There's something both captivating and comforting about the rhythms and harmonies of a symphony orchestra, right? Well, did you know that something similar happens inside your brain while you're catching some sleep? It turns out, our brains have a maestro of their own - breathing. 



Just as a conductor harmonizes an orchestra to create a symphony, breathing synchronizes the rhythm of brain waves during sleep. This phenomenon takes place in the hippocampus - a region of the brain that is critical for memory.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-breathing-rhythms-during-sleep">Breathing rhythms during sleep</h2>



This fascinating revelation comes from a recent study by <a href="https://www.nm.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Northwestern Medicine</a>. It marks the first time scientists have linked breathing rhythms during sleep to the hippocampal brain waves known as&nbsp;slow waves, spindles, and ripples. 



Study senior author Christina Zelano is a professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.



“To strengthen memories, three special neural oscillations emerge and synchronize in the hippocampus during sleep, but they were thought to come and go at random times,” noted Professor Zelano. "We discovered that they are coordinated by breathing rhythms.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-science-behind-memory-synchronization">Science behind memory synchronization</h2>



The study shows that certain brain waves, called hippocampal oscillations, align with specific phases of the breathing cycle. These oscillations are critical for organizing and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/breathing-coordinates-brain-waves-for-memory-storage-during-sleep/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">strengthening memories</a>. 



Andrew Sheriff is a postdoctoral student in Zelano's lab and the corresponding author of the study.



This means that the rhythm of your breathing during sleep plays an active role in helping your brain store and recall information effectively. 



“Memory consolidation relies on the orchestration of brain waves during sleep, and we show that this process is closely timed by breathing,” explained Sheriff.



This research opens new doors for understanding the intricate relationship between breathing, brain activity, and memory.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-breathing-sleep-and-memory-consolidation">Breathing, sleep, and memory consolidation </h2>



The connection between sleep and improved memory is not a new discovery. The ancient Roman scholar Quintillion stated: "The interval of a single night will greatly increase the strength of the memory."



This phenomenon, now recognized as memory consolidation, involves the precise coordination of brain waves in the hippocampus.



Sheriff shared a personal example to explain how memory consolidation works. While attending a conference in Reykjavik, Iceland, he had to find his way around an unfamiliar city. 



After sleeping, he realized his sense of direction and understanding of the city's layout had improved. This improvement happened because, during sleep, the brain replayed and reinforced the experiences and maps he had formed earlier. 



His hippocampus, which is responsible for spatial memory, used specific brain waves to process and solidify this information overnight.



“The hippocampus plays a major role in forming a map of a new area,” Sheriff said. “I would wake up and feel I had a better representation of the city around me. That was facilitated by the oscillations that occurred during my sleep, which we found are coordinated by breathing.”



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



The study’s findings carry significant implications for individuals suffering from sleep-disordered breathing, such as sleep apnea. Poor memory consolidation is one of the many cognitive challenges associated with such conditions.



“When you don’t get sleep, your brain suffers, your cognition suffers, you get foggy,” Sheriff noted. He emphasized the connection between disrupted breathing during sleep and serious conditions such as stroke, dementia, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.



Interestingly, the unique rhythm of breathing during sleep may serve a specific purpose. “If you listen to someone breathing, you might be able to tell when they are asleep, because breathing is paced differently when you’re sleeping,” Sheriff said. 



“One reason for that may be that breathing is performing a careful task: coordinating brain waves that are related to memory.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-frontier-in-sleep-research">New frontier in sleep research</h2>



The research highlights the importance of addressing sleep disorders to maintain cognitive health and memory. Sheriff emphasized the need for individuals with disrupted breathing to seek treatment, as improved sleep could have far-reaching benefits for overall brain function.



This study was funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and a Ruth L. Kirchstein Institutional National Research Award.



This remarkable research adds a new layer of understanding to the intricate processes that occur during sleep. By uncovering the role of breathing in synchronizing brain waves, Northwestern scientists have paved the way for new interventions aimed at improving memory and cognitive health.



The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.



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Breathing rhythms help strengthen memories during sleep

There's something both captivating and comforting about the rhythms and harmonies of a symphony orchestra, right? Well, did you know that something similar happens inside your brain while you're catching some sleep? It turns out, our brains have a maestro of their own - breathing. Just as a conductor harmonizes an orchestra to create a symphony, breathing synchronizes the rhythm of brain waves during sleep. This phenomenon takes place in the hippocampus - a region of the brain that is critical for memory. Breathing rhythms during sleep...

What is the one activity that engages the most parts of our brains? Hint: it’s not listening to or playing music, writing a book or working out a complex math equation. It’s sipping a glass of wine, according to Gordon Shepherd.

In his book Neuroenology: How the Brain Creates the Taste of Wine, the <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> neuroscientist relates flavor science through the lens – or, more to the point, the stemmed glassware – of wine.

Flavor is not within the food or beverages we consume, we’re told. The concept of taste is created by the brain, through multiple sensory, motor, and central behavioral systems. Taste is even affected by the contents of our saliva and such variables as age, gender and our very unique array of 350 different kinds of olfactory receptors.

Shepherd uses the term “neurogastronomy” to describe the way the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-older-men/">brain</a> goes to work on our perception of taste and flavor. The science isn’t an easy concept. Shepherd discusses orthonasal versus retronasal smell and the fluid dynamics of wine tasting to explain the complex interplay between brain and sip.

As Shepherd stated in his book, “The taste is not in the wine; the taste is created by the brain of the wine taster.”

In an interview with <a href="http://www.npr.org/">NPR Radio</a>, be spoke of taste as being as seemingly illusory as color.

“The objects we see don't have color themselves — light hits them and bounces off,” he said. “It's when light strikes our eyes that it activates systems in the brain that create color from those different wavelengths. Similarly, the molecules in wine don't have taste or flavor, but when they stimulate our brains, the brain creates flavor the same way it creates color.”

Two more points that Shepherd would like to make: you lose much of the flavor through the act of sipping and spitting. And you only cheat yourself by turning that delicate sip into a gulp because too much at one time just saturates your taste system.

As for one preferred location of the vineyards that so actively engages his own brain, Shepherd expressed to <a href="http://www.npr.org/">NPR Radio</a> a special fondness for Sancerre, a designated wine district in the eastern Loire Valley.

-- 

By <a href="mailto:dsearls@earth.com">David Searls</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source:<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/04/03/521415892/the-taste-of-wine-isnt-all-in-your-head-but-your-brain-sure-helps"> National Public Radio</a>

Nothing engages your brain like a sip of wine

What is the one activity that engages the most parts...

Circadian rhythms are a fundamental component to life on earth and have remained genetically unchanged throughout the evolution of animals. These rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral patterns that correspond to the 24-hour cycle of the day – mostly cued by light or darkness as observed by the individual. For <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaur-species-similarities-humans/">humans</a>, we all know someone who constantly stays up into the wee hours of the morning and has a hard time waking up before noon. According to a new study published in the journal <a href="http://www.cell.com/cell/home">Cell</a>, some of these people may exhibit this behavior because a gene mutation has programmed their internal clock to run slowly.

People who stay up late and have trouble getting up early are usually referred to as “night owls.” Sleep clinics will often diagnose this night owl behavior as delayed sleep phase disorder, or DSPD. People with DSPD generally struggle to fall asleep at night, sometimes with sleep coming so late that it fractures into a series of long naps. Michael Young, the head of the Laboratory of Genetics at <a href="http://www.rockefeller.edu/">The Rockefeller University</a>, calls it “perpetual jet lag.”

Sleep disorders such as DSPD are associated with anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Both Michael Young and Alina Patke – a research associate in Young’s lab and the first author of the study – decided to take a closer look at what causes this disrupted circadian rhythm.

Young connected with clinical researchers at the <a href="http://weill.cornell.edu/">Weill Cornell Medical College</a> in an attempt to find the molecular map behind these sleep disorders.

By studying the skin cells of people with DSPD, they found that a mutation in a gene called CRY1 actually alters the human circadian clock, throwing off the rhythmic behavior of a person’s sleep/wake cycle. Their results showed that carriers of the gene variant experienced nighttime sleep delays of 2 to 2.5 hours compared to non-carriers.

Patke explains, “Carriers of the mutation have longer days than the planet gives them, so they are essentially playing catch-up for their entire lives." Their study is the first to point towards a gene mutation in the development of DSPD, and sheds light on the genetic basis behind this sleep disorder.

While not all suffers of DSPD can be attributed to the CRY1 mutation – Patke herself is a night owl but does not carry the gene variant – the researchers found the mutation in 1 in 75 individuals of non-Finnish, European ancestry. They discovered this gene variation in what Young calls “a large fraction of the population,” by doing a gene database search.

Despite the CRY1 mutation potentially affecting millions of people, it is possible for the resulting sleep disorder to be properly managed. The circadian clock is very responsive to external environmental cues, so it can be easily influenced if the right steps are taken. “An external cycle and good sleep hygiene can help force a slow-running clock to accommodate a 24-hour day,” says Patke. “We just have to work harder at it.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.cell.com/about">Cell Press</a>

Are you a night owl? A gene mutation may explain why

Circadian rhythms are a fundamental component to life on earth...

Fasten your seatbelts and hold on to your hats; new research suggests that aircraft turbulence may become two or three times more frequent due to increases in climate change.

According to a recent study from the <a href="http://www.reading.ac.uk/">University of Reading</a> published in <a href="https://link.springer.com/journal/376">Advances in Atmospheric Sciences</a>, climate change actually has an effect on the forces that generate turbulence. Dr. Paul Williams has discovered that increases in climate change generate stronger wind shears within the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-internal-jet-stream-core/">jet stream</a>, which can become unstable and are a major cause of turbulence.

A wind shear – for those of us who aren’t pilots or meteorologists – is a difference in wind speed or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere.

This study is the first to examine the future of severe turbulence. It investigated multiple different turbulence strength levels using supercomputer simulations for the atmosphere. These simulations specifically calculated how wintertime transatlantic clear-air turbulence would change at an altitude around 12km when there is twice as much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Many scientists believe atmospheric carbon dioxide is likely to double before the end of this century.

Williams explains, “Our new study paints the most detailed picture yet of how aircraft turbulence will respond to climate change.”

The study found that the average amount of light turbulence in the atmosphere may increase by 59%, with light-to-moderate turbulence increasing by 75%, moderate by 94%, moderate-to-severe by 127%, and severe by 149%.

While an increase in light turbulence may seem like just a minor inconvenience, severe turbulence routinely hospitalizes both air travellers and flight attendants around the world. 

Williams hopes to expand on this research, stating: "My top priority for the future is to investigate other flight routes around the world. We also need to investigate the altitude and seasonal dependence of the changes, and to analyze different climate models and warming scenarios to quantify the uncertainties."

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://english.iap.cas.cn/">Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences</a>

Climate change may cause dangerous increases in aircraft turbulence

Fasten your seatbelts and hold on to your hats; new...

Sleep… we spend roughly one-third of our lives doing it, and while it may look like nothing, it’s a major part of a healthy lifestyle. The thing is, no one is really sure why sleep is necessary.

"Sleep must be serving some important function," says Jason Gerstner, an assistant research professor at <a href="https://medicine.wsu.edu/">Washington State University’s College of Medicine</a>, "But as scientists we still don't understand what that is. One way to get closer to that is by understanding how it is regulated or what processes exist that are shared across species."

In order to do this, Gerstner and his colleagues in Japan analyzed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-strain-flavors/">genes</a> that change expression over the sleep-wake cycle. They discovered that expression of the gene FABP7 tended to change over the day in the brains of mice. Furthermore, they found that mice with a “knocked out” – or absent – FABP7 gene slept more fitfully compared to mice with a normal FABP7 gene.

The researchers thought these findings might mean that this gene is a requirement for normal sleep in all mammals. The next step was to observe the actions of this gene expression in humans.

Gerstner and his team looked at data from nearly 300 Japanese men who underwent a seven-day sleep study, which included analyzing their DNA. They found that 29 individuals had an abnormal variant of the gene responsible for the production of FABP7. These subjects – similar to the mice – tended to sleep more fitfully. In other words, while they would get the same amount of sleep as others, their sleep was not as good and included more waking events.

Delving further, the researchers made transgenic fruit flies by inserting mutated and normal human FABP7 genes into their astrocytes, which are cells that support neuronal activity and help control behavior. They then monitored the flies’ sleep using an infrared beam that detected motion.

As luck would have it, flies with mutated FABP7 genes slept more fitfully – aligning perfectly with the results from the mouse and human studies.

Gerstner believes these results suggest “there's some underlying mechanism in astrocytes throughout all these species that regulates consolidated sleep.” Recent research has revealed that astrocytes – a form of glial cells – may have more of a role in the central nervous system than previously thought.

This particular research is especially exciting, Gerstner explains, “It's the first time we've really gained insight into a particular cell's and molecular pathway's role in complex behavior across such diverse species.”

Given that fruit flies have been around for about 60 million years, it “suggests we have found an ancient mechanism that persisted over evolutionary time,” says Gerstner. “Evolution does not keep something around that long if it is not important.”

Moving forward, Gerstner and his colleagues will look to see how the functions of FABP7 proteins may shed light on current theories about why sleep is so important.

More information on this study can be found in the open-access journal <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://wsu.edu/">Washington State University</a>

Discovery of a sleep gene helps explain why we need rest

Sleep… we spend roughly one-third of our lives doing it,...

It is possible you may have noticed recent “clickbait” or “life-hack” headlines that suggest using common artificial sweeteners as insecticides to keep away houseflies. It’s also possible you may have tried this out or have boxes of Splenda being shipped to you right now. But scientists have come out with new research that could have your rushing to the computer to cancel that order.

A new study done by a team of researchers at <a href="https://www.ncsu.edu">North Carolina State University</a> suggests that these insects aren’t poisoned by artificial sweeteners – rather, they simply end up dying of malnutrition. 

The researchers tested the survival rate of houseflies (Musca domestica) on the main ingredient in Truvia – known as erythritol – compared to natural sugar, agar, and water alone. They discovered that the flies had a strong preference for the natural sugar over the erythritol when given the choice. When fed only erythritol, they had a similar mortality rate to flies fed only water or agar.

Michael Fisher, the lead author on the study and a doctoral candidate at <a href="https://www.ncsu.edu">NC State,</a> elaborates: “Based on our results, erythritol does not appear to have insecticidal properties on house flies in the traditional sense, and would not be a candidate for adult control.”

The research team also tested mannitol, xylitol, and sorbitol on flies, ultimately finding that only sorbitol had any nutritive value for the insects. They believe there are a multitude of reasons for why <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossilized-damselflies-mating-rituals/">flies</a> cannot survive on artificial sweeteners, including problems with digestion and a negative effect on the flies’ gut microbes.

Scientists also believe that real-world applications of a sweetener insecticide would face practical challenges, the most significant of which would likely be the presence of competing food sources. It appears even flies can understand that these sweeteners hold no nutritional value for them, and they would realistically avoid contributing to their own demise.

--

By Connor Ertz, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.entsoc.org/">Entomological Society of America</a>

Can artificial sweeteners be an effective fly insecticide?

It is possible you may have noticed recent “clickbait” or...

Clean, safe drinking <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/irrigation-groundwater-depletion/">water</a> is in short supply for up to one billion people in the developing world, according to <a href="https://thewaterproject.org/">The Water Project</a>. In addition, climate change is triggering global drought conditions to crisis proportions. And finally, the <a href="http://www.wri.org/">World Resource Institute</a> estimated in 2015 that 33 nations would be particularly water stressed by 20140. These and other water-scarcity statistics underline why the development of an effective and affordable seawater desalination and filtering process is such welcome news.

The technology consists of a graphene-oxide membrane that acts as a sort of water filter at the atomic level. Its atoms of carbon and water only allow water through, and act as a barrier to the larger salt and particulate atoms, resulting in the relatively fast and easy desalination of seawater and filtration of dirty water for safe drinking and irrigation.

The new graphene filter is an improvement over an earlier version, both created by scientists at the <a href="http://www.graphene.manchester.ac.uk/collaborate/national-graphene-institute/">National Graphene Institute</a> at <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/">The University of Manchester</a> (TUM) in England.

Wealthy nations can develop large and costly desalination plants, but this new technology could lead to the development of smaller and much more affordable filtration plants that could serve the needs of poorer countries. And since the water flow-through occurs quickly while the nano-particles of salt and waste are effectively screened, the graphene filters can accommodate the needs of large plants where huge volumes of water would flow.

“This is the first clear-cut experiment in this regime,” said TUM Professor Rahul Nair, a study participant. “We also demonstrate that there are realistic possibilities to scale up the described approach and mass produce graphene-based membranes with required sieve sizes.”

The study was published today in <a href="http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nnano.2017.21.html">Nature Nanotechnology</a>.

[caption id="attachment_202167" align="aligncenter" width="550"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-04-at-12.13.39-PM.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-202167" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-04-at-12.13.39-PM.png" alt="" width="550" height="378" /></a> Credit: University of Manchester[/caption]

--

Written by <a href="mailto:dsearls@earth.com">David Searls</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source:<a href="http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nnano.2017.21.html"> Nature Nanotechnology</a>,<a href="https://thewaterproject.org/water-scarcity/"> The Water Project</a>,<a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/08/ranking-world%E2%80%99s-most-water-stressed-countries-2040"> World Resource Institute</a>

New nanotech filtration makes seawater affordably drinkable

Clean, safe drinking water is in short supply for up...

Peter and the Farm (2016)

Artist, ex-hippie and organic livestock <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/vertical-farming-future-agriculture/">farmer</a> Peter Dunning lives a life of solitude amid pastoral beauty and decay. He still has the beard and longish hair to fit his alternative past, and a love-hate relationship with his soil and profession. Our first view of Dunning’s Mile Hill Farm is through the front windshield of a vehicle approaching a ramshackle cluster of buildings in the green middle of nowhere that look to be already partially reclaimed by the fertile land.

The film, directed by Tony Stone, is a gloss-free depiction of organic farming, with all its mud, blood, flies, filth and casual animal cruelty.  At one point, when young assistant director Dylan Krause helps the farmer wrangle a sheep to the ground, the kid nervously looks for reassurance. “We can’t catch these lice, right?”

A scene that’s just as gritty, but not the least bit humorous, is when the camera catches Dunning struggling with a sheep that it tries to shoot in the head with a rifle – and misses with the first attempt. Then he casually cuts the dead sheep’s throat and throws his pigs a pan of blood. 

Dunning has a multitude of stories, some of them ghastly but usually told in a cheerful tone that can go harder in the next breath. A mutilated hand is the result of a bandsaw accident he tells in loving detail. It left him with three gnarled fingers and a three-month hospital stay when he was 26.

When his demons are let loose, Dunning shares his regret for his inability to keep either of at least two ex-wives and his four adult children around him. “I could, in front of you, call all of my children. Not a one would answer the phone,” he tells his behind-the-camera audience. 

He shows the exact places where two of his kids were conceived, each story involving Dunning and a wife camping out overnight to bring a predatory raccoon to justice. There’s also bitter resentment for how his adoptive family would tell him next to nothing about the biological mother he never knew. 

It’s hard at first figuring out why the kids won’t visit or take the calls of the chatty old guy. Then the camera catches him in a low point, when he rages about his life choices and berates poor young Dylan for every imagined insult, and the family dysfunction begins to make sense.

Dunning is a man filled with rage, bitterness, self-revulsion and dark thoughts during his depressive, alcohol-fueled slides. At these times he admits the need to detox, “but not now.” 

“I’ve spread and lost hope over every acre,” the dark poet says of the property he tour-guides the camera through, stopping to tell stories about his herds of sheep, cows, pigs, his dog and even a couple trees on the property. 

“Life is really more impressive than death,” he says at one point. But he also mentions a rifle so powerful that it virtually obliterated the brains of a deer he had to use it on up close after wounding the beast. After which he says of his hired hand and the gun, “Paul hides it when I get suicidal.”

Dunning found his way to the property through the counter-culture and his artistic pursuits. He was – and to some extent still is – a painter and a sculptor. His pragmatic goal, when he was 33 and rudderless, was “half of the year to make money, half to make art.”

Over the decades that have passed since, Dunning has found that an organic farm is hardly a part-time venture. He admits that the year 1998 was the farm’s high point and “it’s been in decay ever since.”  Later, he eloquently describes the condition of land and landowner, perhaps quoting one of his own dark poems, “The old man is slowing down, and the weeds are speeding up.”

During one of his self-flagellating soliloquies he’s predicting how quickly he’ll be forgotten. “This used to be the Peter Dunning farm,” he imagines strangers saying dismissively of his land and his life.

Peter and the Farm is gorgeously shot, though some of the night scenes are too dark to be clearly seen. Rural Vermont looks both appealing and daunting. And the lonely, irascible, loquacious, contemplative, poetic, raging, drunk landowner knowns how to draw an audience.

Peter and the Farm is currently playing on Netflix ad is also available on iTunes, Amazon and other online sites.

--

Original Feature by David Searls, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: <a href="http://www.magpictures.com/peterandthefarm/">Peter and the Farm Official Site</a>

Earth.com Film Review Peter and the Farm

Peter and the Farm (2016) Artist, ex-hippie and organic livestock...

Researchers from <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> and <a href="http://english.pku.edu.cn/">Peking University</a> in Beijing, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/winter-pollution-china-worsening/">China</a> have written a paper suggesting that air pollution impacts older males the most, in terms of a loss of logical and verbal reasoning skills.

The researchers tested a total of 25,485 people of both sexes in 2010 and 2014 and found that for those who were 20 and under, there were no statistical difference in math and language test scores. Between age 21 and 60, the test results of males exceeded those of female participants. But in the later years, scores fell considerably for males in the most polluted cities.

The researchers were able to score the difference based on Air Quality Index readings, which grade air pollution levels on a 0-500 scale. For every ten units on the Index, older males lost 2.1 percent in cognitive skills, on average, to females living in the same cities.

“We hypothesize that differences in brain composition may help explain why men appear more sensitive to the negative effects of air pollution,” said study leader Xi Chen of Yale.

The researchers went on the explain that they attributed the greater impact of air pollution on older males on brain structural differences between the genders, making the male more vulnerable to shrinking white and gray matter.

“Contemporaneous and cumulative exposure to air pollution significantly lowers both the verbal and math test scores of survey subjects,” said Chen. “In general, men perform worse than women when exposed to the same dose of air pollution. The gender difference is more salient among the old and less educated in both tests.”

They also found that older males lost more on verbal abilities than on math skills.

China is a nation experiencing a severe air pollution crisis associated with rapid industrialization, so its cities are in much worse air-quality conditions than U.S. cities.

The study was published by <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/155762/1/GLO_DP_0032.pdfor.">EconStor</a>.

-- 

Written by David Searls, Earth.com staff writer

Source:<a href="https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/155762/1/GLO_DP_0032.pdfor."> EconStor</a>

Air pollution most severely impacts brains of older men

Researchers from Yale University and Peking University in Beijing, China...

Have you ever been driving past a seemingly innocuous stretch of factories when all of a sudden the stench of rotten eggs fills your car? The few minutes it takes for the factory odors to pass can often leave you watery-eyed and gagging. That smell may be a temporary problem for you, but it can be a constant source of discomfort for those who live or work in the shadow of that factory.

These nuisance factory odors – often coming from sewage and wastewater treatment facilities – are a global problem, and it can often be difficult to detect and eliminate the sources of these terrible smells. Fortunately, scientists have recently developed a system to sample, measure, categorize, and control these smells.

“Each odor has its own chemical source and is often found in mixtures, making identification of the sources of these smells challenging,” says Jay Witherspoon, the leader of a research team at <a href="https://www.ch2m.com/">CH2M</a>. 

Irwin Suffet, a collaborator from the <a href="http://www.ucla.edu/">University of California, Los Angeles</a> (UCLA) developed an “odor wheel,” which is implemented in field-testing. The wheel matches general descriptions of a range of smells to their chemical composition. This allows the research team to ask the public to identify the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mosquitoes-odor-receptors/">odor</a>, which they can then more accurately pinpoint to the chemical cause of each smell.

The researchers also analyze smell samples using sensitive detection devices. One of the more useful devices is usually the mass spectrometer, which can pinpoint the chemical compounds that make up the offensive odor.

When the smell’s molecular composition is identified, it can potentially be eliminated using scrubbers, biofilters, or other chemicals that mask the stench. The most common offensive smell from factories is that of rotten eggs from hydrogen sulfide. This odor has been mostly eliminated by implementation of chemical and biological odor control devices.

Witherspoon and other researchers are working to help eradicate problem odors using available technology. These solutions are only becoming more necessary, as Witherspoon has noticed that “people have become more sensitive to odors, and they are living closer to treatment facilities.” He laments that these awful smells “have become a quality of life issue.” Luckily, he and his team are doing their best to eliminate these odors from existence.

--

By Connor Ertz, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en.html">American Chemical Society</a>

New methods developed to eliminate terrible factory odors

Have you ever been driving past a seemingly innocuous stretch...

For those of us with fair skin, going to the beach can be an almost constant war against the sun – one that we often lose. It’s tough to get in a full day of fun in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/solar-smart-windows-sunlight/">sun</a> when you’re spending half of it applying and reapplying copious amounts of sunscreen. Luckily, Vasilios Stavros and the researchers at the <a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/">University of Warwick</a> in the UK are trying to help.

"Sunscreens have been around for decades, so you'd think we know all there is to know about them -- but we really don't," says Vasilios Stavros, Ph.D. His team is looking at sunscreens on a molecular level in order to help develop longer-lasting sunblock.

The goal is to better understand how molecules in sunscreen absorb light, while finding ways to increase their absorption and decrease their degradation. One of the issues is that a typical sunscreen contains many different ingredients. The research team at the <a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/">University of Warwick</a> began by focusing on sunscreen ingredients known as chemical filters, which are molecules that absorb UV light.

So far, Stavros and his team have studied about 10 common chemical filters. These filters absorb energy from the sun, which causes them to enter an excited electronic state. Unlike other molecules that may break under the intensity of the sun, chemical filters can bring themselves back down to a more stable ground state while releasing energy as harmless heat. However, sometimes they can fail, getting stuck in the excited state or breaking entirely. 

The researchers used lasers to simulate the sun’s energy and observe the flow of energy through the chemical filters, which went from ground state to excited state and back to ground state (if they worked properly). They found that roughly 10 percent of the molecules in one specific filter – known as oxybenzone – get locked in an excited state under the laser’s energy.

Studying how these molecules behave is key to finding ways to improve the overall performance of sunblock. The researchers are just now beginning to combine chemical filters in order to study them in a context more closely related to actual sunscreen, instead of just in isolation.

As research progresses, it may lead to significant improvements in the efficacy of sunblock and improve beach days for people everywhere.

--

By Connor Ertz, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en.html">American Chemical Society</a>

Longer lasting sunscreen may be just around the corner

For those of us with fair skin, going to the...

Head into any shop themed around relaxation, and you’re bound to find CDs of nature sounds. Those looking to unwind have sworn by whale song, thunderstorms, birds and rustling leaves for years.

It turns out, they may be right. Researchers from <a href="https://www.bsms.ac.uk/">Brighton and Sussex Medical School</a> say they’ve discovered not only that nature sounds provably help people relax, but also why.

Past studies have backed up that natural sounds and settings can relieve stress.

“The positive effects of exposure to naturalistic environmental stimuli extend to health benefits, including improvements in the patient experience of general anaesthesia, enhanced post-operative recovery, and reduced pain and anxiety in hospice care,” the researchers wrote in the new study.

But this is the first research that offers an explanation as to why it works.

To figure that out, the scientists collaborated with artist Mark Ware to create “natural” and “artificial” audio experiences. Then, they hooked subjects up to an MRI to study their brain activity while they listened to both soundtracks. They also monitored subjects’ heart rates.

That’s when they spotted the key: activity in the brain’s default mode network – areas in the brain that remain active while at rest – changed depending on which set of sounds the subject was listening to.

When listening to the artificial sounds, monitors showed changes in the default mode network of the brain and in the autonomous nervous system similar to changes seen in patients with anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and similar conditions.

When nature sounds were played, other areas of the default mode network activated, and subjects relaxed. In fact, the more stressed subjects were before beginning the study, the greater the relaxation response they showed when listening to nature sounds.

“We are all familiar with the feeling of relaxation and ‘switching-off’ which comes from a walk in the countryside, and now we have evidence from the brain and the body which helps us understand this effect,” lead author Dr. Cassandra Gould van Praag said in a press release. “This has been an exciting collaboration between artists and scientists, and it has produced results which may have a real-world impact, particularly for people who are experiencing high levels of stress.”

The researchers believe their findings can help explain why so many people find nature sounds so relaxing. Ware, Gould van Praag and the other scientists hope to collaborate on future research.

The study has been published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/srep45273">Scientific Reports</a>.

—

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com/staff">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Think nature sounds are relaxing? Here's what science says

Head into any shop themed around relaxation, and you’re bound...

How Stanley met Livingstone

“Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

Most people have heard, or even uttered in jest, that line and never really thought about its origins. It’s usually expressed as a deliberately obvious statement. 

The words were attributed to a surprised Welsh-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley after he finally caught up with English missionary and explorer David Livingstone in what might have been described at the time as deepest, darkest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-renewable-energy-fuel-africa/">Africa</a>. The greeting is amusingly obvious because Stanley was almost undoubtedly addressing the only other English-speaking white man within hundreds of miles. There could be no doubt as to his identity. But one theory is that the awkwardness of the words was a bad attempt by Stanley to hide his alarm at the physical condition of the older man. 

Missionary explorer 

David Livingstone grew up in a very religious, Presbyterian household and stayed religious his entire life. In addition to looking for Christian converts, his many journeys to Africa were to find the source of the Nile, a discovery that he felt would make him famous enough to have influence over ending the slave trade, which he abhorred. 

During one of many trips to Africa he got into a tangle with a lion and had to set his tattered arm by himself. He frequently suffered cholera and the malaria attacks that killed his wife. He was unable to proceed down one river in a steamboat because of the dead bodies thrown into the water by slavers that got tangled in the wheel.

 Livingstone became a national hero with the book he wrote describing his mid-career adventures and by becoming the first European to see the impressive waterfall he’d rename Victoria Falls in honor of his queen. 

Despite his abhorrence for the European slave traders who were among the few whites he met on the Dark Continent, they saved his life on two occasions after his porters died or deserted him and he became ill. At another time, it was Arab traders who rescued him. 

In 1866, Livingstone took an expedition deep into Equatorial Africa in search of the source of the fabled Nile River. Livingstone never did succeed in that venture, but he lost contact with the outside world in the process, which brings us to his partner in legend.

Livingstone never did find the source of the Nile, and his many years of travel left him ravished by illness. 

A life of adventure and exaggeration

If Livingstone’s life was fascinating, Stanley’s was perhaps more so. Though he would be knighted by the British Empire in 1899, that was an honor his miserable beginnings would have never foretold. He never knew his father, his mother abandoned him before he was five and he was probably raped and brutalized at the poorhouse in which he grew up before fleeing the Old World for the new.

Upon his arrival in America, he changed his name to Stanley, supposedly in honor of a wealthy merchant who adopted him when he was 18. However, that story, and many others he told fell apart under closer scrutiny.

Stanley’s Civil War military career was as colorful and hazy as the rest of his life. Living in the South at the time, he reluctantly joined the Confederate Army before being captured in 1862 and switching sides. But he was released soon afterwards by the Union Army because he was so seriously ill. He recovered eventually, worked on merchant vessels and joined the Union Navy in 1864. He and a friend then deserted ship as the war was winding down.

Stanley became a self-styled journalist to chase adventure across the globe. He was briefly imprisoned in the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey) and filed stories on behalf of the New York Times when he followed a British expeditionary force into battle with an Ethiopian king. He also reported on The Glorious Revolution, a Spanish civil war with a glorious name.

By 1869, Livingstone had lost contact with the outside world for three years and the New York Herald commissioned 28-year-old Stanley and his more than 100 porters to find him. The expedition traveled 700 miles into impenetrable forests, leaving many of his porters behind, felled by numerous tropical diseases.

The two explorers finally met up in present-day Tanzania in late 1871. That’s where The New York Times claimed, a year later, that Stanley uttered that timeless greeting.

Stanley was not able to persuade Livingstone to accompany him back, and the older missionary-explorer would die in Africa about a year-and-a-half after the legendary meeting. Stanley would eventually return to Britain, join Parliament, become a bestselling author of books that were probably highly fictionalized versions of his adventures, and be knighted Sir Henry Morton Stanley in 1899.

“Dr. Livingston, I presume?”

Were those words ever actually spoken? That particular page from Stanley’s diary is perhaps suspiciously missing and the account that got written up in the New York Herald in 1872 doesn’t exactly put all doubts at bay:

Preserving a calmness of exterior before the Arabs which was hard to simulate as he reached the group, Mr. Stanley said: – "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?" A smile lit up the features of the pale white man as he answered: "Yes, and I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you."

But if it didn’t happen exactly that way, it should have. 

--

Written by David Searls, <a href="http://Earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/130729-rats-islands-invasive-species-animals-environment/">National Geographic</a>

Earth.com Explorer Series: How Stanley met Livingstone

How Stanley met Livingstone “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Most people...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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