Gender wage gaps aren't just a concern for adults. Recent studies show that these inequities begin to form much earlier.



In a study from NYU, researchers have found that boys and girls as young as six years old already exhibit signs of the wage gap, thus perpetuating the cycle of economic disparity.



The experts found that boys tend to value their worth more - asking for bigger rewards for the same work- while girls tend to undervalue their worth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-boys-overestimate-their-abilities">Boys overestimate their abilities </h2>



The wage gap isn't just about work. It's about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-perception-we-see-the-world-based-on-what-we-expect-to-see/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">perception</a>. How much do you think you're worth? 



It turns out that boys estimate themselves to be worth more than girls do, even when performing the same activities. They don't just think they're worth more - they ask for more too.



“Our findings suggest that boys tend to overestimate their abilities compared to girls - and relative to their actual performance. This inflated <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-does-digital-technology-influence-our-sense-of-self/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">self-perception</a> may lead boys to feel more entitled to push the boundaries during negotiations,” explained Sophie Arnold, a doctoral student at <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York University</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-boys-and-girls-same-work-different-pay">Boys and girls: Same work, different pay?</h2>



The research was focused on boys and girls who were between six and nine years old. The children were introduced to hypothetical scenarios where they could negotiate bonuses with a teacher or a neighbor for completing tasks.



The tasks were identical, and both boys and girls believed they would face little backlash for negotiation and would receive similar rewards.



When asked to identify images rapidly on a computer screen, boys and girls performed the same. After the task, the children were informed that they were due to receive a bonus: pictures of animals.



When asked how many pictures they thought they deserved, boys asked for larger bonuses than girls, even after performing at the same level. And this wasn't a slight difference. A typical boy asked for more bonus pictures than about 65% of the girls did.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-power-of-perception">The power of perception </h2>



Boys thought they did better than girls, even though the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-sleep-transforms-brain-performance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">performance</a> was equal. And those boys who believed they did better were more likely to negotiate for higher bonuses.



This suggests that one key to understanding the wage gap may involve focusing on perception - not ability.



“Boys leveraged their perceptions of how common and permissible it is to ask for more, while girls did not,” explained Katherine McAuliffe, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Boston College.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-addressing-the-wage-gap">Addressing the wage gap</h2>



Understanding the early roots of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/young-children-learn-gender-stereotypes-from-storybooks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gender</a> wage gap can help us shape strategies and policies that tackle the issue head-on.



It's not enough to simply address wage disparities among adults. We need to tackle the problem at its source - in childhood.



Addressing the early emergence of the gender pay gap requires targeted interventions to boost girls' <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/power-posing-gives-children-an-instant-confidence-boost/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">confidence</a> and negotiation skills. Experts suggest that parents and educators play a critical role in shaping how children perceive their worth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-breaking-the-cycle">Breaking the cycle</h2>



Encouraging girls to advocate for themselves and providing positive reinforcement for negotiating can help close the gap before it widens.



Structured activities that teach financial literacy and negotiation techniques tailored for young children could equip girls with the tools they need to value their contributions appropriately.



Schools can also incorporate lessons that highlight successful female role models who have broken barriers in their respective fields, thus inspiring young girls to challenge societal expectations.



By normalizing self-advocacy and negotiation from an early age, both boys and girls can learn to approach opportunities with equal confidence and ambition.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-role-of-media-and-society">The role of media and society</h2>



Beyond individual efforts, societal and media representations contribute significantly to the early development of gendered perceptions of worth. 



Studies suggest that traditional portrayals of gender roles in media often reinforce the idea that boys should aim higher and ask for more, while girls are encouraged to be accommodating and grateful for what they receive. 



Cartoons, books, and movies often depict male characters in leadership and negotiation roles, while female characters take on supportive, nurturing roles.



Addressing this requires a cultural shift in how we represent gender in media, in addition to encouraging narratives that showcase equality in leadership and success.



Parents and educators can introduce children to diverse media that challenge these stereotypes and promote the idea that ambition and self-advocacy are valuable traits for everyone, regardless of gender. 



The earlier these ideas are introduced, the more likely they are to influence long-term perceptions and behaviors.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fdev0001898" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Developmental Psychology</a>.



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Wage gap starts young: Boys value their worth more than girls

Gender wage gaps aren't just a concern for adults. Recent studies show that these inequities begin to form much earlier. In a study from NYU, researchers have found that boys and girls as young as six years old already exhibit signs of the wage gap, thus perpetuating the cycle of economic disparity. The experts found that boys tend to value their worth more - asking for bigger rewards for the same work- while girls tend to undervalue their worth. Boys overestimate their abilities The wage gap isn't...

New fungal disease likely appeared as a result of global warming. Research published by the <a href="https://www.asm.org/">American Society for Microbiology</a> has revealed that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fossil-fuel-burning-infrastructure/">global warming</a> is likely to blame for Candida auris, an emerging fungus that presents a serious global health threat. The study may have pinpointed the first example of a new fungal disease arising as a result of climate change.  

"The argument that we are making based on comparison to other close relative fungi is that as the climate has gotten warmer, some of these organisms, including Candida auris, have adapted to the higher temperature, and as they adapt, they break through human's protective temperatures," said Dr. Arturo Casadevall of the <a href="https://www.jhsph.edu/">Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health</a>. "Global warming may lead to new fungal diseases that we don't even know about right now."

According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), the fungus poses a threat for three main reasons: it is often multidrug-resistant, it is difficult to identify with standard laboratory methods, and it has already caused outbreaks in healthcare settings. Furthermore, C. auris has emerged in three distinct strains on different continents simultaneously. 

"What is unusual about Candida auris is that it appeared in three different continents at the same time, and the isolates from India, South Africa, and South America are not related. Something happened to allow this organism to bubble up and cause disease. We began to look into the possibility that it could be climate change," said Dr. Casadevall. "The reasons that fungal infections are so rare in humans is that most of the fungi in the environment cannot grow at the temperatures or our body."

The researchers compared the heat sensitivity of C. auris to its close phylogenetic relatives. The study showed that C. auris is capable of growing at higher temperatures than the other species, and the majority of its relatives were not tolerant of mammalian temperatures. 

"What this study suggests is this is the beginning of fungi adapting to higher temperatures, and we are going to have more and more problems as the century goes on," said Dr. Casadevall. "Global warming will lead to selection of fungal lineages that are more thermally tolerant, such that they can breach the mammalian thermal restriction zone."

Dr. Casadevall explained that if better surveillance systems were in place, the rise of C. auris would have been detected earlier. 

"We need to make investments in better surveillance of fungal diseases. We are pretty good at surveilling influenza and diseases that cause diarrhea or are contagious, but fungal diseases are not usually contagious and therefore nobody has really bothered to document them well. If more fungi were to cross over, you really wouldn't know until somebody started reporting them in the literature."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://mbio.asm.org/">mBio</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/Ungnoi Lookjeab

New fungal disease likely appeared as a result of global warming

New fungal disease likely appeared as a result of global...

Scientists uncover new clues about how the brain smells. A team of neuroscientists from <a href="https://www.cshl.edu/">Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL)</a> have discovered that, unlike prior studies that showed predictable links between molecular properties of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/odors-healthy-animals-change/">odors</a> and early stage activity in the olfactory system, these correlations "held little predictive power when new odor pairs or shuffled properties were tested."

These new findings are published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/neuro/">Nature Neuroscience</a>.

"We don't really know what the brain is looking for [when it comes to smell], and we don't know what physical or chemical features, if any, the brain extracts," said Florin Albeanu from CSHL.

It’s understood that odor particles first enter via the nasal cavity, where they are bound to odorant receptors expressed by the olfactory receptor neurons within the sensory tissue. Then, the olfactory bulb processes information sent up from the receptors. 

It then sends this information to processing areas in the brain, including the cerebral cortex, where the olfactory output messages are analyzed and broadcasted throughout the brain, eventually being conveyed back to the bulb. Scientists uncover new clues about how the brain smells

"Rich feedback makes the olfactory system somewhat different from the visual system," Alexei Koulakov said. "Olfactory experience is very subjective, perception of smells actually depends on the context, and on an individual's prior experience."

Therefore, Albeanu and Koulakov believe it’s probably that the entry-level of olfactory inputs and the further processed bulb outputs pick up on the different aspects of smell.

These new results provide an opportunity to build a more comprehensive computational model for the odor space that captures the differences in informational relevance for scent features across the landscape of olfactory processing.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Yuganov Konstantin

Scientists uncover new clues about how the brain smells

Scientists uncover new clues about how the brain smells. A...

A new study from the <a href="https://med.nyu.edu/">NYU School of Medicine</a> has revealed that both adults and teenagers are more likely to try a new drug in the summertime. The researchers found that 34 percent of Americans who recently tried <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/microdosing-lsd-study/">LSD</a> and 30 percent of those who tried marijuana or ecstasy reported that they first experimented during the summer months. 

"First-time users may be unfamiliar with the effects of various drugs, so it is important to first understand when people are most likely to start these behaviors," said study senior author Dr. Joseph J. Palamar.

According to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, more than 3 million Americans tried LSD, marijuana, cocaine, or ecstasy for the first time in 2017.

The NYU investigation was focused on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which involved nearly 400,000 respondents who were at least 12 years old. Through a computer-assisted interview, the participants were asked to report on any drug use and to recall the month and year when they initiated use.

The researchers believe the findings can be at least partially attributed to the fact that many people have extra recreational time during the summer. They also pointed to the growing popularity of outdoor music festivals, where recreational drug use is common.

"Parents and educators who are concerned about their kids need to educate them year-round about potential risks associated with drug use, but special emphasis appears to be needed before or during summer months when rates of initiation increase," said Dr. Palamar. He recommends for potential users to become educated about the drugs they are going to use and their side effects. 

The experts emphasized that further research is needed to determine when and where people are most likely to use drugs for the first time, as well as other circumstances such as whether drug experimentation is typically planned or unplanned. 

The study is published in the <a href="http://www.jgim.org/">Journal of General Internal 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/Couperfield

People are more likely to experiment with drugs in the summer

A new study from the NYU School of Medicine has...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.bidmc.org/">Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center</a> (BIDMC) have found that many older Americans are putting themselves at risk of serious health complications by taking daily doses of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/aspirin-older-adults-lives/">aspirin</a>. 

Doctors once recommended a low dose of aspirin for individuals who had an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD).  However, three separate studies conducted in 2018 showed that the risks of daily aspirin use far outweigh the benefits. 

As a result of the research, clinical practice guidelines were changed earlier this year. Dr. Christina C. Wee is the senior author of the BIDMC study and an associate professor at <a href="https://hms.harvard.edu/">Harvard Medical School</a>. 

"Although prior American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology guidelines recommended aspirin only in persons without elevated bleeding risk, the 2019 guidelines now explicitly recommend against aspirin use among those over the age of 70 who do not have existing heart disease or stroke," said Dr. Wee.

"Our findings suggest that a substantial portion of adults may be taking aspirin without their physician's advice and potentially without their knowledge."

Based on data from the 2017 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), the team analyzed the use of aspirin for the prevention of CVD. 

The study revealed that about 29 million people aged 40 or older were taking a daily dose of aspirin for the prevention of heart disease. Among these individuals, around 6.6 million were using aspirin without a doctor's knowledge.

Shockingly, nearly half of adults over the age of 70 with no history of heart disease or stroke reported daily aspirin use. 

"Our findings show a tremendous need for health care practitioners to ask their patients about ongoing aspirin use and to advise them about the importance of balancing the benefits and harms, especially among older adults and those with prior peptic ulcer disease," said study lead author Dr. Colin O'Brien.

The researchers said that the findings are applicable to adults who do not have a history of cardiovascular disease or stroke. "If you are currently taking aspirin, discuss it with your doctor to see if it is still needed for you," said study co-author Dr. Stephen Juraschek. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://annals.org/aim">Annals of Internal 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/Shane Maritch

Nearly half of older adults report daily aspirin use despite serious risks

Researchers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have...

The loss of a single gene could explain why are prone to heart disease. We’ve inherited many things from our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-previously-unknown-human-ancestor/">early human relatives</a>, including DNA, but a new study suggests that the loss of a single gene over time is responsible for an increased risk of heart disease today. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">University of California-San Diego</a> conducted the study, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and of all the deaths due to cardiovascular disease, one-third are caused by atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis occurs when fatty deposits build up and clog arteries. Lifestyle factors, age, and hypertension can all increase the risk of atherosclerosis, but some people develop heart disease despite being healthy with no risk factors. 

In nearly 15 percent of first-time cardiovascular disease events caused by atherosclerosis, no known risk factors apply. 

The researchers believe this is because we inherited heart disease susceptibility from some of our earlier hominin ancestors two to three million years ago. 

In an earlier study, the same research team discovered that atherosclerosis heart attacks are non-existent even in our closest chimpanzee cousins. For this recent research, mice were genetically altered so that they did not possess a sialic acid sugar molecule called Neu5Gc. 

Humans are also Neu5Gc deficient, and the mice that lacked the molecule were twice as likely to have plaque build-up in their arteries compared to control mice. 

A gene called CMAH produces the Neu5Gc. The researchers theorize that millions of years ago, just as early hominins were getting the hang of walking upright, a mutation occurred in the genome and shut off the CMAH gene. 

A malarial parasite may have caused the gene to become inactive. 

“The increased risk appears to be driven by multiple factors, including hyperactive white cells and a tendency to diabetes in the human-like mice,” said Ajit Varki, a co-author of the study. “This may help explain why even vegetarian humans without any other obvious cardiovascular risk factors are still very prone to heart attacks and strokes, while other evolutionary relatives are not.”

When the mice were fed a Neu5Gc-rich, high-fat diet, this further increased the risk of atherosclerosis. 

The loss of the CMAH is not only responsible for an increased risk in heart disease, but the researchers have also linked the inactive gene to a decrease in fertility and an enhanced ability to run long distances.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Crevis

The loss of a single gene could explain why are prone to heart disease

The loss of a single gene could explain why are...

Introducing babies to peanuts may reduce their risk of becoming allergic. Over the past 15 years, the number of kids with <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-treatment-peanut-allergies/">peanut allergies</a> has tripled. Children do not usually outgrow this particular food allergy, and exposure to peanuts can cause a dangerous reaction. 

In children and adults who have experienced a mild reaction to peanuts, there is a chance that the next reaction will be much more serious. Anaphylaxis, for example, is a severe and potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that can occur within minutes of exposure. 

New research published in the <a href="http://www.cmaj.ca/">Canadian Medical Association Journal</a> suggests that some children can be introduced to peanut products early in life to help prevent peanut allergies from developing. 

The researchers have highlighted five important things for parents to know about the early introduction of peanuts in infants to reduce their allergy risk.

According to the study, infants who are regularly fed peanut protein are less likely to develop an aversion to peanuts. The experts recommend giving peanut protein, such as peanut butter or powdered puff, to babies who are between 4 and 6 months old as one of the first foods. 

This strategy, however, should not be used for infants with the most severe type of eczema, or atopic dermatitis. Babies with severe eczema are more likely to have a peanut allergy, and only children who are free of eczema should be introduced to peanuts in the home. 

Infants with eczema and other risk factors for peanut allergy, such as an egg allergy, should be seen by a specialist before they are given peanuts in any form. 

Among children who are good candidates for reducing the risk of peanut allergy, 8 grams of peanut protein should be eaten at least twice a week. This is the equivalent of one heaping teaspoon of peanut butter.

The study is published in the <a href="http://www.cmaj.ca/">Canadian Medical Association Journal</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/Hafiez Razali

Introducing babies to peanuts may reduce their risk of becoming allergic

Introducing babies to peanuts may reduce their risk of becoming...

The laugh-track is a staple of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dolphins-enjoy-watching-television/">television</a> sitcoms, as canned laughter serves as the cherry on top of many a punchline. 

In a new study, researchers from the <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University of College London</a> set out to determine if a canned laugh track makes a joke funnier. 

The answer is yes, according to the results published in the journal Current Biology, but laugh tracks are not as effective as real laughter. 

“Historically, TV and radio programs were always recorded in front of a live studio audience: this allowed those watching and listening to feel part of the performance,” said Professor Sophie Scott, the lead author of the study. “However, as the audience reaction was natural, certain ‘comedy’ programs, which weren’t overtly funny wouldn’t get a long laugh, so TV and radio producers increasingly added canned laughter to prompt an audience reaction.”

For the study, the researchers selected 40 “dad jokes,” the name given to a kind of groan-worthy joke that usually plays on an obvious pun. The researchers assigned each joke a baseline rating from one to seven with seven being hilarious. 

Some jokes in the study included, “What state has the smallest drinks? Mini-soda!” and 

“What does a dinosaur use to pay the bills? Tyrannosaurus cheques”

Next, the researchers recorded a professional comedian delivering the joke. One recording of the joke used canned laughter at the end and another used real laughter. 

Once the jokes were recorded, two groups of participants, neurotypical and autistic, listened to both versions of the recordings. 

It was important to include both neurotypical and autistic individuals in the study because of how laughter is processed in the brain. While some developing children find laugh tracks enjoyable, autistic children are not as easily manipulated. 

Overall, the canned laughter and real laughter made the joke funnier. There was a major difference in the baseline ratings and the ratings given by the participants after hearing the two versions of the joke. 

However, the humor in a joke was only marginally increased using canned, pre-recorded laughter. 

“What this study shows is that adding laughter to a joke, increases the humour value, no matter how funny or unfunny the joke is,” said Scott. “It also suggests we respond much better to spontaneous genuine laughter, rather than posed or canned laughter, showing the inherent human joy and value of a natural response.”

Both the neurotypical and autistic groups found that spontaneous, real laughter was better and rated the jokes higher compared to the canned laughter. 

The autistic group gave the jokes higher ratings overall finding them funnier than the neurotypical adults. 

“This research shows that while canned laughter does elevate the humour of a comedy, adding real laughter would get a better response,” said Scott. “This has been adopted in shows like Friends, which are recorded in front of an audience, with the real laughter amplified during editing for particular jokes that had been well received.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Kzenon

Study shows how canned laughter makes jokes seem funnier

The laugh-track is a staple of television sitcoms, as canned...

Exploration in some form or other is probably nearly as old as humanity. It seems likely that the first people wandered to find new hunting areas, rivers, plants to eat or simply for curiosity. But exploration in its more formal, pseudo-scientific form is a fairly modern affair. 

Saturday July 20th, 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing by US astronauts on Apollo 11. Undoubtedly, the moon landing is the highlight of American and perhaps even global exploration efforts. Unlike many efforts of the past, the moon landing is harder to understand in practical terms. 

July 20th marks another important date in the history of exploration, though less famous in the US, as Sir Edmund Hillary was born 100 years before. Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to climb to the top of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/mount-everest-deadly-climbing-season/">Mount Everest</a>, the highest peak in the world. Like landing on the moon, the goal of climbing Mount Everest is a hard one to understand for many; there’s no obvious practical purpose to climbing a mountain like Everest. People died in efforts to climb Everest just as in the space program, and so the cost for something with no clear purpose is exceedingly expensive. 

Compared to other historic exploration events, the question of “why?” is not one often asked within the perspective of history. Christopher Columbus and many others set sail with the stated goal of discovering new trade routes and turning a financial profit. Of course, what Columbus discovered was not a trade route but continents and people unknown to Europeans to exploit and pillage for the profit of Europe. Exploration of Everest has in fact led to monetization of the mountain in a way that Norgay and Hillary couldn’t have imagined – the mountain and the experience of climbing is part of the tourism industry. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">NASA</a> under the Trump administration is making the International Space Station open to tourists  by 2020. However, the estimated cost of a private flight to the space station is $52 million plus very expensive daily living costs for essentials like food and oxygen. 

Still, this doesn’t answer the question of why. Surely we didn’t create the International Space Station as a novel Space BnB? The impetus to climb Mt. Everest for the first time must have been significantly more than allowing others to climb the mountain more easily.  

Exploration and its motivation is notoriously hard to explain. Famously, George Leigh Mallory who himself died trying to be the first to climb Everest has his own answer to the ‘why’ question: “Because it’s there.” The answer is far from satisfying but there’s an enormous disconnect between the casual armchair observer and something as raw and violent as Everest. 

There are thousands of actions and impulses that we humans engage in with little thought or question because they seem quite normal to us. I’ve found that I don’t have the words to describe many of my own motives to those who find them fathomless. Why for instance travel to Africa? Or why map out a cave? No one asks you why you like chocolate or why you don’t. Everything about exploration is directly experiential but what most people care about is the spoils that result from it. 

Exploration is also subjective. I’ve crawled and dug my way as part of a two man team into cave passages never seen by another human and was awed by the delicate beauty of the place. If a third person came a week later and crawled into the same cave, is it still exploration, still discovery? What do we really mean by exploration? 

Unfortunately, it may be inextricably linked to exploitation or desecration. I’ve thought of that small, beautiful cave passage many times. I’ve wondered if someone’s clawed their way into it to write their name in marker on the wall, if someone’s broken off a soda straw formation as a souvenir. I’ve thought of these things and wondered if it wouldn’t have been better to leave it a secret of the deepest type – a secret no mind knows. 

Mount Everest is certainly not pristine anymore, as <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-05-tonnes-rubbish-everest.html">reports</a> have shown a shocking amount of trash left by mountaineers. Of course, in other cases, the destruction caused by exploration has been much greater.

In his book <a href="https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0289.htm">The Native Population of the Americas in 1492</a>, William M. Denevan reports that populations of Native Americans when Columbus landed in Hispaniola were estimated to be between 112 million to 80 million. By 1650, there were less than 6 million Native Americans, a devastating blow by any account. Likewise, the exploration and colonization of Australia that inevitably followed was just as destructive for indigenous communities there. In 1788, Captain Arthur Phillips and 1,500 colonists, mainly convicts, arrived in Sydney harbor. Within a decade, an estimated 90% of the indigenous population was dead, according to <a href="https://australianstogether.org.au/discover/australian-history/colonisation/">Australians Together</a>. 

This isn’t to say that all exploration ended the same. Polynesians travelled great distances, inhabiting long chains of islands guided only by the stars and perhaps a burning urge to see or know, or perhaps just facing the realities of physical resources. North America and Australia were both explored by people long before Europeans arrived. 

Yet, all of this exploration changed these lands. It’s been hypothesized that humans killed off megafauna both in the Americas as well as Australia. The wooly mammoth is dead, so is Megalania, the giant lizard of Australia. The Moa of New Zealand and the Elephant Bird of Madagascar were probably killed by each island’s first human inhabitants.

All of the destruction follows the initial impulse for discovery. Exploration at its purest isn’t what follows. Exploration is pulling your own body into a new cave passage or stomping to the top of a mountain. These are experiences that can be had by all, the experiences of the rawness of nature experienced in solitude or with a few others. The question is, can that experience be shared without destruction becoming inevitable?                   

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: NASA/Castleski/Shutterstock

Moon landing anniversary encourages reflection upon nature of exploration

Exploration in some form or other is probably nearly as...

Two human rib bone fragments uncovered at the Lingjing site in China are providing evidence that the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/early-denisovans-tibetan-plateau/">Denisovans</a> were artists 115,000 years ago. An international research team has analyzed engravings found on the bones, which may represent the first known example of symbolically mediated behavior in Eastern Asia. 

"The lines on one of the bones were produced by an extremely sharp point, and the prehistoric individual was particularly careful when engraving the first five lines," wrote the researchers. "To increase the visibility of the subsequent lines, the engraver marked them using multiple strokes.”

"Combined, this evidence does not support an interpretation of the lines as evidence of butchery activity, but rather, deliberate engraving of the bone."

Red residue that was used to reinforce some of the markings turned out to be a naturally occurring iron oxide pigment called ochre. Study co-author Francesco d’Errico is a palaeoanthropologist at the <a href="https://www.u-bordeaux.com/">University of Bordeaux</a> in France.

"We need to explain why equidistant lines were deliberately engraved on a semi-fossil bone and covered with red ochre to highlight them,” d’Errico told <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/">New Scientist</a>. “The explanation that would be given by archaeologists if this behavior was observed at a more recent site would be that this is a sign to which some sort of meaning was attributed.”

Even though modern humans reached China between 80,000 and 120,000 years ago, the skull of an archaic hominin was discovered in the same stratigraphic layer where the engraved bones were found.

"A growing body of evidence from Europe and Southeast Asia supports the hypothesis that the cultural adaptations of archaic hominins involved symbolically mediated behavior, thereby challenging the notion that modern cognitive abilities are restricted to Homo sapiens,” wrote the study authors.

“While many scholars now agree on this hypothesis with regard to Neanderthals, we offer the first evidence to suggest that the same may also apply to Denisovans - the probable creators of the Lingjing engravings.”

Genevieve von Petzinger is an expert on geometric symbols in cave art at the <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/">University of Victoria</a>. She told New Scientist that even if they seem simple, the concept behind the marks is ridiculously cognitively complex.

"They are an artificial memory system - a way to retain information over time and space. This doesn’t happen when you communicate with others by talking. You have to use graphic marks to do it. To see closely related human species making these graphic marks is absolutely fascinating," said von Petzinger.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://antiquity.ac.uk/">Antiquity</a>

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Main Image Credit: Antiquity/Zhanyang Li et al.

Denisovans may have been drawing symbolic imagery 115,000 years ago

Two human rib bone fragments uncovered at the Lingjing site...

An estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered around the world every year. They don’t biodegrade, they’re full of chemicals, and they’re killing a massive number of plants, according to a new study from <a href="https://aru.ac.uk/">Anglia Ruskin University</a>.

“We found they had a detrimental effect on the germination success and shoot length of both grass and clover, and reduced the root weight of clover by over half,” said lead author Dr. Dannielle Green. "Ryegrass and white clover, the two species we tested, are important forage crops for livestock as well as being commonly found in urban green spaces. These plants support a wealth of biodiversity, even in city parks, and white clover is ecologically important for pollinators and nitrogen fixation.” 

Cigarette butts, made of bioplastics, aren’t biodegradable. That means when they’re tossed on the ground, they sit there until they’re cleaned up or eventually covered with soil.

But the presence of cigarette butts in the soil can reduce successful germination – “birth” from seed to plant – of white clover by 27%, and the length of the plant’s stem by 28%, which negatively affects survival. For ryegrass, the germination success was cut by 10% and shoot length by 13%.

The effects were the same whether the cigarette butt was from a smoked cigarette or an unused one, researchers said. That indicates the problem isn’t the chemicals in tobacco, but the butt itself. The filters are made out of bioplastics.

"Although further work is needed, we believe it is the chemical composition of the filter that is causing the damage to plants,” co-author Dr. Bas Boots said in a press release. “Most are made from cellulose acetate fibres, and added chemicals which make the plastic more flexible, called plasticisers, may also be leaching out and adversely affecting the early stages of plant development."

Cigarette butts <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-trash-gulf-mexico/">clog the Gulf of Mexico</a> and was one of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/emaciated-bear-plastic-container/">most-collected trash items</a> during an <a href="https://oceanconservancy.org/">Ocean Conservancy</a> clean-up in 2017. Discarded, still-lit butts have <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-complicated-nature/">sparked major wildfires</a>.

"In some parks, particularly surrounding benches and bins, we found over 100 cigarette butts per square meter,” Green said. “Dropping cigarette butts seems to be a socially acceptable form of littering, and we need to raise awareness that the filters do not disappear and instead can cause serious damage to the environment."

The study has been published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.109418">Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Trillions of cigarette butts are littered each year and it's killing plants

An estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered around the...

According to <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2019/07/killer-heat-environmental-research-communications-article.pdf">a new study from the Union of Concerned Scientists</a>, an average of 36 days per year could feel like 100°F or hotter come the middle of the century. And toward the end of the 21st century, that number of days per year could jump to 54.

“We basically are looking at increases in the kinds of conditions we’re seeing this week across the country,” said lead climate analyst for the UCS Erika Spanger-Siegfried, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/18/climate-crisis-extremely-hot-days-could-double-us-study">per The Guardian</a>. 

Currently, regions across the U.S. are experiencing <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/record-heat-increasingly-common/">heat waves</a>, and heat warnings and advisories have been issued in about half of the fifty states. According to the <a href="https://www.weather.gov/">National Weather Service</a>, heat indexes (how the temperature and air moisture feel) in some areas are expected to hit 110°F.

This new report “shows a hotter future that’s hard to imagine today,” according to co-author Kristina Dahl, also per The Guardian. “Nearly everywhere, people will experience more days of dangerous heat even in the next few decades.” 

That is, if current climate politics stay the same. The only way to prove this study wrong is for worldwide governments agree to cut back on production of heat-trapping pollution pumped out from power plants, cars, and other human-driven activities. 

Since industrialization, average global temperatures have jumped 1.8°F, and the scientists predict that in the 21st century alone, if these policies are not changed, we could see an average temperature increase of 6°F by the end of the century. 

The researchers suggest that parts of the Southern U.S. states like in Texas and Florida could experience temperatures of 100°F or hotter for five months out of the year. And more than one-third of the U.S. population could experience “off-the-charts” days that have a heat index of 127°F or higher. Currently, the Sonoran Desert is the only part of the country that experiences “off-the-chart” hot days.

To prepare for the worst, the scientists recommend cities create more green space, paint roofs white, and work cooling systems and architecture into new buildings.

“Heat risk is on the rise,” lead author Julie Arrighi said. “The positive message is that we can prevent the deaths that are associated with [heat waves] with relatively simple, low-cost actions. We just need to take those actions and to be ready for that hotter future.”

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Juergen Faelchle

The number of extremely hot days in the U.S. may double

According to a new study from the Union of Concerned...

Understanding science can actually promote faith in spirituality and God. While science and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/religion-shaped-environment-views/">religion</a> are considered to be conflicting subjects by most Americans, a new study from <a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a> (ASU) suggests that an understanding of science can actually promote faith and religion. The researchers found that scientific facts can create a feeling of awe, which leads to belief in more abstract views of God. 

"There are many ways of thinking about God. Some see God in DNA, some think of God as the universe, and others think of God in Biblical, personified terms," said study lead author Professor Kathryn Johnson. "We wanted to know if scientific engagement influenced beliefs about the existence or nature of God."

Study co-author and graduate student Jordan Moon explained that, even though science is often thought of in terms of data and experiments, it may mean more to some people. 

The research team examined two types of scientific engagement - logical thinking or experiencing the feeling of awe - to get a better understanding of how they may affect an individual's religious beliefs. 

The study participants were asked to report on how interested they were in science and how committed they were to logical thinking. The individuals were also asked how often they felt awe, or an overwhelming feeling of wonder that often leads to open-mindedness.

The participants who reported both a strong commitment to logic and having experienced awe were found to be the most likely to have faith in God. These individuals commonly described God in an abstract and unconventional way, as being mystical or limitless.

"When people are awed by the complexity of life or the vastness of the universe, they were more inclined to think in more spiritual ways," said Professor Johnson. "The feeling of awe might make people more open to other ways of conceptualizing God."

"A lot of people think science and religion do not go together, but they are thinking about science in too simplistic a way and religion in too simplistic a way," said study senior author Professor Adam Cohen. "Science is big enough to accommodate religion, and religion is big enough to accommodate science."

The study is published in the <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-experimental-social-psychology">Journal of Experimental Social Psychology</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/Triff

Understanding science can actually promote faith in spirituality and God

Understanding science can actually promote faith in spirituality and God....

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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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...