Change is the only constant in life - except for blinking, of course. And for the 360 million people living with dry eye disease (DED), those constant blinks can be pure agony. 



But what if the cure for dry eyes was as simple as sharing a good belly laugh through laughter therapy?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-healing-power-of-laughter">Healing power of laughter</h2>



Scientific studies have long endorsed laughter therapy as a potent remedy, particularly for patients dealing with depression, stress, anxiety, and chronic pain.



The healing effects of laughter have been observed in patients with diverse medical conditions such as mental health <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-the-human-brain-processes-visual-information/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">disorders</a>, cancer, and diabetes.



However, a clinical trial from China recently published by The BMJ unearthed something more profound: laughter therapy might also hold the cure for DED.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dry-eye-disease">Dry eye disease</h2>



Dry eye disease can make your eyes feel as scratchy as a cat's tongue. It can paint your whites an irritated red and make you wish you could shower your eyes in rejuvenating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rare-retinal-cells-explain-complex-color-perception/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eye</a> drops just to get some relief. 



If you've ever suffered from a case of DED, you know it's no walk in the park.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-laughter-for-treating-dry-eyes">Laughter for treating dry eyes</h2>



Experts from China and the UK embarked on a journey to investigate the effectiveness and safety of laughter exercises in patients struggling with DED symptoms.



"With the population aging, video display terminal use increasing, and air pollution, the global prevalence of dry eye disease has risen sharply, affecting approximately 360 million individuals," noted the researchers.



The trial involved 283 participants, aged between 18-45 years, with an average age of 29 years (74% female). The participants were split into two groups: one group practiced <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/parents-who-use-humor-have-better-relationships-with-their-children/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">laughter</a> exercises while the other applied 0.1% sodium hyaluronic acid eye drops four times a day, both for eight weeks.



The researchers ensured all participants had no existing eye conditions, and recent contact lens wearers or DED treatment users were excluded from the study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-glimpse-into-the-laughter-exercise">Glimpse into the laughter exercise</h2>



The idea of laughter being a workout might coax a smirk onto your face, but it's no laughing matter (pun intended). 



The participants in the smiling group were asked to watch an instructional video and vocalize phrases like "Hee hee hee, hah hah hah, cheese cheese cheese, cheek cheek cheek, hah hah hah hah hah hah," 30 times over a five-minute session.



They used a face recognition mobile app to track these laughter workouts and enhance their facial movements.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-eye-drops-the-control-experiment">Eye drops: The control experiment</h2>



On the other hand, the second group treated their eyes with 0.1% sodium hyaluronic acid eye drops four times a day, for the same span of eight weeks. 



Eye drops are typically the go-to remedy for combating DED's scratchy, irritating symptoms. This group also used the same app to keep tabs on their usage frequency.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tears-of-laughter-for-dry-eyes">Tears of laughter for dry eyes</h2>



After both treatments were stopped at eight weeks, the researchers observed that the average OSDI (ocular surface disease index) score in the laughter group was 10.5 points lower, indicating less discomfort. The eye drop group, in contrast, scored 8.83 points lower.



Laughter exercise was not only as effective as traditional eye drops but also showed noticeable improvements in non-invasive tear break up time (the time taken for the first hint of dryness to appear on the cornea after a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/blinking-plays-crucial-role-vision-human-perception/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blink</a>), meibomian gland function (oil glands that prevent tears from drying up too soon), and mental health scores.



What makes this discovery even more exciting is that there were no adverse events reported in either study group.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-laughter-and-dry-eye-symptoms">Laughter and dry eye symptoms</h2>



The researchers acknowledged some limitations that could have influenced the results, but they firmly believe that laughter exercise has the potential to improve DED symptoms substantially.



"As a safe, environmentally friendly, and low-cost intervention, laughter exercise could serve as a first-line, home-based treatment for people with symptomatic dry eye disease and limited corneal staining," the authors noted.



So next time you're feeling the scratch, why not put on your favorite sitcom or call that friend who never fails to make you laugh?



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj-2024-080474" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The BMJ</a>.



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Laughter may help dry eyes as much as eye drops

Change is the only constant in life - except for blinking, of course. And for the 360 million people living with dry eye disease (DED), those constant blinks can be pure agony. But what if the cure for dry eyes was as simple as sharing a good belly laugh through laughter therapy? Healing power of laughter Scientific studies have long endorsed laughter therapy as a potent remedy, particularly for patients dealing with depression, stress, anxiety, and chronic pain. The healing effects of laughter have been observed in...

As the summer season approaches, many people plan to enjoy hot days in the sun with cocktails. Drinking during the day seems to weaken the effects of <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/alcohol-body-drunk/">alcohol</a> compared to drinking at night. Scientific evidence is emerging that explains why the time of day alcohol is consumed can produce drastically different results.

Researchers have identified factors that  impact the level of intoxication people feel while they drink. The experts shared their findings with Katie Heaney of <a href="http://nymag.com/">New York Magazine</a>. The scientists revealed that behavior, circadian rhythms, and stress contribute to the intensity of the effects of alcohol. 

Nyree Dardarian, a professor of Nutrition Sciences at Drexel University, explained that the time of day people drink influences their behavior while drinking. For example, day drinking usually revolves around food. People typically sit and eat more when drinking during the day. Going out at night often means less food and faster absorption of alcohol.

“Food in your stomach will delay gastric emptying, which will make the alcohol take longer to get into the blood system,” said Dardarian.

A team of American scientists tested the alcohol sensitivity of lab rats to compare day drinking to nighttime drinking. They discovered the animals were increasingly sensitive to alcohol at night, and determined this was due to changes in the circadian. The rats also consumed more alcohol at night, indicating that drinking tends to speed up after dark. 

In another study, 60 adults were instructed to drink a moderate amount of alcohol. They were then exposed to either a cardiovascular test, a stressful film, or a control condition. The study showed that the participants who watched the distressing video progressed to their peak BAC much faster than the other individuals. The researchers established that alcohol is absorbed more quickly when a person is experiencing stress or anxiety.

The results of these studies suggest that day drinking in a relaxed, daytime setting may have a much more desirable outcome than drinking in a stressful atmosphere after the sun goes down. This holiday weekend is the perfect time to stay out of the crowd and test this theory. 

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Source: <a href="http://nymag.com/">New York Magazine</a>

&nbsp;

Why day drinking feels different than drinking at night

As the summer season approaches, many people plan to enjoy...

Diesel pollution can cause heart damage, according to a new study.

"There is strong evidence that particulate matter emitted mainly from diesel road vehicles is associated with increased risk of heart attack, heart failure, and death," said lead author Nay Aung, a cardiologist and research fellow at <a href="http://www.qmul.ac.uk/">Queen Mary University</a> of London.

Heart damage is driven by an inflammatory response from inhaling particulate matter, Aung said. It starts with a localized inflammation of the lungs “followed by a more systemic inflammation affecting the whole body.”

The new study conducted cardiac magnetic resonance imaging on 255 participants to measure their heart‘s left ventricular volume and left ventricular ejection fraction. The particulate exposure was calculated based on the participant’s home address.

"We found that as [particulate] exposure rises, the larger the heart gets and the worse it performs,” Aung said. “Both of these measures are associated with increased morbidity and mortality from heart disease.”

More educated participants were less likely to have heart damage, the study found.

“This could be due to a number of factors including better housing and workplace conditions, which reduce pollution exposure,” Aung said. It could also be because people with more education have healthier lifestyles, and better access to healthcare, he added.

Aung advised people to avoid places with heavy <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/traffic-noise-birds-stop-singing/">traffic</a>.

“If you want to cycle into work and there is heavy traffic around that time then try to find a quieter route,” Aung said. “Walk on the part of the pavement furthest from cars to reduce the amount of pollution you breathe in.”

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.escardio.org/">European Society of Cardiology</a>

Study: Diesel fuel pollution linked to heart damage

Diesel pollution can cause heart damage, according to a new...

New discovery explains cause of baldness, hair loss. A new study has found that regulatory T cells, generally associated with controlling inflammation, also directly trigger stem cells in the skin to promote healthy hair growth.

Defects in the cells known as Tregs, could be responsible for alopecia areata, a common autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss, and could play a role in other forms of baldness, including male pattern baldness, the<a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/"> University of California San Francisco</a> study said.

"Our hair follicles are constantly recycling: when a hair falls out, the whole hair follicle has to grow back," said Michael Rosenblum, assistant professor of dermatology at UCSF and senior author on the study. "This has been thought to be an entirely stem cell-dependent process, but it turns out Tregs are essential. If you knock out this one immune cell type, hair just doesn't grow."

The researchers discovered how to temporarily remove Tregs from the skin of mice. When they shaved patches of hair from the mice to observe the affected skin, they made a surprising discovery.

 "We quickly noticed that the shaved patches of hair never grew back, and we thought, 'Hmm, now that's interesting," Rosenblum said. "We realized we had to delve into this further."

Imaging experiments revealed that Tregs have a close relationship with the stem cells that reside within hair follicles and allow them to regenerate. 

Tregs clustering around hair follicle stem cells typically swell by three-fold as follicles enter the growth phase of their regular cycle of rest and regeneration, the study found. 

Also, removing Tregs from the skin blocked hair regrowth only if done within the first three days after shaving a patch of skin, when follicle regeneration would normally be activated. Getting rid of Tregs later on, once the regeneration had already begun, had no effect on hair regrowth, the researchers found.

After the researchers observed hair loss in Treg-deficient mice, they found that the genes associated with alopecia in previous studies are almost all related to Tregs. Moreover, treatments that boost Treg function have been shown to be an effective treatment for the disease.

Rosenblum speculates that better understanding Tregs' critical role in hair growth could lead to improved treatments for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cure-balding-gray-hair/">hair loss</a> more generally.

Tregs' role in triggering hair growth does not appear related to their normal ability to tamp down tissue inflammation.

"We think of immune cells as coming into a tissue to fight infection, while stem cells are there to regenerate the tissue after it's damaged," Rosenblum said. "But what we found here is that stem cells and immune cells have to work together to make regeneration possible."

The study is published online in the journal <a href="http://www.cell.com/cell/home">Cell </a>

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/">University of California San Francisco</a>

New discovery explains cause of baldness, hair loss

New discovery explains cause of baldness, hair loss. A new...

The Neolithic Transition, also known as the Agricultural Revolution, is a time when prehistoric humans changed from hunting and gathering to farming. This change led to the first non-nomadic societies and the development of larger populations. Although it has been widely believed that hunter-gatherers and farmers generally lived separately from each other, a new study reveals that they were heavily integrated in some areas. 

The sequence of events that transpired during the Neolithic transition is a topic of debate that is centered mainly around how it happened. Previous research indicated that the movement of people sparked progression in the western part of Europe, while the movement of ideas initiated change in eastern Europe. A team of researchers focused their study on Romania because it lies in the middle of these regions. 

The research team recovered four prehistoric human genomes that dated back between 8.8 thousand and 5.4 thousand years ago. These were compared to the human genomes of two Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from Spain.

Analysis of the DNA showed that the Romanian genomes had distinctive ties to the hunter-gatherers from the west. They also contained smaller yet significant ancestral ties to farmers from southeastern <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/cloud-free-day-in-southeastern-europe/">Europe</a>. An assessment of the bones revealed they had a varied diet that included food sources from both land and water. 

"We expected some level of mixing between farmers and hunter-gatherers, given the archaeological evidence for contact among these communities," explained Michael Hofreiter of <a href="http://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/">University of Potsdam</a>. "However, we were fascinated by the high levels of integration between the two communities as reconstructed from our ancient DNA data."

The findings of study, published today in Current Biology, suggest that the differences between ancient hunter-gatherers and farmers are much more subtle than researchers previously believed. Their relationships and interactions appear to have been much more intimate than simple foods exchanges.

"As data from different regions accumulate, we see a gradient across Europe, with increasing mixing of hunter-gatherers and farmers as we go east and north,” said Hofreiter. “While we still do not know the drivers of this gradient, we can speculate that, as farmers encountered more challenging climatic conditions, they started interacting more with local hunter-gatherers. These increased contacts, which are also evident in the archaeological record, led to genetic mixing, implying a high level of integration between very different people."

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Source: <a href="http://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/">University of Potsdam</a>

Image: Copyright Clive Bonsall

Prehistoric hunter-gatherers and farmers were closely acquainted

The Neolithic Transition, also known as the Agricultural Revolution, is...

Researchers have mapped the changes in the the brain that improve the ability of young people to control impulses, stay organized, and make decisions.

These "executive functions" of the brain are key factors in educational success, drug use, and psychiatric illness, the study said.

As <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-miniature-brains-cure/">brains</a> mature, they become increasingly segregated into distinct network modules for greater efficiency, according to the study. Executive function improvement with age depends on the degree to which that well-defined modular network structure emerges, the researchers said.

The modular architecture of brains is critical for the development of complex cognition and behavior, the study suggests. The research could lead to the identification of biomarkers of abnormal brain development that could predict a person's risk for psychosis and major mood disorders, the authors said.

The study analyzed data from 882 people between the ages of 8 and 22 who completed diffusion imaging as part of the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, a community-based study of brain development that includes rich neuroimaging and cognitive data.

The results showed that executive function improved markedly with age. An analysis of the brain images revealed an increasingly specialized and modular structure that was at the same time fully integrated.

"The development of modular network architecture did not result in the brain becoming fragmented," said s the study's first author Graham Baum, a PhD candidate in the Perelman School of Medicine at the <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/">University of Pennsylvania</a>. 

"In fact, the overall network communication capacity actually increased, due to strengthening of specific 'hub' connections between modules. These results show that as kids grow up, their brain becomes more segregated into specialized units, but also more integrated as a whole."

The researchers  are now investigating whether information about brain networks can predict the emergence of psychiatric disorders in children years later.

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>

--

By:<a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.cell.com/about">Cell Press</a>

Photo Credit: Baum et al.

How the brain controls impulses to make good decisions

Researchers have mapped the changes in the the brain that...

When <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/babies-retain-language/">babies</a> first begin to babble and make sounds, vocal feedback from adults helps speed up the learning process. Babies progress more quickly to sounds that resemble words with reinforcement from adults. Researchers from the University of Princeton set out to determine if the same vocal development strategy may apply to baby monkeys. 

Asif Ghazanfar is a co-author of the study and a professor of Psychology at the <a href="https://pni.princeton.edu/">Princeton Neuroscience Institute</a>.

"We wanted to find out whether the idea that monkeys don't do any learning during their vocal development is actually true," said Ghazanfar. "So we picked a species that we know really relies on vocalizations as its primary social signals. What we found in marmoset vocal development very closely parallels pre-linguistic vocal development in humans."

Ghazanfar and his colleagues selected pairs of fraternal twin marmosets. The monkeys were separated from the adults for 40 minutes a day, beginning the day after they were born. During the first 10 minutes of each session, scientists recorded the sounds the baby marmosets made while sitting alone. Next, the researchers gave the babies contingent feedback by playing audio recordings of the parent's calls for the remaining 30 minutes.

One of the twins received consistent vocal feedback, while the other received significantly less feedback. After two months of experimentation, the researchers discovered that marmosets who had gotten more feedback improved their vocal skills more quickly than those with fewer responses. The study, published today in Current Biology, provides evidence that nonhuman primates have a vocal learning process similar to that of humans. 

Despite the fact that the marmosets’ language is not nearly as complex as human language, the stages of vocal development are comparable. Further evaluation of marmoset communication may reveal more information about the evolution of speech. The research team plans to expand upon this study by observing the neural activities of the marmosets as they develop their vocal calls.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Source: <a href="https://pni.princeton.edu/">Princeton Neuroscience Institute</a>

Human babies and monkey babies learn how to vocalize the same way

When babies first begin to babble and make sounds, vocal...

Fathers are more attentive to their toddler daughters than they are to sons, according to a new study.

Researchers from <a href="http://www.emory.edu/">Emory University</a> and the <a href="http://www.arizona.edu/">University of Arizona</a> found that fathers with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/smartphones-kids-less-sleep/">toddler</a> daughters sang to them more often and spoke more openly about emotions including sadness.

"If the child cries out or asks for Dad, fathers of daughters responded to that more than did fathers of sons," said lead researcher Jennifer Mascaro of Emory University. "We should be aware of how unconscious notions of gender can play into the way we treat even very young children."

The study analyzed brain scans and recordings of the 52 parents’ interactions. Fathers agreed to clip a small handheld computer onto their belts and wear it for one weekday and one weekend day. The device randomly turned on for 50 seconds every nine minutes to record any sound during the 48-hour period. 

"People act shockingly normal when they are wearing it," Mascaro said. "They kind of forget they are wearing it or they say to themselves, what are the odds it's on right now."

Fathers also had MRI brain scans while viewing photos of an unknown adult, an unknown child, and their own child with happy, sad or neutral facial expressions.

The study found that fathers of daughters had greater responses to their daughters' happy facial expressions in areas of the brain important for visual processing, reward, emotion regulation, and face processing than fathers of sons.

The brains of the fathers of boys responded more robustly to their sons' neutral facial expressions. There was no significant difference in the fathers' brain responses to sad facial expressions from sons or daughters.

"Most dads are trying to do the best they can and do all the things they can to help their kids succeed, but it's important to understand how their interactions with their children might be subtly biased based on gender," Mascaro said.

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/bne/">Behavioral Neuroscience</a>

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.apa.org/">American Psychological Association</a>

Study: Fathers treat daughters differently than sons

Fathers are more attentive to their toddler daughters than they...

Eating chocolate can lower the risk of atrial fibrillation, a common and dangerous type of irregular heartbeat, according to a new study.

“Our study adds to the accumulating evidence on the health benefits of moderate chocolate intake and highlights the importance of behavioral factors for potentially lowering the risk of arrhythmias,” said Elizabeth Mostofsky, instructor of epidemiology at <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> and lead author of the study.

The health benefits of cocoa and cocoa-containing foods—in particular, dark chocolate, have been suggested in previous studies. But there has been limited research on the effects of chocolate on atrial fibrillation (AF), which affects millions of people worldwide and is linked with higher risk of stroke, heart failure, cognitive decline, dementia, and death.

This study included 55,502 men and women participating in the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study. Researchers considered study participants’ body mass index, blood pressure, and<a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/topic/cholesterol/"> cholesterol </a>which were measured at the time of recruitment between December 1993 and May 1997. 

Men and women who ate one to three servings per month had a 10 percent lower rate of atrial fibrillation, compared with those who ate a one-ounce serving of chocolate less than once per month.

Those who ate one serving per week had a 17 percent lower rate; and those who ate two to six servings per week had a 20 percent lower rate. The benefit leveled off slightly with greater amounts of chocolate consumption, with those eating one or more servings per day having a 16 percent lower AF rate. Results were similar for men and women.

“Despite the fact that most of the chocolate consumed by the study participants likely had relatively low concentrations of potentially protective ingredients, we still observed a significant association between eating chocolate and a lower risk of AF—suggesting that even small amounts of cocoa consumption can have a positive health impact,” Mostofsky said.

Eating excessive amounts of <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/chocolate-bad-dogs/">chocolate</a> is not recommended because many chocolate products are high in calories from sugar and fat and could lead to weight gain, Mostofsky added.

“But moderate intake of chocolate with high cocoa content may be a healthy choice,” she said.

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a>

Eating chocolate can prevent irregular heartbeat

Eating chocolate can lower the risk of atrial fibrillation, a...

The main visual area of human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-predictability-randomness-actions/">brain</a> not only allows people to see things, but also to predict  future events, a new study found.

For example, the visual cortex, allows a pedestrian to see an approaching car but also to decide whether to cross the street before it arrives, the researchers said.

<a href="http://www.ru.nl/english/">Radboud University</a> researchers designed an experiment that mimics this situation. Instead of a car, study participants were shown a white dot moving quickly from the left to the right side of a screen.

The visual cortex’s activity pattern, as measured by magnetic visual imaging, represented not only the starting point of the dot sequence - the one that was shown on screen - but also the remaining dots of the sequence.

 “Our results show that we form expectations about upcoming events, and that the visual cortex can complete a sequence from only partial input,” said Matthias Ekman of Radboud’s Donders Institute.

The MRI experiment is “simplified compared to real life,” but the results can still tell us about how we anticipate future events in the ever changing world, Ekman said.

“Our visual cortex might constantly predict events happening all around us on a daily basis: the rotating arms of a windmill, or how to catch the ball that is moving towards us,” added Ekman.

In a follow-up study, the researchers will examine which brain areas collaborate with the visual cortex to anticipate upcoming events. 

“We expect that the hippocampus – a brain area linked to memory - plays an important role in this process,” Ekman said.

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.ru.nl/english/">Radboud University</a>

How your brain can fast-forward to predict future events

The main visual area of human brain not only allows...

Report: Magic mushrooms are the safest recreational drug to use. As public opinion surrounding the benefits of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chili-peppers-marijuana-stomach/">marijuana</a> continues to increase in favorability nationwide, another recreational drug may deserve a second look as well. A new report from the <a href="https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/">2017 Global Drug Survey</a> has found that 'magic' mushrooms are the safest recreational drug to take. 

The study found that only 1 in 500 people will be taken to the hospital as a result of taking psychedelic mushrooms. 

“Magic mushrooms are one of the safest drugs in the world,” Dr. Adam Winstock, founder of the survey, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/23/study-hallucinogenic-mushrooms-safest-recreational-drug-lsd">The Guardian</a>.

According to Winstock, the biggest risk associated with hallucinogenic mushrooms was people picking and eating the wrong kinds.

“Death from toxicity is almost unheard of with poisoning with more dangerous fungi being a much greater risk in terms of serious harms,” Dr. Winstock added.

Mushrooms were found to be significantly safer than MDMA, LSD, and cocaine. Interestingly, the report also found that synthetic cannabis was the riskiest drug.

Only .2% of 12,000 people surveyed who had taken “shrooms” in the past year reported needing any medical attention. 

Psychedelic mushrooms have also been used to treat depression and anxiety.

That said, Dr. Winstock warned against combining mushrooms with other drugs.

“Combined use with alcohol and use within risky or unfamiliar settings increase the risks of harm,” he told told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/23/study-hallucinogenic-mushrooms-safest-recreational-drug-lsd">The Guardian</a>.

-

By <a href="mailto:rarnold@earth.com">Rory Arnold</a>, <a href="http://earth.com/staff">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/">2017 Global Drug Survey</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/23/study-hallucinogenic-mushrooms-safest-recreational-drug-lsd">The Guardian</a>

Report: Magic mushrooms are the safest recreational drug to use

Report: Magic mushrooms are the safest recreational drug to use....

While meditation is often heralded as a miracle solution for its calming, soothing effect, it can also end up painful and disturbing, a new study has found.

“Many effects of meditation are well known, like increased awareness of thoughts and emotions, or improved calm and well-being," said study lead author Jared Lindahl, visiting assistant professor in <a href="https://www.brown.edu/">Brown University</a>'s Cogut Center for the Humanities. 

"But there is a much broader range of possible experiences. Exactly what those experiences are, how they affect individuals and which ones show up as difficult is going to be based on a range of personal, interpersonal and contextual factors."

The researchers sought out "challenging" <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/daily-meditation-works-wonders/">meditation</a> experiences because they are underrepresented in the scientific literature.

They are, however, documented in Buddhist traditions, the study said. Tibetans refer to a wide range of experiences -- some blissful but some painful or disturbing -- as "nyams."

From interviews with 100 Western Buddhist meditators, the researchers developed a list of 59 experiences organized into seven types, or domains: cognitive, perceptual, affective (i.e. emotions and moods), somatic (relating to the body), conative (i.e. motivation or will), sense of self and social. They also identified another 26 categories of "influencing factors" or conditions that may impact the intensity, duration or associated distress or impairment.

All the mediators interviewed reported multiple unexpected experiences from across the seven domains, hypersensitivity to light or sound, as insomnia or involuntary body movements.

Challenging emotional experiences included fear, anxiety, panic or a loss of emotions altogether, the study found.

If research can uncover why challenging experiences arise, then meditators and teachers might be in a better position to manage them, the authors said.

They also hope the new study can help people realize that adverse experiences are not necessarily unique to them or their fault.

"During the interviews, some people learned for the first time that they are not completely alone in having had this experience," Lindahl said. "The social awareness we think this project can raise could be a key way of addressing some of the problems."

One of the remedies people cited for dealing with problems was simply having someone they could talk to who was familiar with challenging meditation experiences, the researchers said. 

One of the authors, Willoughby Britton, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at <a href="https://www.brown.edu/">Brown University</a>, recently started a weekly online support group where meditators can share their challenges with each other.

“Our long-term hope is that this research, and the research that follows, can be used by the meditation community to create support systems for the full range of meditation-related experiences," Britton said. "Really, the first step is acknowledging the diversity of experiences that different people can have."

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By:<a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.brown.edu/">Brown University</a>

Can meditation go wrong? Exploring the range of experiences

While meditation is often heralded as a miracle solution for...

An increasing number of physical therapy patients are being strapped into robots that apply forces to their legs as they walk, gently prodding them to modify their movements by lengthening their strides, straightening their hips, and bending their knees.

Now, a new study has found that physical therapy patients working with rehabilitation robots only modify their walking patterns if the robots interfere with gait stability.

The research could influence future design of robots, the authors said.

The study also examined how patients changed their gaits on a treadmill when a robot applied force.

The patients adjusted their stride in response to a change in the length, but not the height, of their step, even when step height and length were disturbed at the same time, the researchers found.

The discrepancy can be explained by the central nervous system 's primary reliance on stability when determining how to adjust to a disruption in normal walking.

"Lifting your foot higher mid-stride doesn't really make you that much less stable, whereas placing your foot closer or further away from your center of mass can really throw off your balance, so the body adjusts much more readily to that disturbance," says Giacomo Severini,  an assistant professor at <a href="http://www.ucd.ie/">University College Dublin</a> and one of the study’s authors.

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/monkey-brain-explain-human-thinking/">brain</a> will expend a significant amount of the body's energy to avoid instability, most likely because the consequences of wobbly walking can be severe, the study reported.

Prioritization of stability means other aspects of walking, like the height of the foot off the ground or the angle of the toes, may require treatment beyond walking in a clinical robot.

"To modify step height, for example, you'd need to design forces so that the change in height, which the brain normally interprets as neutral, becomes challenging to the patient's balance," says Severini. 

Most robots used in clinical settings today do not allow for that kind of customization.

"The results of our study give us insight into the way people adapt to external forces while walking in general, which is useful for clinicians when evaluating whether their patients will respond to clinical robot interventions," says Paolo Bonato, leader of the study and an associate professor at <a href="https://hms.harvard.edu/">Harvard Medical School</a>. 

By advancing the understanding of the interactions between robots and patient, the research, published in the journal <a href="http://robotics.sciencemag.org/">Science Robotics</a> will make it possible to design more effective robot-assisted gait therapy, Bonato said.

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By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/">Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering</a>

How robots are helping physical therapy patients rehabilitate

An increasing number of physical therapy patients are being strapped...

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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



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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...