Narcan, the nasal spray form of the opioid overdose-reversing drug naloxone, is now available over the counter in the United States. However, many people still don’t realize they can get it without a prescription. 



This simple spray, capable of restoring normal breathing in a matter of minutes, has become an essential tool in the fight against a rising tide of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-discovery-offers-hope-for-tackling-opioid-addiction/">opioid</a> overdoses. 



Yet, even with new efforts to boost awareness, polls indicate that a large portion of Americans remain uninformed about the updated, easier availability of naxolone.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-source-of-real-world-guidance">A source of real-world guidance </h2>



TikTok’s rapid rise as a place to find health information has shifted how younger audiences learn about critical topics, including substance use and harm reduction.&nbsp;



A recent <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/17/more-americans-regularly-get-news-on-tiktok-especially-young-adults/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a> found that roughly one in five adults in the United States now turns to TikTok for news and information on a variety of issues. This number has more than quadrupled in the last four years. 



As a result, the platform has transformed into more than a casual entertainment hub. It’s also a key source of real-world guidance that can influence behavior.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tiktok-and-opioid-overdose-prevention">TikTok and opioid overdose prevention</h2>



Led by Dr. Kelli Boling, assistant professor of advertising at the <a href="https://www.unl.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Nebraska–Lincoln</a>, a team of researchers analyzed hundreds of TikTok posts to see how people talk about naloxone and its brand name Narcan online. 



The study was focused on videos featuring popular hashtags linked to opioid safety messages. The researchers narrowed their search to a time when opioid fatalities were climbing, and more people were scrolling through social media. 



The findings highlight TikTok’s potential for quick, high-impact communication about overdose prevention, addiction support, and news on treatment options.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tiktok-videos-on-narcan-access">TikTok videos on Narcan access</h2>



The researchers found that the most consistent topic across the videos was education about opioid risks, Narcan access, and the reality of recovery. 



In each video, creators used text, audio, and captions to clarify how to use naloxone and where to find it. The team also noticed a supportive group dynamic. 



“There was a strong ‘collective voice’ among the harm reduction creators that is ‘de-stigmatizing opioid harm reduction and sharing resources and information helpful to others,’” noted the researchers.



Similar trends emerged in a separate scholarly investigation that focused on the top opioid-related content under the #opioids hashtag, demonstrating that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/growing-up-in-a-digital-world-tiktok-makes-teenagers-happy/">TikTok</a> discussions often revolve around safe medication practices, overdose risks, and pain management.&nbsp;



Across these studies, the short-video format proved to be an unexpected stage for candid personal stories and urgent calls to action.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-of-the-tiktok-ban">Implications of the TikTok ban </h2>



Despite TikTok’s growing impact on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/longer-lifespan-strongly-linked-to-higher-education/">health education</a>, the Supreme Court recently upheld a federal law that effectively bans new downloads of the app unless it is sold by its current parent company. The court cited national security concerns as the main reason for its decision.&nbsp;



No matter where one stands on the ruling, the ban threatens to interrupt the steady flow of harm reduction content that is reaching individuals who might otherwise not seek out such information.



Existing users may still access TikTok, but fresh downloads and updates for new users will be blocked. This limit on functionality could reduce the platform’s reach and eventually affect creators who regularly upload videos about opioid safety.&nbsp;



For individuals in rural or underserved communities, losing easy access to these short but informative clips could make a real difference in whether they learn about new ways to manage opioid-related emergencies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tiktok-and-opioid-safety-messages">TikTok and opioid safety messages</h2>



Educators and content creators on TikTok have long embraced the app’s simplicity. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scrolling-online-videos-is-not-a-good-cure-for-boredom/">Videos</a> showing how to administer Narcan, how to watch for overdose warnings, or where to find naloxone kits can be filmed in a matter of minutes.&nbsp;



This approach keeps instructions clear and relatable. Their style relies less on complicated jargon and more on straightforward guidance, which encourages viewers to ask questions and share personal experiences.



At a time when stigma still clings to discussions of addiction, these snippets of community-led education are often a lifeline. Many participants share struggles with pain or recovery, offering mutual support in the comments.&nbsp;



Such interactions highlight a practical form of outreach that appeals to younger audiences. That sense of openness can break down shame, encouraging people to seek professional help or pick up a naloxone kit at a local pharmacy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-life-saving-opioid-information-on-tiktok">Life-saving opioid information on TikTok </h2>



The recent legal development creates uncertainty. Some worry about a drop in new creators who tackle opioid safety messages. Others point out that alternative platforms exist, though none match TikTok’s unique way of combining brief, entertaining videos with a vast user base.&nbsp;



Conversations about harm reduction may end up scattered across multiple sites, making it harder for people to find consistent, trustworthy guidance.



Still, the drive to curb opioid overdoses carries on. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/living-alone-in-america-an-escalating-public-health-crisis/">Public health</a> groups and grassroots advocates continue to emphasize naloxone training in schools, libraries, and community centers.&nbsp;



Experts at academic institutions are studying how best to deliver clear, effective instructions that cut through noise and misconceptions. 



The top priority is reversing rising overdose figures, and many believe that social media (no matter which platform ends up in the spotlight) will remain an essential tool for sharing life-saving information.



The study is published in the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39727094/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs</a>.



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TikTok videos provide a lifeline to prevent opioid overdoses

Narcan, the nasal spray form of the opioid overdose-reversing drug naloxone, is now available over the counter in the United States. However, many people still don’t realize they can get it without a prescription.  This simple spray, capable of restoring normal breathing in a matter of minutes, has become an essential tool in the fight against a rising tide of opioid overdoses. Yet, even with new efforts to boost awareness, polls indicate that a large portion of Americans remain uninformed about the updated, easier availability of naxolone....

Music programs should be given more of a priority in high school curriculums as a new study has found that music students score higher on math and science exams compared to non-musical students. 

Unfortunately, when budget cuts are necessary, underfunded art and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/listening-classical-music-smarter/">music</a> classes are often first on the chopping block. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> discovered that music courses enhance rather than hinder a student’s math and science skills. 

“It is believed that students who spend school time in music classes, rather than in further developing their skills in math, science and English classes, will underperform in those disciplines,” said Peter Gouzouasis, an author of the study. “Our research suggests that, in fact, the more they study music, the better they do in those subjects.”

For the study, the researchers reviewed the school records of more than 112,00 high schoolers in British Columbia. Each student started first grade between 2000 and 2003, completed the last three years of high school, and had taken one or more standardized tests for math, science or English. 

Thirteen percent of all the students included in the study had taken at least one music course such as band or choir in 10th, 11th, or 12th grade. 

Taking a music course seemed to help with test scores as the researchers found consistently higher scores in math, science, and English for those students who had participated in a music class. 

“Students who participated in music, who had higher achievement in music, and who were highly engaged in music had higher exam scores across all subjects…” said Gouzouasis. 

Instrumental music classes like concert band seemed to be more beneficial than choir or vocal jazz classes, the researchers found. 

The team also discovered that playing an instrument for years improved scores so much that students with long histories of music education were a year ahead of their peers academically speaking. 

“On average, the children who learned to play a musical instrument for many years, and were now playing in high school band and orchestra, were the equivalent of about one academic year ahead of their peers with regard to their English, mathematics and science skills, as measured by their exam grades,’ said Gouzouasis. 

Even when the researchers controlled for demographic factors, taking a music class correlated with higher test scores. 

“Learning to play a musical instrument and playing in an ensemble is very demanding. A student has to learn to read music notation, develop eye-hand-mind coordination, develop keen listening skills, develop team skills for playing in an ensemble, and develop discipline to practice. All those learning experiences play a role in enhancing children’s cognitive capacities and their self-efficacy,” said Gouzouasis. 

The researchers published their findings in the Journal of Educational Psychology. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Music students score better in highschool math and science

Music programs should be given more of a priority in...

According to the Ovarian Reserve and Exposure to Environmental Pollutants (ORExPo) study, high levels of air <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-walkable-areas/">pollution</a> affect the ovarian reserve, a marker for female fertility based on the number of resting follicles in the ovary.

Researchers working on the ORExPo study took hormone measurements from over 1,300 Italian women between 2007 and 2017. They found that environmental chemicals and natural and artificial factors of everyday diet can disturb the biosynthesis, signalling, or metabolism of hormones. The researchers specifically looked at the anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), which is secreted by cells in the ovary and is recognized as a reliable marker of ovarian reserve.

These findings were presented at the <a href="https://www.eshre.eu/">Annual Meeting of ESHRE</a> in Italy.

“The influence of age and smoking on AMH serum levels is now largely accepted,” said first author Professor Antonio La Marca from the <a href="http://www.international.unimore.it/">University of Modena and Reggio Emilia</a>, “but a clear effect of environmental factors has not been demonstrated so far.”

Upon taking the measurements of AMH from the approximate 1,300 participants, the data was logged and linked to patients’ age and residence, which could therefore allow researchers to investigate environmental impacts and consider a daily particulate matter (PM) as well as values of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a polluting gas that is the result of burning fuel.

1,463 AMH measurements collected from 1,318 women showed that serum AMH levels after the age of 25 were inversely related to age, as well as environmental pollutant defined as PM10, PM2,5m and NO2 — an association that was age-independent.

The lowest concentration of AMH, which, as Professor La Marca said, reflects “severe ovarian reserve reduction,” was found in subjects who were exposed to levels of PM10, PM2.5 and NO2 above 29.5, 22, and 26 mcg/m3 respectively — well below the upper limits recommended by the European Union and local authorities.

“By our calculations,” said Professor La Marca, “exposure to high levels of PM10, PM2.5 and NO2 increases the risk of having a severely reduced ovarian reserve by a factor between 2 and 3.”

Although this study confirms that age is a large determinant of AMH concentration, “Living in an area associated with high levels of air pollutants in our study increased the risk of severely reduced ovarian reserve by a factor of 2 or 3,” Professor La Marca confirmed.

--

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/Fotos593

Air pollution negatively impacts marker of female fertility

According to the Ovarian Reserve and Exposure to Environmental Pollutants...

Composting is a simple way to harness natural processes for the use of agriculture. Fungi, bacteria, even insects all work to break down organic materials such as dung, food scraps, or grass clippings to create nutrient rich soil for growing plants. 

Composting has been practiced for a very long time and it’s specific origins are lost somewhere in the distant past. According to the <a href="https://web.extension.illinois.edu/homecompost/history.cfm">University of Illinois Extension office</a>, clay tablets from the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia, dating back a thousand years before the biblical prophet Moses, refer to compost. The ancient Romans and Greeks knew about composting. <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2016/09/compost--a-history-in-green-and-brown/">National Geographic</a> reports that there’s archaeological evidence that Scots were using compost as long as 12,000 years ago, planting directly in the compost itself instead of spreading it on a field. 

According to <a href="http://www.carryoncomposting.com/142941469">Carry on Composting</a>, Cleopatra was reported to have made worms sacred in Egypt after noting their importance in composting, and the famous queen even made it a crime punishable by death to remove worms from Egypt. George Washington instructed his slaves to use compost on his farm.

Beyond the colorful human history of composting, it’s really a natural process utilized by humans with just a bit of tweaking and serves two basic but extremely important purposes – disposing of waste and providing nutrients to important plants (usually in agriculture). Composting is a way to sequester carbon and recycle scraps or other organic ‘trash’ as well. Organic agriculture, especially on small scales, often still relies on composting in one form or another to deliver nutrients to plants. In ancient China, even human waste was used in compost, a practice mostly dismissed by westerners as a health hazard but helped allow the continuous farming of the same soil for as long as <a href="https://capecodecotoiletcenter.com/nutrient-recycling/a-history-of-eco-toilets/">40 centuries</a>. Unfortunately for sustainable agriculture, this practice was largely ended in China, phasing out in the 1980s in favor of more <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237332785_THE_UTILIZATION_OF_HUMAN_EXCRETA_IN_CHINESE_AGRICULTURE_AND_THE_CHALLENGE_FACED">chemical agriculture</a>. Fish and other dead animals or animal parts (in food scraps) have long been a part of careful composting efforts, and so it was only a matter of time before composting of human bodies was considered. 

For many, the idea of becoming part of the food chain, or returning to earth after death is an attractive option. In Tibet the practice of ‘<a href="https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/cultural-traditions/sky-burial1.htm">sky burial’</a> where one is fed to vultures has been practiced for a long time by certain Tibetan Buddhists. I previously <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/natural-burial/">reported</a> on more natural or ‘eco friendly’ burial options. The option of being composted is a relatively new one with obvious potential health risks that must be dealt with responsibly. 

A process similar to composting, called ‘Promession’, is being promoted by <a href="http://www.promessa.se">Promessa</a>, a company that pioneered the process. Promession is basically freeze-drying human remains and then pulverizing them, finally removing any toxins, such as tooth fillings. The end result is a fine powder which can be added to water to create something akin to compost. Now, there is an even more direct route to enter your final rest as rich, life-giving soil.

Washington is the first state in the United States to legalize composting human bodies, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/22/us/washington-human-composting-legal-trnd/index.html">CNN</a> reports. Recently, Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill into a law that will go into effect in May 2020. Until the law takes effect, only burial and cremation are legal means of disposing of human remains in Washington.

<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47031816">BBC</a> reports that lying in the open, the decomposition of a body can take months of blistering, bloating and smelling. Under ideal conditions though, a body can decompose in as little as a month. This relatively quick decomposition time allows human remains to be composted and quickly returned as soil instead of slowing the decomposition as much as possible as a traditional burial tends to do. A new method involves using heat-loving bacteria and heating the human remains to a high enough temperature the make the resulting soil safe to handle. The process of composting humans is already set to be a commercial enterprise as soon as the change in law in Washington comes into effect.          

<a href="https://www.recompose.life">Recompose</a> is a new company offering people the option of being composted after death. The method used by recompose is just a modification of a method already used on livestock that are composted. Livestock and humans decompose in a very similar manner, the largest problem is the greater risk of disease transmission from the remains of humans compared to other animals. The method is said to use 1/8 of the energy used for traditional cremation and save 1 metric ton of carbon compared with other methods of burial, making the method more desirable than cremation which merely saves land space used in burials. Financial cost is also a factor for most when it comes to funerary rites. 

<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47031816">BBC</a> reports that the median cost for burial and funeral services in the US is over $7,000, with cremation being much more reasonable with an average cost of around $1,100. With Recompose being a small company as of yet, it’s unclear how affordable the cost of being composted will be for the average consumer. One thing to consider though is the value to the loved ones of the deceased. The end result of composting, a process that also adds other organic material, such as wood chips is about two wheel barrow loads of soil. 

Soil from a composted loved one is valuable, not just for gardening. The soil is also a way for the deceased to nourish not only plants but by proxy, their living family members. This idea may be disturbing, akin to cannibalism to some, but considering the true nature of cycles of energy and nutrition, it’s something we probably already participate in. Like it or not, the dead feed everything we eat and sometimes, there may even be remnants of a dead person. For me, embracing this cycle and finding nourishment from a dead loved one is empowering, a way to reflect on our own mortality and the value of life.         

--

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: Shutterstock

New company offers option to compost human bodies after death

Composting is a simple way to harness natural processes for...

Researchers at the University College London‘s <a href="https://www.timeuse.org/">Centre for Time Use Research</a> have found that, even though it may seem that the pace of life is speeding up alongside <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/electronic-waste-environmental-disaster/">technology</a>, this is surprisingly not the case. According to the study, people are actually working less and sleeping more today compared to 50 years ago. 

Professors Jonathan Gershuny and Oriel Sullivan used data from a British survey of 8,000 participants who recorded their activities at 10-minute intervals for two days. The experts compared these 16,000 "diary days" to time diaries dating back as far as 1961.

The study revealed that the total amount of time that people spend on work, whether paid or unpaid, has decreased over the past five decades. This is particularly the case for working-age men, who did an average of 9.5 hours of daily work in 1961 compared to an average of 8 hours today. 

Women, who now work more total time than men when considering both paid and unpaid jobs, only experienced a slight drop of 17 minutes from 1961 to present-day. While men today do more unpaid work such as childcare, gardening, and housework, women are still doing twice the amount of unpaid work while also holding down more paid jobs. 

In 1961, men and women had about the same amount of daily leisure time. Now, however, men have an average of 40 more leisurely moments than women each day.

"It seems to have leveled off," wrote Professor Sullivan. "Gender attitudes are changing in the acceptance of greater equality, but, for instance, when parental leave is available very few men take it up...And women still seem to be considered - and consider themselves - 'responsible' for the household chores."

The team also found that both men and women are getting more sleep, with an average 8 hours and 30 minutes by 2015. "The question to ask is why is it that there’s this perception that sleep has decreased?" wrote the study authors. "It’s one of these things where you have an expectation: 'A 24/7 society means you sleep less.'"

Gershuny and Sullivan concluded that the idea of life speeding up "may actually be more of a 'folk narrative' about rapid changes in society than a real experience of our daily lives." Their book What We Really Do All Day, Insights from the Centre For Time Use Research will be released on June 27.

--

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/Estrada Anton

The idea that people are busier than ever is surprisingly untrue

Researchers at the University College London‘s Centre for Time Use...

We’ve known that exercise can <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/morning-exercise-improve-blood-pressure/">improve heart health</a>, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, and even lower the risk of some cancers. But how much does simply increasing our walking activity benefit our health in the long run?

To help remedy this gap and better understand the long-term impacts of walking for adults and older adults on health and well-being, researchers at <a href="https://www.sgu.edu/">St. George's University</a> conducted two randomized walking trials.  

The first trial was called PACE-UP and involved 1,001 participants from London ages 45 to 75. The second trial was called PACE-Lift and included 296 individuals from the UK aged 60 to 75. 

Both groups were asked to complete a 12-week walking intervention with pedometers. The short-term walking programs were meant to increase step count and physical activity for the participants. 

The researchers collected data from primary caregivers and followed up with the participants three and four years later to see if there were any lasting benefits to the walking interventions. 

After following up with the participants, the researchers found that there were sustained increases in physical activity at three and four years later and a decrease in cardiovascular events. 

The participants that completed the walking interventions were also less likely to have suffered a fracture in the follow-up period compared to participants who hadn’t been part of the walking intervention. 

Walking didn’t have an impact on diabetes risk or depression, but the study shows that even short-term pedometer walking helps increase physical activity and lowers the risk of heart attack or stroke. 

The study results were published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002836">PLOS Medicine</a>. 

“Short-term primary care pedometer-based walking interventions can produce long-term health benefits and should be more widely used to help address the public health inactivity challenge,” the researchers conclude. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Uraiwons

Walking more has long-term health benefits, too

We’ve known that exercise can improve heart health, reduce the...

A recent study is shedding light on when and how <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/babies-learn-social-cues-faster/">babies</a> begin to think conceptually, which is a heavily debated topic among psychologists. The new research suggests that a child's cultural environment may play a role in how abstract thinking is learned.

The study was focused on three experiments involving nearly 400 children between 18 and 48 months of age in the United States and China. The children were tested on their relational reasoning skills, such as their ability to understand the abstract concepts of "same" and "different" among pairs of blocks.

The youngest children had similar levels of success, but Chinese children were performing better than American children by age 3. The researchers noted that the developmental curve for American kids looked like a "U," with relational reasoning skills dipping around age 3 and picking up again later. However, the development of the Chinese children seemed to follow a linear trajectory.

The study authors suggest that the reason for this discrepancy in learning styles may 

be linguistic, cultural, environmental, or a combination of these factors. Regardless, the study has revealed a "learned bias," with children in the U.S. temporarily focusing on objects which do not promote relational reasoning skills.

Study senior author Caren Walker is an assistant professor of Psychology at <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">UC San Diego</a> and the director of the university's Early Learning and Cognition Lab. Her team is currently working on a series of projects to identify strategies to get preschoolers in the U.S. to think more abstractly.

"It doesn't have to be something as grand as language or cultural context that makes a profound difference," said Professor Walker. "It could be as small as changing a few features of the learning environment - or just changing a handful of simple learning cues."

The study is published in the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</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/UvGroup

How children learn to think conceptually

A recent study is shedding light on when and how...

Americans are pessimistic about economic prosperity for future generations. According to new research, Americans are generally pessimistic about intergenerational mobility, or the likelihood that a child will be able to achieve a higher socioeconomic status than their parents.

Sociologists from <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/">New York University</a> found that contrary to previous studies, people are not hopeful about the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/economic-growth-happiness/">economic success </a>of future generations. 

Instead, people tend to overestimate the future income of children with wealthy parents and underestimate the potential socioeconomic status of adults who were raised in lower income families. Americans are pessimistic about economic prosperity for future generations

The results, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also show that people underestimate the value of a college degree or other assets like a strong work ethic in economic mobility. Americans are pessimistic about economic prosperity for future generations

Intergenerational mobility has remained stable throughout the past few decades, but prior research has shown that people are optimistic about future prospects, even when aware of income inequality and other discrepancies. 

This new study puts an end to those assumptions and provides a clearer look at the American outlook on economic mobility. 

“Our results suggest that the once-prevailing belief that Americans tolerate inequality because they see great promise in economic mobility may not hold true today,” said Siwei Cheng, the senior author of the study. “In fact, the American public is acutely aware of, and in fact quite pessimistic about, the remarkably unequal distribution of economic opportunities among children from rich and poor families."

The researchers first surveyed 3,077 US adults asking them where they thought a 40-year-old’s income would rank in relation to said individual's family. 

The survey participants were given different descriptions of the 40-year-old’s childhood background. 

For example, one group was told that the individual had a college degree, another group was told the individual worked hard, and a third group was given no descriptors to serve as the control group. 

The researchers also reviewed real income data to help compare the public’s perceptions with reality. 

Participants overestimated the future prospects of wealthy and middle-income children and underestimated the future income of lower-income children. 

The respondents that were the most pessimistic about economic mobility were white, aged 18 to 29, or had a bachelor’s degree. 

“This research challenges the prior belief that Americans hold an optimistic view about the openness of the society and is instead consistent with the idea that the everyday experiences of highly unequal opportunity between children from poorer and wealthier families may have shaped how the general public thinks about the opportunity structure of the American society,” the researchers conclude. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Shift Drive

Americans are pessimistic about economic prosperity for future generations

Americans are pessimistic about economic prosperity for future generations. According...

A study from the <a href="https://www.sfn.org/">Society for Neuroscience</a> has pinpointed a previously unidentified pathway in the brain that controls whether or not we feel <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/hungry-intense-workout/">hungry</a>. Using a mouse model, the researchers demonstrated that the new hunger pathway can quickly modify food intake in the presence of food. 

The satisfying feeling of being full after a meal, also known as satiety, is controlled by a sequence of events that begins when food is consumed and continues as the food enters the gastrointestinal tract and is digested. Signals are sent out to alert specific areas of the brain that are involved in the regulation of energy intake, and satiation is triggered. 

Hormone signals that are released as food is absorbed, as well as fluctuations in hormones, also influence the brain's response to food intake.

This complex system of signals that alert the brain to a feeling of fullness during food digestion has been well-established, and is known to modify food intake. The new study, however, has discovered a circuit that can alter food intake on a much shorter timescale.

[caption id="attachment_1874329" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/pathway.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1874329" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/pathway.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="367" /></a> Neurons in the hypothalamus. Image Credit: Andrew Rau et al., JNeurosci 2019[/caption]

A team of experts at <a href="https://www.colostate.edu/">Colorado State University</a>, including Shane Hentges and Andrew Rau, used fluorescent calcium imaging and electrophysiological recording to identify the pathway. Located in the hypothalamus, the neural circuit affects food intake and body weight through release of the neurotransmitter GABA, the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult brain. 

The study revealed that GABA release can occur due simply to the detection - rather than the consumption - of food. The researchers found that food-deprived mice exhibited more GABA-related neuron activity, indicating that temporary energy states can directly affect feeding behavior. 

The knowledge of this pathway improves our understanding of how the brain controls energy balance, and the neural connection may ultimately become a target for the treatment of eating disorders.

The study is published in the <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/">Journal of Neuroscience</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: Shutterstock/Hans Geel

Newly discovered hunger pathway is activated in the presence of food

A study from the Society for Neuroscience has pinpointed a...

A new study from <a href="https://www.advocatehealth.com/">Advocate Health Care</a> and <a href="http://www.abbott.com/homepage.html">Abbott</a> has revealed that focusing on good nutrition for home health care patients can dramatically improve their condition and keep them out of the hospital. 

The researchers found that the benefits associated with improved <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/poor-sleep-poor-nutrition/">nutrition</a> among potentially malnourished patients could result in millions of dollars in healthcare cost savings.

Each year, nearly five million Americans rely on home healthcare to recover from an illness or injury. While nutrition may not always be a top priority, it plays a critical role in the recovery process.

"Educating people on the benefits of proper nutritional care can empower them to continue thinking about their nutrition and drinking their supplements," said study co-author and dietitian Gretchen VanDerBosch. "By maintaining proper nutrition, patients have greater strength, heal faster, have fewer falls and reduced readmissions."

The investigation, which is the first of its kind, followed more than 1,500 home health patients for 90 days. Patients at risk for malnutrition received a comprehensive care program, including nutritional drinks, to help facilitate their recovery. 

Among patients who received nutritional support, the risk of hospitalization was found to be reduced by 24 percent in the first 30 days, 23 percent after 60 days, and by 18 percent after 90 days. In addition, healthcare costs were reduced by more than $2.3 million - or about $1,500 per patient - over the course of 90 days.

Study lead author Katie Riley, R.N., is the post acute chief nursing officer for Advocate Aurora Health.

"Our goal as a home healthcare provider is to help patients get back on their feet as quickly as possible and to keep them out of the hospital," said Riley. "While the primary reason people come to home health isn't because they're malnourished or at risk, we have found that when we do pay attention to their nutrition care, it helps promote their strength and prevents them from going back to the hospital, which ultimately reduces healthcare costs.'"

It is estimated that 1 in 3 home health patients are at risk of malnutrition. This can not only prevent their condition from improving, but can also lead to further health issues.

"It's clear that nutrition can be a simple, cost-effective tool to improve patient outcomes," said study co-author Dr. Suela Sulo. "Healthcare systems are driven to improve patient care while reducing costs. Our research shows that prioritizing nutrition across different settings of care - or from hospital to home - can significantly cut costs while improving patients' health."

The study is published in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/loi/19412444">Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Photographee.eu

Improving nutrition can go a long way with home health patients

A new study from Advocate Health Care and Abbott has...

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) may seem like just another exercise fad given how popular it is among workout enthusiasts and fitness trainers. But more and more research is proving the benefits of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exercise-reduce-colon-cancer-growth/">HIIT workouts</a>, even when done in the comfort of your own home. 

Current guidelines recommend that adults exercise at least 150 minutes every week, performing a moderate aerobic activity that increases heart and breathing rates. 

Unfortunately, for many people, committing to 150 minutes a week is a challenge. Gym memberships are expensive, and spending 30 minutes a day for five days a week can seem too time-consuming. 

Past research has shown that people who completed three 20-minute HIIT sessions in a lab setting gained the same benefits as those who exercised for the recommended 150 minutes a week. 

To test the benefits of HIIT further and see if the same results could be replicated at home, researchers from the <a href="https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/">Liverpool John Moores University</a> compared a home-based high-intensity interval training (Home-HIT) program to a lab-based program and moderate exercise regime. 

32 participants who were clinically obese and had a high risk of heart disease were asked to complete 12 weeks of either a lab-based cycling HIIT program, 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, or the home-based HIIT program consisting of simple body exercises. 

All participants did twelve weeks of the exercise program three times a week. 

Biomarkers like weight, heart disease risk, glucose regulation, and body composition were measured before and after the programs. 

The researchers found that the home-based HIIT program was just as effective as the other two fitness programs. 

Although the study draws from a limited sample size, the results provide a promising at-home exercise program that avoids costly gym fees and doesn’t need a lab-control setting to work. 

“An exercise regimen, such as Home-HIT, that reduces barriers to exercise, such as time, cost, and access, and increases adherence in previously inactive individuals gives people a more attainable exercise goal and thus could help improve the health of countless individuals,” said Sam Scott, the first author of the study which was published in the Journal of Physiology. 

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By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Alliance Images

Home high-intensity interval training could help save time and gym fees

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) may seem like just another exercise...

Antibiotic-resistant bugs can be transmitted from plants to humans. Researchers have found that plant-foods may act as transmitters for antibiotic-resistant bugs to the human gut biome. 

The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">U.S. Centers for Disease Control</a> have already calculated that 20% of yearly superbug infections come from agriculture — specifically meat. However, until now, research on the link between plants and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cows-antibiotic-resistant-superbugs/">superbugs</a> has been scarce. The new research will be presented at the annual meeting of the <a href="https://www.asm.org/">American Society for Microbiology</a>.

"Our findings highlight the importance of tackling foodborne antibiotic-resistance from a complete food chain perspective that includes plant-foods in addition to meat," said lead author Marlène Maeusli, a PhD candidate at <a href="https://keck.usc.edu/">Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California</a>.

According to the researchers, the spread of superbugs from plants to humans is not the same as diarrheal illness caused by eating contaminated vegetables. Rather, superbugs can hide within the intestine for months or even years only to present themselves as infection (like a urinary infection) later down the road, once they escape the intestine.

The team came to this realization after feeding lettuce infected with an E. coli superbug to mice, and analyzing the mice’s fecal matter over time.

"We found differences in the ability of bacteria to silently colonize the gut after ingestion, depending on a variety of host and bacterial factors," said Maeusli. "We mimicked antibiotic and antacid treatments, as both could affect the ability of superbugs to survive passage from the stomach to the intestines."

The superbug’s ability to hide within the intestine did not increase after exposure to one type of antibiotic, However, being exposed to a second antibiotic resulted in the superbug colonizing within the gut. And ingesting the bacteria with food, and eating an antacid before ingesting the bacteria both changed the superbug’s colonization.

"We continue to seek the plant characteristics and host factors that result in key microbial community shifts in the gut that put us at risk for colonization and those that prevent it," concluded Maeusli. "The environment and human health — in this context via agriculture and microbiomes — are inextricably linked."

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By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Antibiotic-resistant bugs can be transmitted from plants to humans

Antibiotic-resistant bugs can be transmitted from plants to humans. Researchers...

Swimming in the ocean changes the bacteria on your skin. Our skin is the body’s largest organ and our first line of defense against pathogens and infections. 

The skin’s microbiome, the host of bacteria that live on the surface of our skin, plays a key role in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/link-gut-microbiome-fight-cancer/">these defense measures</a>. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://uci.edu/">University of California, Irvine</a> have now found that a ten-minute dip in the ocean temporarily changes the skin’s microbiome and potentially increases the risk of infection. 

Based on previous studies that linked ocean swimming to infections, the researchers wanted to examine the extent that swimming in ocean water changes the skin’s microbiome. 

Many beaches have poor water quality due to wastewater runoff, pollution, and stormwater runoff. Exposure to harmful pollutants can cause ear infections, stomach problems, and skin infections, which is why it’s important to understand how the skin’s bacteria changes when exposed to ocean water. 

“Our data demonstrate for the first time that ocean water exposure can alter the diversity and composition of the human skin microbiome,” said Marisa Chattman Nielsen, the lead author of the study. While swimming normal resident bacteria were washed off while ocean bacteria were deposited onto the skin.”

Neilsen, along with a team of colleagues, found nine volunteers at a beach who weren’t using sunscreen, had little exposure to the ocean, and hadn’t washed in the last 12 hours or used antibiotics in the past six months. 

Participants had their calves swabbed before, ten minutes, six hours, and 24 hours after a ten-minute swim. 

Before their swim, each participant had a different community of bacteria on their skin, but that changed after being exposed to the ocean.

It was only after six hours that the participant’s microbiomes began to recover to their original state. There was one genus of bacteria in the water that was especially attracted to the skin.

“One very interesting finding was that Vibrio species--only identified to the genus level--were detected on every participant after swimming in the ocean, and air drying,” said Nielsen. “While many Vibrio are not pathogenic, the fact that we recovered them on the skin after swimming demonstrates that pathogenic Vibrio species could potentially persist on the skin after swimming,”

The concentration of Vibrio species on the skin was more than ten times greater than what is typically found in ocean water samples. 

“Recent studies have shown that human skin microbiome plays a vital role in immune system function, localized and systemic diseases, and infection,” said Nielsen. “A healthy microbiome protects the host from colonization and infection by opportunistic and pathogenic microbes.”

The researchers presented their findings at the annual meeting for the American Society of Microbiology. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Fedorova Nataliia

Swimming in the ocean changes the bacteria on your skin

Swimming in the ocean changes the bacteria on your skin....

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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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



"With more than 370,000 miles of coastline on Earth, there are plenty of places where epic waves build up, curl over, and hurtle toward the shore.- much to the thrill of surfers," says NASA. "There are some places where these waves are so magnificent that they can be seen from space."



"With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world’s tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest."



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes why satellite images and measurements of our planet have become "essential to our survival, offering a new outlook of our world."&nbsp;



Rising sea levels pose one of the biggest societal threats associated with climate change. According to ESA, satellite altimeter missions such as Copernicus Sentinel-6 are essential in monitoring global and regional changes in sea level.



"Unbeknown to many, the island of Crete, Greece, plays an important role in the Copernicus satellite altimetry constellation and on an international stage," reports ESA.



"Satellite altimetry data have to be continuously monitored at the ESA’s Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration where different techniques have pioneered the use of transponders to provide the best measurements to validate satellite altimeters in space soon after launch."



Dr. Craig Donlon explains that, by understanding planet Earth through satellite measurements, we are able to find evidence of change.&nbsp;



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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