Music often does more than entertain. It paints images in our minds, builds worlds, and stirs emotions we can’t always explain. A new study shows how even the tiniest human touches in sound can influence this inner world.



The findings from the <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/music/our-research/cross-disciplinary-research/sydney-music-mind-and-body-lab.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sydney Music, Mind and Body Lab</a>, reveal how subtle shifts in rhythm and tone may fuel imagination in ways technology alone cannot replicate. 



These delicate imperfections - tiny fluctuations in timing or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/music-and-the-mind-new-clues-about-how-we-experience-pleasure/">volume</a> - can transform repetitive beats into living experiences, sparking imagery that feels real and immersive.



Rather than simply hearing structured sounds, listeners create journeys filled with color, movement, and narrative. The study suggests that the human quality of music holds unique power to trigger creativity and emotional depth. 



The research also shows why live performances, with all their small variations, can feel more moving than flawless recordings, and why imagination often thrives when music carries traces of human touch.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-small-musical-shifts-big-mental-impact">Small musical shifts, big mental impact</h2>



Researchers asked 100 participants to imagine a journey while listening to repetitive drumming. Some heard <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chimpanzees-use-rhythmic-drumming-to-communicate-in-forests/">drumming</a> with random micro-variations in loudness and timing, while others heard perfectly uniform beats or silence.



Those who listened to music with micro-variations reported richer imagery, longer imagined journeys, and more lifelike scenes. 



They often described environments filled with movement, color, or emotion that felt authentic and dynamic, which suggests these subtle rhythmic details significantly influence how the brain constructs vivid inner experiences.



"What excites me is that these little details in music are something we can all feel, even if we don't always notice them consciously," said lead researcher Ceren Ayyildiz.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-human-touch-makes-rhythm-alive">Human touch makes rhythm alive</h2>



The study, published in Scientific Reports, relied on computer simulations of drum <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-music-tunes-the-emotions-in-our-memories/">sounds</a>. Researchers created two versions: one with flawless uniformity and another with tiny, natural shifts mimicking human performance.



They then analyzed participants’ mental imagery responses with Bayesian multilevel modeling. The results showed that small fluctuations, often unconsciously introduced by performers, significantly enhance imagination.



These subtle imperfections did not distract listeners; instead, they added depth and texture to the soundscape, making the music feel more organic. Participants reported that the variations encouraged richer narratives, longer journeys, and greater immersion in imagined experiences.



This demonstrates that even the smallest rhythmic nuances can transform sound from a mechanical sequence into something that resonates with the human mind, shaping how people visualize and emotionally respond to music.



"It's not just technical perfection but the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-touch-molecular-basis-elkin1-discovery/">human touch</a> that makes music feel more alive and sparks the imagination," Ayyildiz said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-musical-skills-amplify-imagination">Musical skills amplify imagination</h2>



Listeners with musical training or strong immersion ability experienced even more vivid mental imagery. For them, micro-variations brought authenticity and richness missing from machine-perfect sounds.



"One possible explanation for this finding is that listeners may perceive drumming with tiny random changes - a core component of human music performance - as more natural and organic," said Ayyildiz.



The study highlights how human imperfections in rhythm bring authenticity and create a sense of connection.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-music-and-sound-variations-aid-therapy">Music and sound variations aid therapy</h2>



The insights also suggest therapeutic and practical applications. "Mental imagery already plays an important role in many cognitive therapies," said senior author Dr. Steffen Herff.



"Deliberately tailoring background music - for example through subtle changes in timing and loudness - could be used to either stimulate or dampen imagination depending on the specific therapeutic target," 



For audio engineers and producers, the study provides a new perspective. Micro-variations are already used in studio production as key aesthetic drivers in many forms of music including electronic dance music and hip-hop.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-human-expression-drives-connection">Human expression drives connection</h2>



For musicians, especially drummers, the findings emphasize the creative weight of subtle timing shifts. 



"This study demonstrates how the tiny details in rhythmic timing and expression can greatly alter our perceptions of music," said researcher Dr. Simon Barker.



"The relationship between micro-rhythmic variations and imagination, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/physicists-make-bold-claims-that-time-is-an-illusion-question-its-existence/">illusion</a>, and connection are at the core of the art of drumming, and this study is a lovely example of this central aspect of rhythmic expression and communication."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-music-s-power-comes-from-touch">Music’s power comes from touch</h2>



The study adds to a growing body of work exploring music’s role in imagination, connection, and even loneliness. 



Its message is clear: even in a world of machine-perfect precision, the smallest human variations breathe life into sound, reminding us of music’s timeless power to shape emotion, enrich creativity, strengthen bonds, and nurture a uniquely human sense of presence and belonging.



"Even tiny fluctuations can make music more meaningful," said Ayyildiz. "It's a reminder that the human feel still matters."



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/FEh_WfGeCTo?si=4ftg3JG20m5vyTxE
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Here, tiny fluctuations in timing and loudness introduce a human touch that breathes life into the rhythm - the kind of nuance shown to spark richer mental imagery. Credit: University of Sydney </figcaption></figure>



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-12604-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scientific Reports</a>.&nbsp;



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Tiny human touches can make music sound more powerful

Music often does more than entertain. It paints images in our minds, builds worlds, and stirs emotions we can’t always explain. A new study shows how even the tiniest human touches in sound can influence this inner world. The findings from the Sydney Music, Mind and Body Lab, reveal how subtle shifts in rhythm and tone may fuel imagination in ways technology alone cannot replicate. These delicate imperfections - tiny fluctuations in timing or volume - can transform repetitive beats into living experiences, sparking imagery that feels...

In a study published by the <a href="https://www.sfn.org/">Society for Neuroscience</a>, researchers analyzed neural activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) which reflects the intention to drink alcohol. Using rats as a model system, the experts found that PFC brain activity was weakened in animals with a family history of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/quitting-alcohol-health-benefits/">excessive drinking</a>. 

The research has implications for the development of new targeted therapies to treat alcohol use disorders.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the cerebral cortex that covers the frontal lobe. The PFC is involved in decision making, planning complex cognitive behavior, and controlling social behavior. This region of the brain becomes activated before a behavior is initiated, indicating intention. 

A team of experts led by David Linsenbardt of <a href="https://www.iupui.edu/">Purdue University Indianapolis</a> investigated neural activity in the prefrontal cortex of rats to determine whether this brain region processes the intention to consume alcohol.

Among two types of rats, the team compared activity before and during alcohol consumption. One type of rat had a family history of alcohol abuse, while the other type had no family history of excessive alcohol consumption. 

The prefrontal cortex was found to be activated in both groups of rats during the consumption of alcohol. However, prior to alcohol consumption, this region only became activated in rats without a family history of drinking.

The findings suggest that the prefrontal cortex directly encodes the intention to consume alcohol, but that this process is disrupted in animals who have a higher risk of abusing alcohol. For individuals with a predisposition to drink excessively, restoring prefrontal cortex activity could provide experts with a new approach for treating alcohol use disorders.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.eneuro.org/">eNeuro</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock, CLIPAREA l Custom media

Prefrontal cortex may provide new opportunities for treating alcoholism

In a study published by the Society for Neuroscience, researchers...

Parents who talk to their teens about sex promote safer behavior. A new study from <a href="https://www.ncsu.edu/">North Carolina State University</a> has investigated the success of programs aimed at helping parents to communicate with their children about sex. The researchers found that parent-based interventions do not make <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/social-media-television-depression/">adolescents</a> more likely to engage in sexual activity, and often lead to safer sexual practices. 

"People have been studying parent-based sexual health interventions for decades, and we wanted to know how effective they are; as well as whether there are specific features of these interventions that make them more effective," said study first author Professor Laura Widman.

The team analyzed the results of 31 trials, involving more than 12,000 adolescents between the ages of 9 and 18. Among the studies examined, 16 had follow-up periods of more than a year.

One of the most widespread effects identified in the meta-analysis was an increase in condom use by adolescents whose parents took part in an intervention. This effect was found to be the strongest among adolescents aged 14 or younger and Black or Hispanic youths. In addition, interventions that targeted parents and adolescents equally were more effective in promoting the use of condoms. 

"These are variables that make sense intuitively: reaching kids when they're younger and, often, more willing to listen; involving both parents and adolescents; spending more time on the subject matter - none of those are particularly surprising," said Professor Widman. "However, it's good to see that the data bears this out."

According to the study, interventions did not have an influence on when adolescents became sexually active.

"In other words, the kids who were taught about sexual health did not become sexually active any earlier than kids who were not part of the interventions - but kids who were part of the interventions were more likely to use condoms when they did become sexually active," explained Professor Widman.

The researchers also identified some areas that could be explored in future intervention research.

"For example, we found only one intervention that targeted fathers, and it worked very well," said Professor Widman. "Similarly, there was only one intervention aimed specifically at parents of sons, which also worked very well. This suggests that it may be worthwhile to pursue broader efforts to assess the effectiveness of gender-specific interventions for parents and adolescents."Parents who talk to their teens about sex promote safer behavior

"What's more, we found that there is a dearth of information on the effectiveness of online interventions. That's definitely an area ripe for future study."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics">JAMA Pediatrics</a>.

--

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Parents who talk to their teens about sex promote safer behavior

Parents who talk to their teens about sex promote safer...

Every day, we are faced with choices when we must decide whether to try something new or to stick with what we already know. Researchers at <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">UC Davis</a> wanted to find out which of these strategies pays off the most in the real world, and they discovered that traversing unfamiliar territory may lead to greater success. 

The investigation was focused on <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/sharks-threatened-fishing-boats/">fishing boat</a> captains, who make critical choices between the familiar and the unknown every day while seeking out the best fishing spot. The UC Davis team analyzed more than half a million fishing vessel position records from nearly 2,500 commercial fishing trips in the Gulf of Mexico, including their revenues. 

Study co-lead author Shay O'Farrell is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Professor James Sanchirico in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. 

"It looks like exploration pays off in the face of uncertainty," said O'Farrell. "This is particularly important in the context of global environmental change, when disturbances such as storms and droughts are predicted to increase."

The researchers found that some vessels explore new territory more frequently than others, investing more time and resources into trying out new fishing locations. In times of stability, the exploratory vessels were found to perform just as well as vessels that relied more on consistency.

"In relatively stable environments, we would expect that any gains from switching behaviors would usually go away, otherwise vessels would be changing how they fish," said Sanchirico.

In 2009, popular fishing grounds in the Gulf of Mexico were closed and boats were forced to find new places to fish. The researchers discovered that the exploratory vessels were much less impacted by the sudden change in circumstances, which is likely due to the captains' experience in selecting new fishing grounds.

According to O'Farrell, the findings may hold lessons for times of uncertainty.

"One way in which we can future-proof our livelihoods is by exploring new options," said O'Farrell. "That way, if our current options become unavailable or less attractive in the future, we can fall back on our knowledge of alternatives. Sharing our knowledge could make us even more resilient still, as we can draw from a larger pool of experience."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

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Why it may not always pay to stick with what you know

Every day, we are faced with choices when we must...

A recent study from the <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a> has found that only seven percent of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/having-first-emotional-bond/">couples</a> equally divide their household chores. The investigation, which was focused on 8,500 couples across the UK, revealed that 93 percent of women are still doing the majority of the housework. 

Based on data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, the analysis showed that even when both men and women have full time employment outside of the home, women are still five times more likely to do housework for at least 20 hours per week. 

Men shared equally modern views on gender roles, such as the importance for women to work outside of the home. Most men also agreed with women that housework should be shared, but they were still found to put in less than five hours a week on average. 

"These results matter because this is extra work which women are doing for free as housework is unpaid," said study lead author Professor Anne McMunn. "We don't think this is an active choice on the part of men to try to keep women down."

In the seven percent of cases where men were doing as many household chores as women, this was most often because the woman was the main breadwinner. 

"We tend to follow the patterns which we saw our parents fall into when we were growing up but this has been described as a 'second shift' for women who come home from work and start doing more in the form of household chores," said Professor McMunn.

The largest group of couples examined for the study was made up of relatively young "dual earners," where both the men and women had full-time jobs. While it would be expected for these couples to split the housework evenly, only three percent of males that fell into this category worked in the home for at least 20 hours per week as opposed to 16 percent of females.

The second largest group consisted of couples where men had full-time jobs and women worked part-time or not at all. Nearly 75 percent of these couples had children in the home. 

In addition to taking on the majority of the childcare, more than half of these women did 20 or more hours of housework a week. By contrast, almost two-thirds of the men cleaned for less than five hours.

"Men still earn more than women, on average, and that gives them a little more leverage in terms of negotiating housework," said Professor McMunn. "Things are not changing as fast in the domestic sphere as we might have thought, so we need to raise awareness and think a bit more about it."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/home/wes">Work, Employment, and Society</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/ESB Professional

Study shows that women are still doing most of the housework

A recent study from the University College London has found...

Electronic cigarettes are often used to help smokers quit, but research has been mixed as to whether the benefits of vaping outweigh the potential <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/health-risks-vaping-e-cigarettes/">long-term health impacts</a>. 

But now, a comprehensive new study has shown that  e-cigarette smokers are 77 percent more likely to quit than non-vapers. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.massgeneral.org/trtc/">Massachusetts General Hospital’s Tobacco Research and Treatment Center </a>reviewed and analyzed data from 8,2000 participants of the <a href="https://pathstudyinfo.nih.gov/">Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study</a>.

Data on tobacco use over a year and two year period was key for the researchers as it helped show how successful participants in the Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study were in their cessation efforts and if e-cigarettes helped with quitting. 

At the beginning of the study, 3.6 percent of the participants reported using e-cigarettes every day, but 18 percent reported using them occasionally. 

After the two year study period was up, daily e-cigarette users had the most success in refraining from smoking.

Only six percent of non-vapers had successfully quit for two years, compared to eleven percent of e-cigarette users. 

This recent study shows that e-cigarettes can help with smoking cessation and may lead to higher quitting success than people who use other quitting aids.

It’s possible that past studies didn’t use or look at daily versus casual vaping when researching the impacts and benefits of electronic-cigarettes.

The researchers did find that four percent of regular e-cigarette users that quit relapsed, the odds were still lower compared to those that successfully staved off cigarettes. 

“In this nationally-representative longitudinal cohort study of U.S. adult cigarette smokers, daily e-cigarette use, compared to no e-cigarette use, was associated with a 77% increased odds of prolonged cigarette smoking abstinence over the subsequent two years,” the researchers conclude in their study. “Regular use of e-cigarettes may help some smokers to stop smoking combustible cigarettes.”

 The study was published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

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Can e-cigarettes help people quit smoking?

Electronic cigarettes are often used to help smokers quit, but...

If you search YouTube for videos about climate change or geoengineering, you will likely be shown conspiracy theory content that uses scientific terms to appear more credible, according to a new study. 

This “hijacking” of science to create content that directly opposes the worldwide scientific consensus is leading to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/battling-climate-change-misinformation/">rampant spread of misinformation</a>. 

YouTube has millions of channels and nearly two billion active users per month. Many people use the platform to learn and enjoy watching videos about science, health, and technology. 

The driving force behind platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and even shopping sites like Amazon are algorithms that take mountains of data to create recommendations catered to each individual user. Search terms only strengthen these algorithms. 

In a new study, researchers from the <a href="http://www.rwth-aachen.de/cms/~a/root/?lidx=1">RWTH Aachen University</a> looked at how YouTube’s algorithms directed users to videos about science when using search terms like “climate change or “geoengineering.” 

The researchers wanted to know if videos tagged with these keywords offered non-biased and scientifically accurate information. 

“So far, research has focused on the most-watched videos, checking their scientific accuracy, but this doesn’t tell us what an average internet user will find, as the results are influenced by previous search and watch histories,” said Dr. Joachim Allgaier, the leader of the study. “To combat this, I used the anonymization tool TOR to avoid personalization of the results.”

Allgaier chose ten search terms related to climate change and analyzed 200 videos tagged with the terms and which covered topics about climate change and climate change modification. 

A large majority of the videos were not based in science and directly opposed the general scientific consensus about human emissions and climate change. 

Many of the videos go further than just spreading misinformation, the researchers found. Some terms like “geoengineering” have been hacked by conspiracy theorists and the term is used to describe and strengthen global conspiracies. 

For example, videos about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-debunk-chemtrails-conspiracy-theory/">chemtrails</a>, a notorious conspiracy theory, talk about geoengineering and climate modification. 

“Within the scientific community,’ geoengineering’ describes technology with the potential to deal with the serious consequences of climate change, if we don’t manage to reduce greenhouse gases successfully,” said Allgaier. “However, people searching for ‘geoengineering’ or ‘climate modification’ on YouTube won’t find any information on these topics in the way they are discussed by scientists and engineers.”

The study highlights an ongoing problem with YouTube and its algorithm, which has faced sharp criticism for promoting misinformation, hate speech, and conspiracy theories.

“Searching YouTube for climate-science and climate-engineering-related terms finds fewer than half of the videos represent mainstream scientific views,” says study author Dr. Joachim Allgaier, Senior Researcher at the RWTH Aachen University. “It’s alarming to find that the majority of videos propagate conspiracy theories about climate science and technology.”

The findings were published in the study <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00036/">Frontiers in Communication</a>. 

--

By <a href="https://kaywritesstuff.com/">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

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YouTube conspiracy theorists are using science terms to appear credible

If you search YouTube for videos about climate change or...

Male-pattern baldness and hair loss have impacted people for centuries, as records of remedies for baldness date back to Ancient Egypt. 

While drugs like Propecia and Rogaine are effective at slowing hair loss, science has yet to find a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cure-balding-gray-hair/">treatment</a> that completely reverses the balding process. 

But now, there’s promising new evidence that stem cell therapy and 3-D printing could offer an innovative solution to balding.

Balding begins when a hair follicle goes dormant. The human scalp contains around 100,000 hair follicles, and the actual strand of hair is produced thanks to stem cells located at the base of the follicle called dermal papillae. 

At the root of the follicle, blood vessels help create cells which stimulates the hair protein growth. As the hair strand gets pushed up through the skin, it dies, but the hair at the root of the follicle keeps growing. 

Over time, follicles on the head will grow dormant and hair growth ceases. There has been a growing interest in findings way to generate new hair and reverse hair loss with cell therapy. 

Cell therapy involves taking stem cells from a person and using those to generate new treatments explicitly catered for that individual. 

One cell therapy company, a startup called <a href="https://stemsontx.com/">Stemson Therapeutics</a>, is working on cloning hair follicles. Hair strands are grown or farmed using the stem cells from an individual's blood, and these young and vigorous follicles are implanted near the dormant follicle. 

Stemson Therapeutics has successfully cloned and implanted hair into a mouse, but the company is about a year and a half away from human clinical trials. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a> have found a way to 3-D print a mold meant to hold follicles and the dermal papillae. 

“For a long time, we’ve been saying this is ten years away,” Robert Bernstein, a dermatologist in Manhattan who specializes in hair transplantation, told the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/07/hair-for-all/594826/">Atlantic</a>. “But now it actually might be less.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Africa Studio

Cloning hair could offer a potential cure for baldness

Male-pattern baldness and hair loss have impacted people for centuries,...

A new study published by the <a href="https://www.bmj.com/">BMJ</a> is reporting that the tobacco industry has been raising its prices far beyond what is required by tax hikes. According to the researchers, the companies inflated their product prices even when <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/tobacco-execs-sugary-drinks-to-kids/">tobacco</a> taxes were increased unexpectedly.

Despite the fact that "roll your own" tobacco is often sold illegally, the study revealed that this product had the highest industry-driven price hikes. 

The researchers also found that, prior to 2010, the tobacco industry regularly drove up cigarette prices above the level required by tax rises. The investigation showed that almost 50 percent of the total price increase in tobacco across the UK can be attributed to price hikes as opposed to higher taxes.

Over the last decade, manufactured cigarette sales have fallen by 17 percent and sales of cheaper "roll your own" tobacco have increased by 46 percent.

The researchers set out to explore the extent to which price increases have been due to tax increases or industry strategies since 2010. For their investigation, the experts used data on inflation, tax rates, and tobacco sales from 2010 to 2015.

When there were large and unexpected tax increases between 2010 and 2012, industry-driven price changes were small. Over the three years that followed, however, tax increases were planned and were much less substantial. At this time, 33 percent of the price increase for manufactured cigarettes was industry-driven, as well as 48 percent of the price increase for "roll your own" tobacco.

"This implies that the industry does not believe its own argument that higher taxes/prices encourage illicit tobacco purchasing," wrote the study authors. "This is further supported by a higher proportion of the total price increase being attributable to industry revenue increases for 'roll your own,' despite the illicit market share for 'roll your own' being substantially higher."

"If the tobacco industry is still able to increase its revenue (and hence profits) per pack, then the government should be able to further increase taxes to deal with the harms from tobacco."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/">Tobacco Control</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

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Tobacco industry raising prices far beyond what is required by tax changes

A new study published by the BMJ is reporting that...

Some of the biggest names in the automotive industry have been privately plotting the development of more fuel-efficient vehicles with the <a href="http://ww2.arb.ca.gov/homepage">California Air Resources Board</a> (CARB). The negotiations may counteract efforts by the Trump administration to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/trump-freeze-fuel-efficiency-standards/">freeze vehicle emissions</a> and gas mileage standards. 

According to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/">Washington Post</a>, the agreement between Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, BMW of North America, and the state of California may ultimately result in the manufacturing of vehicles that have an average fuel efficiency of 50 miles per gallon within the next five years.

In 2012, the Obama administration established an average fuel economy standard of 51 miles per gallon by 2026. However, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently announced plans to freeze these standards at 37 miles per gallon in the same time frame.

Mary D. Nichols, chairwoman of CARB, hopes that the Trump administration will decide to join the new deal, which she said gives automakers flexibility in meeting emissions goals without "massive backsliding."

“What we have here is a statement of principles intended to reach out to the federal government to move them off the track that they seem to be on and onto a more constructive track,” said Nichols.

The four automakers said in a joint statement that the decision to strike a deal with California was driven by a need for predictability, lower compliance costs, affordable vehicles for customers, and also by the desire to be good environmental stewards.

"These terms will provide our companies much-needed regulatory certainty by allowing us to meet both federal and state requirements with a single national fleet, avoiding a patchwork of regulations while continuing to ensure meaningful greenhouse gas emissions reductions,” said the auto companies, which represent about 30 percent of the American market. 

The automakers have agreed to manufacture fleets that average nearly 50 miles per gallon over the next six years. The environmental benefits of these negotiations will grow substantially if more automakers choose to make the same commitment. 

For its part of the deal, California will certify vehicles from the four companies and will grant them flexibility in meeting each year’s emissions goal. The automakers pledged to improve their fleet’s average fuel efficiency by 3.7 percent a year, which is only slightly less than the standards set under former President Obama.

--

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California makes deal with automakers to improve fuel efficiency standards

Some of the biggest names in the automotive industry have...

Yasuní National Park in Ecuador is part of a legendary region of the Amazon. It is home to some of the reputedly fiercest indigenous people in the far western <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/destroyed-tropical-forests-restored/">Amazon rainforest</a>, the Huaoroni. First contact with these people ended typically in violent death to the outsider, sending a clear message for a desire of solitude.

Missionaries that arrived in an airplane in the 1950s are a typical example. Soon after arrival, the missionaries were speared to death. Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of hardship for the Huaoroni living in the area.

Over time, missionaries brought crippling European disease and slandered the indigenous culture, introducing clothes and customs not well adapted to the local environment. Some Huaoroni even suffered from polio. 

The Huaoroni also split into two groups – those who were influenced by the missionaries and became more westernized and those who fled deeper into the jungle. To this day, some of the Huaoroni live deep in Yasuní, uncontacted by outsiders. This leaves the Huaoroni contacted by missionaries and subsequent outsiders divided from their relatives and culturally impoverished.  

The creeping cultural influence of missionaries led to the end of cycles of violent revenge killings among the Huaoroni but it also allowed them to be taken advantage of by scrupulous outsiders. Without the imminent threat of death by the hands of the Huaoroni, Yasuní has slowly become more and more visited by outsiders. 

I visited the National Park myself as part of a tropical field biology course, passing by Huaoroni men with fishing spears boarding a bus and traveling down river past a huddle of huts that makes up a Huaoroni village. What most visitors view of Yasuní is a very small piece of a much larger park. But all of Yasuní represents the remaining territory that the Huaoroni must now share with tourists and other outsiders, and is still only about a third of their previous territory. 

From the beginning of contact, the Huaoroni have had a complicated relationship with the outside world, highlighted by differing views of land ownership and a changed cultural identity. Outsiders wanting to cash in on resources found on traditional Huaoroni land or control it complicate that relationship and challenge notions of indigenous territorial sovereignty.

Yasuní was made an Ecuadorian National Park in 1979, becoming Ecuador’s largest mainland national park (the Galapagos are part of Ecuador as well). This marked the government’s official control of the region as opposed to a land traditionally controlled by the Huaoroni. The 982,000 hectare park was declared a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve in the same year. Bordering Yasuní is a Huaoroni Reserve as well. 

Despite the protection afforded a national park and International Biosphere Reserve, Ecuador opened Yasuní to oil drilling in 2016. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/26/oil-drilling-underway-beneath-ecuadors-yasuni-national-park">The Guardian</a> reports that oil extraction began removing 23,000 barrels a day and the government reported little disturbance to the park. Despite the government’s comforting words, environmentalists and the Huaoroni have been less than pleased about drilling in Yasuní. 

Initially, Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa offered the chance to leave oil in the ground in Yasuní for a bribe. The president agreed to leave the area alone for a payment of $3.6 billion, after 6 years of waiting for the ransom, Ecuador had received only $200 million before opening the park to drilling. The government has been criticized by environmental groups for the move but defends the action, claiming that modern technology allow for drilling with little negative impact on the environment. These claims have been extremely hard to verify as the government has allowed no independent oversight of drilling in Yasuní at all. 

“The government has not allowed any independent monitoring by scientists, journalists, or civil society. The well site is militarised, and aerial flyovers and images are prohibited,” Kevin Koenig, Ecuador program director of Amazon Watch, told <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/exclusive-new-satellite-images-show-ecuador-drilling-next-to-yasunis-itt/">Mongabay</a>.

The consequences are likely to be much larger than the Ecuadorian government has been willing to acknowledge. Roads will leave an ecological impact for long periods of time, and the potential for water pollution could be catastrophic. The project also opens the doors to hundreds of workers that could come into violent conflict with the Huaoroni. Critics claim that oil field workers often return to areas now with already made roads as hunters, beginning the colonization of the area. Some claim that much of this potential destruction could have been prevented by flying to each oil well site by helicopter instead of building roads. 

Since the initial foray into Yasuní, the threat from oil exploitation has only grown. <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/oil-company-breaks-agreement-builds-big-roads-in-yasuni-rainforest/">Mongabay</a> reported in 2014 that oil company Petroamazonas had initially made an agreement with the Ecuadorian government to not make a road into a remote part of Yasuní called Block 31. Unfortunately, satellite photos confirmed that the company ignored the government agreement, building roads anyway. 

Despite not honoring the agreement, Petroamazonas has been granted more drilling rights in Yasuní. The government refusing independent oversight and overlooking rule breaking in one of Ecuador’s most remote and biodiverse regions is disturbing, especially so when indigenous people are concerned. Despite a history of drilling in Yasuní that already deeply concerns indigenous advocates and environmentalists, Ecuador is going even further in allowing drilling. 

Now, block 43, the last block in the most contentious areas for drilling within Yasuní has been opened to drilling, heralding drilling in the last part of the park <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/heart-of-ecuadors-yasuni-home-to-uncontacted-tribes-opens-for-oil-drilling/">Mongabay</a> reports. Energy minister, Carlos Perez delayed the decision to open the area to drilling last year when environmentalists and Indigenous leaders occupied his office in protest. But in the end, drilling in the contentious area, home to uncontacted Huaoroni that have been in voluntary isolation, was approved with a small reduction of the oil extraction area. 

If history is any sort of guide, oil extraction in the region will continue unabated until it’s all gone and the indigenous population are left sharing poisoned water with what’s left of the wildlife. Yasuní is still a paradise for the most, part but greed and short sightedness can destroy the irreplaceable very quickly.        

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Dr Morley Read

The last part of Yasuní, home to uncontacted tribes, now open for drilling

Yasuní National Park in Ecuador is part of a legendary...

The high cost of healthy foods linked to malnutrition across the globe. According to a new study from the <a href="http://www.ifpri.org/">International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)</a>, the price difference between healthy and unhealthy foods can explain the rise of international <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/war-urbanization-global-malnutrition/">malnutrition</a>, differences in dietary patterns, child stunting, and obesity among adults.

"Our research shows that most healthy foods are substantially more expensive in poorer countries," said IFPRI Senior Research Fellow and study co-author Derek Headey. "But while healthier foods become cheaper over the course of development, so too do unhealthy processed foods, like soft drinks." 

To draw this conclusion, the team used national price data for 657 standardized food products in 176 countries collected under The International Comparison Program (ICP). They then developed a system to measure how costly it is to diversify diets away from bread, corn, and rice-based diets.

The study, published in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jn/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jn/nxz158/5535433">The Journal of Nutrition</a>, shows that higher caloric prices of a food item usually predicts lower consumption of that food. 

The team saw that healthy foods were often the most expensive in the world’s poorest nations, especially foods that are nutrient dense and animal sourced, which are widely understood to be effective in reducing stunting. For example, eggs and fresh milk are often 10 times as expensive as starchy staples.

"Prior to this study, we already knew that the poorest children in the world weren't consuming enough of the really nutrient-dense foods that promote healthy growth and brain development,” said Headey. "But now we have a better idea why: poor people also live in poor food systems. That combination of low incomes and high prices means they're simply not going to buy enough and eat enough of these nutrient-dense foods."

Poor child-feeding practices have often been attributed to lack of nutritional knowledge, however, the team believes that high prices of healthy foods may actually be to blame.

"The link between milk prices and stunting is especially strong,” said co-author Harold Alderman, "which is entirely consistent with a whole body of evidence on the strong linkages between dairy consumption and child growth."

And although the team uncovered development processes put in place to make healthy foods more affordable, these processes also make unhealthy foods, like soft drinks and sugar-rich snacks, even cheaper.

"Public health agencies in upper income countries have been concerned with the high consumption of sugar-rich foods for some time," said Alderman, "but our study shows that these products often become very affordable in middle income countries, and sometimes even in relatively poor countries where obesity rates are really on the rise."

Nutrition-sensitive agricultural investments could make healthy foods cheaper, and the taxation and regulation efforts, like food labelling, can curb consumption of unhealthy foods, according to Headey and Alderman.

"These findings raise an important agenda for future research: understanding why food prices vary across countries, and sometimes within them, and how best to change food prices in a way that leads to better diets and nutrition outcomes in rich and poor countries alike," Headey said.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Alexander Raths

The high cost of healthy foods linked to malnutrition across the globe

The high cost of healthy foods linked to malnutrition across...

Cats can be finicky pets. One minute your four-legged friend is purring and rubbing against your legs, but as soon as you start stroking its fur, the cat does a 180 and starts hissing, scratching and biting. 

If you’ve experienced this kind of rejection from your cat, there is a simple reason behind the behavior. According to Lauren Finka, a postdoctoral research associate at <a href="https://www.ntu.ac.uk/">Nottingham Trent University</a>, you might be petting your cat wrong. 

In an article for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-stroke-a-cat-according-to-science-116025">Conversation</a>, Finka takes readers through the ancestry of house cats and helps shed light on the odd quirks of felines. 

Cats, like dogs, evolved alongside humans, but their path to domestication took a few different turns. 

First of all, domestication of dogs is said to have begun between <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-dogs-bond/">20,000 and 40,000 years ago</a>. As dogs diverged from their wild ancestors, they started working alongside humans, and a beneficial partnership arose. 

With cats, this domestication process is said to have begun around 4,000 years ago. Cats helped keep pests under control. Four thousand years ago seems like a long time, but your snuggly little kitten probably still thinks like a wildcat. 

Dogs and their wild wolf ancestors are social creatures, hunting, living, and communicating in packs. Wildcats, on the other hand, prefer a more solitary life. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t ever pet your cat. Many cat owners will attest that their cat is extremely affectionate (on their terms).

It’s just important to understand the subtle clues you cat might be giving you. 

First and foremost, let your cat come to you for affection. As social creatures ourselves who use touch to communicate, using restraint when faced with something cute, soft, and fluffy does not come naturally, according to Finka. 

However, restraint is exactly what’s required. Research has shown that cats will let their owners stroke them for longer when the cat initiates contact rather than humans. 

If your cat does hop on your lap for a good cuddle, you’re not in the clear entirely. Look for crucial body language and behavior signals while you pet your cat. 

Less is more, according to Finka. Stick to the base of the ears, under the chin and cheeks rather than the tummy or back. 

If your cat is purring, relaxed, and gently waving their tail, chances are that your cat is happy. 

However, if while stroking your cat and you don’t hear any purring, notice that the cat is shaking their head, licking their nose, twitching, or flattening their ears, stop stroking and walk away. 

“Ultimately though, when it comes to cats, it’s important to respect their boundaries – and the wildcat within – even if that means admiring their cuteness from afar,” Finka concludes. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/PHOTOCREO Michal Bednarek

How to pet your cat the right way

Cats can be finicky pets. One minute your four-legged friend...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E0mn5mTvhQ
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">'Death Star' moon Mimas conceals a 15-million-year-old ocean that scientists never expected.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hidden-waters-beneath-ancient-craters">Hidden waters beneath ancient craters</h2>



Scientists have made a startling discovery that challenges everything we thought we knew about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/saturn-moon-mimas-has-remarkably-young-ocean/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Saturn's moon Mimas</a>. Beneath the heavily cratered surface that earned it the nickname "Death Star" lies a global ocean that formed just 5 to 15 million years ago—a remarkably young age by cosmic standards.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cassini-data-reveals-orbital-secrets">Cassini data reveals orbital secrets</h2>



The discovery, led by Dr. Valéry Lainey of the <a href="https://observatoiredeparis.psl.eu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Observatoire de Paris</a>, emerged from careful analysis of <a href="https://www.nasa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA</a>'s Cassini spacecraft data. By studying subtle irregularities in Mimas's orbit around Saturn, researchers detected the gravitational signature of liquid water hidden 20 to 30 kilometers beneath the moon's icy shell.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-unlikely-ocean-world">An unlikely ocean world</h2>



At only 400 kilometers in diameter, Mimas seemed like the least likely candidate to harbor a subsurface ocean. Unlike other ocean moons such as Europa and Enceladus, which show clear surface signs of internal activity, Mimas displays no obvious hints of the liquid water beneath its ancient, crater-scarred exterior.



"Mimas is a small moon, and its heavily cratered surface gave no hint of the hidden ocean beneath," explained Dr. Nick Cooper from <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Queen Mary University of London</a>, a study co-author.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-astrobiology">Implications for astrobiology</h2>



The ocean's recent formation makes Mimas a prime target for studying how oceans develop and potentially support life. This discovery adds another member to the exclusive club of ocean worlds in our solar system, each offering unique insights into the conditions necessary for habitability.



The research, published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a> journal, demonstrates how advanced orbital analysis can reveal hidden features of celestial bodies, opening new possibilities for understanding ocean formation throughout the cosmos.



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Scientists discover unexpected young ocean on Saturn's cratered moon Mimas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E0mn5mTvhQ 'Death Star' moon Mimas conceals a 15-million-year-old ocean that...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE
</div></figure>



On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop and sunlight barely penetrates through the polar winter. It was here, however, that an international team of scientists found <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predatory-worms-were-terror-beasts-half-a-billion-years-ago/#google_vignette" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evidence of sea monsters</a> that would change our understanding of ocean life in the past.



This video captures the discovery of Timorebestia fossils that had been hidden for more than 500 million years in the Sirius Passet formation. The "terror beasts," as they are called, are a hidden chapter in the evolutionary history of <a href="https://www.earth.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth</a>, showing that sophisticated predator-prey interactions occurred much earlier than previously envisioned.



Dr. Jakob Vinther and his research team at the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Bristol</a>, in collaboration with researchers at the <a href="https://eng.kopri.re.kr/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Korean Polar Research Institute</a>, braved extreme weather conditions at 82.5 north latitude to locate these giant creatures. Using sophisticated electron microprobe analysis, they revealed the detailed anatomy of the animals, including their muscle and nerve tissues.



The find upsets the traditional timeline of sea predators. Although we've long appreciated that Cambrian oceans were at one time ruled by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWI3-UgA3_o&amp;list=PL1QLQMW9MWDwpkFOnvgAmu7wT6rZmYqdJ&amp;index=19" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">arthropods</a>, these discoveries indicate that relatives of arrow worms were first to dominate the seas. These worms were building sophisticated food webs several million years before other predator groups arose.



Each fossil is a story of ancient hunger, with fossil stomach contents revealing these meter-long beasts dined on heavily armored arthropods regularly, cementing their place as the ocean's first apex predators.



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">New York is the site of the world's oldest forest.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-385-million-year-old-trees-discovered">385-million-year-old trees discovered</h2>



Scientists have uncovered something extraordinary just two hours north of New York City. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-oldest-forest-discovered-close-to-new-york-city/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">world's oldest forest</a>, dating back 385 million years, offers a window into how Earth's first complex forests shaped our planet's atmosphere.



Located near <a href="https://townofcairo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cairo, New York</a>, in Greene County, these weren't merely primitive plants struggling to survive. These were sophisticated trees with root systems remarkably similar to modern forests. This ancient woodland predates dinosaurs by 140 million years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cairo-forest-discovery">The Cairo forest discovery</h2>



385 million years ago, upstate New York was a tropical paradise near the equator. Thanks to continental drift, this ancient forest has traveled thousands of miles to its current location.



The fossil forest sits in an abandoned quarry, roughly half the size of a football field. This represents just a slice of what was likely a massive forest system stretching from New York into Pennsylvania.



Charles Ver Straeten, curator of sedimentary rocks at the <a href="https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York State Museum</a>, made the discovery in 2009. While scouting the former highway department property, his trained eye spotted wandering patterns in the stone that looked like marine features.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revolutionary-age-and-preservation">Revolutionary age and preservation</h2>



The site contains 385-million-year-old rocks with fossilized woody roots forming horizontal patterns up to 18 feet (5.5 meters) wide. As Christopher Berry, a paleobotanist at Cardiff University, explains: "You are walking through the roots of ancient trees."



This discovery pushes back advanced tree evolution by millions of years. The research, published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a> in December 2019, fundamentally changes our understanding of when complex forests first emerged.



Researchers believe a massive flood buried the forest floor, creating perfect fossilization conditions. Over millions of years, sediment hardened into rock, preserving these root patterns like nature's time capsule.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-meet-archaeopteris-the-first-modern-tree">Meet Archaeopteris: the first modern tree</h2>



The star of this ancient forest is Archaeopteris – not to be confused with the feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx. This tree was far older and more revolutionary.



William Stein from <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binghamton University</a> describes the roots as "strikingly modern, essentially what you'd see outside in my yard right now." These weren't simple root systems you'd expect from ancient plants.



Some fossilized roots are six inches (15 centimeters) in diameter, forming 36-foot-wide (11-meter) patterns. These giants grew up to 65 feet (20 meters) tall with five-foot-diameter (1.5-meter) trunks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-changing-impact">Climate-changing impact</h2>



These trees fundamentally changed Earth's environment. Kevin Boyce, a Stanford University geoscientist, explains how their deep roots triggered "weathering," chemical reactions that pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.



This process dropped atmospheric CO2 levels from 10-15 times higher than today to roughly modern concentrations. These ancient trees helped create atmospheric conditions that made complex life possible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-forest-ecosystem">Ancient forest ecosystem</h2>



The forest was remarkably diverse. Scientists identified Eospermatopteris, palm tree-like plants with short roots that reached 30 feet (9 meters) tall but lacked woody structure. The forest also housed cladoxylopsids and a mysterious third species still being studied.



All reproduced through spores rather than seeds – millions of years before seeds evolved. This tropical environment had no grass, flowers, or flying insects, just towering trees creating Earth's first complex forest canopy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientific-significance">Scientific significance</h2>



Before this finding, the Gilboa forest, located 25 miles (40 kilometers) away, held the "oldest forest" title. Cairo's trees are 2-3 million years older, showing that complex forest ecosystems developed much faster than scientists believed possible.



Patricia Gensel, a <a href="https://www.unc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of North Carolina</a> paleobotanist, notes: "The size of those root systems is really changing the picture. Even 20 years ago, researchers assumed trees with such complex root systems didn't evolve so early."



The Cairo site presents three unique root systems, suggesting Devonian period forests were diverse ecosystems with different trees occupying different environmental niches, much like today's forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modern-preservation-efforts">Modern preservation efforts</h2>



In 2022, New York State Senator Michelle Hinchey secured a $170,000 grant for the town of Cairo to construct specialized fencing around the fossil forest site. The town plans to conduct a feasibility study exploring the possibility of creating an educational center and working lab on-site.



Joe Hasenkopf, chair of the Cairo Planning Board, hopes to partner with educational institutions to create a research facility serving scientists, students, and the public.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-today-s-climate">Lessons for today's climate</h2>



Why does a 385-million-year-old forest matter today? It shows how dramatically forests can change Earth's climate. These ancient woodlands created the atmospheric conditions supporting complex life.



Understanding how prehistoric forests transformed the planet helps us appreciate modern forests' critical role in addressing climate change. Forests remain Earth's most effective carbon capture systems.



These prehistoric trees changed Earth's atmosphere by pulling massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. As we face modern climate challenges, this ancient forest reminds us of trees' incredible power to transform our planet's environment.



The next time you walk through a forest, remember you're experiencing an ecosystem whose blueprint was established 385 million years ago in upstate New York. These ancient pioneers didn't just survive – they thrived and changed the world forever.



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ New York is the site of the world's oldest...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Acid rain and a crisis solved.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-don-t-we-ever-hear-about-acid-rain-anymore-the-environmental-crisis-that-was-solved">Why don't we ever hear about "acid rain" anymore? The environmental crisis that was solved</h2>



Remember the 1980s when acid rain dominated headlines? Dire warnings about rain eating buildings, killing fish, and destroying forests filled every news cycle. Then, almost like magic, acid rain vanished from public discourse. What happened? Did we actually solve one of the late 20th century's most pressing environmental challenges?



The answer might surprise you. Unlike many environmental issues that drag on indefinitely, acid rain represents one of modern history's most successful ecological recovery stories. It's a tale of science, politics, and technology working together to tackle what seemed impossible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What was acid rain?</h2>



Acid rain isn't regular rain having a bad day – it's precipitation that became significantly more acidic due to air pollution. When power plants, factories, and vehicles burn fossil fuels, they release sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the atmosphere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The science behind it</h2>



Think of acid rain as nature's chemistry experiment gone wrong. These compounds react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. When mixed with water vapor in clouds, they create precipitation with dangerously low pH levels.



While clean rain has a pH of about 5.6, acid rain could drop as low as 4.2 to 4.4 – roughly as acidic as tomato juice or coffee. According to US Geological Survey documentation, Scottish chemist Angus Smith first coined "acid rain" in 1872, but it didn't become a household phrase until the 1960s and 1970s when Swedish scientist Svante Odén documented its devastating effects on Scandinavian lakes and European forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The crisis at its peak</h2>



During the height of public concern, environmental damage was both widespread and visible. This wasn't some abstract future threat – people could see destruction happening in real-time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Environmental devastation</h2>



The most dramatic impacts were impossible to ignore. Research documented by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation shows that in the Adirondack Mountains, more than 200 lakes became so acidic they couldn't support fish life. The Adirondack Council reports that 409 lakes once supported brook trout, but many lost their fish populations due to acid rain.



By 1976, when scientists cataloged all acidified lakes in the Adirondack Park, researchers found that half of the lakes over 2,000 feet above sea level had no fish, according to studies published in environmental journals. The acidification process worked like a slow-motion disaster. As acid rain fell into watersheds, it gradually lowered pH levels. Fish couldn't survive in acidic water, and their food sources died off too.



Trees at high elevations showed stress directly linked to acid rain. It weakened them by leaching nutrients and making them susceptible to disease. Historical records show Germany's Black Forest saw nearly half its trees damaged by the mid-1980s.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Economic impact</h2>



Acid rain wasn't just environmental – it was expensive. Acidic precipitation corroded infrastructure, buildings, and monuments. Historic stone structures deteriorated at accelerated rates. Tourism suffered as lakes became fishless and forests declined. EPA economic analyses from the period documented repair costs mounting into billions annually.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The solution: government action and technology</h2>



Transformation from crisis to success required unprecedented cooperation between governments, industries, and environmental groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Clean Air Act of 1990</h2>



The turning point came with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, signed by President George H.W. Bush. This represented a fundamentally new approach to environmental regulation, as documented in EPA historical records.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cap-and-trade success</h2>



Instead of mandating specific technologies, the 1990 amendments introduced something revolutionary: a cap-and-trade system for sulfur dioxide emissions. EPA program documentation shows this market-based approach set overall limits but allowed companies to trade emission allowances.



The genius was harnessing market forces to find cost-effective pollution reduction. Companies reducing emissions cheaply could sell excess allowances to those facing higher costs. Research published in environmental economics journals and EPA progress reports shows this resulted in dramatic SO2 reduction at a fraction of projected costs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Technology advances</h2>



Policy provided the framework, but technology made reductions possible. Studies in atmospheric science journals document the widespread adoption of flue gas desulfurization systems ("scrubbers") that removed sulfur dioxide before it reached the atmosphere. By the 2000s, new installations could remove over 95% of SO2 emissions, according to EPA technical reports.



The push coincided with cleaner energy development. Natural gas produces fewer sulfur compounds than coal. Wind and solar, emerging in the 1990s, captured growing market share, reducing reliance on high-sulfur coal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-we-don-t-hear-about-it-today">Why we don't hear about it today</h2>



Why did acid rain disappear from headlines? Simple: the problem was largely solved.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Success doesn't make news</h2>



There's an old journalism saying: "If it bleeds, it leads." Environmental success stories don't generate urgency like crisis reporting. Media attention shifted to other challenges: climate change, plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss. There's only so much environmental anxiety the public can absorb, and newer concerns replaced acid rain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mission accomplished</h2>



The primary reason is beautifully simple: interventions worked. EPA monitoring data shows sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990. Academic research published in environmental science journals confirms pH levels in formerly affected areas returned closer to normal. This represents one of history's most dramatic environmental recoveries. Studies by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation show fishless lakes now support healthy populations. Forests recovered, and building damage slowed dramatically.



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



The crisis is largely resolved, but monitoring data shows the problem isn't completely eliminated – it's managed to acceptable levels. Some areas still experience occasional events during high pollution periods. International environmental research indicates that rapidly industrializing Asian countries face similar problems to what we experienced decades ago, though they're implementing successful strategies.



EPA research shows nitrogen oxide emissions proved more challenging than sulfur dioxide, coming from vehicles and mobile sources. Climate science studies suggest changing weather patterns add complexity to how acid rain forms and falls.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What this teaches us</h2>



The acid rain experience proves that seemingly intractable environmental problems can be solved with scientific understanding, political will, and technological innovation. Environmental monitoring data shows recovery speed was remarkable – within a decade, measurable improvements appeared in air quality and ecosystem health.



Success came from bipartisan support across party lines. Policy analysis studies show the market-based approach appealed to those preferring economic incentives while achieving environmental goals. This support created lasting policy surviving political changes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Conclusion</h2>



Acid rain's disappearance from public consciousness represents environmental science's greatest success stories. Through effective regulation, technological innovation, and international cooperation, we transformed an overwhelming crisis into a manageable challenge.



Today's silence isn't because we forgot – it's because we solved it. The 1990 Clean Air Act, combined with technology and energy market changes, reduced acid rain emissions over 90%, according to comprehensive EPA data analysis.



This success offers hope for current challenges. It proves complex problems can be solved when science, policy, and technology work together. As we face climate change and plastic pollution, acid rain reminds us that dramatic positive change is possible.



Next time someone asks whether environmental regulations work, remember acid rain. It's proof that sometimes, we get it right.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Sources: This article draws from EPA official documentation and progress reports, peer-reviewed research published in environmental and atmospheric science journals, historical data from the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation records, US Geological Survey publications, policy analysis studies, and environmental monitoring data collected over three decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Frequently Asked Questions</h2>



1. Is acid rain completely gone? No, but EPA monitoring shows it's reduced to manageable levels. US sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990, making acid rain much less severe than the 1980s crisis.



2. How long did solving take? Environmental monitoring data shows significant improvements began within 5-10 years of 1990s emission controls. Full ecosystem recovery took longer – some areas need 20-30 years for complete recovery.



3. What made the solution successful? Clear scientific understanding, visible damage motivating action, bipartisan support, available technology, and innovative market-based policies like cap-and-trade.



4. Do other countries have acid rain problems? Yes, particularly rapidly industrializing Asian countries. However, international environmental research shows many implement similar successful control strategies.



5. Could acid rain return? Potentially, if regulations weaken or we return to high-sulfur coal without controls, though effects would take years to become severe according to environmental projections.



6. Can you recommend any teaching tools on the subject of "acid rain"? The United States Environmental Protection Agency produced a wonderful teacher's guide for ages 14 and under that you can find on the EPA website here: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf</a>



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The environmental problem we actually solved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk Acid rain and a crisis solved. Why don't we...

Fresh,Radish,Harvest,On,Soil,In,Garden.

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Mid-July is an opportune time to kick-start a thriving fall garden, and this guide lays out the best vegetables and herbs to plant now for a fruitful autumn harvest. 



Fast-growing leafy greens such as spinach, lettuce, kale, and arugula perform especially well in the waning summer heat, with harvests beginning as soon as 30 days. 



These cool-season crops relish the transition into fall, offering repeated yields with cut-and-come-again methods.



Root vegetables like radishes, carrots, and beets also excel during this period. Radishes deliver satisfaction in under a month, while carrots and beets mature in about two months. Employing succession planting ensures a continuous stream of produce deep into the cooler months. 



For a boost of fresh flavor, herbs like cilantro, basil, dill, and chervil are excellent picks. These heat-loving varieties flourish in July’s warmth and are harvest-ready in about 30 days, especially when sown continuously.



Gardeners in zones 6 through 9 can benefit from planting bush beans and snap peas, which don’t require trellising and are ideal for compact plots. 



Maturing in 50–60 days, they’re a smart choice for quick, protein-rich harvests. For those in hotter regions, heat-tolerant crops such as okra and southern peas provide reliable yields and thrive in scorching conditions.



This guide emphasizes more than crop selection—it highlights the importance of timing, soil preparation, and ongoing sowing techniques. 



With thoughtful planning and attention to regional climate needs, even late-summer gardeners can enjoy fresh salads, hearty stews, and the satisfaction of a robust, homegrown harvest well into fall.



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

https://youtu.be/Fi2OeEwuzRM?si=vTyd2m9FMmtyWkex Mid-July is an opportune time to kick-start a thriving...

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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-----

Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



---



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" 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> 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



---



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;



---



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"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

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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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" 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 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

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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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

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from 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...

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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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