A massive new analysis suggests Americans don’t just differ in what they earn or how long they live - they also differ in how they experience wellness. 



Drawing on more than 325,000 survey responses collected over eight years, researchers found clear regional differences in wellness.



People in the Northeastern and Midwestern regions tend to score higher on “traditional” wellness, which includes <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fitness-focused-medicine-physical-activity-reduces-chronic-disease-risk/">physical health,</a> finances, and social support.



Many Southern regions, by contrast, rank higher on “existential” wellness, such as purpose, meaning, and a strong sense of community identity. The pattern lines up with centuries-old settlement histories that still shape local norms today.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-measuring-wellness-two-ways">Measuring wellness two ways</h2>



The team worked with data from the <a href="https://news.gallup.com/topic/well-being-index.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index</a> spanning 2009–2016 and grouped responses into two broader composites.



“Traditional” wellness bundles tangible aspects of life - physical and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mental-health-crisis-half-of-the-worlds-population-will-be-affected-by-age-75/">mental health</a>, financial security, and day-to-day social support. 



“Existential” wellness captures the less tangible side - purpose, personal growth, community belonging, and living in line with one’s values.



Separating the two helps explain why some places thrive on paper (jobs, hospitals, income) yet still report a thinner sense of meaning - or the reverse.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-old-map-explains-modern-feelings"><a></a>An old map explains modern feelings</h2>



To test whether regional culture matters in wellness, the researchers turned to the American Nations Model. 



This framework divides the U.S. into historical “nations” based on who settled there first. Think Yankeedom, the Deep South, Greater Appalachia, El Norte, and others.



Each region inherited durable folkways about trust, autonomy, community, and authority. Even after accounting for education and income, these cultural footprints predicted distinctive wellness profiles where people live.



The headline split was clear. Northeastern and Midwestern regions, including Yankeedom, leaned higher on traditional wellness. 



Several Southern and frontier-legacy regions - such as the Deep South, Greater Appalachia, El Norte, and parts of the Far West - leaned higher on existential wellness.



In other words, the balance of “health and money” versus “purpose and belonging” shifts in systematic ways across the cultural map.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wellness-differences-stand-out">Wellness differences stand out</h2>



Statistically, the contrasts weren’t subtle. In within-region comparisons, traditional wellness significantly exceeded existential wellness in Yankeedom.



Existential wellness was higher in the Deep South and especially Greater Appalachia - the largest reversal in the set.



Several other regions showed smaller or no gaps, demonstrating that not every place fits a single mold.



These effects held in mixed-effects models that controlled for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-education-matters-for-healthy-aging-and-longevity/">education</a> and income and accounted for clustering within metropolitan areas.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/existential-wellness_american-nations-settlements_PLOS-One_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/existential-wellness_american-nations-settlements_PLOS-One_1s.webp" alt="Wellbeing across the American Nations: First Settler Effects influence traditional and existential wellness. Credit: David R. Samson, Nathan Oesch, Colin Woodard" class="wp-image-1985865"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Wellbeing across the American Nations: First Settler Effects influence traditional and existential wellness. Click image to enlarge. Credit: David R. Samson, Nathan Oesch, Colin Woodard</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-culture-race-and-wellness">Culture, race, and wellness</h2>



The study also looked at Black and Hispanic residents across regions. Patterns generally echoed the broader map. 



Black and Hispanic respondents tended to show higher traditional wellness in Northeastern and Midwestern regions. They also reported higher existential wellness in Southern regions.



Notably, Black respondents showed consistently lower traditional wellness than white respondents across regions. In the Northeast and Midwest, they also fared worse on existential wellness. 



Together, these patterns suggest that material constraints and structural disparities remain powerful drivers.



At the same time, the relatively stronger existential scores in many Southern contexts may reflect the buffering role of community networks and cultural identity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cultural-roots-of-wellness">Cultural roots of wellness</h2>



Culture shapes where institutions flourish (hospitals, schools, civic groups), how people relate to one another (trust, norms of reciprocity), and what counts as a good life (autonomy vs. solidarity, achievement vs. belonging).



Those long-running preferences influence migration, policy choices, and investments that, over time, help set the table for different “flavors” of well-being.



The authors found the pattern persisted even after adjusting for education and income, and they reported model checks to reduce issues like multicollinearity among predictors.



That suggests the American Nations framework isn’t just a clever historical story - it adds real explanatory power to why wellness feels different in different parts of the country.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wellness-policy-must-fit-culture">Wellness policy must fit culture</h2>



If you want to boost <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/simply-looking-at-art-can-improve-your-well-being/">well-being</a>, focusing only on income or clinics may miss what makes people feel whole in a given place.



In regions that already score high on traditional metrics, investing in community identity, public spaces, and opportunities for contribution might move the needle on meaning and purpose.



In places rich in existential wellness but poorer on traditional metrics, policies that improve access to preventive care, stable work, and safety nets could pay outsized dividends.



Put simply, the study argues that wellness strategies work best when they respect the cultural ecologies where people live - strengthening what’s already strong while shoring up what’s thin.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-limits-and-a-next-step"><a></a>Limits - and a next step</h2>



This is an observational study using self-reported survey data; it can’t prove cause and effect. The American Nations borders blur in real life, people move, and city-level differences within regions can be large.



Still, with more than 325,000 respondents across 110 metro areas and eight years of data, the signal is hard to ignore. 



The authors call for digging into mechanisms: Which specific institutions or community practices best translate cultural inheritance into day-to-day well-being? 



And which levers - health infrastructure, schooling, neighborhood design, civic organizations - offer the highest return in each region?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-place-and-culture-shape-wellness">Place and culture shape wellness</h2>



Where you live doesn’t just shape your paycheck and your hospital bill. It also shapes how you experience a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/creativity-improves-life-satisfaction-and-overall-well-being/">good life</a> - whether that’s feeling financially secure and physically well, or feeling rooted in purpose and community.



The United States’ oldest settlement patterns still echo in those experiences today. 



They remind policymakers that the most effective pathways to human flourishing may look different from Boston to Birmingham to El Paso.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0327972" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PLOS One</a>.



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Wellness in America depends on culture and where you live

A massive new analysis suggests Americans don’t just differ in what they earn or how long they live - they also differ in how they experience wellness. Drawing on more than 325,000 survey responses collected over eight years, researchers found clear regional differences in wellness. People in the Northeastern and Midwestern regions tend to score higher on “traditional” wellness, which includes physical health, finances, and social support. Many Southern regions, by contrast, rank higher on “existential” wellness, such as purpose, meaning, and a strong sense of community...

People who live alone are more likely to have a common mental disorder like anxiety or depression, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the <a href="http://www.uvsq.fr/welcome-to-the-universite-de-versailles-saint-quentin-en-yvelines-353903.kjsp">University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines</a> in France. 

The goal of the study was to examine the potential associations between living alone and common mental disorders (CMDs) and identify any factors that could help explain these associations. 

More and more people are living alone these days compared to past generations due to decreasing marriage rates, more people choosing not to have children, and increases in lifespan.

Along with an increase in the number of people living alone, research has shown links between <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rates-loneliness-doubled/">loneliness</a> and poor mental health. 

For this study, published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0215182">PLOS ONE</a>, the researchers collected data from the UK’s <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9234456">National Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys</a>. Data on 20,500 individuals ages 16 to 64 who participated in the 1993, 2000, and 2007 surveys were analyzed for the study. 

The researchers used the Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised questionnaire to identify common mental disorders among the participants, and information on physical, socioeconomic and demographic factors was included in the surveys. 

A positive growing trend was established between living alone and the increased likelihood of having a CMD. In 1993, 8.8 percent of the population lived alone and of those, 14.1 percent had a CMD. 

In 2000 and 2003, the percentage of people living alone was 9.8 and 10.7 respectively, which correlated with a 16.3 and 16.4 percent rate of CMD.

[caption id="attachment_1872055" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/living-alone.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1872055" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/living-alone.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="414" /></a> Image Credit: Jacob et al., 2019[/caption]

Age and gender of the participants had no impact on the rates of CMD in people who lived alone, and the researchers found that living alone increased the risk of CMD. 

The results of the study emphasize the importance of targeting loneliness in all age groups to help prevent common mental disorders. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a> <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Living alone could increase the risk of common mental disorders

People who live alone are more likely to have a...

Recycling has become a normal part of everyday life for most Americans. It seems like an easy enough way to protect the Earth, and people can rest easy knowing their waste will be reused. But unfortunately, more and more recycling is ending up in landfills.

For decades, our recycling system relied on foreign buyers. Chinese companies purchased most of our recycling to process and resell it. With new Chinese policies, this has suddenly changed.

Recycling is contaminated with food scraps, grease, and trash, and as a result, it’s extremely labor intensive to clean. This contamination problem is catching up to us and the economics no longer make sense. The era of easy single-stream recycling may be coming to an end. We need to rethink how we produce and discard the massive amounts of waste we produce.
<h2>The Chinese Waste Market</h2>
Our recycling system has stopped working, and the biggest catalyst is a change in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/chinas-ban-plastic-waste/">Chinese policy</a>. Most people are probably unaware that until recently, the majority of recycling was exported. China was the single largest buyer of this waste. This international trash market made recycling financially viable. Cheap foreign labor and less regulation made it possible to process this waste.

United States President Donald Trump recently <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/china-ban-plastic-trash-imports-shifts-waste-crisis-southeast-asia-malaysia/">blamed Asian countries for ocean pollution</a>. Though <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-plastic-waste-asia-africa/">a significant amount of plastic pollution occurs in China</a>, much of this is a direct result of Western countries’ waste exports. We have been exporting our waste problems for decades and this puts the burden of waste processing on developing nations.

In 2016, China was the <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/china-plastic-recycling-ban-solutions-science-environment/">largest importer of plastic waste</a>, accepting two-thirds of the world’s plastic waste. The United States was the second biggest source of this waste, closely trailing Japan. 

But now, the Chinese government has imposed new regulations on this market and have limited the types of plastic and paper that can be imported. They have also set a limit on how contaminated imported material can be. Recycling must be 99.5% pure to be accepted.

The highly contaminated single-stream recycling produced in America cannot meet these standards, and these new regulations have ended nearly all recycling exports to China.
<h3>New Buyers in South East Asia</h3>
Waste processors from China have also taken a hit with these new regulations. Some have started to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/china-ban-plastic-trash-imports-shifts-waste-crisis-southeast-asia-malaysia/">relocate to neighboring countries</a>. New facilities have started in other developing countries as well. However, this is not a long-term solution. Many Asian countries are implementing similar regulations.

In the wake of these changes, Malaysia has become one of the largest importers of recycling. But the Malaysian government is trying to minimize the impacts of this industry and do not want to take on the burden of the developed world's waste.

Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and India have also received huge influxes of waste imports. Many of the waste processing facilities ignore regulations and operate illegally.

These facilities hoped to process scrap into plastic pellets. These pellets could then be sold to China as clean enough for the regulations. But Chinese customs have rejected much of these imports. They have also cracked down on smuggling of low-quality plastics and trash.

Using the developing world as a dumping ground is not a solution. We need to change the way we create waste.
<h3>A Wakeup Call</h3>
The myth that Western countries can deal with their waste is being exposed. The massive amount of waste produced has actually been easily hidden overseas. Now that the largest market for this waste is gone, we are facing difficult questions. 

This sudden change has revealed the harsh realities of recycling. Our system simply exports our trash problem, and it is not cost effective to sort and process this waste domestically. Relying on foreign cheap labor is not sustainable. We need new solutions to our waste problem.

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chinas-ban-plastic-waste/">300 million tons of plastic</a> are produced every year, but only 10% gets recycled. Plastics are extremely difficult to recycle, as different types of plastics have to be separated before processing. The number of different types of plastic is huge and growing. Even when they are sorted, plastics can only be recycled a limited number of times, and the low cost of producing plastics makes recycled plastics an expensive choice. 

This is a growing problem that needs a solution. Half of the plastics ever produced have been <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/china-ban-plastic-trash-imports-shifts-waste-crisis-southeast-asia-malaysia/">produced since 2004</a>. Decreasing single-use plastics will be essential to deal with this problem.
<h2>Recycling Is Burnt or Taken to Landfills</h2>
Waste management companies are having a hard time finding a solution. Some are stockpiling recyclables, hoping for a change of policy or a new buyer, while many others are turning to less palatable solutions. Recycling in many cities is simply being sent to landfills. In Philadelphia, half of the city’s recycling is being <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/16/business/local-recycling-costs.html">burnt to produce energy</a>. 

Waste companies have started to charge up to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/16/business/local-recycling-costs.html">4 times more for recycling services</a>. Other companies that could <a href="https://www.wastedive.com/news/lake-worth-florida-dual-stream-collection/531504/">previously pay for recycling are now charging</a>.

Without a foreign recycling market, the economics of recycling simply doesn’t make sense.
<h2>Is Single-Stream Recycling Really Worth It?</h2>
The rise of single-stream recycling is a large part of the problem. The simplicity of recycling into a single bin seems wonderful. It enables people to recycle without any hassle, and as a result, this system does increase recycling participation. However, it may not have a net benefit to the amount of waste that can actually be recycled. In addition, it enables people to feel like they are helping the Earth, when they may be doing very little.

One study showed that single stream recycling actually led to <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-era-of-easy-recycling-may-be-coming-to-an-end/">a 12% reduction in waste that was actually recycled</a>. This is due to the levels of contamination associated with single-stream recycling.
<h3>Poor Recycling Habits</h3>
Some contamination is the fault of consumers. Some people simply treat a recycling bin as a second trash can. Recycling in public places often is full of non-recyclable materials that may get mixed with real recyclables. 

Even people with the best intentions contribute to contamination. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-wrong-mistakes.html">Aspirational recycling</a> is a big problem with single-stream systems. This is when people try to recycle items that cannot be recycled, in hopes of reducing their waste. This leads to greasy pizza boxes, food scraps, and even dirty diapers ruining otherwise good recycling.

Better recycling education is essential to combating contamination.
<h3>Inherent Difficulties</h3>
Single-stream recycling is also inherently more difficult. Glass tends to shatter during collection and processing. Compressing recycling also embeds these glass fibers in paper and cardboard. This can easily ruin material that would have been recycled otherwise. 

The sorting systems required by single-stream recycling are also inefficient. It is not possible to sort all the recycling by hand, which leads to <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-era-of-easy-recycling-may-be-coming-to-an-end/">1 in 6 bottles and 1 in 3 cans</a> being improperly sorted and shipped. 
<h2>Decreasing Waste Is the Best Solution</h2>
It is clear that our recycling system is not working, and there is much that can be done to make it better. Changes to the way we recycle are very important, and improved education is also essential. However, in the end, the problem is at the sources. We produce more waste than we can deal with. In order to combat these issues, it is essential that we use less single-use plastic. We are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-history/">producing more plastic</a> than ever before, and fixing our recycling system is an important step. However, it needs to be accompanied by a decrease in waste.

--

By <a href="mailto:casey.hofford@gmail.com">Casey Hofford</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Our recycling system is not working and will require major changes

Recycling has become a normal part of everyday life for...

Research has shown that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/children-develop-asthma-air-pollution/">pollution</a> can lead to disease and premature death as well as early signs of aging, such as wrinkles and age spots. When a team of researchers at <a href="https://www.uhasselt.be/en">Hasselt University</a> set out to investigate whether this accelerated aging can be detected in the cells of healthy individuals, they discovered the answer was not simple.

Pollutant exposure is known to affect two hallmarks of aging in people - mitochondrial DNA content and telomere length. 

Mitochondria are extremely important in supplying cells with energy that they can use. Some pollutants cause mitochondria to release more reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are highly charged particles that can damage DNA, fats, and proteins. As the ROS damage affects the functioning of the mitochondria, even more ROS are produced. 

Telomeres are the DNA-protein caps on the ends of chromosomes that allow them to continue dividing. Shorter telomeres are characteristic of aging, while abnormally long telomeres are often seen in cancer cells. 

The Hasselt research team, led by Michelle Plusquin, set out to determine if pollutants could affect mitochondrial DNA content or telomere length in people.

The investigation was focused on various pollutants in blood and urine samples from 175 adults who were participating in the Flemish Environment and Health Study. The researchers assessed mitochondrial DNA content and telomere length from the cells in blood samples. The team also used multipollutant models to analyze all of the pollutants simultaneously. 

The study revealed that people with higher levels of urinary copper and serum perfluorohexane sulfonic acid had decreased mitochondrial DNA content and shorter telomeres. On the other hand, some pollutants were associated with either higher mitochondrial DNA content or longer telomeres. 

The findings suggest that pollutants could impact molecular hallmarks of aging. According to the study authors, more research is needed to determine the mechanism and biological effects.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/journal/esthag">Environmental Science &amp; Technology</a>.
--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Pollution accelerates aging on a cellular level

Research has shown that pollution can lead to disease and...

The term millennial gets thrown around a whole lot, but it generally refers to a generation of people who were born between 1981 and 1996. Generation X was the generation before millennials, and includes those born between 1965 and 1980.

Now, a new study has found that millennials are more likely to be arrested than Gen Xers, despite having committed fewer crimes. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">John Hopkins University </a>conducted the study which was published in the Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. 

The study highlights <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/racial-profiling-retail-industry/">racial disparities</a> as well as generational biases and shows how law enforcement and the criminal justice system has changed from the 20th to the early 21st century. 

Black millennials who reported committing no crimes were four times more likely to be arrested at the beginning of the 21st century than black Generation Xers, and were 31.5 percent more likely to be arrested compared to white millennials. 

“The idea that there's a direct link between committing a crime and having contact with the criminal justice system is essential to public policy, political rhetoric, and criminology, and the assumption is rarely questioned," says Vesla Weaver, the first author of the study. “However, our study found that there is a loosening relationship between actually committing a crime and being arrested for the millennial generation, something that was not true for the previous generation, Gen X.”

The researchers reviewed and analyzed data from the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/nls/home.htm">National Longitudinal Survey of Youth </a>from 1997 and 1979. 

More than 8,000 young adults aged 18 to 23 took part in the surveys, and part of the survey included self-reported criminal activity, arrests, and court dates. 

If a person was between 18 and 23 in 1980, the researchers categorized them as Gen X, whereas if the survey respondent was between 18 and 23 in 2002, they were considered a millennial. 

The reason the researchers chose to compare Gen Xers and millennials is that they represent two generations on either side of a dramatic shift in the criminal justice system and policing. At the start of the 21st century, police started focusing their attention on low-level crimes with more funds being allocated to the criminal justice system. 

This shift has had a lasting impact on the millennial generation and resulted in a much higher number of arrests regardless of reported criminal activity. 

The researchers discovered that only 10 percent of Gen Xers in the survey were arrested, but 52 percent reported committing a crime. For millennials, 25 percent reported being arrested, and only 15 percent of the survey respondents reported committing a crime.

In other words, millennials are more likely to be arrested regardless of committing a crime or not, and for people of color, this risk is even higher. 

The study results are limited as the survey data is not representative of an entire generation but focuses on young adults. 

The shift in police methods has impacted an entire generation and only strengthened racial inequality, according to the researchers. Being arrested and carrying a permanent criminal record can have long-term negative consequences. 

“Our reform strategy should not only focus on decreasing punitive interventions but on realigning exposure to arrest with criminal offending,” said Weaver. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a>

Millennials more likely to get arrested despite committing fewer crimes

The term millennial gets thrown around a whole lot, but...

Skeletons excavated from Norton Priory in England contain a rare and unusually aggressive form of a bone disease similar to Paget’s disease, according to a new archeological study. 

Paget’s disease of bone is a chronic disorder where new bone tissue gradually replaces old bone tissue. However, the new replacement tissue is weak which makes some bones easily susceptible to fracturing, breaking, and damage. 

The earliest reports of Paget’s disease were found in ancient Roman remains, but little is known about the history, origin, and evolution of the disease. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/">University of Nottingham</a> and a team of collaborators analyzed excavated remains from the priory dating back to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/skeleton-reveals-hints-leprosy-spread-medieval-europe/">Medieval period</a>. Six out of the 130 skeletons excavated contained a strange form of Paget’s. 

As much as 75 percent of the skeletons of some individuals were affected by the disease. The researchers also calculated an age of death as low as 35 for some of the individuals directly due to the disease. 

“We identify an ancient and atypical form of Paget’s disease of bone (PDB) in a collection of medieval skeletons exhibiting unusually extensive pathological changes, high disease prevalence, and low age-at-death estimations,” the researchers wrote in their study, which was published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/04/24/1820556116">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>. 

The team sequenced DNA from the preserved remains and used RNA and protein analysis to identify an ancient protein similar to one called p62, which plays a fundamental role in Paget's disease today. 

“Detection of ancient p62 as one of the few noncollagenous proteins in skeletal samples (bones and teeth) based on a combination of peptide sequencing and Western blotting is strongly indicative of a diagnosis of PDB…,” the researchers wrote. 

Paget’s disease is believed to have originated in Western Europe and the UK. 

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Paul Quigley

Medieval skeletons reveal bone disease that killed people as young as 35

Skeletons excavated from Norton Priory in England contain a rare...

According to new research from <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/">Nationwide Children’s Hospital</a> and the <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/specialties/central-ohio-poison-center">Central Ohio Poison Center</a>, the rates of self-poisoning suicide attempts among <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/teens-self-harm-violent-crimes/">teens</a> and young adults in the U.S. have doubled in the last decade. Furthermore, these rates have more than tripled among adolescent girls. This study is published in <a href="https://www.jpeds.com/">The Journal of Pediatrics</a>. 

Prior research has proved that suicide is the second-largest leading cause of death in young people aged 10 to 24. Male adolescents die from their attempts more often than females, however, females attempt suicide more often than males.

The researchers looked at data pertaining to incidence and outcomes from intentional suicide attempts by self-poisoning in adolescents between the ages of 10 and 24 through the years 2000 and 2018. In that almost two-decade timespan, there were more than 1.6 million adolescent intentional self-poisoning cases reported to poison centers in the U.S — 71% of which had female victims.

"The severity of outcomes in adolescents has also increased, especially in 10- to 15-year-olds," said co-author <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/find-a-doctor/profiles/henry-a-spiller">Henry Spiller, MS, D.ABAT</a>, director of the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital. "In youth overall, from 2010-2018 there was a 141% increase in attempts by self-poisoning reported to U.S. poison centers, which is concerning."

The team also found that self-poisoning is the most common method used to attempt suicide in general, and the third most common method for adolescents, especially females.

"Suicide in children under 12 years of age is still rare, but suicidal thoughts and attempts in this younger age group do occur, as these data show," said co-author <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/find-a-doctor/profiles/john-p-ackerman-2">John Ackerman, PhD</a>, clinical psychologist and suicide prevention coordinator for the <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/research/areas-of-research/center-for-innovation-in-pediatric-practice/suicide-prevention-and-research">Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital</a>. "While certainly unsettling, it's important that parents and individuals who care for youth don't panic at these findings, but rather equip themselves with the tools to start important conversations and engage in prevention strategies, such as safe storage of medications and reducing access to lethal means. 

He continued, “There are many resources and crisis supports available around the clock to aid in the prevention of suicide, and suicide prevention needs to start early."

Ackerman said that parents shouldn’t wait to talk to their children about managing emotional distress until a major crisis has occurred. “Actually, a good time to talk directly about suicide or mental health is when things are going well," he said. 

"A helpful starting point for any parent to increase the dialogue is <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/giving/on-our-sleeves?sc_camp=0FDF9A9452E846188CE5E73181E595DD&amp;utm_source=other&amp;utm_medium=misc&amp;utm_campaign=On%20Our%20Sleeves&amp;utm_content=print-tv">OnOurSleeves.org</a>, which has resources about beginning this important conversation as a family,” Ackerman added. “The American Association of Suicidology and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention also have many resources."

If you or your child is in need of immediate help due to suicidal thoughts, go to your local emergency room, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or text the Crisis Text Line by texting "START" to 741-741. And if you believe an overdose has occurred, call the national Poison Help hotline 1-800-222-1222.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Number of teens who attempt suicide by self-poisoning has doubled

According to new research from Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the...

April 2019 is shaping up to be a landmark month for the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/renewable-energy-rise-coal-lags/">renewable energy sector</a> in the US, as a new report projects that renewables are slated to generate more electricity than coal-fired plants for the first time ever. 

Renewable energy options have been steadily on the rise with more and more public and policy emphasis being put on reducing CO2 emissions to mitigate climate change. 

But this month will mark the first time that coal-generated electricity totals will fall behind totals generated by hydro, biomass, wind, solar and geothermal power, according to a recent report published by the <a href="http://ieefa.org/ieefa-u-s-april-is-shaping-up-to-be-momentous-in-transition-from-coal-to-renewables/">Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)</a>. 

The IEEFA analyzed data from the US <a href="https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/">Energy Information Administration (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook</a> and found that the trend may even continue through the month of May. 

The EIA Short Term Energy Outlook estimates that renewable energy will generate 2,322 megawatt-hours of electricity per day in April and 2,271 megawatt-hours per day in May. 

For coal, the EIA projects that electricity output will be 1,997 megawatt-hours per day in April and 2,239 megawatt-hours per day in May, slightly less than the expected outputs for renewables. 

The trend is good news for the renewable energy sector, but there are certain seasonal factors helping to give renewables a leg up. The IEEFA emphasizes that many coal plants are taken offline during the spring and fall for cleaning, maintenance, and upgrades. 

Overall, it would seem that coal is on the way out, especially when you factor in the popularity and growing demand for cheap natural gas as an alternative to coal. Natural gas has been in the lead in terms of electricity generated since 2018. 

The IEEFA projects that this trend of renewables and natural gas outpacing coal-fired totals will become more frequent in the future. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Renewables will generate more electricity than coal for the first time ever

April 2019 is shaping up to be a landmark month...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.ewg.org/">Environmental Working Group</a> (EWG) has revealed that toxic pollutants in California’s drinking water could cause more than 15,000 cases of cancer. The research is the first of its kind to investigate the risk associated with all of the contaminants in the state's public water systems collectively. 

For their study, the EWG scientists used a new analytical technique to quantify the combined health impacts of carcinogens and other <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/tap-water-contaminants/">toxic contaminants</a> in more than 2,700 community water systems across California.

“This cumulative approach is common in assessing the health impacts of exposure to air pollutants but has never before been applied to drinking water contaminants,” said study lead author Dr. Tasha Stoiber. “Right now, policymakers set health limits one chemical at a time. This doesn't match reality. Multiple contaminants are often detected in drinking water across the U.S.”

According to the researchers, the lifetime cumulative cancer risk that has been projected for California should be considered conservative. This is because contaminants can become even more toxic when they are mixed together compared to the estimated potency from individual chemicals.

“This could and should be a big deal,” said EWG senior science advisor Dr. Olga Naidenko. “We need to prioritize the treatment of our tap water. This novel approach to risk assessment offers a significant improvement over the current model and, if adopted, will be a huge step toward improving public health. It will help communities and policymakers evaluate the best options to treat drinking water.”

The water systems that posed the highest cancer risk were found to be those that serve smaller communities with fewer than 1,000 people, where there is an increased exposure to arsenic. In order to provide safer drinking water to residents, these communities are in need of improved infrastructure.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/">Environmental Health</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Toxic contaminants found in California’s tap water could cause cancer

A new study from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has...

What drives people to pretend to be an expert in an area or field they know little to nothing about? In other words, why do people BS? 

This question was tackled by researchers from the <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College of London</a> and the <a href="https://www.acu.edu.au/">Australian Catholic University</a> in a new <a href="http://ftp.iza.org/dp12282.pdf">study</a> published by the <a href="https://www.iza.org/">IZA – Institute of Labor Economics</a> in Germany. 

The researchers delved into the widespread social phenomenon of BSing and found significant differences in BS tendencies and behaviors across nationalities, genders, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rich-kids-feel-control/">incomes among adolescents. </a>

For the study, the researchers reviewed and analyzed data from the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Programme for International Student Assessment</a> (PISA) which included nine English speaking countries and 40,000 15-year old participants.

Participants were asked about their familiarity with 16 different math topics, some real and some made up, including “proper numbers,” “subjunctive scaling,” and “declarative fractions.” 

Each student rated how well they thought they knew each topic on a scale of one to five, and the inclusion of the fake topics allowed the researchers to gauge how many BSers there were among the participants. 

After analyzing the results, the researchers found that male participants were more likely to claim knowledge of topics they didn’t have and this trend was consistent across all nine countries. 

Participants from a higher socioeconomic standing were also more likely to BS compared to participants from lower income households. 

Young people from Canada and the United States were in the lead for exhibiting overconfidence and “over-selling themselves,” according to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/04/26/rich-guys-are-most-likely-have-no-idea-what-theyre-talking-about-study-finds/?fbclid=IwAR0Wvnjwfckd7wgaFKyPIipjhHIALZIpGtg52U-_ceUi3izpAEk4lC-f8aM&amp;noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.2583803029de">Washington Post</a> which reported on the findings. 

Because the study dealt primarily with adolescents, there are limitations to the study as behavior patterns identified in the assessment may not necessarily be true among older demographic groups.

The researchers say that BSing may serve some important advantage and could explain gender wage gaps although more research is needed to confirm these theories. 

“We have established how some groups are clearly more likely to [BS] (and be caught BSing) than others, and that these individuals tend to display certain other psychological traits (most notably a striking overconfidence in their own abilities)," the researchers conclude in their study. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Rich men are more likely to pretend to be an expert, study finds

What drives people to pretend to be an expert in...

Work stress and poor sleep have been linked to a higher risk of heart-related deaths in employees who have high blood pressure by a new study. 

The problem seems to start with work stress that is severe enough to disrupt sleep. A third of the working population have hypertension, and research has shown that stress can have a stronger effect on people with existing cardiovascular issues than healthy people.

"Sleep should be a time for recreation, unwinding, and restoring energy levels. If you have stress at work, sleep helps you recover,” study author Dr. Karl-Heinz Ladwig said in a press release. “Unfortunately poor sleep and job stress often go hand in hand, and when combined with hypertension the effect is even more toxic."

Ladwig, a professor at the <a href="https://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/en/index.html">German Research Centre for Environmental Health</a> and the <a href="https://www.tum.de/en/">Technical University of Munich</a>, led a study of 1,959 workers from ages 25 to 65, who have high blood pressure without other cardiovascular disease or diabetes.

They found that those who reported high work stress and sleep issues had a three times higher risk of death from a cardiovascular incident than those who reported little stress and good sleep. Workers who only had work stress had a 1.6 times higher risk, and those with sleep issues alone had a 1.8 times higher risk.

The study, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2047487319839183">European Journal of Preventive Cardiology</a>, monitored workers over about 18 years. It defined work stress as a job with high demand and low control.

"If you have high demands but also high control, in other words you can make decisions, this may even be positive for health," Ladwig said. "But being entrapped in a pressured situation that you have no power to change is harmful."

Impaired sleep included both trouble falling asleep and difficulty staying asleep. 

The results mean that doctors may want to begin asking patients with hypertension about their work stress and sleep habits, and develop appropriate strategies based on that. Employers should also add sessions educating their employees about stress management and sleep hygiene. 

"These are insidious problems," Ladwig said. "The risk is not having one tough day and no sleep. It is suffering from a stressful job and poor sleep over many years, which fade energy resources and may lead to an early grave."

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Work stress can be bad for your sleep – and your heart

Work stress and poor sleep have been linked to a...

Researchers from the <a href="https://mrc.ukri.org/">Medical Research Council</a> have found evidence to suggest the importance of timed meals in regards to health. 

The team is the first to establish that insulin is the primary signal that communicates timing of meals to individual “cellular clocks” within our body, together known as the body clock, or <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/circadian-rhythm-light-melatonin/">circadian rhythm</a>. Knowing this may be the key to helping those experiencing disruption to their body clocks.

Our individual body clocks are synched to the environment around us by way of exposure to daylight and meal times. It’s this synchronization that is vital to maintaining health, and can be thrown out of whack if traveling through different time zones or eating at irregular times throughout the day.

Although it’s known that irregular meal times can disrupt the body clock, how the body clock senses and responds to meal timing was an unknown. So, scientists from the MRC <a href="https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/">Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB)</a> and the <a href="https://www.manchester.ac.uk/">University of Manchester</a> used cultured cells and mice to identify insulin, a hormone that is released when we eat, as the primary sensor and communication between our cellular clocks. Furthermore, insulin adjusts the circadian rhythm in individual cells and tissues by stimulating production of a protein called PERIOD.

"At the heart of these cellular clocks is a complex set of molecules whose interaction provides precise 24-hour timing,” lead researcher Dr. John O'Neill said. “What we have shown here is that the insulin, released when we eat, can act as a timing signal to cells throughout our body."

The team found that when the mice’s insulin was released at the “wrong” time, that is, when the mice should have been resting, it disrupted their circadian rhythms, thus making it more difficult for them to tell the difference between day and night.

 "We already know that modern society poses many challenges to our health and wellbeing — things that are viewed as commonplace, such as shift-work, sleep deprivation, and jet lag, disrupt our body clock,” said Dr. David Bechtold, a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester. “It is now becoming clear that circadian disruption is increasing the incidence and severity of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes."

"Our data suggests that eating at the wrong times could have a major impact on our circadian rhythms,” said lead author Dr. Priya Crosby. “There is still work to do here, but paying particular attention to meal timing and light exposure is likely the best way to mitigate the adverse effects of shift-work. Even for those who work more traditional hours, being careful about when we eat is an important way to help maintain healthy body clocks, especially as we age."

The findings were published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/home">Cell</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

When you eat is just as important as what you eat, research shows

Researchers from the Medical Research Council have found evidence to...

It is said that nothing is certain but death and taxes.  Unfortunately, both are highly regulated by the government in the United States.  A body slowly becoming part of the land or the sea with little interference seems to be the most natural state of affairs, but for a number of reasons, it’s not always easy to allow your body or the body of a loved one to naturally decay.  

For a burial at sea, an easily obtainable permit from the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ocean-dumping/burial-sea">EPA</a> is required, and there are three general activities that are prohibited:
<ol>
 	<li>"Placement of human remains in ocean waters within three nautical miles from shore, i.e., the ordinary low water mark or a closing line drawn on nautical charts across the openings of bays and rivers.</li>
 	<li>  Placement of non-human remains (such as pet remains).</li>
 	<li>  Placement of materials which are not readily decomposable in the marine environment, such as plastic or metal flowers and wreaths, tombs, tombstones, gravestones, monuments, mausoleums, artificial reefs, etc."</li>
</ol>
Some of these rules are fairly common sense, such as not using non-decomposable items. The rule about not burying pets at sea seems extremely arbitrary though, as if the small body of a cat or dog would be more detrimental to the sea than the body of a human. Mainly though, burial at sea is one of the easier ways to allow human remains to quickly be integrated into a natural environment. Some live in landlocked states or prefer the land to the sea, which makes natural burial more complicated.  

Embalming is the practice that seems most to interfere with a natural burial.  Modern embalming is down with a small pump that removes blood and replaces it with embalming fluid.  The point of embalming fluid is to delay the decaying process as much as possible. Formaldehyde is the most common embalming fluid, one that has long been the gold standard of short term preservation of bodies at funeral homes.  You may remember the smell of the substance from grade school frog dissections.

Besides keeping bodies looking unnaturally good, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/business/despite-cancer-risk-embalmers-stay-with-formaldehyde.html">The New York Times</a> reports that in 2011 the government declared that formaldehyde is a carcinogen.  Unfortunately, no really good alternatives seem to exist for formaldehyde and funeral homes are slow to abandon a product that works so well.  Not wanting your body or that of a loved one pumped full of something that forestalls the body breaking down and may cause cancer is an increasing concern.  According to <a href="https://www.northwoodscasket.com/northwoodscasket/2014/10/27/natural-burial-the-law-are-there-legal-matters-regarding-natural-burial">Northwoods Casket Company</a>, there are now thousands of cemeteries offering natural burials in the US.  Getting around formaldehyde is legal but it takes some planning to do legally.  

Funeral homes are required by law to offer a direct burial option to consumers.  A direct burial includes no embalming and burial in a modest wooden or cardboard container in a cemetery within 24 hours.  After 24 hours, things change. Many states require that a human body is either embalmed or refrigerated after 24 hours. Unfortunately, some facilities are small with limited refrigeration space and thus the default of embalming is fallen back upon.  

Besides formaldehyde, there are other common practices that make it harder for a human body to become part of the Earth again.  

Burial vaults are containers that surround the casket.  Usually a burial vault is now made of concrete. These vaults are used to make it easier to find a grave and not disturb the human remains in a grave when digging adjacent to it.  Burial vaults also keep caskets from sinking or shifting as earth settles. Only two states seem to require burial vaults,Louisiana and Massachusetts, according to <a href="https://www.northwoodscasket.com/northwoodscasket/2014/10/27/natural-burial-the-law-are-there-legal-matters-regarding-natural-burial">Northwoods Casket Company</a>.  Used as an additional barrier, concrete is also another unnatural product, and so burial vaults hamper natural burial. 

Of course, cremation is a way to avoid so many restrictions and ashes can easily be spread into the environment.  According to the <a href="https://www.cremationassociation.org/">Cremation Association of North America</a>, cremations are on the rise.  In 2017, 51.6% chose cremation, and in 2022 that number is projected to be 57.8% in the US.  In Canada, 2017 rates were already at 70.5% and projected to be at 75.1% by 2022. According to <a href="http://www.us-funerals.com/funeral-articles/understanding-cremation-laws-and-how-they-affect-arranging-a-cremation.html#.XLD7_hplChA">US-Funerals</a>, caskets aren’t required by law although a basic container is necessary for cremation.  

If you scatter your loved one’s ashes on public land such as a national park, it’s advisable to ask permission. <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/national-parks-endangered-species/">National parks</a> such as <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/ashes.htm">Yosemite</a> and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/scattering_ashes.htm">Rocky Mountain</a> have official permits to scatter ashes.  Even without a permit, it’s unlikely that you’ll be bothered if you scatter ashes respectfully.  I knew a man that scattered his brother’s ashes from the top of Mt. Denali, completing a climbing trip the two had talked about doing together.  

There are also a number of urns now available for ashes with the environment in mind.  There are several companies offering biodegradable urns with tree seeds inside them, and these urns are designed so that the human ashes feed the sapling tree.  Other companies allow your loved ones ashes to be mixed with concrete to be placed at sea where coral can use it to grow on, creating habitat for fish and other marine animals.

Death and decay are the most natural of things.  Every death contributes to new life. Unfortunately, the ideal of keeping a body alive-looking can be destructive in the long term and cut us off from the reality of death – its beauty as well as its ugliness.  

In Tibet, a ceremony called a Sky Burial is traditional.  According to <a href="http://tibetpedia.com/lifestyle/sky-burial/">Tibetpedia</a>, a person is carried into the mountains by the master of ceremonies.  Incense is lit to summon vultures. As the vultures arrive the body is cut to pieces and the birds are allowed to consume the entire body. 

Closer to home, environmentalist Edward Abbey was buried in a sleeping bag in the desert by his friends, illegally on public lands.  Some say a Saguaro cactus stands over the unmarked grave but the location is known only to a few. 

As Edward Abbey himself wrote of death in his masterpiece, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Desert-Solitaire-Edward-Abbey/dp/0671695886/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BRUS83B6C6QP&amp;keywords=desert+solitaire+by+edward+abbey&amp;qid=1555103892&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=Desert+so%2Caps%2C191&amp;sr=1-1">Desert Solitaire</a>, “if my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a juniper tree or the wings of a vulture—that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves.”                               

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

A more natural burial is possible, it just takes some planning

It is said that nothing is certain but death and...

<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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https://youtu.be/Fi2OeEwuzRM?si=vTyd2m9FMmtyWkex
</div></figure>







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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https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU
</div></figure>



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.



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter 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/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;



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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

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"]</div>



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

[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

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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