Not long ago, the common belief was that only a subset of media consumers - often less educated and highly biased - would let their political allegiance override the truth. They would believe the news that favors their political inclinations, even if it wasn't authentic.



Then some intriguing studies emerged which indicated quite the opposite. The research suggested that media consumers across the spectrum value truth over partisanship.



The studies proclaimed that the authenticity of news was more influential than its alignment with a consumer's political views by more than four times.



However, as we stand on the brink of a national election fraught with misinformation, a fresh study shakes this understanding to its core.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-news-and-political-views">News and political views</h2>



The research, led by top psychology scholars at Stanford University, suggests that the masses tend to prioritize partisanship over truth when <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/political-views-change-our-perception-of-the-past-and-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">consuming news</a>.



Quite unexpectedly, this behavioral pattern spans across all political orientations, educational backgrounds, and reasoning capabilities.



Study lead author Michael Schwalbe is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Psychology at the School of Humanities and Sciences at <a href="http://www.stanford.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanford University</a>.



"We saw an effect of people being more influenced by political alignment than truth," said Schwalbe. 



"We saw it on both political sides and even among people who scored well on a reasoning test. We were a bit surprised to see how widespread this tendency was. People were engaging in a lot of resistance to inconvenient truths."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pervasive-problem-across-political-parties">Pervasive problem across political parties</h2>



The researchers unearthed intriguing ways in which political views and partisanship can impact the analysis of news. 



In one measure of bias, people's beliefs about the impartiality of their political side compared to their rivals were assessed. Ironically, those who were most confident in their side's neutrality were the most biased.



Furthermore, partisanship seemed to have a more robust effect on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-opinions-swing-voting-and-elections-in-the-u-s/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">processing real news</a> than fake news. People demonstrated a higher propensity to reject true information that challenged their political views and accept false information that supported their ideological stances.



"Everyone thinks it's the other person who is the problem," said Geoffrey L. Cohen, the James G. March Professor of Organizational Studies in Education and Business, professor of psychology in H&amp;S, and senior author of the study. 



"People say, 'Not me!' But it turns out, like with a lot of social psychological research, it's actually a pretty pervasive problem across political parties and up and down the educational ladder. The problem isn't just misinformation but the filters of our own mind - perhaps more so."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-news-sources-and-political-beliefs">News sources and political beliefs</h2>



The study is based on research conducted on a sample of the voting-age U.S. population, matched to the demographics of the census. This group included supporters and opponents of former President Donald Trump.



A distinctive aspect of this research is its deviation in methodology from previous studies. According to Cohen, this could be why the findings contradict them. While the other studies used existing news headlines, this research involved fabricated ones.



Also, in prior investigations, subjects could see the news sources, which may have influenced their acceptance or rejection of the information, whereas this study focused on the headlines alone.



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



The research team conjured fake headlines like "Trump Beats Grandmaster Chess Champion" and "Trump Attended Private Halloween Gala with Sex Orgies Dressed as the Pope." 



Surprisingly, the experts discovered that Trump's supporters and opponents were more likely to believe headlines that aligned with their views than to accept <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cities-are-largely-unprepared-for-the-effects-of-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">true headlines</a> that opposed their beliefs.



The researchers suggest that one contributing factor for this situation is the increased consumption of partisan media. 



"We found that the strongest predictors of bias include extreme views of Trump, a one-sided media diet, and belief in the objectivity and lack of bias of a person's own political side relative to the other side," Schwalbe said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-growing-concern-about-news-consumption">Growing concern about news consumption </h2>



The findings of this study underscore concerns about news consumption in the 21st century, especially with the advent of social media and the constant availability of political news. 



Gaining access to one-sided information has become easier, which can reinforce beliefs in personal objectivity and lead to deepened polarization over time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-possible-paths-to-improvement">Possible paths to improvement</h2>



Having identified the problem, the next logical step is to propose interventions. A measure suggested by Cohen, known as "pre-bunking," involves proactive fact-checking where media sources warn of potential misinformation, or people independently learn to recognize manipulation tactics.



However, Cohen and Schwalbe emphasized that the solution doesn't solely lie in policy changes focused on fake news; people are also biased in their disbelief of true news.



Accordingly, they highlight the significance of promoting intellectual humility, wherein media consumers acknowledge the fallibility of their minds and learn to question their perceptions.



"There's still much more to do to understand the problem," said Schwalbe. So, while this study forms a solid foundation for further exploration, there's no denying that we're only at the beginning of this investigative journey.



The study is published in the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2025-33892-004.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Experimental Psychology: General</a>. 



-----



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People trust news that matches their political views, even when it's fake

Not long ago, the common belief was that only a subset of media consumers - often less educated and highly biased - would let their political allegiance override the truth. They would believe the news that favors their political inclinations, even if it wasn't authentic. Then some intriguing studies emerged which indicated quite the opposite. The research suggested that media consumers across the spectrum value truth over partisanship. The studies proclaimed that the authenticity of news was more influential than its alignment with a consumer's political views...

Horror movies, you either love them or avoid them like the plague. Many psychologists have looked into our propensity for horror and just why some people love to be scared. Possible answers include a need for seeking higher<a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093650209356441"> emotional experiences</a> or emotional gratification related to a person’s preference for the genre. 

This makes sense, as horror is nothing if not filled with moments meant to heighten our emotions and play with our fears and anxieties. Sometimes these movies even prompt jump scares, when you reach out and grab for the person next to you and scream. 

A new study from the <a href="https://www.unine.ch/">University of Neuchatel</a> in Switzerland set out to determine why exactly we reach for someone next to us, sometimes even subconsciously, when we’re scared or startled. 

What the researchers found was that the act of reaching for someone close when frightened is about personal preservation. 

460 photos were taken of visitors at a haunted attraction in Canada, and three-quarters of the pictures showed participants grabbing onto someone next to them after having just been scared.

The researchers hypothesized that this reaction is about self-preservation and not about protecting someone else. 

“This happens potentially as a means to protect oneself. But it is an example of people using self-preservation rather than acting out of selfishness,” said Co-author of the study, Julie Greez of the <a href="http://english.inserm.fr/">French National Institute of Health and Medical Research</a>. 

The study also revealed that the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/men-work-family-conflicts/">women</a> photographed were more likely to reach for someone else when startled. 

Only after the scare did the study find people reaching out to help others, which aligns with the idea that the reaction to grab or hide behind someone is one of self-preservation. After the initial shock has passed, we can be more prosocial and selfless. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Why we reach out and grab others when scared

Horror movies, you either love them or avoid them like...

According to a new study, both both men and women say that the eyes are the most attractive part of a person’s face. 

Psychologist Daniel Gill from the <a href="http://www.winchester.ac.uk/">University of Winchester</a> in New Hampshire led the study that examined how facial features were perceived by men and women, and what features were considered the most attractive. 

According to the results, both men and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/male-attitudes-toward-women-often-shaped-pornography-exposure/">women</a> view the eyes as the most important facial feature. The other highly rated facial features included attractive hair and lips, while the nose was reported as one of the least important features. 

Gill asked 32 men and 32 women look at a series of color photographs of faces without makeup, jewelry, facial hair, or glasses and rate individual facial features as well as the face as a whole. 

The results of the study differed slightly depending on gender, but both men and women found that the eyes were the most attractive part of a face.

Breaking the study down further, women judged eyes and hair as the most attractive in men and women, while men put an emphasis on the whole face, eyes, and hair in women. Men also found the eyes to be the most important facial feature when judging male pictures. 

Our preferences in facial features and what we consider attractive can be linked to evolutionary traits meant to aid in choice of mate. 

“The beauty of the opposite-sex face is proposed to reflect, at least in part, appropriate mate choice for reproduction. Therefore it is expected that men and women should hold different strategies for beauty appraisal,” said Gill. 

Although the study, published in the journal Evolution of Human Behavior, is relatively small, it differs from other studies of attractiveness in that it singles out individual facial features and further looks at how we judge and rate attractiveness in others. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Both men and women say eyes are the most important feature

According to a new study, both both men and women...

Although the experience of “hearing voices” is often attributed to individuals with schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses, it is also present in people without any diagnoses psychiatric disorder. In a new publication from <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> that was released in the journal Science, researchers studied subjects both with and without diagnosed psychotic illnesses using a 125-year-old experiment designed to induce hallucinations.

The point of the study – led by Philip Corlett and Al Powers of <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale</a> – was to identify factors that lead to auditory hallucinations and analyze what makes certain individual’s experiences unhealthy while others’ are benign.

“Hallucinations may arise from an imbalance between our expectations about the environment and the information we get from our senses,” said Powers, the study’s lead author. “You may perceive what you expect, not what your senses are telling you.”

In the 1890s, a technique was developed at <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale</a>, which was designed to induce auditory hallucinations. The experiment involves four groups of subjects: voice hearers (psychotic and non-psychotic) and non-voice hearers (psychotic and non-psychotic). Participants in each group underwent brain scans while being repeatedly exposed to a light and a tone at the same time. The researchers asked them to detect the tone, which at times was difficult to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/early-whales-limited-hearing-land/">hear</a>.

After a while, study subjects in all groups reported hearing the tone when only light was presented and no tone was played. However, this phenomenon was much more prevalent in both of the two voice-hearing groups.

“In both clinical and non-clinical subjects, we see some of the same brain processes at work during conditioned hallucinations as those engaged when voice-hearers report hallucinations in the scanner,” said Corlett, senior author of the study.

The study also used computational modeling to differentiate people who had psychosis from those who didn’t. Results showed that people with psychosis had a hard time accepting that they had not actually heard the tone. They exhibited altered brain activity in regions that are often implicated in psychosis.

The researchers believe that these behavioral and neuroimaging markers may be an early sign of pathology in psychosis. They state that the findings of this study may eventually help identify those who need psychiatric treatment.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Hallucinations caused by a discrepancy in expectations and senses

Although the experience of “hearing voices” is often attributed to...

A groundbreaking study has revealed that calorie restrictions can delay the aging process. While analyzing how aging alters the biological clock's effect on metabolism, scientists discovered that a low-calorie diet helps the body's metabolism work at an optimal level that promotes youth. 

The study was led by Paolo Sassone-Corsi, director of the Center for Epigenetics &amp; Metabolism at the <a href="https://uci.edu/">University of California, Irvine</a>. His team showed how the body's circadian rhythms change as a result of aging. They found that the connection between circadian activity and the aging process is based on effective metabolic transformation of energy within cells.

The research team tested mice at 6 months and 18 months. They collected tissue samples from the liver, which links nutrition and energy distribution in the body. 

Precise circadian activity controls how energy is metabolized within cells. The researchers found that the 24-hour cycle in the metabolic system of older mice remained the same over the course of the year. However, the circadian mechanism that expresses or represses genes based on the energy usage of cells displayed noticeable changes. In other words, the cells of the older mice processed energy inefficiently.

"This mechanism works great in a young animal, but it basically shuts off in an old mouse," said Sassone-Corsi.

The team analyzed a second group of aged mice after feeding them a diet containing 30 percent less calories for six months. The researchers found that the circadian mechanism worked effectively and the energy processing within cells was not changed.

"In fact, caloric restriction works by rejuvenating the biological clock in a most powerful way," explained Sassone-Corsi. "In this context, a good clock meant good aging."

Scientists from the <a href="https://www.irbbarcelona.org/">Barcelona Institute for Research in Biomedicine</a> joined the team for a second study. The researchers tested the functioning of the biological clock in stem cells from younger and older mice. The outcome revealed that a low-calorie diet conserved most of the circadian activity of youth.

"The low-calorie diet greatly contributes to preventing the effects of physiological aging," said Salvador Aznar Benitah, co-author of the study. "Keeping the rhythm of stem cells 'young' is important because in the end these cells serve to renew and preserve very pronounced day-night cycles in tissue. Eating less appears to prevent tissue aging and, therefore, prevent stem cells from reprogramming their circadian activities."

Previous studies have established that low calorie diets can extend the life spans of fruit flies. The scientists will continue to study how metabolism has such a huge influence on the stem cell <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-cells-control-aging/">aging</a> process. If they can identify the link that slows or speeds up the aging process, they can develop treatments which may be able to regulate aging.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A low-calorie diet can slow the aging process

A groundbreaking study has revealed that calorie restrictions can delay...

It’s been a summer of record breaking heat waves in Spain, with some recorded temperatures as high as 109 degrees Fahrenheit. These sometimes long-lasting heat waves are no stranger to many parts of the world, but are cause for concern among the scientific community due to the ill health effects and rise in mortality rates that they can cause.

Research has shown an increase in mortality rates of 15% to 20% during extremely hot periods, and recovery from heat waves can take several days even after the heat wave recedes. 

The <a href="http://www.csic.es/">Spanish National Research Council</a>, or CSIC, participated in an international study that looked at heat waves in 400 cities across eighteen countries from 1972 to 2012. The study specifically looked at the effects extreme heat had on people’s health. The results were published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

The research concluded that the risks heat waves pose on a person’s health are the same whether the spell lasts several days or just one day. Thus, even short but potent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heat-waves-disrupt-airplanes-takeoffs/">heat waves</a> can be very dangerous.

As temperatures increase, the risk to health and well-being also increases, and those effects can last up to three or four days after the heatwave tapers off. 

Even though the scientific community agrees that heat waves are periods during which high temperatures reach an intolerable threshold, there’s not a global definition or account of just what makes a heat wave. 

"Although, from a health point of view, a heatwave is described as a day of which the temperature exceeds a certain threshold, there is no internationally agreed definition,” said  Aurelio Tobí­as of CSIC's Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Studies.

Climate change will no doubt increase the number of heat waves, and studies like this one could have important implications for creating global standards for intolerable conditions and proper preparation for changing conditions.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Severe heat waves, even brief ones, increase mortality rates

It’s been a summer of record breaking heat waves in...

According to a study from the <a href="http://www.albany.edu/">University of Albany</a>, online food shopping makes it easier to skip the junk food and purchase foods that are healthy. Ordering food online helps individuals comply with dietary goals and may even be used as a health intervention tool in the future. 

The new research found that using the internet to shop for groceries results in less impulse buying and more nutritional food selection. The authors of the study pointed out that home food delivery could serve as a dietary intervention tool, and the growing use of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rational-choices-smartphones-computers/">smartphones</a> makes this possibility even greater. 

Previous research has established that individuals who are overweight are more prone to impulse buying. From this perspective, online shopping that leads to less random purchases will help curb obesity rates.

The University of Albany study contradicts the theory that online grocery shopping is unhealthy. Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer in England, warned last year that people need regular trips to the supermarket to stay active. However, the current research suggests that dodging the grocery store may lead to a healthier diet.

For the study, 60 college students were asked about their food shopping habits and impulsive tendencies. They were given $48.50 to shop for “nutritious, affordable, and tasty” food products. The study showed that all of the selections made by the students had equal nutritional value, regardless of how impulsive the students had revealed themselves to be.

“It didn't matter how impulsive a person was, the nutritional outcomes didn't vary,” explained lead author Jaime Coffino.

According to the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html">Daily Mail</a>, online food sales are expected to nearly double in England by 2020. In the United States, online grocery shopping totaled $7 billion in 2015 and is projected to hit $18 billion by 2020.

Coffino said that future studies could compare online grocery shopping with in-store grocery shopping. The results of the study were presented on August 4th at the annual meeting of the <a href="http://www.apa.org/">American Psychological Association</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Online food shopping found to make healthy decisions easier

According to a study from the University of Albany, online...

It’s a pretty common adage that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/genetic-variant-linked-arthritis/">arthritis</a> and hip or joint pain serve as a somewhat of a weather predictor. We’ve all heard that people with arthritis can tell when it’s about to rain because they feel increased swelling and pain in their joints.

It turns out that weather does indeed have a direct impact on arthritis and joint pain, but has more to do with temperatures and activity levels than rain.

Data from Google search trends gathered across 45 states was used to determine what effect, if any, weather had on searches for joint pain and arthritis. Researchers from the 

The <a href="http://www.uwmedicine.org/">University of Washington Medicine</a> and <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard</a> found that it was temperature and activity levels that drove the most searches, while there was a tapering off of search trends for joint pain during rainy weather. 

As temperatures rose within the range of 23 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, Google searches about joint pain increased as well. Searches for knee pain peaked at 73 degrees and tapered off at higher temperatures, while hip pain searches peaked at 83 degrees and tapered off at higher temperatures. But rainy weather actually decreased search results for both knee and hip pain. 

The researchers concluded that warmer temperatures, which could spur more activity, are a likelier cause in the influx in Google searchers rather than rainy and damp weather.

"We haven't found any direct mechanism that links ambient temperature with pain. What we think is the much more likely explanation is the fact that people are more active on nice days, so more prone to have overuse and acute injuries from that and to search online for relevant information. That's our hypothesis for what we'll explore next," said Scott Telfer, researcher from the University of Washington School of Medicine.

This study could prove an invaluable tool for further data driven studies using Google search trends to decipher what impacts and prompts online searches in relation to a person’s health. 

-----

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Google searches reveal surprising news about rain and joint pain

It’s a pretty common adage that arthritis and hip or...

Currently, over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and the United Nations estimates that another 2.5 billion people will move to cities by 2050. Urbanization is increasing globally as the Earth’s population continues to grow, which has led to expanding cities as well as expanding worries regarding the environmental costs of increased urbanization. While this trend continues, the need to study the trade-off between economic benefits and environmental policy costs of urbanization is only getting larger.

Defining the relationship of how pollution scales as urban population grows is necessary for policymaking, yet has remained unknown. The important question is: do environmental regulations that decrease pollution emissions from urbanization also hurt the economic benefits of this urbanization?

A recent study led by researchers at <a href="about:blank">Carnegie Mellon University</a>, and published in the multidisciplinary journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>, has found that air pollution policy reduces the extent to which population growth in urban areas results in increased pollution emissions, without harming economic growth of urbanization.

“We find that the relationship between urbanization (population) and economic output (GDP) is not affected by environmental policy,” says Nicholas Muller of the <a href="http://tepper.cmu.edu/">Tepper School of Business</a>. “This has profound implications for the current policy debate that frames environmental goals and economic goals as at odds with each other.”

The researchers analyzed data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in an effort to determine if the counties in the U.S. that are compliant with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), which were established in 1990 by the Clean Air Act Amendment. This data was paired with county-level data on population, economic indicators, and pollution levels to assess the economic and environmental impacts of pollution regulation.

“When a county is found to be non-compliant with NAAQS, it is subject to stricter regulation than compliant counties,” says Akshaya Jha from the <a href="http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/index.aspx">Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy.</a> “By comparing the outcomes of compliant and non-compliant counties, we can determine how the stringency of environmental regulation affects both economic output and environmental damages.”

The results showed that stricter NAAQS criteria imposed on counties that were non-compliant actually reduced pollution damages while not detracting from the rate of economic growth relative to compliant counties. The researchers also found that the pollution per person decreases as population grows, so pollution does not scale linearly with population.

Ultimately, these findings show that environmental policy may decrease the consequences of pollution from urbanization without hurting that area’s economic growth. This is important moving forward if we want to continue to expand our cities while limiting impact on the environment. Economists and environmentalists must work together to determine how we can further reduce environmental impact without moving backwards in our <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/biodiversity-help-economy-colombia/">economy</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Why environmental policy doesn’t have to hurt economic growth

Currently, over half of the world’s population lives in urban...

The inability to perform cognitive tasks can be a marker of age, and many studies have confirmed how intraindividual variability reaction time, or IIVRT, is an indicator of cognitive decline and old age. 

IIVRT refers to the huge variations in task performance and reaction time, and can also be a predictor of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dementia-preventable-treatment/">dementia</a>, Parkinson's disease, and even mortality.  

Now, a new study from the <a href="https://cheba.unsw.edu.au/">Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing</a> and the<a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/"> University of New South Wales</a> in Sydney Australia used IIVRT and its associations with decline and old age to see if a connection could be made between IIVRT and mortality predictions. 

Nicole A. Kochan, lead author of the study, and her colleagues looked at 861 participants aged 70 - 90 years old every two years, and had participants perform two computer tests that measured reaction times. There were 76 trials in total over an eight year period, and the results were published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal">PLOS ONE</a>.

Every two years, experts would weigh in on the study’s participants and look for any indicators of dementia that would need to be diagnosed, while mortality data was collected from the state registry. 

The results indicated that longer IIVRT predicted mortality, but typical reaction time did not. There was also no correlation found between risk factors like dementia to explain the connection between greater IIVRT and mortality. 

The study follows similar research that looks into reaction time and intraindividual variability, but is the first of its kind to factor in so many outside “confounders” like dementia. 

"The study was the first to comprehensively account for effects of overall cognitive level and dementia on the relationship between intraindividual variability of reaction time and mortality," Said Kochan. 

The variations in reaction time that were presented in the study show a wholly unique indicator of mortality based on an individual's cognitive functions while taking into account other risk factors. 

-----

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a>, Staff Writer

Reaction time could predict mortality for seniors

The inability to perform cognitive tasks can be a marker...

Discovering the inner workings of the human body is a continually evolving process and sometimes a challenging one. Take for instance our taste buds, those important receptors on our tongue that discern sweet from salty and bitter from sour. Humans are generally wired to favor sweet flavors versus bitter ones is a survival instinct, as bitter <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-strain-flavors/">flavors</a> could mean something is toxic or poisonous. 

The taste system is a remarkable one, and while we’ve known where the different taste receptors are located on the tongue and how they transmit flavors to the brain, not much is known about the actual wiring of new taste receptors. This could be because taste receptor cells, the ones that actually sense flavor, die off and replace themselves almost every two weeks. 

The high turnover rate, while impressive, also begs the question, how do the taste cells correctly rewire themselves every time and continue to send the right signals to the brain? 

Charles Zuker, a <a href="http://www.hhmi.org/">Howard Hughes Medical Institute</a> investigator from <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a> saw that there was very little known about how the taste cells are wired into the taste system and brain, and so he set about to try and understand more about this process. 

Zuker and his colleagues observed different groups of mice essentially “tangling” or mixing up the taste receptors in different groups, which allowed them to see how the miswired taste receptors reacted to bitter and sweet flavors. 

What the researchers discovered was that specific chemical signals in new taste receptor cells can attract the correct nerve connections to them and in turn send the right flavor signals to the brain. 

"As new taste cells are born, they provide the right instructions to establish the right connection," said Zuker. 

Taste receptors have a hugely important job and must be rewired correctly every time they are replaced in order for the taste system to work. Zuker’s research helps solve the mystery of how taste receptors are wired and helps shed further light on the evolution of human taste processes. 

------

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How taste buds are wired into your brain to experience flavors

Discovering the inner workings of the human body is a...

A new study has revealed that alcohol use, high-risk drinking, and alcohol use disorders have increased in almost every sociodemographic group in the United States. This change was found to be particularly significant among women, older adults, minorities, and individuals with low educational levels and family income.

Monitoring trends in the prevalence of alcohol consumption is an important measure taken to help improve the overall health of the country. Tracking alcohol use patterns and the progression of alcohol use disorders is key to developing successful prevention and treatment programs. 

An analysis led by Bridget F. Grant, Ph.D., of the <a href="https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/">National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism</a> was based on statistics for 2001-2002 and 2012-2013. The data showed the changes in the percentages of alcohol use, high-risk drinking, and DSM-IV alcohol use disorder (AUD) over the course of the decade. 

For the study, exceeding four or more standard drinks in a single day for women or five or more standard drinks in one day for men at least once a week over the last year constituted high-risk drinking. A DSM-IV diagnosis of AUD was assigned to individuals who met the criteria for alcohol dependence or abuse in the past year.

The investigation established that <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/alcohol-body-drunk/">alcohol</a> use in the United States increased by 11.2 percent from 2001-2002 to 2012-2013. High-risk drinking rose by 29.9 percent, and DSM-IV diagnosis of AUD increased by 49.4 percent.

Increases in every category of alcohol use were the highest among women, older adults, racial/ethnic minorities, and those with lower educational levels and family income. The study, published by <a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry">JAMA Psychiatry</a>, had some limitations including a lack of biological testing. 

"These increases constitute a public health crisis that may have been overshadowed by increases in much less prevalent substance use (marijuana, opiates and heroin) during the same period,” explained the authors of the study.

“Most important, the findings herein highlight the urgency of educating the public, policymakers and health care professionals about high-risk drinking and AUD, destigmatizing these conditions and encouraging those who cannot reduce their alcohol consumption on their own, despite substantial harm to themselves and others, to seek treatment.”

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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

Alcohol abuse on the rise in the United States

A new study has revealed that alcohol use, high-risk drinking,...

Before the iPod and mp3s, before cassette tapes and 8-track tapes, and before the record player, the Edison Phonograph Company marketed and sold a new device for playing and recording audio: the phonograph. 

The phonograph would play etched audio recordings that were carved into cylinders often made of wax, and many of these wax cylinders survive today and hold some of our earliest known audio recordings. 

At the <a href="http://berkeley.edu/">University of California, Berkeley</a>, new technology is being used to preserve wax cylinders that, due to the wear and tear of time, have become almost unusable. But many of these wax cylinders hold our only references to rare indigenous languages recorded over 100 years ago. 

Using non-invasive optical scan technology developed by Berkeley physicist Carl Haber and Earl Cornell, researchers at Berkeley are transferring audio of indigenous languages from over 2,000 wax cylinders and even repairing them. Because of this, the languages will be more perceptible and linguists will be able to figure out what the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-brains-sync-conversations/">languages</a> are and what is being said.

Some of the wax cylinders in the Berkley collection are the only known audio of several of the languages and this could richly benefit future linguistic study of these languages, the indigenous communities, and scholarly research. 

There are almost 7,000 “living” or spoken languages in the world today, and now with these new technological advances, documenting endangered languages will be easier and accessible to linguists whose mission is the preservation and documentation of as many languages as possible. 

Documenting endangered languages is a key part of ensuring the preservation of the language, and writing down its grammar and structure and keeping a written record will ultimately enhance linguists’ and scholars’ understanding of languages and the communities that use them. 

The 100 hours of audio that the research team transferred from the wax cylinders and will soon be accessible to the general public. 

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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

Rare audio recordings of indigenous languages saved by technology

Before the iPod and mp3s, before cassette tapes and 8-track...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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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

[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> 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

[sendtonews key="qas3EhyI0Y-2220951-12187" 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.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

[sendtonews key="MHyhtebibJ-2200368-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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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...