Egyptian rituals have long captivated the imaginations of scholars and enthusiasts alike, and a recent breakthrough has demystified some of their most mysterious aspects.



In an incredible leap forward for archaeology and anthropology, a new study has provided tangible proof that the use of hallucinogenic mixtures was an integral part of this ancient civilization's sacred practices.



The physical evidence of hallucinogens was found in an Egyptian Bes mug, a rare relic stored in a collection at the Tampa Museum of Art.



These curious objects are distinctively adorned with the ferocious face of Bes, a protective deity linked to everything from fertility to magical healing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracing-the-roots-of-ritualistic-practices">Tracing the roots of ritualistic practices</h2>



This research didn't materialized overnight. The role of the Bes mugs in ancient Egyptian society has been a topic of debate for a long stretch of time.



“For a very long time now, Egyptologists have been speculating what mugs with the head of Bes could have been used for, and for what kind of beverage, like sacred water, milk, wine or beer,” noted Branko van Oppen, a museum curator at the Tampa Museum of Art.



The ubiquity of the mugs throughout different epochs made it tough to pinpoint their exact use and significance.



The cryptic puzzle finally began to fall into place when researchers from the <a href="https://www.usf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of South Florida</a> embarked on an ambitious project to explore the unknown.



“There’s no research out there that has ever found what we found in this study,” said Davide Tanasi, lead author of the research paper that presents the findings.



The team managed to dissect the chemical signatures of a long-dried liquid inside one of the Tampa Museum's Bes mugs, providing a concrete clue to its past use.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-secret-concoction-used-in-egyptian-rituals">The secret concoction used in Egyptian rituals</h2>



The result was nothing short of astounding. The researchers discovered a blend of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/psychedelic-drugs-secreted-from-toad-skin-greatly-improve-cognitive-functioning/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">psychedelic drugs</a>, bodily fluids, and alcohol inside the mug - a 'cocktail' likely used in a ritual re-enacting an Egyptian myth.



The mysterious brew was sweetened with popular ingredients of the time like honey, sesame seeds, pine nuts, licorice, and grapes, quite possibly to mimic the appearance of blood.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-glimpse-into-ancient-life">A glimpse into ancient life</h2>



This astounding find has brought to life vivid images of the Greco-Roman period in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/egypts-pyramids-were-built-along-a-buried-branch-of-the-nile-river/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Egypt</a>. 



The historical significance of the discovery underlines the importance of the Bes Chambers at Saqqara, a site apparently frequented by individuals hoping to confirm a successful pregnancy - a perilous phase in the ancient world.



“Egyptologists believe that people visited the so-called Bes Chambers at Saqqara when they wished to confirm a successful pregnancy because pregnancies in the ancient world were fraught with dangers," explained Van Oppen. 



He believes the special brew was likely used in a dream-vision inducing ritual during this fraught period.



This unusual study has helped us connect the dots between myths and reality.



“With this study, we’ve found scientific proof that the Egyptian myths have some kind of truth and it helps us shed light on the poorly understood rituals that were likely carried out in the Bes Chambers in Saqqara, near the Great Pyramids at Giza,” explained Tanasi.



Thus, the shroud of mystery surrounding ancient Egyptian rituals is gradually lifting, one artifact at a time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-symbolism-of-bes-in-egyptian-rituals">Symbolism of Bes in Egyptian rituals</h2>



The discovery of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/peruvian-empire-kept-control-with-beer-and-hallucinogens/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hallucinogenic substances</a> within the Bes mug not only sheds light on the practices of ancient Egyptian rituals but also emphasizes the cultural weight carried by Bes, the deity represented on the artifact. 



Known for his lion-like visage and protective nature, Bes held an essential place in daily life and spiritual practices. He was not just a guardian deity; he was seen as a figure that could ward off evil spirits, promote <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mediterranean-diet-improves-sperm-quality-and-fertility/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fertility</a>, and bring joy through music and dance.



In ancient Egypt, rituals involving Bes were believed to harness his powerful essence, particularly in times of vulnerability, such as childbirth and healing. 



The presence of hallucinogenic elements in the brew suggests that these ceremonies aimed to elevate participants' consciousness and induce a trance-like state for divine communication or visionary experiences.



Such practices aligned with the belief that connecting with deities like Bes could provide spiritual protection and guidance.



This new understanding of Bes' involvement in these rituals deepens our appreciation for how ancient <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mystery-how-ancient-egyptians-built-pyramids-djoser-may-be-solved/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Egyptians</a> intertwined the mystical with the tangible, creating sacred ceremonies that reflected their belief in the interconnectedness of the human and divine realms.



The study was published in the journal <a href="https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41598-024-78721-8&amp;utm_campaign=aga&amp;utm_source=agsadl2%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scientific Reports</a>.



Image Credit:&nbsp;Scientific Reports&nbsp;(2024).



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Hallucinogens were used in ancient Egyptian rituals

Egyptian rituals have long captivated the imaginations of scholars and enthusiasts alike, and a recent breakthrough has demystified some of their most mysterious aspects. In an incredible leap forward for archaeology and anthropology, a new study has provided tangible proof that the use of hallucinogenic mixtures was an integral part of this ancient civilization's sacred practices. The physical evidence of hallucinogens was found in an Egyptian Bes mug, a rare relic stored in a collection at the Tampa Museum of Art. These curious objects are distinctively adorned...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/">University of California San Francisco</a> (UCSF) has revealed that ambulance response times are not as fast for low-income people. Based on more than 63,000 cases of cardiac arrest, the researchers found that ambulances took an average of four minutes longer to respond to calls from low-income areas compared to high-income communities.

Study lead author Dr. Renee Y. Hsia is a professor of Emergency Medicine at UCSF and an emergency physician at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.

“When it comes to a cardiac arrest, every minute counts,” said Dr. Hsia. “We found that emergency medical services response times were 10 percent longer in the poorest neighborhoods.”

“That stacks the odds against survival for low-income patients. As a society, we might hope that public services, such as ambulances, would be equally accessible, but our results show that this is not the case, even for deadly conditions like cardiac arrest.”

While unequal access to medical care has been established as one of the biggest contributors to the health care disparities found in poorer communities, hospital and ER shutdowns across the country and the closures of privately-owned ambulance companies are making the issue even worse.

“The repercussions of the loss of these services may be particularly detrimental in low-income communities, which rely more heavily on prehospital care and have a higher increased incidence of severe, life-threatening illnesses,” wrote the study authors.

The investigation was focused on cardiac arrest cases from the 2014 National Emergency Medical Services Information Systems, which included data from 46 states. The team examined the length of time from ambulance dispatch to arrival at the patient's location, from arrival to departure from the scene, from departure at the scene to arrival at the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/noise-pollution-hospitals-health/">hospital</a>, and also the total emergency medical services time. 

Overall, the experts analyzed 63,600 cardiac arrest cases, which involved patients who had an average age of 60. The authors reported that high-income areas had a greater proportion of white, male patients with private insurance, while low-income areas had a greater proportion of Medicaid-insured patients.

The study revealed that the average emergency response time was 43 minutes in the lowest income zip code, compared to 37.5 minutes in the highest income zip code. The analysis also showed that EMS responses were more likely to meet the 8-minute and 15-minute national benchmarks in high-income communities.

Even after the team controlled for differences such as the time of day, the average emergency response times were 10 percent longer in low-income communities.

“Each minute of delay increases the odds that a patient will not survive a heart attack,” said Dr. Hsia. “Our findings are particularly concerning given the time-sensitivity of conditions like cardiac arrest, in which the heart has ceased functioning and immediate medical care is required to restore function and circulation.”

“Our findings show that health care disparities exist at the system-level, including ambulance transport times. As hospital closures and the cost of health care continue to rise, we must examine how to ensure access to care for our most vulnerable.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen">JAMA Network Open</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Ambulance response times are significantly longer in low-income areas

A new study from the University of California San Francisco...

A shift away from meat consumption will help fight climate change. A new study estimates that the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cowspiracy-film-review/">livestock sector</a> could use up almost half of the total greenhouse gas emissions budget by the year 2030, which means that addressing the issue should be a big part of climate mitigation strategies. Dr. Helen Harwatt, who is a farmed animal law and policy fellow at <a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/">Harvard Law School</a>, explained that a transition to dietary protein from plant sources instead of animal sources could drastically help to limit <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/geoengineering-program-global-warming/">global warming</a>.

According to Dr. Harwatt, switching from animal to plant proteins could also potentially feed an additional 350 million people in the United States alone. She has developed a three-step strategy to gradually replace animal proteins with plant-sourced proteins. A shift away from meat consumption will help fight climate change

The proposed strategy starts with acknowledging the fact that livestock numbers have hit their peak and must decline. Next, targets must be set to transition away from livestock products. Dr. Harwatt recommends a “worst-first” approach, by first eliminating foods linked with the highest greenhouse gas emissions such as beef, cow's milk, and then pig meat. 

Finally, suitable alternatives to animal-sourced protein must be identified using a “best available food” approach, which means taking into account the land use and emissions associated with potential replacements. A shift away from meat consumption will help fight climate change

Currently, the global livestock population is around 28 billion animals, and this industry has become the biggest source of two major greenhouse gases - methane and nitrous oxide. Methane emissions from the livestock sector are projected to rise by 60 percent over the next decade.

“Given the livestock sector's significant contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and methane dominance, animal to plant protein shifts make a much-needed contribution to meeting the Paris temperature goals and reducing warming in the short term, while providing a suite of co-benefits,” said Dr. Harwatt.

“Failure to implement animal to plant protein shifts increases the risk of exceeding temperature goals and requires additional, and unrealistic, greenhouse gas reductions from other sectors. The current revision of national contributions to meeting the Paris Agreement from 2020 onwards should ideally integrate animal to plant-protein shifts. As a next step, the COP24 in December this year provides an excellent opportunity for policy makers to start this important conversation.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tcpo20/current">Climate Policy</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

A shift away from meat consumption will help fight climate change

A shift away from meat consumption will help fight climate...

The <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/brain-two-internal-clocks/">human brain</a> reacts differently to sounds of understandable language than it does to white noise, non-speech sounds, and different languages. But this is old news to neuroscientists. However, what neuroscientists didn’t know up until recently was how quickly the brain shifts to pay attention, process, and understand familiar language sounds.

Now, researchers from the <a href="http://www.medschool.umaryland.edu/">University of Maryland’s School of Medicine</a> have tracked and timed this shift and documented their findings in a paper published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>.

Christian Brodbeck, a Postdoctoral Researcher from the <a href="https://isr.umd.edu/">Institute for Systems Research</a>, L. Elliot Hong of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Professor Jonathan Z. Simon, with a triple appointment in the Departments of Biology and Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as ISR, discovered that the brain processes language within a tenth of a second of the ears picking it up.

According to Simon, “When we listen to someone talking, the change in our brain's processing from not caring what kind of sound it is to recognizing it as a word happens surprisingly early. In fact, this happens pretty much as soon as the linguistic information becomes available.”

The team mapped and examined study participants’ neural brain activity while listening to a single person tell a story using magnetoencephalography (MEG), a non-invasive neuroimaging method that uses sensitive magnetometers to track magnetic fields produced within the brain. 

The results showed that the brain’s auditory cortex analyzes acoustic patterns and phonetic sounds that make up syllables within a tenth of a second from these sounds entering the ears. Within that sliver of time, the brain is able to distinguish language sounds from non-language sounds, understand the linguistic message, and keep up with a speaker speaking three words per second by predicting what it’s likely to hear next.

“We usually think that what the brain processes this early must be only at the level of sound, without regard for language," Simon said. "But if the brain can take knowledge of language into account right away, it would actually process sound more accurately. In our study we see that the brain takes advantage of language processing at the very earliest stage it can."

The researchers also found that people are able to selectively hear a single speaker within a noisy environment. The brain focuses on one person speaking while blocking out other familiar, conversational language within the same environment — like a cocktail party.

“This may reveal a 'bottleneck' in our brains' speech perception," Brodbeck said. "We think lexical perception works by our brain considering the match between the incoming speech signal and many different words at the same time. It could be that this mechanism involves mental resources that have limitations on how many different options can be tried simultaneously, making it impossible to attend to more than one speaker at the same time."

Having mapped the speed of understanding language, the team hopes their findings can lay the groundwork for others to determine how exactly the brain understands what word is being said, and what said word in means in a certain context.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How do our brains shift to understand and pay attention to language

The human brain reacts differently to sounds of understandable language...

The average American family wastes 250 pounds of food each year. According to a new survey from the <a href="https://www.drink-milk.com/">American Dairy Association Mideast</a>, 94 percent of Americans waste food at home. The average family was found to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-packaging-food-waste/">waste</a> nearly one third of the food they buy, which is the equivalent of 250 pounds of food each year.

Karen Bakies is a registered dietitian and the vice president of nutrition affairs for the American Dairy Association Mideast in Columbus, Ohio.

“Imagine coming home with four bags of groceries and throwing one straight into the trash. That's really what is happening in most households,” said Bakies. “Whether people are over purchasing groceries or getting tired of their leftovers, too much food is being thrown away in America.”

The most reported reason for throwing away food at home was that it had reached its expiration date, while another 60 percent of respondents said they have tossed out food that they did not think was safe to eat. 

According to the experts, just a few simple changes can help a family waste less food. First, Bakies recommends organizing the refrigerator by rotating older food to the front so that it is not overlooked. Cheese and yogurt should be on the top shelf and produce should be stored in humidity-controlled drawers.

Bakies also suggests that families could get more creative by finding ways to use ingredients that were bought for a specific purpose. For example, if a recipe calls for only a cup of whipped cream, the rest of the product could be incorporated into other recipes such as mashed potatoes.

In addition, perishables can be moved to the freezer. Fruits, vegetables, and even dairy products such as milk and cheese can be frozen for weeks until it is needed. Bakies also says that sauces or herbs can be portioned out and frozen. 

“A family of four could save up to $2,000 by wasting less food, but it's not just great for your family, it's also great for your community. Just half of that money is enough to provide over 8,000 meals to those in need.” said Bakies. “And if you do find yourself with extra groceries, donate them to a local food pantry rather than letting them go to waste.”

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The average American family wastes 250 pounds of food each year

The average American family wastes 250 pounds of food each...

When people are struggling with poor sleep, they may also be short on key nutrients like vitamin A, calcium and magnesium, a new study shows.

A team of nutritionists led by Dr. Chioma Ikonte, director of nutrition science at dietary supplement company <a href="http://www.pharmavite.com/">Pharmavite, LLC</a>, examined data collected in the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.htm">National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey</a>. They found that people who got less than seven hours of sleep each night tended to consume less calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, niacin and zinc. They were also short on vitamins A, B1 and D, the researchers said.

"This work adds to the body of growing evidence associating specific nutrient intakes with sleep outcomes," Ikonte said. "Our findings suggest that individuals with short sleep duration might benefit from improving their intake of these nutrients through diet and supplementation."

According to Ikonte’s findings, nutrition isn’t just linked to not getting enough sleep, but to poor sleep in general, including sleep disorders and insomnia.

The researchers wanted to find the role that micronutrients may play in poor sleep. Micronutrients are minerals and vitamins that the human body doesn’t produce on its own. They must come from the diet. But around the world, the researchers noted, billions of people suffer from at least one micronutrient deficiency.

This is bad news, since micronutrients play a big role in growth, disease prevention, healing and more.

More research is needed, the scientists warned. Because they were looking at data collected in the past, they could not determine if poor nutrition led to poor sleep or vice versa.

"Whether chronic short sleep causes nutrient insufficiency or the nutrient insufficiency causes short sleep still needs to be determined," Ikonte said. "A clinical study that investigates [impacts of] supplementation with these nutrients on sleep outcomes is needed to demonstrate cause and effect."

Ikonte will present the team’s findings today at <a href="https://meeting.nutrition.org/">Nutrition 2019</a>, the annual meeting of the <a href="https://nutrition.org/">American Society for Nutrition</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Poor sleep connected to poor nutrition, study shows

When people are struggling with poor sleep, they may also...

The US is lagging behind other countries in reducing plastic bag use In response to the world’s <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/plastic-waste-kills-person/">plastic crisis</a>, many federal and local governments across the globe are banning single-use plastic bags. As of now, 50 countries have passed legislation to tax or ban plastic bags.

On average, a person will use a plastic bag for 12 minutes, but once it’s discarded plastic leaches toxic chemicals that persist in marine environments for 1,000 years. 

Plastic trash is also responsible for the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/whale-dies-plastic-stomach/">deaths of 100,000 marine animals each year</a>. 

<a href="https://www.reusethisbag.com/">Reusethisbag</a>, a company dedicated to wholesale reusable tote and grocery bags, recently released a study on <a href="https://www.reusethisbag.com/articles/where-are-plastic-bags-banned-around-the-world/">plastic bag bans</a> and their impacts in the countries that implement them. 

Every second, as many as 160,000 plastic bags are used worldwide, and even though many countries are working to reduce plastic waste, the US is lagging behind when it comes to plastic bag restrictions.

For the study, Reusethisbag drew data from the <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/">National Conference of State Legislators </a>and state and county reports. 

Out of all 50 states in the US, only California and Hawaii have restricted plastic bag use. Ten states have preemptive bans in place, and 200 municipalities have bans or taxes on plastic. 

Meanwhile, cities that have plastic bans or taxes have seen dramatic declines in plastic waste.

For example, in Seattle, there has been a 48 percent drop in residential plastic bag waste and a 76 percent decline in commercial plastic waste in the five years since a plastic bag ban was implemented. 

These small improvements pale in comparison when you look at other countries like Ireland which has seen a 90 percent decline in plastic bag use since a tax was implemented. In China, a 2008 ban has resulted in an 80 percent drop in plastic waste. The US is lagging behind other countries in reducing plastic bag use but will start to have a big impact once implied fully.

The study shows that plastic bag bans and taxes work and could go a long way in helping to combat the world’s plastic crisis. 

--

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>

Image Credit: Shutterstock

The US is lagging behind other countries in reducing plastic bag use

The US is lagging behind other countries in reducing plastic...

Limiting global warming could prevent thousands of heat-related deaths. If countries commit to the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, it could prevent thousands of annual heat-related deaths a new study has found. 

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristo</a>l studied the potential impacts of limiting warming under the Paris Accord and focused on mortality rather than temperatures or emissions. 

“We are no longer counting the impact of climate change in terms of degrees of global warming, but rather in terms of number of lives lost,” said Dann Mitchell, a co-lead author of the study which was published in the journal Science Advances. 

As the next round of climate pledges for the Paris Climate Agreement are due in 2020, the study emphasizes the importance of limiting emissions and combating warming climate trends. 

Currently, nearly every country on Earth has pledged to uphold the Paris Climate Agreement which aims to prevent global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but recent studies have shown that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/2030-limit-climate-change-warming/">limiting warming to 1.5 degrees</a> would go a long way in preventing catastrophic sea level rise and extreme weather events. 

In this study, the researchers reviewed temperature and mortality data as well as climate projections for 15 cities in the US to see how different climate mitigation strategies would impact heat-related deaths. 

“Our study brings together a wide range of physical and social complexities to show just how human lives could be impacted if we do not cut carbon emissions,” said Mitchell. “Considering the US citizens that will be adversely affected by increasing global temperatures, we strongly encourage them to hold their politicians to account."

If warming is limited to 2 degrees Celsius, it could prevent 70 to 1,980 deaths per year, per city. But if warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, it could prevent 110 to 2,720 deaths, depending on the city. 

“If global temperature rise is reduced to 1.5°C from where we are headed, the cities’ exposure to extreme heat would decrease and up to thousands of annual heat-related deaths could be avoided per city,” said Dr. Eunice Lo, the lead author of the study. “Strengthened climate actions are needed as they would substantially benefit public health in the United States.”

--

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>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/ParabolStudio

Limiting global warming could prevent thousands of heat-related deaths

Limiting global warming could prevent thousands of heat-related deaths. If...

As <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/nature-boosts-health-well-being/">interacting with nature</a> becomes more professionally recognized way to improve several mental health disorders, an international team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a> and <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> have created a framework for how city planners worldwide can begin incorporating nature into their policies and plans to improve the mental wellbeing of their residents.

"Thinking about the direct mental health benefits that nature contact provides is important to take into account when planning how to conserve nature and integrate it into our cities," said lead author Greg Bratman, an assistant professor at the <a href="https://sefs.uw.edu/">UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences</a>. "The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual model of one way we can start to think about doing this."

Two dozen leading experts in natural, social, and health sciences came together on this study, published in <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>. They first had to agree on the fact that nature can positively impact cognitive functioning, emotional well-being, and other aspects of mental health.

"In hundreds of studies, nature experience is associated with increased happiness, social engagement, and manageability of life tasks, and decreased mental distress," said senior author Gretchen Daily, faculty director at the <a href="https://naturalcapitalproject.stanford.edu/">Stanford Natural Capital Project.</a> "In addition, nature experience is linked to improved cognitive functioning, memory and attention, imagination and creativity, and children's school performance. These links span many dimensions of human experience, and include a greater sense of meaning and purpose in life."

The experts also agreed that, because of urban growth, opportunity for nature experiences are on the decline.

"For millennia, many different cultures, traditions, and religious and spiritual practices have spoken directly to our deep relationship with nature,” Bratman said. “And more recently, using other sets of tools from psychology, public health, landscape architecture and medicine, evidence has been steadily gathering in this emerging, interdisciplinary field.”

As of right now, many city plans work greenspace into their framework in order to improve air quality and reduce urban heat island effects, as well as give people the opportunity to stay active with parks and walking trails. However, mental health has yet to be taken into consideration in many city planning situations.

"We have entered the urban century, with two-thirds of humanity projected to be living in cities by 2050. At the same time, there is an awakening underway today, to the many values of nature and the risks and costs of its loss," Daily said. "This new work can help inform investments in livability and sustainability of the world's cities."

The framework the experts came up with includes four steps for planners to consider: nature elements included in a project, no matter how small or large; the amount of contact people will have with nature; how people interact with nature; and how people could benefit from those interactions, based on modern scientific evidence.

"If the evidence shows that nature contact helps to buffer against negative impacts from other environmental predictors of health, then access to these landscapes can be considered a matter of environmental justice,” Bratman said. “We hope this framework will contribute to this discussion.”

"Eventually,” he added, “it could be developed and potentially used to help address health disparities in underserved communities."

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Spectral-Design

How city planners can maximize the mental health benefits of nature

As interacting with nature becomes more professionally recognized way to...

Wheat is among the world’s most important crops, as the flour generated from grinding wheat is a major ingredient in foods that are consumed all over the world – such as pasta, bread, and pastries. Because it’s such a key part of keeping people around the world properly fed, scientists have been trying to figure out how wheat crops will be affected by the consequences of climate change. 

With atmospheric <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/co2-levels-highest-ever/">carbon dioxide</a> (CO2) levels rising, experts predict increased droughts and hotter temperatures. And while these factors could negatively impact plants’ growth, increased CO2 availability may actually be helpful to plant growth, as it’s used by plants to make food through photosynthesis. 

A recent report in <a href="https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en.html">ACS' </a><a href="https://pubs.acs.org/journal/jafcau">Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry </a>indicates that significantly higher CO2 levels could increase wheat yield but may decrease nutritional quality. While previous research had shown that elevated CO2 could increase wheat yield but decreased nitrogen and protein content, scientists did not know the full range of grain quality changes that occur at different stages of wheat development, or the biochemical mechanisms behind them.

In this new research, Iker Aranjuelo and colleagues analyzed the effects of CO2 on wheat yield, quality, and metabolism during grain formation and at maturity. Their study involved growing wheat in greenhouses at normal (400 parts per million (ppm)) or elevated (700 ppm) CO2 concentrations.

Results showed that wheat grown under elevated CO2 concentrations had a 104% higher yield of mature grain. However, the nitrogen content of the grain was 0.5% lower, and there were small declines in both protein content and free amino acids. Further analysis showed that increased CO2 levels affected the amount of nitrogen-containing amino acids during grain formation and at maturity. 

The researchers believe that – while the metabolic changes they found had modest impacts on final grain quality – these effects may be amplified as a result of other changes in a plant’s environment. While further research is needed, this research shows that with climate change, changes that may initially seem beneficial can also have consequences.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Rising CO2 levels may mean a higher wheat yield with lower nutritional quality

Wheat is among the world’s most important crops, as the...

In a new study published by <a href="https://www.obesity.org/">The Obesity Society</a>, researchers are describing how strategies such as eating earlier in the day can help people lose weight by curbing their <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/disadvantaged-stimulate-appetite/">appetite</a>. The experts also found evidence that intermittent fasting may boost fat-burning levels during a 24-hour period.

Study lead author Dr. Courtney M. Peterson is an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at the <a href="https://www.uab.edu/home/">University of Alabama at Birmingham</a>. "We suspect that a majority of people may find meal timing strategies helpful for losing weight or to maintain their weight since these strategies naturally appear to curb appetite, which may help people eat less," said Dr. Peterson. 

The investigation was focused on healthy adults between the ages of 20 and 45 who had excess weight. The individuals selected for the study fell within a specific range for body weight and body mass index, and also had a regular bedtime between 9:30 p.m. and midnight. 

The participants were introduced to Early Time-Restricted Feeding (eTRF), which is a form of daily intermittent fasting where dinner is eaten in the afternoon. As a control, there was another phase of the trial during which the individuals ate three meals across a 12-hour period with breakfast at 8:00 a.m. and dinner at 8:00 p.m. 

On both schedules, the same types of foods were consumed for four consecutive days. The participants experienced 12 hours of fasting per day during the control schedule, while the eTRF schedule involved fasting for 18 hours per day.

The appetite levels of participants were measured every three hours while they were awake, and hunger hormones were evaluated in the morning and evening. In addition, on the final day of each routine, the participants were placed in a respiratory chamber where researchers measured their metabolism rates and how many calories, carbohydrates, fat, and protein were burned. 

While eTRF did not substantially influence how many calories were burned, this strategy was found to lower levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin, improve some aspects of appetite, and increase fat burning over the course of a 24-hour day.

Professor Hollie Raynor of UT Knoxville, who was not involved in the research, pointed out that the study "helps provide more information about how patterns of eating, and not just what you eat, may be important for achieving a healthy weight."

Study co-author Dr. Eric Ravussin is the director of the Nutritional Obesity Research Center at Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

"Coordinating meals with circadian rhythms, or your body's internal clock, may be a powerful strategy for reducing appetite and improving metabolic health," said Dr. Ravussin.

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1930739x">Obesity</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: RossHelen/Shutterstock

Structured meal timing can boost fat burning and decrease appetite

In a new study published by The Obesity Society, researchers...

According to a new study published by the <a href="http://www.apa.org/">American Psychological Association</a>, mental health issues have significantly increased among young adults in the United States over the past decade. However, no corresponding trend was found among older adults.

Study lead author Dr. Jean Twenge is a professor of Psychology at <a href="https://www.sdsu.edu/">San Diego State University</a>.

“More U.S. adolescents and young adults in the late 2010s, versus the mid-2000s, experienced serious psychological distress, major depression or suicidal thoughts, and more attempted suicide,” said Dr. Twenge. “These trends are weak or non-existent among adults 26 years and over, suggesting a generational shift in mood disorders instead of an overall increase across all ages.”

The investigation was focused on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a survey that has tracked mental health issues in individuals over age 12 since 1971. The researchers analyzed survey responses from more than 200,000 adolescents and almost 400,000 adults.

The rate of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/teens-self-harm-violent-crimes/">adolescents</a> reporting symptoms of major depression increased by 52 percent from 2005 to 2017. Among young adults between 18 and 25, major depressive symptoms increased by 63 percent and reports of psychological distress increased by 71 percent.

In addition, the rate of young adults with suicidal thoughts or other suicide-related outcomes increased by 47 percent. On the other hand, depression and psychological distress did not increase among older adults. 

“Cultural trends in the last 10 years may have had a larger effect on mood disorders and suicide-related outcomes among younger generations compared with older generations,” said Dr. Twenge. She believes this trend may be partially due to increased use of digital media and electronic communication, which could have changed modes of social interaction enough to affect mood disorders.

Dr. Twenge explained that the increase in digital media use may have had a bigger impact on teens and young adults because older adults' social lives are more stable and have changed less than teens' social lives have in the last ten years. 

“These results suggest a need for more research to understand how digital communication versus face-to-face social interaction influences mood disorders and suicide-related outcomes and to develop specialized interventions for younger age groups,” she said.

The study is published in the <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/abn/">Journal of Abnormal Psychology</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

Mental health issues have increased substantially among young adults

According to a new study published by the American Psychological...

The majority of people admit to lying to their doctor. Researchers at the <a href="https://www.utah.edu/">University of Utah Health and Middlesex Community College</a> have found that the majority of patients hold back information from their doctors that could be important to their health. According to a national online survey, 60 to 80 percent of respondents lied to their doctors at some point about various aspects of their daily routine, such as diet and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/exercise-help-drug-addicts/">exercise</a>. 

When asked why they were not honest with their doctors, most of the participants reported that they were afraid of being judged and did not want to be lectured about how bad certain behaviors were. More than half of the respondents said they were simply too embarrassed to tell the truth.

“Most people want their doctor to think highly of them,” said study senior author Dr. Angela Fagerlin. “They're worried about being pigeonholed as someone who doesn't make good decisions.”

In addition to stretching the truth about diet and exercise, more than a third of the participants said that they did not speak up when they disagreed with their doctor's recommendation. Many of the respondents also reported that they failed to admit when they did not understand the instructions given by their doctor. 

Young females who self-reported as being in poor health were found to be the most likely group to omit medically relevant information in their doctor's office. 

“I'm surprised that such a substantial number of people chose to withhold relatively benign information, and that they would admit to it,” said study first author Dr. Andrea Gurmankin Levy. “We also have to consider the interesting limitation that survey participants might have withheld information about what they withheld, which would mean that our study has underestimated how prevalent this phenomenon is.”


It is impossible for doctors to give the most accurate medical advice when patients are holding back all the facts. 

“If patients are withholding information about what they're eating, or whether they are taking their medication, it can have significant implications for their health. Especially if they have a chronic illness,” said Dr. Levy.

According to Dr. Fagerlin, it is possible that patients are not the only ones to blame.

“How providers are communicating in certain situations may cause patients to be hesitant to open up. This raises the question, is there a way to train clinicians to help their patients feel more comfortable?”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen">JAMA Network Open</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

The majority of people admit to lying to their doctor

The majority of people admit to lying to their doctor....

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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



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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



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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



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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



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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

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