A prescription medication that has been available in the U.S. since 1992, which many people recognize for treating hair loss and enlarged prostate, seems to have another significant health benefit.



Recent research suggests that a drug called finasteride could lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease. That's a surprising twist for a drug that's been around for decades.



Curiosity led <a href="https://fshn.illinois.edu/directory/jaume6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Jaume Amengual</a>, an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the <a href="https://fshn.illinois.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Illinois</a>, to explore this unexpected connection. 



After noticing something unusual in a national survey, he decided to dig deeper. 



"When we looked at the men taking finasteride in the survey, their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-power-of-fish-oil-in-combating-high-cholesterol/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cholesterol levels</a> averaged 30 points lower than men not taking the drug. I thought we'd see the opposite pattern, so it was very interesting," Dr. Amengual enthused.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lowering-cholesterol-with-finasteride">Lowering cholesterol with finasteride?</h2>



The initial clue came from the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey</a> conducted between 2009 and 2016. 



This survey collects health information from thousands of Americans. In this data, men using finasteride as a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-natural-cure-male-baldness-highly-effective-sugar-2-deoxy-d-ribose/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hair loss treatment</a> had significantly lower cholesterol levels compared to those who weren't on the medication. 



A 30-point difference is substantial and caught the researchers' attention. But observational studies have limitations. The sample size of men over 50 using finasteride was small. 



"This was not a clinical study in which you can control everything perfectly," Amengual noted. "It was more of an observation that led us to say, 'Okay, now we've seen this in people. Let's see what happens in mice.'"



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-observation-to-experimentation">From observation to experimentation</h2>



To get a clearer picture, the team turned to laboratory mice. Doctoral student <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-molina-ba3099197/?locale=es_ES" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Donald Molina Chaves</a> conducted experiments on mice predisposed to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fathers-diets-impact-the-heart-health-of-their-daughters/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">atherosclerosis</a> -- a condition where arteries narrow due to plaque buildup. 



The mice were fed different doses of finasteride along with a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet.



"Mice that were given a high dose of finasteride showed lower <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/certain-gut-bacteria-lower-cholesterol-and-the-risk-of-heart-disease/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cholesterol levels</a> within the plasma as well as in the arteries," Molina Chaves said. "There were also fewer lipids and inflammatory markers in the liver." 



These findings suggested that finasteride doesn't just lower cholesterol in the blood but might also <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lifestyle-choices-in-young-adulthood-impact-cognitive-ability-in-midlife/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reduce inflammation</a> and plaque formation in arteries.



While the highest dose had significant effects, it's not a dose humans would take. 



"It's an incredibly high level of the drug. But we use mice as a model, and they are extremely resistant to things that would kill any of us," Amengual explained. "So it is not that wild when you think about it that way." 



The results in mice provide a direction for future human studies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-finasteride-testosterone-and-heart-disease">Finasteride, testosterone, and heart disease</h2>



So why would a hair loss drug affect <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-study-eating-eggs-is-not-bad-for-your-health-despite-years-of-warnings/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cholesterol levels</a>? It comes down to hormones. 



Finasteride works by blocking a protein that activates testosterone, specifically reducing levels of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/men-with-low-testosterone-have-a-higher-risk-of-mortality/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dihydrotestosterone (DHT)</a>. DHT is linked to hair loss, prostate enlargement, and, as it turns out, possibly heart disease.



"I was reading about this medication one day, and I started to notice that there were not many long-term studies of the implications of the drug," Amengual said. 



"Initially, it was just my own curiosity, based on the fact that hormone levels are known to have an effect on atherosclerosis, hair loss, and prostate issues. So, we decided to dig into it."



Testosterone and its derivatives can influence the development of atherosclerosis. By altering these hormone levels, finasteride might indirectly impact cholesterol metabolism and inflammation, leading to improved <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/social-expectations-of-men-are-bad-for-their-heart-health/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">heart health</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-surprises-from-finasteride">More surprises from finasteride</h2>



Interestingly, these findings might benefit more than just men dealing with hair loss or prostate issues. 



Transgender individuals undergoing hormone therapy often face a higher risk of heart disease due to hormonal changes. 



Finasteride is sometimes prescribed during gender transitions to manage hair loss triggered by hormone treatments.



"Over the past decade, doctors have started prescribing this drug for individuals transitioning either from male to female or female to male. In both cases, the hormonal changes can trigger hair loss," Amengual said. 



"The interesting thing is that transgender people are also at a higher risk of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/depression-and-cardiovascular-diseases-are-genetically-linked/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cardiovascular diseases</a>. So this drug could have a potential beneficial effect to prevent cardiovascular disease not only in cis men, but also in transgender individuals."



This opens up the possibility that finasteride could serve a dual purpose for transgender patients, helping with hair loss while also reducing heart disease risk.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-the-catch-understanding-finasteride-risks">What's the catch? Understanding finasteride risks</h2>



Of course, no medication is without risks. Finasteride can cause side effects, and it's important to consider them. 



Some users experience <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/men-exhibit-better-sexual-health-eating-a-plant-based-vegan-diet/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sexual side effects</a> like decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, and reduced ejaculate volume. These effects happen because finasteride reduces DHT, which plays a role in sexual function.



There have also been reports of psychological effects such as depression, anxiety, and mood changes. While not everyone experiences these, they're important to monitor. 



Physical side effects can include breast tenderness or enlargement, rashes, and swelling in the hands or feet. Rarely, finasteride can affect liver enzymes, so regular medical check-ups are recommended.



A small percentage of users report persistent side effects even after stopping the medication, a condition referred to as Post-Finasteride Syndrome (PFS). 



Symptoms can include ongoing sexual dysfunction and psychological issues. Research is ongoing to understand and address these concerns.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-the-future-holds-for-finasteride">What the future holds for finasteride</h2>



These discoveries suggest that finasteride could have a role in heart health beyond its current uses. More research is needed, though. 



Clinical trials involving people would help determine if the cholesterol-lowering effects seen in mice also occur in humans at practical doses.



"This was not a clinical study in which you can control everything perfectly," Amengual emphasized. "It was more of an observation that led us to say, 'Okay, now we've seen this in people. Let's see what happens in mice.'"



If future studies confirm these benefits, finasteride could become part of a strategy to prevent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/artificial-sweetener-erythritol-sugar-substitute-linked-to-blood-clots-heart-disease/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">heart disease</a>, especially in populations at higher risk.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-new-hope-proceed-with-eyes-wide-open">A new hope? Proceed with eyes wide open</h2>



Finasteride has been around for a while, helping many with hair loss and prostate issues. Now, it might have a new role to play in promoting heart health. 



This could be significant not just for men but also for the transgender community and others at risk of cardiovascular disease.



As with any medical treatment, it's crucial to consult healthcare providers before making changes. Finasteride's potential benefits must be balanced with its risks. But this research opens up exciting possibilities.



The full study was published in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jlr.org/article/S0022-2275(24)00012-9/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Lipid Research</a>.



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Old drug now called a "magic pill" because it regrows hair and improves heart health

A prescription medication that has been available in the U.S. since 1992, which many people recognize for treating hair loss and enlarged prostate, seems to have another significant health benefit. Recent research suggests that a drug called finasteride could lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease. That's a surprising twist for a drug that's been around for decades. Curiosity led Dr. Jaume Amengual, an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois, to explore this unexpected...

The seminal book, Last Child in the Woods, started a conversation across America and coined the term "Nature Deficit Disorder". It seems that throughout the developed world, young people are spending less and less time outdoors. 

According to <a href="https://www.childinthecity.org/2018/01/15/children-spend-half-the-time-playing-outside-in-comparison-to-their-parents/?gdpr=accept">Child in the City</a>, an organization based in the UK, children play outside a little more than four hours per week, compared to the eight hours their parents played outside when they were young. This reduction of time spent outside by 50% or more is widespread. According to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5383214/">one study</a> in the US, over half of parents reported not even knowing how much time their preschoolers spent outside. 

As <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/nature-boosts-health-well-being/">Earth.com has reported</a>, spending time outside has many benefits to children as well as adults and has been proven to boost mental health and well-being.

From my own personal experience, spending time outdoors has been a counterbalance to formalized education and reading, as it introduces young minds to a world unbounded by strict rules of human construct. Being outside allows imagination to run in a way that even books don't allow. Being outside is also the beginning of any environmental awareness, there are many things that can only be understood through experiential learning. 

Besides these important benefits, <a href="https://news.sanfordhealth.org/childrens/play-outside/">Sanford Health</a> points out that being outside builds health, immunity and social/cognitive development among other benefits. Even long distance vision is improved in kids that spend time playing outdoors. With these benefits, it may be easy to naively wonder why less time is being spent outside.

Technology is obviously part of the answer. From television to smart phones, children have more access to a range of technology than ever before. As adults we spend more and more time with technology, it should be no surprise that the same is true for our children as well. The other part of the problem is access. Many children and adolescents simply don't have the access to many traditional outdoor activities. A small city park or sports field is one thing, but miles of hiking trails a lake to canoe on or a place to pitch a tent on may be out of reach for many kids. 

Obviously, access to the outdoors for young people depends on many things, leaving some groups of kids more disadvantaged than others. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2018/mar/01/improving-childrens-access-nature-addressing-inequality-bame-low-income-backgrounds">Guardian</a> reports that children from low income and minority communities have less access to the outdoors than other communities. 56% of children under 16 from minority group families visited 'natural' environments at least once a week compared to 74% of white children under 16. 

Fortunately, this problem is getting some attention. The <a href="https://www.nps.gov/index.htm">National Park Service</a> has put more effort behind attracting a more diverse group of users and accommodating them, creating <a href="https://www.nps.gov/civic/resources/Beyond%20Outreach%20Handbook.pdf">handbooks</a> and promotional material aimed at being more inclusive. Still, the <a href="https://outdoorindustry.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2017-Outdoor-Recreation-Participation-Report_FINAL.pdf">Outdoor Foundation</a> reported for 2017 that 73% of participants in outdoor activities as a whole were white. It’s demographics like these and the negative impact, especially on young people not able to participate in outdoor activities, that's driven the foundation or organizations aiming to use the outdoors to transform the lives of disadvantaged youth. 

To understand this type of organization and what their impact is, I contacted <a href="http://www.outdooroutreach.org/">Outdoor Outreach</a>, an organization based out of San Diego. Kaylie Erickson explained the organization to me,

"Outdoor Outreach is a nonprofit that provides adventure-based youth development programs for youth from underserved communities. We connect youth to the outdoors as space for them to build resilience and confidence in their power to make a difference."

Outdoor Outreach uses sports and activities such as surfing and camping to make a positive impact in the lives of young people who would be unable to access the outdoors otherwise. It's not always economic or geographical barriers that keeps young people away from the outdoors Erickson explains:

"Many of our participants come from historically disadvantaged areas and have never had the opportunity to go surfing, rock climbing, snowboarding...Some youth may not believe they are able to participate in outdoor activities because of their race, ethnicity, gender, or physical ability."

That sort of understanding is key. The outdoors means different things to different people, partially due to cultural exposure to different ideas and different activities. Finding ways to make the outdoors culturally relevant to different groups of people is becoming more of a pressing issue, one which organizations like Outdoor Outreach strive to tackle. The benefits from such work can be impressive, for individuals as well as potentially for communities and perhaps the environment as a whole, Kaylie Erickson gave me an example of how it helped one person.

Pedro grew up experiencing gang violence in southeast San Diego. Throughout his childhood he often felt angry and overwhelmed with sadness.  His only connection to the outdoors was through watching the ocean on Surfline. Pedro was introduced to Outdoor Outreach during his freshman year at Monte Vista High School and couldn't believe he would be able to surf in real life, for free. He continued to struggle with mental health, bullying and suspensions throughout high school and told us that Outdoor Outreach trips were the only time he felt relief. 

On the topic of how Outdoor Outreach has helped him, he said that, “These opportunities brought me the hope, support and strength I needed. It allowed me to escape the negativity, to heal and catch my breath. It taught me better ways of coping, and showed me that I could continue fighting for a better me.” 

Outdoor Outreach and similar organizations also have volunteer programs, opportunities to participate in environmental stewardship and simply being outside is often the inspiration it takes to make a devotee to the environment for life. It’s worth hoping that organizations as well as greater awareness in the outdoor community will help more young people of diverse backgrounds get outside. Nothing can replace outdoor experiences and if we lose the experience, no one will be there to stand up for the wild itself either. Programs like those at Outdoor Outreach try to be holistic, teaching skills as well as advocacy.

"In addition to taking young people on rock climbing, kayaking or surfing trips, we have environmental stewardship programs that are designed to teach them about conservation and instill them with a desire to protect the outdoors,” Erickson explained. “We also encourage youth to engage in environmental advocacy, and through our Outdoor Voices program, we send youth to Sacramento to advocate about the need to protect nature and advocate for equal access to the outdoors."  


If you have outdoor skills, sharing them is a way to help ensure that the places you love and the relationship you have with them will remain and endure.

--

By<a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com"> Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Rawpixel

New efforts help engage disadvantaged youth in the outdoors

The seminal book, Last Child in the Woods, started a...

For many people, their commute to and from work can be the most stressful part of their day. Whether your commuting by car, bus, or train, it’s seldom an enjoyable experience. And all of the stress of work life and time away from home does have health consequences, but a new study has found that some of these consequences can be directly linked to the path of your commute.

A recent study published in the open access journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a> has found that the number of different types of food stores available near residences and commute routes had a significant association with <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/exercises-effective-predisposed-obesity/">body mass index</a> (BMI). 

While previous studies have found links between food stores available in residential neighborhoods and residents’ health outcomes – including BMI – few studies have assessed the impact of food stores near workplaces, and none have included food options along commuting routes.

Researcher Adriana Dornelles of <a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a> analyzed data from 710 elementary school employees in New Orleans, Louisiana. She used existing databases to determine the number of supermarkets, grocery stores, full-service restaurants, and fast-food restaurants within 1 kilometer of the employee’s residential and workplace addresses. 

Additionally, Dornelles incorporated into her study the number and type of food stores within 1 kilometer of the shortest-distance commute path between an employee's residence and their workplace.

After adjusting for socio-demographic factors, analysis of the data determined that a greater number of fast-food restaurants near a person’s commute route was linked to the individual having a higher BMI. 

Furthermore, higher BMI was also associated with a greater number of supermarkets, grocery stores, and fast-food restaurants near residences. On the opposite end of the spectrum, more full-service restaurants near an individual’s residence was correlated with lower BMI.

“The most important finding of the study was to establish a significant relationship between BMI and multiple food environments,” explains Dornelles. “In our daily lives, we are exposed to several healthy and unhealthy food choices, which has an impact on BMI. The availability and variety of fast-food restaurants along our commute create endless opportunities for a quick, cheap, and unhealthy meal, which results, on average, in higher body mass index.”

Dornelles also notes that the findings of the study show a need to consider numerous environmental factors when assessing what effects BMI. In the future, increased understanding of these factors may be able to help inform interventions to promote better health outcomes.

--

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/DGLimages

Could the path of your commute lead to an increased BMI?

For many people, their commute to and from work can...

Workers see losing their job to a robot as less of a threat to their identity. According to a recent report from Oxford Economics, 20 million manufacturing jobs will be displaced by robots and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/jobs-transformed-automation/">automated technologies</a> within the next decade. Despite this, little is known about how such a major technological shift will affect members of the workforce psychologically. 

A team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.tum.de/en/">Technical University of Munich</a> set out to investigate, and found that most people want to see their co-workers replaced with other humans versus robots. By contrast, when faced with the idea of losing their own job, most individuals prefer to be replaced by a robot. 

“Being replaced by modern technology versus being replaced by humans has different psychological consequences,” study lead author Armin Granulo told <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/">New Scientist</a>. 

When 300 respondents were asked about the job positions of other staff members, 62 percent implied that they would rather work with other humans. When discussing their own job positions, however, only 37 percent wanted to see another human step in.Workers see losing their job to a robot as less of a threat to their identity

The researchers followed up with 251 people to try and understand the reason for this discrepancy. They found that the participants tended to rate robots as less threatening to their self-identity. 

"We further demonstrate that this preference reversal occurs because being replaced by machines, robots or software (versus other humans) is associated with reduced self-threat," wrote the study authors. "In contrast, being replaced by robots is associated with a greater perceived threat to one’s economic future."

The team also interviewed nearly 300 workers in the manufacturing industry. Overall, about 100 of these individuals believed that their current job will become automated in the future. Regardless, this group followed the same trends as the other respondents, mostly preferring that their own jobs be taken over by robots rather than other people. 

"These findings suggest that technological replacement of human labor has unique psychological consequences that should be taken into account by policy measures (for example, appropriately tailoring support programs for the unemployed)." 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nathumbehav/">Nature Human Behaviour</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/PopTika

Workers see losing their job to a robot as less of a threat to their identity

Workers see losing their job to a robot as less...

The <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/corn-ancient-mayan-society/">Mayans</a> once flourished in what is now Mexico and the northern parts of Central America. Their cities and culture were advanced for the time and place, but new findings indicate that what led to their demise may have been more barbaric in nature.

Scientists have uncovered evidence of extreme warfare tactics in Maya culture, which they postulate brought about the end of the Mayans. 

Previously, scholars have believed that the violent warfare in the Terminal Classic Period (800-950 CE) led to the collapse of the civilization, and conflict during the Classic Period (250-950 CE) was viewed as ritualized and not widespread. However, these new findings led researchers to report that this violent warfare could have started at an earlier date.

In the course of this research, David Wahl and his colleagues found that the Maya engaged in total warfare much earlier than the Terminal Classic Period. The researchers analyzed a hieroglyphic inscription found at Naranjo, which is a Classic Maya city located in what is now northern Guatemala. The inscription stated that on May 21, 697 CE, another Mayan city called Witzna was attacked and burned for a second time.

Evidence has been found in a lake adjacent to Witzna of a distinct charcoal layer caused by a substantial fire event during the last decade of the 7th century CE – supporting the information from the inscription. 

Archaeological evidence has also been found of destruction and burning of the major monuments throughout Witzna. Sediment analysis indicates a significant reduction of land use following this fire event, which likely shows that the attack had a dramatic impact on the population of the city.

“Following this event, evidence shows a dramatic decline in human activity, indicating extensive negative impacts on the local population,” the researchers write in <a href="https://www.nature.com/nathumbehav/">Nature Human Behavior</a>. “These findings provide insight into strategies and broader societal impacts of Classic period warfare, clarify the war statement’s meaning and show that the Maya engaged in tactics akin to total warfare earlier and more frequently than previously thought.”

--

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/IR Stone

Did violent warfare lead to the end of the Mayans?

The Mayans once flourished in what is now Mexico and...

A new study has revealed that too much caffeine can trigger migraine headaches among adults who suffer from episodic migraine. The researchers found that three or more caffeinated beverages a day significantly increased the risk of developing a migraine within the 24 hours that followed. 

The effects were found to be consistent regardless of alcohol intake, stress, sleep, physical activity, and menstruation, yet the results varied somewhat with the use of oral contraception.

"Based on our study, drinking one or two caffeinated beverages in a day does not appear to be linked to developing a migraine headache, however, three or more servings may be associated with a higher odds of developing a headache," explained lead author Dr. Elizabeth Mostofsky.

Worldwide, more than one billion adults suffer from migraine headaches, which are characterized by nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. The condition is the most common pain disorder that results in lost productivity.

While it is widely believed that caffeine can trigger or worsen a <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/smartphone-app-migraine-therapy/">migraine</a>, caffeine is also believed to help relieve migraine headaches once they have set in. Up until now, however, any scientific evidence linking changes in daily caffeine intake and the onset of migraines has been very limited. 

For the current investigation, the researchers analyzed data from 98 adults who had been diagnosed with episodic migraine. For six weeks, study participants electronically recorded specific lifestyle factors, caffeinated beverage intake, and characteristics of each migraine headache.

"To date, there have been few prospective studies on the immediate risk of migraine headaches with daily changes in caffeinated beverage intake. Our study was unique in that we captured detailed daily information on caffeine, headache, and other factors of interest for six weeks," explained Dr. Suzanne M. Bertisch.

The study showed that three or more servings of caffeine in one day corresponded with an increased risk of developing a migraine on the same day or the following day. The findings also indicated that patients with episodic migraine did not experience a higher risk of getting a headache after consuming just one or two caffeinated beverages per day. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.amjmed.com/">American Journal of Medicine</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/crazystocker

Excessive caffeine intake found to trigger headaches among migraine sufferers

A new study has revealed that too much caffeine can...

Even routine hits from playing football can cause serious brain damage. Concussions and contact sports like football, soccer, and hockey seem to go hand in hand. But the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/effects-high-school-football-later/">long-term health risks of repeated head injuries</a> from playing contact sports might not fully manifest until later on in life. 

A new study has found that while serious concussions are often get most of the attention, routine hits during games over just one season can cause damage to the brain. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/">Carnegie Mellon University</a> and the <a href="https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/">University of Rochester Medical Center </a>monitored college football players to see how one season impacted brain structure and activity. Even routine hits from playing football can cause serious brain damage

The study was published in the journal Science Advances. 

Thirty-eight National Collegiate Athletic Association players at the University of Rochester were fitted with accelerometers in their helmets which recorded accelerative force during every practice and game. 

The accelerometers recorded any contact to the head that resulted in a force of ten gs or greater. The researchers also took brain scans of the players before after the football season.

“We measured the linear acceleration, rotational acceleration and direction of impact of every hit the players sustained,” said Adnan Hirad, the lead author of the study. “This allowed us to create a three-dimensional map of all of the forces their brains sustained.” 

At the end of the season, the players sustained almost 20,000 hits including all practices and games. Half of the hits exceeded 25 gs, but only two out of the 20,000 hits resulted in clinically diagnosed concussions. 

The brain scans showed that two-thirds of the players had less white matter integrity in their brain after the season. 

The white matter damage was directly linked to the number of hits to the head each player sustained.  

“Public perception is that the big hits are the only ones that matter. It’s what people talk about and what we often see being replayed on TV,” said Brad Mahon, the senior author of the study. “The big hits are definitely bad, but with the focus on the big hits, the public is missing what’s likely causing the long-term damage in players’ brains. It’s not just the concussions. It’s everyday hits, too.” 

The midbrain, located in the center of the head beneath the cerebral cortex, is especially vulnerable to head hits but the midbrain plays a role in functions like eye movement. 

“This study suggests that midbrain imaging using diffusion MRI might be a way in the future to diagnose injury from a single concussive head hit and/or from repetitive sub-concussive head hits,” said Dr. Jeffrey Bazarian, a co-author of the study.

The researchers also studied a group of athletes from different contact sports, 29 of which had suffered concussions. 

Brain scans and blood sample analysis after injury showed that head injuries resulted in decreased structural integrity in the midbrain and an increase in the protein tau in the blood. 

“Our research, in the context of prior research over the past several years, is beginning to indicate that the accumulation of many sub-concussive hits is instrumental in driving long-term damage in football players’ brains,” said Mahon. “An important direction for future research will be to carry out larger-scale longitudinal studies of contact sports athletes in various ages groups.”

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Aspen Photo

Even routine hits from playing football can cause serious brain damage

Even routine hits from playing football can cause serious brain...

Solar-power desalination produces 20,000 gallons of fresh water each day. While it seems that converting ocean water into fresh drinking water is the perfect solution to the world's growing water crisis, the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-method-desalination-profitable-efficient/">desalination</a> process requires a massive amount of energy and the technology that is currently available is extremely expensive. 

However, in a coastal community of Kenya, the organization <a href="https://givepower.org/">GivePower</a> has introduced a solar-powered desalination system that can produce enough drinking water for 25,000 people each day. 

According to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/">Business Insider</a>, the technology was set up in the coastal area of Kiunga last July. The desalination system can pump out 19,800 gallons of fresh drinking water on a daily basis. 

Hayes Barnard is the president of GivePower, a nonprofit that builds and deploys sustainable clean water and energy systems to communities in need. 

"You have to find a way to pull water out of the ocean in a scalable way, in a sustainable way," Barnard told Business Insider. He has a vision of installing the desalination system in similar facilities around the world where fresh water is needed the most.

The <a href="https://www.who.int/">World Health Organization</a> (WHO) reports that by 2025, half of the global population will be living in water-stressed areas. The lack of access to safe drinking water is linked to the transmission of serious diseases including cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio.

"Some 829,000 people are estimated to die each year from diarrhea as a result of unsafe drinking-water, sanitation, and hand hygiene," the WHO states. 'Yet diarrhea is largely preventable, and the deaths of 297,000 children aged under 5 years could be avoided each year if these risk factors were addressed."

So far, GivePower has installed solar grids in over 2,650 locations such as schools and medical facilities in 17 countries. However, many of these regions were still facing critically limited access to fresh drinking water. 

"So we thought the next thing would be to bring the water to them," Barnard told Business Insider. "That's where this idea came from. Could we provide the most affordable, healthy, sustainable water? And at scale?"

The Kiunga facility cost $500,000 and took one month to build. Barnard's goal is to generate $100,000 in annual revenue from the system. "We hope that one of these systems funds another additional sister system every five years."

The team is now working on projects in Haiti's Isle de la Gonâve and in Mombasa, Kenya, while planning a future project in Colombia.

--

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/jennygiraffe

Solar-power desalination produces 20,000 gallons of fresh water each day

Solar-power desalination produces 20,000 gallons of fresh water each day....

Researchers at the <a href="http://www.mit.edu/">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> (MIT) have investigated how much the cost of energy storage must fall before the use of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/renewable-energy-carbon-capture/">renewable energy</a> can reach its full potential. The experts estimated the target costs that would allow solar and wind energy to compete with other on-demand energy sources, and examined which types of technology could be used to help reach these targets. 

"One of the core sources of uncertainty in the debate about how much renewable energy can contribute to the deep decarbonization of electricity is the question of how much energy storage can be improved," explained study senior author Professor Jessika Trancik. 

"Different assumptions about the cost of energy storage underlie significant disagreements between a number of assessments, but little was known about what costs would actually be competitive and how these costs compare to the storage technologies currently being developed. So, we decided to address this issue head on."

"Quantifying cost targets for energy storage required a new piece of insight about how patterns of the renewable energy supply, and fluctuations in this supply, compared to electricity demand profiles. Large but infrequent solar and wind shortage events are critical in determining how much storage is needed for renewables to reliably meet demand, and it's important to understand the characteristics of these events."

The study was focused on the costs of using storage together with wind and solar energy to reliably supply various outputs for twenty years. Next, the team modeled the target costs that would make these renewable options competitive.

The researchers also analyzed the characteristics that distinguish various storage options. For example, some technologies are designed to store large quantities of energy inexpensively, but with a slower output. Other technologies are designed to store smaller amounts of energy that can be discharged at high speeds. 

The study revealed that technologies with energy storage capacity costs below $20/kWh could enable cost-competitive power that is consistently available over a twenty-year period. Professor Trancik said that it is critical to reduce the costs of the materials and manufacturing that contribute to the cost of the storage energy capacity. 

"The numerical target we estimate, which varies with location, could mean a 90 percent drop in storage costs relative to today's technologies. It's a large drop but some technologies do tend to improve a lot, as we've seen in the case of solar panels, for example.'

"However, and importantly, there is another factor that could raise this target considerably and allow more expensive technologies to cost-competitively store renewable energy, which is to use supplemental technologies for a small percent of the time," explained Professor Trancik.

The team is now exploring options for low-cost and low-carbon supplemental technologies. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/joule/home">Joule</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>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/artjazz

Renewable energy storage costs may soon become more competitive

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have investigated...

How to save your food from seagulls. If you’ve been unlucky enough to have a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wing-technique-gulls-drones/">seagull</a> snatch your snack from right in front of you while enjoying a day at the beach, you know that trying to eat when there are gulls around is no picnic. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> may have found a solution to keep your snacks safe from any thieving seagull. 

The trick is to just keep your eyes on the bird that’s after your chips, according to a new study published in the journal Biology Letters.

The researchers set a bag of chips on the ground and measured how long before 19 herring gulls approached the bag both while being watched and when a human was turned away. 

Gulls were more cautious when a human was staring at them. The researchers found that the herring gulls took around 21 seconds longer to grab the chips compared to when someone was looking away. 

Only 19 out of 74 gulls completed a “looking at” and “looking away” test without flying away first. 

“Gulls are often seen as aggressive and willing to take food from humans, so it was interesting to find that most wouldn’t even come near during our tests,” said Madeleine Goumas, the lead author of the study. “Of those that did approach, most took longer when they were being watched. Some wouldn’t even touch the food at all, although others didn’t seem to notice that a human was staring at them.” 

The study only involved 19 gulls, and not all gulls had the same response to staring. 

“We didn’t examine why individual gulls were so different - it might be because of differences in “personality” and some might have had positive experiences of being fed by humans in the past - but it seems that a couple of very bold gulls might ruin the reputation of the rest,” said Goumas. 

What the study does provide is a potential tool that annoyed tourists and beachgoers might use to dissuade gulls from approaching. 

Herring gulls in the UK and gulls in other coastal towns are considered a nuisance. One New Jersey beach town has gone so far as to hire birds of prey to scare away the gulls, according to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/08/06/beach-town-pays-65000-for-hawks-owls-to-scare-seagulls-away/">New York Post</a>. 

“We therefore advise people to look around themselves and watch out for gulls approaching, as they often appear to take food from behind, catching people by surprise,” said Dr. Neeltje Boogert, a senior author of the study.

Chips and picnic food are not part of a gull’s natural diet, and the researchers plan to study how human food impacts gulls and their chicks. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Photography by Adri

How to save your food from seagulls

How to save your food from seagulls. If you’ve been...

The recent rise of anti-vaxxers and flat Earthers, along with politicians who despite scientific evidence proving the realities of climate change, have many wondering if public trust in scientists is on the decline.

Americans continue to put their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/people-trust-scientists/">trust in scientific research</a>, but political divides persist when it comes to the role that scientists should play in informing public policy. 

A new poll conducted by the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/">Pew Research Center</a> shows that trust and confidence in scientists in the US is on the rise.

In fact, Americans have as much faith in scientists as they do in the military, according to the survey. Scientists are viewed as more reliable than the media and even elected officials. 

Republicans and Democrats differ in the amount of trust they place in scientists, especially in terms of environmental studies and conservation. 

4,464 adults took part in the survey in January 2019. The poll asked questions about trust in scientists, how often scientists can be counted on to perform a job competently, and if scientists present findings fairly and accurately. 

86 percent of the participants reported a “fair amount” of confidence in scientists to act in the public interest. 

Democrats were more likely to admit having a “great deal” of confidence in scientists compared to Republicans. 

[caption id="attachment_1876182" align="aligncenter" width="632"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/study1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1876182" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/study1.jpg" alt="" width="632" height="801" /></a> Image Credit: Pew Center[/caption]

When it came to how much influence scientific experts should have in policy decisions, Democrats were more likely to put their trust in an expert and want scientists involved in policy debates. 

56 percent of Republicans, on the other hand, said that scientists should be kept out of policy debates. 

“The Center’s new survey highlights the degree to which the public values scientific expertise and how those perceptions are sometimes shaped by the crosscurrents of politics as well as familiarity with scientists and their work,” the Pew Research Center’s <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2019/08/02/trust-and-mistrust-in-americans-views-of-scientific-experts/">study authors wrote</a>. 

More specifically, it shines a spotlight on trust and potential sources of mistrust connected with scientists who work in three fields: medicine, nutrition and the environment. 

Even though trust in scientists is increasing, most of the survey responders had misgivings about transparency and accountability. Only 2 in 10 Americans say that scientists are open about conflicts of interest. 

--

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>

Main Image Credit: Shutterstock/Matej Kastelic

Poll: Public trust in scientists is on the rise, but political divides continue

The recent rise of anti-vaxxers and flat Earthers, along with...

Cooperating with higher status people can elevate one’s own status. A new study led by Daniel Redhead at the <a href="https://www.eva.mpg.de/">Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology</a> has demonstrated that cooperating with the right people may lead to higher <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/social-status-politics-paranoia/">social status</a>. The research suggests that human cooperation and competition are more closely related than they seem.

Through cooperation with high status individuals, others may gain access to valuable information, resources, or coalitional support that increases one's own status. 

"This is one of the first longitudinal studies of social status. Our findings provide some of the first evidence that the relationship between cooperation and social status among humans is bidirectional. That is, humans - compared to other animals - give status to those who provide benefits to groups, and are thus more attracted to these individuals as cooperative partners. At the same time, individuals increase their own status by cooperating with such high-status," explained Redhead. 

"These findings provide empirical evidence that stresses the broader importance of social interdependence - be it food sharing, food production, friendship or advice - in shaping human behavior, and that this interdependence makes the ways that we obtain social status quite distinct from other animals."

In collaboration with Christopher von Rueden from the University of Richmond, Redhead studied the relationship between cooperation and status hierarchy among males in a community of Tsimane Amerindians in Bolivia over a period of eight years.

For the indigenous Tsimane Amerindians, status is informal and can be gauged by who has more influence during community meetings. Men with higher social status in this community also have better health outcomes and more surviving children. 

Three different times throughout the study period, the men were asked to rank the status of other males within their community and to report which men they regularly cooperated with in terms of sharing food or hunting and fishing together.

The study revealed that men with higher social status gained more cooperative partners over time, and that these partners ultimately gained status themselves. 

"The finding that status depends on cooperation provides insight into why human societies, particularly small-scale societies like the Tsimane, are relatively egalitarian compared to other primates," said von Rueden. 

"Humans allocate status based on the benefits we can provide to others, often more than on the costs we can inflict. This is in part because humans evolved greater interdependence, relying on each other for learning skills, producing food, engaging in mutual defence, and raising offspring. Individuals who can offer unique services in these contexts gain status."

"However, the transfer of information and resources from higher to lower status individuals, as well as the potential reputational benefits to cooperating with higher status individuals, may constrain or even erode status differentials. Status inequality is constrained when by cooperating, status-dissimilar individuals influence each other's statuses. This likely changed with the spread of agriculture ten thousand years ago, as human communities grew in size and began producing more private wealth."

"Widespread cooperation among community members becomes difficult as community size increases, and individuals with more wealth can lose incentive to cooperate with the non-wealthy outside of more market-based or coercive transactions. These processes limit upward mobility and fuel stratification by wealth class."

The study is published in the journal  <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</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/frankie's

Cooperating with higher status people can elevate one’s own status

Cooperating with higher status people can elevate one’s own status....

Alcohol or nicotine use in the evening can sabotage sleep quality. As many as 70 million Americans have a <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/poor-sleep-male-fertility-problems/">sleep disorder,</a> and chronic sleep deprivation is linked to many serious conditions including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain cancers. 

While many studies have investigated the potential for alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine to disrupt sleep, the population samples were not racially or ethnically diverse. A new study from <a href="https://www.fau.edu/">Florida Atlantic University</a> is the largest of its kind to examine how one or more of these drugs in the evening may influence sleep among African Americans. 

Using sleep trackers concurrently with daily sleep journals, the researchers analyzed the effects of drug consumption on sleep duration and quality. For more than 5,000 days, hundreds of study participants wore sleep sensors and recorded how much alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine they consumed within four hours of bedtime in their sleep journals.

The consumption of caffeine in the evening was found to have no influence on any of the sleep parameters examined. However, the researchers pointed out that some individuals are more sensitive to caffeine than others and dosing could have also made a difference in the outcome. 

Both nicotine and alcohol use within four hours of bedtime led to worse sleep continuity, and these effects were found to remain consistent regardless of age, gender, obesity, depressive symptoms, and other factors. 

Furthermore, nicotine appeared to have the strongest association with sleep disruption, and the team observed a statistically significant interaction between evening nicotine use and insomnia. Among the individuals who experienced insomnia, nightly nicotine use was associated with an average loss of 42 minutes of sleep.

The findings from this study are particularly important because they were observed in individuals who were not diagnosed with any sleep disorders and who generally had high sleep efficiency. 

"African Americans have been underrepresented in studies examining the associations of nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine use on sleep," said study lead author Dr. Christine E. Spadola. "This is especially significant because African Americans are more likely to experience short sleep duration and fragmented sleep compared to non-Hispanic Whites, as well as more deleterious health consequences associated with inadequate sleep than other racial or ethnic groups."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sleep">Sleep</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/Syda Productions

Alcohol or nicotine use in the evening can sabotage sleep quality

Alcohol or nicotine use in the evening can sabotage sleep...

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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

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" 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.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?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" 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.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

[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"

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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



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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...