For decades, researchers have questioned whether boys and girls are born with the same natural ability in math. In 2005, cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Spelke took a firm stand, stating that there are no differences in overall intrinsic aptitude for science and mathematics among women and men.



Now, the evidence is even stronger. In a new study, researchers from <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Harvard University</a> and several institutions across France examined math performance in more than 2.5 million French schoolchildren. 



The team found that at the very beginning of first grade, boys and girls start off nearly equal in math. But just four months into formal math instruction, a small gap appears - and it keeps growing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nationwide-study-tracks-the-math-gap">Nationwide study tracks the math gap</h2>



The research draws on a French government testing program that was launched in 2018. This nationwide effort tracked <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reminiscing-can-boost-language-development-in-preschoolers/">language</a> and math skills of young students from first through sixth grade. 



Over five years and across four student cohorts, the program gave researchers an unmatched view of early math development.



At school entry, French girls scored slightly better than boys in language. Math scores, though, were essentially the same. 



"The headline conclusion is that the gender gap emerges when systematic instruction in mathematics begins," Spelke explained.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-for-gender-differences">Looking for gender differences </h2>



Spelke had already spent decades studying how young children understand numbers and shapes. Back in 2005, she wrote a major review for American Psychologist. The piece challenged the notion that boys are biologically wired for better math performance than girls.



"My argument was, 'OK, if there really were biological differences, maybe we would see them in the infancy period,'" said Spelke. 



She and her team always tracked <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/young-children-learn-gender-stereotypes-from-storybooks/">gender</a> in their studies, but they never found infant boys outperforming girls in math, or vice versa. Still, Spelke admitted that something could be happening later in development.



"The fact that there are no differences in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/conscious-awareness-when-does-our-sense-of-purpose-emerge/">infants</a> could be because the abilities that show gender effects actually emerge during preschool," she proposed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-math-instruction-for-boys-and-girls">Math instruction for boys and girls</h2>



In recent years, Spelke has turned her attention to how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-discover-a-better-way-for-kids-to-learn-math/">children learn counting</a> and numbers in real classrooms. 



Spelke partnered with Nobel Prize-winning MIT economist Esther Duflo to advise the Delhi office of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). The team is helping four Indian states create and test math lessons for children in preschool through first grade.



In France, she works alongside her longtime collaborator, neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene. Together, they serve on the French Ministry of Education's Scientific Council, which helped develop the EvalAide testing program. 



The idea was simple: measure where every child stands in math and language and use that data to guide better teaching.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gender-gap-emerges-in-math">Gender gap emerges in math</h2>



For this study, the team analyzed data from four full cohorts of first-graders entering school between 2018 and 2021. 



What they found was consistent: no math gap at the time of school entry, a small but significant gap favoring boys after four months, and a steadily widening gap by second, fourth, and even sixth grade.



"It was even bigger in fourth grade," Spelke said. "And in sixth grade it was bigger still."



Interestingly, the gender gap in language shrank slightly after the first few months of school and stayed relatively stable in later years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ruling-out-old-explanations">Ruling out old explanations</h2>



So why does the math gap grow with time in school? The researchers ruled out several familiar theories.



"If there was really a pervasive social bias, and the parents were susceptible to it, we would expect boys to be more oriented toward spatial and numerical tasks when they first got to school," said Spelke.



But that didn’t happen. At school entry, there was no math gap. This points away from both biological and early social bias explanations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-experiment-during-the-pandemic">An experiment during the pandemic </h2>



The EvalAide dataset offered other insights. French first-graders can be nearly a year apart in age, depending on when their birthday falls. 



The team wondered if the older students were skewing results. They weren’t. The widening gender gap aligned more closely with time spent in school than with age.



Then came an unusual variable: COVID-19. The 2019 cohort missed the final 2.5 months of first grade due to lockdowns. That gap year created a natural experiment.



"With less time in school, the amount of the gender gap grew by less than it did in the other years where there wasn't a long school closure," said Spelke.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-confirming-the-math-gender-gap">Confirming the math gender gap</h2>



The cohort also began school just after a national education crisis. In early 2019, French students had scored <a href="https://www.polytechnique-insights.com/en/braincamps/society/how-to-improve-the-relationship-between-education-and-employment/maths-an-essential-subject-whose-level-is-falling-in-a-majority-of-countries/#:~:text=In%202003%2C%2015%25%20of%20French,European%20average%20of%20527%20points.">lowest</a> among 23 European countries in math, according to international rankings. 



In response, the French Education Ministry - guided by its Scientific Council - called for more math teaching in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-19-pandemic-setbacks-reduced-kindergarten-readiness/">kindergarten</a>.



Sure enough, a tiny math gender gap appeared in fall 2019 among new first-graders. That gap hadn’t shown up in 2018 but was still present in 2020 and 2021.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-problems-in-early-math-instruction">Problems in early math instruction </h2>



The study doesn't pinpoint a single cause, but its message is clear: differences in math achievement between boys and girls seem to grow as a result of what happens in early <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/schools-are-in-a-battle-with-cell-phones-to-keep-students-engaged/">school</a> instruction.



"We still don't know what that is exactly," Spelke said. "But now we have a chance to find out by randomized evaluations of changes to the curriculum."



The findings put pressure on education systems to ask hard questions about how math is taught in the early years - and what needs to change to make it fair for everyone.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09126-4">Nature</a>.



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Early math instruction may unintentionally favor boys

For decades, researchers have questioned whether boys and girls are born with the same natural ability in math. In 2005, cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Spelke took a firm stand, stating that there are no differences in overall intrinsic aptitude for science and mathematics among women and men. Now, the evidence is even stronger. In a new study, researchers from Harvard University and several institutions across France examined math performance in more than 2.5 million French schoolchildren. The team found that at the very beginning of first grade, boys...

According to a recent study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.064">Current Biology</a>, the ascendancy of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaurs-were-going-strong-when-the-deadly-asteroid-struck/">dinosaurs</a> through the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods was primarily driven by climate change, rather than inter-species competition.



The experts argue that changes in global climate linked to the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction - which wiped out many large terrestrial vertebrates such as the armadillo-like aetosaurs – in fact benefited the earliest dinosaurs.



For instance, sauropod-like dinosaurs, which later on evolved into the giant herbivore species of the late Jurassic (such as Diplodocus or Brachiosaurus) were able to thrive and expand their territories as the Earth warmed substantially after the mass extinction event, about 210 million years ago.



By comparing computer models of prehistoric global climate conditions like temperature and rainfall with data on the different locations of dinosaurs, the scientists showed how the sauropods and related creatures ended up being the success story of a turbulent period of evolution.



“What we see in the data suggests that instead of dinosaurs being outcompeted by other large vertebrates, it was variations in climate conditions that were restricting their diversity. But once these conditions changed across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, they were able to flourish,” said study lead author Emma Dunne, a lecturer in Paleontology at <a href="https://www.fau.eu/">Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg</a> (FAU).



“The results were somewhat surprising, because it turns out that sauropods were really fussy from the get-go: later in their evolution they continue to stay in warmer areas and avoid polar regions.”



“Climate change appears to have been really important in driving the evolution of early dinosaurs. What we want to do next is use the same techniques to understand the role of climate in the next 120 million years of the dinosaur story,” concluded study co-author Richard Butler, a professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a>.



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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



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Early dinosaurs benefited from changes in global climate

According to a recent study published in the journal Current...

As cells perform their daily functions, they turn on various genes and cellular pathways. A research team led by the <a href="https://www.mit.edu/">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> (MIT) has now managed to coax cells to inscribe the history of these events in a long <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/proteins-identified-that-allowed-vertebrates-to-evolve/">protein</a> chain which can be then studied using a light microscope. 



According to the experts, cells programmed to produce these chains incessantly add building blocks encoding particular cellular events. Later, these ordered protein chains can be labeled with fluorescent molecules which the scientists can use to reconstruct the timing of the events. This method could help clarify the steps that underlie processes such as memory formation, responses to drug treatments, or gene expression.



“There are a lot of changes that happen at organ or body scale, over hours to weeks, which cannot be tracked over time,” explained study senior author Edward Boyden, a professor of Neurotechnology at MIT. However, if the newly developed technique could be extended to function over longer time periods, it could be also used to study temporal phenomena such as disease progression or aging.



To study the functions of biological cells, scientists usually image proteins, RNA, or other molecules from inside the cells. Unfortunately, most current methods for doing this offer only a glimpse of a single moment in time, or don’t function properly with large populations of cells.



“Biological systems are often composed of a large number of different types of cells. For example, the human brain has 86 billion cells,” said study lead author Changyang Linghu, an assistant professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a>. “To understand those kinds of biological systems, we need to observe physiological events over time in these large cell populations.”



To achieve this, the scientists recorded cellular events as a series of protein subunits continuously added to a chain, by using engineered protein subunits that can assemble into long filaments. Then they designed a genetically encoded system in which one of these subunits is continuously produced inside cells, while another is generated only when specific events occur. Each subunit contains an “epitope tag” - a short peptide that can bind to a different fluorescent antibody that can help scientist later on visualize the tags.



“We’re hoping to use this kind of protein self-assembly to record activity in every single cell,” Linghu said. “It’s not only a snapshot in time, but also records past history, just like how tree rings can permanently store information over time as the wood grows.”



This approach could detect and record a variety of temporally extended cellular events, including the progression of a disease or a drug treatment, as well as processes related to growth or aging. In future research, the scientists aim to extend the recording period so that longer temporal events can be recorded and analyzed.



“The total amount of information it could store is fixed, but we could in principle slow down or increase the speed of the growth of the chain. If we want to record for a longer time, we could slow down the synthesis so that it will reach the size of the cell within, let’s say two weeks. In that way we could record longer, but with less time resolution,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-022-01586-7">Nature Biotechnology</a>.



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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



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Engineered proteins can record cellular "memories"

As cells perform their daily functions, they turn on various...

Clinical,Trial,For,New,Modern,Covid,Vaccine,During,Global,Pandemic.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) is a poorly understood health condition affecting about one in 3,000 to 4,000 children and adolescents who were previously infected with SARS-CoV-2. It usually occurs about a week or two after a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-largest-covid-wave-currently-unfolding-across-china/">Covid</a> infection and is characterized by symptoms ranging from stomach pain, fever, and rashes to myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and even organ failure. To date, over 9,000 patients have been diagnosed with MIS-C in the Unites States, and 74 have died.



A lingering question troubling scientists has been whether a Covid vaccine may increase the risk of health problems in young people who have had MIS-C. Fortunately, according to a new study funded by the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/">National Institutes of Health</a> (NIH) and involving 22 medical centers and 385 racially diverse patients aged five or older with prior MIS-C, vaccination does not seem to lead to serious complications such as myocarditis or MIS-C reoccurrence. Instead, only mild adverse reactions – such as arm soreness and fatigue – occurred in 49 percent of the participants.



“We are very reassured by the results and this safety data should be comforting to families and healthcare professionals when considering and recommending vaccination,” said study co-leader Matthew D. Elias, M.D., a pediatric cardiologist at <a href="https://www.chop.edu/">Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia</a> and clinical assistant professor of Pediatrics at the <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/">University of Pennsylvania</a>.



These findings provide support for the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers of Disease Control and Prevention</a>’s recommendation that patients with a history of MIS-C receive a Covid vaccine at least 90 days after their initial diagnosis. “In light of the acute and long-term consequences of COVID-19 it is vital to continue the development, testing, and deployment of preventive as well as therapeutic agents in at-risk groups as well as the general population,” concluded Gary H. Gibbons, M.D., the director of the <a href="https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/">National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute</a> (NHLBI).&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.48987">JAMA Network Open</a>.   



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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



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Covid vaccines appear safe for children after MIS-C

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) is a poorly understood health condition...

According to a new global quantitative study based on data collected from research articles and databases, most reservoirs of rodent-borne diseases tend to live exclusively or occasionally in or near human dwellings, show large fluctuations in their population numbers, and are often hunted by humans for their fur or meat, thus increasing the risk of new <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/the-terrifying-biology-of-zoonotic-diseases/">zoonotic diseases</a> to emerge.



“Most rodents that spread zoonotic pathogens, meaning pathogens spreading between animals and humans, show large population fluctuations, move at least occasionally indoors, or are hunted for meat or fur. Our results were consistent among pathogen types, i.e., virus, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. And with transmission modes, i.e., intermediate, involvement of vectors or non-close and close contact, with close contact including inhalation of contaminated aerosols,” said study lead author Frauke Ecke, a professor of Organismal and Evolutionary Biology at the <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en">University of Helsinki</a> in Finland.



In order to clarify the interplay between natural and human-driven factors in the risk of pathogen transmission from animals to humans, the scientists focused on&nbsp;436 rodent species (of which 282 are well-known reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens), and investigated the linkage among the rodents’ choice of habitat, population fluctuations, humans’ hunting activities, and the status of rodents as potential reservoirs.



The analysis revealed that certain regions in the world – including large parts of Europe (especially central and northern Europe), a wide stretch of land extending from eastern Europe to eastern Asia, eastern China, parts of South America, southeast Australia, and eastern parts of North America – are at high risk of pathogen spillovers from rodents to humans. “If people encounter a rodent in these regions, there is a high risk that this rodent carries zoonotic pathogens,” Ecke warned.



Some examples of such pathogen-carrying rodents include the bank vole in Europe, the North American deer mouse, and the South American Azara’s grass mouse. These species exhibit large population fluctuations and can often live inside human dwellings.



“It is especially the large population fluctuations together with the disturbance of the rodents’ natural habitat that can explain why rodents move nearby and into human dwellings. This movement behavior is typical for so-called generalists, which are species that can cope with many different environments. These generalists are the most important reservoirs of pathogens,” Ecke concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35273-7">Nature Communications</a>.



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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



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Why rodent-borne diseases spill over into humans?

According to a new global quantitative study based on data...

Icy mountains, with their snow, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/melting-glaciers-could-unleash-dangerous-viruses/">glaciers</a> and permafrost, are important sources of water for downstream communities in many parts of the world. Some scientists refer to these frozen bodies as the ‘water towers of the world,’ since they store water during the cold winter months and release it slowly as meltwater during spring and summer, meeting the needs of people and ecosystems in lower lying areas.&nbsp;



However, as global warming takes effect, glacial ice and permafrost are receding or disappearing from these mountain regions, necessitating new water management strategies to ensure the continued stable supply of fresh water. Essentially, as ice melts in mountainous regions throughout the world, the glaciers, snow and permafrost no longer act as storage reservoirs, meaning that water supply in these regions will be provided solely by precipitation. Previous research has suggested that, by 2100 up to half of the world’s population could be living with water scarcity.&nbsp;



A recent study led by researchers from the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a> suggests that there is a lack of integrated water security knowledge for communities that depend on water supply from snow and ice. This is due to the fact that, in these regions, there is often limited understanding of what happens ‘beyond the cryosphere’ – that is the contribution from water sources other than frozen water, such as hillslopes, wetlands, and groundwater. Communities have just always depended on melting ice as a reliable supply of water.



Emerging research is showing that the effects of global warming and climate change are enhanced in mountainous areas, where glacier-related disasters such as ice avalanches and glacial lake outburst floods are becoming more commonplace. This highlights the fact that there are likely to be serious and life-threatening implications for the millions of people who depend on mountain water supply in these regions.&nbsp;



The study, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00996-4">Nature Sustainability</a>, finds that there are huge gaps in available data on how communities use water from glaciers and mountain snow in combination with other water sources. This information will be crucial in formulating management plans for sustainable water use in future, as meltwater becomes less available. The picture is especially difficult to construct, say the researchers, because of complex mountain landscapes, differences in localized weather systems and a low density of data station records.



“In mountains, there are complex interconnections between the cryosphere [snow and ice] and other water sources, as well as with humans," said Professor David Hannah. "We need to identify the gaps in our understanding and rethink strategies for water security in the context of climate change adaptation and shifting human needs.”



The lack of data is exacerbated by low uptake of new monitoring technologies and approaches, particularly in lower income countries with limited institutional capacities. This further hampers the understanding of water use in high-altitude, data sparse regions in many parts of the world, and makes it very difficult to create models for future water management that can be scaled up accurately across watersheds.



Furthermore, the picture is complicated by uncertainties about future water needs. Information on population growth and likely adaptation to water security threats is limited, as are data on the future expansion of irrigated agriculture and hydropower, all of which will have substantial impacts on water access and allocation. In the light of these concerning gaps in understanding and knowledge, the research team have called for a fundamental rethink of the methods and technologies used to assess current water availability and to model future scenarios.



Study lead author Dr. Fabian Drenkhan conducted the research while at Imperial and now works at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. “The future is likely to lead to a more variable water supply and growing water demand, which is a real threat to water security in many mountain regions. Our current incomplete picture is hampering the design and implementation of effective climate change adaptation," said Dr. Drenkhan.



"A holistic perspective based on improved data and process understanding is urgently needed to guide robust, locally tailored adaptation approaches in view of increasingly adverse impacts from climate change and other human interferences.”



What is clear is that climate change will impact the availability of fresh water over the coming decades, centuries and even millennia, making serious impacts inevitable for current communities and for generations to come. Adaptation to these changes will require comprehensive data sets and an understanding of how global warming may affect the cryosphere in order to develop management strategies that enhance water security in future.&nbsp;



“Our study highlights the need for scientists to work on the ground with stakeholders. A thorough understanding of the local water security context is essential to co-produce integrated local and scientific knowledge that can support local water management decisions and adaptation strategies," concluded study senior author Professor Wouter Buytaert.



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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

Water supply from icy mountains will become less reliable

Icy mountains, with their snow, glaciers and permafrost, are important...

During the first year of the Coronavirus <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/monkeypox-is-spreading-but-unlikely-to-cause-a-pandemic/">pandemic</a>, a relatively slow but constant rate of viral mutations occurred. However, since the end of 2020, several variants characterized by a large number of mutations have emerged, exceeding by far the mutation rates observed in the first stage of the pandemic.&nbsp;



A new study led by <a href="https://english.tau.ac.il/">Tel Aviv University</a> has found that immunocompromised patients tend to develop chronic Coronavirus infections, allowing the virus to accumulate a variety of mutations, which can make it become more transmissible and able to evade prior natural or vaccine-induced immunity, as was the case of the Omicron variant.



The scientists argue that weakened antibody responses – particularly in the lower airways of chronic patients – may prevent their full recovery and drive the Coronavirus to mutate several times during lengthy infections, potentially leading to the emergence of new variants.&nbsp;



“The Coronavirus is characterized by the fact that in every population, there are people who become chronically infected. In the case of these patients, the virus remains in their body for a lengthy period of time, and they are at high risk for recurrent infection,” explained study senior author Adi Stern, an expert in viral evolution at the Tel Aviv University.&nbsp;



“In all of the cases observed so far, these were immunocompromised patients – part of their immune system is damaged and unable to function. In biological evolutionary terms, these patients constitute an ‘incubator’ for viruses and mutations – the virus persists in their body for a long time and succeeds in adapting to the immune system, by accumulating various mutations.”



By examining 27 chronic Covid-19 patients at the <a href="https://www.tasmc.org.il/sites/en/Pages/default.aspx">Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center</a>, Professor Stern and his colleagues found that their weakened immune systems have often created pressure for the virus to mutate. Most of these patients showed a pattern&nbsp;of apparent recovery, followed by recurring viral infection.&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that, when such a pattern of apparent recovery was observed – based on negative nasopharyngeal swabs – the virus continued to thrive in the patients’ lungs, where it accumulated several mutations before travelling back to the upper respiratory tract.



“The complexity of Coronavirus evolution is still being revealed, and this poses many challenges to the scientific community. I believe that our research has succeeded in peeling back a missing layer of the big picture, and has opened the door for further research efforts to discover the origins of the various variants. This study highlights the importance of protecting immunocompromised individuals, who are at high risk for the virus, yet may also be an incubator for the formation of the next variant, posing a risk to all of us,” Professor Stern concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01882-4">Nature Medicine</a>.



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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  



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Covid variants emerge from chronic patients

During the first year of the Coronavirus pandemic, a relatively...

A new study published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/apl0001062">Journal of Applied Psychology</a> has found that gig workers, salespeople, and other workers who rely on volatile, fluctuating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/income-inequality-public-less-cooperative/">income</a> often experience worse physical health outcomes, including poor sleep, headaches, stomach issues, and back pain.



“Pay volatility seems to predict worse health outcomes across a wide range of incomes,” said study author Gordon Sayre, an assistant professor of Organizational Behavior at <a href="https://em-lyon.com/">Emlyon Business School</a> in France. “Not only was pay volatility related to worse health in lower-paid tipped jobs or among freelancers in the gig economy but for higher-paid professionals working in finance, sales, and marketing, where commissions and performance bonuses are common.”



In one study, 85 U.S. workers relying on tips, such as waiters, delivery drivers, or maids, filled-in daily surveys for two weeks regarding their total daily pay and health. The analysis revealed that large fluctuations of daily pay over the study period was associated with negative health issues and poor sleep quality. This relationship was stronger when volatile pay made up a larger percentage of the workers’ total pay.



Another three-weeks study included 375 U.S. participants who spent an average of 29 hours per week working Amazon’s <a href="https://www.mturk.com/">Mechanical Turk</a>, a website where individuals have to complete a variety of tasks for minimal amounts of pay. In this case too, those with larger fluctuations in their pay experienced the worse health outcomes.



Finally, Sayre conducted a three-month online survey of 252 higher-income employees in finance, marketing, and sales who relied on commissions or bonuses for a fraction of their income. The results showed that pay volatility was less harmful to health when the participants were less reliant on commissions and bonuses.



These findings suggest that businesses should consider whether volatile forms of pay are necessary and ensure that more stable forms of compensation make up a larger part of employees’ total income.&nbsp;



“Unions are another way that workers could secure stronger protections against volatile pay. Raising the proportion of base pay and reducing dependence on volatile pay should help protect workers’ health in many industries,” Sayre concluded.



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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



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Fluctuating income is detrimental to health

A new study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology...

India is one of the ten most forest-rich countries in the world, with about 80.9 million hectares of trees covering it (nearly 25 percent of the entire country). However, between the 1890s and the 1990s, a combination of rapid economic development and overexploitation of resources led India losing almost 80 percent of its forest area. Now, as the country’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/diverse-forests-are-more-resilient-and-productive/">forests</a> continue to disappear, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a> has developed a deep learning algorithm that, by using satellite data, could provide real-time monthly land use and land cover maps of India.



“Our work was done in an effort to help India’s government and industries improve the country’s attempts at forest sustainability,” said study lead author Ying Zuo, a graduate student in Earth Sciences at OSU.



This land monitoring system was trained by using data from <a href="https://www.norad.no/en/front/thematic-areas/climate-change-and-environment/norways-international-climate-and-forest-initiative-nicfi/">Norway’s International Climate and Forests Initiative</a> (NICFI), an enterprise of the Norwegian government aiming to reduce the destruction of tropical forests by providing high-resolution satellite images of the tropics. By combining this data with a global land cover map produced by <a href="https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/">Tsinghua University</a> in China, the deep learning algorithm was able to develop more detailed maps of Indian forests.



“In an effort to combine two datasets into the same system, we resampled them into the same spatial resolution and aligned each pixel to create an image-labeled paired training dataset,” Zuo explained. “The process helps us to assimilate the two datasets so they can be used to train our deep learning model.”&nbsp;



After training the model through these methods, the scientists processed ten base monthly maps of the area, from January to October 2022. These maps allowed researchers to detect seasonal shifts across India, including changes to barren land, the way monsoons affected crop land, and the distribution of forests in mountainous regions.



The experts concluded that it is vital for ecologists to more comprehensively investigate the seasonal impact of monsoons on India’s forest cover. “As the average temperature of our Earth increases, natural hazards will become a lot more frequent, so having these maps at our disposal benefits everyone’s understanding of how this problem affects life on Earth,” Zuo said.



In future research, the scientists aim to expand the timespan of these base maps over several years instead of just a few months to study other annual changes around the world, such as the effects of floods on forests.



“The characteristics of local forests and their surrounding habitats might likely be different in other regions. But with the help of more detailed datasets, our work could easily be used in areas of the world where detecting and alerting the public to forest degradation and its side effects need to become a priority,” Zuo concluded.



The study was presented at the annual meeting of the <a href="https://www.agu.org/Fall-Meeting">American Geophysical Union</a>.



---



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



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Deep learning can help track changes in forest cover

India is one of the ten most forest-rich countries in...

A study led by the <a href="https://www.uga.edu/">University of Georgia</a> has found that physical activity during older age can help protect cognitive functioning. Moreover, in order to see significant improvements in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/moderate-drinking-can-cause-premature-brain-aging/">brain</a> health, no intense physical exercise is needed. In fact, even just a few minutes of walking could have high neuroprotective benefits.



“This finding isn’t saying, ‘If you’re older, you need to go out there and start running marathons,’” said study lead author Marissa Gogniat, a recent doctoral graduate in Psychology at the University of Georgia. “This is saying if you get more steps, if you’re moving around your environment a little bit more, that can be helpful to your brain health and keep you more independent as you age.”



Dr. Gogniat and her colleagues tracked the physical activity and fitness measurements of 51 older adults, who wore a device that measured the intensity of their physical activity, the number of steps taken, and the distance they covered. The scientists assessed fitness through a six-minutes walking test, during which participants had to walk as quickly as they could. Afterwards, the participants performed tests specifically designed to measure their cognitive functioning and underwent functional MRIs to assess their brain functioning.



The researchers found that the functioning and interaction of the different neural networks that the brain consists of – which is fundamental for being able to perform basic daily tasks, such as remembering important information and exhibiting self-control – was significantly improved by physical exercise.



“This paper is exciting because it gives us some evidence that when people whose brain networks aren’t functioning optimally engage in physical activity, we see improvement in their executive function and their independence,” Dr. Gogniat explained.&nbsp;



“We’re not saying you need to radically change your life. Maybe just take the stairs on the way to work. Stand up and walk around a little bit more. That’s where you get the most bang for your buck, not crazy, high-intensity exercise.”



“We’ve always been told it’s good to exercise, but I think this is some evidence that exercise can actually change your brain. And that impacts the way you’re able to function in your daily life,” she concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11332-021-00887-9">Sport Sciences for Health</a>.



—



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</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.

Even moderate exercise can improve brain health

A study led by the University of Georgia has found...

In 2022, by searching through its collections, as well as sending scientists on research trips, the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/">National History Museum</a> (NHM) in the UK named 351 new species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-we-communicate-with-animals-using-artificial-intelligence/">animals</a>, a quarter of which were wasps. Although many of the species that were discovered had already been well known by local human populations sharing their habitats, classifying them scientifically is important to monitor and protect them against various threats, such as climate change or habitat loss.



The largest group of new discoveries consisted of wasps, including several species of tiny parasitic wasps from the family Megaphragma that could play a major role in agriculture. Since these insects parasitize the eggs of thrips – a type of insect which can cause significant crop damage – the wasps may act as important biological control agents.



“It’s no surprise that new wasp species came out on top, it’s just a surprise that wasps don’t come top every year,” said Gavin Broad, the principal curator in charge of insects at the NHM. “The abundance of parasitoid wasps makes the order Hymenoptera the most species-rich order of insects, but it is way behind some other groups in terms of actual species descriptions. Watch out for lots more wasps next year.”



The experts also named 84 species of beetles, 34 moths, 23 moss animals (known as “bryozoans”), 19 stick insects, 13 trematode worms, 12 protists, seven flies, two species of bumblebees from Asia, two polychaete worms from the seafloor, and a centipede with a number of segments that has never been found in nature before. Some new vertebrates were also discovered, including a new species of gecko from Seychelles, seven frogs, and three species of fish.&nbsp;



Besides all of these animals, the scientists also described 11 new species of algae (both living and fossil), as well as four new species of plants from southern Asia. “Although flowering plants are relatively well known as far as groups of organisms go, it is estimated that even though we have given about 450,000 species scientific names, there are about 25 percent of that left to describe,” said Sandra Knapp, a researcher at the NHM who was involved with the description of these new plant species. “Not to discover – for sure, these things we don’t know about are known by local and Indigenous peoples where they occur – we taxonomists just give them names that put them into the language of global botany.”



“Most plants have a variety of names, some specific to an area or language group, others more widespread, but the scientific names we coin can be used by anyone anywhere. This means there is a common language, one of the things we really need to help bend the curve for biodiversity. After all, if we can’t talk about a species, how can we wish to save it?” she concluded.



—



By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com 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.

More than 350 new species discovered in 2022

In 2022, by searching through its collections, as well as...

A new study has confirmed that primate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vanilla-cultivation-can-boost-biodiversity-in-madagascar/">diversity</a> is greater in areas that are managed by Indigenous peoples. The experts determined that primates such as monkeys and apes are less likely to be classified as vulnerable, threatened or endangered when they live in territories that overlap with Indigenous lands.&nbsp;



The research was led by Paul A. Garber, a professor of Anthropology at the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</a>, and Alejandro Estrada, a professor in the Institute of Biology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.&nbsp;



“There is an impending extinction crisis among the world’s 521 primate species,” said Professor Garber. “We know that 68% of these species are vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered and many of them may not survive to the end of the century. Worldwide, 93% of primate populations are declining.”



Understanding the conditions that allow primate populations to survive and even thrive is critical to preventing their extinction and preserving their special contributions to healthy forest ecosystems, explained Professor Garber.



“Most primates exploit forests, where they serve as agents of pollination and seed dispersal. They’re involved in important predator-prey relationships. They consume insects and small vertebrates. They play a very important role in the regeneration of forests.”



Professor Garber noted that primates are one of the first indicator species if there’s a dramatic change in the environment, as they are relatively large-bodied animals with a slow reproductive rate.



For the investigation, the study authors set out to evaluate the relationship between Indigenous lands and primate biodiversity. “We found that Indigenous peoples’ lands account for 30% of the primate range, and 71% of primate species inhabit these lands. As their range on these lands increases, primate species are less likely to be classified as threatened or have declining populations.” wrote the researchers.



The study also compared Indigenous lands to regions with roughly the same human population density immediately outside of the territories.&nbsp;



“The results were that the human footprint – a measure of infrastructure development and habitat conversion – was significantly greater immediately outside Indigenous peoples’ lands than inside,” said Professor Garber.



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</a>.



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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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Primates have greater diversity on Indigenous lands

A new study has confirmed that primate diversity is greater...

The benefits of regular physical exercise have long been recognized. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, physical activity can improve your&nbsp;brain health, help&nbsp;manage weight, reduce the&nbsp;risk of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/links-between-climate-and-heart-disease-must-be-addressed/">disease</a>, strengthen&nbsp;bones and muscles, and improve your ability to do&nbsp;everyday activities. In addition, regular exercise reduces your overall risk of dying prematurely.&nbsp;



Physical activity is such an important aspect of keeping ourselves healthy that the US Department of Health and Human Services issued&nbsp;<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2712935">Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans</a>&nbsp;in 2018. They recommended that adults engage in at least 150-300 minutes/week of moderate physical activity or 75-150 minutes/week of vigorous physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both intensities. The <a href="https://www.heart.org/">American Heart Association</a> followed suit, recommending at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or at least 75 minutes per week or vigorous aerobic exercise, or a combination of both.



Previous studies have often used a single measurement of a person’s level of physical exercise on which to base statistical analyses and research outcomes. And despite the well-known advantages of regular exercise, it remains unclear whether it is beneficial or harmful to do more long-term moderate or vigorous exercise than is currently recommended. New research, published in the American Heart Association’s flagship, peer-reviewed journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/journal/circ">Circulation</a>, has now investigated this question, making use of over 110,000 participants and a study that lasted 30 years.&nbsp;



Study lead author Dong Hoon Lee is a research associate in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. &nbsp;



“The potential impact of physical activity on health is great, yet it remains unclear whether engaging in high levels of prolonged, vigorous or moderate intensity physical activity, above the recommended levels, provides any additional benefits or harmful effects on cardiovascular health,” said Lee. “Our study leveraged repeated measures of self-reported physical activity over decades to examine the association between long-term physical activity during middle and late adulthood, and mortality.”



The researchers analyzed medical data and mortality records from 116,221 people who had participated in two large prospective studies, the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. In the study, 63 percent of participants were female, and more than 96 percent were white adults. The individuals had an average age of 66 years and an average body mass index (BMI) of 26 kg/m2&nbsp;over the 30-year follow-up period. During this time, the researchers documented a total of 47,596 deaths.



Participants were asked to complete questionnaires at enrollment - and then every two years - on demographic, lifestyle, and medical history information. The questionnaires included questions about health, physician-diagnosed illnesses, family medical histories and personal habits such as cigarette and alcohol consumption and frequency of exercise. &nbsp;Exercise data was reported as the average time spent per week on various physical activities over the past year.&nbsp;



Moderate exercise included activities carried out at a less energetic level, such as walking, and lower-intensity swimming, weightlifting, calisthenics and working outdoors. Vigorous activities included more energetic aerobic exercises such as jogging, running, swimming, bicycling and even climbing stairs.



The results of the analysis supported the guidelines established by the CDC and followed by the Department of Health and Human Services. Adults who met the guidelines for weekly vigorous physical activity had a 19 percent lower risk of dying overall, and a 31 percent lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease (CVD) in particular. Adults who met the guidelines for weekly moderate exercise levels had a 20–21 percent lower risk of death overall, and a 22–25 percent lower risk of dying from CVD in particular.&nbsp;



However, the most striking results pertain to those participants who performed more than double the currently recommended minimum levels of either vigorous or moderate exercise. They had the lowest long-term risk of premature death.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<ul><li>Participants who performed two to four times above the recommended amount of long-term vigorous physical activity (150-300 min/week) had an observed 27–33 percent lower risk of CVD mortality and an overall 21–23 percent lower risk of death from all causes.</li><li>Participants who performed two to four times above the recommended amount of moderate physical activity (300-600 min/week) had an observed 28–38 percent lower risk of CVD mortality and an overall 26–31 percent lower risk of mortality from all causes.</li></ul>



In addition, no harmful cardiovascular health effects were found among the adults who reported engaging in more than four times the recommended minimum activity levels.&nbsp; Previous studies have found evidence that long-term, high-intensity, endurance exercise, such as marathons, triathlons and long-distance bicycle races, may increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular events, including myocardial fibrosis, coronary artery calcification, atrial fibrillation and sudden cardiac death.



“This finding may reduce the concerns around the potential harmful effect of engaging in high levels of physical activity observed in several previous studies,” Lee noted. However, the study also found that engaging in long-term vigorous or moderate physical activity at more than four times the recommended weekly levels did not provide any additional reduction in the risk of death.



“Our study provides evidence to guide individuals to choose the right amount and intensity of physical activity over their lifetime to maintain their overall health,” said Lee. "Our findings support the current national physical activity guidelines and further suggest that the maximum benefits may be achieved by performing medium to high levels of either moderate or vigorous activity or a combination.”



The study highlighted that people who did less than 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or less than 150 minutes of moderate activity, every week over the long term had the greatest risk of premature death. Lee noted that this segment of the current population would benefit most from introducing 75–150 minutes of vigorous physical activity or 150–300 minutes of moderate activity (or an equivalent combination of both) into their weekly routines over the long term.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Donna K. Arnett is a past president of the American Heart Association (2012-2013) and the dean and a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health in Lexington, Kentucky. Arnett served as co-chair of the writing committee for&nbsp;the American Heart Association’s 2019 Guideline on the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, but was not involved in the current study.&nbsp;



“We have known for a long time that moderate and intense levels of physical exercise can reduce a person’s risk of both atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and mortality,” said Arnett.&nbsp;



“We have also seen that getting more than 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or more than 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical exercise each week may reduce a person’s risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease even further, so it makes sense that getting those extra minutes of exercise may also decrease mortality.”



---



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

How much exercise reduces the risk of premature death?

The benefits of regular physical exercise have long been recognized....

Green,Ecoduct,Over,An,Empty,Highway,During,Sunset.

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A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that wildlife tunnels significantly reduce amphibian road mortality during seasonal migrations. 



Frogs and salamanders often cross roads to reach breeding ponds each spring, but many are killed by vehicles. 



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Vermont</a>, in collaboration with local citizens and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, installed two underpass tunnels in 2015. 



Over a 12-year monitoring period, they observed an 80.2% reduction in amphibian deaths, and up to 94% for non-climbing species like salamanders. 



The study used a before-after-control-impact design and documented more than 5,200 amphibians, highlighting the tunnels’ effectiveness even in nearby buffer zones.



Funded at $342,397 - far cheaper than wildlife crossings for large mammals - the project showcased the power of community-led conservation.



Local groups initiated the effort after observing mass amphibian deaths. Wildlife cameras later captured over 2,200 amphibians using a tunnel in just one spring, along with other species like raccoons and bobcats, indicating wider ecosystem benefits.



This marks the first peer-reviewed, long-term data set in the northeastern U.S. confirming amphibian-specific underpasses work. 



The study urges transportation departments to incorporate these designs into road planning and highlights how community action, thoughtful infrastructure, and persistence can make a real difference for biodiversity.



The full study was published in the <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1617138125000780" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal for Nature Conservation</a>.



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that...

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing it with probiotics and prebiotics, aiming to create a treat that satisfies cravings while supporting gut health. 



The challenge lies in maintaining chocolate's beloved texture and flavor while adding health benefits.



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https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



Prebiotics act as food for these microbes, helping them thrive. Together, they form "synbiotics," a powerful health combination.



Researchers Smriti Gaur and Shubhi Singh from India's Jaypee Institute of Information Technology took an innovative approach, using natural prebiotics like corn and honey instead of complex processing methods. 



They created five chocolate varieties: a control and four synbiotic versions containing different combinations of prebiotics, probiotics (Lactobacillus strains), and flavor enhancers (cinnamon or orange).



Laboratory simulations of human digestion showed the probiotics remained viable for over five hours, suggesting they could survive long enough to benefit gut health.



Taste tests were positive, with researchers particularly enjoying the orange-flavored variety, describing it as having "vibrant citrus notes" complementing the "rich cocoa" with a "luxurious" texture.



This research represents just the beginning. With further refinement of strains, textures, and flavors, chocolate could evolve beyond mere indulgence to become a functional food that nourishes while it delights.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00741" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ACS Food Science &amp; Technology</a>.

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing...

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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

[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (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;



---



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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 



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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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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

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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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