A good night’s sleep does more than help you feel rested - it literally clears your mind. New research reveals how deep sleep removes waste buildup in the brain, a process that is crucial for brain health.



However, sleep aids may disrupt this natural “brainwashing” system, raising questions about their long-term effects on cognitive function.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-s-built-in-cleanup-system">Brain’s built-in cleanup system</h2>



The glymphatic system is like a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-sleep-transforms-brain-performance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cleaning service for your brain</a>. Throughout the day, metabolic waste builds up in the brain, including toxic proteins that, if not removed, can lead to neurological issues like Alzheimer’s disease.



The glymphatic system works by using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a clear liquid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, to flush out these harmful substances.



Think of the CSF as water flowing through pipes and washing away debris. This process happens most effectively during deep sleep, when the brain’s cleaning system kicks into high gear.



While scientists have known about the glymphatic system’s existence for years, they didn’t understand exactly what powered it - until now.



Recent research has shown that norepinephrine, a chemical messenger in the brain, is key. During deep sleep, waves of norepinephrine cause blood vessels in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/your-brain-literally-changes-based-on-daily-activities-and-lifestyle/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">brain</a> to pulse rhythmically. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-role-of-norepinephrine-in-brain-cleaning">Role of norepinephrine in brain cleaning</h2>



Danish scientists have uncovered a crucial role for norepinephrine during deep sleep. They found that the brainstem releases waves of norepinephrine roughly every 50 seconds during this sleep phase. 



These waves cause blood vessels in the brain to contract and relax rhythmically, much like a pump. This rhythmic movement generates fluid pulses that help cerebrospinal fluid flow through the brain and flush out waste and toxins.



“It’s like turning on the dishwasher before you go to bed and waking up with a clean brain,” explained Maiken Nedergaard, senior author and researcher at the <a href="https://www.rochester.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Rochester</a> and <a href="https://www.ku.dk/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Copenhagen</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-blood-flow-during-sleep">Brain blood flow during sleep</h2>



Nedergaard's team investigated how norepinephrine affects blood flow during sleep. In sleeping mice, they observed that waves of norepinephrine align with changes in the size of blood vessels.



These waves cause the blood vessels to alternately contract and expand in a steady rhythm. This rhythmic motion acts like a pump, pushing cerebrospinal fluid through the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deep-sleep-how-slow-waves-boost-memory-formation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">brain</a> to remove waste.



“You can view norepinephrine as this conductor of an orchestra. There’s a harmony in the constriction and dilation of the arteries, which then drives the cerebrospinal fluid through the brain to remove the waste products,” noted lead author Natalie Hauglund.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-are-all-types-of-sleep-equal">Are all types of sleep equal?</h2>



The researchers investigated how zolpidem, a common sleep aid, affects the brain's cleaning system during deep sleep. They found that mice given zolpidem experienced a significant reduction in norepinephrine waves, which are essential for driving the brain’s waste-clearing process. 



Specifically, the norepinephrine waves were 50% weaker in mice that were given zolpidem than in mice that slept naturally.



As a result, the fluid transport system responsible for flushing out brain waste slowed down by more than 30 percent. Although zolpidem helped the mice fall asleep faster, their brain’s ability to remove harmful waste was compromised.



This suggests that while sleep aids like zolpidem can promote sleep, they might interfere with the brain's natural cleaning processes, potentially <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/poor-sleep-habits-may-age-the-brain-faster/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">affecting long-term brain health</a>.



“If people aren’t getting the full benefits of sleep, they should be aware of that so they can make informed decisions,” Hauglund warned.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-human-health">Implications for human health</h2>



While this study was focused on mice, the researchers believe the findings are relevant to humans, who also have a glymphatic system.



Similar patterns of norepinephrine waves, blood flow changes, and fluid dynamics have been observed in human brains. Disruptions to these processes may contribute to neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.



“Now we know norepinephrine is driving the cleaning of the brain, we may figure out how to get people a long and restorative sleep,” Nedergaard concluded.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-keeping-the-brain-healthy-with-sleep">Keeping the brain healthy with sleep</h2>



The research highlights how critical deep sleep is for keeping the brain healthy. During deep sleep, the brain’s cleaning system removes harmful waste and toxins. This process is essential for preventing neurological disorders and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-is-essential-for-memory-formation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">maintaining cognitive function</a>.



While sleep aids can make falling asleep easier, they may interfere with the brain's natural cleaning process by disrupting mechanisms like norepinephrine waves, which drive waste clearance. 



This disruption could reduce the benefits of sleep and potentially harm long-term brain health.



By understanding these processes, people can make more informed decisions about their sleep habits, such as prioritizing natural, restorative sleep over relying on sleep medications.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(24)01343-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cell</a>.



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Deep sleep clears toxic waste from the brain

A good night’s sleep does more than help you feel rested - it literally clears your mind. New research reveals how deep sleep removes waste buildup in the brain, a process that is crucial for brain health. However, sleep aids may disrupt this natural “brainwashing” system, raising questions about their long-term effects on cognitive function. Brain’s built-in cleanup system The glymphatic system is like a cleaning service for your brain. Throughout the day, metabolic waste builds up in the brain, including toxic proteins that, if not removed,...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a> set out to investigate if the modern pygmies of Indonesia’s Flores Island are genetically linked to a pygmy population that previously existed on the island tens of thousands of years ago. 

Scientists have never been able to recover <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/secret-success-dna/">DNA</a> from the fossils of Homo floresiensis, also known as the “hobbit,” so the experts had to develop a tool for finding the ancient genetic sequences using modern DNA. The team created a new technique in the lab of Joshua Akey, a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton.

“In your genome - and in mine - there are genes that we inherited from Neanderthals," said study first author Serena Tucci. “Some modern humans inherited genes from Denisovans (another extinct species of humans), which we can check for because we have genetic information from Denisovans.”

“But if you want to look for another species, like Floresiensis, we have nothing to compare, so we had to develop another method: We ‘paint’ chunks of the genome based on the source. We scan the genome and look for chunks that come from different species - Neanderthal, Denisovans, or something unknown.”


This approach was used to analyze the genomes of 32 modern Flores pygmies living in a village near the Liang Bua cave, where fossilized remains of H. floresiensis had been discovered in 2004.

“They definitely have a lot of Neanderthal,” said Tucci. “They have a little bit of Denisovan. We expected that, because we knew there was some migration that went from Oceania to Flores, so there was some shared ancestry of these populations.”


However, no chromosomal regions were found that had unknown origins.

Study co-author Richard “Ed” Green is an associate professor of Biomolecular Engineering at the <a href="https://www.ucsc.edu/">University of California-Santa Cruz</a> (UCSC).

“If there was any chance to know the hobbit genetically from the genomes of extant humans, this would have been it,” said Professor Green. “But we don't see it. There is no indication of gene flow from the hobbit into people living today.”

The researchers did manage to identify evolutionary changes associated with diet as well as a high frequency of genetic variants associated with short stature.

“It sounds like a boring result, but it's actually quite meaningful,” said Professor Green. “It means that these gene variants were present in a common ancestor of Europeans and the Flores pygmies. They became short by selection acting on this standing variation already present in the population, so there's little need for genes from an archaic hominin to explain their small stature.”

Fossil evidence indicates that H. floresiensis was significantly smaller than the Flores pygmies, standing about 3.5 feet tall, which is 15 inches shorter than the average modern pygmy. Floresiensis also had different wrists and feet, which Tucci explained was likely due to the need to climb trees to evade Komodo dragons.


“Islands are very special places for evolution,” said Tucci. “This process, insular dwarfism, resulted in smaller mammals, like hippopotamus and elephants, and smaller humans.”

The study indicates that insular dwarfism evolved independently at least twice on Flores Island - first in H. floresiensis and again in the modern pygmies.

“This is really intriguing, because it means that evolutionarily, we are not that special. Humans are like other mammals; we are subject to the same processes.”


The research is published in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</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: Illustration by Matilda Luk, Office of Communications, <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a>

Are modern pygmies on Flores Island related to hobbits?

Researchers at Princeton University set out to investigate if the...

A new study led by the <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> may help to unravel the mystery about who is buried at Stonehenge and how they got there. The research indicates that many of those buried at the site had likely transported the bluestones that were used in the earliest stages of the monument's construction.

The investigation was focused on the strontium isotopes of cremated skull bones from 25 individuals buried at the monument. In the 1920s, these remains were recovered from a network of 56 pits and placed around the inner circumference and ditch of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stonehenge-created-glaciers/">Stonehenge</a>, known as “Aubrey Holes.”

The small fragments of cremated bone dated back to an early phase of the site's history around 3,000 B.C., when this location was mainly used as a cemetery. The analysis of these remains showed that at least 10 of the 25 people did not live near Stonehenge prior to their death. 

The highest strontium isotope ratios in the bones were consistent with living in a region of Britain that includes west Wales, which is the known origin of Stonehenge's bluestones. Beyond the Welsh connection to the stones, the study revealed that people were also moving between west Wales and Wessex in the Late Neolithic, and that some of their remains were buried at Stonehenge. 

“The recent discovery that some biological information survives the high temperatures reached during cremation (up to 1000 degrees Celsius) offered us the exciting possibility to finally study the origin of those buried at Stonehenge,” said study co-author Christophe Snoeck.

The research highlights the importance of the movement of both materials and people across different regions in the construction and use of Stonehenge. The study also provides rare insight into exchanges in the Neolithic, as early as 5,000 years ago.

Study co-author John Pouncett of Oxford's School of Archaeology said: “The powerful combination of stable isotopes and spatial technology gives us a new insight into the communities who built Stonehenge.” 

“The cremated remains from the enigmatic Aubrey Holes and updated mapping of the biosphere suggest that people from the Preseli Mountains not only supplied the bluestones used to build the stone circle, but moved with the stones and were buried there too.”

The research is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/scientificreports">Scientific Reports</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Cremated remains provide clues into who built Stonehenge

A new study led by the University of Oxford may...

For years, Americans were in love with plastic, unaware of its harmful effects on our environment and oceans. Today, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/starbucks-plastic-straws/">plastic straws</a> are rapidly being rejected by companies, people are opting out of single-use plastics, and microplastic is becoming a household word of concern. Microfibers have largely been left out of this conversation, despite the fact that we are shedding them into our waterways every time we wash our clothes.

According to the<a href="https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/"> Marine Debris Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a>, microfibers are “also a type of microplastic. They include small fibers that enter the water from washing clothing made of synthetic materials, like polyester or nylon.”

These tiny fibers can become dislodged from clothing while in the washing machine. Their small size often allows them the make it through filters at sewage treatment plants where they can enter our waterways. Unfortunately, spandex did not die in the 80s, and many clothing items available today are made with synthetic materials.

A<a href="https://brenmicroplastics.weebly.com/project-findings.html"> study</a> by a research team at the <a href="https://www.ucsb.edu/">University of California Santa Barbara</a> Bren School of Environmental Science &amp; Management found that when a synthetic jacket is washed, an average of 1,174 milligrams of microfibers are released from the washing machine.

Since washing clothing is such a common occurrence throughout many homes, the potential damage are huge.<a href="http://www.adventurescientists.org/microplastics.html"> The Microplastics Initiative of Adventure Scientists</a> conducted what is believed to be the most extensive documentation of microplastic pollution in the world. They found that “across studies, microfibers, as opposed to other types of microplastics, were dominant: microfibers composed 91% of marine particles, 92% of freshwater particles, and 80% of Gallatin particles.”

Once in our oceans, marine animals can accidentally ingest the microfibers where they can cause starvation and reproductive issues.

A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X12005668">study</a> published in Marine Pollution Bulletin examining microplastics in the gastrointestinal tract of fish from the English Channel found rayon was the most common material with 57.8% of the plastic pieces found being rayon.

After being ingested, microfibers can travel up the food chain. Humans and predator species are at risk of ingesting microfibers through eating affected animals. The effects of microfibers on humans is still unknown.

Microfibers are clearly a pressing issue but the solution is less clear. While people can invest in biodegradable clothing materials such as cotton and wool, synthetic fibers are hard to avoid completely.

People can take small steps such as washing synthetic fabrics less often and using a colder wash setting.

Industry and non-profit groups are working towards researching potential solutions. In 2017, Ocean Conservancy and the Bren School of Environmental Science &amp; Management held a microfiber summit which featured stakeholders in the apparel, outdoor recreation, scientific and government sectors.

Outdoor apparel company Patagonia is currently investigating ways to minimize fiber shedding from their clothes and is supporting scientific research on the ecological and public health impacts of microfibers.

While a solution may not be on the horizon, public education and awareness can help shed some light on this issue.

--

By <a href="mailto:brianna.grant134@gmail.com">Brianna Lynne</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Microfibers shed from your clothing are polluting our oceans

For years, Americans were in love with plastic, unaware of...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.bhf.org.uk/">British Heart Foundation</a> (BHF) has revealed that exposure to low levels of air pollution can cause major structural changes to the heart that are similar to those associated with the early stages of heart failure.

A team of scientists at <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/">Queen Mary University of London</a> analyzed data from around 4,000 individuals in the UK Biobank study. For this research, participants had reported on their lifestyles, health, and where they lived. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure the size, weight, and function of the participants' hearts at fixed times.

Furthermore, the researchers eliminated all participants who had moved during the study or had underlying <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-the-weather-gets-colder-heart-attacks-get-more-lethal/">heart problems</a>.


The experts found a clear association between individuals who were exposed to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) or fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and the development of larger right and left ventricles in the heart. Although the participants were healthy and showed no symptoms, the same restructuring of the heart is seen in the early stages of heart failure.

In addition, exposure to higher levels of the pollutants was linked to more extreme changes in the heart. For example, the heart was found to be enlarged by an additional one percent for every 1 extra μg per cubic meter of PM2.5 and for every 10 extra μg per cubic meter of NO2.

“Although our study was observational and hasn't yet shown a causal link, we saw significant changes in the heart, even at relatively low levels of air pollution exposure,” said study lead author Dr. Nay Aung.

Air pollution has become the biggest environmental risk factor linked to deaths across England. In addition, coronary heart disease and stroke account for 58 percent of deaths related to outdoor air pollution globally.

Professor Jeremy Pearson is an associate medical director at the BHF.


“We can't expect people to move home to avoid air pollution - Governments and public bodies must be acting right now to make all areas safe and protect the population from these harms.”

“What is particularly worrying is that the levels of air pollution, particularly PM2.5, at which this study saw people with heart remodelling are not even deemed particularly high by the UK Government - this is why we are calling for the WHO guidelines to be adopted. They are less than half of UK legal limits and while we know there are no safe limits for some forms of air pollution, we believe this is a crucial step in protecting the nation's heart health.”


Dr. Aung said: “Our future studies will include data from those living in inner cities like Central Manchester and London, using more in-depth measurements of heart function, and we would expect the findings to be even more pronounced and clinically important.”

"Air pollution should be seen as a modifiable risk factor. Doctors and the general public all need to be aware of the their exposure when they think about their heart health, just like they think about their blood pressure, their cholesterol and their weight."


The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/journal/circ">Circulation</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Air pollution causes major changes in the heart’s structure

A new study from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has...

A new study using locusts could help provide insight into sensory experiences and how the brain processes smells and recognizes them later on. 

Tackling sensory experience with science is not new, but previous studies do not account for the variability that we experience in our everyday lives.

For example, we know what a rose <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-reveals-that-people-can-be-blind-to-smells-when-distracted/">smells like</a> in a rose garden, on its own, in a flower shop and on a busy street. Simply studying a person’s neural activity while smelling a single rose doesn’t explain how we can recognize the scent of a rose amidst other sensory distractions. 

To better understand this, researchers from the <a href="https://engineering.wustl.edu/">School of Engineering &amp; Applied Science and Washington University</a> in St. Louis conducted a study that examined how locusts responded to sensory input in a dynamic environment with other scents. 

The results were published in the journal Nature Communications. 

First, the researchers had to condition locusts to respond to a certain scent and they did this using the popular Pavlov's dog model. The locusts were exposed to a puff of hexanol followed by grass to eat. 

Eventually, the locusts learned to associate the scent with eating. When they smelled hexanol the locusts would open up their palps, organs outside of their mouths that functions like lips because they knew that they would soon get to eat grass. 

After the locusts were trained, the researchers performed a series of tests where the locusts were exposed to the hexanol either on its own or after a “distractor” scent. 

When the locusts were exposed to the hexanol on its own, the researchers saw no change in the locusts’ neural activity. However, when the locusts smelled a distractor smell first, different combinations of neurons fired off after smelling the hexanol. 

This explains the variability of sensory experience based on what’s happening in the current environment, but this also doesn’t realistically mirror how we experience smells on a day to day basis. 

The researchers compared variability to smelling a chocolate chip cookie at a coffee shop and a tea shop.

If we were to process sensory input based on context alone, then the coffee shop cookie and tea shop cookie would have two very different smells, even though they are the same food with the same ingredients. 

The locusts were able to recognize the hexanol in a range of settings which suggests that there is more than variability and context to sensory experience. 

The researchers discovered through further analysis that the locusts used something called the “An OR-of-ANDs” logical operation to recognize the hexanol.  

The “An OR-of-ANDs” logical operation explains how we can generalize and classify things based on certain traits and features.

There were some similarities in the locusts’ brain activity when smelling the hexanol on its own and when presented with a distractor scent first which shows that there are certain fixed patterns in regards to different sensory input even amongst other distractions.

The researchers next hope to test their findings with locusts and sensory experience on fruit flies to see if brain activity across the different insect species is the same. 

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Locusts help reveal how the brain processes different smells

A new study using locusts could help provide insight into...

On Thursday, the Trump administration officially announced plans to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/epa-freeze-fuel-efficiency-standards/">freeze fuel efficiency standards through 2026</a>.

The previous fuel efficiency mandates put in place by the Obama Administration required that cars have an mpg standard of 34.5 miles in 2016 with plans to increase to 54.5 miles by 2025. 

The Trump administration along with <a href="https://www.epa.gov/">the Environmental Protection Agency</a> ague that fuel is cheaper, consumers want more buying power, fuel efficiency standards cost auto manufacturers, and freezing standards is actually safer and cheaper for Americans. 

Environmentalists and those who were in favor of Obama’s fuel standards say that in reality, the freeze will result in the exact opposite, more expensive cars, more money spent on gas, and less priority put on safety. 

Many in the automotive industry felt that the Obama fuel efficiency standards would not only limit buyer options and make cars more expensive.

California, along several other states, have their own legal waiver to maintain their own standards for fuel efficiency and environmental protections granted under the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/epa-clean-air-act-weaken/">Clean Air Act of 1970. </a>

Trump’s new freeze will address those freedoms and could limit California’s ability to maintain their own tailpipe emissions standards. 

Already, the state of California is preparing to take legal actions against the administration if the freeze is officially upheld and followed through. 

The freeze was announced following an analysis published by the <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/">National Highway Traffic Safety Administration</a> and the Environmental Protection Agency that estimated that freezing fuel-efficiency could save $500 billion and avoid thousands of traffic fatalities, according to the<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/2018/08/01/90c818ac-9125-11e8-8322-b5482bf5e0f5_story.html?utm_term=.1d371d737151"> Washington Post. </a>

However, regardless of fuel cost, the analysis also admitted that reducing efficiency standards would contribute to climate change due to an increase in carbon emissions. 

Many environmental organizations are deeply concerned about the ramifications the fuel efficiency freeze will have on atmospheric greenhouse gas levels and in turn climate extremes. 

Not only that, but many studies have found that exposure to pollution is harmful to health and wellbeing and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and respiratory problems. 

“By 2030, the pollution equivalent of this rollback will be like firing up 30 coal power plants,” Paul Cort, an attorney at the advocacy group <a href="https://earthjustice.org/">Earthjustice</a>, said in a statement. “It’s a boon for big oil that ordinary Americans will pay for with their health and their wallets.”

--

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>

Trump admin announces plan to freeze fuel efficiency standards

On Thursday, the Trump administration officially announced plans to freeze...

What makes a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/leaders-changing-moral-stands/">leader</a>? Is it an ability to take charge in stressful situations, or be an effective communicator, or make the tough decisions on behalf of a group of people? 

One could argue that all these traits are desirable in a strong leader, however, a new study published in the journal Science found that taking responsibility on behalf of others is the number one leadership trait.

Despite the importance of leadership in our society, it was not well understood what influencing factors motivated some people to lead over others. 

Now, researchers from the <a href="https://www.uzh.ch/en.html">University of Zürich</a> have created a new framework for identifying leadership skills using neurobiological and behavioral markers. 

One of the key distinguishing factors of a leader that the study found was the ability to accept the responsibility of making decisions that would impact a group of people. 

Most people avoid this kind of responsibility and the researchers termed it “responsibility aversion.” 

To test leadership skills in people the researchers conducted a series of trials that assessed how willing a study participant was to make decisions on behalf of the group when the well being or rewards of others were at stake. 

The researchers also used brain imaging to map the regions of the brain activated by leadership choices and computational decision making analysis to identify the underlying motivations of leaders and followers. 

Most of the participants exhibited “responsibility aversion” and didn’t want to make decisions for anyone but themselves. 

The participants who didn’t have as much aversion and were willing to take more responsibility had higher leadership scores. 

Not surprisingly, the participants with more aptitude toward leadership had more responsibility in their daily lives, such as holding higher military ranks. 

What is impressive about the study is that the results suggest that leadership is something that can be predicted thanks to certain neurobiological markers in the brain. 

The researchers say that responsibility aversion is the best predictor of an unwillingness or willingness to lead. 

“By employing the tools of decision neuroscience, it may be possible to reverse engineer not only leadership decisions but also the ingredients of good leadership,” said Stephen Flemming and Dan Bang, co-authors of the study.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New research identifies the most important trait in a leader

What makes a leader? Is it an ability to take...

Researchers at the <a href="http://www.mit.edu/">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> (MIT) have found that a large region of China, home to one of the densest human populations on the planet, may become uninhabitable by the year 2070 if drastic measures are not taken to mitigate climate change.

According to the study, China’s most populated and agriculturally significant region, known as the known as the North China Plain, could experience a repeated pattern of heat and humidity that people cannot survive for extended periods of time. 

Across the North China Plain, the high threat of deadly <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heat-waves-brain-performance/">heat waves</a> is exacerbated by intensive irrigation, a process which leads to high levels of humidity from evaporated water. This humidity makes the heat more stressful to the human body.

The MIT team previously conducted two separate studies which predicted deadly heat waves in the Persian Gulf and in South Asia as well. In this third study, they have found that the North China Plain will be hit the hardest and faces the greatest risk to human life anywhere in the world due to the potential for extreme heat waves.

Study co-author Professor Elfatih Eltahir explained that survivability in hot weather involves a “wet-bulb” measurement of the combination of heat and humidity. At a wet-bulb temperature of 35 degrees Celsius, a healthy person would have difficulty surviving the outdoors for more than six hours. 

The MIT researchers predict that the North China Plain will reach this threshold multiple times in the last three decades of this century if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate.

“This spot is just going to be the hottest spot for deadly heat waves in the future, especially under climate change,” said Professor Eltahir.

The experts ran detailed climate model simulations across the North China Plain for the past 30 years and selected only the models that most accurately predicted the actual conditions that were observed.

Using these models, they simulated two different future scenarios under the current rate of emissions and under a rate that was moderately reduced. Each of these simulations was conducted twice to account for the effects of irrigation in one scenario but not in the other.

The team was surprised to find that irrigation alone added about a half-degree Celsius to the overall warming in the region.

Despite the fact that additional moisture in the air produces some local cooling effect at ground level, this benefit is more than cancelled out by higher humidity and extra water vapor in the air.

The researchers emphasized the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid such extreme heat waves in the future.

“China is currently the largest contributor to the emissions of greenhouse gases, with potentially serious implications to its own population: Continuation of the current pattern of global emissions may limit habitability of the most populous region of the most populous country on Earth,” wrote the study authors.

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</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>

China’s most populated region may become uninhabitable by 2070

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

The Maya civilization was one of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world, leaving marvels of architecture and a very famous calendar in its wake. The Mayans spread throughout much of Central America and historians have split the Maya reign into four main periods from 200 BCE to 1539 CE. 

However, during the 9th century, the once dominating rule of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-mayans-raised-dogs/">Mayan</a> dynasties ended following a political collapse in the central Maya region. 

At first, researchers could only speculate as to what caused one of the world’s greatest civilizations to collapse, with everything from war to collapsing trade routes suggested as possible theories for Maya’s demise. 

Then in the 1990s, it was discovered that the collapse of Maya civilization correlated with a severe drought. 

Now, a new study has finally calculated the severity of the drought that occurred 1,000 years ago and led to the Maya downfall. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> and the <a href="http://www.ufl.edu/">University of Florida</a> created a method to calculate climate conditions during the fall of the Maya civilization by measuring water isotopes in the mineral gypsum. 

Gypsum forms when water levels are lowered and the researchers collected gypsum from Lake Chichancanab in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula where the Mayans were based. The results of the study were published in the journal Science. 

“The role of climate change in the collapse of Classic Maya civilization is somewhat controversial, partly because previous records are limited to qualitative reconstructions, for example, whether conditions were wetter or drier,” said Nick Evans, the first author of the study. “Our study represents a substantial advance as it provides statistically robust estimates of rainfall and humidity levels during the Maya downfall.”

The researchers used a geochemical process to measure the amount of water trapped within gypsum from Chichcanacab and analyzed the different isotopes of water contained within. 

This allowed the researchers to estimate climate conditions, precipitation, humidity and reconstruct the history of the lake between 800 and 1000 CE. 

The researchers discovered that during the Maya civilization's collapse, annual precipitations dropped between 41 percent and 54 percent. Rainfall during this times was reduced by 70 percent and there was a decline in humidity. 

Now thanks to this study, researchers not only have a better quantitative understanding of the drought conditions during the Maya civilization collapse but are also one step closer to solving one of the ancient world’s greatest mysteries. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Nick Evans

Severe drought caused the collapse of the Maya civilization

The Maya civilization was one of the greatest civilizations of...

The air quality in the United States has greatly benefited from the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/epa-fiat-violating-clean-air-act/">Clean Air Act</a>, which is now nearly 50 years old. Despite this progress, the bill is taking some hard hits from the Trump administration. Most recently, the federal government is focused on lowering vehicle emissions standards.

Earlier this week, however, acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Andrew Wheeler was praising the influence of the Clean Air Act as <a href="https://gispub.epa.gov/air/trendsreport/2018/">Our Nation's Air 2018</a> was released.

The annual air quality report announced that the combined emissions of six common pollutants including fine particulate matter, ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide, lead, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide decreased by 73 percent from 1970 to 2017.

“This progress occurred while the U.S. economy continued to grow, Americans drove more miles and population and energy use increased,” the report states.

Wheeler said in a statement: “These are remarkable achievements that should be recognized, celebrated, and replicated around the around the world.”

“A 73% reduction in any other social ill, such as crime, disease, or drug addition would lead the evening news.”

Critics say that, while boasting about the impact of the Clean Air Act, the EPA is preparing to weaken regulations on fuel efficiency and vehicle emissions, and may strip states such as California of their rights to impose higher standards.

Jeremy Symons is the Vice President for Climate Political Affairs at the <a href="https://www.edf.org/">Environmental Defense Fund</a>.

According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/">Bloomberg</a>, Symons said that proposed changes to the Clean Air Act by the Trump administration are “putting the air we breathe in severe peril” and “reversing decades of clean air progress.”

“If polluter lobbyists had gotten their way for the past 40 years like they do under Trump, we wouldn’t have the clean air today that has improved the health and lives of millions of Americans,” Symons told the news agency. 

“The only reason pollution hasn’t gotten worse yet is because the courts have stopped Trump’s reckless attempts to roll back Clean Air Act protections that have successfully reduced pollution from tailpipes and smokestacks.”

--

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>

EPA praises the Clean Air Act despite ongoing plans to weaken it

The air quality in the United States has greatly benefited...

Where did all of the plastic come from? Plastic: the fall from hero of innovation to city-wide bans. 

In 1983, Norman Mailer told <a href="https://www.harvardmagazine.com/">Harvard Magazine</a>, “I sometimes think that there is a malign force loose in the universe that is the social equivalent of cancer, and it’s plastic. It infiltrates everything. It’s metastasis. It gets into every single pore of productive life…” Where did all of the plastic come from? 

The idea Mailer had thirty years ago has recently come to public focus in the form of company and city wide bans on the practice of single-use plastics, mainly <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/starbucks-plastic-straws/">straws</a>. Now that action is finally being done to address the overuse of plastics and abundance of plastic pollution in our oceans, let’s look back and see how the material grew in popularity to become the massive problem that it is today. After all, <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=texas&amp;cvid=3770fa915754407682649a746df95ac9&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Texas</a> sized islands of pollution weren’t built in a day. 

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-meadows-remove-plastic-debris-from-the-ocean/">Plastic</a> is so ingrained into modern lifestyles it is hard to imagine when there was a time without it and how we may return to a more ethical use of plastic in an effort to go green and save our oceans. Understanding the diversity, amount, and history of plastic may be an important component of figuring out realistic ways of eliminating and replacing it.

The first man-made plastic was created in 1862 but it was not until the 1900s when plastic was used commercially beginning with military use in weaponry and equipment. By the 1940s, nylon, acrylic, neoprene, styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and polyethylene were commonly found around America. 

Between 1940 and 1945, the demand for plastic increased rapidly and tripled in production due to the war, government funding, oversight and the material’s versatility. This led to more inventions in the sector and the variety of plastics took off to include polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or vinyl, polyvinylidence chloride (SaranTM), Teflon, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS). 

PVC is generally found in vegetable oil bottles and food wraps; PET is commonly used in beverage and food containers; HDPE is mostly utilized in the making of milk and detergent bottles; LDPE is a component in plastic bags and shrink wrap; PP can be found in margarine and yogurt containers; and PS often makes egg cartons and disposable utensils. 

Although the first bottled soda water in America was invented in 1835, plastic bottles for soft drinks weren’t common practice until 1970, and the first PET bottle was made three years later. The first plastic straws were made using toxic polystyrene, but now safer and more flexible polypropylene or polyethylene is used instead. 

Milo Cress, a 17 year-old on a mission to calculate how many straws Americans use on a daily basis, estimated that 500 million straws — clear plastic straws, bendy straws, straws on juice boxes, cocktail straws and plastic drink stirrers included —  are wasted everyday by Americans. Though straws make up a small percentage of overall plastic use, banning them is a meaningful step against the 8 million metric tons of plastic building up in our oceans.

The companies and cities around the world listed below are actively banning plastic straws in a conscious effort to reduce plastic waste: 
<ul>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">New York City, Hawaii, and California have pending straw ban legislation.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">California: Alameda, Carmel, San Luis Obispo, Davis, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Oakland, Richmond, and Berkeley</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Washington: Seattle and Edmonds</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">New Jersey: Monmouth Beach</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Florida: Miami Beach and Fort Myers Beach</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Vancouver, Canada  </li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Scotland plans to be rid of plastic straws by 2019</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Taiwan is banning single-use plastic items, including straws, cups and shopping bags, by 2030</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">In the U.K. Queen Elizabeth II banned plastic straws and bottles from all royal estates,  cafes, and gift shops and Prime Minister Theresa May announced a Britain-wide ban on the sale of plastic straws, stirrers, and plastic cotton swabs. British businesses like Waitrose, London City Airport, McDonalds UK, and Costa Coffee are banning straws. </li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">American Airlines </li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Alaska Airlines</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Hyatt </li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Bon Appétit, a large food service company, is getting rid of plastic straws in all 1,000 of its cafes across 33 states, including locations like AT&amp;T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Getty Museum, Vassar College, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Portland in Oregon. The company plans to fully switch to paper straws by September 2019.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Ryanair aims to be “plastic free” by 2023</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Marriott is implementing a straw ban globally by the end of 2019</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Disney to eliminate plastic straws from all locations by 2019</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Starbucks </li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">McDonald’s</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Seaworld Entertainment </li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Royal Carribean by the end of 2018 </li>
</ul>
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By <a href="mailto:bianca@earth.com">Bianca Vierra</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Where did all of the plastic come from?

Where did all of the plastic come from? Plastic: the...

Research has shown that people are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/people-waste-time-before-appointments/">less productive before a meeting or appointment</a> even if they have plenty of time. 

This is because we self-consciously short ourselves on time if there’s something coming up for fear of being late or missing something important. 

Now, the same team from <a href="https://fisher.osu.edu/">Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business </a>who discovered this major hindrance to workplace productivity also found that the same holds true for leisure time. 

Just as the earlier research found that people with meetings and appointments scheduled throughout the day are less productive because of concerns about what’s coming next, the Fisher College team found that people are less likely to enjoy a leisure activity if it's scheduled or if something is planned right after. 

The researchers conducted several studies to see how people might maximize their leisure time and the results show that the key is living in the moment. 

Even if a person has two enjoyable activities scheduled back to back, they are less likely to enjoy either, according to the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6011883/Want-happy-DONT-make-plans-free-time-researchers-say.html">Daily Mail</a> which reported on the findings. 

For one study, participants said that an enjoyable activity like a massage wouldn’t be as relaxing if they knew they had to meet friends right after. 

“You're always looking at the clock and feel like you have less time to enjoy the first activity,” said Selin Malkoc, a leader of the research to the Daily Mail. “You are dreading the fun ending and having to do the next thing on your schedule.”

Just adding time pressure is enough to limit enjoyment, the same way it can limit workplace productivity. 

“The key to enjoying your leisure activities is to live in the moment as much as possible. Be spontaneous and don't live by the calendar,” Malkoc said. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Research advises against over-scheduling your free time

Research has shown that people are less productive before a...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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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

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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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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