Falling asleep and waking up refreshed is something most of us crave. Yet some people appear to thrive on fewer hours, leaving everyone else wondering how they manage it. A new study involving a healthy older adult suggests that a rare gene mutation might be a key to needing fewer hours of sleep.



The research was led by Dr. Hao Chen from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), whose team investigated a "natural short sleeper" <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/one-night-of-lost-sleep-can-trigger-hidden-health-issues/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trait</a> linked to a genetic variant in the SIK3 gene.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-genetics-influence-sleep-duration">How genetics influence sleep duration</h2>



Scientists who explore patterns of rest have long recognized that people’s genetic makeup can influence how much <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-prepares-the-brain-for-the-future-while-protecting-memories-of-the-past/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sleep</a> they need. This latest finding highlights how even a slight genetic tweak might reduce the time required for the brain and body to recover.



Those who qualify as short sleepers function at a normal or high level despite clocking fewer hours in bed. Researchers classify them separately from individuals suffering from insomnia, because these short sleepers typically wake up rested and show no health problems tied to exhaustion.



One older participant reported sleeping around 6.3 hours per night yet displayed sharp cognition and good health. Her genetic profile pointed to a single mutation as the possible reason for her efficient slumber.



These individuals, referred to as natural short sleepers, seem wired to operate on less rest. Specialists are intrigued by how they sail through daily life with no visible drawbacks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gene-mutation-and-sleep-patterns">Gene mutation and sleep patterns</h2>



The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/protein-kinases" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">kinase protein</a> produced by the SIK3 gene relays signals that influence various cellular processes. Scientists suspect that changes in kinase function might play a role in controlling how much time the body devotes to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-can-boost-memory-in-a-surprising-way/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sleep</a>.



When Dr. Chen’s team transferred this mutation to lab mice, the animals spent slightly less time resting each day. This observation hinted at a biological mechanism that could be significant across different species.



“Studying human sleep genes not only expands our knowledge regarding the sleep regulatory network, but also may bring the basic research from mouse models to clinical relevance,” noted the researchers.



Brain scans in the test mice revealed that their <a href="https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/life-science/protein-biology/protein-biology-learning-center/protein-biology-resource-library/pierce-protein-methods/phosphorylation.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">phosphorylation</a> patterns changed, especially around the areas that oversee rest and wake cycles. This shift aligns with the idea that sleep is coordinated by a web of signals in the brain that might be influenced by tiny chemical tweaks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genetic-mutations-in-short-sleepers">Genetic mutations in short sleepers</h2>



Scientists have now identified at least five distinct genetic mutations linked to the natural short sleep trait. Each one affects different proteins involved in the brain’s signaling and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-quality-could-be-the-key-to-better-metabolic-health/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sleep</a>-wake rhythms, hinting at multiple pathways that might influence rest duration.



The SIK3 variant joins others such as <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1801693115" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DEC2</a>, <a href="https://www.ajmc.com/view/a-rare-gene-mutation-is-associated-with-requiring-less-sleep-researchers-say" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ADRB1</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/387129" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NPSR1</a>, and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/14816" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GRM1</a>, each contributing a piece to the sleep efficiency puzzle. Researchers believe that mapping these variants could eventually lead to a full blueprint of how the body regulates its need for sleep.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-treatments-for-sleep-disorders">Treatments for sleep disorders</h2>



Researchers think there could be important applications for people who struggle with sleep disorders. Adjusting the pathways linked to this genetic variant might shorten the time needed to feel rested, although practical therapies will likely take time to refine.



Still, scientists caution that these insights do not give an excuse to slash nightly rest. They emphasize that ordinary individuals without the mutation may not reap any benefits from copying a short sleeper’s schedule.



Experts see promise in pursuing treatments that enhance the body’s own efficiency. They hope new knowledge of genetic influences will guide strategies to help those who find it difficult to get restorative rest.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-on-short-sleep-genes">Future research on short-sleep genes </h2>



Short-sleep genes have captured the imagination of specialists for years. There is strong interest in mapping out exactly how the human brain resets itself, and why some people get the same benefits in a compressed timeframe.



“These [NSS] people, all these functions our bodies are doing while we are sleeping, they can just perform at a higher level than we can,” said neuroscientist and geneticist Ying-Hui Fu, from the University of California, San Francisco (<a href="https://www.ucsf.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UCSF</a>). 



Scientists aim to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37398097/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">uncover</a> the precise factors that grant this group their resilience. Many research teams intend to investigate how broader networks of genes might interact to influence rest. 



The SIK3 discovery raises big questions about what else might affect daily energy levels and long-term health.



Fascination with short sleepers is unlikely to fade soon. Unlocking the secrets of their genetics could reshape how we view rest, opening a path to solutions for chronic sleep troubles.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2500356122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PNAS</a>.



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Rare gene explains why some people can thrive on less sleep

Falling asleep and waking up refreshed is something most of us crave. Yet some people appear to thrive on fewer hours, leaving everyone else wondering how they manage it. A new study involving a healthy older adult suggests that a rare gene mutation might be a key to needing fewer hours of sleep. The research was led by Dr. Hao Chen from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), whose team investigated a "natural short sleeper" trait linked to a genetic variant in the SIK3 gene. How genetics...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/">McGill University</a> have discovered that men are more sensitive to pain than women. The study also revealed that men have a stronger memory of previous <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/expecting-pain-hurt/">pain</a>, and suffer more when a painful experience is repeated. 

The findings, which were confirmed in both mice and humans, could lead to the development of groundbreaking new ways to treat chronic pain. The research was conducted by Jeffrey Mogil, who is a professor of Pain Studies.

“We set out to do an experiment looking at pain hypersensitivity in mice and found these surprising differences in stress levels between male and female mice,” said Professor Mogil. “So we decided to extend the experiment to humans to see whether the results would be similar.” 

“We were blown away when we saw that there seemed to be the same differences between men and women as we had seen in mice.”

The investigation was focused on 41 men and 38 women between the ages of 18 and 40. The participants were placed in specific rooms and were inflicted with low levels of painful heat on their forearms. 

The volunteers were instructed to rate their level of pain on a scale of one to 100. Next, they were asked to complete 20 minutes of arm exercises while wearing a tight blood pressure cuff.

The following day, the individuals were taken to either the same room or a different room, and were subjected to more heat on their forearm.

Out of all the participants, just seven rated their pain less than 50, and pain was consistently rated higher by men compared to pain ratings by women. The researchers also found that the men only rated their second round of heat pain higher when they were taken to the same room as the previous day. 

“We believe that the mice and the men were anticipating the cuff, or the vinegar, and, for the males, the stress of that anticipation caused greater pain sensitivity,” said Dr. Mogil. “There was some reason to expect that we would see increased sensitivity to pain on the second day, but there was no reason to expect it would be specific to males.”

The study us published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Men are more sensitive to pain than women

Researchers at McGill University have discovered that men are more...

American parents aren’t doing enough to ensure that the U.S. population remains stable, according to a new report on the country’s total fertility rate from the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>.

A figure known as replacement level fertility – a total fertility rate of 2,100 live births per 1,000 women – is needed to maintain the current U.S. population. Without that number of new babies per family, there’s no way to replace all the workers who currently support the country.

Only two states – South Dakota, with 2,227 live births per woman, and Utah, with 2,120 – met that goal, the CDC reported.

“It's certainly from Mormonism,” Dr. Kenneth Johnson of the University of New Hampshire told <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html">The Daily Mail</a> of Utah’s fertility rate. “The concentration for so many Mormons in a state is why the fertility tends to be higher.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encourages couples to have children, at members have some of the <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/22/mormons-more-likely-to-marry-have-more-children-than-other-u-s-religious-groups/">highest birth rates</a> in the U.S.

In South Dakota, economics may be at play.

“My guess is South Dakota has had so much growth in the energy industry, it may be the influx of people to the state that affects fertility,” Johnson said.

Twenty-eight states had a total fertility rate of less than 1,800 live births per 1,000 women. The average was 1,765.5 births per 1,000 women. Washington, D.C., at 1,421, had the lowest rate.

But not every woman in the U.S. reflects that trend. It’s mainly white women who are pulling the average down. Black women had a birth rate higher than the replacement estimate in 12 states – with a whopping 4,003.5 live births per 1,000 black women in their highest state, Maine – and Hispanic women were outpacing the replacement rate in 29 states. (The report gave no statistics on Asian and Native American women.)

The U.S. isn’t in any danger yet, but if the country is unable to turn its total fertility rate around, it could begin to have an effect in a couple of generations, said Dr. Philip Cohen of the <a href="https://www.popcenter.umd.edu/">Maryland Population Research Center</a>.

“And there are pathways out of it,” he added. “The main way is through immigration. It may be difficult with culture and politics, but not with demography.”

Read the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_01-508.pdf">National Vital Statistics Report</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

CDC: U.S. total fertility rate too low to be sustainable

American parents aren’t doing enough to ensure that the U.S....

A new report has linked a deadly asthma attack that killed a 9-year-old schoolgirl to London air pollution. 

Thanks to the report, Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, the mother of young Ella Kissi-Debrah, will be able to seek a new inquest into Ella’s death.

“Words cannot express how happy I am that the attorney general has taken this decision, and I would like to thank him for reaching his conclusion,” Rosamund Kissi-Debrah told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk">The Guardian</a> on Friday. “Nothing will bring my beautiful, bright, bubbly child back, but now at least I may get answers about how she died and whether it was air pollution which snatched her away from us.”

Ella Kissi-Debrah, who lived in south London about 80 feet from a busy, smoggy road, died in February 2013 after struggling with breathing difficulties for three years. The deadly asthma attack led to the last of 27 separate hospital visits following a chest infection in 2010. Before the illness, she’d been active and healthy.

Dr. Stephen Holgate of the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a>, an expert on air quality and health, examined spikes in south London air pollution to see if they had an impact on Ella’s health. 

He found a “striking association” between Ella’s hospitalizations and illegally high spikes in air pollution in the neighborhood where she lived. The deadly asthma attack that took her life came in the midst of one of the worst south London air pollution spikes. 

“The dramatic worsening of her asthma in relation to air pollution episodes would go a long way to explain the timing of her exacerbations across her last four years,” Holgate told The Guardian last July. “There is a real prospect that without unlawful levels of air pollution Ella would not have died.”

Air pollution has been linked to deaths all over the world, from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-kills-infants/">infants</a> to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-premature-death-elderly/">elderly</a>. Pollution is linked to higher rates of pulmonary and cardiac diseases like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-shortens-life-spans/">asthma, high blood pressure and heart attacks</a>, as well as a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-diabetes/">higher risk of diabetes</a>.

On the flip side, cutting air pollution can also lead to a drop in the number of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/decline-air-pollution-deaths/">pollution-related deaths</a>.

Human rights lawyer Jocelyn Cockburn of <a href="https://www.hja.net/">Hodge Jones &amp; Allen</a>, who is representing Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, supports the idea of moving ahead with an inquest into Ella’s deadly asthma attack.

“An inquest will provide a better understanding of why she died and whether her death was avoidable. It will force the government and other bodies to account for their actions and, in many regards, their inaction on air pollution over this period,” she told The Guardian.

To that end, Rosamund has started a crowdfunding effort at <a href="https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/airpollution/">Crowd Justice</a> to pay for a legal inquiry into the London air pollution that may have killed her daughter.

“Now I hope a new inquest will make those in power realise that our children are dying as a result of the air that they breathe. This cannot go on,” she said. “Why is this not being taken more seriously by the government? What do we need to do to make them prioritise our children’s lives over convenience and the rights of people to pollute?”

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

London air pollution linked to girl's deadly asthma attack

A new report has linked a deadly asthma attack that...

New information from researchers at <a href="https://msu.edu/">Michigan State University</a> enlightens the public to the negative effects of massive hydropower developments like dams. 

Deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and the displacement of thousands of citizens is happening in countries like <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/termite-mounds-brazil/">Brazil</a>, where hydropower is still being put into place, and on an enormous scale. What’s more is that countries where dams are still being built are ignoring the environmental impact and impending climate change, which will ultimately lead to less water being available for electricity storage and generation.

The Michigan State research team was led by Emilio Moran, a visiting professor at the <a href="https://www.unicamp.br/unicamp/english">University of Campinas (UNICAMP)</a> in São Paulo State, Brazil, and the principal investigator of a <a href="https://bv.fapesp.br/en/auxilios/82785/social-and-environmental-processes-that-accompany-the-construction-of-belo-monte-hydroelectric-dam/">São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) dam research project</a>, which pertains to the new Belo Monte dam in Altamira, Pará.

“We argue that if the construction of large dams in developing countries is to continue, it must always be preceded by a painstaking assessment of their real cost, including the environmental and social impact they have,” Moran stated via the study, published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/115/47/11891">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)</a>.

As of 2016, hydropower is the leading source of renewable energy worldwide, accounting for 71% of all renewable energy. However, many dams that were built in North America and Europe throughout the 20th century have since been dismantled — an incredibly costly endeavor. Dismantling should also be taken into account when new dams are being built, Moran argued.

These 20th century dams were also constructed for societal benefit — they provided water to rural areas. Modern dams are built to supply energy to large corporations like steel-making companies, and offer nothing for the community.

“The people affected by these projects reap no benefits, such as access to electricity or a cheaper power supply. In the case of Belo Monte, the transmission line passes over the heads of the people affected and takes the electricity generated straight to the south and southeast, two of Brazil's wealthiest regions," Moran said.

The development of these modern dams has actually increased electricity bills within the communities surrounding them, and construction jobs offered to locals disappeared within five years of the dams being built. According to Moran, “Belo Monte has been chaotic and has affected the lives of the inhabitants so profoundly that plans to build more large dams in the Amazon basin are being revisited."

Hydropower developments are also detrimental to native fish species. The decrease of fish populations in regions like the Amazon basin has impacted global fish diversity as well as fishing communities, where, in some areas like those around the Tucuruí dam, the fish catch fell 60% immediately after the dam was built. 

Furthermore, these modern dams are no match for impending climate change, Moran warned. They will end up only producing a fraction of the energy they were designed to generate as temperatures rise and Amazon rainfall decreases in the coming years. 

“Depending on water as the main source of power in a future when we'll have less of this natural resource looks like an unreliable strategy," Moran said. “To reduce its vulnerability with regard to energy in the context of global climate change, Brazil must diversify its energy mix. It's still too dependent on hydroelectricity. It needs to invest more in other renewable sources, such as solar, biomass and wind."

Rather than continue on the path of dams, the researchers suggest countries like Brazil look into submerged or in-stream turbine technology, also known as "zero head," for which no damming is required. This technology can better riverine communities and is much cheaper than building a dam.

"This technology could be used throughout Brazil wherever there are relatively small watercourses with discharge rates in excess of 1 cubic meter per second," Moran added. "Small turbines can also be installed near dams to supplement power generation and eliminate the need to build more dams."

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Hydropower may be doing more social and environmental harm than good

New information from researchers at Michigan State University enlightens the...

Although truffles and caviar have been traditional delicacies for wealthy people, a new study from the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> has found that free-range and fair-trade foods are becoming more important to the upper class. 

“Our culture's understanding of what counts as elite taste has really overlooked this ethical element,” said study lead author Professor Emily Huddart Kennedy.

People of a high social status have traditionally enjoyed expensive foods, including French cuisine, and sophisticated events like the opera. But now, there seems to be a green revolution catching on, as people are willing to spend more money for products that are <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/environmentally-friendly-flame-retardants/">environmentally friendly</a>. 

The research team set out to investigate whether social elites are now signaling status through ethical foods. They surveyed more than 800 grocery shoppers in Toronto about their food choices, dividing them into four groups according to their preferences: foodies, ethical eaters, neither, or both. 

The experts compared this information to data on the income, education, and occupation of the shoppers. The study revealed that the individuals who were both foodies and ethical eaters had by far the highest socioeconomic status.


On the other hand, the shoppers who classified themselves as neither foodies nor ethical eaters were found to have the lowest socioeconomic status.

“If you're saying, 'Oh, I should go to this new hipster food truck or this new restaurant that opened up,' that's not even enough anymore to signal that you're high-status,” said Kennedy. “Now, it also has to have this additional layer of being good for people and good for the planet. Foie gras might be great, but if it's local, heritage-breed, pasture-raised foie gras from happy, free-range geese, then that's what high-status looks like now.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sf">Social Forces</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Environmentally responsible foods have become the “classy” preference

Although truffles and caviar have been traditional delicacies for wealthy...

More and more couples are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sex-evolved-fight-pathogens/">having sex</a> before forming a deep emotional bond, and now new research shows that sex before emotional intimacy can help jumpstart romantic relationships and forge important connections between partners. 

A series of four studies were conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.idc.ac.il/en/pages/home.aspx">Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya </a>in Israel and the <a href="https://www.rochester.edu/">University of Rochester</a> who examined the roles sex and desire play in the early stages of relationships. 

According to the studies, sexual desire drives people to connect with the people they're attracted to in non-sexual ways. 

“Sex may set the stage for deepening the emotional connection between strangers,” said Gurit Birnbaum, the lead author of the study, in a <a href="http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/cut-to-the-chase-can-sex-help-start-a-relationship-355062/">University of Rochester news article</a>. “This holds true for both men and women. Sex motivates human beings to connect, regardless of gender.”

There are limitations to the studies as the researchers only focused on heterosexual couples, but the results showed that gender made no difference in the desire to initiate relationships when sexually aroused. 

The studies were published in the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0265407518811667?journalCode=spra">Journal of Social and Personal Relationships</a>, and the researchers found that sexual arousal creates opportunities for both men and women to form deeper connections. 

The first study had 36 women and 22 men face a partner of the opposite sex that they had never met. 

The participants didn’t realize that their partner was actually a researcher in the study. Once the participants were paired up, they were asked to lip sync to a song with their partner and later rate how desirable they thought their partner was. 

The more attracted a participant was to their partner, the more likely they were to use non-verbal clues showing their interest in a potential relationship like getting close to their partners, matching their partner’s movements and frequently making eye contact. 

For the second study, 38 women and 42 men slow danced with a partner. The more attracted the participants were, the more likely they were to sync up their movements with their dance partner. 

The third study had participants watch a screen on which non-pornographic but erotic images subliminally flashed for 30 milliseconds at a time. This activated the sexual system, according to the researchers. 

After watching the images, the researchers paired the participants up with members of the opposite sex and the participants were asked to share interpersonal dilemmas with their partner. 

These discussions were recorded and later judged based on how caring and responsive each participant was toward their partner. 

The fourth study asked 50 men and 50 women watch either an erotic movie scene or a video about rainforests in South America. 

After watching the videos, the participants were again paired up with an inside researcher and asked to help with a verbal reasoning task. 

The participants that had watched the erotic movie were more willing to help their partners with the task compared to the participants that watched the rainforest video. 

“Sexual desire may play a causally important role in the development of relationships,” said Birnbaum. “It’s the magnetism that holds partners together long enough for an attachment bond to form.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Having sex first can help couples form an emotional bond

More and more couples are having sex before forming a...

A clinical trial revealed that half of participants taking one of the most commonly prescribed sleeping pills could sleep through a noisy fire alarm. Experts have now developed an alternative medication that may enable people to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/smartphones-sleep-deprivation-kids/">sleep</a> better without missing warning signals.

An experiment with mice showed that animals under the influence of the drug DORA-22 were able to wake up to alarms as quickly as drug-free mice. Once the threat was eliminated, the mice who were given DORA-22 fell back asleep as quickly as mice who were given standard sleeping pills.

While we sleep, our brains continue to process sensory information and wake us up when a threat is detected. However, benzodiazepines interfere with this process and make people less likely to awaken in response to sensory input.

“Benzodiazepines stimulate the widespread brain receptor GABA-A, which makes us sleepy but also suppresses off-target brain areas - including the 'gatekeeper' that decides which sensory inputs to process,” explained study senior author Professor Tomoyuki Kuwaki of <a href="https://www.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/en/">Kagoshima University</a>.

Researchers have been working over the last decade to develop a new class of hypnotic drugs called dual orexin receptor antagonists (DORAs). These drugs target the brain's sleep and wake pathways more selectively, which gives them safety advantages over benzodiazepines. For example, DORAs are less likely to affect a patient's driving ability the day after use.

Professor Kuwaki’s team theorized that the selectivity of DORAs could also make them safer during sleep by allowing the brain to remain aware of threats. A trial confirmed this idea, demonstrating that DORA-22 helped mice sleep while preserving the ability to wake up to a threat. 

The mice given DORA not only woke up in response to threatening stimuli, but also fell asleep much faster when the threat was gone.

“Even though the DORA-22-treated mice were quickly woken by a threat, they subsequently fell back asleep as quickly as with triazolam, and significantly faster than with placebo,” said Professor Kuwaki.


“Although it remains to be seen whether DORAs have the same properties when used in humans, our study provides important and promising insight into the safety of these hypnotics.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/behavioral-neuroscience">Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Millions who takes sleeping pills would sleep through fire alarms

A clinical trial revealed that half of participants taking one...

Patients who make a habit of missing general practice (GP) appointments may be at a higher risk of death from any cause, according to a new study. The researchers found that this is particularly the case among individuals with <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/traumatic-injuries-mental-health-issues/">mental health</a> conditions.

A team of experts led by the <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/">University of Glasgow</a> determined that the more long-term conditions (LTC) a patient had, the more likely they were to miss appointments. The investigation was focused on 824,374 patients, most of whom had one or more long-term conditions.

Out of 59, 340 patients who missed three or more appointments per year over a three-year period, 40.1 percent had four or more LTCs, 50.1 percent had one to three LTCs, and just 9.8 percent had no LTCs.

Individuals with mental-health-based LTCs were found to be much more likely to miss appointments compared to those with physical LTCs. Patients with one to three mental health conditions were 30 percent more likely to miss an appointment, while patients with four or more mental health LTCs were twice as likely to miss appointments.

“Patients with a higher number of missed appointments were also at greater risk of death within the following year,” said study co-author Dr. Ross McQueenie. “Those with long-term physical conditions who missed two or more appointments per year had a threefold increase in all-cause mortality compared with those who missed no appointments.” 

“Patients with only mental health conditions who missed more than two appointments per year had an eightfold increase in all-cause mortality compared with those who missed no appointments. Patients diagnosed with long-term mental health problems, who died during the follow-up period, were more likely to die prematurely, often as a result of external factors such as suicide, rather than of natural causes.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/">BMC Medicine</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

People who often miss doctor appointments have higher risk of death

Patients who make a habit of missing general practice (GP)...

A team of scientists has discovered why bad foods become so much more noticeable and tempting when you are trying to eat healthier. The experts have found that thinking about <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/adults-food-allergy/">food</a>, even when the thoughts are centered around dieting, will increase the odds of overeating. 

The analysis also revealed that this effect is stronger among individuals who are overweight. The study was led by Dr. Suzanne Higgs of the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a>, 

“We suggest that thinking about food increases the likelihood of overeating,” said Dr. Higgs. She explained that individuals who are dieting are “more responsive to the presence of food in the environment,” which is simply because food is on their mind. Unfortunately, this can lead to weight gain instead of weight loss. 

The investigation was focused on 90 volunteers, who were around 50 percent overweight and 50 percent healthy. The participants were asked to memorize an image of a particular food item, such as a pizza. 

Next, the individuals attempted to identify the position of a circle on the computer screen, just as another shape emerged on the screen as a distraction. The circle was sometimes placed next to the picture of the featured food item, while other times it was placed next to a non-food item.


The researchers determined that all of the participants found it harder to spot the circle during the task using images of food. The findings suggest that people have a difficult time remembering or thinking about other things when they are distracted by pictures and thoughts of food.

According to a review of the study published by the British Psychological Society, the participants were weighed a year after the study. This revealed that the individuals who struggled the most with the trial had also experienced the most weight gain. 

The study is published in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/ijo/">International Journal of Obesity</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Why tempting foods seem to appear everywhere when you’re dieting

A team of scientists has discovered why bad foods become...

According to researchers at the <a href="https://www.med.upenn.edu/">University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine</a> and the <a href="https://www.vet.upenn.edu/">School of Veterinary Medicine</a>, human demand for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/opioid-crisis-kids-adolescents/">opioid</a> prescriptions has been mirrored by an inflated demand for pet opioids as pet owners become more aware of pet pain and animals are subjected to more complex surgical procedures. However, due to the fact that veterinary opioid prescriptions are less regulated than human prescriptions, misuse of veterinary opioids may be contributing to the opioid epidemic.

In their study, published January 11th in <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen">JAMA Network Open</a>, the team looked into all opioid pills and patches prescribed to small pets — dogs (73%), cats (22.5%), and others including rabbits, snakes, and birds (4.5%) —  at UPenn’s School of Veterinary Medicine between January 2007 through December 2017. They saw that the quantities of prescriptions, measured in morphine milligram equivalents (MME), rose 41% by the end of the decade. However, annual patient visits only rose 13% throughout the study period.

"As we are seeing the opioid epidemic press on, we are identifying other avenues of possible human consumption and misuse," study senior author Jeanmarie Perrone, MD, a professor of <a href="http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/emergency-medicine/">Emergency Medicine</a> and the director of <a href="https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/find-a-program-or-service/emergency-medicine/toxicology">Medical Toxicology at Penn Medicine</a>, said. "Even where the increase in prescribed veterinary opioids is well intended by the veterinarian, it can mean an increased chance of leftover pills being misused later by household members, sold or diverted, or endangering young children through unintentional exposure.”

“The results of this study suggest that by assessing the rate of veterinary opioid prescriptions, we can develop strategies to reduce both human and animal health risks associated with increasing use." 

The opioids analyzed by the team were the four most common prescribed to pets — tramadol, hydrocodone, and codeine tablets, and fentanyl patches.

"We found that the increased quantity of opioids prescribed by our hospital was not due to increased patient volume alone. It is likely that our goal of ensuring our patients are pain-free post-operatively, particularly for those requiring complex and invasive procedures, has driven our increased prescribing practices during this period," lead author Dana Clarke, VMD, an assistant professor of <a href="https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/find-a-program-or-service/interventional-radiology">Interventional Radiology</a> at Penn Medicine, added. "At the national level, we don't know the potential or extent of prescription diversion from animals to humans, and what impact this could have on the human opioid crisis."

This study will hopefully encourage states to enact more restrictions on veterinary opioid prescribing. Maine and Colorado already require pet owner background checks, and Alaska, Connecticut, and Virginia put limits on the amount of opioids a single veterinarian can prescribe to one pet owner.

The more information known about veterinary opioids and their connection to the human opioid crisis, the better government can crack down on the current crisis.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Misused pet prescriptions may contribute to the opioid epidemic

According to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School...

The news has been full of controversial reproduction procedures lately.  Most notably, a doctor in China has claimed to have brought into the world the first <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/gene-edited-dna-twin-babies/">genetically modified human babies</a>. As a result, it may have been easy to miss in the headlines another breakthrough in reproductive technology.  Recently, a woman with a uterus transplanted from a dead donor has given birth. 

<a href="https://www.bswhealth.com/uterus-transplant">Baylor, Scott &amp; White Health</a> reports on a procedure carried out as a second phase medical trial at Baylor University Medical Center.  The procedure starts with a woman who wants a child. The next step is in vitro fertilization, where the woman’s eggs are harvested and fertilized.  The embryos are then frozen, suspending development for the time being. 

Next, the woman’s womb and cervix are removed and replaced by that of a donor.  After recovery and waiting to make sure the womb isn’t rejected by the transplant recipient, the frozen embryos can be implanted into the new womb.  After that, the goal is for the pregnancy to occur as normal and a new infant to be born after nine months.

<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/04/health/uterus-transplant-deceased-donor-study/index.html">CNN</a> reports that this procedure has been carried out successfully at least 12 times with womb transplant recipients in the United States, Sweden and Serbia.  Recently researchers at Brazil’s Hospital das Clínicas at the University of São Paulo School of Medicine carried the medical procedure one step further. 

<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181204183703.htm">Science Daily</a> reports that for the first time, a baby has been born to the recipient of a uterus from a deceased donor.  The advance in medical technology was published by the Brazilian researchers in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/">The Lancet</a>.  Until this point all of the uterus transplants have been received from living donors willing to give up their own reproductive organ to another.  Using the uterus of a deceased donor opens up even more potential for the reproduction of woman so far unable to conceive conventionally. 

So far, the success of the procedure with a deceased donor has yet to be compared with the same procedure carried out with a live donor but it opens a world of possibilities in the future.  Surgical and immunosuppressant procedures are only expected to advance as we move forward. 

For me the question isn’t, can we, but should we?  The human population has been growing at breakneck pace and barely paused for breath before climbing even higher.  Many scientists fear that the human population has already overshot the carrying capacity of the earth and we’re now just waiting for reality to catch up with us.  

<a href="https://www.livescience.com/16493-people-planet-earth-support.html">Live Science</a> reports that the upper most limit of human population able to be supported on Earth is around 9 to 10 billion people.  That estimate depends on far less consumption per person than most are willing to live with, especially in western society.  Populations at those levels would also mean a significant loss in quality of life due to overcrowding and loss of wild, open spaces to agriculture and urban sprawl.  The population limit is fixed; the amount of fresh water, the ability of the biosphere to produce breathable air, the amount of food that can be grown on the planet, these are things that can only be maximized so much by technology.  

If everyone decided to become a vegetarian, 2 billion tons of grain already grown could support 10 billion people.  However, the same amount of grains would only support about 2.5 billion of US-style omnivores. Becoming vegetarian doesn’t seem likely to be a decision everyone will make unless forced to by necessity.  

Beyond this, the actual carrying capacity is a mystery.  It’s quite hard to estimate when humanity will reach the exact tipping point of how many people Earth can support but we’re already seeing problems created by overconsumption.  Consumption is driven partly by individual people using more than they need: more food, water, fossil fuels and other resources. Consumption is also driven simply by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/overpopulation-overconsumption/">more people</a> living on Earth.  Each person requires a minimum amount to stay alive.  The difference between individual consumption and pure overpopulation is highlighted well in Joy Williams's book <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=JMx_CgAAQBAJ&amp;q=children#v=snippet&amp;q=children&amp;f=false">Ill Nature</a>, 

“…in terms of energy consumption, when and American couple stops spawning at two babies, it’s the same as an average East Indian couple stopping at sixty-six, or an Ethiopian couple drawing the line at one thousand.”

Unfortunately, a uterus transplant procedure, like most advanced reproductive techniques is likely to be available mainly to relatively wealthy people.  This means people that already consume so much more will likely be able to reproduce even when nature doesn’t allow them to, as is already the case.

According to a paper published on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29503211">Pub Med</a>, the access to assisted reproductive technologies is skewed, with only a certain privileged portion of the global population having access to such procedures.  Even so, the paper reports that since the first in vitro fertilization baby born in 1978, the number of babies born from this and other similar procedures has only grown in numbers greater than anticipated.  

We are approaching a 0.1% of the global population that owes their lives to in vitro fertilization (IVF) that is about 400,000 babies born annually as of 2018.  If this number remains constant, this means that by 2100, 1.4% of the global population will be alive due to IVF. The number is only predicted to grow and it’s projected that instead of 1.4%, by 2100 IVF will be responsible for 394 million people, that is, 3.5% of the world’s population.  These are people who will reproduce themselves in many cases, eat food, drink water and take resources from across the globe. 

 It is likely that these people born to the world’s wealthy elite will continue to take more from the earth than those born in traditional ways in places like Africa or Southeast Asia.  Procedures such as uterus transplantation only increase the potential numbers of people born from IVF making the population growth even bigger. 

Why then should we be advancing ways for more people to reproduce and use more of the earth’s finite resources?           

--

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>

Baby born to uterus transplant recipient from deceased donor

The news has been full of controversial reproduction procedures lately....

Context and options inform whether people choose a healthy snack. When given a choice between healthy and unhealthy food, people make decisions based on what food they see, rather than what they may personally prefer, according to a new study.

The study could help aid <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/artificial-sweeteners-obesity-diabetes/">nutrition and obesity research</a> and the results show that people seem to pick foods based on what other food is available.

“When people choose foods, they don't simply reach into their memory and pick the most-preferred food,” said Scott Huettel, a co-author of the study. “Instead, how much we prefer something actually depends on what other options are available.

For example, if a healthy snack like an apple is surrounded by unhealthy and indulgent food, people are more likely to choose the healthy choice. 

The study was conducted by researchers from <a href="https://www.duke.edu/">Duke University</a> and published in the journal Psychological Science. 

Heuttel and the rest of the Duke research team examined dietary preferences to see if the presence of indulgent treats impacts healthy food choices. 

79 people from Durham, Carolina participated in the study and the researchers asked the participants to fast beforehand. 

Next, the participants were given a choice between two foods, one healthy and one indulgent, like a piece of salmon or a pack of Oreos. Not surprisingly in this context, most of the participants chose the sweet and indulgent treat. 

The researchers then asked the participants to choose a food item, but the options were presented in pairs, like a pack of Oreos and a piece of salmon, or a pack of Oreos and a Snickers candy bar. 

The researchers said the participants would have a fifty/fifty chance of getting either of the items in a pair. 

When the choices were paired up, the participants were twice as likely to pick the pair with a healthy choice like the salmon with the pack of Oreos. 

It would make sense, given that the first experiment showed a preference for the indulgent treat, that everyone would choose the pair with two indulgent foods. 

However, the researchers say that the healthy item may have stood out which is why participants were drawn to it. 

Eye tracking showed that the participants focused more on the salmon and other healthy foods when they were paired with unhealthy foods. 

With obesity rates on the rise and access to healthy nutritional food lacking in many parts of the country, studies like this can help researchers understand what drives consumer choices which could help improve “food deserts.” 

Food deserts are regions where fast food is widely and readily available but fresh produce and healthy proteins are scarce, yet previous research has shown that just offering more healthy options isn’t enough to drive healthier consumer choices. 

Instead, the results show that mixing up the status quo and putting healthy foods in full display among unhealthy foods may drive people to buy the healthy option. 

“When people see a wall of cabbage and broccoli, that may not encourage people to choose it,” said Nicolette Sullivan, a co-author of the study. “Right now, food items are very segregated: here’s the produce, here are the candy bars. Yet maybe if we put something healthy in the middle of the snack food section, perhaps that might encourage people to choose it.”

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Context and options inform whether people choose a healthy snack

Context and options inform whether people choose a healthy snack....

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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