Caffeine is woven into daily life, turning up not just in morning coffee but in tea, chocolate, soda, and energy drinks.



Yet the same stimulant that keeps billions of people alert may also be changing the way the sleeping brain resets itself overnight, according to new research from the <a href="https://www.umontreal.ca/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Montréal</a>.



In a recent study, scientists combined electroencephalography with artificial-intelligence tools to reveal that evening caffeine drives the brain into a more active and less restorative mode during <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-rewires-the-brain-to-strengthen-memories/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sleep</a>. Researchers also found the effect is most pronounced in people under 30.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-probing-the-sleeping-brain"><a></a>Probing the sleeping brain</h2>



The research team, led by doctoral trainee Philipp Thölke in the Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Laboratory (CoCo Lab), recorded the nighttime brain activity of 40 healthy volunteers.



Each participant slept in the lab twice: one night after caffeine and another night after placebo, both taken before bed.



Throughout the night, electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes tracked the electrical chatter of neurons, while sophisticated algorithms searched for subtle patterns.



“We used advanced statistical analysis and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-shows-better-emotional-intelligence-than-humans/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">artificial intelligence</a> to identify subtle changes in neuronal activity,” Thölke said. 



His project involved a collaboration with Karim Jerbi, the director of CoCo Lab and a professor of psychology, and sleep-and-aging specialist Julie Carrier.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-caffeine-heightens-brain-activity">Caffeine heightens brain activity</h2>



When the researchers compared the caffeine nights with the placebo nights, they saw a clear jump in what neuroscientists call signal complexity. The EEG traces looked more intricate, less predictable, and closer to the patterns typical of wakefulness.



The team also measured an increase in “criticality,” a concept that Professor Jerbi likens to an orchestra finding its perfect pitch. “Criticality describes a state of the brain that is balanced between order and chaos,” he said.



“It's like an orchestra: too quiet and nothing happens, too chaotic and there's cacophony. Criticality is the happy medium where brain activity is both organized and flexible. In this state, the brain functions optimally: it can process information efficiently, adapt quickly, learn and make decisions with agility.”



Caffeine, he noted, nudges the brain into that same poised, ready-to-learn condition useful at noon, perhaps unwelcome at midnight.



“Caffeine stimulates the brain and pushes it into a state of criticality, where it is more awake, alert, and reactive. While this is useful during the day for concentration, this state could interfere with rest at night: the brain would neither relax nor recover properly,” Carrier explained.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-caffeine-s-impact-on-sleep">Caffeine's impact on sleep</h2>



Beyond complexity metrics, the EEG recordings showed noteworthy shifts in traditional sleep rhythms.



Under the influence of caffeine, the slow theta and alpha waves crucial for repair and memory were suppressed in non-REM sleep. Meanwhile, faster beta activity, typical of mental engagement while awake, appeared more often.



“These changes suggest that even during sleep, the brain remains in a more activated, less restorative state under the influence of caffeine,” Jerbi said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-age-makes-a-difference"><a></a>Age makes a difference</h2>



The volunteers ranged from 20 to 58 years old, allowing the team to see how age influences caffeine’s punch.



Young adults from 20 to 27 exhibited the strongest boost in criticality and the greatest suppression of slow waves, especially during REM sleep. That age skew likely stems from biology. Youngsters have more <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/damage-from-blue-light-exposure-increases-with-age/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adenosine receptors</a> in the brain, giving caffeine - an adenosine blocker - extra leverage.



“Adenosine receptors naturally decrease with age, reducing caffeine's ability to block them and improve brain complexity, which may partly explain the reduced effect of caffeine observed in middle-aged participants,” Carrier said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-caffeine-use-at-night">Caffeine use at night</h2>



Taken together, the findings suggest that an after-dinner espresso may not only delay sleep but also reduce its quality. For students and young professionals who lean on late-day lattes, the data raise particular concerns, since their brains appear most sensitive.



Yet the study’s authors are cautious about sweeping prescriptions. They note that caffeine’s popularity - consumed by an estimated 80 percent of adults worldwide - makes nuanced guidance essential.



Future work will need to unravel how the observed neural changes translate into next-day performance, long-term <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mind-diet-may-protect-cognitive-health/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cognitive health</a>, and individual differences tied to genetics or existing sleep disorders.



Still, the research shows that sleep is not simply unconscious downtime. The brain finely tunes its overnight choreography, and stimulants can shift its rhythm.



As the researchers continue to explore how common substances alter criticality and complexity, they hope to inform personalized recommendations. This could help coffee lovers balance the perks of daytime alertness with the necessity of deep, restorative sleep.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-08090-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications Biology</a>.



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Caffeine at night disrupts sleep patterns, preventing the brain from resetting

Caffeine is woven into daily life, turning up not just in morning coffee but in tea, chocolate, soda, and energy drinks. Yet the same stimulant that keeps billions of people alert may also be changing the way the sleeping brain resets itself overnight, according to new research from the University of Montréal. In a recent study, scientists combined electroencephalography with artificial-intelligence tools to reveal that evening caffeine drives the brain into a more active and less restorative mode during sleep. Researchers also found the effect is most...

Fewer young <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/just-two-minutes-of-exercise-boosts-learning-in-young-adults/">adults</a> are indulging in alcohol today compared to 20 years ago, according to a study from the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a>. Between 2002 and 2018, the number of college-aged Americans who abstained from alcohol increased from 20 to 28 percent among those enrolled in classes, and from 24 to 30 percent among those not taking classes. In both groups, alcohol abuse decreased by about half.

The experts said that overall, the findings show more positive than negative trends for alcohol use and misuse by young adults, but the progression still bears close monitoring.

Lead researcher Sean Esteban McCabe is the director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health at the U-M School of Nursing.

"We're encouraged by the significant decreases in alcohol use disorder - for both college and non-college students," said McCabe. "The prevalence of alcohol use disorder in both groups in 2018 was roughly half of what it was in 2002. We are excited to learn about these drops in disordered drinking, as alcohol-related consequences are one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity for young adults."

The research was focused on data from a nationally representative survey of 182,722 young adults. The team examined how the use of alcohol and marijuana has changed among 18-to-22-year-olds in relation to college enrollment status.

"Even with increases in marijuana use disorder and co-use of alcohol and marijuana, there is a lot of hope in our study's results," said study co-author Professor Ty Schepis. "Points of concern that deserve more attention are the rise in co-use of alcohol and marijuana, as we know that polysubstance use can have more negative consequences and can be more difficult to treat."

The majority of survey respondents who reported using both alcohol and marijuana had also abused illicit or prescription drugs in the past year. The results suggest that substance use has shifted over the past two decades, with more young adults using substances other than just marijuana and alcohol.

"For example, from 2015 to 2018, only 2.5% of young adults who abstained from both alcohol and marijuana reported misusing prescription drugs, while 25.1% of co-users misused prescription drugs," said Professor Schepis. "That is a tenfold difference with potentially dangerous consequences."

"Interventions that focus solely on one substance will be less effective than interventions that take a more holistic polysubstance use perspective," said McCabe. "The findings of our study reinforce the complex task health professionals have of detecting and developing effective interventions to reduce consequences associated with polysubstance use, such as co-use of alcohol and marijuana."

McCabe noted that schools and employers may require more resources for interventions involving young adults who are both using and abstaining from drugs and alcohol. 

"The finding that abstinence is increasing among college students and young adults not in college is very important for U.S. colleges and universities to take into account moving forward," said McCabe. "There are over one million U.S. young adults in recovery and a wide variety of resources are needed to support these individuals."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics">JAMA Pediatrics</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Fewer young adults are abusing alcohol compared to 20 years ago

Fewer young adults are indulging in alcohol today compared to...

Limiting the hours of television advertising for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/carnivores-that-eat-human-foods-are-altering-their-ecosystems/">foods</a> and beverages that are high in fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS) could help reduce childhood obesity, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a>.

The World Health Organization reports that childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century, and it's prevalence has grown at an alarming rate. 

The United Kingdom has a goal of cutting childhood obesity in half by 2030, and the government is considering the option of placing restrictions on television advertising for HFSS products between the hours of 5:30 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. 

To investigate, the researchers analyzed data on children's exposure to HFSS advertising during these particular hours. The team also reviewed previously published information on the association between exposure to HFSS advertising and children's caloric intake.

The study revealed that limiting television advertising would make a substantial contribution to reducing childhood obesity. 

The researchers found that if all HFSS advertising in the UK was withdrawn during the hours that kids are typically awake, 3.7 million children in the UK would see an average 1.5 fewer HFSS advertisements per day. The subsequent reduction in caloric intake could lower the number of children with obesity by 40,000, and the number of children considered overweight by 120,000.

"Measures which have the potential to reduce exposure to less-healthy food advertising on television could make a meaningful contribution to reducing childhood obesity," wrote the researchers. However, they also noted that the study has some limitations and does fully account for all the factors that would affect the impact of this policy if it was implemented.

"Our analysis shows that introducing a 9 PM watershed on unhealthy TV food advertising can make a valuable contribution to protecting the future health of all children in the UK, and help level up the health of children from less affluent backgrounds," said Dr. Oliver Mytton. 

"However, children now consume media from a range of sources, and increasingly from online and on-demand services, so in order to give all children the opportunity to grow up healthy it is important to ensure that this advertising doesn't just move to the 9-10pm slot and to online services."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/">PLOS Medicine</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Limiting TV commercials could help reduce childhood obesity

Limiting the hours of television advertising for foods and beverages...

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/what-if-humans-are-spreading-covid-19-to-other-mammals/">Humans</a> are much more accurate in recalling the location of high calorie foods compared to those with less calories, according to a new study published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep">Scientific Reports</a>. The research suggests that human spatial memory, which allows us to remember where an object is located in relation to another object, has evolved to prioritize the location of high calorie foods.

One behavioral ecology model, the optimal foraging theory, proposes that an animal’s fitness is the direct result of the efficiency with which the individual acquires energy. This theory assumes that under the pressure of natural selection, animals hunt for higher calorie meals to maximize the rate of energy gain.

"Although this theory has been extensively referenced in relation to the foraging strategies of other animals, the question of whether humans also inherently carry adaptations geared toward energy-efficient foraging has not been thoroughly assessed to date," wrote the study authors. 

"For about 99 percent of human evolution, our ancestors were hunter-gatherers inhabiting a highly complex and variable physical food environment, where food sources varied on both spatial and temporal availabilities." 

"A cognitive adaptation that could have evolved to optimize foraging efforts within such erratic food habitats of the past is a high-calorie bias in spatial memory. Such an inbuilt spatial bias entails the automatic registration and prioritization in memory of high-calorie food locations."

The researchers said that this foraging strategy would have improved the ability of hunter-gatherers to navigate toward calorie-rich resources without competing for limited attentional capacities required in other important activities, such as avoiding predators.

To investigate, a team of researchers led by Rachelle de Vries measured food location memory among 512 volunteers. The participants were divided into two groups that were instructed to follow a fixed route around a room that contained either eight food samples or eight food-scented cotton pads placed in various locations. 

When the individuals reached a sample, they rated how much they liked it based on how it tasted or smelled. The food and odor samples included apples, potato chips, brownies, and cucumbers.

Next, the volunteers were presented with a map of the room and were asked to identify the location of each food or food odor.

The participants presented with food samples at the study site were nearly 30 percent more accurate at mapping high calorie foods and in mapping the room in general. 

While spatial memory was influenced by calorie content, it was not influenced by how much an individual liked a particular sample. Overall, the mapping of rooms was 243 percent more accurate when participants were presented with actual food samples.

The findings confirm that human spatial memory is biased towards locating high calorie foods. According to the study authors, this bias could have helped human ancestors to survive in environments with fluctuating food availability by enabling them to efficiently locate calorie-dense foods through foraging 

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

Humans more accurately recall the location of high calorie foods

Humans are much more accurate in recalling the location of...

For the last seven years, the University of California system has been working to reduce carbon emissions from campuses as part of the Carbon Neutrality Initiative. Each campus is looking for ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions through various measures, such as increasing their energy efficiency. 

Researchers at <a href="https://www.ucsb.edu/">UC Santa Barbara</a> and UCLA have turned their attention to campus food, which represents some of the largest indirect sources of greenhouse gas emissions produced by the colleges. 

"Food is a huge part of our climate impact," said study co-author Professor David Cleveland. He noted that despite the fact that the food system contributes about 30 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, few climate change mitigation policies address the issue. 

The experts are exploring the opportunity to lower indirect emissions by reducing food waste and shifting UC campus food away from animal products toward more plant-based meals.

"It's low-hanging fruit," said Professor Cleveland. "It doesn't involve changing our energy grid or converting from natural gas, which are huge infrastructure investments. Changing the food system is relatively quite inexpensive."

He explained that the key to understanding food's carbon emissions lies in examining the amount of energy and resources that go into producing it, and the greenhouse gases that are emitted as a result of those practices.

"The fundamental thing is that animals eat plants," said Professor Cleveland. The plants are converted to become part of the animal and the nutrition it provides. "However, there are a lot of nutrients and energy spent just keeping the animal alive and doing that conversion."

For example, large quantities of water, grain, and soil nutrients are needed to produce a single pound of meat - not to mention the energy required for processing and distribution."It's much more efficient and less impactful to eat plants directly."

The study was focused on potential changes in campus food across 10 institutions and 280,000 students involved in the UC system.

By implementing changes such as moving away from animal products, the researchers found that food emissions could be reduced by 42 to 55 percent. This is equivalent to about 9 percent of UC's overall reduction target, according to the researchers.

Professor Cleveland noted that relatively small changes, like replacing a fraction of red meat with plant-based alternatives, can steer choices to foods that are not only lower impact on the environment but also healthier and often lower cost.

"We don't have to go vegetarian or vegan, but we could be moving toward diets that are more climate friendly. We can do it right now on our campuses. And we can have all these co-benefits because it's very easy to have climate-friendly food that is also healthier, delicious and more socially equitable than more climate-damaging food."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tcpo20/current">Climate Policy</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Healthier campus food could reduce carbon emissions

For the last seven years, the University of California system...

During the early months of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/what-if-humans-are-spreading-covid-19-to-other-mammals/">COVID-19</a>, exposure to environmental noise dropped by nearly half, according to researchers at the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a>. The team analyzed data from the Apple Hearing Study, a partnership with Apple designed to track noise exposure and its impact on hearing health.

The noise exposure data was collected by volunteer Apple Watch users in Florida, New York, California, and Texas. The data included more than a half million daily noise levels measured before and during the pandemic.

When local governments announced stay-at-home orders in March and April, the daily average sound levels dropped by approximately three decibels compared to January and February.

"That is a huge reduction in terms of exposure and it could have a great effect on people's overall health outcomes over time," said study co-author Professor Rick Neitzel. "The analysis demonstrates the utility of everyday use of digital devices in evaluating daily behaviors and exposures."

The four states represented in the study issued different guidelines in response to the pandemic, which showed through the data.

"California and New York both had really drastic reductions in sound that happened very quickly, whereas Florida and Texas had somewhat less of a reduction," said Professor Neitzel.

At first, the largest drop in noise exposure occurred on the weekends. Nearly 100 percent of the participants reduced their time spent above the 75 dBA threshold between Friday and Sunday. This is a sound level that is roughly as loud as an alarm clock.

"But after the lockdowns, when people stopped physically going to work, the pattern became more opaque," said Professor Neitzel. "People's daily routines were disrupted and we no longer saw a large distinction in exposures between the traditional five working days versus the weekend."

The findings will help researchers gain a better understanding of what personal noise exposures are like for Americans of various ages and locations, or for those who have or do not have hearing loss.

"These are questions we've had for years and now we're starting to have data that will allow us to answer them," said Professor Neitzel. "We're thankful to the participants who contributed unprecedented amounts of data. This is data that never existed or was even possible before."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326">Environmental Research Letters</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Noise exposure dropped by nearly half during COVID-19 shutdown

During the early months of the COVID-19, exposure to environmental...

Moderate-intensity exercise is just as effective in boosting <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/our-immune-system-may-protect-us-from-mental-health-issues/">health</a> and longevity as vigorous-intensity exercise, according to a new study published by <a href="https://www.bmj.com/">BMJ</a>. The researchers confirmed that exercise lowers the risk of premature death among older adults, and they found that the intensity of physical activity made no difference in the outcomes.

"The physical activity guidelines state that being physically active is one of the most important measures individuals of all ages can take to improve their health," wrote the study authors. "The multiple benefits of exercise on physical function and physical performance are well known, and short term randomized controlled trials have shown that exercise training improves traditional risk factors for lifestyle related diseases and premature death." 

"In line with this, observational studies suggest that exercise has a statistically significant preventive effect on premature all cause mortality, with active individuals showing up to a 72% lower risk of premature mortality from all causes compared with inactive individuals."

However, there is a lack of high quality evidence to confirm a causal link between current advice on physical activity levels and longevity. 

"In a general population of older adults aged 70-77 years in Norway, we tested the primary hypothesis that systematic exercise training lowers all cause mortality compared with giving advice to follow the national guidelines for physical activity. We also examined an exploratory hypothesis that high intensity interval training lowers mortality more than moderate intensity continuous training."

The research was focused on 1,567 participants with an average age of 73 years. In total, 87.5 percent of participants reported overall good health, while 80 percent reported medium to high levels of physical activity at the start of the trial.

For five years, the individuals were engaged in one of three groups involving two weekly sessions of either: high intensity interval training (HIIT), moderate intensity continuous training (MICT), or following the Norwegian guidelines for physical activity.

Five years into the study, 72 participants had died with an overall mortality rate of 4.6 percent. The researchers found no difference in premature death from any cause between the control group participants and those who engaged in moderate or vigorous activity. In addition, no differences were found in the rate of cardiovascular disease or cancer between the three groups.

"All cause mortality did not differ between the combined high and moderate intensity exercise group and the group following recommended physical activity guidelines," wrote the study authors. At the same time, the study showed that high intensity exercise led to greater health benefits overall. 

"The findings suggest that future guidelines for physical activity, at least for older adults, should be more specific in requiring that at least part of the physical activity should be performed at high intensity."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.bmj.com/">The BMJ</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

Exercise boosts health and lifespan regardless of intensity

Moderate-intensity exercise is just as effective in boosting health and...

Musical training can improve attention and working <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/writing-by-hand-boosts-learning-and-memory/">memory</a> in children, as well as their overall quality of life, according to a new study led by Dr. Leonie Kausel. The researchers found that musically trained children have greater activation in brain regions related to attention control and auditory encoding, and greater executive skills associated with reading, resilience, and creativity.

Dr. Kausel is a violinist and neuroscientist at the <a href="https://www.uc.cl/en">Pontifical Catholic University of Chile</a> and the Universidad del Desarrollo Chile. Her team tested attention and working memory among 40 children between 10 and 13 years old. Half of the children had been trained to play an instrument for at least two years, while the other half had no musical training.

As the study participants performed an attention and working memory task, their brain activity was monitored with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which detects small changes in blood flow within the brain. 

"Our most important finding is that two different mechanisms seem to underlie the better performance of musically trained children in the attention and WM memory task," said Dr. Kausel. "One that supports more domain-general attention mechanisms and another that supports more domain-specific auditory encoding mechanisms."

The "domain" refers to how sensory information such as heat, sound, or light is encoded by the brain, while the "mechanisms" are the neurochemical processes that occur.

Brain regions that were found to be more active in musically trained children include the inferior frontal gyrus and the supramarginal gyrus in the front and center-front of the brain, which are both part of a working memory system involved in auditory processing, establishing auditory-motor connections, and verbal auditory working memory. 

"The next step of the project is to establish the causality of the mechanisms we found for improving attention and working memory," said Dr. Kausel. "We also aim to make a longitudinal study on musical training with children, evaluating attention and working memory, and the possibility to evaluate a musical training intervention on ADHD children."

Dr. Kausel recommends signing children up for music classes, but not simply for the purpose of improving their memory and attention skills. "I think parents should not only enroll their children because they expect that this will help them boost their cognitive functions, but because it is also an activity that, even when very demanding, will provide them with joy and the possibility to learn a universal language."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience">Frontiers in Neuroscience</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Musically training children have improved attention and memory skills

Musical training can improve attention and working memory in children,...

Some <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/friendship-jealousy-can-actually-create-a-happy-ending/">friends</a> make us feel more supported than others, and this may depend on how well they fit into our social network. Researchers have found that people perceive the most support from friends and family members who are also linked to each other socially. 

Study lead author David Lee is an assistant professor of Communication at <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">The Ohio State University</a>. He said the findings suggest that having a network of people to lean on is only part of what makes social support so beneficial to us.

"The more cohesive, the more dense this network you have, the more you feel you can rely on them for support," said Professor Lee. "It matters if your friends can depend on each other, just like you depend on them."

For the investigation, the researchers conducted two online surveys. In the first study, 339 participants were asked to list eight people they felt supported by in the last six months. The lists were found to contain mostly friends and family members, but also included co-workers, romantic partners, classmates, and roommates. 

The participants rated on a scale of 1 to 7 how much support they received from each person. They were also asked to rate the closeness between each possible pair of their eight supporters, with responses ranging from "they don't know each other" to "extremely close."

The researchers used the data to calculate the density of each participant's network - the closer and more interconnected the friends and family, the denser the network. The results showed that individuals with denser networks reported receiving the most support. 

"We found that our support networks are more than the sum of their parts," said study co-author Professor Joseph Bayer. "People who feel they have more social support in their lives may be focusing more on the collective support they feel from being part of a strong, cohesive group. It's having a real crew, as opposed to just having a set of friends."

A second survey revealed that when participants had an emergency situation and needed someone to lean on, they expected to receive more support from an interconnected group of friends and family than from an unconnected group of friends. 

The researchers said the results show that it is not just the number of friends and family you have in your network that is important.

"You can have two friends who are both very supportive of you, but if they are both friends with each other, that makes you feel even more supported."

"Focus on those friends who are connected to each other," said Professor Bayer. "That's where we really perceive the most support."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/home/spq">Social Psychology Quarterly</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A cohesive social network makes us feel more supported

Some friends make us feel more supported than others, and...

An eco-friendly shift in American diets could reduce the environmental impacts of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/experts-work-to-take-threatened-species-off-the-seafood-menu/">food</a> production and consumption by up to 38 percent, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.uic.edu/">University of Illinois Chicago</a> Institute for Environmental Science and Policy.

"What we eat has an impact on the environment through the land used to grow food, net greenhouse gases released by producing food, and water use," said study lead author Joe Bozeman. "By following guidelines developed with human health and the environment in mind, we can help reduce the environmental impact of food production."

The research was focused on what dietary changes would be necessary among Americans in order to adhere to the healthy targets set by the EAT-Lancet Commission, which represent the first-ever global dietary guidelines. 

The EAT-Lancet recommendations were established in 2019 to help reduce the environmental degradation that will be caused by food production for an estimated global population of 10 billion people by the year 2050.

In a previous study, the researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's What We Eat in America Food Commodity Intake Database and from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The team also collected information on the environmental impact of specific foods. 

The study revealed that meat and refined sugar are among foods with the highest negative impact, while vegetables, fish and nuts have much lower impacts.

"We found that shifting to increased vegetable and nuts intake while decreasing red meat and added sugars consumption would help Americans meet EAT-Lancet criteria and reduce environmental degradation between 28% and 38% compared to current levels," said Bozeman. "At the same time, health outcomes would improve, so following these global recommendations would result in a win-win for the environment and human health."

According to Bozeman, different populations would have to make different changes based on their current dietary patterns. For example, black people could meet the EAT-Lancet targets by eating more vegetables and nuts while consuming less red meat, chicken, and added sugars. White people would need to shift their consumption to include less red meat and added sugars, but more nuts.

The findings show that meeting all criteria would significantly decrease environmental degradation in land, greenhouse gases and water.

"Our results provide foundational information that can inform the development of culturally-tailored dietary intervention strategies that consider the implications for human and environmental health," said study co-author Professor Sparkle Springfield.

"However, there is still a need to address the structural and social determinants of diet outcomes, particularly in African American and Latinx populations, in order to promote health equity."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://home.liebertpub.com/publications/environmental-justice/259/overview">Environmental Justice</a>.

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<ol>
 	<li>By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer</li>
</ol>

Shift in American diets could greatly benefit the environment

An eco-friendly shift in American diets could reduce the environmental...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.baylor.edu/">Baylor University</a>, researchers used smartphone surveys to explore the connection between daily spiritual experiences and overall <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/experiencing-awe-in-nature-has-a-powerful-effect-on-emotional-well-being/">well-being</a>.  The experts found that the positive impacts of spirituality on personal satisfaction are long-lasting. 

The team collaborated with researchers at Harvard University to analyze nationwide data, which was collected from volunteers who participated in smartphone check-ins twice a day for two weeks. The study is significant because it evaluates the effects of spiritual experiences over 14 days rather than only one or two points in time, noted the researchers.

Study co-author Dr. Matt Bradshaw is a research professor of Sociology at Baylor University Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR).

"This study is unique because it examines daily spiritual experiences - such as feeling God's presence, finding strength in religion or spirituality, and feeling inner peace and harmony - as both stable traits and as states that fluctuate," said Dr. Bradshaw. 

"Because surveys usually capture only one or two points in time, researchers often have to assume that associations between spirituality and positive emotions capture stable traits in respondents rather than momentary states of mind."

"But these findings suggest that stable, consistent spiritual experiences as well as short-term periodic ones both serve as resources to promote human flourishing and help individuals cope with stressful conditions."

Study lead author Dr. Blake Victor Kent is a research fellow at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital.

"The prevalence of smartphones makes this sort of 'experience sampling' study doable on a much larger scale than in the past, when pagers or palm pilots were used to trigger data collection," said Dr. Kent.

The research was focused on data from SoulPulse, a project designed to study religion, spirituality, and mental and physical well-being. The program involved nearly 2,800 Americans who learned about the study through national media such as the Associated Press.

According to Dr. Kent, daily spiritual experiences are measured as one of two types. Theistic spiritual experiences examine the degree to which God is experienced as present, available, and active in the individual's life using six questions: "I feel God's presence," "I find strength and comfort in my religion or spirituality," "I feel God's love for me directly or through others," "I desire to be closer to God or in union with the divine," "I feel guided by God in the midst of daily activities" and "I feel close to God."

Non-theistic spiritual experiences include transcendent feelings that are not specifically connected to God using three questions: "I feel a deep inner peace or harmony," "I am spiritually touched by the beauty of creation" and "I feel thankful for my blessings."

To keep the daily surveys short and engaging, 10 to 15 items were selected and appeared with varying frequency. These topics were designed to assess depressive symptoms or positive emotions using statements such as "I feel downhearted and blue," "I feel that life is meaningless," "I am unable to become enthusiastic about anything," "I am feeling happy," "I am feeling that I have a warm and trusting relationship with others" and "I have something important to contribute to society."

The participants also reported on whether they had experienced a stressful situation such as an argument with a loved one, illness, job stress, financial problems, or tragedy since their last check-in.

"The findings indicate, as you would expect, that the wear and tear of daily stressors are associated with increased depressive symptoms and lower levels of flourishing," said Dr. Kent. 

"What this study really contributes is that daily spiritual experiences play an important role as well. Essentially, if you take two people who have equal levels of stress, the one with more spiritual experiences will be less likely to report depressive symptoms and more likely to indicate feelings of flourishing. That's a comparison between two people.

"But what about one person? The unique thing about this study is we are able to show that when someone's spiritual experiences vary day to day, the 'above average' days of spiritual experience are associated with better mental well-being than the 'below average' days."

The study is published in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hjpr20/current">The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion</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

Spiritual experiences linked to improved overall well-being

In a new study from Baylor University, researchers used smartphone...

National guidelines should be established to make sure that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/children-of-divorced-parents-have-less-of-the-love-hormone-oxytocin/">children</a> continue to receive traditional handwriting training, according to a study led by Professor Audrey van der Meer of <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">NTNU</a>. The research confirms the findings of previous studies that both children and adults learn and commit more to memory when writing by hand versus using a keyboard.

The study is the first of its kind to evaluate the benefits of handwriting among children. The researchers used an EEG to track and record the brain wave activity of the participants, who wore a hood with over 250 electrodes attached. When the brain is active, electrical impulses can be detected by sensors in the electrodes. 

The experts found that the brain was far more active when the volunteers were writing by hand compared to when they were typing on a keyboard.

"The use of pen and paper gives the brain more 'hooks' to hang your memories on. Writing by hand creates much more activity in the sensorimotor parts of the brain," explained Professor Van der Meer. 

"A lot of senses are activated by pressing the pen on paper, seeing the letters you write and hearing the sound you make while writing. These sense experiences create contact between different parts of the brain and open the brain up for learning. We both learn better and remember better."

According to Professor Van der Meer, the findings emphasize the importance of children being challenged to draw and write at an early age, especially at school. She believes that there are many positive aspects of digital learning, but urges that handwriting training must be kept in schools as well. 

"Given the development of the last several years, we risk having one or more generations lose the ability to write by hand. Our research and that of others show that this would be a very unfortunate consequence."

"Some schools in Norway have become completely digital and skip handwriting training altogether. Finnish schools are even more digitized than in Norway. Very few schools offer any handwriting training at all."

Many teachers have argued that keyboards create less frustration for children, and that students are more motivated to write because they experience greater mastery with a keyboard.

"Learning to write by hand is a bit slower process, but it's important for children to go through the tiring phase of learning to write by hand. The intricate hand movements and the shaping of letters are beneficial in several ways. If you use a keyboard, you use the same movement for each letter. Writing by hand requires control of your fine motor skills and senses. It's important to put the brain in a learning state as often as possible. I would use a keyboard to write an essay, but I'd take notes by hand during a lecture," said Professor Van der Meer.

"The brain has evolved over thousands of years. It has evolved to be able to take action and navigate appropriate behaviour. In order for the brain to develop in the best possible way, we need to use it for what it's best at. We need to live an authentic life. We have to use all our senses, be outside, experience all kinds of weather and meet other people. If we don't challenge our brain, it can't reach its full potential. And that can impact school performance."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology">Frontiers in Psychology</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

Writing by hand boosts learning and memory

National guidelines should be established to make sure that children...

Throughout our lives, we are constantly making random choices that shape our personal <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/mating-routines-birds-paradise/">preferences</a>, like when we decide which bottle of shampoo or pair of jeans to buy. As a result, we become unconsciously biased against the things that we do not choose - even when the options are essentially the same. 

In a new study from <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a>, experts have discovered that humans begin to develop arbitrary preferences and biases in the earliest phase of life. The research has revealed that when babies choose a particular toy, they also commit to disliking the other options. 

"The question of how people’s preferences are shaped by their choices has generated decades of research," wrote the study authors. "In a classic example, work on cognitive dissonance has found that observers who must choose between two equally attractive options subsequently avoid the unchosen option, suggesting that not choosing the item led them to like it less." 

"However, almost all of the research on such choice-induced preference focuses on adults, leaving open the question of how much experience is necessary for its emergence."

The discovery that babies engage in developing unconscious biases suggests that this way of justifying choice is intuitive and a basic aspect of the human experience.

"The act of making a choice changes how we feel about our options," said study co-author Alex Silver. "Even infants who are really just at the start of making choices for themselves have this bias."

The researchers explained that people assume they choose the things they like, but research suggests that the opposite is sometimes true. We often like things simply based on random choices, and dislike the things that we do not choose.

"I chose this, so I must like it. I didn't choose this other thing, so it must not be so good. Adults make these inferences unconsciously," said study co-author Lisa Feigenson. "We justify our choice after the fact."

But at what point in our lives do we begin to shape our preferences through random choices? To investigate, the team focused on babies, who do not have very many decisions to make.

Babies between the ages of 10 and 20 months were presented with two equally bright and colorful soft blocks. The researchers strategically placed the blocks far apart, so the babies had to crawl to one or the other.

Once the baby selected one of the blocks, it was taken away and replaced with a new option. This gave the infants the option of choosing the toy they did not play with the first time or the new toy.

"The babies reliably chose to play with the new object rather than the one they had previously not chosen, as if they were saying, 'Hmm, I didn't choose that object last time, I guess I didn't like it very much,'" said Feigenson. "That is the core phenomenon. Adults will like less the thing they didn't choose, even if they had no real preference in the first place. And babies, just the same, dis-prefer the unchosen object."

When the researchers selected a toy for the baby, they no longer showed a strong preference for a specific toy. If you take the element of choice away, the phenomenon goes away, said Feigenson.

"They are really not choosing based on novelty or intrinsic preference," said Silver. "I think it's really surprising. We wouldn't expect infants to be making such methodical choices."

The researchers will continue to study the evolution of random choices in babies by analyzing how they handle having too many options to choose from at once, or "choice overload." 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/home/pss">Psychological Science</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

Babies develop preferences based on random choices

Throughout our lives, we are constantly making random choices 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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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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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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

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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

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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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