Tiny plastic fragments have turned up inside human beings, and it has rattled more than a few nerves. Nobody expects to find plastic in their blood or buried in important tissues, but recent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165993624005971?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">research</a> has done exactly that.



These miniscule particles, often smaller than a grain of sand, have appeared in places once thought safe from contamination.



This poses some uncomfortable questions about the implications for long-term health and whether anyone has been paying attention to this hidden hazard that has been present in the environment for decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plastic-is-now-infiltrating-human-tissues">Plastic is now infiltrating human tissues</h2>



Scientists have identified <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412022001258" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">micro- and nanoplastics</a> (MNPs) in human lungs, gut, reproductive organs, and skin, where they can stick around for far longer than most people would imagine.



Their presence has now been detected in blood, too, making it clear that these tiny, synthetic particles move through our bodies in surprising ways. They do not simply pass through and exit without causing harm, as was once thought. 



Instead, they take up residence. They linger, and they may be associated with some serious health issues.



This research, led by <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bVDTB_gAAAAJ&amp;hl=zh-CN" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Yating Luo</a> at the School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, and a team of specialists, has revealed an unsettling new source of environmental exposure.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-potential-links-to-diseases">Potential links to diseases</h2>



Other researchers have begun piecing together how MNPs might be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165993624003182" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">involved in a range of health problems</a>.



Studies have linked them to heart and blood vessel conditions, like atherosclerosis and thrombosis, as well as to intestinal diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease.



Some work even connects them to changes in reproductive systems and the risk of conditions like cervical cancer. Nobody wants to consider <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-carry-toxic-chemicals-that-are-easily-absorbed-by-skin/">plastic dust</a> as a potential player in such serious illnesses, but the evidence is mounting.



Dr. Luo, lead author of the study, which was published in Environment International, highlighted that the research strongly indicates MNPs are more than environmental contaminants -- they are entering human tissues and may pose significant health risks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-these-particles-break-through-barriers">How these particles break through barriers</h2>



Laboratory tests have <a href="https://particleandfibretoxicology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12989-020-00358-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shown</a> that these particles can cross protective hurdles, including the body’s natural filters. 



For example, the blood-brain barrier has long been thought of as a sturdy shield, but these tiny plastic pieces may pass through it.



This could set the stage for neurological issues. Researchers suspect that if these minute fragments of plastic move along the gut-brain axis, they may influence how nerve cells work. 



Early evidence suggests they might play a role in some degenerative conditions that affect the brain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wider-implications-for-public-health">Wider implications for public health</h2>



Plastic pollution is not something that stays outside in the ocean or piled up at landfills. Studies show that even remote corners of the planet have tiny <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/surging-plastic-levels-found-in-the-north-pacific-garbage-patch/">plastic fragments</a> floating in the air. 



People breathe them in, ingest them through food and water, and may even absorb them through the skin.



<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28812686/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Tamara Galloway</a>, a leading expert on microplastics from the University of Exeter, emphasized that this study further supports the increasing evidence of microplastics being widespread in human tissues.



It is not just a problem for one region or for certain groups. It is a global phenomenon that affects everyone, everywhere. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-people-should-pay-attention">Why people should pay attention</h2>



Plastics have found their way into everyday life in a multitude of forms - containers, packaging, clothing, personal care products. 



As these items break down, tiny plastic fibers and fragments spread through land, water, and air. They turn up in fish and shellfish, which then end up <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.9b01517" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">on dinner plates</a>.



Waste management <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34492918/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">practices</a> in some places, such as open burning, add more plastic particles to the environment and harm people who live nearby.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plastic-humans-and-the-environment">Plastic, humans, and the environment</h2>



There is growing pressure on governments to enforce stricter rules around plastic manufacturing, recycling, and disposal. 



A shift to responsible materials and less reliance on single-use plastics could help slow the spread of these particles in future.



Public health agencies may need to update guidelines to consider tiny <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/major-plastic-pollution-lurks-beneath-the-surface-of-rivers/">plastic fragments as contaminants</a>. If MNPs are linked to certain diseases, official policies may need to reflect that. 



Health professionals might soon discuss plastic exposure as they do other known factors like poor air quality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-happens-next">What happens next?</h2>



Scientists need to measure the full extent of the problem. More long-term <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34492918/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a> could show exactly how much plastic accumulates in human tissues and pinpoint how these particles alter cells and organs at a microscopic level.



Researchers are developing new technology to track these fragments and understand how they behave inside the body. 



Improved tools might help uncover the chemical reactions triggered by plastic fragments. With that information, they could figure out why certain tissues are more at risk than others.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reducing-plastic-danger-to-humans">Reducing plastic danger to humans</h2>



None of this is a reason to give up the fight against plastic pollution. People can reduce their own exposure by avoiding products that shed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-are-able-to-travel-thousands-of-miles-because-of-their-shape/">plastic fibers</a>, pushing for cleaner water sources, and supporting brands that move away from plastic use.



Communities that suffer from poor waste management can advocate for better facilities, cleaner streets, and safer disposal methods.



Officials can encourage companies to design products with health and the environment in mind. Better filters and barriers could help keep these particles out of water supplies and the foods people rely on every day.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-stay-informed">Stay informed</h2>



Nobody likes to think about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-migrate-from-the-gut-to-other-organs/">foreign particles</a> building up in their body. For many, this may spark frustration or fear. 



The good news is that awareness can help drive action. If people know that these small bits of plastic may affect their health, they might push for meaningful changes.



More funding, better research, and stricter oversight may keep these hidden threats in check. As scientists learn more, the public can stay informed and join conversations that shape future policies.



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Tiny plastic bits are now found hiding deep inside the human body

Tiny plastic fragments have turned up inside human beings, and it has rattled more than a few nerves. Nobody expects to find plastic in their blood or buried in important tissues, but recent research has done exactly that. These miniscule particles, often smaller than a grain of sand, have appeared in places once thought safe from contamination. This poses some uncomfortable questions about the implications for long-term health and whether anyone has been paying attention to this hidden hazard that has been present in the environment for...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California, Davis</a> are reporting that water conservation measures in the state of California have also significantly reduced electricity consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

In 2015, following four years of severe <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/california-drought-changing-landscape/">drought</a>, California implemented new water regulations with a target of cutting overall water usage by 25 percent. 

The investigation from UC Davis established that 524,000 million gallons of water were saved in the first year of conservation efforts, which was a bit shy of the state's goal of a 25 percent reduction. However, the experts also found that the new water regulations were helping to address other environmental issues. 

The water and energy systems in California are closely interconnected. The energy used to move, treat, and distribute water accounts for 19 percent of the state's total electricity demand.

“Due to this close interdependence, we estimated that the decrease in water usage translated into a significant electricity saving of 1,830 gigawatt hours (GWh),” said lead author Dr. Edward Spang. 

The study authors noted that the energy savings which resulted from water reduction were around 11 percent greater than those savings which resulted from investor-owned electricity utilities' efficiency programs within the same time frame.

“In turn, we calculated that the GHG emissions saved as a direct result of the reduction in electricity consumption are also significant - in the region of 524,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). That is the equivalent of taking 111,000 cars off the road for a year,” said Dr. Spang.

“The scale of these integrated water-energy-GHG savings, achieved over such a short period, is remarkable,” said study co-author Professor Frank Loge. “Even more interesting is that the cost of achieving these savings through water conservation was competitive with existing programs that specifically target electricity or GHG reductions.”

Professor Loge said that the findings of this study strongly support the addition of water conservation to the growing collection of ideas on how to effectively reduce energy consumption and harmful emissions.

“Taking these three benefits into consideration together would substantially increase the cost-effectiveness of water-focused conservation programs across all scenarios of varying program and technology persistence,” said Professor Loge. 

“There is a strong incentive for water and energy utilities to form partnerships, and identify opportunities to secure these combined resource savings benefits at a shared cost. There would also be a benefit in the associated regulatory agencies supporting these partnerships through aligned policy measures, and targeted funding initiatives.”

The study is published today in the journal <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326">Environmental Research Letters</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

California water conservation brings other environmental benefits

Researchers at the University of California, Davis are reporting that...

According to a new report from the <a href="https://www.ewg.org/">Environmental Working Group</a> (EWG), more than 170 million people are exposed to radioactive elements in their drinking water. A study conducted by the nonprofit organization reveals that radiation can be detected in treated tap water across all 50 states.

The EWG says that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nuclear-tests-exposed-radiation/">radiation</a> in drinking water poses a major health risk, particularly for women who are pregnant. The researchers found that radium is the most common radioactive element found in tap water. Radium is a carcinogen which is associated with an increased risk of cancer even in low doses. 

EWG analyzed data from almost 50,000 public water systems for their investigation. They found that more than 22,000 utilities in all 50 states reported radium in tap water between 2010 and 2015. Of these public water systems, 158 “reported radium in amounts that exceeded the federal legal limit.”

According to the study, Texas has the most widespread contamination levels and 80 percent of the state's population is affected. 

A former top environment official in the state of Texas, Kathleen Hartnett White, has been accused of consistently lowering the levels of radiation submitted to the EPA. Despite this, Hartnett White has been nominated by President Trump to serve on the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

Christy Goldfuss is the Vice President for Energy and Environmental Policy at the <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/">Center for American Progress</a> and was previously the managing director of the CEQ.

“With the renomination of Kathleen Hartnett White to the White House Council of Environmental Quality, President Trump is failing these 170 million at-risk Americans who are drinking contaminated water,” said Goldfuss. 

“When Hartnett White was tasked with addressing radiation in Texas’s drinking water as a government official, she regularly and deliberately underreported the amount of radiation in drinking water, keeping families in the dark about their health and safety. Putting her in charge of the Council of Environmental Quality could do untold damage to even more Americans.”

EWG has released an <a href="https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/2018-radium/#.Wle0poFOnqB">interactive map</a> to inform the public of where radium has been detected in tap water. Information on contamination, including how many people are affected, can be accessed with a simple zip code search.

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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

Radioactive material reported in drinking water in every state

According to a new report from the Environmental Working Group...

Workplace inequality has been in the news a lot recently – particularly regarding the mistreatment of women in the workplace. Topics such as wage gaps, sexism, and the lack of opportunities for women in certain industries have been discussed and debated at length. Now, new research from <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/">New York University</a> has found another disparity between men and women when it comes to applying for jobs.

In a survey, the researchers asked whether the participants would be interested in jobs requiring brilliance or hard work. The results showed that women were significantly less interested in applying for jobs that required “brilliance.” A follow-up survey asked almost 600 people what they thought of these type of job adverts, and found that women were more anxious if a job required brilliance. In general, they felt like they wouldn’t be as good of a fit for this type of job compared to one that only required “dedication.” 

The authors write, “Notions of brilliance and genius are stereotypically associated with men, not women. These cultural notions are likely to affect women’s involvement in a variety of professions. In particular, the idea that ‘brilliance=men’ may discourage women from pursuing activities that are believed to require high levels of intellectual ability.”

Follow-up research involving students presented with an internship showed that they also reacted differently to descriptions of the role. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/women-live-longer-men/">women</a> participants were deterred by requests for an “intellectual firecracker” with a “sharp, penetrating mind,” and instead were more attracted by a role that required someone with “great focus and determination” who “never gives up.”

“In earlier work, we found that girls start to associate ‘smartness’ with boys by the time they are six years old,” says co-author Sarah-Jane Leslie, a professor of philosophy at <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a>. “These new findings show that the effects of these stereotypes persist over time, continuing to shape women’s educational and career trajectories well into adulthood.”

The research, led by senior author Andrei Cimpian, an associate professor in New York University’s department of psychology, may help us better understand why fewer females enter “STEM” careers (science, technology, engineering, and math) compared to males. Overall, it shows that the psychological make up of women on average leaves them less likely to apply for certain positions that use this type of description of the ideal candidate. 

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Women less likely to view themselves as brilliant, study finds

Workplace inequality has been in the news a lot recently...

The Mediterranean diet consists of eating primarily fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, fish and poultry, replacing butter with healthy fats like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dark-chocolate-cardiovascular-health/">olive oil</a> and limiting red meat consumption.

Inspired by the recipes and food culture of the countries along the Mediterranean Sea, the Mediterranean diet is a way to encourage people eat clean, healthy foods. 

But now, a new study has found that the Mediterranean diet also helps protect seniors from becoming frail and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. 

The study was led by Kate Walters and Gotaro Kojima from <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a> and published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 

The results show that the Mediterranean diet could help maintain muscle strength and health in older adults. 

Frailty is a common problem for senior citizens and can be linked to an increase in falls, fractures, dementia, disability, requiring hospitalization or even placement in a nursing home. 

Walters and Kojima were curious to see how important nutrition and healthy eating are in reducing the risk of frailty. 

The research team examined four studies that took place in France, Spain, Italy, and China and each showed some link between sticking to the Mediterranean diet and reducing the risk of frailty as people aged. 

“We found the evidence was very consistent that older people who follow a Mediterranean diet had a lower risk of becoming frail,” said Walters. “People who followed a Mediterranean diet the most were overall less than half as likely to become frail over a nearly four-year period compared with those who followed it the least.” 

The Mediterranean diet also promotes heart health, weight loss, and can help maintain muscle strength and energy.

Walters notes that because the study was only an analysis of previous research, further studies will need to be done to understand exactly to what extent the Mediterranean diet reduces frailty.

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The Mediterranean diet can help seniors from becoming frail

The Mediterranean diet consists of eating primarily fruits, vegetables, whole...

Grocery shopping trends are shifting in America, and the result will be a faster, cheaper, and more streamlined experience for consumers. According to a new study, stores like European grocer Aldi are disrupting the market by offering better prices.

Walmart was once in a position to become the future of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/online-food-shopping-healthy/">grocery shopping</a> by offering customers an abundance of discounted options. Study co-author Sayan Chatterjee is a professor of Strategy at <a href="https://case.edu/">Case Western Reserve University</a>.


“It's all about limiting choice,” said Chatterjee.

He explained that Aldi has been successful by utilizing a single supplier for most of its products and targeting Walmart's customers.

This strategy has simplified quality control and has helped Aldi’s products consistently meet the standards of middle-class consumers. The company targets customers who are cost-conscious and do not mind a limited selection of products.

Large supermarkets stock around 30,000 products of varying degrees of quality, but Aldi has about 1,400 single-sourced products. Most of the products are labeled in-house, allowing Aldi to offer lower prices. As a result, Aldi increased overall sales by 15 percent in 2016, while Walmart only saw a two percent rise in sales during the same year.

“Aldi has invented a new business model that provides similar quality groceries at a price point well below others,” said Chatterjee. “They have taken enough of Walmart's customers to have forced the retail giant to lower its prices in response and refocus its strategy.”

The study highlights many other strategies used by Aldi, including the use of small stores to reduce overhead and speed up the shopping experience. In addition, Aldi charges for shopping bags and carts, and sets up stores next to supermarkets to attract some of their customer base.

“Price is increasingly winning over brand loyalty, and Aldi is winning on price,” said Chatterjee.

According to the researchers, Aldi is also trying to appeal to more upscale customers by accepting credit cards and offering more organic products.

“This competition is good for consumers and beneficial for the economy,” said Chatterjee.

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/loi/sl">Strategy and Leadership</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

Grocery stores are changing to become smaller, cheaper, faster

Grocery shopping trends are shifting in America, and the result...

As many of us are aware, poor diet is a leading risk factor for obesity and life-threatening diseases like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. While we can encourage each other to have <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/getting-sleep-healthier-diet/">healthier diets</a>, sometimes a little more incentive is needed to get someone to improve their eating habits. 

An original analysis from researchers at <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/">New York University</a> College of Global Public Health and <a href="https://www.tufts.edu/">Tufts University</a> Friedman School of Nutrition Science has found that a federal tax on junk food is both legally and administratively feasible. Published online in the <a href="http://ajph.aphapublications.org/">American Journal of Public Health</a>, the article indicates that enacting an excise tax paid by junk food manufacturers would be more effective than a sales tax paid for by consumers.

“Economic and social environments can influence food choice in beneficial and harmful directions,” says Jennifer L. Pomeranz, JD, MPH, an assistant professor of public health policy and management at NYU College of Global Public Health and the article’s lead author. “Our finding that a federal manufacturer excise junk food tax – defined through product category or combined category-nutrient approaches – appears to be legally and administratively feasible and has strong implications for nutrition policy.”

Although local taxes on soda and other sugary beverages are increasing in both popularity and political acceptance, a push for a national soda or junk food tax has yet to gain any traction. Important policy questions surrounding such a measure include how these taxed foods would be defined and what that appropriated taxing mechanism would be. To address these questions, the research team looked over scientific literature, recent legislative experiences from the U.S. and other countries on defining targeted foods, U.S. federal taxing and administrative mechanisms, and potential differences by tax type and purpose.

The team identified four methods of classifying foods: by product category (such as soda or candy), broad nutrient criteria, specific nutrients or calories, or a combination. Some of their findings recommended a graduated taxation strategy, meaning that the tax increases as the nutritional quality of the food decreases. Along those same lines, local U.S. junk food tax bills and laws, international junk food laws, and U.S. soda taxes supported taxing foods using nutrient-based, category-based, or combination approaches. The categories that were targeted for taxation most frequently were sugar-sweetened beverages, candy, processed meat products, and sweet and salty snacks.

Analysis also showed that between sales or excise tax, it was determined excise tax would be the most administratively feasible. Excise taxes are usually charged to the manufacturer, distribution, or sale of commodities – rather than the consumer. The U.S. manufacturer excise taxes on alcohol – based on ingredient levels and processing – presented the researchers with an informative model that could also be adopted for junk food taxes.

“One advantage of a manufacturer excise tax is that food companies may be incentivized to reformulate their products if nutrition criteria are incorporated into the tax,” says Pomeranz.

Ultimately, the research team found that a federal excise tax on junk food is both feasible and potentially beneficial to the general public. “Junk food taxes have the potential to substantially reduce the disease burden that results from unhealthy food and beverage consumption in the United States,” concludes Renata Micha, RD, PhD, an associate research professor at the Friedman School at Tufts and one of the study’s senior authors.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Could a national junk food tax curb obesity in America?

As many of us are aware, poor diet is a...

The phenomenon of urban agriculture has become increasingly more apparent over the years – whether the gardens and plants themselves are community projects or simply provide some greenery to the drab concrete and brick. While it may seem that the benefits of these plantings are only local and somewhat limited, they may actually provide a significant environmental impact when considered collectively.

New research from collaboration between <a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a> and Google provides an assessment of the value of urban agriculture, and the benefits it provides on a global scale. The findings are presented in “A Global Geospatial Ecosystems Services Estimate of Urban Agriculture,” in the current issue of <a href="http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2328-4277/">Earth's Future</a>.

“For the first time, we have a data-driven approach that quantifies the ecosystem benefits from urban agriculture,” says Matei Georgescu, an ASU associate professor of geographical sciences and urban planning and corresponding author of the paper. “Our estimates of ecosystem services show potential for millions of tons of food production, thousands of tons of nitrogen sequestration, billions of kilowatt hours of energy savings and billions of cubic meters of avoided storm runoff from agriculture in urban areas.”

Using the Google Earth Engine, the researchers analyzed global population, urban, meteorological, terrain, and Good and Agricultural Organization (FAO) datasets to arrive at their global scale estimates – and then aggregated them by country. The estimated value of four ecosystems services resulting from existing vegetation in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trees-grow-faster-cities/">urban areas</a> was found to be roughly $33 billion. This includes a projected annual food production of 100 to 180 million tons and energy savings of 14 to 15 billion kilowatt-hours.

If urban agriculture is implemented on a global scale, the overall annual worth is estimated to be as much as $80 to $160 billion, and could help feed a world that faces future challenges to industrial agriculture as a result of climate change. “We’ve known there are benefits to having these small plots of land in our cities, but we found that the benefits extend well beyond having fresh food in the hands of those who will consume it,” explains lead author Nicholas Clinton of Google, Inc. These benefits include improved access to healthy foods, and increased urban nitrogen fixation, pollination and control of storm water runoff, among others.

“Relatively temperate, developed or developing countries with the right mix of crops are expected to have the greatest incentives for urban agriculture,” he said. “These would include China, Japan, Germany and the U.S.,” says Clinton.

Overall, the research team found that the environmental and societal benefits of urban agriculture extend well beyond what we once previously thought. It would stand for the benefit of everyone if cities and countries looked to improve their urban agricultural efforts.

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By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The benefits of urban agriculture may be greater than we thought

The phenomenon of urban agriculture has become increasingly more apparent...

Researchers have found that many consumers choose to conveniently forget that products have been made unethically. A series of tests revealed that consumers chose to forget the knowledge that certain desks were made with wood from rainforests or that jeans were made by child laborers. 

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/group-accuses-tv-makers-of-misleading-consumers-about-energy-consumption/">consumers</a> not only forgot certain facts but also sometimes remembered the facts differently, stating that products were produced ethically when they actually were not.

“It's not necessarily a conscious decision by consumers to forget what they don't want to know,” said study co-author Rebecca Reczek, an associate professor of Marketing at <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a>. “It is a learned coping mechanism to tune out uncomfortable information because it makes their lives easier.”

For one of the tests, 236 college students were asked to memorize descriptions of six fictitious brands of desks. The descriptions discussed quality, price, and the source of the wood, which was either obtained from sustainable tree farms or endangered rainforests.

Immediately after becoming informed of the source of the wood for the desks, the participants accurately recalled where the wood came from 94 percent of the time. 

After 15 to 20 minutes of distractions, however, participants could recall where the wood came from 60 percent of the time if the desk was sourced from tree farms, and only 45 percent of time when wood was sourced from rainforests.

“It is not that the participants didn't pay attention to where the wood came from. We know that they successfully memorized that information,” said study co-author Daniel Zane.

“But they forget it in this systematic pattern. They remembered the quality and price attributes of the desks. It is only the ethical attributes that cause people to be willfully ignorant.”

For a second evaluation, 402 online participants were instructed to put together an outfit that included a pair of jeans. Half of the individuals were shown a brand of jeans that was described as being made with child labor, while the other half were presented with a brand of jeans made ethically.

Much like the first study, people who saw the jeans made with child labor were much less likely to remember this information than the others.

A third study suggested that forgetting this type of information makes consumers feel better about themselves. 

For this analysis, a hypothetical person named Chris was described to the participants. Chris had bought a pair of jeans made with child labor and had prior knowledge of this. Some individuals were told that Chris forgot that the jeans had been made unethically when he bought them, while other participants were told that he did not forget yet simply ignored this fact. 

“What we found is that people judged the person who forgot the ethical information as more moral than the person who ignored the information,” said Reczec.”So, for most people, forgetting is seen as the more acceptable coping strategy.”

The study is published online in the <a href="http://www.ejcr.org/">Journal of Consumer Research</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Consumers think ignorance is bliss when it comes to child labor

Researchers have found that many consumers choose to conveniently forget...

Melatonin, produced in the pineal gland in the brain, is a key player in regulating sleep and the body’s natural sleep/wake cycle.

The sleep/wake cycle, also known as the circadian or biological clock, is present in many animals including mammals and single-celled organisms. 

The circadian clock’s main function is to monitor our bodies, helping us sleep when it’s dark and be active during the day. 

Jet-lag, an irregular sleep pattern, or shift-work can disrupt our biological clock and cause many health problems such as sleep disorders, a lowered immune system, weight gain, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. 

Melatonin treatments have been successfully used to help circadian clock disruptions and improve <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/getting-sleep-healthier-diet/">sleep</a> for shift-workers and those affected by jet-lag. 

Now, new research reveals that melatonin could also help promote healthy physical and mental aging, with exciting implications in Alzheimer's disease studies.

A new review of melatonin treatments in regards to sleep disorders published in the British Journal of Pharmacology highlights the links between melatonin, our circadian rhythm, and diseases. 

“Deviant circadian rhythms and poor sleep quality are associated with increased risks of cardiovascular, metabolic, and cognitive diseases, as well poor quality of life and increased risks of premature death,”  said Dr. Nava Zisapel from <a href="https://english.tau.ac.il/">Tel Aviv University</a>, in Israel, the author of the review. 

Zisapel shows that melatonin treatments could be used for more than just regulating healthy sleep and could help with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's because of the role sleep plays in memory and cognitive functioning. 

“In healthy humans, periods of sleep following learning, consistently enhanced retention of the learned material in a variety of memory tasks compared to wakefulness,” writes Zisapel in his review. “Considering the role of sleep in memory consolidation it is not surprising that insufficient sleep can reduce cognitive ability including attention and memory.”

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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

Melatonin can help promote healthy aging and regulate sleep

Melatonin, produced in the pineal gland in the brain, is...

A new study from <a href="https://www.duke.edu/">Duke University</a> shows that women are more likely to survive times of crisis than men. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/prehistoric-women-stronger-arms/">Women</a> now live up to 10 years longer than men, and the new research suggests that this is also the case during the worst of circumstances.

The experts found that, in times of adversity, newborn girls are more likely to survive than boys. The researchers say that the fact that women have an advantage over men even in infancy, which is before behavioral differences between the sexes have developed, suggests that the explanation must be biological.

The research team analyzed mortality data for people who lost their lives to famine, disease, or other crises dating back around 250 years. The data covered seven different populations of individuals whose life expectancy was only 20 years or less, including slaves in Trinidad and the United States in the early 1800s and famine victims in Sweden.

Freed American slaves who were relocated to Liberia in the 1800s experienced the highest mortality rates ever recorded. More than 40 percent died during their first year, which was most likely the result of exposure to tropical diseases.

In the 1840s, a potato blight caused widespread crop failure in Ireland and life expectancy dropped by more than 15 years.

The study revealed that women live longer than men by an average of 6 months to 4 years even when mortality rates are very high for both sexes. For example, girls born during a famine that struck the Ukraine in 1933 lived 50 percent longer than boys.

When the researchers categorized their results by age group, they found that most of the female survival advantage comes from differences in infant mortality. Newborn girls are more resilient than newborn boys.

The findings indicate that the life expectancy gender gap cannot be fully attributed to social differences between the sexes, such as violence and risky behavior. The female advantage in times of crisis may be due primarily to biological factors such as genetics or hormones.

Estrogens, for example, have been shown to strengthen the body's immunity to infectious disease.

“Our results add another piece to the puzzle of gender differences in survival,” said the study authors. 

The research team was led by Virginia Zarulli, an assistant professor at the <a href="https://www.sdu.dk/en/">University of Southern Denmark</a>. The study is published in <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</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

Women live longer than men, even in the worst circumstances

A new study from Duke University shows that women are...

The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/index.htm">Centers for Disease Control</a> reports that roughly 36.5 million US adults smoke cigarettes and more than 16 million people in the United States have a smoking-related disease.

Even though <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heavy-drinking-visibly-age/">smoking</a> rates are going down, thanks to higher taxes, packaging and marketing tactics, smoking-related diseases and deaths are still a major health concern worldwide. 

A new study, conducted by researchers from the<a href="http://www.qmul.ac.uk/"> Queen Mary University of London</a>, found that at least 61 percent of people who try a cigarette become daily smokers, at least temporarily.

The main goal of the study was to show how prevalent experimenting with smoking during early adolescence and adulthood is in developing a smoking addiction. 

The researchers examined datasets from eight surveys collected from the <a href="http://www.healthdata.org/about/ghdx">Global Health Data Exchange</a> that dealt with smoking and trying a cigarette for the first time. 

The surveys took place in the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand and had combined over 215,000 survey respondents. 

“This is the first time that the remarkable hold that cigarettes can establish after a single experience has been documented from such a large set of data,” said Professor Peter Hajek, the lead researcher. 

After analyzing the data, the researchers’ calculations showed that 60.3 percent of the survey respondents said they had tried a cigarette and of those, nearly 69 percent admitted to transitioning to a daily smoking habit. 

However, because of the diverse nature of the data and the different methodologies employed by each survey, the results come with a wide margin of error.

Even with the study’s limitations, the research shows experimenting early on with cigarettes is a major factor in addiction later in life.

“In the development of any addictive behavior, the move from experimentation to daily practice is an important landmark, as it implies that a recreational activity is turning into a compulsive need,” said Hajek. “We've found that the conversion rate from 'first-time smoker' to 'daily smoker' is surprisingly high, which helps confirm the importance of preventing cigarette experimentation in the first place.” 

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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

Most people who try cigarettes become smokers, study finds

The Centers for Disease Control reports that roughly 36.5 million...

Researchers from <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/">King's College London</a> are reporting that getting more sleep each night can help reduce a person's sugar intake and lead to an overall healthier diet.

Lack of <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/sleep-risk-depression-anxiety/">sleep</a> can make an individual more prone to certain conditions such as obesity and cardio-metabolic disease. According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, one out of every three adults is not getting enough sleep.

The researchers developed a trial for adults who were getting less than the recommended seven hours per night to see if it was feasible for them to get more sleep. The team also set out to investigate the impact that extended sleep may have on nutrient intake.

21 participants were given a 45-minute sleep consultation with the goal of extending their sleep by up to 1.5 hours per night. A control group, which was also made up of 21 participants, received no sleep intervention.

After the consultation, the individuals kept food diaries and wore sleep monitors for seven days. The sleep trackers measured how long the participants slept and also how long they were in bed before falling asleep.

The study revealed that getting more sleep resulted in a 10-gram reduction in sugar intake. The participants who extended their amount of sleep also reported a decline in their overall intake of carbohydrates.

“The fact that extending sleep led to a reduction in intake of free sugars, by which we mean the sugars that are added to foods by manufacturers or in cooking at home as well as sugars in honey, syrups and fruit juice, suggests that a simple change in lifestyle may really help people to consume healthier diets,” said study co-author Dr. Wendy Hall.


The study also showed that 86 percent of those who received a sleep consultation increased time spent in bed, while half increased their sleep duration by 52 to 90 minutes. Three participants achieved a weekly average within the recommended seven to nine hours.


There were indications, however, that the extended sleep may have been of lesser quality than the control group. The researchers concluded that an adjustment period is needed to get used to the new routine.

“Sleep duration and quality is an area of increasing public health concern and has been linked as a risk factor for various conditions,” said lead author Haya Al Khatib. “We have shown that sleep habits can be changed with relative ease in healthy adults using a personalized approach.”

“Our results also suggest that increasing time in bed for an hour or so longer may lead to healthier food choices. This further strengthens the link between short sleep and poorer quality diets that has already been observed by previous studies.”

“We hope to investigate this finding further with longer-term studies examining nutrient intake and continued adherence to sleep extension behaviours in more detail, especially in populations at risk of obesity or cardio-vascular disease,” said Khatib.

The study is published in the <a href="http://ajcn.nutrition.org/">American Journal of Clinical 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

Getting more sleep helps you keep a healthier diet

Researchers from King's College London are reporting that getting more...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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