When humans burst into laughter together, moods lift almost automatically. New research shows that a similar boost happens in our closest cousins.



An international team led by <a href="https://bloomington.iu.edu/">Indiana University</a> scientists has discovered that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bonobos-group-cohesion-common-enemy-effect-do-not-kill-inside-their-species/">bonobos</a> become more upbeat after hearing the giggles of their companions. This finding pushes the evolutionary history of positive emotions back millions of years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-laughter-changed-ape-choices">Laughter changed ape choices</h2>



To explore laughter’s influence, the researchers designed a cognitive-bias test often used in animal psychology to gauge optimism or pessimism.



First, they trained bonobos at the <a href="https://www.apeinitiative.org/">Ape Initiative</a> in Des Moines, Iowa, to recognize two kinds of boxes: black ones that always contained a delicious snack and white ones that were always empty.



Once the apes consistently chose black and ignored white, the experimenters introduced a third, ambiguous gray box. They then played one of two sounds: recorded bonobo laughter or a neutral control noise.



“We know that other apes, like chimpanzees, have contagious laughter during play," said lead author Sasha Winkler, a primatologist at <a href="https://duke.edu/">Duke University</a>. "We were wondering if that behavior could be explained by positive emotions produced from the sound itself.” 



If the bonobos felt a surge of good feeling after hearing laughter, the team expected them to treat the uncertain gray box as if it were the rewarding black one.



That is exactly what happened. “Think of it like the rose-colored glasses effect,” Winkler said. “The bonobos were much more likely to approach the gray boxes after hearing laughter, treating them like the rewarded boxes, and indicating a more optimistic expectation of finding a treat.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracing-optimism-to-our-ancestors">Tracing optimism to our ancestors</h2>



This study is the first experimental proof that great-ape laughter can shift mood and cognition the way human laughter does.



“The tendency to behave more optimistically after hearing laughter suggests that the sound alone induced a positive emotional state in bonobos,” said senior author Erica Cartmill, the director of Indiana University’s Cognitive Science Program.



“This is the first study of which we're aware to measure a positive affect shift in nonhuman primates from a brief experimental intervention.”



Great apes -&nbsp; bonobos, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-wild-chimpanzees-can-teach-us-about-parenting/">chimpanzees</a>, gorillas, orangutans - all emit play calls that acoustically resemble human chuckles. Earlier work tied those sounds to a common evolutionary origin. The new findings add a cognitive twist.



“Our results suggest that laughter in other apes shares not only phylogenetic and behavioral similarities with human laughter but also perhaps some of the same cognitive-emotional underpinnings,” Winkler noted.



“This emotional contagion appears to have been present in the primate lineage long before the evolution of language.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-laughter-empathy-and-apes">Laughter, empathy, and apes</h2>



Emotional contagion is often described as a foundational element of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/little-benjamina-the-oldest-evidence-of-social-empathy-in-humans/">empathy</a> - the capacity to share another’s feelings. As Winkler put it, “studies like ours can help to untangle the evolutionary building blocks of empathy, communication, and cooperation in humans.”



By revealing that a simple vocal cue can brighten outlooks in bonobos, the research suggests that the mechanisms linking social sound to positive mood were already in place in a common ancestor millions of years ago.



Cartmill added that the work answers a long-standing bias in emotion research. “Our emotions influence many aspects of cognition, including memory, attention, and decision-making, but research has historically focused on negative emotions with clear behavioral correlates, like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-pathway-discovered-that-suppresses-fear/">fear</a> and aggression.”



“We wanted to better understand the relationship between positive affect and cognition in our closest living relatives.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-kanzi-and-the-future-of-empathy">Kanzi and the future of empathy</h2>



The experiments involved four bonobos, including the celebrated language-using ape Kanzi, who recently passed away.



“I feel incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Kanzi while he was still alive,” Winkler said. 



“We hope this brings greater public awareness of the remarkable similarities between us and bonobos, who are an endangered species. We have so much to learn from these incredible animals.”



Future studies will test whether laughter exerts similar cognitive effects in chimpanzees and other primates. They will also explore how social context - for example, hearing laughs from friends versus strangers - modulates optimism.



For now, the discovery that bonobo giggles brighten expectations highlights a shared emotional heritage and hints that a simple laugh has been boosting group spirits since long before humans walked the Earth.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-02594-8">Nature Scientific Reports</a>.



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Laughter lifts bonobo moods, offering clues to human emotion

When humans burst into laughter together, moods lift almost automatically. New research shows that a similar boost happens in our closest cousins. An international team led by Indiana University scientists has discovered that bonobos become more upbeat after hearing the giggles of their companions. This finding pushes the evolutionary history of positive emotions back millions of years. Laughter changed ape choices To explore laughter’s influence, the researchers designed a cognitive-bias test often used in animal psychology to gauge optimism or pessimism. First, they trained bonobos at the...

Scientists at the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> have discovered that endangered sharks are being sold as food in the UK. The experts tested samples from fishmongers and chip shops and found that hammerhead sharks are among the endangered species that are being served.

The majority of chip shop samples, which were sold under generic names like huss, rock salmon, and rock eel, were actually an endangered species of sharks known as spiny dogfish. Samples of shark fins collected from an Asian food wholesaler in the UK included scalloped hammerheads, which are threatened globally.

The researchers are calling for more accurate food labeling so people know what species they are actually eating.

“The discovery of endangered hammerhead sharks highlights how widespread the sale of declining species really is - even reaching Europe and the UK,” said Dr Andrew Griffiths. 

“Separate investigations focusing on Asia have commonly identified scalloped hammerhead in fin processing. Scalloped hammerhead can be imported under strict conditions, but the wholesaler had no idea what species the fin belonged to.”

The fins from the UK wholesaler, which were being distributed to Asian restaurants and supermarkets, also included other <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/endangered-whale-sharks-starvation/">threatened sharks</a> such as smalleye hammerheads.

“It's almost impossible for consumers to know what they are buying,” said study first author Catherine Hobbs. “People might think they're getting a sustainably sourced product when they're actually buying a threatened species.”

“There are also health issues. Knowing what species you are buying could be important in terms of allergies, toxins, mercury content and the growing concern over microplastics in the marine food chain. Our findings demonstrate the need for more informative and accurate seafood labelling.”

The team used “DNA barcoding” to analyze 78 samples from chip shops and 39 from fishmongers, mostly in southern England.

“Knowledge of shark species consumption in the UK, especially those of prohibited species and those of high conservation concern, enhances our ability to address the decline in shark populations,” said Hobbs.

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/scientificreports">Scientific Reports</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

People are unknowingly eating endangered sharks in the UK

Scientists at the University of Exeter have discovered that endangered...

Schools across three districts in northwestern Alaska have received a major technological upgrade thanks to a multi-million dollar fiber-optic cable that was planted in the Arctic Ocean. The project,which was launched by an Anchorage-based company called Quintillion, was made possible by <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/global-warming-weather-patterns/">global warming</a>.

The ultimate goal of the Quintillion project is to establish underwater pathways between global commerce centers, connecting an Alaska branch to Asia and the United Kingdom. In Alaska, the lowest ranking state in the nation for meeting the minimum internet-speed targets set by the Federal Communications Commission, some schools are now reaping the benefits. 

Nome Public Schools became the first school district to connect to the cable in March, followed by two neighboring school districts over the summer. Many of Alaska's students are in schools located in remote areas that are disconnected from the rest of the state. Slow internet speeds and district-wide outages are common and have “really limited what teachers could do,” according to Jacob Phillips, the director of technology in Nome schools.

The fiber-optic route exists because Arctic sea ice keeps pushing away from the Alaska coast each year. Phillips explained that by switching to the fiber connection, the district got a 25 percent increase in bandwidth for about 20 percent of the previous cost.

“Our goal is to hopefully broaden (students’) view of the world,” said Phillips. “If they do go to school outside of Nome, or go to work outside of Nome, they’ve had some exposure to different cultures, different places.”

According to officials, the faster bandwidth is already setting the stage for academic improvement. For example, Lisa Leeper said she was finally able to introduce a digital writing program that allows her fifth- through eighth-grade students to progress through the course at their own pace.

“I can almost guarantee we’re going to improve our writing scores this year … because I’m able to reach everyone in the areas they need help,” she said. “That’s possible because of these new technologies.”

The full story from <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/">The Hechinger Report</a>, a nonprofit news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education, is available <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/alaska-schools-get-faster-internet-partly-thanks-global-warming/">here</a>. 

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Global warming leads to faster internet for Alaska schools

Schools across three districts in northwestern Alaska have received a...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham UK</a> have pinpointed exactly how sperm move their tails to swim, according to a report from <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/">New Scientist</a>. The discovery could help explain why some men struggle with fertility issues and may ultimately lead to improved testing for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/heat-waves-male-fertility/">infertility</a>. 

Sperm wiggle their long tails to propel forward, and the journey from the vagina through the womb to an egg takes several hours. When sperm become hyperactivated, they use a high amplitude, asymmetrical beating pattern that makes them swim faster and more erratically. 

Sperm were thought to only hyperactivate after they zeroed in on an egg, using the extra force to successfully burrow through the egg’s outer wall. But now, a research team led by sperm physiology expert Dr. Stephen Publicover has discovered that sperm continuously alternate between normal swimming and hyperactivity.

“Rather than starting off in one stroke and ending up in another, they’re switching back and forwards all the time,” said the researchers.

The experts captured videos of individual sperm in a dish for three minutes at a time. Their observations revealed that most of the sperm abruptly shifted between motility styles about every ten seconds. 

According to Dr. Publicover, this indicates that hyperactivation is not just used for pushing into the wall of an egg. However, it is not yet clear what other purpose this behavior may serve.

Susan Suarez of Cornell University told New Scientist that hyperactivated sperm in mice seem to move better in the fallopian tube. “We have never understood well how human sperm travel through the reproductive tract. It’s crazy we don’t understand exactly how they get to the egg yet,” said Suarez.

The research was presented at The Fertility 2019 Conference in Birmingham in the UK earlier this month.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New discovery in how sperm swim could explain some infertility cases

Researchers at the University of Birmingham UK have pinpointed exactly...

A new report from <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/home">Ofcom</a> is warning that children are so obsessed with the internet that they are ditching their friends and hobbies. In addition, many parents admitted that they have lost control of their <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/unlimited-screen-time-depression/">children's online habits</a>. 

The researchers wrote: “Children were watching people on YouTube pursuing hobbies that they did not do themselves or had recently given up offline.”

The annual survey, which was based on more than 2,000 interviews, revealed that children under five years old spend more than four hours a day in front of a television, tablet, or computer screen. Children between the ages of 12 and 15 were found to spend an average of five hours a day glued to a screen.

The study authors referred to YouTube as “a near permanent feature” of many young people's lives. They also discovered that 70 percent of youths aged 12 to 15 are taking smartphones to bed.

“In the early years, children need interaction with other people, and play - it is key to their social skills,” said Sue Palmer of the group Toxic Childhood. “If that doesn’t happen when they are small, I don’t know where it leads. There is the screen time itself, and then there is what the screen time is displacing.”

The study revealed that 20 percent of preschoolers and 40 percent of children between 5 and 8 years old own a tablet. Meanwhile, 20 percent of children aged 8 to 12 have social media accounts.

The time children spend watching television is declining, while the time they spend online is skyrocketing. Many are turning to YouTube to spend hours watching tutorials and “unboxing” videos. The Ofcom report said that some kids are becoming so obsessed with YouTube celebrities that they idolize them as role models.

Many children were found to watch the lifestyle “vloggers” pursuing hobbies and interacting with friends instead of doing so themselves. Some of the young people interviewed by Ofcom had actually given up their own hobbies in order to watch YouTube videos.

Furthermore, children who go online to watch innocent videos are often stumbling upon disturbing material. Some of the parents who were interviewed were shocked to found out what their children had been watching.

The researchers found that children prefer YouTube to television because they “could easily access exactly what they wanted to watch and were being served with an endless stream of recommendations tailored exactly to their taste.”


Around 40 percent of parents with children between the ages of 5 and 15 believed that they were being pressured to spend money online. In addition, half of the parents worried about tech firms harvesting too much information about their children.

The full Ofcom report on media use by children can be found <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/media-literacy-research/childrens/children-and-parents-media-use-and-attitudes-report-2018">here</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Many kids are ditching hobbies and becoming addicted to the internet

A new report from Ofcom is warning that children are...

A new study has revealed that predominantly Republican regions of the country, which are typically the most resistant to environmental policies, will ironically face the biggest economic losses resulting from <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/humans-driving-climate-change/">climate change</a>.

According to researchers at the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/program/metropolitan-policy-program/">Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program</a>, the states, counties, and districts that voted Republican in the last two elections will experience greater damages from climate change compared to those that voted Democratic.

The study authors wrote: “Drill down on the political geography of climate damage and it becomes clear that in much of the country Republicans are voting for people who are opposed to climate policy even as they are most exposed to climate impacts.”

<a href="https://www.cnn.com/">CNN</a> reports that Republicans hold 35 of the 40 Senate seats from the 20 states that emit the most carbon, and President Trump won 26 of the 27 highest-emitting states in 2016. The study revealed that some of these states actually stand to benefit from global warming, increasing their resistance to environmental activism. 

The Brookings team based its investigation on a county-level model of the impacts of climate change developed by the Climate Impact Lab. The model accounts for factors such as potential economic losses from rising sea levels and the impact on agricultural yields to predict how specific counties may be affected by climate change through the end of the century. 

While there is some level of uncertainty regarding these projections, study co-author David G. Victor told CNN in an email that there are two reasons that he has confidence in them. 

“One is that these impacts are based on good physical understanding of the underlying causal mechanisms,” wrote Victor. “We know a lot about how strong wind and high tides affects coastal areas, about how heat stress affects workers, etc. Second, this is not a single analysis, but a meta-analysis. It is a compilation of the best science in the area. Putting both together give one a lot more confidence in the projections.”

The analysis showed that the Republican areas most opposed to environmental activism are also the most threatened by climate change. The researchers found that southern states, particularly those in the Gulf region from Florida to Texas, face the greatest risks including economic losses, coastal damage, and increased mortality rates. All of these states are controlled by Republicans. 

Overall, the researchers believe that Republican attitudes toward climate change may start to shift.

“Wave after wave of hurricanes coming into central Texas or the Gulf states may be destabilizing of the usual assumed ideological position of those places,” said study co-author Mark Muro. 

“The current gridlock might not be as permanent as it now seems because many of the jurisdictions that have selected political leaders opposed to climate policy are most exposed to the harms of climate change,” said the researchers.
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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

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Ironically, Republican states will be hit hardest by climate change

A new study has revealed that predominantly Republican regions of...

New research from a team from Sweden’s <a href="https://liu.se/en">Linköping University</a> shows that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/san-diego-greenest-cities/">large cities</a> rely on their hinterlands to sustain urban growth. Therefore, the urban-rural divide regarding both economic prosperity and chance for personal opportunities is widened. This study, published in <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>, provides further insight into the growing levels of inequality between rural and urban areas in many countries.

“Our research shows that people who leave rural areas for cities are, on average, better educated and have higher cognitive abilities,” said lead author Dr. Marc Keuschnigg, from <a href="https://liu.se/en/organisation/liu/iei/ias">Linköping University's Institute for Analytical Sociology</a>. “This selective migration fuels the higher than expected outputs of big cities and, at the same time, adds to the cumulative decline of less populated regions.”

Selective migration of individuals from rural areas to big cities is a huge part of urban growth, which bucks a previous popular theory that urban growth is self-reinforcing due to the +15% phenomenon.

Urban scaling analyzes the benefits and detriments of city life and shows the link between a city’s wealth, innovation, crime, and disease spread, and population size. Urban scaling shows that population size is the most important factor in city growth. For example, when a city’s population is doubled, total city income, number of patents, romantic breakups, and residential moves increase by 115%, proving that individuals’ productivity and pace increase as the city grows.

The extra 15% is “superlinear scaling,” which urban researchers believe is a direct response to the influx of ideas being exchanged between people in a dense urban environment. They believe that the +15% phenomenon is self-reinforcing because urban growth benefits all aspects of society.

However, this recent study has found that the “self-reinforcing” +15% phenomenon explains only half of the increased social interconnectivity in cities. More so, the phenomenon is bolstered by the differences in population characteristics within metropolitan areas.

"Our results are of considerable policy relevance, because they identify the migration of talented people from smaller areas to larger cities as an important force behind observed agglomeration effects," Dr. Marc Keuschnigg concluded.

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By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Urban-rural divide is escalated by big city reliance on hinterlands

New research from a team from Sweden’s Linköping University shows...

Congenital heart defects (CHD) are some of the most common <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-birth-defects/">birth defects</a> in the United States, and around 40,000 babies are born with CHD each year in the US, according to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control</a>.

Climate change could pose a major risk for pregnant mothers, as a new study has found that maternal exposure to extreme heat waves increases the chances that an infant will be born with CHD.

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.albany.edu/sph/">School of Public Health at the University of Albany</a> conducted the study and found that rising temperatures due to climate change could increase the number of infants born with CHD by 7,000 over an eleven-year period in the US. 

The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. 

“Our findings underscore the alarming impact of climate change on human health and highlight the need for improved preparedness to deal the anticipated rise in a complex condition that often requires lifelong care and follow-up,” said Shao Lin, the senior author of the study. 

While animal studies have shown that exposure to extreme heat can disrupt fetal development, the connection between exposure to heat for pregnant women and heart defect risk for their infants had not been well understood. 

As climate change is expected to increase temperatures, droughts, and heat waves, understanding the links between heart defects and heat exposure is critical for healthy fetal development. 

CHD can be managed, but an increase in infants born with CHD will put a strain on the medical community required to care for them. 

The researchers estimated the number of projected births between 2025 and 2035 across different regions in the US and compared these numbers with climate change forecasts from the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">National Aeronautics and Space Administration</a> (NASA) as well as the <a href="https://www.giss.nasa.gov/">Goddard Institute for Space Studies</a>. 

The researchers projected average maternal heat exposure for each region studied for both spring and summer and examined the impacts of different exposure indicators. 

A previous study conducted by Lin was then used to gauge the maternal heart exposure and infant CHD association between 2025 and 2035. 

Under the projected forecasts, the researchers found that the midwestern US will experience the largest increase in newborns with CHD. 

The results of the study indicate a definite link between extreme heat exposure due to climate change and increased risk of CHD for infants. 

“Although this study is preliminary, it would be prudent for women in the early weeks of pregnancy to avoid heat extremes similar to the advice given to persons with cardiovascular and pulmonary disease during heart spells,” said Lin. 

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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>

A warming climate may increase the risk of congenital heart defects

Congenital heart defects (CHD) are some of the most common...

Popular music is constantly changing because consumer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/like-songs-dislike-others/">preferences keep changing</a>. New technology also allows musicians to experiment with different sounds and beats which can impact the music scene, birth new genres, and put different music in the spotlight. 

Listen to any pop song on the radio today, and you’ll most likely be met with slower tempos, minimal orchestration, simple chord progressions, and loud, repetitive beats along with lyrics that seem angrier, sadder and lonelier compared earlier pop songs.

This is because the tone of pop music is shifting, according to a new data analysis of pop song songs conducted by researchers from <a href="https://www.ltu.edu/">Lawrence Technological University</a> in Michigan. 

The researchers published in their findings in the Journal of Popular Music Studies. 

Lyrics expressing anger and sadness have gradually become more common in the Billboard Hot 100 since the 1950s. 

The researchers reviewed lyrics from over 6,000 <a href="https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100">Billboard Hot 100</a> songs from the 1950s through 2016. The Billboard Hot 100 is a list of the most popular songs each year. 

To analyze the lyrics, the researchers used quantitative sentiment analysis which took the lyrics and categorized them by tone. The lyrics were associated with a set of tones which helped the researchers understand the emotions and sentiment conveyed in the songs. 

The researchers also averaged each year’s songs to find out the main emotions expressed in that year’s top music. 

The 1950s were filled with upbeat and happy tunes, and songs in the 1950s had the fewest lyrics expressing anger. 2015 had the highest number of angry songs, but angry lyrics did not follow a straight upward trajectory. 

Between 1982 and 1984, pop music matched the sentiments of the 50s, but the 90s saw a stark shift as music became much angrier. Songs about sadness, disgust, and fear also became more popular over time. 

The researchers note that music lyrics themselves are not becoming angrier but rather that consumer tastes are changing and music is shifting to meet those tastes. 

“The change in lyrics sentiments does not necessarily reflect what the musicians and songwriters wanted to express, but is more related to what music consumers wanted to listen to in each year,” said Lior Shamir, a member of the research team. 

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By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Pop music lyrics have gotten sadder and angrier over time

Popular music is constantly changing because consumer preferences keep changing....

As the midwestern United States braces for record-breaking freezing temperatures and wind chill over the next few days, climate experts say that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/unstable-polar-vortex-brutal-winter/">unstable polar vortexes</a> are becoming more and more common. 

First coined by meteorologists on social media in 2014, the term polar vortex was used to describe a severe cold snap that blanketed the city of Chicago in temperatures as low as minus 16 degrees Fahrenheit.

This new bout of frigid temperatures is predicted to be even worse than the cold snap five years ago.

While some people mistake severe cold bouts like those that come from a polar vortex as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/01/29/trump-always-dismisses-climate-change-when-its-cold-not-so-fast-experts-say/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.d2a79d9f25f8">proof positive that global warming isn't real</a>, it’s important to look at precisely what is happening with a polar vortex and why air temperatures drop the way they do.

A polar vortex is the result of a blast of warm air in the Arctic. It may seem counterintuitive, but as temperatures rise in the Arctic, sudden stratospheric warming airflow over the Arctic is disrupted and broken up. 

Pieces of the polar vortex then are free to wander, and as that air makes its way over North America, temperatures plummet.

The current polar vortex across the midwest was caused by displaced Moroccan heat, according to the <a href="https://www.ap.org/en-us/">Associated Press</a>. Over the North Pole, temperatures rapidly rose by about 125 degrees.

Wednesday morning, one of the wandering pieces of the polar vortex will cover the US, and in parts of the Midwest, temperatures could drop to 21 degrees below zero and minus 65-degree windchill, according to the <a href="https://www.weather.gov/">National Weather Service</a>.

What’s more, the wandering vortex isn’t going anywhere soon.

“The impacts from this split, we have a ways to go. It’s not the end of the movie yet,” Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert told the Associated Press. “I think at a minimum, we’re looking at mid-February, possibly through mid-March.”

The weakening of the polar vortex is also occurring more often in recent years than in previous decades. A weaker vortex means a higher likelihood of extreme bouts of cold weather.

Whether or not the current weakening vortex is related to climate change is a complicated question to answer, but one thing for sure is that that extreme weather events like icy cold snaps and severe heat waves have become more frequent as of late.

“This symptom of global warming is counterintuitive for those in the cross-hairs of these extreme cold spells,” Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the <a href="https://whrc.org/">Woods Hole Research Center</a> said in an email. “But these events provide an excellent opportunity to help the public understand some of the ‘interesting’ ways that climate change will unfold.”

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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>

The polar vortex isn’t going away soon and is becoming more common

As the midwestern United States braces for record-breaking freezing temperatures...

People behave differently in virtual reality situations, study shows. Researchers from the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> have found that people respond psychologically differently in virtual reality (VR) compared to real life. Their study, which appeared January 22nd in <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>, focused on contagious yawning — the reflexive phenomenon that occurs when human and animals detect and nearby yawn — within VR.

“People expect VR experiences to mimic actual reality and thus induce similar forms of thought and behaviour," said senior author Professor Alan Kingstone, of UBC's department of psychology. "This study shows that there's a big separation between being in the real world, and being in a VR world.”

Previous research has shown that when there is “social presence,” and people believe they are being watched, contagious yawning is less likely to occur. This is probably due to the stigma that yawning in a social scenario is perceived as rude.

UBC researchers, along with Andrew Gallup from <a href="https://sunypoly.edu/">State University of New York Polytechnic Institute</a>, studied contagious yawning within VR. They had participants wear an immersive headset and had them watch videos of people yawning. Participants yawned while watching the videos 38% of the time, which fits within the real-life contagious yawning rate of 30-60%.

When researchers introduced social presence into the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/virtual-reality-environmental-education/">VR experience</a>, they found that it had little to no effect on the rate of participants’ yawning. So, although contagious yawning could be stimulated within VR, the VR social presence — that being another avatar or the presence of another webcam — did not suppress yawning as real-life social presence often does.

Researchers then made participants aware that someone else was in the room with them in real life. Although participants could not see or hear this person, simply knowing someone else was in the room suppressed their yawns, thus proving that social cues in reality dominate those in VR.

"Using VR to examine how people think and behave in real life may very well lead to conclusions that are fundamentally wrong,” Kingstone said. “This has profound implications for people who hope to use VR to make accurate projections regarding future behaviours. For example, predicting how pedestrians will behave when walking amongst driverless cars, or the decisions that pilots will make in an emergency situation. Experiences in VR may be a poor proxy for real life."

Yawning, although a minor reaction, points to the fact that scientists still have a long way to go to fully bridge the gap between reality and VR. Until the human experience within VR is better understood from a psychological viewpoint can we truly say VR is 100% true to life.

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By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

People behave differently in virtual reality situations, study shows

People behave differently in virtual reality situations, study shows. Researchers...

After conducting the largest study of its kind to date, researchers at the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> have found that slim people have a genetic advantage when it comes to maintaining their weight.

Professor Sadaf Farooqi at the <a href="http://www.ims.cam.ac.uk/">Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science</a>, University of Cambridge, and a team of colleagues, established the <a href="https://www.stilts.org.uk/">Study Into Lean and Thin Subjects (STILTS)</a> to better understand why some people maintain a <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/mindfulness-training-weight-loss/">healthy weight</a> without necessarily trying whereas others can’t. Similar previous studies have focused on those who are overweight, and such studies have found that multiple genes can increase a person’s chance of becoming obese. So, Farooqi and colleagues wanted to know if slim people house similar weight-related genes on the other side of the scale.

The team recruited 2,000 “thin” people (those with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18 kg/m2), who were healthy and had no history with eating disorders. DNA samples were taken and participants answered several questions pertaining to their health and lifestyle.

Farooqi’s team then compared their DNA samples to those of Dr Inês Barroso's team at the <a href="https://www.sanger.ac.uk/">Wellcome Sanger Institute</a>. Together, the researchers analyzed the DNA of 1,622 thin participants from the STILTS cohort, 1,985 severely obese participants, and another 10,433 normal weight controls.

Besides the already discovered genetic variants that cause obesity, the team found new genetic areas that also controlled obesity and others that determined thinness. They used these variants to calculate a “genetic risk score” for each individual.  

"As anticipated, we found that obese people had a higher genetic risk score than normal weight people, which contributes to their risk of being overweight,” Dr. Barroso said. “The genetic dice are loaded against them.”

Furthermore, the team found that thinner people had a lower genetic risk score, meaning they had less genetic variants that determined obesity.

“This research shows for the first time that healthy thin people are generally thin because they have a lower burden of genes that increase a person's chances of being overweight and not because they are morally superior, as some people like to suggest," Professor Farooqi said. "It's easy to rush to judgement and criticise people for their weight, but the science shows that things are far more complex. We have far less control over our weight than we might wish to think.”

He continued, “We already know that people can be thin for different reasons. Some people are just not that interested in food whereas others can eat what they like, but never put on weight. If we can find the genes that prevent them from putting on weight, we may be able to target those genes to find new weight loss strategies and help people who do not have this advantage."

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By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Genetics help slim people maintain their weight, research shows

After conducting the largest study of its kind to date,...

After the UK splits from the European Union (EU), the resulting price hike on imported produce could result in an increase in heart attacks and strokes as the public will be eating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fruit-and-veggie-prescriptions-found-to-improve-childrens-diets/">fewer servings of fresh fruits and vegetables</a>, according to a new study. 

The <a href="https://www.who.int/">World Health Organization</a> (WHO) advises that people eat roughly 5 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day, but much of the UK’s vegetables and fruit is imported.

Researchers from <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/">Imperial College London</a> and the <a href="https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/">University of Liverpool</a> conducted the first study of its kind that examined Brexit’s impact on food imports and public health.

The study was published in the journal BMJ Open, and the researchers found that import tariffs will negatively impact diets, increase the risk of heart disease, and cause thousands of deaths due to heart attack by 2030.

“The UK's exit from the European Union has long been framed in terms of its political and social importance,” said Christopher Millet, a joint leader of the research. “But this study shows that the impact of Brexit will reach far beyond the economy and may affect people's risk of disease. The UK government must consider the public health implications of Brexit trade policy options, including changes to the price of key food groups.”

For the study, the researchers modeled different Brexit scenarios including a free-trading agreement with the EU and a no-deal Brexit. 

Data from the <a href="https://www.wto.org/">World Trade Organization</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs">HM Revenue and Customs</a>, nutrition information from a national diet and nutrition survey, and heart disease data from peer-reviewed studies were all used for the different models. 

For each trade scenario, the researchers assumed that tariffs would increase for imported goods from the EU, and all the scenarios showed an increase in deaths due to cardiovascular disease. 

The no-deal scenario resulted in the most deaths and had the biggest impact on imported produce. The researchers found that the cost of bananas would increase by 17 percent, and tomatoes would rise by 15 percent. 

A new trade agreement between the EU, the UK and third-party countries, the agreement with the least impact on imports, would contribute to 1,360 extra coronary heart disease deaths, and 2,740 strokes by 2030. 

A no-deal Brexit could result in nearly 12,400 additional deaths due to cardiovascular disease. 

There are limitations to the study, and the researchers did not model every scenario under consideration as part of the Brexit deal. But the study does show that no matter what, the costs of fresh fruit and vegetables will likely rise which will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. 

“The UK is highly dependent on imports, especially for fresh fruits and vegetables. These have a strong protective effect on health,” said Paraskevi Seferidi, the first author of the study. “Our paper illustrates, for the first time, the potential negative impacts of Brexit on fruit and veg prices, intake, heart disease, and stroke.”

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By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Brexit taxes pose a major threat to public health

After the UK splits from the European Union (EU), the...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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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"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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