<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHHxOej4QfE
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Researchers found a correlation between Alzheimer's disease and traffic pollution.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-invisible-threat-in-urban-air">Invisible threat in urban air</h2>



City dwellers face an unseen danger with every breath. New findings from Emory University researchers suggest that fine particulate matter from <a href="http://earth.com/news/traffic-related-air-pollution-might-increase-alzheimers-risk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">vehicle emissions may significantly elevate the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease</a>. The study examined brain tissue samples from 224 individuals who had confirmed diagnoses and volunteered their brains for scientific research.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-disturbing-connections-emerge">Disturbing connections emerge</h2>



Scientists analyzed neuritic plaques — protein clusters that characterize Alzheimer's — while mapping each participant's exposure to PM2.5 particles based on residential location and surrounding traffic density. The correlation proved more alarming than anticipated. Individuals experiencing higher pollution exposure showed nearly double the likelihood of elevated plaque accumulation in brain tissue.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-timing-matters">Timing matters</h2>



The research team discovered that pollution exposure during the final year before death demonstrated the strongest association with brain changes. This timeline suggests relatively rapid impacts from environmental toxins on neural health. The connection remained robust even after accounting for various demographic and health factors.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genetic-vulnerability-patterns">Genetic vulnerability patterns</h2>



Perhaps most concerning, people lacking the APOE gene—which naturally predisposes individuals to Alzheimer's — exhibited more than twice the susceptibility to pollution-related brain damage. Study author Dr. Anke Huels noted this indicates environmental elements like air contamination could trigger the disease in cases where hereditary factors don't explain.



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



These findings, published in <a href="https://www.neurology.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Neurology</a>, underscore the critical importance of air quality regulations in urban planning. The research suggests that implementing stricter emission controls and promoting alternative transportation could serve as powerful tools in Alzheimer's prevention.



As cities worldwide grapple with growing traffic congestion and aging populations, this study highlights an urgent need for comprehensive approaches to environmental health that protect both our lungs and our minds.



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Traffic fumes may trigger Alzheimer's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHHxOej4QfE Researchers found a correlation between Alzheimer's disease and traffic pollution. Invisible threat in urban air City dwellers face an unseen danger with every breath. New findings from Emory University researchers suggest that fine particulate matter from vehicle emissions may significantly elevate the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The study examined brain tissue samples from 224 individuals who had confirmed diagnoses and volunteered their brains for scientific research. Disturbing connections emerge Scientists analyzed neuritic plaques — protein clusters that characterize Alzheimer's — while mapping each participant's exposure...

If you’re a male gray frog trying to find a mate, you’d better have a fast and steady call. That’s what female treefrogs usually go for. But when the crowd gets loud and chaotic, things change. The males that don’t sound all that great? They suddenly have a shot.



In quiet situations where females only hear two males at once, their preferences are clear. They go for the one with the sharper, more rhythmic call. 



But when four or even eight males are calling at once, things get messy. Female choices become unpredictable. This isn’t just a frog issue - it ties into a broader idea that scientists call “choice overload.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-frogs-face-chaos-in-the-chorus">Frogs face chaos in the chorus</h2>



In nature, frogs gather in large, noisy groups called choruses. Picture a shallow pond in spring, with dozens of males calling out at the same time. It’s the frog equivalent of a dating scene in a packed nightclub.



The researchers found that the crowded conditions of these choruses might be too overwhelming for females to reliably pick the best mate. It’s not that they stop caring - it’s that they can’t tell who’s who.



Professor Jessie Tanner of the <a href="https://www.utk.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Tennessee, Knoxville</a>, led a team studying how choice overload affects evolution.



“Because female mate choice can drive evolution, our results suggest that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/unraveling-the-story-of-early-animal-evolution/">evolution</a> might happen more slowly than we thought before,” she said. 



“Some males that are fairly unattractive could still mate, especially if they take advantage of crowded spaces where females might be less able to discriminate between attractive and unattractive males.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-happens-when-choices-are-too-hard">What happens when choices are too hard?</h2>



The idea of choice overload is pretty common in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/science-behind-predicting-and-changing-human-behavior/">human behavior</a>. You walk into a store to buy toothpaste and face 50 brands. You either freeze, grab something random, or walk away. Same goes for dating apps with endless swiping.



“We wanted to understand how having to make mating decisions in crowded environments, where choice overload could be a problem, might drive the evolution of calls,” Tanner explained. 



“Since males that are chosen by females pass on their genes to the next generation, this mate choice can cause the population to change over time.”



When animals, like people, face too many options, their decision-making can break down. That opens up a chance for less attractive mates to get picked - not because they became more appealing, but because the chooser got overwhelmed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-choice-overload-in-other-animals">Choice overload in other animals</h2>



This isn’t just about frogs. Scientists are now looking at how this effect shows up in other animals. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bumblebees-increasingly-stressed-over-the-past-century/">Bumblebees</a>, for instance, are on the list. So are wood roaches.



“Our lab is working to understand how choice overload and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/frogs-have-lungs-that-cancel-out-background-noise/">noise</a> may each contribute to the difficulty female treefrogs face in making mating decisions,” Tanner said. 



“We are also working to understand whether this choice overload is something that occurs generally in many different kinds of animals or is more specific to individual species.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-simultaneous-cricket-songs">Simultaneous cricket songs </h2>



Tanner, who has a background in both psychology and biology, first got into animal behavior while studying mate choice as an undergrad. She later became interested in sound - especially how it plays into animal communication.



That led to earlier work on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-male-crickets-go-silent-how-females-adapt-and-respond/">crickets</a>. Like treefrogs, male crickets use sound to attract mates. A study on cricket mating showed that noisy environments might either block females from hearing calls or make them too confused to pick. It was hard to tell which was causing the problem.



“During that study, it became clear that our work was consistent with both the possibility that many simultaneous cricket songs created noise that made it hard for females to hear, and the possibility that the females were experiencing choice overload,” Tanner said. “Our current work looks to disentangle those ideas.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-average-becomes-good-enough">When average becomes good enough</h2>



The research adds a new layer to how scientists think about evolution. Normally, stronger signals - like a faster frog call - are expected to win out and spread through the population over time. 



But if crowded conditions keep females from consistently picking the top performers, evolution slows down. Mediocre traits stick around longer.



That changes the math for survival. In nature, being the best isn’t always enough - and sometimes, being just okay is good enough, especially if the crowd’s loud and the choices are many.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2025.0585" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences</a>.



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Frogs settle for average mates when dating gets too noisy

If you’re a male gray frog trying to find a...

Tomatoes do not just grow faster on a whim. They speed up when a tiny spelling mistake in their DNA gets corrected with precise tools.



A Swiss team did exactly that in a domesticated tomato line, altering SSP2, and the plants shifted into fruiting earlier while staying compact. 



In a new study, the researchers show that fixing a single harmful mutation can tune the plant’s growth schedule in a predictable way.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-making-genetic-alterations">Making genetic alterations</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-italian-secret-to-sweeter-tomato-plants-and-greater-economic-efficiency/">The tomato</a> carried a small <a href="https://www.yeastgenome.org/locus/S000005768">change in a gene</a> called SSP2, which helps switch growing tips from making leaves to making flowers. 



That switch sets the pace for fruiting, so repairing the harmful version of SSP2 nudged plants to set fruit sooner without ballooning in size.



This work comes from assistant professor <a href="https://www.unil.ch/dbmv/en/home/menuinst/research/recherche/prof-sebastian-soyk.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sebastian Soyk</a> at the University of Lausanne (<a href="https://www.unil.ch/unil/fr/home.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UNIL</a>), whose group focuses on the genetics of flowering and plant architecture.&nbsp;



“Our work shows how deleterious variants have sensitized modern genotypes for phenotypic tuning and illustrates how repairing deleterious mutations with genome editing may allow predictable crop improvement,” wrote Soyk in the report.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changing-the-tomato-s-ssp2-gene">Changing the tomato's SSP2 gene</h2>



During domestication, people selected traits like bigger fruit and determinate growth. That selection also dragged along unwanted DNA changes, a pattern called the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28992310/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cost of domestication</a>. 



A 2018 review explains how such mutations accumulate and can subtly reduce performance.



The Swiss group identified a single letter change in SSP2 that weakened the protein’s grip on DNA. 



They also showed that SSP2 normally backs up a related paralog called SSP, and that redundancy eroded in domesticated <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ripening-tomatoes-may-hold-clues-to-delay-human-aging/">tomatoes</a> over time.



Flowering in-tomato is powered by florigen, a mobile signal encoded by the gene SINGLE FLOWER TRUSS (<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14504922/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SFT</a>). 



Classic work showed how SFT shapes yield by balancing vegetative growth and flower production, including heterosis effects in hybrids, in a landmark <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.550" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paper</a>.



SSP and SSP2 are transcription factor partners that help florigen trigger the flower program. When SSP2 is compromised, the switch gets sluggish, shoots elongate more before flowering, and early fruit set slips.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-the-data-shows">What the data shows</h2>



Once the harmful letter in SSP2 was corrected, plants produced an earlier tranche of ripe fruit under controlled conditions. 



The repaired line showed compact growth and fewer flowers per truss, which channeled development toward earlier maturity.



At harvest, the repaired plants had an 8 percent higher share of fully red fruit compared with siblings carrying the uncorrected allele, and they showed an 11 percent lower sugar content by Brix. 



The team scaled up measurements to make that conclusion, then reported the full trait set in the study already cited.



Domestication often narrows genetic diversity and can fix slightly harmful variants that hitchhike with useful ones. Over centuries of selection and inbreeding, those background changes can linger and affect traits in small ways.



With precise editing, breeders can now remove a specific deleterious variant without undoing the useful alleles it sits near. 



That approach complements classical breeding and reduces guesswork that usually follows random <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/understanding-crop-pest-evolution-to-develop-biocontrol-strategies/">mutagenesis</a> or long cycles of recombination, as noted by the broader literature on domestication’s genetic footprints in the same 2018 review linked above.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ssp2-tomatoes-and-health-concerns">SSP2 tomatoes and health concerns</h2>



Switzerland has maintained a moratorium on growing genetically modified crops since 2005, and lawmakers voted in June 2025 to extend it. 



Swiss <a href="https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/various/parliament-wants-to-extend-genetic-engineering-moratorium-by-five-years/89467765" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lawmakers</a> backed a continuation through 2030, while also debating tailored rules for new gene editing methods.



That policy context matters because base edited plants, including those created by precise letter swaps, may fall under different legal definitions depending on jurisdiction. 



The debate centers on whether an edit that could occur naturally should be regulated like older transgenic approaches that insert foreign DNA.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-this-could-mean-next-season">What this could mean next season</h2>



Earlier yield can be valuable for growers in short seasons, high latitude regions, or indoor systems where turn time is money. 



Compact plants with predictable flowering can be spaced and pruned more efficiently, which helps planning.



There is a tradeoff to watch, since lower Brix means less sweetness. Breeders can mitigate that by stacking the SSP2 repair with sugar related alleles or by targeting edits to environments where early red fruit is worth more than peak sweetness.



The SFT pathway is a central timing circuit in tomato, and tuning it has a long track record in yield optimization. 



<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20348958/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heterozygosity</a> at SFT can boost yield markedly in hybrids, showing how small shifts in flowering control ripple into fruit set and harvest timing, as shown in the 2010 paper cited above.



The SSP and SSP2 pair acts just upstream of these outcomes, guiding meristems to switch from leafy growth to flower clusters on schedule. 



Repairing SSP2 did not raise total fruit number in this experiment, but it pulled ripening forward and tightened the plant’s form, which is a clear lever for scheduling.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-024-02026-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Genetics</a>.



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This Swiss trick makes tomatoes bear fruit much faster

Tomatoes do not just grow faster on a whim. They...

Ryugu_aqueous-evolution_en

Large amounts of liquid water once flowed inside asteroid Ryugu. A new study shows that this did not happen only in the first few million years of the solar system, but more than a billion years later.



Japan’s <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hayabusa-2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hayabusa2</a> mission brought pieces of Ryugu back to Earth in December 2020. The reentry <a href="https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2020/12/20201214-1_e.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">capsule</a> was recovered in Australia, and work began to open it and distribute samples to labs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ryugu-s-water-record">Ryugu’s water record</h2>



The team studied the ratio of isotopes in the returned grains and found a clear fingerprint of liquid water moving through rock long after the asteroid formed. 



That late flow was strong enough to carry certain elements out of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/asteroid-that-once-threatened-earth-may-target-the-moon/">rock</a> and into fractures.



This work was led by <a href="https://secure.eps.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/member/index.php?_urid=3394&amp;_lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tsuyoshi Iizuka</a> at the <a href="https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Tokyo</a>. The group reports that Ryugu’s parent body likely held between 20 and 30 percent water by mass.



In addition, the contribution of such bodies to Earth’s water may need to be revised upward by a factor of two to three.



Hayabusa2 collected a total of 5.4 grams from two sites, including material excavated from about 3.3 feet below the surface. The mission <a href="https://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sas/hayabusa2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">project</a> confirms the returned mass and notes that the goal had been only 0.1 gram.



“We found that Ryugu preserved a pristine record of water activity, evidence that fluids moved through its rocks far later than we expected,” said Associate Professor Iizuka.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-clock-ran-fast">Why the clock ran fast</h2>



The team used <a href="https://evolution.berkeley.edu/radiometric-dating/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">radiometric dating</a> based on the decay of one element (lutetium 176) into another (hafnium 176) over time to figure out when key events happened inside the asteroid. 



Those clocks are reliable when elements stay put, but they can be thrown off if fluids move them around.



Some tiny grains looked older than the solar system, which is impossible. 



The only sensible reason is that liquid water flowed through parts of the rock and carried away a small amount of lutetium, which made the age calculation appear too old.



The method is powerful because lutetium and hafnium behave differently during water rock interactions. Lutetium dissolves more readily under certain alkaline conditions, while hafnium tends to stay locked in solid phases.



That contrast let the researchers map the movement of water, not by seeing the water itself but by measuring the chemical wake it left behind. 



They found evidence for at least several percent loss of lutetium in affected spots, which is enough to skew the apparent ages.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-water-flowed-through-ryugu">How water flowed through Ryugu</h2>



Early in solar system history, short-lived radioactive heat can melt ices inside small worlds. Later on, that heat is gone, so you need another source to melt ice and set fluids moving.



The study points to impacts that warmed the interior and cracked open pathways for liquid to travel. 



Sunlight alone cannot do the job deep below the surface, since it can only warm material down to about 16 inches, while some of the analyzed material came from about 3.3 feet.



These late fluids were not a steady flood. The mineral record shows limited flow along fractures, followed by loss of water as vapor that escaped to space through pores near the surface.



That pattern fits the chemistry that the team measured. Certain minerals show corrosion where water passed by, and complementary products formed when the water later cooled and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/citizen-astronomers-captured-a-possible-impact-on-saturn-for-the-first-time-ever/">minerals</a> precipitated.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/asteroid-ryugu_water-flowing_billions-years_illustration_Kyoto-U_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/asteroid-ryugu_water-flowing_billions-years_illustration_Kyoto-U_1s.webp" alt="Evolution of alkaline brines through the history of Ryugu samples. Credit: Kyoto University" class="wp-image-1985845"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Evolution of alkaline brines through the history of Ryugu samples. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Kyoto University</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ryugu-s-impact-on-earth">Ryugu’s impact on Earth</h2>



If Ryugu’s parent body retained a large store of ice and liquid for so long, similar <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/carbonaceous-meteorite" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">carbonaceous asteroids</a> could have delivered more water to the inner planets than many models assumed. That matters for the story of Earth’s oceans.



CI type meteorites, known as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/carbonaceous-chondrite" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CI chondrites</a>, have long been used as a benchmark for primitive, water rich material. 



Ryugu’s chemistry is close to that group, and the new data suggest that past estimates of how much water such bodies can deliver were too low.



The authors note that early water rock interaction on these bodies happened at mild temperatures and alkaline pH, then slowed as the rock cooled. 



Later impacts briefly restarted the system, sending pulses of fluid through the interior.



Independent <a href="https://www.osti.gov/pages/biblio/1959483" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">analysis</a> of Ryugu carbonates supports this picture of early low temperature alteration within the first few million years. The new work extends the timeline and shows that water stayed available much later.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ryugu-lessons-for-worlds">Ryugu lessons for worlds</h2>



Hayabusa2 did not just scrape the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/asteroid-bennu-carries-stardust-older-than-the-solar-system/">surface</a>. It created an artificial crater, collected subsurface material, and returned a finely curated set of grains to Earth for careful study.



Those grains let scientists test ideas about <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016703721000363" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aqueous alteration</a> without guessing from telescope data alone. They also help calibrate the isotope clocks that date rocks around the solar system.



The results hint that small bodies can hold on to ice and liquid longer than expected. That increases the odds that collisions early in Earth’s history could deliver large water loads.



Finally, the work underscores the value of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-chaos-how-an-asteroid-strike-would-change-life-on-earth/">sample</a> return missions. A few grams of unweathered material can answer questions that remote sensing might never settle.



The study is published in <a href="http://nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09483-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Asteroid Ryugu still had large amounts of liquid water inside over one billion years after it formed

Large amounts of liquid water once flowed inside asteroid Ryugu....

Earlier this year, astronomers watched a burst of high-energy light that kept roaring back for nearly a full day. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are usually sorted into short and long events, and they generally last from milliseconds to a few minutes.



In a new study, researchers describe a signal named GRB 250702B that fired three distinct times over a few hours, with soft X-rays flaring even earlier. The team also reported evidence that the source lies beyond our galaxy.



Lead researchers Antonio Martin-Carrillo of <a href="https://www.ucd.ie/">University College Dublin</a> (UCD) and Andrew J. Levan of <a href="https://www.ru.nl/en">Radboud University</a> (RU) directed the effort. 



Their teams combined rapid-response alerts from NASA’s <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/fermi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fermi satellite</a>, China’s Einstein Probe, and follow-up observations with the Very Large Telescope (<a href="https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">VLT</a>) and the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hubble Space Telescope</a>.



Martin-Carrillo called it "unlike any other seen in 50 years of GRB observations. This is 100 to 1,000 times longer than most GRBs. More importantly, gamma-ray bursts never repeat since the event that produces them is catastrophic."&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-makes-grb-250702b-so-strange">What makes GRB 250702B so strange</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-pinpoints-location-farthest-gamma-ray-bursts-in-universe/">GRBs</a> don't typically don't happen twice, much less three or more times. Here, Fermi saw three distinct outbursts separated by thousands of seconds, while the Einstein Probe caught earlier<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/understanding-x-ray-radiation-that-spews-out-of-black-holes-surroundings/"> X-ray</a> activity that started many hours before.



The timing was not random. The third outburst arrived at roughly an integer multiple of the gap between the first two. This pattern suggests at a repeating process inside the source rather than a single one-off blast.



The overall energy in gamma rays is in the same ballpark as other GRBs at similar distances, yet the pattern of activity is different. 



Standard relations that link a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brightest-gamma-ray-burst-ever-recorded-had-a-rare-energy-peak/">burst’s peak energy</a> to its total output do not align cleanly for each of the three pulses.



The fading afterglow across X-ray, infrared, and radio bands looks normal for a jet from a compact central engine. The near-infrared signal was unusual in one respect: it was extremely red, which suggests heavy dust near the site.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-locating-a-cosmic-mystery">Locating a cosmic mystery</h2>



"Before these observations, the general feeling in the community was that this gamma-ray burst must have originated from within our galaxy," said Levan. "The VLT fundamentally changed that paradigm." 



VLT’s HAWK-I camera picked up an extremely red point of light that faded over days.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hubble-spots-a-white-dwarf-created-in-a-violent-star-collision/">Hubble</a> went a step further and resolved a galaxy at the same spot. That finding places the source in an extragalactic system, likely several billion light-years away. The engine must be extremely powerful to be visible at all.



VLT’s X-shooter spectrograph covered visible to infrared wavelengths and saw a very faint, red continuum, consistent with heavy dust. 



While the exact redshift is still being refined, the data point to a relatively nearby cosmic distance compared with many GRBs, which helps explain the sharp view of the host galaxy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-potential-black-hole-link">Potential black hole link</h2>



One explanation for GRB 250702B points to a jetted tidal disruption event, in which a black hole tears apart a passing star and feeds on the debris. 



Astronomers have observed such jets firing erratically in events like Swift J1644+57, described in a paper that modeled how a powerful magnetic field around the black hole could drive on-off behavior.



Another possibility fits the unusual timing. The authors consider a compact <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/white-dwarf-stars-may-be-billions-of-years-older-than-estimated/">white dwarf star</a> passing close to an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/evidence-found-suggesting-new-space-objects-called-intermediate-mass-black-holes/">intermediate-mass black hole</a>. 



This class of black holes is heavier than stellar-mass ones but lighter than the giants in galaxy centers, with masses around 100 to 100,000 times that of the Sun.



In this scenario, the star could be partially stripped during each close pass, feeding the jet in bursts spaced according to the star’s orbit.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-doesn-t-fit-the-mold">Doesn't fit the mold</h2>



A more familiar GRB engine, a collapsing massive star, is not off the table. 



The problem is explaining how such a collapse would produce multiple widely spaced pulses over many hours rather than one sustained episode lasting seconds to minutes.



Lensing by a foreground galaxy can also repeat a transient by splitting light paths, but the pulse shapes here differ from one another. The color and afterglow behavior also point away from that lensing explanation.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/gamma-ray-burst_GRB-250702B_long_repeating_image-sequence_ESO_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/gamma-ray-burst_GRB-250702B_long_repeating_image-sequence_ESO_1s.webp" alt="This sequence of images shows the evolution over several days of the gamma-ray burst GRB 250702B. The first five images shown here were taken with the VLT’s HAWK-I infrared camera. The explosion, marked here with circles, appears to be nested within an elongated galaxy. An image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on 15 July, bottom right, confirmed this. The galaxy appears to be seen edge-on, with a dark dust-lane crossing it. Credit: ESO/A. Levan, A. Martin-Carrillo et al./NASA/ESA " class="wp-image-1985820"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This sequence of images shows the evolution over several days of the gamma-ray burst GRB 250702B. The first five images shown here were taken with the VLT’s HAWK-I infrared camera. The explosion, marked here with circles, appears to be nested within an elongated galaxy. An image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on 15 July, bottom right, confirmed this. The galaxy appears to be seen edge-on, with a dark dust-lane crossing it. Click image to enlarge. Credit: ESO/A. Levan, A. Martin-Carrillo et al./NASA/ESA </figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-light-patterns-from-grb-250702b">Light patterns from GRB 250702B</h2>



The first detections were in soft X-rays, then came the brightest gamma-ray flash hours later. That order flips the usual script for GRBs, where the strongest gamma rays typically arrive first and fade quickly.



Infrared light faded quickly, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/massive-telescope-array-is-joining-the-hunt-for-alien-life/">radio telescopes</a> detected a faint source consistent with a standard jet interacting with surrounding gas. 



Those observations match the afterglow physics well, even if the prompt high-energy behavior does not fit neatly into existing categories.



The host galaxy is not a nuclear site, which weakens ideas that require a supermassive black hole sitting at the center. If the burst is a disruption event, an off-center intermediate-mass black hole is a better match for the position.



The red color likely comes from dust lanes in the host galaxy that absorb blue light. That dust also lines up with the strong X-ray absorption measured from the same line of sight.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-watching-for-a-supernova">Watching for a supernova</h2>



In jet-driven tidal disruption events, X-ray light can plummet once the jet shuts off, while radio emission can rise for months as the blast wave expands. 



Continued X-ray and radio monitoring will test whether this source follows that playbook.



If a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-true-nature-of-dark-matter-may-be-revealed-in-a-supernova/">supernova</a> is involved, it would glow in the infrared a few weeks after the collapse. Dust makes that search harder, but large, sensitive telescopes can still look for the telltale rise and fall.



Spectroscopy can also help determine the distance and characterize the environment around the source. 



A firm redshift would establish the energy budget and sharpen the comparison to known gamma-ray bursts and disruption events.



"We are still not sure what produced this, but with this research we have made a huge step forward towards understanding this extremely unusual and exciting object," said Martin-Carrillo.



The study is published in <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adf8e1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>.



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Unusually long and repeating gamma-ray burst, 'unlike any other seen,' baffles astronomers

Earlier this year, astronomers watched a burst of high-energy light...

A new study recorded brain activity from 621,733 neurons in 139 mice as they made decisions, building the first activity map of a mammal’s entire brain at single-cell resolution. 



The team saw where signals for seeing, choosing, moving, and getting feedback show up and how they unfold together.



The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09235-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work</a> goes beyond the usual hunt for a single decision center and shows a coordinated, brain-wide <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-our-brains-build-mental-maps-of-the-world/">pattern</a>. It also tests a simple idea about how past experience shapes a new choice without us noticing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-map-of-activity">Brain map of activity</h2>



One of the researchers, <a href="https://neurocenter-unige.ch/research-groups/alexandre-pouget/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alexandre Pouget</a> of the <a href="https://www.unige.ch/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Geneva</a>, helped lead an international group that trained mice to turn a small wheel to center a striped target for a reward. When the target was faint or absent, the mice leaned on their recent history to guess.



Across 12 labs, the group inserted 699 probes and sampled 279 brain areas while the same task ran everywhere. 



They used <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24636" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Neuropixels</a> to record spikes from hundreds of neurons per probe with millisecond precision, which made a fine-grained map possible.



“This is the first time anyone has produced a full, brain-wide map of the activity of single neurons during decision-making,” explained Pouget.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-activity-and-decisions-in-the-brain">Activity and decisions in the brain</h2>



Vision <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/first-map-of-the-brains-mitochondria-may-explain-cognitive-decline/">signals</a> appeared first in classical visual areas, then spread into midbrain and hindbrain regions that also carried choice information.&nbsp;



Earlier <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1787-x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work</a> in mice had already hinted that choice, action, and engagement are distributed, not isolated in one cortical spot. The new map strengthens that view with coverage of hundreds of regions and clear timing.



Feedback mattered, too. When trials were correct and reward was delivered, wide swaths of the brain lit up together, reflecting both the liquid reward and the licking movements that came with it.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/mouse-brain-map_75-thousand-neurons_decision-making-process_Princeton_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/mouse-brain-map_75-thousand-neurons_decision-making-process_Princeton_1s.webp" alt="Visualization of 75,000 neurons (colored dots) active across the brain of an adult mouse across different stages of a decision-making task. Dot size reflects a cell’s average firing rate, such that larger dots indicate more active neurons. The color of each dot represents a different grouping of related brain regions. Data collected as part of the International Brain Laboratory’s effort to create a whole-brain map of behavior. Credit: Dan Birman (University of Washington/Allen Institute)" class="wp-image-1985838"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Visualization of 75,000 neurons (colored dots) active across the brain of an adult mouse across different stages of a decision-making task. Dot size reflects a cell’s average firing rate, such that larger dots indicate more active neurons. The color of each dot represents a different grouping of related brain regions. Data collected as part of the International Brain Laboratory’s effort to create a whole-brain map of behavior. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Dan Birman (University of Washington/Allen Institute)</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-expectations-shape-perception">Expectations shape perception</h2>



A companion <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09226-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paper</a> tested how prior expectations, built from recent trials, are encoded. Mice estimated the block’s left-right probabilities and performed better when the stimulus was weak, including zero-contrast trials.



The authors decoded signals for this subjective prior in 20 percent to 30 percent of recorded regions spanning early sensory areas like the thalamus, motor areas, and higher cortex.&nbsp;



Crucially, prior signals were present even before a new stimulus appeared and were detectable very early after it arrived. 



That result explains how expectations can nudge perception without crossing into conscious awareness.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-the-data-showed">What the data showed</h2>



Across the project, the team analyzed 75,708 well-isolated <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-the-brain-learns-study-reveals-an-unexpected-twist/">neurons</a> with the highest quality metrics. 



Just before a movement began, about 4 percent of neurons had activity correlated with the direction of the upcoming choice after controlling for stimulus and block.



Movement variables were strong predictors of activity, and reward delivery was one of the largest contributors to explained variance. 



Those patterns tell us that action and outcome signals are broadly shared, while basic sensory signals stay more localized and brief.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-brain-activity-map-matters">Why the brain activity map matters</h2>



The map shows that decision-making is not a handoff <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-mapping-research-mouse-neurons-revolutionary-advance/">from sense to thought to action</a>. It looks more like many regions voting together, each carrying partial information that becomes aligned near movement and feedback.



That layout matters for medicine and technology. If priors and choices are distributed, measuring or modulating a single region may miss the story or cause side effects elsewhere.



The data come from head-fixed mice in a specific visual task, so the conclusions are about how mouse brains act under those conditions. 



The authors also note that licking and other movements explain a large share of the variance during reward, which means the hedonic piece is tangled with motor signals.



The map is correlational, not causal. It shows where information is present, not which sites are required for a decision, and it sets up future causal tests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reading-the-technical-terms">Reading the technical terms</h2>



Neuropixels are high-density silicon electrodes that record spikes from hundreds of neurons along a thin shank. They offer single-spike timing, which is needed to separate fast sensory and motor events.



The thalamus is a relay hub that routes sensory <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/first-complete-map-of-every-neuron-in-the-brain-revealed/">signals</a> to the cortex and receives strong feedback from the cortex. 



Seeing prior signals there tells us that expectations are changing the initial formatting of incoming inputs, not only the later decision layers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mapping-brain-activity-in-humans">Mapping brain activity in humans</h2>



The dataset is public, and the analysis code is standardized. That enables other labs to check the findings, try new models, and test questions about learning, attention, and internal states.



A natural next step is to combine this map with targeted perturbations and to follow priors as they update in different contexts. 



If the same network rules hold across tasks, that will sharpen theories of how brains implement probabilistic inference.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/RSBDnDD2Efo
</div></figure>



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09235-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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First-ever brain activity map captures the decision-making process

A new study recorded brain activity from 621,733 neurons in...

Plastic may not always float where we expect it. The ocean’s surface might look clean in some places, but far beneath the waves, a different story is unfolding. 



In the southeastern Mediterranean, the deep seafloor is turning into a massive storage ground for plastic packaging, especially bags. A new study shows how this <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/large-retailers-are-replacing-plastic-bags-with-eco-friendly-paper-bags/">waste</a> ends up thousands of feet below the surface, and the answer isn’t as simple as trash just “sinking.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plastic-in-the-deep-sea">Plastic in the deep sea</h2>



Plastic debris has entered every corner of the ocean, but previously, most of the research has concentrated on floating plastic or beach trash. That changed with this latest study, which took a closer look at what is occurring on the ocean floor. 



Scientists discovered that the Levant Basin - a deep section of the eastern <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/two-continents-meet-along-the-mediterranean-coastline/">Mediterranean</a> off the coasts of Israel, Egypt, and Turkey - is among the world's most contaminated deep-sea areas.



“We used trawls to survey the seafloor and we mainly found plastic bags and packaging that dominate the debris,” said Xing-Yu Li from the <a href="https://www.haifa.ac.il/?lang=en">University of Haifa</a>, the study’s lead author.



This raised a question: how does something so light - something meant to float - end up nearly a mile underwater?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-forensic-approach-to-trash">A forensic approach to trash</h2>



To answer that, the team decided to treat each plastic item like a crime scene. Every piece of debris was carefully examined using a method called multi-marker analysis. 



This approach looks at everything about the plastic - size, shape, color, material, surface features, and even what kinds of things are stuck to it, like tar or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/marine-organisms-may-adapt-to-climate-change-but-with-hidden-costs/">marine organisms</a>.



“In the multi-marker approach anything that is found on a piece of plastic is an evidence,” said Xing-yu. “We extracted as many evidence as possible from every piece of waste, more than many previous studies, to build a fuller, more detailed view of the bottom waste.”



Instead of just counting how much trash was found, this method helped researchers understand how it got there, why it sank, and where it might have come from.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-some-plastic-doesn-t-sink">Why some plastic doesn’t sink</h2>



Most of the plastics found were <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/everyday-kitchen-tool-that-could-be-leaching-toxins-into-your-food-polypropylene-cutting-board/">polyethylene</a> - the same material used in grocery bags. Normally, this kind of plastic floats. But when additives like calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) are mixed in during manufacturing, the plastic becomes heavier. 



Those with CaCO₃ sank closer to the shore. Others, without these additives, drifted farther out before eventually settling on the seafloor.



The study also revealed that the deep basin at over 3,000 feet deep acts like a trap. Pressure and fine sediments help keep the plastic down. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biofilms-could-change-the-way-we-track-plastic-pollution/">Biofilms</a>, which are slimy layers formed by microbes, usually help weigh plastics down too, but they don’t grow well in this part of the sea. Instead, things like tar, sand, and tiny shells helped plastics stay put.



The scientists noted that these plastic films - while thin and lightweight - are ending up where they can do the most long-term damage. 



Even more troubling, the team found that some of this plastic could become buoyant again if disturbed, but because of how the deep sea works, that rarely happens. Once the plastic settles, it stays.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-the-trash-is-coming-from">Where the trash is coming from</h2>



The plastic pollution isn’t only from local beaches. According to the research, land-based sources from Egypt, Israel, and Turkey are a big part of the problem. 



Shipping also plays a role, especially in deeper waters. Surprisingly, fishing was not a major contributor - possibly due to strict Israeli regulations.



For years, scientists noticed high levels of plastic at the seafloor, but they didn’t fully understand why. 



“For years in our monitoring reports we have reported a high concentration of plastic debris in this area. It was an unsolved mystery as we know that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-floor-harbors-up-to-11-million-tons-of-plastic-debris/">plastic debris</a> should remain floating on the sea surface. Now we have a deep understanding of how it happens,” said Dr. Yael Segal from Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research (IOLR). 



“The Eastern Mediterranean is the most polluted area in the world, and we must take action for the sake of the next generation.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-long-term-risks-to-marine-life">Long-term risks to marine life</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/grapevines-could-offer-a-breakthrough-alternative-to-plastic-packaging/">Plastic packaging</a> is cheap, easy to produce, and used globally - but it doesn’t go away. It breaks into smaller pieces and can remain in the environment for hundreds of years. 



Deep-sea habitats are already fragile, and adding plastic into the mix could disrupt food webs, introduce toxins, and harm species that haven’t even been fully studied yet.



“As the head of the national monitoring program, I see firsthand how plastic pollution is impacting the entire sea environment: beaches, water, sea bottom, and even local turtle populations,” said Dr. Segal.



Professor Revital Bookman said that the discovery is fascinating in the worst possible way. 



"The eastern Mediterranean is quietly turning into a deep-sea landfill. Plastics that we use for only a few minutes are ending up trapped for centuries, threatening deep marine ecosystems we barely understand," noted Professor Bookman. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-needs-to-happen-next">What needs to happen next</h2>



According to the researchers, this study changes how we should think about ocean pollution. Plastic doesn’t just float around until it hits a beach. It travels far, interacts with other pollutants like tar, and ends up in hidden places. 



“This previously overlooked dynamic necessitates a broader perspective on pollution processes in marine environments,” said Professor Bookman. 



“Without systematic deep-sea accounting, we risk underestimating the true environmental footprint of plastic pollution and misallocating mitigation efforts by neglecting offshore and deep-sea sinks.”



To deal with this, the experts call for coordinated efforts across the region. Countries that share the sea need to work together on monitoring, cleanup, and prevention. 



Without a shared strategy, plastics will continue piling up, silently choking one of the planet’s most mysterious ecosystems.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X25009671?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marine Pollution Bulletin</a>.



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Hidden plastic graveyard uncovered in the deep Mediterranean Sea

Plastic may not always float where we expect it. The...

Blood clots cause strokes, heart attacks, and lung damage, and they remain a leading cause of preventable hospital deaths in the United States, according to federal <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/blood-clots/data-research/facts-stats/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a>. A new line of research points to a simple lever that might lower risk - the color of light reaching our eyes.



The <a href="https://www.jthjournal.org/article/S1538-7836(24)00543-9/abstract">work</a> explores how specific wavelengths shape biology through the body’s daily timing system. 



Scientists call this the circadian clock, a network that tunes hormones, blood pressure, and blood vessel tone across the 24 hour day, as shown in a comprehensive <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5983320/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">review</a>.



Lead author <a href="https://providers.upmc.com/provider/elizabeth-ann-andraska/3013812" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Elizabeth Andraska, M.D</a>., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (<a href="https://www.medschool.pitt.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UPMC</a>), and her colleagues asked a basic question. Does the spectrum of visible light change the way blood forms clots in living organisms.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-light-color-on-blood-clots">Testing light color on blood clots</h2>



In a peer reviewed study, the team exposed mice to red, blue, or white light for 12 hours a day over 3 days, then used standard models to trigger clots. 



Red light before the challenge led to nearly five times fewer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/red-blood-cells-found-to-squeeze-clots-tight-using-physical-force/">clots</a> than blue or white light.



The same study reported no benefit in genetically blind mice, and shining light directly on blood outside the body did not change clotting. That pattern points to an eye to brain pathway rather than a direct effect on blood.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-blood-clots-and-red-light">Blood clots and red light</h2>



The researchers focused on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/blood-platelets-play-a-critically-important-role-in-the-body-that-was-unknown-until-now/">blood platelets</a> - the small cell fragments that stick together to stop bleeding and can spark harmful clots.



Red light exposure was linked to lower platelet aggregation and activation, signaling a less reactive clotting profile.



They also tracked neutrophil extracellular traps (<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nri.2017.105" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NETs</a>), which are sticky webs released by white blood cells to capture microbes but also snag platelets. 



Mice given red light formed fewer NETs in clots and brain tissue after an induced stroke.



The researchers noticed that platelets in the red light group had more healthy fats, including oleic and linoleic acid.



These fats are known to make platelets less likely to stick together, which matched the reduced clotting activity they observed.



Finally, the scientists examined <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4369169/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">megakaryocytes</a>, the bone marrow cells that make platelets. 



Single cell data suggested changes in pathways tied to inflammation, stress responses, and cytoskeletal control, all of which relate to how platelets activate and aggregate.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hints-from-human-patients">Hints from human patients</h2>



The investigators went a step further and reviewed outcomes in more than 10,000 adults who had cataract surgery with either standard lenses or lenses that filter a slice of blue light. 



Among people with cancer, who face about a ninefold higher clot risk than the general population according to a recent open access <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12001707/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">review</a>, those with blue light filtering lenses had a lower lifetime risk of venous clots.



That retrospective signal does not prove cause and effect. It does align with the mouse findings and with prior evidence that clotting biology tracks daily timing cues.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-it-means-for-you">What it means for you</h2>



This research does not replace proven prevention like movement during long trips, anticoagulants when prescribed, or hospital safety protocols. It does raise a precise, testable idea about light and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ginkgo-biloba-plant-may-be-key-to-preventing-blood-clots-vericose-veins/">clot</a> biology that clinical trials can evaluate.



Light is not acting as a drug in the bloodstream. It seems to work through the optic system and brain timing networks, which then influence immune cells and platelets.



The animal benefit appeared when red light came before the clotting challenge, not after it. That timing suggests a preventive window and warns against over reading the result.



Human biology is more complex than lab models. The lens analysis was observational, so unmeasured variables could explain the signal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-think-about-light-in-daily-life">How to think about light in daily life</h2>



Clotting problems remain common and deadly, especially after hospitalization and in major illnesses. Even small, safe reductions in risk could help many people if confirmed by trials.



Cancer amplifies <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-harness-soundwaves-vibrations-to-strengthen-tissues-and-heal-wounds-blood-clots/">clot</a> risk for biological reasons that include tumor driven inflammation and pro coagulation signals. Any non drug intervention that safely trims that risk would be worth careful testing.



Most modern environments flood us with short wavelength light from screens and overhead fixtures. The new study suggests wavelength balance might matter, along with timing and duration.



Morning light helps set healthy rhythms, while circadian disruption raises cardiovascular strain. That makes lighting a public health question as much as a lab topic.



Expect controlled human studies that standardize wavelength, intensity, timing, and duration. Devices that deliver known doses through the eyes would allow rigorous testing of dose and response.



Researchers will also map how retinal signals talk to the brain and then to bone marrow and immune cells. Those pathways could reveal new drug targets alongside any light based strategies.



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.jthjournal.org/article/S1538-7836(24)00543-9/abstract" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis</a>.



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How the color of light could save you from a heart attack or stroke

Blood clots cause strokes, heart attacks, and lung damage, and...

A large new study followed 407,618 adults in six European countries for about 11 years and tracked the incidence of cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. 



The researchers examined how closely people stuck to a healthful, plant-based diet and how that related to developing more than one of the health conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-this-study-matters">Why this study matters</h2>



The project was led by Reynalda Córdova, a nutritional epidemiologist at the <a href="https://www.univie.ac.at/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Vienna</a>, working with colleagues across Europe. 



Their team centered the analysis on real-world eating patterns and combined two major datasets to see long term effects.



Chronic diseases often show up in pairs or more. When someone has two or more at the same time, clinicians call it <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5556462/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multimorbidity</a>. Reducing the odds of multiple serious conditions can ease pressure on families and health systems.



In public health, preventing even a modest share of new cases matters because risk compounds when illnesses cluster. 



The analysis used the term “cardiometabolic” to group heart and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-extracts-may-help-treat-metabolic-syndrome/">metabolic</a> problems that often intersect with cancer risk. 



By treating the co-occurrence of conditions as the outcome, the study focused on how disease accumulates over time rather than on single diagnoses.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plant-based-diets-were-rewarded">Plant-based diets were rewarded</h2>



Participants came from the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12639222/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">EPIC</a> study, and the <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001779" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.K. Biobank</a> (a national research resource that invites adults to share health data for science). These two large cohort projects collect data that connects lifestyle and health records.&nbsp;



Diet quality was scored using a healthful, plant-based diet <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002039" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">index</a> that rewards vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and coffee. 



Dietary intake of refined grains, sweets, and animal products, on the other hand, reversed the points.



A companion unhealthful, plant-based diet index scores higher for refined plant foods and sugary drinks, reflecting differences in plant food quality.



The models estimated <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/hazard-ratio" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hazard ratio</a>, which expresses how much risk changes with each 10-point rise in the score. This was calculated after accounting for age, sex, smoking, activity, and alcohol use. 



Events were counted and sequenced to see whether a first diagnosis was followed by another, which mirrors how disease accumulates in life.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plant-based-diet-and-multimorbitity">Plant-based diet and multimorbitity</h2>



Across the combined cohorts, 6,604 people developed two of the three illnesses during follow up. 



A 10-point increase on the healthy <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666756825000613" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plant diet score</a> was linked to 11 percent lower risk in EPIC and 19 percent lower risk in UK Biobank data.



In adults younger than 60, the hazard ratio was 0.71, and in those of 60 or older it was 0.86. This shows a stronger association in midlife. 



The pattern for the unhealthful plant score was positive in UK Biobank data, and null in EPIC, underscoring that not all plant-rich eating is the same.



“A healthy plant-based diet might <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-diet-shifts-the-hidden-costs-of-what-we-eat/">reduce</a> the burden of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases among middle-aged and older adults,” concluded Córdova.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-healthful-plant-based-diet-defined">Healthful plant-based diet defined</h2>



Scores for the healthy pattern rise with vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans, nuts, and coffee. Less reliance on refined carbs, sweets, and red or processed meat helps keep the score high.



The unhealthful score climbs with sodas, sweets, white bread, and other refined items. Those choices can crowd out fiber-rich foods that support steady energy and metabolic health.



Separating the healthful and unhealthful versions explains why a plant-based diet can help or harm, depending on the mix. Quality matters more than labels, and the scale captures that difference.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-diet-quality-might-matter">Why diet quality might matter</h2>



A Lancet <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2818%2931809-9/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">review</a> linked higher fiber intake with lower risk of several noncommunicable diseases and better glycemic control. 



Fiber also feeds gut microbes that produce short chain fatty acids. These organic substances support metabolic and immune balance.



Other prospective evidence ties plant-based eating patterns to lower type 2 diabetes risk across populations. 



A comprehensive <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2738784" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">meta-analysis</a> reported that greater adherence to plant-based diets, especially those rich in healthful plant foods, was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.



These mechanisms align with the new results, where lower weight, lower inflammation, and better insulin sensitivity likely explain part of the link. Diet is not a cure, but quality changes can tilt the odds toward healthier aging.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-interpret-this-safely">How to interpret this safely</h2>



Self-reported diet is imperfect, and people may change how they eat after a diagnosis, which can blunt associations. 



Differences that are not measured can also shift estimates, so the authors tested many scenarios to check robustness.



The inconsistency for the unhealthful score between EPIC and UK Biobank suggests that context and measurement matter. Food culture, recall frequency, and how outcomes are captured can all influence results.



Even with caveats, the direction and size of the associations fit prior <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/early-humans-thrived-on-plant-based-diets-not-meat-alone-780000-years-ago/">literature</a> on plant-rich patterns and long term health. That consistency adds confidence without assuming what a single study proves in every setting.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-small-shifts-in-everyday-choices">Small shifts in everyday choices</h2>



The findings do not require strict rules or total exclusion of animal products. They point to a pattern where plants take the lead while animal products and refined items take a back seat.



Small shifts that raise the healthful plant score are realistic and sustainable. Those shifts also track with widely recommended approaches to lifelong health.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhl/article/PIIS2666-7568(25)00061-3/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Lancet Healthy Longevity</a>.



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Big health study shows how a plant-based diet protects against disease

A large new study followed 407,618 adults in six European...

Teens are known for breaking rules. They often sneak out, lie, and take dangerous risks. Most parents respond the same way: warnings, punishments, threats of losing privileges. But here’s the big question - do those warnings actually work?



A new study looked at what really makes teens stop risky behavior. Turns out, it’s not the threats or punishments that matter most. What matters is how teens feel about their parents when they’re being warned - and whether those parents are living the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/peoples-moral-values-literally-change-with-the-weather/">values</a> they preach.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-teens-notice-parents-actions">Teens notice parents' actions</h2>



Teens don’t just hear what parents say. They watch what parents do. A warning about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/harder-lie-convincingly/">lying</a> or drinking means a lot more when it comes from someone who’s consistent, respectful, and acts with integrity. 



If a parent says “honesty matters” but lies to others or bends the rules themselves, teens pick up on that.



That’s what a team of U.S. and Israeli researchers discovered when they asked teens how they reacted to their parents’ warnings. Teens were more likely to accept a warning - not just get defensive - if they saw their parents as living by the values they talk about.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-value-of-walking-the-walk">The value of walking the walk</h2>



The study surveyed 105 teenagers in Israel, with an average age of 15, who had all admitted to doing something risky or rule-breaking in the past month. These included things like skipping school, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/even-moderate-drinking-severely-harms-health-despite-past-studies/">drinking</a>, or staying out past curfew. 



The researchers wanted to know what happened next - how did their parents respond, and how did the teens feel about it?



The teens rated their parents on how much they lived according to their own values. Did their actions match their words? Did they seem satisfied and energized while doing things they said were important - like being kind, staying responsible, or helping others?



When teens saw their parents as truly practicing what they preached, the warnings felt less like control and more like protection. Even if the consequences were strict, like losing privileges, teens were less likely to rebel.



“Parents really have to ‘walk the walk’ and act on their values if they want their teens to behave responsibly,” said Judith Smetana, a <a href="https://www.rochester.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Rochester</a> psychologist with decades of work studying parent-teen relationships.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-being-a-good-example-isn-t-enough">Being a good example isn’t enough</h2>



Even when parents were seen as role models, some teens still felt frustrated by the warnings. Why? Because those warnings often missed one key ingredient: empathy.



“We were surprised to learn that even children who perceived their parents as demonstrating their values in their everyday <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-moms-meddle-friend-disapproval-worsens-teen-behavior/">behavior</a> experienced their parents’ warnings as frustrating and insensitive to their basic psychological needs,” said Dr. Avi Assor, a professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/good-listening-is-not-persuasive-in-arguments-does-not-change-minds/">Listening</a> is what really worked. The team found that the only thing that actually led teens to stop risky behavior was when parents took the time to understand their child’s point of view. 



Not just enforcing rules - but asking questions. Trying to see the situation through their child’s eyes. That kind of empathy made teens feel supported, not controlled.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-teens-really-need">What teens really need</h2>



The study draws from a well-known theory in psychology called self-determination theory. It says people are motivated when three key needs are met: autonomy (feeling in control of your own choices), competence (feeling capable), and relatedness (feeling respected and connected to others).



When parents respect these needs - especially autonomy - teens feel understood and are more likely to cooperate. When parents ignore or block these needs, teens feel pushed, powerless, or disconnected. That’s when defiance kicks in.



This isn’t about letting kids run wild. It’s about how rules are communicated. A warning that says, “You messed up and here’s why I’m upset, but I want to understand you” lands very differently than one that says, “You broke the rules, so now you lose your phone.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-key-to-changing-teen-behavior">The key to changing teen behavior</h2>



So what actually works when teens cross the line? <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/parents-treat-their-children-differently-but-do-they-have-a-favorite/">Parents</a> need to live the values they’re trying to teach. Their actions should match their words, showing consistency and authenticity. 



Warnings should come from a place of support, not control. And most importantly, instead of jumping straight to punishment, parents should try to understand their teen’s perspective and take the time to listen.



When teens feel heard and respected, they’re more likely to reflect - and possibly change. It’s not easy, but it’s far more effective than lectures or punishment alone. 



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-025-02196-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Youth and Adolescence</a>.



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Why some teens rebel - and how to stop risky behavior

Teens are known for breaking rules. They often sneak out,...

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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

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes how record-breaking heat expressed itself around the world in 2022.



Scientists have determined that 2022 was the 5th warmest year since 1880. Furthermore, the last nine consecutive years have been the warmest on record.



From devastating floods and wildfires to natural disasters like Hurricane Ian, 2022 showed us yet again how a warming climate affects people across the globe.&nbsp;



"As we look back at 20:22 and years past, we see that each year we better understand the challenges we face and how important it is to meet them," says NASA.



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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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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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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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



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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 how Earth is unique in our solar system for its ability to sustain liquid water on its surface. But now, the water cycle is shifting as the climate warms, and scientists must find ways to predict how these changes will affect water availability.



Overall, 96 percent of Earth's water is saltwater, and nearly all of freshwater is found in ice and groundwater. These sources of water are linked as it passes through solid, liquid and gas phases.



In a warmer climate, the water cycle will be transformed. It will be easier for water to evaporate and form clouds, and storms will become more frequent and intense. Some regions will get too much water, while others will be left without enough water. In addition, soil moisture will be lost - which threatens food security.



Scientists are using satellite data from over the last 40 years to track changes that are happening in the water cycle. This will ultimately help us prepare for extreme events and better manage our water resources, according to ESA.



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



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Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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Saturn,-,High,Resolution,3d,Images,Presents,Planets,Of,The

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> features images of Saturn from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The photographs capture the start of the mysterious "spoke season" on Saturn - when unexplained features appear on its rings. 



According to NASA, both the cause of the spokes and their seasonal variability have yet to be fully explained by planetary scientists.



"Like Earth, Saturn is tilted on its axis and therefore has four seasons, though because of Saturn's much larger orbit, each season lasts approximately seven Earth years. Equinox occurs when the rings are tilted edge-on to the Sun," explains NASA.



"The spokes disappear when it is near summer or winter solstice on Saturn. (When the Sun appears to reach either its highest or lowest latitude in the northern or southern hemisphere of a planet.) As the autumnal equinox of Saturn's northern hemisphere on May 6, 2025, draws near, the spokes are expected to become increasingly prominent and observable."



Experts believe that the spokes may be a product of the planet's variable magnetic field. When magnetic fields interact with solar wind, an electrically charged environment is created. This phenomenon is visible on Earth as the northern lights.&nbsp;



"Scientists think that the smallest, dust-sized icy ring particles can become charged as well, which temporarily levitates those particles above the rest of the larger icy particles and boulders in the rings," says NASA.



The spokes were first observed in the early 1980s by NASA's Voyager mission. Depending on the angle of the rings, the spokes can appear dark or light.



"Thanks to Hubble's OPAL program, which is building an archive of data on the outer solar system planets, we will have longer dedicated time to study Saturn’s spokes this season than ever before," said NASA senior planetary scientist Amy Simon, head of the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.



"Despite years of excellent observations by the Cassini mission, the precise beginning and duration of the spoke season is still unpredictable, rather like predicting the first storm during hurricane season."



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



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Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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Closeup,Of,Fresh,Green,The,Napier,Bush,Grass,As,Animal

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="http://www.ntu.edu.sg/">NTU Singapore</a> reveals that some plants can remove toxic heavy metals from soil.&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed samples of various tropical plant species to test for levels of heavy metals and metalloids. The study showed that there are existing plants with high levels of these contaminants, which means that these species are great candidates for drawing pollutants out of the soil.&nbsp;



Among the plants examined in the study, 12 species had accumulated several types of heavy metals and metalloids. These plants are widely available, including species that are native to Singapore.



“In a small nation like Singapore, land may be repurposed to support new development plans, so it is important that we have a green and sustainable way to remediate land that is contaminated," said Professor Lam Yeng Ming.



"We set out to uncover how to better make use of tropical plants to do phytoremediation and through advanced characterization techniques, we showed how some of these tropical plant species can be an environmentally friendly and literally a 'green' way to remove contaminants in soil."&nbsp;



"Phytoremediation also has benefits of cost effectiveness, simplicity of management, aesthetic advantages, and long-term applicability and sustainability. The strategy prevents erosion and metal leaching by stabilizing or accumulating heavy metals, so that helps reduce the risk of contaminant spread.”



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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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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Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

[sendtonews key="6SdlLLbt0t-1988946-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NTU...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes why herbicides are not as effective in killing weeds anymore. In the 20th century, chemical companies developed thousands of herbicides. The most commonly used herbicide was glyphosate, which was introduced in 1974.



Over the past few decades, dozens of species of weeds have evolved resistance to glyphosate. Depending on the site of action, the part of the plant that an herbicide interacts with, weeds may even be resistant to herbicides that have not been developed yet.&nbsp;



With increasing resistance to glyphosate and other herbicides, weeds are - once again - becoming a major concern for farmers.&nbsp;



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



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Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

[sendtonews key="gRpsplpwpe-2251464-12187" 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.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> (JPL) describes a dust storm on Mars that was nearly twice the size of the United States. As the storm covered the southern hemisphere of the planet, some of NASA’s explorers had to delay their normal activities.



NASA’s Insight lander put itself in a "safe mode" for 11 days to conserve battery power because solar power was disrupted by the dust. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter postponed flights until conditions improved.



"A fleet of NASA orbiters monitor Martian dust storms like this one and serve as lifelines to Earth by relaying data from the rovers and lander on the ground back to the team. This includes the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, and Odyssey," reports JPL.



"Dust storms like this recent one start close to the ground and are spread by wind as they rise – warming the cold Martian atmosphere."



The images in the video were captured by NASA’s Curiosity as the dust rolled in. A fleet of orbiters monitored the dust storm from above, relaying data from Mars’ explorers back to scientists on Earth.



Video &amp; Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS



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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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NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="http://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. This strait provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.



Qeshm is separated from the Iranian coast by the Clarence Strait, also known as Khuran.&nbsp;The Hara Forest Protected Area is a network of shallow waterways and forest located between the island and the mainland. This protected region is home to sea turtles, snakes, and more than 150 species of migrating birds.



Qeshm is famous for its wide range of&nbsp;ecotourist&nbsp;attractions, such as the&nbsp;Hara marine forests. According to environmentalists, about 1.5 percent of the world birds and 25 percent of Iran's native <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/female-hummingbirds-avoid-sexual-harassment-by-looking-like-males/">birds</a> annually migrate to the forests, which are the first national geo park in Iran.



Tourists are also drawn to the island to see an age-old Portuguese&nbsp;fort, historic mosques, the&nbsp;Seyyed Mozaffar&nbsp;and&nbsp;Bibi Maryam&nbsp;shrines, and the "Valley of Stars."



The average temperature on the island is 81 degress and the region is often hot and humid. From June to August, the island is described as being oppressively hot. The ideal time to visit is during the winter season. 



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.

Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

[sendtonews key="sFFhiK9OOn-1720418-12187" 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 Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique.&nbsp;



"Inhambane Bay is a deep inlet into which the small Mutamba River flows," says ESA. "On one side of the bay lies the historical city of Inhambane, capital of the Inhambane Province, while the sister city of Maxixe, the economic capital of Inhambane, sits across from it. The province is the second largest grower of cashews, after Nampula, and it also produces coconut and citrus fruits."



The beaches of Barra and Tofo are popular with tourists. There are also coral reefs along the long coastline of Inhambane, making it an ideal destination for scuba diving and snorkeling.



"Mozambique’s extensive coastline heightens the country’s vulnerability to tropical cyclones that develop in the Indian Ocean as well as storm surge flooding," says ESA.



"More than half of the population lives in low lying coastal areas, putting communities at risk. Inhambane Bay was dangerously close to where Cyclone Idai made landfall in 2019 causing widespread destruction to the country."



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.

Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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