In the United States and worldwide, alcohol consumption remains a leading cause of preventable death and disability, contributing to liver disease, mental health disorders, and accidents.&nbsp;



Researchers from <a href="https://www.fau.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Florida Atlantic University</a> (FAU)’s Schmidt College of Medicine have delved into U.S. trends in alcohol-related deaths from 1999 to 2020. 



Utilizing data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), they uncovered alarming statistics.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dramatic-surge-in-alcohol-related-deaths-nbsp">Dramatic surge in alcohol-related deaths&nbsp;</h2>



The study reveals that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/spike-in-alcohol-use-during-the-pandemic-continues-today/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">alcohol</a>-related deaths in the U.S. have surged dramatically in the last two decades. The mortality rate nearly doubled from 10.7 per 100,000 in 1999 to 21.6 per 100,000 in 2020. 



The total number of alcohol-related deaths soared from 19,356 to 48,870, marking a dramatic twofold increase. Every age group experienced increases, with the most alarming spike - nearly fourfold - in those aged 25 to 34.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gender-and-age-disparities">Gender and age disparities</h2>



The 85 and older age group saw a possible but nonsignificant increase. Individuals aged 55-64 had both the steepest rise in mortality and the highest absolute rates in both 1999 and 2020.&nbsp;



Both men and women experienced significant increases in alcohol-related deaths, but men had the highest rates in both years and saw the steepest increase overall.&nbsp;



Women, however, saw the largest proportional rise, with deaths increasing from 4.8 per 100,000 in 1999 to 12 in 2020.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-alcohol-consumption-among-women-nbsp">Alcohol consumption among women&nbsp;</h2>



Study senior author Dr. Panagiota “Yiota” Kitsantas is a professor and chair of the Department of Population Health and Social Medicine at FAU.&nbsp;



“Our study found significant gender differences in alcohol-related mortality. While men had higher overall death rates, women experienced a larger relative increase, which may reflect changing social norms and the alcohol industry’s increased targeting of women through marketing campaigns,” said Dr. Kitsantas.



“As alcohol consumption among women has grown, so have the associated risks. Women appear to be more vulnerable to alcohol’s harmful effects due, possibly, to differences in body composition and metabolism, leading to higher blood alcohol concentrations.”&nbsp;



Moreover, mental health issues like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/people-with-a-history-of-depression-tend-to-process-more-negative-information/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">depression</a> and anxiety, already more common in women, can be worsened by alcohol use, noted Dr. Kitsantas.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-regional-variations-in-alcohol-related-deaths-nbsp">Regional variations in alcohol-related deaths&nbsp;</h2>



Deaths in women increased two-and-a-half times, while Asian and Pacific Islander communities experienced the steepest rise of 2.4 times.&nbsp;



Regionally, the Midwest experienced the greatest jump, with an increase of 2.5 times in alcohol-related mortality, followed by the Northeast, West, and South.



“Addressing these factors through tailored interventions could help combat the growing U.S. alcohol mortality epidemic,” said Dr. Kitsantas.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-complications-of-associated-risk-factors">Complications of associated risk factors</h2>



Findings from the study highlight significant clinical and public health challenges that may benefit from targeted interventions.&nbsp;



Risk factors such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/childhood-obesity-rates-are-surging-worldwide/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">obesity</a>, diabetes, and liver damage complicate these challenges, accelerating alcohol-related mortality. Gender, demographic, and regional differences should guide healthcare strategies.



“Health care providers should recognize that heavy alcohol use is a leading risk factor for total mortality and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-century-of-progress-in-the-fight-against-cardiovascular-disease/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cardiovascular disease</a>, especially heart attacks and stroke,” said co-author Charles H. Hennekens, a professor of medicine at FAU. 



“To mitigate these risks, screening for alcohol use in primary care settings is essential. Coexisting conditions like overweight and obesity can accelerate liver damage, which may in turn lead to earlier onset of cirrhosis and liver cancer.”



“The U.S. has the highest rates of overweight and obesity in the world and low levels of daily physical activity. The deleterious interaction of these factors may contribute to the observed trends in alcohol-related mortality, particularly in younger adults.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-context-and-future-directions">Global context and future directions</h2>



Alcohol consumption varies significantly by region worldwide and in the U.S. According to 2019 data, Latvia had the highest annual per capita consumption at 13.2 liters, followed by France at 12.2 and the U.S. at 10.&nbsp;



Descriptive data on mortality reveal complex links between alcohol use and premature deaths. Latvia, for example, leads in alcohol consumption and ranks third in total deaths, while France, despite high alcohol consumption, has low cardiovascular mortality but high rates of cirrhosis and liver cancer.&nbsp;



In contrast, Russian men have high alcohol consumption and an elevated rate of cardiovascular mortality. These patterns illustrate the complex interrelationships of alcohol consumption, premature death, and disease, regardless of the beverage type.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-alcohol-consumption-and-premature-death">Alcohol consumption and premature death</h2>



“Both globally and in the U.S., high levels of alcohol consumption are closely linked to premature deaths and disability,” said Hennekens.&nbsp;



“The difference between consuming small amounts of alcohol daily and larger amounts could be the difference between preventing and causing premature death. One immediate effect of alcohol is liver damage, and in the U.S., the rising rates of obesity and diabetes also contribute to early liver damage.”



In conclusion, the authors emphasize that healthcare providers should be aware that in the U.S. as well as most populations worldwide, individuals who consume large amounts of alcohol tend to have the highest risks of mortality as well as deaths from cardiovascular disease, predominantly due to heart attacks and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dramatic-temperature-changes-linked-to-half-a-million-stroke-deaths/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stroke</a>.



The research is published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2024.10.024" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The American Journal of Medicine</a>.



-----



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Alcohol-related deaths have doubled over the past two decades

In the United States and worldwide, alcohol consumption remains a leading cause of preventable death and disability, contributing to liver disease, mental health disorders, and accidents.&nbsp; Researchers from Florida Atlantic University (FAU)’s Schmidt College of Medicine have delved into U.S. trends in alcohol-related deaths from 1999 to 2020.  Utilizing data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), they uncovered alarming statistics. Dramatic surge in alcohol-related deaths&nbsp; The study reveals that alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. have surged dramatically...

Increasing the abundance of a threatened salmon could have economic benefits. A new study from the <a href="https://www.uoregon.edu/">University of Oregon</a> suggests that increasing the abundance of a threatened species can be very beneficial to people living in the Pacific Northwest. The team found that a two-thirds increase in the average number of coho salmon returning to the Oregon coast each year would generate up to $518 million in economic benefits.

The study has been released just as the U.S. Department of Interior announced that economic impacts must now be considered for listing a species under the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/trump-endangered-species-act/">Endangered Species Act</a> (ESA).

"When we think about actions to protect endangered and threatened species, we often focus on the costs," said study co-author David Lewis. "The benefits of protecting threatened species are difficult to estimate since they are considered to be non-market and arise from the public's values for things like the existence of abundant salmon in the wild. This study gives us a way to evaluate the benefits."

"If an agency is considering a policy or program that would increase the number of salmon by a certain amount, our study translates the benefits for that amount of salmon to a dollar value," added study co-author Steven Dundas.

"This provides evidence of the economic value Pacific Northwest residents place on protecting threatened and endangered species. We can compare it to how much we actually spend on salmon restoration activities, to see if there's a net benefit to more investment."

In collaboration with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, the researchers found that up to $277 million a year could be gained by achieving conservation goals sooner rather than later.

"There are sizable benefits to achieving conservation goals quickly," said Lewis. "That has real implications for conservation programs, showing that there's significant value to the public in up-front investments."

The investigation was focused on surveys that were mailed to 5,000 households in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and northern California in the fall of 2017. The participants were presented with various conservation scenarios and their associated benefits for improving the abundance of Oregon Coast coho salmon. 

The survey respondents were then asked to choose a conservation scenario, which was linked to an annual per-household cost from a combination of additional taxes and higher prices for lumber and agricultural products, ranging from $10 to $350 per year.

"The surveys create a situation for someone to make a decision about a public good - as if increases in salmon abundance were something they could choose off the shelf at the grocery store," said Dundas.

By analyzing the responses, the researchers were able to calculate the average household willingness to pay for salmon conservation, which was multiplied by the number of households in the Pacific Northwest to estimate the overall benefits.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>.

--

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/Bill Perry

Increasing the abundance of a threatened salmon could have economic benefits

Increasing the abundance of a threatened salmon could have economic...

According to new research from Erik Trinkaus of <a href="https://wustl.edu/">Washington University</a> and colleagues, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/neanderthals-pine-resin-tools/">Neanderthals</a> commonly suffered from “swimmer’s ear” due to abnormal bone growths in the ear canal. 

Swimmer’s ear, which is caused by external auditory exostoses (dense, bony growths) in the ear canal, is linked to repeated exposure to cold water or air. There is also a genetic predisposition for the condition.

Trinkaus and his team came to their conclusion, published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0220464">PLOS ONE</a>, after examining the ear canals of 77 ancient human remains, including Neanderthals and early modern humans from the Middle to Late Pleistocene Epoch of western Eurasia. 

The early modern human remains showed similar frequency of exostoses to modern humans, but the condition was incredibly common in Neandertal samples. About half of the 23 Neandertal remains examined showed that the ancient humans suffered from mild to severe exostoses.

Trinkaus and colleagues believe that the commonality of swimmer’s ear in Neanderthals can be explained by their amount of time spent collecting resources in cold, aquatic settings.

"An exceptionally high frequency of external auditory exostoses (bony growths in the ear canal; "swimmer's ear") among the Neandertals, and a more modest level among high latitude earlier Upper Paleolithic modern humans, indicate a higher frequency of aquatic resource exploitation among both groups of humans than is suggested by the archeological record,” Trinkaus said. “In particular, it reinforces the foraging abilities and resource diversity of the Neandertals."

Furthermore, because the geographic distribution of the exostoses found in Neanderthals does not align with proximity to ancient water sources nor cooler climates, Trinkaus and his team believe that multiple factors were at play to form so many exostoses, such as environmental factors as well as genetic predispositions, as is still applicable today.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/IR Stone

‘Swimmer’s ear’ was common amongst Neanderthal populations

According to new research from Erik Trinkaus of Washington University...

New non-verbal marker could help diagnose autism. There may be a new way to help screen for autism that uses neural markers. Researchers from <a href="https://home.dartmouth.edu/">Dartmouth</a> led a study that identified the first neural, non-verbal marker of autism of its kind. 

Currently, screening for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is difficult because there is no conclusive test to prove a diagnosis as there are for other diseases. Doctors screen for specific <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/autism-less-empathy/">behavior and development delays. </a>

Even if a trained clinician suspects ASD, an official diagnosis may not come until much later. 

In this study, researchers were able to identify an objective, non-verbal marker of autism independent of intelligence. 

“Autism is hard to screen for in children, when the first signs are present. A trained clinician may be able to detect autism at 18-months or even younger; yet, the average age of a diagnosis of autism in the U.S. is about four years old,” said Caroline Robertson, the lead author of the study. “We need objective, non-invasive screening tools that don’t depend on assessing a child’s behavior.”New non-verbal marker could help diagnose autism

It’s been thought that people with autism have differences in the way neural signals are inhibited in the brain and how certain information is processed. 

Robertson’s past research found that when presented two images at the same time, an autistic brain is slower when switching back and forth from one image to the other, something called slower binocular rivalry.

In this new study, the researchers measured the rate of slower binocular rivalry in people with autism using an electroencephalography (EEG) electrode placed over the visual region of the brain on a participants head. 

Once the electrode was in place, participants were shown two images that flickered back and forth. 

The EEG neural data were then used to predict whether or not an individual had autism, and the researchers were able to accurately identify autism in the brain 87 percent of the time. 

The study paves the way for developing new non-verbal markers for diagnosing and screening for ASD. 

“This visual test may be a non-verbal marker of autism in adults,” said Robertson, “Our next steps are to learn whether this test could potentially be used to detect autism in pre-verbal children and non-verbal adults and develop it into a screening tool for the condition. In the meantime, this result gives us new insight into the brain in autism, showing that visual regions of the brain are affected.” 

The study findings were published in the journal Current Biology. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Photographee.eu

New non-verbal marker could help diagnose autism

New non-verbal marker could help diagnose autism. There may be...

More than 20 percent of adults with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-diabetes/">diabetes</a> in the US may be taking more medication than necessary, which has led to thousands of emergency room visits, according to a new study. 

Diabetes is on the rise, and as of 2017, the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p0718-diabetes-report.html">Centers for Disease Control</a> reported that more than 100 million adults were living with diabetes or prediabetes. 

Glucose lowering therapies are essential for diabetes, but researchers from the <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/">Mayo Clinic</a> found that overtreatment is a much more common problem than previously thought. 

In a new study, published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers calculated the number of American adults that are overtreated and used this info to determine how many potentially preventable emergency room visits occur due to overtreatment. 

The researchers found that overtreatment was linked to 4,774 hospitalizations and 4,804 emergency room visits over two years. 

“It is important not only to ensure that we do not undertreat our patients with diabetes, but also that we do not overtreat them because both undertreatment and overtreatment can harm our patients,” Rozalina McCoy, M.D., the leader of the study. 

McCoy and her team reviewed and analyzed data from the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.htm">National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey</a> and the <a href="https://www.optumlabs.com/">OptumLabs Data Warehouse</a>. 

From the survey, the researchers were able to identify 10.7 million adults with diabetes who had hemoglobin AIC levels within the recommended range, but out of these individuals, 22 percent were overtreated. 

After identifying patients who were overtreated, the researchers used the OptumLabs data to estimate the number of hospitalizations and emergency room visits directly due to intensive glucose-lowering therapy.

Between 2011 and 2014, 2.3 million Americans with diabetes were overtreated. 

The study results are alarming as they show that diabetes treatments have focused on eliminating undertreatment but overlooked the consequences of overtreatment. 

“When we develop a diabetes treatment plan, our goal should be to maximize benefit while reducing harm and burden of treatment,” said Dr. McCoy. “We need to align treatment regimens and goals with each patient’s clinical situation, health status, psychosocial situation, and reality of everyday life to ensure that care is consistent with their goals, preferences and values,” she says.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/goffkein.pro

Diabetes patients may be taking more glucose-lowering medication than needed

More than 20 percent of adults with diabetes in the...

California leads a federal lawsuit over replacement of the Clean Power Plan. States across the country are suing the Trump administration in an attempt to overthrow the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which was passed by the EPA this summer to loosen restrictions on coal-fired power plants. 

An alliance of six cities, the District of Columbia, and 22 states including California, Michigan, and New York has joined forces to ask a federal court to put a stop to the legislation before it is ever implemented.

The ACE rule was designed to directly undermine the emissions-reductions targets that were adopted by the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/pruitt-clean-power-plan/">Clean Power Plan</a> (CPP). The Trump administration claimed the CPP was "an overreach of EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act."

Created by former President Obama, the CPP set a 2030 goal of reducing carbon pollution by 32 percent below 2005 levels. According to the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> (NRDC), power sector emissions had already decreased by 28 percent in 2017, 13 years ahead of schedule.

The CPP was also combatting the enormous costs associated with climate change and the damaging health effects of air pollution, and was projected to save the country an estimated $25 to $45 billion by 2030. 

In the same time frame, the CPP was expected to reduce the pollutants that contribute to smog and soot by 25 percent, helping to avoid 140,000 to 150,000 asthma attacks among children and up to 6,600 premature deaths. 

But the ACE rule, which was finalized in June, will allow for much of this progress to be dismantled by allowing states to set their own standards for coal plants.

"This is a perversion of the Clean Air Act, which requires EPA to set performance targets and requires state plans to meet those targets," stated the NRDC.

The lawsuit to stop the ACE rule was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington this week. The move was announced on Tuesday by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Governor Gavin Newsom, and Mary Nichols, the chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board. 

The California officials said the new EPA rules will be damaging to both the climate and the economy. 

"President Trump’s attempt to gut our nation’s Clean Power Plan is foolish - and it’s also unlawful," said Becerra, who pointed out that the ACE rule would hurt the emerging energy market as well. “Because we’re prepared to confront the climate crisis head-on, we’re prepared to confront President Trump head-on in court.” California leads a federal lawsuit over replacement of the Clean Power Plan

Many critics believe that President Trump’s new rule is yet another effort to support the fading coal industry. The jurisdictions behind the latest legal battle intend to expose that, regardless of the motivation behind it, the ACE rule puts both the environment and human health at risk. 

"They are in the short-term business," Governor Newsom said of the Trump administration. "California is in the future business. We are leaping ahead." He added that the world is looking to his state to take on Trump and defend climate policies. 

"California is proving that smart climate policies are good for our economy and good for the planet,” said Governor Newsom. “As the Trump administration attempts to obliterate national climate protections, California will continue advancing the cause of American climate leadership.”

--

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/Rudmer Zwerver

California leads a federal lawsuit over replacement of the Clean Power Plan

California leads a federal lawsuit over replacement of the Clean...

A team of engineers at <a href="https://www.hw.ac.uk/">Heriot-Watt University</a> is developing a microsensor that can track changes in a wound as it heals. The sensor will ultimately be used in smart bandages to keep doctors and patients informed on the progress.

Wounds such as cuts, burns, and surgical incisions cause significant <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/pain-signals-travel-fast/">pain</a> to patients and their treatment can take up a lot of clinical resources, including time and money. 

Dr. Michael Crichton, a biomedical engineer at <a href="https://www.hw.ac.uk/">Heriot-Watt</a>, has received a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to develop the microsensor. The device will detect tiny, microscale changes which occur in the body tissue as a wound heals. 

Dr. Crichton has been collaborating on the two-year project with Dr. Jenna Cash, a specialist in wound healing immunology at the University of Edinburgh.

"We want to understand what actually happens in a wound. Lots of research has looked at the biological properties of wounds, but we know very little about the mechanics of how wounds heal, especially at the microscale, which is where changes are happening at sub-hair width scales," said Dr Crichton.

“We’re working to create a small sensor that can be embedded in a bandage to measure changes in a wound’s properties without interfering with the process. The sensor will make small mechanical measurements - much like how a doctor would prod a lump - and will tell us how the tissue is changing, or whether the wound needs a different dressing or treatment."

Dr. Crichton explained that, currently, the progress of a wound is based on self-reported pain levels by patients and by how the wound appears to the naked eye of health professionals. "Our smart sensor will alert the patient and their care team when intervention is needed to make sure the wound heals better, or when it is all progressing nicely under the bandage."

According to the researchers, the findings could later be applied to other tissues and organs, such as for monitoring liver or kidney damage. 

"This is an innovative, patient-focused research project that addresses the urgent need for us to better understand wounds," said Dr. Cash. "Our work on the immunological response during healing is reflected in mechanical changes, and anything that combines these has the potential for new therapies in this area."

--

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/Tatumphoto9129

New smart bandages will be able to monitor the healing progress of wounds

A team of engineers at Heriot-Watt University is developing a...

Many areas of the US are already experiencing considerable warming. Extreme climate change has arrived, as some places in the United States are already warming up at an unprecedented rate. 

That’s according to a thorough analysis by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/climate-environment/climate-change-america/">Washington Post</a> which shows that temperatures in the US are creeping closer or have already passed the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-temperatures-increases-double/">two degrees Celsius threshold</a>. 

Warming of two degrees Celsius is the number emphasized in countless climate studies and the 2015 Paris Climate Accord because it marks the point where irreversible effects of climate change will begin to set in. Many areas of the US are already experiencing considerable warming

Once we pass that two degrees mark, it could lead to devastating sea-level rise, severe weather extremes, the displacement of millions of people, and food shortages.  

The US has experienced a rash of record-breaking heat waves in recent years. For 71 US counties, warming of two degrees Celsius has already occurred.

For the analysis, the Washington Post reviewed more than a century of temperature data from the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> and temperature databases from the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">National Aeronautics and Space Administration</a>. 

The temperature data covered all the lower 48 states and 3,107 counties. Currently, more than one in ten people in the US live in areas that are rapidly heating up like Los Angeles and New York. 

Rhode Island’s average temperature has already passed two degrees Celsius, and Alaska is the fastest-warming state in the country, according to the analysis. 

A big part of the temperature shifts can be attributed to warmer than average winter temperatures rather than blistering summer heatwaves. 

For example, in New Jersey, warm winter temperatures have led to early thaws and lakes that don’t freeze over as often as they once did. 

Every state in the northeast besides Pennsylvania has experienced winter temperatures that exceeded two degrees Celsius. 

In the Washington Post analysis, the authors were able to identify larger areas that have passed two degrees Celsius. These hotspot “clusters” stretch across the Pacific Northwest and up along the Great Lakes around Minnesota and Michigan.   

The majority of the US has experienced significant warming over the years except for areas in Mississippi and Alabama.  

Even factoring in record-breaking cold snaps like the recent Polar Vortex that caused temperatures to plummet across the Northern US, the analysis points to a warming trend. 

--

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/titoOnz

Many areas of the US are already experiencing considerable warming

Many areas of the US are already experiencing considerable warming....

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/multitasking-boost-performance/">Multitasking</a> is the act of performing several different tasks at once, while frequently switching between each independent task – and for a long time, there has been a substantial amount of research that indicated women are better than men at multitasking.

But a new study published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a> flies in the face of this widely held belief and adds to the growing evidence that your gender doesn’t indicate your ability to multitask.

Patricia Hirsch of <a href="http://www.rwth-aachen.de/cms/~a/root/?lidx=1">Aachen University</a> in Germany and her colleagues compared the abilities of 48 men and 48 women in performance of letter or number identification tasks. Some of the experiments had participants pay attention to two tasks at once – known as concurrent multitasking – while others had participants switch attention between tasks – which is called sequential multitasking. 

During the experiments, researchers measured reaction time and accuracy for both the multitasking experiments and single task control experiments. Their findings showed that multitasking led to a significant loss of speed and accuracy for both men and women – but there was no difference in the magnitude of this loss between the two genders.

Although no single experiment can account for the vast number of tasks and cognitive operations required to perform them, the large sample size and lack of gender difference in this study shows that for the cognitive processes at work here, men and women perform the same when forced to multitask. The cognitive processes tested in this experiment include working memory updating, engagement and disengagement of task sets, and inhibition.

“The present findings strongly suggest that there are no substantial gender differences in multitasking performance across task-switching and dual-task paradigms, which predominantly measure cognitive control mechanisms such as working memory updating, the engagement and disengagement of task sets, and inhibition,” concludes Hirsch.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Andrey_Popov

Whether you’re a man or a woman, you’re probably bad at multitasking

Multitasking is the act of performing several different tasks at...

High levels of income inequality make the public less cooperative. In a new study led by <a href="https://ist.ac.at/">IST Austria</a>, researchers have investigated the effects of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/global-warming-economic-inequality/">income inequality</a> on the public's willingness to cooperate and show support for public goods and services such as taxes, healthcare, and education. While too much inequality was found to be far from beneficial, the team also determined that complete income equality did not produce the greatest benefits either. 

The experts developed a mathematical theory to measure the willingness of individuals to contribute part of their income for the welfare of the community. The model was designed to account for the cooperative levels of people with varying incomes and job skills.

The study showed that in a very unequal society, people with higher incomes were less inclined to contribute their share toward public goods and services, which subsequently caused people with the lowest incomes to contribute less. 

"To ensure our public goods are maintained we need to understand what impact inequality plays," said study co-first author Dr. Oliver Hauser. "Many people view inequality as either categorically bad or good, but our research demonstrates that it is more complicated than that. We looked at it in a slightly different way - under what conditions does inequality become harmful and are there cases where it can also be beneficial?" 

"The main take-away from our research is that if inequality runs away with us, we are threatening the maintenance of public services. Eventually, too much inequality negatively affects everyone's outcomes - both for the poorest but even the rich."

While two unequal incomes led to less cooperation, people who had different work skills and experience were found to be more likely to cooperate. This means that some inequality in incomes can be beneficial to public contribution.

"We found that when there is some inequality, both people still have enough influence to hold each other accountable for their contributions. We also discovered that those who are highly productive in the task are more motivated to contribute. They will give more of their income - even if that is a large amount," said study co-first author Dr. Christian Hilbe.

"But there is a limit: once the inequality between the two people becomes too large, the influence over the other person is lost and the poorer player is at the mercy of the more powerful rich player. Neither of them has much incentive to cooperate anymore and cooperation breaks down quickly."

The researchers used game theory, computer simulations, and a behavioral experiment to develop and test their model. The modeling technique involved group interactions across millions of different scenarios.

"Our research demonstrates the impact that inequality can have on support for public goods," said study co-author Dr. Krishnendu Chatterjee. "We hope that more research will be carried out in this area in the future to better understand the forces that affect our decision-making, particularly in the critical area of supporting the goods and services which serve society." 

"Now we have a more realistic model to emulate societal interaction and the analytical, theoretical and behavioural results are all in excellent agreement. To me, this is the greatest aspect of this paper."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</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

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Prazis Images

High levels of income inequality make the public less cooperative

High levels of income inequality make the public less cooperative....

The chemicals found in sunscreens help protect our skin against harmful UV rays, prevent sunburn, and decrease the risk of skin cancers. 

However, those same UV-blocking chemicals that benefit us are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pacific-island-bans-toxic-sunscreens/">harmful to corals and marine wildlife</a>. There has been a growing number of studies investigating the impacts of sunscreen on coral reefs. 

People hoping to keep corals healthy might opt for sunscreen deemed “coral-safe,” which doesn’t have oxybenzone and octinoxate listed as an ingredient. However, there are other components in sunscreen that might be just as damaging to coral reefs. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://web.unican.es/en/Pages/default.aspx">University of Cantabria</a> and the <a href="http://www.icman.csic.es/en/">Institute of Marine Sciences of Andalusia </a>conducted a study to determine the release rate of metal nanoparticles into the Mediterranean from commercial sunscreens. 

The study, published in the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a>’s journal Environmental Science &amp; Technology, shows that sunscreens release harmful trace metals and nutrients. 

A commercially available sunscreen with titanium-dioxide was added to Mediterranean seawater samples. The researchers monitored the release of lotions and nutrients as they dissolved in the water. A UV treatment, meant to simulate sun exposure, increased the rate of compounds entering the water. 

Aluminum, silica, and phosphorus had the highest release rates. 

Once the researchers were able to determine the release rates of metals and nutrients, a model was developed to predict what the release rates would be in different marine environments and how much metal could be released into the water. 

Aluminum concentrations could increase by four percent, and titanium concentrations could increase by 20 percent thanks to sun-screen-slathered beachgoers on a summer day. 

It is unclear how trace amounts of metals and nutrients from sunscreen are impacting corals and other marine organisms, but the study shows that other ingredients in sunscreen need to be taken into account before sunscreens are deemed “coral-safe.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Africa Studio

Sunscreens release trace metals into the ocean

The chemicals found in sunscreens help protect our skin against...

In a new study led by the <a href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/">University of East Anglia</a> (UEA), researchers have investigated the emotions that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/tourist-photographs-wildlife-monitoring-data/">tourists</a> experience when they are disconnected from digital devices while traveling. The study revealed that many of the individuals were taken on an emotional journey, as initial feelings of anxiety and withdrawals often led to acceptance, enjoyment, and even liberation.

The participants lost access to various digital tools, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, social media, and the internet. This state of "digital detox" has recently been receiving a lot of attention, and is becoming an increasingly popular concept among vacationers. 

"In the current ever-connected world, people are used to constant information access and various services provided by different applications," said study lead author Dr. Wenjie Cai. "However, many people are increasingly getting tired of constant connections through technologies and there is a growing trend for digital-free tourism, so it is helpful to see the emotional journey that these travelers are experiencing."

"Our participants reported that they not only engaged more with other travelers and locals during their disconnected travels, but that they also spent more time with their travel companions."

The study was focused on the way that participants felt before being disconnected, while they were technology-free, and after they reconnected. The research team also examined the gains and losses associated with digital-free tourism. For example, the loss of Google Maps for navigation caused anxiety for some vacationers. 

"Understanding what triggers consumers' negative and positive emotions can help service providers to improve products and marketing strategies," explained Dr. McKenna. "The trips our travelers took varied in terms of lengths and types of destinations, which provides useful insights into various influencing factors on emotions.

"We found that some participants embraced and enjoyed the disconnected experience straightaway or after struggling initially, while for others it took a little bit longer to accept the disconnected experience."

"Many also pointed out that they were much more attentive and focused on their surroundings while disconnected, rather than getting distracted by incoming messages, notifications or alerts from their mobile apps."

Overall, 24 study participants from seven countries traveled to 17 regions, and data was collected through interviews and diaries. 

Some of the tourists reported that they received excellent advice from other travelers, learning more about the best beaches and other sites than what they would have learned on the internet.

Once reconnected, many participants felt overwhelmed by the flurry of incoming messages and notifications they received during the time they were disconnected. Regardless, some decided that they would go device-free again on future vacations because of how much they enjoyed their surroundings without the distraction of technology.  

Across urban destinations, frustration was typically linked to the lack of access to navigational tools or business reviews, while tourists in rural areas tended to have withdrawal symptoms related to being unable to report safety or kill time.

When participants were traveling as a couple or in a group, they tended to be more confident to disconnect than solo tourists. In addition, the digital detox was more difficult for travelers with many social and professional commitments. These individuals were more likely to have negative disconnected experiences, and some could not disconnect at all due to the fact that they could not be unavailable for an extended length of time. 

The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/loi/jtr">Journal of Travel Research</a>.

--

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/GaudiLab

Digital detox found to cause emotional withdrawal symptoms among vacationers

In a new study led by the University of East...

Foods that are rich in flavonoids, a group of plant chemicals, can help decrease the risk of cancer and heart disease, and the benefits are especially protective for people with unhealthy habits.  

Now, researchers from <a href="http://www.ecu.edu.au/">Edith Cowan University</a> in Austria have found that flavonoids could be beneficial even for people who drink heavily or smoke.   

The researchers reviewed and analyzed diet data from the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health cohort. For the cohort, 53,048 Danish residents were followed for 23 years. 

Flavonoid-rich foods like apples and tea decreased the risk of death from heart disease or cancer for many of the participants in the study.

These protective benefits were much stronger for people who smoked or drank more than two alcoholic drinks a day. 

“These findings are important as they highlight the potential to prevent cancer and heart disease by encouraging the consumption of flavonoid-rich foods, particularly in people at high risk of these chronic diseases,” said Dr. Nicola Bondonno, the lead researcher of the study.

For smokers, it may be much easier to eat flavonoid-rich foods than quit smoking right away, but the researchers note that flavonoids can only protect against so much.   

“We know these kind of lifestyle changes can be very challenging, so encouraging flavonoid consumption might be a novel way to alleviate the increased risk, while also encouraging people to quit smoking and reduce their alcohol intake,” said Bondonno. 

The positive benefits were most influential for the participants that consumed 500 milligrams of flavonoids per day. 

Don’t go loading up on apples though, as the researchers say balance is key. 

“It’s important to consume a variety of different flavonoid compounds found in different plant based food and drink,” said Bondonno. “This is easily achievable through the diet: one cup of tea, one apple, one orange, 100g of blueberries, and 100g of broccoli would provide a wide range of flavonoid compounds and over 500mg of total flavonoids”.

It is not yet clear why flavonoids were linked to lower risk of death, and there could be many underlying factors at play. One explanation might be that flavonoids are anti-inflammatory and smoking can damage blood vessels. 

What the study does show is that flavonoid-rich foods can help protect against cancer and heart disease, even in people more at risk due to lifestyle choices.  

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Yulia von Eisenstein

Apples and tea can help protect against heart disease, study shows

Foods that are rich in flavonoids, a group of plant...

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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

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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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...