Once upon a time, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/personality-type-can-accurately-predict-your-relationship-status/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">standing out</a> and embracing uniqueness was desirable. However, recent studies suggest a major change over the past two decades. It seems we've become fond of the idea of blending in, of being just another face in the crowd.



Enter William Chopik, associate professor in the Department of Psychology at <a href="https://msu.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Michigan State University</a>. Chopik is the lead author of a study that uncovers a dramatic decline in the desire to be different. That's right, we're less keen on standing out these days, and it's all backed by some pretty formidable evidence.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-quest-for-uniqueness">Quest for uniqueness</h2>



The study spans a period of 20 years, from 2000 to 2020. Its findings track the desire for individualism in a whopping million people.



Uniqueness, for the purpose of this study, is broken down into three facets: worry over others' perceptions, the urge to break the established norms, and the readiness to publicly uphold personal beliefs. But, all three of these elements saw a decline during the study period.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-are-we-afraid-to-stand-out">Why are we afraid to stand out?</h2>



The most staggering drops were seen in the public defense of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/personality-is-more-important-than-finances-when-it-comes-to-dating/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">personal beliefs</a> (6.52% decline), and an increasing concern about public opinion (4.28% decline). These numbers might sound small, but as Chopik points out, "a 6.52% decline is a dramatic population change in as short as 20 years."



And why these drops? The data points to a possible explanation. Perhaps individuals see expressing their uniqueness as a threat to social acceptance. Yes, standing out might make them vulnerable to exclusion. Or worse, cancellation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-it-truly-worthwhile">Is it truly worthwhile?</h2>



Chopik's study warns us of the possible implications of this trend. Suppressing our true selves to fit into societal molds can sometimes have an adverse effect, triggering feelings of guilt and anxiety. And let's not forget, this often leads to increased hostility.



"It's really important to have people willing to go against the grain - say the occasional unpopular thing, challenge groupthink, highlight the need to compromise with people different than us, and not cover up the diversity of opinions and people because they're too scared to stand out," says Chopik.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-perceptions-of-uniqueness-on-social-media">Perceptions of uniqueness on social media </h2>



In today's interconnected world, social media platforms wield immense power over individual perceptions and behaviors. While these platforms can facilitate the expression of diverse opinions and lifestyles, they also contribute to a culture of comparison and conformity. 



As users curate their online personas, the pressure to fit in intensifies, often leading to a hedonic treadmill of dissatisfaction where uniqueness is celebrated only if it conforms to prevailing trends. 



Chopik’s study provides critical context here: as the desire for uniqueness declines, it begs the question: are we shaping our identities based on genuine self-expression or merely mirroring the expectations set by our digital environments?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reclaiming-individuality">Reclaiming individuality</h2>



Despite the unsettling trend of conformity, there lies an opportunity for revitalizing the celebration of uniqueness. To counteract societal pressures, individuals can begin cultivating a mindset that embraces <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/personality-traits-are-not-strongly-inherited-from-parents/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">self-acceptance</a> and authenticity.



Engaging in open dialogues about differences, fostering environments that encourage dissenting opinions, and understanding the value of diverse perspectives are vital steps. 



We must not cover up the diversity of opinions, but rather embrace them. Ultimately, reclaiming our individuality not only enriches our lives but also contributes to a more nuanced and empathetic society.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-appeal-for-authenticity">An appeal for authenticity</h2>



In an age where everyone seems connected through various platforms, we find ourselves paradoxically isolated in our personal lives. This raises an important question: is it truly worth sacrificing our individuality to fit into a crowd? 



While the notion of standing out may feel intimidating, especially in a world that often celebrates conformity, we should consider the value of being authentic. Embracing our true selves allows us to form deeper connections with others and to live more fulfilling lives. 



It's essential to recognize that the cost of blending in can be higher than the fear of being different. After all, authenticity fosters genuine relationships and enriches our experiences. The pursuit of fitting in may not be worth the price we pay.



Embracing our uniqueness can be a powerful way to inspire others and create a more diverse and vibrant community. Isn't it time we embraced our individuality, in all its vibrant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cryptocurrency-investors-linked-to-dark-personality-traits/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">diversity</a>?



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://online.ucpress.edu/collabra/article/10/1/121937/202992/Changes-in-Need-for-Uniqueness-From-2000-Until" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Collabra: Psychology.</a>



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Humans are losing 'uniqueness' as people no longer desire to stand out

Once upon a time, standing out and embracing uniqueness was desirable. However, recent studies suggest a major change over the past two decades. It seems we've become fond of the idea of blending in, of being just another face in the crowd. Enter William Chopik, associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University. Chopik is the lead author of a study that uncovers a dramatic decline in the desire to be different. That's right, we're less keen on standing out these days, and it's...

In a new study led by the <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/">University of Leeds</a>, researchers have discovered key organic molecules in four out of five protoplanetary disks from our galaxy. They detected them by using the ALMA telescope, an extremely powerful telescope located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, that can pick up even the faintest signals from far away regions in outer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/looking-at-blue-spaces-can-instantly-improve-body-image/">space</a>. These findings show that the chances of alien life in our galaxy are much more likely than we initially thought.



“The same ingredients needed for seeding life on our planet are also found around other stars,” said study co-author Dr. Catherine Walsh. These molecules - cyanoacetylene (HC3N), acetonitrile (CH3CN), and cyclopropenylidene (c-C3H2) – are stepping-stones between the simple carbon-based chemicals that are abundant in the universe and more complex substances that are known to be key ingredients for the development of life on Earth.&nbsp;



“Laboratory and theoretical studies suggest they are the 'raw ingredients' essential in biological chemistry on Earth. They create sugars, amino acids and even the components of ribonucleic acid (RNA) - under the right circumstances,” explained study lead author Dr. John Ilee from the <a href="https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/">Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences</a> at the University of Leeds.&nbsp;



Through observations with the powerful ALMA telescope, these molecules (together with 15 other substances thought to be connected to the origins of life) were discovered in protoplanetary disks of gas and dust that are surrounding the Milky Way’s youngest stars. According to the researchers, the ingredients of life could be present in 80 percent of the protoplanetary disks spinning throughout our galaxy.



“ALMA has allowed us to look for these molecules in the innermost regions of these disks, on size scales similar to our Solar System, for the first time,” Dr. Ilee reported. “Our analysis shows the molecules are primarily located in these inner regions with abundances between 10 and 100 times higher than models had predicted.”



Scientists believe that, in the past, the Earth was ‘seeded’ by meteorites, asteroids, and comets containing these types of molecules, ultimately giving birth to life as we know it. This new study, published in the <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.06319.pdf">Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series</a>, is the first to show that many other areas of our galaxy could be brimming with similar potential.



---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Alien life is more likely to exist in our galaxy than we thought

In a new study led by the University of Leeds,...

A team of experts at <a href="https://www.monash.edu/">Monash University</a> is investigating the responses of bats to SARS-CoV-2 to gain new insight into how to treat infection in humans. The study is a major review of how the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/15000-year-old-viruses-found-in-tibetan-ice/">virus</a> ravages the human immune system.&nbsp;



In the months since SARS-CoV-2 was first identified in December of 2019, the virus has mutated. The variant strains Alpha, Beta and Delta are more infectious than the original strain.&nbsp;



In particular, the Delta strain is up to 79 percent more contagious than the Alpha mutant, and presumably more deadly, according to study co-author Professor Marcel Nold. He noted that there is an urgent need for effective therapies, at least in part because of the emergence of mutations.



"Preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection, or enabling patients to eradicate it, represents the ultimate goal in combating COVID-19: but it is uncertain when either will become reliably possible," wrote the researchers.



“Therefore, efforts at identifying safe and effective therapies to prevent COVID from progressing to the moderate and severe disease stages, are critical in the fight against the disease,” said Professor Nold.



When bats contract the virus, they exhibit a minimal response. For example, bats do not experience the same lung issues that often affect humans. 



"Preventing progression to severe disease, or effectively treating it - in other words emulating bats - would markedly relieve suffering and save lives," said the researchers.



According to Professor Nold, studying the way bats resist coronaviruses holds substantial promise not only for infections with SARS-CoV-2, but also to better prepare us for the next epidemic or pandemic.



The researchers noted that the common ancestor to the current coronavirus likely appeared in bats between 40 and 70 years ago, but the exact bat species or intermediate host involved in the 2019 outbreak remains elusive.



The study authors propose that some of the ways bats appear to resist COVID could be used in therapeutics to modify the human immune response to the virus, such as blocking inflammasomes in patients. Professor Nold said this could minimize the excessive inflammation, immune exhaustion, and the cytokine storms that are experienced in humans.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciimmunol">Science Immunology</a>.



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

How do bats resist COVID-19 infection?

A team of experts at Monash University is investigating the...

The pastoralist populations from the Eurasian steppe have long been a great source of fascination among scientists, due to their capacity to migrate over long distances. A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03798-4">Nature</a> has found that milk <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mushroom-consumption-linked-to-45-percent-lower-cancer-risk/">consumption</a> might have played a fundamental role in the ability of the Bronze Age Yamnaya population to travel extensively and expand out of the Pontic-Caspian steppe over 5,000 years ago.



A research team from the <a href="https://www.shh.mpg.de/en">Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History</a> investigated concentrations of tartar (dental calculus) on the teeth of ancient preserved skeletons. By using advanced molecular methods to extract and analyze the proteins preserved within these materials, they succeeded in identifying which ancient individuals drank milk.



“The pattern was incredibly strong,” explained study leader Dr. Shevan Wilkin. “The majority of pre-Bronze Age Eneolithic individuals we tested - over 90% - showed absolutely no evidence of consuming dairy. In contrast, a remarkable 94% of the Early Bronze Age individuals had clearly been milk drinkers.”



The researchers argue that milk provided the additional nutrients, rich proteins, and concentration of fluids necessary to survive and thrive in the highly arid environment of the steppes. Thus, dairy consumption might have played a key role in the gene flows across vast areas, ultimately connecting pastoralist populations in Scandinavia with groups that expanded into Siberia.



A surprising finding was that, although most of the milk peptides they analyzed come from species such as cow, goat, or sheep, dental calculus from a number of individuals pointed to an unexpected species: horse.



“Our results won’t make everyone happy, but they are very clear,” said senior study author Nicole Boivin. “We see a major transition to dairying right at the point that pastoralists began expanding eastwards,” with domesticated horses probably playing an important role too.&nbsp;



“Steppe populations were no longer just using animals for meat, but exploiting their additional properties –milking them and using them for transport, for example.”



“What we see here is a form of cultural revolution,” concluded Dr. Wilkin, “Early Bronze Age herders clearly realized that dairy consumption offered some fundamental benefits and once they did, vast expansions of these groups across the steppe became possible.”



---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Milk played a crucial role in ancient migrations

The pastoralist populations from the Eurasian steppe have long been...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> has found that rather than evolving gradually, land plants evolved in two dramatic bursts which occurred over 250 million years apart. The first burst occurred early in plant evolution (420 million to 360 million years ago), giving rise to the development of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wine-grape-variety-traced/">seeds</a>. The second burst was characterized by the emergence of flowers, and started only about 100 million years ago.



“The most surprising thing is this kind of stasis, this plateau in complexity after the initial evolution of seeds and then the total change that happened when flowering plants started diversifying,” explained lead study author&nbsp;Andrew Leslie, an assistant professor of Geological Sciences in the <a href="https://earth.stanford.edu/">School of Earth, Energy &amp; Environmental Sciences</a> at Stanford. “The reproductive structures look different in all these plants, but they all have about the same number of parts during that stasis.”



Based solely on observation, Professor Leslie and his co-authors designed a system which classifies the number of different kinds of parts in plants’ reproductive structures. They scored each species according to how many types of parts it had and the degree to which they exhibited clustering of those parts. With this method, they managed to categorize about 1,300 land plant species from 420 million years ago until the present.



“This tells a pretty simple story about plant reproductive evolution in terms of form and function: The more functions the plants have and the more specific they are, the more parts they have,”&nbsp;said Professor Leslie. “It's a useful way of thinking about broad-scale changes encompassing the whole of plant history.”



Through this method, the team discovered an initial burst in complexity, with the evolution of seeds in the early Devonian period, when the Earth was warmer and devoid of trees and terrestrial vertebrate animals. Afterwards, although massive changes occurred in the animal kingdom with the emergence and diversification of land animals, plants did not see any major evolutionary burst until the development of flowers in the late Cretaceous period.



“Insect pollination and animal seed dispersal may have appeared as early as 300 million years ago, but it's not until the last 100 million years that these really intricate interactions with pollinators are driving this super high complexity in flowering plants. There was such a long period of time where plants could have interacted with insects in the way that flowering plants do now, but they didn't to the same degree of intricacy,” concluded Professor Leslie.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abi6984">Science</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Plants evolved in two dramatic bursts 250 million years apart

A new study led by Stanford University has found that...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/iscience/home">iScience</a> describes over 60 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-use-tools/">tools</a> made of bone that a team of experts found in Morocco's Contrebandiers Cave in 2011. The scientists consider these findings as proof of the earliest use of bone tools to produce clothing over 120,000 years ago.



The invention of clothing and development of the tools necessary to produce clothes are considered crucial milestones in the history of humanity, marking breakthroughs in cognitive and cultural evolution. Moreover, archaeologists believe that these developments enabled early humans to expand their niche from Pleistocene Africa to new environments characterized by different, colder climates.



“The Contrebandiers assemblage now replaces Blombos as the oldest bone tool assemblage and industry,” said study co-author Curtis Marean, who is a paleoanthropologist at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a>.&nbsp;



Dr. Emily Hallett, a postdoctoral fellow at the <a href="https://www.shh.mpg.de/en">Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History</a>, was studying the vertebrate remains from the Contrebandiers Cave dating from 120,000 to 90,000.&nbsp;



Among the 12,000 bone fragments that she investigated, Dr. Hallett discovered over 60 bones that had probably been shaped by humans for use as tools. She also identified patterns of cut marks on carnivore bones suggesting that the inhabitants of the Contrebandiers Cave were skinning them for fur rather than processing them for meat.



“The combination of carnivore bones with skinning marks and bone tools likely used for fur processing provide highly suggestive proxy evidence for the earliest clothing in the archaeological record, but given the level of specialization in this assemblage, these tools are likely part of a larger tradition with earlier examples that haven’t yet been found," explained Dr. Hallett.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The Contrebandiers Cave bone tools demonstrate that by roughly 120,000 years ago,&nbsp;Homo sapiens&nbsp;began to intensify the use of bone to make formal tools and use them for specific tasks, including leather and fur working. This versatility appears to be at the root of our species and not a characteristic that emerged after expansions into Eurasia.”



In her future research, Hallett plans to collaborate with other researchers to possibly identify similar skinning patterns in different archeological records, in order to shed more light on the origins and diffusion of this uniquely human behavior.&nbsp;



---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

People were already making clothing 120,000 years ago

A new study published in the journal iScience describes over...

Despite a growing demand for coconuts worldwide, the trees grow slowly and are challenging to clone. Coconut trees are also facing many different threats, including climate change, disease, and rising sea levels.



In a new study led by <a href="https://www.kuleuven.be/english/">KU Leuven</a>, researchers have developed a method to multiply coconut trees faster and store them more efficiently in gene banks.



The research was inspired by another fruit - the banana. Based on previous work with banana plants, study co-author Bart Panis predicted that a certain plant hormone could also be successful in coconut trees.&nbsp;



"Coconut plants do not form side shoots. They put all their energy into one shoot that has to grow as fast and as tall as possible. This makes it very difficult to clone and store the plants," said Panis.



First, the scientists extracted the coconut tree embryo from the coconut. Next, they applied the plant hormone to the meristem contained in the embryo. This caused the embryo to form not only one shoot, but several side shoots.&nbsp;



"Nobody thought we could do it. But we persevered with determination," said Panis. "There are other methods of vegetatively propagating coconut trees but we are confident that this is the first method that is also time- and cost-efficient."&nbsp;



The team's top priority is to safeguard the coconut tree's genetic diversity as efficiently as possible. The researchers explained that it is very crucial to preserve as many varieties of the coconut plant because each variety has specific characteristics - some are resistant to a particular disease, while others are more resistant to heat or drought.



"Currently, the coconut tree is kept as a tree in field collections. But some of these collections are threatened by Lethal Yellowing Disease," said study lead author Hannes Wilms.



"Our technique now also allows the shoots of the coconut plant to be preserved for eternity by cryopreservation, in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196°C."



"This is important for the future: if a new disease was to affect coconut production, there may be a variety in the gene bank that is resistant to this disease and can be planted out in the affected areas,” said Panis.



"There's a huge demand for coconut. The existing plantations are old and need to be replanted in the short term. So our technique meets the great demand for healthy plant material."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>.



---



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

Scientists have had a breakthrough in cloning coconut trees

Despite a growing demand for coconuts worldwide, the trees grow...

A new global survey led by the <a href="https://www.bath.ac.uk/">University of Bath</a> and funded by the research group <a href="https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/climate_anxiety_panel/">Avaaz</a> found that children and young people are becoming extremely anxious about climate change.&nbsp;



Nearly 60 percent of the 10,000 young respondents from ten countries said they were very worried about climate change, over 45 percent reported that feelings connected to these issues considerably affected their daily lives, and 39 percent even claimed that they are hesitant to have children in the future due to fears associated with the risks posed by global warming.



According to study co-author Caroline Hickman, these findings point to a “horrific picture” of widespread climate anxiety in the young generations, and suggest utter distrust in governmental agencies that should attempt to mitigate the effects of climate change.&nbsp;



“Our children's anxiety is a completely rational reaction given the inadequate responses to climate change they are seeing from governments. What more do governments need to hear to take action?” said Hickman.&nbsp;



“It's shocking to hear how so many young people from around the world feel betrayed by those who are supposed to protect them,” added study co-author Liz Marks.&nbsp;



The authors of the report claim that levels of anxiety appear to be greatest in countries where government climate policies are considered to be weakest, such as those from the global south. The most climate-anxious nation was Portugal - a country that has suffered repeatedly from wildfires mixed with the inability of authorities to take proper action.&nbsp;



According to Hickman and her colleagues, the failure of governments to address climate change might be defined as cruelty under human rights legislation. In fact, six young people are currently suing the Portuguese government to argue precisely this case.



“Now is the time to face the truth, listen to young people, and take urgent action against climate change,” concluded Professor Marks.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/home">Lancet Planetary Health</a>.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Young people are increasingly anxious over climate change

A new global survey led by the University of Bath...

A new map explores the chemical composition of five planetary “nurseries” - disks of gas and dust surrounding new stars. The results reveal dozens of chemicals, some organic, in the protoplanetary disks.&nbsp;



“These planet-forming disks are teeming with organic molecules, some which are implicated in the origins of life here on Earth," said Karin Öberg, an astronomer at the <a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/">Harvard &amp; Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics</a> who led the project.



"This is really exciting; the chemicals in each disk will ultimately affect the type of planets that form - and determine whether or not the planets can host life.”



The map resulted in the production of 20 separate scientific papers, published in the open sourced repository arXiv as well as the <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0067-0049">Astrophysical Journal Supplement</a>.&nbsp;



The research showed that chemicals are not distributed evenly throughout the planetary nurseries but some chemicals are found more in one place than in others.&nbsp;



“Our maps reveal it matters a great deal where in a disk a planet forms," said Oberg. "Many of the chemicals in the disks are organic, and the distribution of these organics varies dramatically within a particular disk. Two planets can form around the same star and have very different organic inventories, and therefore predispositions to life.”



The research is a big step toward understanding the formation of planets, especially those that may someday host life. Scientists have confidence that planets are born in these disks but unfortunately cannot directly observe their formation through the gas and dust. 



Instead, gravitational ripples may reveal the whereabouts of new planets. This technique allows new inside access into the start of planets, but further research is needed. 



As the planets grow, they will eventually carve open gaps in the structure of the disks so we can see them, said Richard Teague of the CIA, but the process will take thousands of years. 



Teague hopes to confirm the discoveries sooner than that using the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. “It should have the sensitivity to pinpoint the planets." 



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The ingredients of life are with planets at their birth

A new map explores the chemical composition of five planetary...

Humans are consummate walkers – our ancestors populated the entire Earth by walking from one place to another. Human locomotion is considered very efficient in terms of its energy use, even though it may not feel this way when we walk a long distance or hike up a steep hill. One of the reasons that energy use is optimized during walking is that we constantly adjust aspects of our gaits to use the least energy possible.



"People are continuously sensing their energy expenditure and adapting their gait to minimise costs," explained study co-author Jessica Selinger of Queen’s University, Canada. "We adapt all kinds of gait characteristics - the speed we move at, the length and width of each step - to minimise the calories we are burning."



It was not clear whether this constant adjustment while walking is consciously performed or whether it happens automatically, in an intuitive way. Do we, in fact, have to use energy thinking about how to modify our walking in order to save energy? A team of Canadian scientists set out to test whether people consciously adjust their movements in order to conserve energy. 



The experimental procedure was complex and involved getting volunteers to walk under conditions of varying difficulty while simultaneously being distracted by assigned tasks.&nbsp;



Initially, the volunteers walked on a treadmill at a comfortable pace while responding to a stream of beeping tones played to them through headphones. They had to press a button in the right hand if the beep tone they heard was higher than the previous one, or a button in the left hand if the beep tone was lower. The purpose of this was to distract them from consciously analyzing their own walking.



Once the volunteers had mastered this, they practiced walking in various ways while keeping in step with the beats of a metronome. The individuals walked at a faster or a slower pace that was either more or less efficient than their own, normal walk. Next, the researchers activated the leg braces that the volunteers had been wearing.&nbsp;



"Many participants assumed that the exoskeleton (leg brace) device was designed to make walking easier," said Selinger. Although the braces were sometimes used in this way, the researchers also set the braces to make walking harder, just like a treadmill can be set to simulate walking up a slope. This forced the volunteers to adjust their walking style to make it more efficient.&nbsp;



Once the volunteers were familiar with all of these approaches, the scientists combined the tasks and asked them to walk at different speeds while simultaneously identifying whether a beep tone was higher or lower than its predecessor, and also while adjusting to cope with the leg braces. 



"The experimental set-up was technical and had many components," said study co-author Rachel Blair of the University of British Colombia. "It was a challenge to get all these aspects working seamlessly and in-sync with each other."&nbsp;



After analyzing the findings, study co-author Megan McAllister found that volunteers were able to adjust their walking for optimal energy efficiency despite the distractions of the beeping sounds. They did not have to think in order to walk efficiently, but simply adapted automatically.&nbsp;



"When people adapt to energy optimal ways of walking, they do so without consciously having to think about it," said Selinger. This ability to adapt our movements without consciously analyzing or thinking about it allows us to multitask and focus on other problems while we are walking.



The results of this study are published in the <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

We optimize our walking efficiency without thought

Humans are consummate walkers – our ancestors populated the entire...

According to a new report from the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/who-we-are">World Bank</a>, without immediate action to mitigate climate change, over 216 million people may be forced to migrate to other parts of their countries by 2050. These migration patterns will be caused by the emergence of so-called “climate migration hotspots,” areas that will become inhabitable due to several environmental effects of global warming such as rising sea levels, powerful storms, or lack of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bedrock-may-be-secretly-supplying-trees-with-water/">water</a> availability.



The World Bank researchers claim that the poorest regions of the world will be the ones that are hit the hardest. The scientists estimate that in Sub-Saharan Africa alone, low water availability, crop productivity, sea-level rise, and storm surges may force the migration of 86 million people. South Asia could face the displacement of 40 million inhabitants, while the estimates for East Asia and the Pacific region are up to 49 million.



Such forced movements will put significant stress on both sending and receiving areas, straining urban centers through overpopulation, and will ultimately jeopardize development gains.&nbsp;



According to study co-author Kanta Kumari Rigaud, the World Bank’s leading environmental specialist, the Earth is already locked into dangerous patterns of climate change. Thus, climate migration should be considered a present reality rather than just a future possible problem.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We have to reduce or cut our greenhouse gases to meet the Paris target, because those climate impacts are going to escalate and increase the scale of climate migration,”&nbsp;said Rigaud.



Although the World Bank report addresses only developing countries, climate migration will certainly be a global phenomenon that also affects higher-income countries. For example, an Artificial Intelligence map designed in 2020 by researchers from the <a href="https://www.usc.edu/">University of Southern California</a> shows that even in the United States, nearly 13 million people might be forced to migrate internally by the end of the 21st century due to sea-level rises on the coastal regions. 



Urgent action needs to be taken to reduce greenhouse emissions, restore natural ecosystems and close developmental gaps between nations. According to Rigaud and his colleagues, if such actions are taken without further delay, climate migration could be reduced by up to 80 percent. 



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By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com Staff Writer

Global warming will force millions to migrate

According to a new report from the World Bank, without...

Using <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-technology-needed-to-monitor-earths-water-cycle/">technology</a> similar to an MRI to scan the floor of the North Sea, scientists have revealed hidden landscapes created by ancient ice sheets.&nbsp;



The experts found "tunnel valleys" buried hundreds of feet below the bottom of the sea. These are the remnants of massive rivers formed as the ice started to melt in response to warming ambient temperatures.



Study lead author James Kirkham is a researcher at the Scott Polar Research Institute and the <a href="https://www.bas.ac.uk/">British Antarctic Survey</a>.



“The origin of these channels was unresolved for over a century. This discovery will help us better understand the ongoing retreat of present-day glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland," explained Kirkham.



"In the way that we can leave footprints in the sand, glaciers leave an imprint on the land upon which they flow. Our new cutting edge data gives us important markers of deglaciation. ”



The technology used sound waves to create detailed images of a lost landscape formed by melting ice. It may give scientists a window into our own future warming planet through the lens of the past.&nbsp;



“Although we have known about the huge glacial channels in the North Sea for some time, this is the first time we have imaged fine-scale landforms within them. These delicate features tell us about how water moved through the channels (beneath the ice) and even how ice simply stagnated and melted away," said study co-author Dr. Kelly Hogan.



"It is very difficult to observe what goes on underneath our large ice sheets today, particularly how moving water and sediment is affecting ice flow and we know that these are important controls on ice behavior. As a result, using these ancient channels to understand how ice will respond to changing conditions in a warming climate is extremely relevant and timely.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geology">Geology</a>.



---By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Hidden landscapes found beneath the North Sea

Using technology similar to an MRI to scan the floor...

Human heart rate fluctuates due to many different factors. We know that practices such as meditation can slow down heart rate, while <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exercise-can-improve-heart-health-at-any-age/">exercising</a>, thinking about a frightening experience or watching a riveting movie can speed it up. If we carry out these activities with other people then it is predictable that they will experience the same changes in heart rate as we do.



However, the authors of a new study, published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/home">Cell Reports</a>, propose that individuals listening attentively to a story will synchronize their heart rates as well – even though they are listening entirely on their own.&nbsp;



“There's a lot of literature demonstrating that people synchronize their physiology with each other. But the premise is that somehow, you're interacting and physically present in the same place,” explained study co-senior author Lucas Parra, a professor at City College of New York. “What we have found is that the phenomenon is much broader, and that simply following a story and processing stimulus will cause similar fluctuations in people’s heart rates. It's the cognitive function that drives your heart rate up or down.”



“What’s important is that the listener is paying attention to the actions in the story,” noted study co-senior author Jacobo Sitt, a researcher at the Paris Brain Institute and Inserm. “It’s not about emotions, but about being engaged and attentive, and thinking about what will happen next. Your heart responds to those signals from the brain.”



In a series of experiments the researchers investigated the role of attention in synchronizing the heart rates of participants. For example, when volunteers listened to an audiobook of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, their heart rates increased and decreased at similar points during the story. The electrocardiogram (EKG) measurements of their heart rates were synchronized over time, even though they were isolated from one another.



In order to prove that synchronization was not occurring because participants were responding to the emotional content of the narrative, the researchers asked participants to watch short, unemotional educational videos. Participants who watched the videos showed synchronization of their heart rates, despite the lack of emotional content.&nbsp;



But participants who had to count backwards in their heads while watching the videos showed less synchronization of emotions. This indicated to the researchers that it is the act of paying attention to the narrative and thinking about it that is important in synchronizing heart rates.



Further experimentation revealed that heart rate synchronization also predicts how well a participant comprehends and remembers the events of the story. When participants listened to children’s short stories, some while attentive and others while being distracted, those with higher heart rate synchronization achieved better scores when questioned later about the story. The authors felt this was evidence of the relationship between changes in heart rate and the conscious processing of the narrative.&nbsp;



In a final experiment healthy volunteers and patients with disorders of consciousness (e.g., in a coma or a persistent vegetative state) listened to an audiobook of a children’s story. Patients with disorders were unable to pay attention and, as expected, showed lower rates of heart synchronization than did healthy participants.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This study is still very preliminary, but you can imagine this being an easy test that could be implemented to measure brain function,” said Sitt. “It doesn’t require a lot of equipment. It could even be performed in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.” The study authors emphasized that more validation is needed, with larger numbers of patients, as well as comparisons with accepted tests of brain function like EEGs and fMRIs, before this method could be accepted as a useful measure of brain function.&nbsp;



According to Parra, such research is also important for understanding mindfulness and the brain-body connection.&nbsp;



“Neuroscience is opening up in terms of thinking of the brain as part of an actual anatomical, physical body. This research is a step in the direction of looking at the brain-body connection more broadly, in terms of how the brain affects the body.”



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Our heart rates synchronize when we experience the same story

Human heart rate fluctuates due to many different factors. We...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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