If you’ve ever found yourself overwhelmed by work, bills, or the latest headlines, taking a moment for mindfulness might offer some relief. 



The practice - simply paying attention to the present moment without judgment - is known to help calm the mind and improve concentration.



“A lot of research has shown that mindfulness can reduce <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/teachers-experienced-high-anxiety-during-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">anxiety</a> symptoms,” said Resh Gupta, a postdoctoral research associate with the&nbsp;Mindfulness Science and Practice research cluster.



While many people experience the benefits of mindfulness firsthand, scientists continue to explore exactly how it works and which types of mindfulness best suit different anxiety patterns. 



Some anxieties come and go. Others linger and interfere with daily life. "We all experience anxiety, but it can manifest in many different ways,” noted Gupta. “It’s a tough problem to pin down.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-matching-mindfulness-with-anxiety-types">Matching mindfulness with anxiety types</h2>



At <a href="https://artsci.washu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Washington University in St. Louis</a>, researchers proposed a new framework to better understand how mindfulness interacts with anxiety. 



Their idea, published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, suggests that no single technique works for everyone. Instead, different mindfulness approaches may work better for different anxiety profiles.



The team includes postdoctoral research associate Resh Gupta, psychology professor Todd Braver, and Wendy Heller, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Their work was supported in part by WashU’s Incubator for Transdisciplinary Futures.



Braver described the paper as a reflection of the cluster’s broader goals. “There is a growing recognition that these practices can be incredibly useful in enhancing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/houseplants-boosted-psychological-well-being-during-covid-19-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">psychological well-being</a>,” he said. 



“But we still do not fully understand the mechanisms of action by which mindfulness can produce beneficial effects. That’s where the scientific research can be so valuable, by helping us more precisely identify why and how certain practices are effective.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-role-of-cognitive-control">The role of cognitive control</h2>



One of the key ideas in the new paper is that mindfulness may ease anxiety by improving what scientists call “<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bilingual-children-have-lasting-cognitive-benefits/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cognitive control</a>.” This is the brain’s ability to stay on track — to manage thoughts and actions in ways that support our goals.



“Cognitive control is the ability to regulate your thoughts and your actions in a way that helps you achieve your goals,” Gupta explained. “For example, if you know you have to go to the grocery store right after work, you can keep that goal in mind during the workday and turn down an offer to do something else after work.”



Mindfulness appears to boost this mental skill. Neuroimaging research shows that meditation can activate the parts of the brain involved in cognitive control. 



In contrast, anxiety tends to do the opposite. It floods the brain’s working memory - the system we rely on to keep track of tasks and priorities - with worry and distractions.



“Worry occupies a lot of space in the brain’s working memory system,” Gupta said. “This is where your goals are stored.”



That mental clutter weakens cognitive control and makes it harder to cope with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stress-eats-away-our-brains-cognitive-defenses/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stress</a>. But mindfulness can strengthen control again and break the cycle of worry.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-choosing-the-right-practice">Choosing the right practice</h2>



Not all mindfulness techniques work the same way. Depending on what kind of anxiety someone is experiencing, one approach might work better than another.



For people who tend to ruminate - replaying <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pandemic-related-worries-diminish-cognitive-skills/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">worries</a> over and over - focused attention might be the most effective.



“Focused attention teaches you to choose an anchor, such as your breath or a sound,” Gupta said. “You keep bringing your attention back to that anchor every time your mind wanders. Instead of focusing on the worry, you're focusing on the present moment experience.”



Others experience anxiety as physical symptoms, such as a racing heart or tightness in the chest. For those cases, a broader technique may be more useful. 



“For this type of anxiety, a form of mindfulness meditation called open monitoring may be beneficial,” Gupta said. “Instead of focusing on one thing, such as the breath, you can observe all internal and external experiences from moment to moment in a non-reactive, non-judgmental way.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bringing-mindfulness-into-the-community">Bringing mindfulness into the community</h2>



The Mindfulness Science &amp; Practice cluster at Washington University isn’t just focused on research. It also offers programs for students, faculty, and the St. Louis community. 



The programs include talks, workshops, and events that introduce participants to mindfulness exercises taught by trained practitioners.



“We’re dedicated to helping the WashU and greater St. Louis community get access to tools to learn about mindfulness science and practice,” Gupta said.



Braver believes that making a variety of mindfulness options available empowers individuals to find the practices that suit them best. 



“People have different options they can choose from, so it becomes easier to find one that best fits your particular temperament, concerns, or current situation,” said Braver. "It’s quite empowering to learn these types of practices, and to feel like we can be in charge of how we use them to improve our quality of life.”



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Practicing mindfulness can quiet the noise of anxiety

If you’ve ever found yourself overwhelmed by work, bills, or the latest headlines, taking a moment for mindfulness might offer some relief. The practice - simply paying attention to the present moment without judgment - is known to help calm the mind and improve concentration. “A lot of research has shown that mindfulness can reduce anxiety symptoms,” said Resh Gupta, a postdoctoral research associate with the&nbsp;Mindfulness Science and Practice research cluster. While many people experience the benefits of mindfulness firsthand, scientists continue to explore exactly how it...

Researchers from the <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk/">University of Warwick</a> Department of Psychology have found that preterm babies (those born under 37 weeks gestation) are 28% less likely to form <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/reason-unhappy-relationships/">romantic relationships</a> and 22% less likely to experience parenthood in adulthood.

To come to their conclusion, published in <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.6961?utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_term=071219">JAMA Open Network</a>, the researchers analyzed 4.4 million adult participants who were born preterm. The analysis also showed that preterm babies are 2.3 times less likely to ever have a sexual partner compared to their full-term peers. And those who were born very or extremely preterm (&lt;32 to &lt;28 weeks gestation) were even less likely to form romantic relationships or find a sexual partner.

The researchers believe these results are based on the fact that those adults who were born preterm because they are usually shier, more socially withdrawn, and are less likely to take risks and seek fun.

"The finding that adults who were born pre-term are less likely to have a partner, to have sex and become parents does not appear to be explained by a higher rate of disability,” said first author Dr. Marina Goulart de Mendonça. “Rather preterm born children have been previously found to have poorer social interactions in childhood that make it harder for them to master social transitions such as finding a partner, which in turn is proven to boost your wellbeing."

However, the analysis also showed that when preterm adults enter into friendships or other close relationships, the quality of the relationship were just as good as those friendships formed by their full-term peers.

"Those caring for preterm children including parent's health professionals and teachers should be more aware of the important role of social development and social integration for pre-term children,” said senior author Professor Dieter Wolke. “As preterm children tend to be more timid and shy, supporting them making friends and be integrated in their peer group will help them to find romantic partners, have sexual relationships and to become parents. All of which enhances well-being."

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Ramona Heim

Adults who were born preterm are less likely to form romantic relationships

Researchers from the University of Warwick Department of Psychology have...

Area of the brain that controls spatial awareness is also linked to decisions. Neuroscientists from the <a href="https://www.uchicago.edu/">University of Chicago</a> have found that the area of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/sleep-prepares-brain-learning/">brain</a> responsible for planning movements and spatial awareness, known as the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), also plays a major role in decision making, specifically deciding what images should be in the field of view. Their findings are published in <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/jrnls/sci/">Science</a>.

"Traditionally this part of the brain has been thought to be involved in controlling spatial attention and planning actions. There has been less attention paid to how much of a role this brain area plays in processing the visual stimuli themselves," said senior author David Freedman, PhD, professor of neuroscience at UChicago. "Here we were able to show that it plays an important role in making sense of the things we see, perhaps even more so than its role in planning your next action or directing your attention."

Freedman and his colleague Yang Zhou, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher, made this discovery after training monkeys to play a computer game and report their decisions about different images displayed on the monitor. They would do so by moving their eyes to a designated target near the monitors. So, if the monkeys were shown a pattern of dots moving upwards and to the left, they would move their eyes toward a green spot. If the dots moved in the opposite direction, the monkeys would direct their eyes to a red spot.

Freedman and Zhou wanted to see if the lateral intraparietal area (LIP), a specific area of the PPC, was involved in making these decisions. To do so, they gave the monkeys a drug that halted neural activity in the LIP and then had them play the computer game. The researchers saw that their decision-making about visual patterns was impaired while on the drug.

"All the neuronal data we examined in our past experiments gave us the impression that this area of the brain was involved in processing the meaning of visual images during decision making," Freedman said. "Now we find that indeed, when we temporarily shut the activity down in that part of the brain it really does affect the sensory parts of decisions."

Knowing what they do now, Freedman believes their findings could help neuroscientists rethink the brain mechanisms involved in decision-making, visual categorization, and sensory and motor processing, as well as lead to a better understanding of how the brain interprets visuals in order to make decisions. 

"These results show that the brain's parietal cortex is an important hub for guiding decisions, so now we're even more motivated to move ahead and try to work out the details of neural circuits in this part of the brain that actually carry out these cognitive functions," Freedman said.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Andrus Ciprian

Area of the brain that controls spatial awareness is also linked to decisions

Area of the brain that controls spatial awareness is also...

Dangerously high salt consumption has persisted in China for decades. New research led by the <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/">Queen Mary University of London</a> has confirmed that salt intake in China has ranked among the highest in the world for the past four decades. Chinese adults consume an average of 10 grams of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/americans-benefit-cutting-salt/">salt</a> per day, which is more than double the daily limit for sodium recommended by the World Health Organization. 

The statistical analysis combined the results of every relevant scientific study. The results also showed that Chinese children between the ages of three and six are eating five grams of salt per day, while older children are eating almost nine grams per day.

Excessive salt intake raises blood pressure and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, which accounts for about 40 percent of fatalities in China. Dangerously high salt consumption has persisted in China for decades

The data reviewed by the team involved around 26,000 adults and 900 children from across the country. While salt intake has been declining in northern China, it has been increasing in southern China. 

"Salt intake in northern China declined, but is still over double the maximum intake recommended by the WHO, while salt intake actually increased in southern China," said study co-author Professor Feng J He. 

"Most of the salt consumed in China comes from the salt added by the consumers themselves while cooking. However, there is now a rapid increase in the consumption of processed foods and of food from street markets, restaurants, and fast food chains, and this must be addressed before the hard-won declines are offset."

Unlike sodium, potassium has a positive effect on blood pressure. However, individuals of all age groups in China were found to consume less than half the recommended minimum potassium intake during the study period. 

"Urgent action is needed in China to speed up salt reduction and increase potassium intake," said study lead author Monique Tan. "High blood pressure in childhood tracks into adulthood, leading to cardiovascular disease. If you eat more salt whilst you are young, you are more likely to eat more salt as an adult, and to have higher blood pressure. These incredibly high salt, and low potassium, figures are deeply concerning for the future health of the Chinese population."

The analysis was funded by the National Institute for Health.

The study is published in the <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/journal/jaha">Journal of the American Heart Association</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Krasula

Dangerously high salt consumption has persisted in China for decades

Dangerously high salt consumption has persisted in China for decades....

AI can beat top poker professionals in a six-player game. Supercomputers and artificial intelligence (AI) programs have helped crack codes, identify a lost <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-previously-unknown-human-ancestor/">ancestor of humans</a>, and beat chess grandmasters. 

Games have often served as a way to test, challenge, or measure progress for artificial intelligence, but most of the games used in research involve two players. 

In a historic first, researchers from <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/">Carnegie Mellon University</a> have developed an AI capable of beating six players in a game of Texas hold’em. 

A study detailing the new milestone was published in the journal <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2019/07/10/science.aay2400">Science.</a> 

Texas hold’em is one of the most popular poker games played today, but with so many players and so many different potential actions in the game, the researchers had their work cut out for them. 

To help reduce the number of different decisions the AI could make, the researchers created a program called Pluribus that first learned the ins and outs of the game by playing against copies of itself. 

This self-play strategy made up the blueprint or core of the program, and Pluribus learned to excel at the game without any prior data input from humans. 

The researchers used an approach called information abstraction and action abstraction to help reduce the number of actions Pluribus could take, and after mastering the game against itself, Pluribus was pitted against five top professional poker players. 

In 10,000 hands of poker, Pluribus outperformed both its copies and the human players, which is a considerable milestone in AI technology. 

“Pluribus’s success shows that despite the lack of known strong theoretical guarantees on performance in multiplayer games, there are large-scale, complex multiplayer imperfect-information settings in which a carefully constructed self-play-with-search algorithm can produce superhuman strategies,” the researchers conclude in their study. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Syda Productions

AI can beat top poker professionals in a six-player game

AI can beat top poker professionals in a six-player game....

Modern humans arrived in Europe 150,000 years earlier than previously thought. An international team of researchers has identified the remains of the first known European. The reconstruction of a 210,000-year-old skull has revealed that humans made their way from Africa to modern-day Europe at least 150,000 years earlier than what was previously realized. 

The fragmented skull, which is known as Apidima 1, was originally unearthed from the Apidima cave in Greece in the 1970s alongside pieces of a second skull, referred to as Apidima 2. 

Apidima 1 represents the earliest proof of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/neanderthals-modern-humans/">modern humans</a> on the continent of Europe, and shows that Homo sapiens made several migrations from Africa over tens of thousands of years. Modern humans arrived in Europe 150,000 years earlier than previously thought

"It's at least 210,000 years old - predating the previously reported oldest H. sapiens in Europe by more than 150,000 years," said study co-author Professor Katerina Harvati of <a href="https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/university/">Tubingen University</a>. "These analyses indicate modern humans dispersed out of Africa much earlier than previously thought - and support the hypothesis that there were multiple dispersals."

[caption id="attachment_1875085" align="aligncenter" width="630"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/early-humans.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1875085" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/early-humans.jpg" alt="" width="630" height="351" /></a> The Apidima 2 cranium and its reconstruction. Image Credit: Katerina Harvati, Eberhard Karls, University of Tubingen[/caption]

According to the researchers, no human living today was descended from this particular group of Homo Sapiens because the population was wiped out. Professor Harvati believes this was the result of environmental factors, which likely included climatic events and conflict with Neanderthals over resources.

"It's a complicated scenario. The early modern humans in Greece were replaced by Neanderthals. It was not one exodus out of Africa but lots of small ones," said Professor Harvati. "The earliest people did not leave a genetic contribution to Europeans living today. These were small populations that made it all the way to Greece."

The researchers used advanced imaging techniques such as CT scans to analyze Apidima 1 and Apidima 2.

[caption id="attachment_1875086" align="aligncenter" width="630"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/remains.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1875086 size-full" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/remains.jpg" alt="" width="630" height="369" /></a> The remains of Apidima 2, Image Credit: Harvati et al, Nature[/caption]

"Here we virtually reconstruct both crania, provide detailed comparative descriptions and analyses, and date them," explained Professor Harvati. "Apidima 2 dates to more than 170,000 years ago and has a Neanderthal-like morphological pattern."

"By contrast, Apidima 1 dates to more than 210,000 years ago and presents a mixture of modern human and primitive features. These results suggest that two late Middle Pleistocene human groups were present at this site - an early Homo sapiens population followed by a Neanderthal population."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Main Image Credit: Shutterstock/Anton Balazh

Modern humans arrived in Europe 150,000 years earlier than previously thought

Modern humans arrived in Europe 150,000 years earlier than previously...

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.mit.edu/">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> have found a way to coil contrasting materials together to create a lightweight and durable fiber that pulls and contracts like muscles. 

This mechanism could be used to replace artificial muscles made of heavy, slow-responding hydraulic systems and motors in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wearable-color-changing-electronic-skin/">prosthetic limbs</a> and robots.

By coiling together two materials with different rates of thermal expansion, a stretchy cyclic copolymer elastomer and a stiffer thermoplastic polyethylene, the researchers created a single fiber that contracted and coiled after being stretched. 

The coiling and pulling action was possible because one of the fibers had a faster expansion rate, meaning that when the material was heated up, it expanded more quickly. 

Where one of the polymers wants to expand, it’s held back by the other material causing it to coil up tightly like the tendrils of a cucumber that help pull the plant up out of the ground. 

When the newly-created coil was picked up by one of the researchers, the warmth of their hands caused the fibers to curl up even more. 

A slight increase, even one degree Celsius in temperature, caused the coil to tighten. When the temperature decreased, the coil resumed its original length. 

Even after 10,000 tries, the coil kept its shape and was able to contract and relax without any problems. 

The new fiber mechanism has many exciting implications and can range from a few micrometers in width to a few millimeters. The fibers could measure hundreds of meters long, and a single fiber is able to lift 650 times its own weight. 

Some prosthetic limbs weigh as much as 30 pounds, but having a lightweight and fast responding alternative to those cumbersome systems could revolutionize prosthetics and robotics. 

The findings were published in the journal Science. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Minerva Studio

Tightly coiled fibers could be used as artificial muscles in prosthetic limbs

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found a...

Exercise found to improve the brain function of overweight people. We know that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/exercise-brain-connections-autism/">exercise</a> is good for you heart, but a new study from the <a href="https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/university/">University of Tübingen</a> has found that exercise can also be good for your brain.

Previous studies had shown that obese and overweight individuals are likely to have insulin resistance in their brains – as well as the rest of their body – where insulin provides information about their current nutritional status. For this study, the researchers wanted to determine whether exercise can improve insulin sensitivity in the brain and also improve cognition in overweight individuals.

The research team, led by Dr. Stephanie Kullman, performed brain scans on 22 sedentary adults who were overweight or obese. These brain scans were done before and after an 8-week exercise intervention that included cycling and walking. An insulin nasal spray was used to measure brain function and insulin sensitivity in the brain. Study participants were also assessed for cognition, mood, and peripheral metabolism.

While the findings showed that the exercise regimen resulted in only marginal weight loss, they also found that brain functions integral to metabolism “normalized” after only 8 weeks. Exercise also led to increased regional blood flow in areas of the brain needed for motor control and reward processes – both of which are dependent on the neurotransmitter dopamine. Given the results, it appears that exercise also improves dopamine-related brain function.

The area of the brain known as the striatum had such an enhanced sensitivity to insulin after the 8-weeks of exercise that the brain response of the study subjects resembled the response of a person with normal weight. Additionally, results showed a correlation between the increased loss of belly fat and a greater improvement in brain function. And participants also reported improved mood and task switching, which indicates improved executive function.

“The bottom line is that exercise improves brain function,” says Kullmann. “And increasing insulin sensitivity in dopamine-related brain regions through exercise may help decrease the risk of a person to develop type 2 diabetes, along with the benefits for mood and cognition.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/adike

Exercise found to improve the brain function of overweight people

Exercise found to improve the brain function of overweight people....

A team of scientists led by Pietro Milillo of the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> has developed a new method which utilizes <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/total-eclipse-over-south-america/">satellite data</a> to detect structural changes that indicate when bridges are becoming unsafe. According to the experts, the changes are so subtle that they are not visible to the human eye. 

The number of bridges that are aging can exceed the resources that are available for their repair. But now, the new technique from NASA may soon give infrastructure managers a way to prioritize reconstruction efforts by quickly identifying the structures that are at the highest risk of failure.

In August of 2018, the collapse of the Morandi Bridge near Genoa, Italy, killed dozens of people. Experts from NASA, the University of Bath, and the Italian Space Agency used synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements from satellites to map structural changes to the bridge from 2003 up until the time of its collapse. 

[caption id="attachment_1875075" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/bridge.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1875075" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/bridge.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="377" /></a> Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Google[/caption]

This strategy allowed the team to detect millimeter-size changes over time that would not have been detected using current methods. The researchers pinpointed small signs of damage in the deck next to the bridge's collapsed pier as early as 2015. The team also noted signs that several parts of the bridge had become structurally unsound between March 2017 and August 2018.

"This is about developing a new technique that can assist in the characterization of the health of bridges and other infrastructure," said Millilo. "We couldn't have forecasted this particular collapse because standard assessment techniques available at the time couldn't detect what we can see now. But going forward, this technique, combined with techniques already in use, has the potential to do a lot of good."

"We can't solve the entire problem of structural safety, but we can add a new tool to the standard procedures to better support maintenance considerations."

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) will be launched in early 2022.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: maudanros / Shutterstock

NASA satellites can detect structural changes in bridges before it’s too late

A team of scientists led by Pietro Milillo of the...

A team of plastic surgeons from <a href="https://gumc.georgetown.edu/">Georgetown University Medical Center</a> found that when a man opted to undergo facial <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/men-plastic-surgery/">plastic surgery</a>, he was generally perceived as more attractive, trustworthy, and likable by others post-procedure.

"The tendency to judge facial appearance is likely rooted in evolution, as studies suggest evaluating a person based on appearance is linked to survival — our animal instinct tells us to avoid those who are ill-willed and we know from previous research that personality traits are drawn from an individual's neutral expressions," said senior investigator and board certified Facial Plastic &amp; Reconstructive surgeon, Michael J. Reilly, MD, an associate professor of otolaryngology at Georgetown's School of Medicine. 

This study, published in <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamafacialplasticsurgery">JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery</a>, did not focus solely on perceptions of gender — a man being perceived as more masculine, say — as a similar 2015 study on facial plastic surgery effects on women did.

"Taken together, our findings suggest that both men and women undergoing facial cosmetic surgery can experience not only improved perception of attractiveness, but other positive changes in society's perception of their persona," Reilly said.

Reilly and his colleagues set out to determine if society really does prefer men with square jaws, chiseled cheekbones, and more prominent chins. To do so, they used before-and-after pictures from facial plastic surgery procedures done on 24 men who had one or more of the following surgeries: upper eyelid lift (upper blepharoplasty), reduction of lower eyelids (lower blepharoplasty), face-lift, brow-lift, neck-lift, nose reshaping (rhinoplasty), and/or a chin implant.

The team designed six surveys, and each included eight photographs — four photos of a patient before surgery, and four after. No survey contained both photos of a single patient.

More than 150 participants (mostly between the ages of 25-34, white, and with a college degree) took the surveys without any knowledge of the study’s intent. Via the surveys, they were asked to rate their perception of each patient’s aggressiveness, extroversion, likeability, risk-seeking, sociability, trustworthiness, as well as attractiveness and masculinity.

The researchers then built a model to assess the participants’ perceptions of men who had undergone specific plastic surgery procedures. They found that specific personality and appearance perceptions were linked to specific facial procedures with chin augmentation being the only procedure that did not have an effect on perceived personality traits or attractiveness. 

Upper eyelid augmentation increased a man’s likeability and trustworthiness. Lower eyelid augmentation decreased perceived risk-taking. A brow lift improved perception of extroversion and risk-taking. A face-life increased one’s likability and trustworthiness. A neck-lift increased perceived extroversion and masculinity. And a nose job improved attractiveness.

"It is really interesting that different anatomic areas of the face have varying degrees of contribution to overall personality perception," Reilly said. "And it is also noteworthy that the study did not find a significant change in masculinity. Just one procedure, a neck-lift, was found to enhance that trait.”

Reilly said that these findings suggest that the current “menu of cosmetic procedures for men” are not as gender-enhancing as they may be for women. In a similar study conducted on 30 female patients, increased femininity was significant post-procedure.

"Cicero described the face as the 'mirror of the soul,' meaning that a person's physical appearance is the personal characteristic most obvious and accessible to others in social interaction — so it's not surprising that subtle changes in neutral facial appearances are powerful enough to alter judgments of personality," Reilly said.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Africa Studio

Study: Men who get facial plastic surgery are perceived as more trustworthy

A team of plastic surgeons from Georgetown University Medical Center...

New study reveals the benefits of quitting casual drinking. When it comes to alcohol consumption, there have been many studies focused on the dangers of drinking too much. Overconsumption can lead to addiction and has even been found to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drinking-years-life/">decrease lifespan</a>. 

In a new study, a team of American and Chinese researchers from the <a href="https://www.hku.hk/">University of Hong Kong</a> and the <a href="https://www2.cuny.edu/">City University of New York</a> set out to examine the less studied impacts of casual drinking and to see how quitting drinking affected health and mental-wellbeing. 

To do this, the researchers conducted a multilevel analysis of two population-based cohort studies, the FAMILY Cohort from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in China and the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions in the US. 

Data on 10,385 Chinese people, and 31,079 Americans were reviewed for the study which was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Herbert Pang, a co-author of the study, told <a href="https://www.inverse.com/article/57491-casual-drinking-alcohol-science">Inverse</a> that by using data from both Chinese and American populations, the researchers were able to better validate their findings and eliminate cultural factors that could have impacted the study results. 

For a four year study period, the researchers monitored how drinking patterns such as quitting, starting drinking, abstaining for life, or being a former heavy drinker, correlated with changes in physical and mental health. 

Those who were lifetime abstainers had the highest levels of mental health and well-being, but the researchers found that drinking but later quitting had similarly positive impacts for both Chinese and American populations. 

In some cases in both the Chinese and US studies, women who quit had a much more positive change in well-being even compared to those who had never had alcohol. 

This suggests that for casual or social drinkers, quitting alcohol could have significant positive health impacts, especially for women. 

For men, there was little change in mental well-being for those who quit. 

“It could be that men and women react differently to giving up alcohol, because of physiological differences,” Mary Schooling, a fellow co-author of the study, told Inverse. “Alternatively, alcohol use is a complex activity that may represent more than intake of alcohol. For example, it could be an indicator of active social life in men, but of a guilty pleasure in women.” 

There have been several studies touting the benefits of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/alcohol-heart-attack-damage/">moderate drinking</a>, but many researchers agree that the safest level of alcohol is none. 

This study helps confirm the health benefits of both lifelong sobriety and quitting, but further research is needed, the study authors say.  

“It is possible that alcohol cessation may reduce stressful life events, such as conflict within a family, difficulties in employment, and legal troubles, resulting in improved mental well-being,” said Pang. “Further studies are needed to establish clearly the impact of alcohol use on mental and physical well-being before alcohol is recommended as part of a healthy diet.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Oleksandra Naumenko

New study reveals the benefits of quitting casual drinking

New study reveals the benefits of quitting casual drinking. When...

Walking with your arms straight conserves energy. If you were to picture a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-running-long-distances/">runner</a>, you would probably imagine their arms would be bent at close 90-degree angles, fists clenched, and legs in mid-stride. 

People who walk on the other hand, keep their arms loose at their sides. 

<a href="https://heb.fas.harvard.edu/people/andrew-yegian-0">Andrew Yegian</a>, a <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard</a> graduate student, wanted to know if running or walking with arms bent made any difference in performance, ability, energy consumption, or efficiency. 

Yegian, who studies how arm swing evolved in modern humans, was walking through the Harvard campus in 2015 when he noticed someone running with their arms straight. 

This uncharacteristic physicality made Yegian wonder why so many runners keep their elbows bent while walkers let their arms swing at their sides, and if there could be any hidden benefits to switching these positions up. 

Yegian conducted a study to find out and filmed runners and walkers with both straight and bent arms. 

“We wanted to study that kind of variation because bent arm running seems to be an almost universal behaviour, regardless of how much a person runs,” said Yegian. 

Eight undergraduate and graduate student-athletes were selected to participate. Some of the participants were serious marathon competitors, while others only ran a couple of times per week. 

Each participant ran and walked on a treadmill with reflective markers on their shoulders, elbows, and wrists. Walking with your arms straight conserves energy

The participants first walked at around 1.5 meters per second and then ran at about three meters per second while Yegian filmed the movements in 3D.

A second trial conducted with the same participants had the same setup, but the researchers fitted the volunteers with oxygen masks to measure oxygen consumption while walking/running with bent and straight arms. 

Running with straight arms was the most difficult for the participants with many saying that it was an odd position. 

The researchers discovered that there was a definite advantage to keeping the arms straight and loose while walking. When the participants kept their arms bent while walking, it increased energy costs by 11 percent. 

Walking with arms straight was more efficient, but it made little difference when running the researchers found. 

“We didn’t find any evidence that the energy cost was different between arm postures when running,” said Yegian. 

It is still unclear why the majority of runners keep their arms bent, but it may be that the advantages have nothing to do with energy consumption or efficiency. 

The study findings were published in the <a href="https://jeb.biologists.org/content/222/13/jeb197228">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Bigna

Walking with your arms straight conserves energy

Walking with your arms straight conserves energy. If you were...

Neuroscience researchers from the <a href="https://www.usc.edu/">University of Southern California</a> have identified a new purpose for ghrelin, the “hunger hormone.” It’s understood that ghrelin, which is produced in the stomach and secreted in anticipation of eating, sends hunger signals from the gut to the brain, but now researchers believe that it may also help with <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/young-mouse-blood-improved-memory-learning/">memory</a> control.

As lead author Dr. Elizabeth Davis explained at the annual meeting of the <a href="https://www.ssib.org/web/">Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior</a>, ghrelin levels are usually high when a person knows they’re going to eat something soon. After it’s secreted, ghrelin binds to receptors on the vagus nerve, which communicates different signals from the gut to the brain.

"We recently discovered that in addition to influencing the amount of food consumed during a meal, the vagus nerve also influences memory function," said senior author Dr. Scott Kanoski. 

The research team hypothesized that ghrelin is a key molecule that aids the vagus nerve’s promotion of memory.

To test this theory, the team used a technique called RNA interference to block ghrelin signaling in lab rats. These rats were then given a series of memory tasks, including tests of episodic memory — that being a type of memory that involves remembering what, when, and where something happened. For the rats, this test meant remembering a specific object in a specific location. The rats with reduced vagal ghrelin signaling where greatly impaired during this test.

Furthermore, the team found that the lack of ghrelin signal to the vagus nerve meant that the animals ate more frequently, yet consumed less at each feeding, which could be linked to episodic memory issues.

"Deciding to eat or not to eat is influenced by the memory of the previous meal," Dr. Davis said. "Ghrelin signaling to the vagus nerve may be a shared molecular link between remembering a past meal and the hunger signals that are generated in anticipation of the next meal."

These findings could help researchers develop methods for improving memory ability in humans via the manipulation of ghrelin signaling from the gut to the brain.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Yurchanka Siarhei

This hunger hormone is also linked to memory control

Neuroscience researchers from the University of Southern California have identified...

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

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

[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

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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