboratory in small groups on two separate occasions for a social experiment. 

The individuals engaged in a series of games that required them to make decisions about sharing large sums of money with others in the room, and also with a charity. The participants were placed alone at consoles with headphones and had no interaction with each other. Furthermore, the decisions they made were completely anonymous.

During the first trial, the individuals split their money with strangers fairly and shared about half of their earnings with charity. On their return visit, however, they were found to be much less generous, sharing an average of 20 percent less money with others.

“After acclimating to the situation, they realized this was extraordinarily different from the situations they find themselves in everyday life,” explained Dr. McAuliffe. “They realized, ‘What I do doesn’t really matter. It has no social consequences. Nobody is going to pat me on the back if I am generous. No one is going to think I’m stingy if I’m not.’ So, when they come back, they don’t act on that cognitive shortcut because they’ve learned that the same rules don’t apply.”

According to Dr. McCullough, the study findings may explain why people who live in big cities have a reputation for being more rushed and less friendly to strangers compared to people who live in a small town.

“I think what this study says isn’t that generosity towards strangers is part of what humans evolved into, but instead that we evolved in a world where there really weren’t strangers,” said Dr. McCullough. “We knew everybody. They knew us, and if we didn’t know everybody directly, we knew somebody they knew, so if we were bad to someone they could say, ‘That is a terrible person.’”

“Now we live in cities with millions of people and you can legitimately encounter a stranger and say ‘I’ll never see that person again’ - and get away with treating them poorly. That’s less so in small towns, where almost everybody does know everybody.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nathumbehav">Nature Human Behavior</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

People are not as generous when they live among strangers

Researchers at the University of Miami's Evolution and Human Behavior...

The discovery of a new projectile point recovered from an excavation site in Texas has led researchers to believe that there may have been two separate human migrations into <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/insect-eating-birds-declining/">North America</a>. 

A projectile point is a triangular blade often attached to a weapon that would be thrown. The previously unknown style of projectile point dates back between 13,500 and 15,500 years. This is significantly earlier than the Clovis-style weapons that are around 13,000 years old.

While the Clovis-style tools were thought to represent the earliest settlement of North America, the most recent excavations in western North America have identified a different style of point technology - the Western Stemmed Tradition. The connections between the artifact assemblages of Clovis and Western Stemmed Traditions remain unknown. 

A research team led by Michael R. Waters, a professor of Anthropology and Geography at Texas A&amp;M University, are reporting the discovery of more than 100,000 artifacts, including 328 tools and 12 complete and fragmented projectile points, which date back prior to the Clovis history. The artifacts were excavated from the Buttermilk Creek Complex horizon of the Debra L. Friedkin site.

Using a dating technique known as optically stimulated luminescence to test sediment samples, the researchers determined the artifacts were between 13,500- and 15,500- years-old. 

The results of the study suggest that the design of the early tools changed over time from the newly-recovered style to the Clovis-style projectile point. However, according to the study authors, it is also possible that the tool they found in Texas is a distinctive style created by people of an earlier, separate migration into North America. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</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

New artifacts suggest two different migrations into North America

The discovery of a new projectile point recovered from an...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.gwu.edu/">George Washington University</a> (GW) have estimated that up to 33 million asthma-related emergency room (ER) visits are triggered by exposure to ozone or fine particulate matter (PM2.5). While it has been long recognized that inhaling polluted air can trigger asthma attacks, this study is the first to quantify the effect of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-intelligence/">air pollution</a> on asthma cases around the globe.

Study lead author Dr. Susan C. Anenberg is an associate professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health.

“Millions of people worldwide have to go to emergency rooms for asthma attacks every year because they are breathing dirty air,” said Dr. Anenberg. “Our findings suggest that policies aimed at cleaning up the air can reduce the global burden of asthma and improve respiratory health around the world.”

Affecting around 358 million people, asthma is the most prevalent chronic respiratory disease in the world. The new research suggests that car emissions and other types of air pollution are severely increasing the frequency of serious asthma attacks.

[caption id="attachment_1861217" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/pollution.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1861217" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/pollution.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="496" /></a> Image Credit: Susan C. Anenberg/GW Milken Institute School of Public Health[/caption]

Dr. Anenberg and her team started their investigation by examining emergency room visits for asthma in 54 countries and Hong Kong. The researchers then combined this data with epidemiological exposure-response relationships, and also with global pollution levels recorded by satellites.

The study revealed that between 9 and 23 million annual asthma emergency room visits may be triggered by ozone worldwide, while another 5 to 10 million asthma emergency room visits were linked to fine particulate matter.

Approximately half of the asthma-related emergency room visits attributed to air pollution occurred in South and East Asian countries, particularly across India and China.

In the United States, where the air is relatively clean compared to South and East Asian countries, ozone and particulate matter were estimated to contribute up to 33 percent of all asthma-related ER visits in the country.

Daven Henze is the principal investigator on the project and an associate professor at the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">University of Colorado Boulder</a>.

“The value of using satellites is that we were able to obtain a consistent measure of air pollution concentrations throughout the world,” said Professor Henze. “This information allowed us to link the asthma burden to air pollution even in parts of the world where ambient air quality measurements have not been available.”

Dr. Anenberg concluded, “We know that air pollution is the leading environmental health risk factor globally. Our results show that the range of global public health impacts from breathing dirty air are even more far reaching--and include millions of asthma attacks every year.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/">Environmental Health Perspectives</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

Air pollution prompts millions of asthma attacks across the world

Researchers at George Washington University (GW) have estimated that up...

While it is known that pain can lead to sleepless nights, scientists at <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">UC Berkeley</a> wanted to know how a <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/sleep-deprivation-tau-accumulate/">lack of sleep</a> may affect pain. The researchers identified neural glitches in the brain among sleep-deprived individuals that make pain more intense and more persistent. 

In 2015, a survey by the National Sleep Foundation found that two out of three patients with chronic pain suffer from frequent sleep disruptions. The findings of the current study help to explain the overlapping epidemics of sleep loss and chronic pain, as well as opioid addiction.

“If poor sleep intensifies our sensitivity to pain, as this study demonstrates, then sleep must be placed much closer to the center of patient care, especially in hospital wards,” said study senior author Professor Matthew Walker.

The investigation, which was led by UC Berkeley Ph.D. student Adam Krause, was focused on two dozen healthy young adults. The team scanned their brain activity while uncomfortable levels of heat were applied to their legs. 

When the individuals were sleep deprived, the neural mechanisms that respond to pain signals and activate natural pain relief were disrupted. Beyond confirming their theory that sleep deprivation intensifies pain, the researchers were surprised to discover weakened activity in the nucleus accumbens, a region of the brain's reward system that increases dopamine levels to relieve pain. 

“Sleep loss not only amplifies the pain-sensing regions in the brain, but blocks the natural analgesia centers, too,” said Professor Walker.

The researchers also conducted a survey of more than 230 American adults of all ages. The participants reported on their nightly hours of sleep as well as their day-to-day pain levels over the course of a few days. The results showed that even minor shifts in sleep and wake patterns coincided with changes in sensitivity to pain.

“The results clearly show that even very subtle changes in nightly sleep - reductions that many of us think little of in terms of consequences - have a clear impact on your next-day pain burden,” said Krause.

Professor Walker explained, “The optimistic takeaway here is that sleep is a natural analgesic that can help manage and lower pain. Yet ironically, one environment where people are in the most pain is the worst place for sleep - the noisy hospital ward.”

“Our findings suggest that patient care would be markedly improved, and hospital beds cleared sooner, if uninterrupted sleep were embraced as an integral component of healthcare management.”

Professor Walker plans to work with hospitals to create more sleep-friendly inpatient facilities.

The study is published in the <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/">Journal of Neuroscience</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

Sleep deprivation intensifies our sensitivity to pain

While it is known that pain can lead to sleepless...

A new collaborative large-scale genomic analysis from researchers at the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> and <a href="https://www.massgeneral.org/">Massachusetts General Hospital</a> reveals new information about the human body clock and how it may be linked to mental health and disease.

The study, published January 29th in <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>, found that those genetically programmed to be early risers had a greater well-being and less risk for developing schizophrenia and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/lgb-anxiety-depression-substance-abuse/">depression</a>.

250,000 U.S. participants from private genomic analyst company 23andMe, and 450,000 U.K. participants from the U.K. Biobank were gathered for the study. Each participant was asked whether they were a “morning person” or a “evening person.” Based on their answer, researchers then looked at their genes to see if morning people and evening people shared common genes amongst their group that influence their sleep patterns.

Then, using wrist-worn activity trackers worn by 85,000 of the U.K. participants, researchers found that the genetic variants they identified could shift a person’s natural waking time by about 25 minutes. However, these genetic variants did not affect quality or duration of sleep.

"This study highlights a large number of genes which can be studied in more detail to work out how different people can have different body clocks,” said Professor Mike Weedon, from the <a href="http://medicine.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter Medical School</a>. “The large number of people in our study means we have provided the strongest evidence to date that 'night owls' are at higher risk of mental health problems, such as schizophrenia and lower mental well-being, although further studies are needed to fully understand this link."

The genetic areas that affect waking times are those essential to our body clock — our circadian rhythms. They are also genes expressed in the brain and the eye’s retinal tissue, which could explain how the brain detects light and orders the body to “reset,” or go to sleep.

Our body clocks are affected by numerous factors such as genetics, exercise, diet, daily activities, and our exposure to artificial light, and can determine hormone levels, body temperature, and our waking and sleep patterns.

"Our work indicates that part of the reason why some people are up with the lark while others are night owls is because of differences in both the way our brains react to external light signals and the normal functioning of our internal clocks,” lead author Dr. Samuel E. Jones, of the University of Exeter Medical School, said. “These small differences may have potentially significant effects on the ability of our body clocks to keep time effectively, potentially altering risk of both disease and mental health disorders."

Dr. Jacqueline M. Lane, of the <a href="https://www.massgeneral.org/anesthesia/">Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Anesthesia</a>, added that knowing how our genetic body clock works can help professionals treat their patients with delayed circadian rhythm disorders. 

 "We know that there are links between how the body clock functions and our health and wellbeing but, to date, we have understood little about the part genetics plays,” said Dr. Rachael Panizzo, Programme Manager for Mental Health and Addiction at the <a href="https://mrc.ukri.org/">Medical Research Council</a>. “Now, with the help of publicly funded datasets like UK Biobank, researchers are able to study on an unprecedented scale, the interplay between the genetics of the body clock and the risk of mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and depression. This study provides valuable new insights which we hope will lead to more effective interventions for those most at risk."

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By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Your body clock may affect your risk of mental illness and disease

A new collaborative large-scale genomic analysis from researchers at the...

A new look at the history of oil drilling in Los Angeles has revealed that this activity likely contributed to a spike in moderate <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-earthquake-modelling-method/">earthquakes</a> between 1935 and 1944. According to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/">Los Angeles Times</a>, oil pumping may have been responsible for as many as half of the mid-sized earthquakes that struck the region in the early 20th century. 

In a report published by the American Geophysical Union, the researchers re-examined historical data on earthquake damage in the LA Basin.

Study lead author Susan Hough is a geophysicist at the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/">U.S. Geological Survey</a> in Pasadena. Hough told the Los Angeles Times: “The LA Basin could be a generally safer place for natural earthquakes than what we’ve estimated.”

There was an increase in moderate earthquakes between 1935 and 1944, with an average of one magnitude 4.4 to 5.1 quake every two years. Based on the data from sensors that began monitoring in 1932, the researchers examined the locations of the earthquakes. They found that many of the disturbances occurred near active oil fields.

“All these little earthquakes happened in the 1930s,” said study co-author Roger Bilham, a geologist at the University of Colorado. “It looked like the LA region was very active seismically, and of course it is quite active, but if you throw away those earthquakes induced by oil you come up with a lower rate of seismicity.”

According to the researchers, oil companies were drilling deep into active faults prior to the 1950s. The study revealed that earthquakes often occurred within months of an oil well expansion that extended beyond 1.9 miles underground.

Earthquake activity was reduced after the oil companies started using water-flooding wells to bring up oil in the late 1950s. The study authors pointed out that the earlier method of oil drilling did not actually cause the earthquakes, but simply accelerated quakes that would have happened in the next few hundred years. 

“It turns out it would be almost impossible for the things they were doing in the 1930s not to produce earthquakes,” said Bilham. “In California, they were sucking out the oil so fast they were setting up these giant stresses near the oil fields, forces enough to break rock. And we know that they did break the rock because they produced earthquakes in the oil fields that severed the pipes.”

The study is published in the <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/21562202">Journal of Geophysical Research</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

Image: 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake Damage

Early 20th century oil drilling increased LA earthquake risk

A new look at the history of oil drilling in...

In the first global study of its kind, researchers at the <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/">University of New South Wales</a> have identified a "clear link" between <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-early-death/">air pollution</a> and an increased risk of dementia. 

The experts found that people were more likely to develop dementia later in life after long-term exposure to two types of air pollutants, particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrous oxide (NO2).

Dementia cases are increasing by more than 20 percent a year, particularly in developed countries where air pollution levels are the highest. The experts are specifically concerned about nitrogen dioxide and smog emitted from old diesel cars.

After microscopic particles in air pollution are inhaled into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, scientists theorize that the toxic particles then reach the brain and trigger inflammation that is associated with a higher risk of stroke and cognitive impairment. 

The team reviewed 40 studies on dementia risk in Canada, Sweden, Taiwan, Britain and the United States, which involved around 1,500 participants.

‘This study finds mounting evidence that air pollution increases the risk of developing dementia later in life," said study lead author Dr. Ruth Peters. "However, unlike the majority of established dementia risk factors, it is very difficult for someone to reduce their exposure to air pollution, especially if they live somewhere where pollution levels are high."

"This is concerning because the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 91 percent of the world's population lives in places where air quality exceeds WHO guideline limits. This research shows that government regulation that reduces our exposure to air pollution has a huge potential health and economic benefit."

In the UK alone, around 850,000 people have dementia, and this number is projected to jump to one million by 2025 and two million by 2050. 

Beyond hereditary factors, dementia has been linked to smoking, obesity, and a lack of exercise. The new research suggests that air pollution is also a major contributor, and supports the findings of previous studies. 

Last year, a study led by King's College London revealed that people living in heavily-trafficked areas with high levels of NO2 and PM2.5 are 40 percent more likely to develop dementia. 

"The causes of dementia are complex and not fully understood, so it’s important that people who live in cities do not worry unduly about the link between air pollution and dementia," said Hilda Hayo, CEO of Dementia UK. "People are living longer which is also contributing to rise in dementia diagnosis rates."

"Nevertheless, everything that is good for your heart is also good for your brain, so we suggest people make healthy choices, including eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly - away from main roads wherever possible."

The study is published in the <a href="https://www.j-alz.com/">Journal of Alzheimer's Disease</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

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Alex Tihonovs

Air pollution exposure increases the risk of dementia

In the first global study of its kind, researchers at...

Forgetting workplace information can be a good thing, study shows. Due to globalization and digitalization, workplaces and business dealings have grown more complex in recent decades. More information and data is being processed and becoming outdated at a faster pace. Because of this, organizations, companies, and individual workers are using digital information systems to remember facts and figures for them. 

Although one may think that these systems may be dumbing down the people who use them, psychologists and information scientists at the <a href="https://www.uni-muenster.de/en/">University of Münster</a> argue that they actually have the opposite effect. In fact, the ability to forget things makes people and organizations more able to act on things in the present.

The University of Münster’s Guido Hertel, Professor of Organisational and Business Psychology, and Professor Jörg Becker from the Institute of Information Systems, set up a simulation of a typical business process to test their theory. They simulated the process manufacturing companies often use to repeatedly decide how much of a company’s products are going to be sold in different countries.

Hertel and Becker found that the introduction of a supporting information system led to better economic decisions and also released users’ cognitive resources. Those workers who used the information system could better remember details of previous company decisions than people in the control group who did not have access to an information system.

Furthermore, those who used the information system reported feeling less <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/stress-shrink-brain/">stressed out</a> during these decision-making periods and while completing complex tasks.

"The major pre-condition for these positive effects was that the test persons trusted the information system," Hertel said of the study, published in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/terg20">Ergonomics</a>. "Only then could better performances be clearly observed." 

In order for a person to trust an information system, technical reliability and quality of the available information was essential. 

"What we found surprising was that trust in the information systems was determined by a wide variety of influencing factors," Hertel said. "Distrust, on the other hand, already arises with one single problem- for example, a one-off technical problem."

These findings provide further incentive to create a trustworthy information system that allows people to forget bits of unnecessary yet important workplace information. The team will now look at how other workplace-related factors influence forgetfulness such as costs arising from wrong decisions or personal orientation toward safety and security.

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By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Forgetting workplace information can be a good thing, study shows

Forgetting workplace information can be a good thing, study shows....

A new study by researchers at the <a href="https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/university.html">University of Tübingen</a> in Germany has revealed that sleep improves the ability of the immune cells to attach to their targets. The research explains how <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/sleep-deprivation-damages-dna-cancer/">sleep</a> can help to fight off an infection, while sleep deprivation makes the body more susceptible to illness.


T cells are critical to the body's immune response. They recognize a specific target, such as a cell infected with a virus, and activate sticky proteins known as integrins that enable them to attach to their target and kill it if necessary. 

The signals that activate integrins are well-documented, but the signals that inhibit the ability of T cells to attach to their targets are not clearly understood. For the current study, the team set out to investigate the effects of a diverse group of signaling molecules known as Gαs-coupled receptor agonists.

The study revealed that certain Gαs-coupled receptor agonists, including the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline, prevented T cells from activating their integrins after recognizing their target. 

“The levels of these molecules needed to inhibit integrin activation are observed in many pathological conditions, such as tumor growth, malaria infection, hypoxia, and stress,” said study lead author Stoyan Dimitrov. “This pathway may therefore contribute to the immune suppression associated with these pathologies.”

While the body is asleep, adrenaline levels decline. The researchers compared T cells taken from healthy volunteers after they had either slept or stayed awake all night. The T cells collected from those who slept showed significantly higher levels of integrin activation compared to T cells obtained from participants who did not sleep.

The researchers confirmed that the beneficial effect of sleep on T cell integrin activation was due to the decrease in Gαs-coupled receptor activation.

Study co-author Luciana Besedovsky said, “Our findings show that sleep has the potential to enhance the efficiency of T cell responses, which is especially relevant in light of the high prevalence of sleep disorders and conditions characterized by impaired sleep, such as depression, chronic stress, aging, and shift work.”

The research is published in the <a href="http://jem.rupress.org/">Journal of Experimental Medicine</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Sleep helps immune cells fight and kill infection in the body

A new study by researchers at the University of Tübingen...

Ultraprocessed foods loaded with fats, sugar, and sodium may be high in flavor and make for an easy and quick meal or snack option, but a new <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2723626?utm_campaign=articlePDF&amp;utm_medium=articlePDFlink&amp;utm_source=articlePDF&amp;utm_content=jamainternmed.2018.7289">study</a> has found that these foods increase the risk of early death. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.univ-paris13.fr/">University of Paris 13</a> examined the link between high consumption of ultraprocessed foods, like processed meats, snack foods, and ready-to-eat meals, and early death. 

Studies have linked ultraprocessed foods with obesity, an increased risk of cancer, and even <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/beef-jerky-meats-manic-episodes/">mania</a>. Despite the health risks and the benefits of diets high in fruits and vegetables, processed foods make up a large majority of most diets today. 

In the US in 2012, 61 percent of all energy from food consumption came from ultraprocessed foods. <a href="https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-015-0317-y">one study found</a>. In the UK, 63 percent of all energy came from processed foods, and in Canada, that number was 62 percent. 

For this recent study, the researchers evaluated the long-term impacts of high-processed foods on health and early death risk. 

44,551 French adults 45 years of age or older took part in a two-year study. Every six months the participants filled out a health questionnaire and kept a food diary for 24 hours. 

Participants were surveyed about their weight and physical activity and sociodemographics, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/11/health/ultraprocessed-foods-early-death-study/index.html">CNN </a>which reported on the study. 

Ultraprocessed foods accounted for about 14 percent of total food weight consumed by the participants and around 29 percent of total calories. 

High consumption of ultraprocessed foods was linked to a younger demographic, lower incomes and lower education level, high body mass index and low physical activity. 

Over the study period, 602 participants died, which allowed the researchers to analyze the impact of high consumption of ultraprocessed foods on early death. 

The researchers found that a 10 percent increase in ultraprocessed food consumption was linked to a 14 higher risk of mortality. 

Overall, the study results in align with previous research highlighting the adverse health risks of eating highly processed foods. Unfortunately, for many people, these foods are cheap and widely available.

To counter our additive addictions, health experts recommend loading up on fruits and vegetables as much as possible and switching out refined grains for whole grains. 

But as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/toolstemplates/entertainmented/tips/FoodDesert.html">food deserts</a> are a real problem in many parts of the US, and low-income areas often lack access to affordable, high-nutrient, and fresh foods, policy changes, public health campaigns, and the medical community will have to work together to make a healthier diet easily accessible.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Ultraprocessed foods increase the risk of early death, study finds

Ultraprocessed foods loaded with fats, sugar, and sodium may be...

Taking too many pictures makes experiences less fun, study shows. Experts are advising that constantly taking pictures can make an otherwise fun experience seem dull. The researchers also found that posting pictures of events on <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/social-media-addiction-drugs/">social media</a> may take away from the excitement even more. 

The study was focused on five different experiments involving over 700 participants. The individuals were presented with videos and some of them were instructed to take pictures. 

When the participants rated their experience, the scores were lower among the group that had taken pictures. These scores were even lower when the individuals were told the images they captured would be shared on social media. 

Study co-author Robyn LeBoeuf of <a href="https://wustl.edu/">Washington University</a> in St. Louis explained: “We've all had those kind of experiences. We get so focused on picture-taking, we miss the experience itself.”

“We're looking at experiences that are overall highly enjoyable, ones you really get immersed in, things that are a 8-, 9- and 10- on a 10-point scale of enjoyment. When you take pictures, you tend to enjoy them less. Taking pictures hurts.”

In one experiment, 152 college students were shown a video clip of venomous snakes and jellyfish. Some of the students were told to snap pictures of the best scenes as if they were on vacation.  The participants who simply watched the video rated their experience an average of 10 points higher than those who took pictures. 

In another experiment involving a more boring video, the experience was not rated higher by students who watched without taking any pictures. 

When the researchers examined the effect of texting during the videos, they concluded that taking pictures was just “one manifestation of a larger range of behaviors, such as texting, tweeting and posting on social media that surreptitiously distract people from the moment, resulting in diminished enjoyment.”

“When advising people, we can tell them, ‘Hey, you may want to be more mindful when deciding whether to take pictures,’” said LeBoeuf.  

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/loi/15206793">Psychology and Marketing</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

Taking too many pictures makes experiences less fun, study shows

Taking too many pictures makes experiences less fun, study shows....

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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

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" 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> 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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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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

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

[sendtonews key="761m2QQvR1-2035772-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...