In the United States, about 32 percent of adults now have at least one tattoo. Despite their widespread presence across all walks of life, tattoos still trigger snap judgments about an individual's personality, values, or lifestyle.



A new study from <a href="https://msu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Michigan State University</a> questions those snap judgments. The study revealed that observers frequently misinterpret personality traits based on tattoo content, style, and appearance



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tattoos-are-common-but-still-judged">Tattoos are common but still judged</h2>



Ink has become a common part of daily life, from teachers' forearms to politicians' ankles. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/SR_23.08.15_Tattoos_topline.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eight in ten Americans</a> say their communities are now more accepting of body art compared to 20 years ago.



Even so, a deep undercurrent of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28934022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tattoo stigma</a> survives. Earlier research found that tattooed adults were viewed as more deviant, less conscientious, and more promiscuous than their un‑inked peers. 



Children as young as six linked tattoos to delinquent behavior in a classic 2000 <a href="https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1348/135532500168065" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a> by Durkin and Houghton.



Studies also show <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/head-games/201809/are-people-with-tattoos-stigmatized" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gender effects</a>. Women with visible ink are often judged more harshly than men, especially in hospitality and healthcare settings.



Modern workplaces try to project inclusivity, yet hiring managers still admit that visible <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wireless-e-tattoo-detects-when-your-brain-gets-overloaded/">ink</a> can hurt an applicant. Simmering bias fuels a market for makeup that covers sleeves during interviews.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tattoo-and-personality-links">Tattoo and personality links</h2>



William Chopik and Brooke Soulliere, both psychologists at Michigan State University, photographed 375 tattoos from 274 volunteers. The volunteers completed a full <a href="https://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Big Five personality traits</a> inventory before rolling down their sleeves.



“We found that people did tend to rate the personalities of tattooed people consistently,” explained Chopik. 



A separate panel looked only at each image and guessed the wearer’s personality. Observers saw the ink but not the person’s face, clothing, or setting. That design isolated the tattoo as the single visible cue, mimicking quick judgments made on a sidewalk or social feed.



Soulliere added that the study covered 18 features, from size to color to placement. Testing each cue against personality scores allowed the team to see which visual <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tattoos-increase-the-risk-of-developing-lymphoma/">hints</a>, if any, were worth trusting.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tattoos-rarely-show-true-personality">Tattoos rarely show true personality</h2>



The results showed agreement among raters, meaning most viewers made the same assumptions. Agreement, however, is not accuracy. 



Traits such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism were wrongly assigned. The raters’ confidence did not rescue their guesses.



Psychologists describe this pattern with the <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9103609/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lens model</a>, which says people read surface cues to infer hidden qualities. Tattoos act as one such lens, but the view they provide can be cloudy. Studies over the past decade linked skulls, guns, or prison motifs to criminal stereotypes among jurors.



Sticker‑covered <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656621001239" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">laptops</a> tell a parallel story. Raters accurately judged an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tattoo-ink-travels-through-the-body-and-may-cause-long-term-risks/">owner</a>’s openness and extraversion by glancing at personalized decals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tattoo-meaning-and-personality-often-clash">Tattoo meaning and personality often clash</h2>



Getting tattooed often involves what psychologists call identity claims. A self‑directed claim might memorialize a child’s birthdate, while an other‑directed claim signals allegiance to a military unit or sports team. 



The problem arises when outsiders guess the message without context. A snake entwined with roses could honor recovery from illness, yet many will see danger or rebellion.



Anthropologists note that body art has held meaning across cultures for millennia, from Polynesian rite‑of‑passage marks to Japanese irezumi. Western viewers unfamiliar with these traditions may project their own narratives instead.



Social media accelerates the misreading. A single viral image can lock a stranger into a public persona built on nothing more than a wrist tattoo glimpsed under café lights.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tattoos-link-to-openness-only">Tattoos link to openness only</h2>



The Michigan State team uncovered one sliver of accuracy. Viewers who saw a tattoo described as quirky, goofy, or simply odd tended to peg the owner as high in openness to experience. 



“When people see a wacky or goofy tattoo, they assume that person is open to experience, and they’re correct about it,” noted Soulliere.



Openness tracks curiosity, creativity, and a hunger for novelty. A full sleeve of abstract color or a playful cartoon can hint at those traits more faithfully than a skull wrapped around a dagger. 



Many open‑minded folks choose minimalist ink, and some conventional thinkers pick bold designs on a dare.



Researchers suspect the accuracy stems from selection rather than signal. People high in openness may be drawn to unusual images, so the art style predicts the trait.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tattoo-and-personality-bias-affects-life">Tattoo and personality bias affects life</h2>



Snap judgments about tattoos happen in classrooms, clinics, courtrooms, and dating apps. Mistaking agreeableness or conscientiousness can nudge decisions on trust, hiring, or even sentencing. 



Bias also works inward. People who know the stereotypes may edit their ink choices to avoid certain images, limiting self‑expression in subtle ways.



Future research may test whether adding context - such as the story behind a tattoo - improves accuracy. For now, experts urge caution before reading too much into a rose, a dragon, or a pop‑culture tribute.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reducing-tattoo-and-personality-bias">Reducing tattoo and personality bias</h2>



The first step is awareness, and studies like this one give people an evidence‑based reason to pause before leaping to conclusions. 



Training programs in customer service and law enforcement already include modules on implicit bias, but tattoos rarely appear in those slides.



Organizations could add quick reminders that body art alone predicts little besides a taste for ink. A supervisor who knows that fact is less likely to equate a forearm phoenix with poor reliability. 



Small actions add up. Asking an employee about their new tattoo, rather than assuming its meaning, turns a potential bias trap into a conversation starter.



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656625000613?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Research in Personality</a>.



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Tattoos lead to mistaken assumptions about personality and values

In the United States, about 32 percent of adults now have at least one tattoo. Despite their widespread presence across all walks of life, tattoos still trigger snap judgments about an individual's personality, values, or lifestyle. A new study from Michigan State University questions those snap judgments. The study revealed that observers frequently misinterpret personality traits based on tattoo content, style, and appearance Tattoos are common but still judged Ink has become a common part of daily life, from teachers' forearms to politicians' ankles. Eight in ten...

A new study published by the <a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/">Association for Psychological Science</a> has revealed that the act of giving gifts seems to bring people happiness that can withstand the test of time. Repeating the same activity is known to lose its luster after a while, but giving to others may be an exception to this rule.

Psychology experts conducted two experiments which revealed that people maintained a sense of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/experience-happiness-changes-age/">happiness</a> if they gave gifts as opposed to receiving them. 

“If you want to sustain happiness over time, past research tells us that we need to take a break from what we’re currently consuming and experience something new,” said study co-author Ed O’Brien of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. 

“Our research reveals that the kind of thing may matter more than assumed: Repeated giving, even in identical ways to identical others, may continue to feel relatively fresh and relatively pleasurable the more that we do it.”

A total of 96 study participants received $5 every day for five days and were instructed to spend the money on the same thing each time. The individuals were randomly assigned to spend the money either on themselves or on someone else, such as by leaving the money in the same tip jar. 

At the end of each day, the individuals reflected on their spending experience and overall happiness. The study revealed that the participants reported similar levels of contentment when they started off the experiment, but those who spent the money on themselves showed a steady decline in happiness. 


For people who gave their money to someone else, however, happiness did not fade away. These participants reported levels of happiness in the end of the experiment that were just as strong over the course if the five days. 

The research team conducted a second experiment online in which over 500 participants won money during ten rounds of a game. The individuals either kept the money or donated to a charity of their choice. 

Once again, the self-reported happiness of those who gave their winnings to others declined far more slowly than the happiness reported by those who kept their winnings.

The researchers explored many explanations for the higher rates of contentment, such as the possibility that participants who gave to others had to think longer and harder about what to give.

“We considered many such possibilities, and measured over a dozen of them,” said O’Brien. “None of them could explain our results; there were very few incidental differences between ‘get’ and ‘give’ conditions, and the key difference in happiness remained unchanged when controlling for these other variables in the analyses.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/home/pss">Psychological Science</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Giving to others brings more joy than receiving, study confirms

A new study published by the Association for Psychological Science...

Friday, December 21st marks the shortest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere, which means that going forward, the days will only start getting longer. 

Tonight’s Solstice will include both a full moon and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ursid-meteor-shower-peaks-tonight/">a meteor shower</a>, making it a particularly special evening. 

While the Northern Hemisphere will be ushering in the longest night of the year, those in the Southern Hemisphere will be celebrating the shortest night of the year with their Summer Solstice. 

The tilt of Earth’s axis is what determines Solstice as it orbits around the Sun. For those in the Northern Hemisphere, Winter Solstice occurs when the Earth’s tilt is furthest from the Sun. 

The further north you go, the shorter the days become and in cities like Juneau and Fairbanks in Alaska, the sun sets around <a href="http://www.alaska.org/advice/shortest-day-in-alaska">3:00 in the afternoon on Solstice</a>. 

People in the Northern Hemisphere are in for a treat because tonight’s Solstice sky will be lit up by both a full moon and the Ursid meteor shower. 

December’s full moon will be visible both Friday and Saturday evening. The moon, called a Full Cold Moon, will be at its peak on Saturday night. 

Unfortunately, because the moon will be at its biggest and brightest, it may make the Ursid meteor shower harder to see. 

The Ursid meteor shower gets its name from the Ursa Minor constellation where the meteors are said to originate, and the shower first started on December 17th. 

It’s a yearly meteor shower, so if you don’t see any meteors this year there’s always next, but lucky stargazers may see as many ten meteors per hour at <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/meteor-shower/ursids.html">its peak on December 23rd</a>. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A full moon and a meteor shower will light up the solstice sky

Friday, December 21st marks the shortest day of the year...

Mothers pass on many helpful things to their babies in the womb, and the regulated transmission of cells, molecules, and microbes to the fetus is critical for ensuring the healthy development of a baby.

When this transmission of crucial genes is disrupted, it can increase the risk of birth defects, such as congenital rubella and thalidomide exposure. 

Researchers are still learning about how the maternal environment and nursing impacts early development, and a new issue in the journal Birth Defects Research focuses on this complex relationship.

The topics covered in the new issue show how the “dysregulation” of transmitted materials from mother to child in the womb increases the risk of everything from allergies to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/wood-coal-cooking-cardiovascular/">cardiovascular disease</a>. 

“The interactions between the maternal environment and offspring genes are hyper-complex, but studying them may suggest incredible opportunities to prevent diseases that are notoriously hard to treat after the fact,” said Patrick Jay, the co-editor of the new Birth Defects issue. “The reviews in the issue present the latest about what scientists and physicians have learned about maternal influences on the baby in utero.” 

One of the articles brings up the possibility that the formation of gut flora, the garden of bacteria that make up the microbiome of our stomach and which are vital for destroying harmful bacteria, starts in the womb. 

It was long thought that gut microbiota were the results of breastmilk consumption. 

Researchers from <a href="https://medicine.wustl.edu/">Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine</a> suggest that disruptions in fetal development can hinder helpful gut formation after birth which increases the risk of allergies and autoimmune problems. 

Another study in the journal examined how dysregulation and maternal diabetes affect cardiac development and the important signaling pathways in an embryo. 

A report conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.chw.org/">Children's Hospital of Wisconsin</a> used mice to show environment and diet can impact offspring. 

In that study, offspring born to mothers who spent their last trimester in a stressful, or “adverse” environment and who consumed a Western diet high in fat and sugar, had increased fibrosis which can increase the risk of heart failure. 

All the articles in the issue all examine how the maternal environment and the underlying mechanisms passed on from mother to child impact development. 

“Simply put - we're at the tip of the iceberg in understanding how the gestational environment established by the mother affects her child's health from birth to adulthood,” said Michiko Watanabe, a fellow co-editor of the special Birth Defects Research issue. “If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure for one disease, targeting adverse maternal effects in the womb could be worth a ton for future public health.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Mothers transmit much more than genes to their baby in the womb

Mothers pass on many helpful things to their babies in...

As we age, we begin to lose our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/smell-mixtures-scents/">sense of smell</a>, and we can’t always pick up on odors as strongly as we could in our youth. This is something that all mammals experience as part of the aging process, but until now, it was not well-understood why.

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/en/index.html">Helmholtz Zentrum München </a>and the <a href="http://www.unimedizin-mainz.de/international/welcome.html">University Medical Centre Mainz</a> set out to figure out what underlying mechanisms cause mammals to lose some of their sense of smell. The researchers conducted a study examining olfactory neurons and tracking stem cell development in mice. 

The development of new neurons in the brain is called neurogenesis and mainly happens during early childhood. However, some regions experience several stages of neurogenesis including olfactory neurons.

“The production of these neurons diminishes with advancing age. In our recent study we wanted to find out the cellular basis and what role stem cells play in the process,” said Carsten Marr, a co-author of the study which was published in the journal Cell Reports. 

The researchers examined stem cell development in the olfactory region of the brain in mice and used confetti reporters to track the stem cell development.

Confetti reporters trace stem cells and their descendants using different fluorescent colors to highlight which cells belong to which lineage. 

“Our approach utilised what are known as confetti reporters to perform lineage tracing: In mouse brains, we induced individual stem cells and all their descendants - called clones - to light up in a specific colour,” said Filippo Calzolari. “In the next step, we compared clones found in young and older mice to find out what contribution individual stem cells and intermediates make to the neurogenesis of mature olfactory cells.” 

After the researchers traced the lineages of stem cells in the mice, the resulting data from the confetti reporting process was so varied and mixed that it was impossible to perform a systematic analysis of the data to compare young and old mice brains. 

To resolve this problem, a team of mathematicians and specialists in the quantification of single-cell dynamics developed mathematical models and algorithms using artificial intelligence to help analyze the data. 

“We compared the confetti measurements with several mathematical models of neurogenesis,” said Lisa Bast, the lead author of the study. “We found that the ability of self-renewal declines in old age, especially in certain intermediate stages called transit amplifying progenitors.”

The mathematical models also showed that stem cell division increases but does not impact olfactory cells, rather asymmetric cell division increases. 

“That means that fewer cells differentiate into olfactory cells in old age as they tend to remain in the stem cell pool and become less active. Therefore, the production comes to a halt,” said Jovica Ninkovic, a member of the research team.

Not only do the results of the study help explain why sense of smell deteriorates in old age, but it's also the first study of its kind that successfully uses a mathematical model to describe stem cells and quantify neural stem cells in the brains of living mammals. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Why people’s sense of smell deteriorates with age

As we age, we begin to lose our sense of...

College binge drinking and social media addiction may be linked, according to a new study that identified some worrying trends among college students.

Researchers from <a href="https://www.txstate.edu/">Texas State University</a> examined the drinking habits of undergraduate students to see if there were any links between binge drinking and posting on social media while intoxicated.

Social media use has skyrocketed and people spend hours every day on popular <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/valuable-facebook-users/">platforms like Facebook</a>, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter, and yet social media addiction has yet to recognized as a real psychiatric diagnosis. 

Drinking and posting can be problematic because students might regret what they've posted later on or have past posts come back to haunt them, according to the study which was published in the Journal of the Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. 

Social media is also extremely influential, and other students might be encouraged to take up drinking if they see posts of other people doing it.

“During these times when young students are feeling disinhibited by alcohol, they may be even more likely than usual to post inappropriate material without considering the future impact,” said  Natalie A. Ceballos, the lead researcher for the study. “In some cases, these sorts of mistakes have even influenced college admission and later job applications.”

For the study, the researchers surveyed 425 undergrad students ages 18 through 25 about their alcohol consumption, asking how much each student drank and if they had “binged.” 

Binge drinking was defined as having five drinks at one time for men and four drinks for women. 

The students were also asked to describe their social media use, which platforms they used and how often they posted on social media while intoxicated. 

Binge drinking seemed to have a direct influence on social media posting while drinking as the students who said they had binged were more likely to have posted on social media while intoxicated. 

The students who binge drink were also more emotionally invested in social media platforms compared to the students who didn't engage in heavy drinking. This correlated with a higher risk of social media addiction in the binge drinking students.

“These findings suggest that, in terms of common brain reward mechanisms, perhaps when students get a positive response on social media, this might be ‘rewarding’ to them in a way that is similar to other addictive behaviors, and then over time they get ‘hooked,’” said Ceballos. 

As much as the results point to a link between social media use and binge drinking, the researchers say that social media could be a useful tool for interventions aimed at reducing binge drinking by posting target messages about stopping harmful behaviors at opportune times. 

“While college students’ reliance on social media has been identified as a risk factor for alcohol-related problems, it might also present an opportunity for innovative interventions,” said Ceballos. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

College binge drinking linked to social media addiction

College binge drinking and social media addiction may be linked,...

A new study from the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a> has revealed that of the 20,360 children and teenagers who died in America in 2016, more than half died from preventable injuries. The number one killer among children and teenagers was car crashes, and the number two cause of death was <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/kids-difference-toy-gun/">firearms</a>. 

According to the researchers, more than 3,140 children and teens were killed by firearms in 2016, which is the equivalent of 8 children a day. 

While the rate of youths killed in car crashes has been cut in half over the last two decades, the rate of firearm-related deaths among this group has remained the same. Overall, the number of youths dying by firearms in America is more than 36 times as high as the average rate across 12 other high-income countries.

This study represents the first time that all causes of child and adolescent death have been calculated by both mechanism and intent, and that rates of these causes of death over time have been calculated for all the top causes.

The researchers found that ever since 1999, about 4 of every 100,000 American children and adolescents have been killed by a gun-related homicide, suicide, or unintended shooting each year.

Study lead author Dr. Rebecca Cunningham noted that firearm-related deaths affect all regions of America, including urban, rural, and suburban settings.

“Firearm deaths of children and adolescents are an 'everybody' problem, not a problem for just certain population,” said Dr. Cunningham. “Homicides account for 60 percent of those deaths, suicide about 35 percent, unintentional or accidental injuries about one percent and mass shootings slightly less than one percent.”

"By using a data-driven approach to studying these deaths, I hope we can guide the U.S. to apply our resources to help us understand what we can do to prevent these deaths across the country.

Adolescents in urban areas are two times more likely to be the victims of homicides compared to young people who live outside of the city. In addition, rural teens have a suicide rate that is twice as high as the rate for urban youth.

Furthermore, motor vehicle crashes were found to kill nearly three times as many children and teens in rural areas compared to urban areas. 

“Our country has spent billions to decrease car crash injuries and deaths for kids and adults, and has made it a leading priority for several federal agencies. Safety in a crash is now a selling point for cars,” said Dr. Cunningham. “This implementation of ‘prevention science’ has resulted in the steady decrease in motor vehicle crash deaths for children and teens over the past 20 years.”

“At the same time, we have dozens of teams of scientists and clinicians working on prevention and treatment of pediatric cancers, congenital conditions and heart diseases. We hope these data help put firearm deaths of young people in the proper context, so we can study and test potential preventive measures while respecting the Second Amendment rights of gun owners.”

The study is published in the <a href="https://www.nejm.org/">New England Journal of Medicine</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>

Firearms are the second biggest cause of death among US kids, teens

A new study from the University of Michigan has revealed...

For every year that we get older, our risk of dying becomes greater. However, some research involving humans and other species has suggested that mortality risk slows down, or even plateaus, in older adulthood.

But now, a new study by Saul Newman of <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/">Australia National University</a> has found that this late-life plateau is actually nothing more than the result of human error.

Newman has identified a variety of errors that could have produced the appearance of a slowing mortality rate at the end of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/happy-marriage-extend-lifespan/">lifespan</a>. According to the study, mistakes in demographic sampling, birth and death records, and age reporting could all potentially contribute to the observed trends.

For example, random errors in age reporting within a population will result in some younger individuals being mistakenly recorded as older, and vice versa. The mortality curve is flattened as this population ages, because individuals mistakenly recorded as older will die later and will add on to the number of people who are considered to be very old. 

Newman found that it would only require an error rate of one in ten thousand to produce the observed declines in apparent age-related mortality. “These findings suggest that human late-life mortality plateaus are largely, if not entirely, artefacts of error processes,” he explained.  

The finding has important consequences for understanding human longevity, since predictions that our lifespan can be greatly increased have depended in part on the apparent decelerations and plateaus that were found in previous research.

Newman pointed out that the fruit fly is one species, in particular, where an observed late-life mortality plateau does not seem to be due to error, and may require a biological explanation. “Discriminating between real and artefactual cases will require careful case-by-case analysis, and will constitute an ongoing challenge in the study of aging.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/">PLOS Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Human mortality does not slow down in the older years

For every year that we get older, our risk of...

As we get older, some state of cognitive decline is a normal part of the aging process. But there is certainly a difference between the expected declines that come with aging and the cognitive impairment that dementia and Alzheimer’s causes. 

It’s important to recognize the signs of cognitive decline and take preventive measures to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/eat-well-live-longer-a-dash-of-protein-could-add-years-to-your-life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slow down mental deterioration</a>. 

A recent study, published in an online issue of the journal Neurology, found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exercise-lower-blood-pressure/">exercise</a> may be an effective deterrent against cognitive impairments in people who aren’t diagnosed with dementia but still show signs of mental decline. 

The study was conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.dukehealth.org/locations/duke-university-medical-center">Duke University Medical Center</a> in North Carolina, and the results show that just 35 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week for six months could help improve thinking skills. 

“The results are encouraging in that in just six months, by adding regular exercise to their lives, people who have cognitive impairments without dementia may improve their ability to plan and complete certain cognitive tasks,” said James A. Blumenthal, an author of the study. 

Exercise was found to improve executive function in adults which is the ability to focus, organize goals, and regulate behavior. 

160 adults with an average age 65 who had risk factors for heart disease and hypertension and who had cognitive impairments, but not dementia, participated in the study. 

At the beginning of the study, none of the participants were active, and the researchers wanted to see how exercise and diet impacted thinking skills, specifically the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet which was created to help lower blood pressure.

The participants were split into four different groups. The first group had to do just aerobic exercise three times a week, the members of the second group only did the DASH diet, the third group exercised and changed to the DASH diet, and the fourth group listened to educational phone calls about health. 

The researchers also tested thinking and memory skills at the beginning and end of the six-month study period and participants were asked to keep a food diary. 

Participants who exercised and changed to the DASH diet scored the highest after the study was done. 

The group that did both had an average score of 47 on the executive thinking skills tests. People who only exercised had an average score of 42 at the end of the study. The members of the group that didn't exercise but changed to the DASH diet had no changes in their scores. 

For some of the participants, the scores translated to a reversal in age-related decline by up to nine years. For example, the members of the group who exercised and dieted had scores that corresponded with people nine years younger than what their previous scores had been. 

“More research is still needed with larger samples, over longer periods of time to examine whether improvements to thinking abilities continue and if those improvements may be best achieved through multiple lifestyle approaches like exercise and diet,” said Blumenthal.

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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

Exercise can help improve thinking skills as you get older

As we get older, some state of cognitive decline is...

<a href="https://www.wisconsinlife.org/story/aldo-leopolds-lost-radio-talks-winter-bird-feeding/">In a 1933 radio talk</a>, famed naturalist Aldo Leopold proclaimed, “Winter feeding is the most effective kind of conservation. One feeding station is worth a dozen sermons on the love of nature.” Indeed, observing birds up close is a fantastic way of appreciating the natural world and the idea that providing them with food during the winter is essential to their survival appeals to the conservationist mindset.

However, beginning in the 1980s, some began to question the wisdom of this attitude. Were we actually helping the birds by provisioning them through the harsh winter months? Or were we unintentionally hurting them, perhaps creating a dependency that had unforeseen negative effects?

It remains an important question, considering the ubiquity of feeding <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/birds-shiny-feathers-trees/">wild birds</a> as a pastime and as a conservation measure. <a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2018/demo/fhw16-nat.pdf">A 2016 survey</a> by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that some 59.1 million people in the United States fed birds and other wildlife. <a href="https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/23695/51278_1.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y">Other estimates</a> have claimed that as many as 50% of Americans feed the birds. In the United Kingdom, some 75% of the population may do so and in Australia, perhaps 57%. This has given rise to a multi-billion dollar industry in seed, feeders, and other supplies. The effects of this practice, whatever they might be, are substantial. 

Ultimately, the answer appears to be that feeding birds, when done properly, is actually quite helpful, especially in the winter. A <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267864666_Reproductive_responses_of_birds_to_experimental_food_supplementation_A_meta-analysis/download">2014 meta-analysis</a> of some 82 studies indicated that providing birds with supplementary foods has a net positive effect. Egg laying by birds with access to feeders is typically moved up and overall breeding success is increased. 

An <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/1941007">oft-cited study</a> noted the improved survival of black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) provided with access to feeders during the winters of 1982-85 at Devil’s Lake State Park in Wisconsin. Of the chickadees who visited feeders, 69% survived the winter. Of the chickadees who subsisted on naturally foraged foods alone, only 37% survived. Interestingly, the authors observed that the birds who perished died as a result of a number of brief cold snaps, suggesting that supplementary food provided by humans allows birds to build additional energy stores, allowing them to persevere during weather that makes foraging difficult. Additionally, the study noted that only 20% of the chickadees’ diet came from the feeders, negating the idea that feeding inherently creates unsustainable dependencies. 

A number of studies, however, have added a cautionary note to such conclusions. Survival is one thing. But there may be more diffuse effects at play. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240309479_Winter_food_provisioning_reduces_future_breeding_performance_in_a_wild_bird/download">Studies</a> of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) in the United Kingdom indicated that tits who were fed during the winter were less successful breeders in the following season. The birds produced fewer eggs and the eggs they did produce had <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235403486_Fat_provisioning_in_winter_impairs_egg_production_during_the_following_spring_A_landscape-scale_study_of_blue_tits">smaller yolks</a>. (Vitamin E supplementation appeared to correct the latter deficiency.) The tits fledged fewer chicks, and fewer fledglings survived. Though the reasons for this were unclear, the authors postulated that a diet too high in fat may have played a role and that supplementary feeding may have allowed sub-prime individuals that might otherwise have died to survive the winter and reproduce.

Despite such findings, most experts still claim that responsible bird feeding is beneficial. Proper feeder hygiene is particularly important. Improperly sanitized feeders have been known to spread disease. Otherwise disparate populations and species of bird congregate at feeders, increasing the chance that pathogens will spread between them. Outbreaks of avian pox, aspergillosis, coccidiosis, salmonellosis, and trichomoniasis have all been traced back to dirty feeders.

[caption id="attachment_1864027" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/birds-eating.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1864027" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/birds-eating-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="394" /></a> Image Credit: CoCreatr/Flickr[/caption]

It is suggested that feeders be cleaned with a 10% solution of non-chlorinated bleach every few weeks to neutralize disease-causing organisms and kill any mold that may have formed. Additionally, the areas beneath feeders should be raked periodically to avoid the build-up of excess seed and droppings. Ground feeding birds may be exposed to disease while they are picking through seed contaminated with feces. It may be best to avoid ground feeding—spreading seed on the ground—entirely. 

Additionally, it is helpful to set up several different feeders, with different types of seed that appeal to specific species. By establishing stations for a narrower range of species, the chances of transmission of disease across species are reduced. And certain types of seed, such as millet, which appeal to invasives such as house sparrows and starlings, can be eliminated, thus cutting down competition from these aggressive feeders.

Further steps can be taken to reduce the deleterious effects of feeding as well. Placing feeders no more than 10 feet away from sheltering vegetation can help to cut down on <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4513887?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">predation by opportunistic sharp-shinned and Cooper’s hawks</a> who may stake them out. Such predation, though, is entirely natural and most scientists do not believe that occasional kills by hawks at feeders make a significant dent in songbird populations. Putting feeders close to windows—perhaps 3 feet away—may cut down on window collisions. Birds will aim at the feeder and if they do take off toward the window, they will be less likely to be harmed by the impact at such a short distance. Hanging fine mesh in front of windows further mitigates the risk.

So, it seems, that for once, popular impulses actually have a positive effect on wildlife. A few easy steps can make feeding birds during the winter a sustainable and guilt-free conservation measure. 

--

By <a href="mailto:rtpallardy@gmail.com">Richard Pallardy</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ikewinski/41040858912/in/photolist-25wD8vJ-5DCq9j-b1NahX-7DaFy6-6ESv4D-bhmvfF-dXrTz5-6jrLZM-qDxAMx-6kVtBj-7q9qRb-64HBJF-dTvNby-6gv6Ln-zPbyq-CWFFq2-iWVMeW-b1MD9K-ayniCN-n5nZ3i-23U5qMk-b3YtL4-7GsktP-4noQRG-RNtZNe-jqTLoq-25fkhvD-8gF6j3-4dzmUq-7ttt4T-9trBAF-4ptDC8-5FRmR7-7La4FJ-24aj24N-23Rqqd9-21xev5H-5oAr1j-bkCPtr-A4NSn-b8XHxV-n5pNmy-21uZXFD-qtqzBT-9XeDg-bzSuLB-67iG7D-RQ2ofn-ong6dn-F1yxsb">Mike Lewinski</a>

Feeding birds in winter: helpful or harmful?

In a 1933 radio talk, famed naturalist Aldo Leopold proclaimed,...

A lack of empathy and strict adherence to certain moral codes may explain why some people are more likely to discriminate against gay and transgender people and support discriminatory policies, according to a new study. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www.appstate.edu/">Appalachian State University</a> and <a href="http://www.ufl.edu/">Florida University</a> set out to see how moral values impact discrimination given that so many arguments surrounding discriminatory policies are grounded in opposing moral beliefs. 

The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

The researchers conducted five experiments involving around 1,100 participants in total that compared the moral values of sanctity, a strict adherence to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/communicating-dogmatic-people/">purity rules</a>, and care which has to do with empathy and the disapproval of any acts or behaviors that cause harm without just cause. 

Those participants who valued sanctity were more likely discriminate and support harmful policies as well as believe that transgender people, sex workers, and people with AIDS were less than human. 

“The belief that a person is no better than an animal can become a justification for tolerating and causing harm,” said Ashby Plant, a co-author of the study. “When we believe that someone lacks self-control and discipline, we may make moral judgments about their life choices and behaviors, which can lead down a dark path of discrimination and hate.”

On the opposite of the spectrum, people who valued care seemed to show more compassion and support for the LGBTQ community. 

In the experiments, people were asked to rate their moral values and fill out questionnaires about different marginalized people in society. 

For example, people in the first experiment were asked to read short descriptions about a gay man, a man with AIDS, an African-American man, an obese man, and a white man and then fill out surveys about their thoughts on the men’s mental states. 

“We found that people who placed more value on sanctity were more likely to believe that the gay man and man with AIDS had less rational minds than the obese, African-American or white men,” said Andrew E. Monroe, a lead author of the study. 

Another experiment examined political affiliation and its relation to discrimination. In that experiment, liberals and conservatives were asked the same questions as the first experiment but were also asked about prejudice and public policies. 

Liberals were more likely to value care and fairness, and people who valued sanctity had more prejudice against the descriptions of the man with AIDS and the man who was gay compared to the other men. 

The third experiment focused specifically on transgender people, and the results showed that people who valued care were less likely to support harmful public policies that target transgender individuals. 

All in all the experiments had the same results, people who valued sanctity were more likely to discriminate against the LGBTQ community as opposed to people who valued care, but the fifth experiment seemed to show that moral values are somewhat flexible and can be changed. 

For the fifth experiment, participants were first asked to listen to either a radio clip about safe spaces for people of color or a news segment about Brexit. 

After listening to the clips, the participants were asked to rate their moral values and evaluate a transgender woman, a gay man, and a white man and say whether they were in support of three public policies aimed at helping or harming gay and transgender individuals. 

The people who listened to the safe spaces clip were more likely to prioritize care than the group who listened to the clip about Brexit. 

“Our study suggests that a person's moral values can be altered, at least temporarily, and that highlighting certain values, like caring, can be an effective way to combat prejudice,” said Monroe. “We hope that by showing the moral roots of bias and discrimination against sexual and gender minorities we encourage others to conduct further research to increase equity and inclusion.” 

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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

People who value moral rules over care more likely to discriminate

A lack of empathy and strict adherence to certain moral...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">The Ohio State University</a> have found that artificial light is not just causing issues for humans at night, but is also having an impact on animals. This is particularly true for animals that live in and around streams and wetlands that are exposed to streetlights and other <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/light-pollution-sleep-problems/">light sources</a> after the sun goes down. 

Study lead author Maleika Sullivan is the director of Ohio State's Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park and an associate professor of Environment and Natural Resources.

“This is among the first studies to show that light at night has detrimental effects not just on individual organisms in the environment, but also on communities and ecosystems,” said Professor Sullivan. “Nighttime light is having profound impacts that extend to the entire ecosystem.”

Artificial light is essentially a type of pollution that changes the natural course of life for people, animals, and plants.

“We are experiencing this pollution that we don't think about, but it's all around us and it's chronic and it's happening everywhere - from newly lit villages in rural Africa to streams alongside the highway in Columbus, Ohio,” said Professor Sullivan. “It's also unprecedented in Earth's history.”

The investigation was focused on the effects of light pollution on streams and wetlands in and around Columbus. The researchers collected a variety of ubiquitous water-dwelling and land-dwelling invertebrate species, including mayflies, water bugs, ants and spiders from the various sites. 

The analysis revealed that species composition changed with increases in light intensity. The experts also found that the food chain length of the invertebrate communities shortened with more light.

“Decreases in food chain length are a pretty big deal, as it reflects not just changes in the architecture of an ecosystem - the numbers of various species - but also shifts in ecosystem stability and nutrient flows,” said Professor Sullivan. “Artificial light decreased food chain length in this study, which means the ecosystem is less complex.”

The researchers noted detrimental changes in how the nutrients cycled between aquatic and nearby ecosystems. In particular, invertebrates exposed to moderate light levels  became less reliant on food sources that originate in the water.

Previous studies have clearly demonstrated that individual species are impacted by artificial light.

“The classic example is hatchling sea turtles that became disoriented and instead of going toward the moonlit ocean at night, they were headed inland, toward coastal lighting,” said Professor Sullivan. “In that case, light-management tactics have helped address the problem.”

Until now, however, scientists have not fully explored the broader implications such as how light might affect species interactions, communities, and important ecosystem functions.

“One of the neatest parts about this research is that we scaled up and said, ‘What does it mean for the entire community and ecosystem?’” said Professor Sullivan.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19395582">Ecological Applications</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The negative impacts of light pollution on streams and wetlands

Researchers at The Ohio State University have found that artificial...

China has some of the highest numbers of smokers compared to any other country and accounts for over 40 percent of total cigarette consumption worldwide. 

Quitting smoking is the best way to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quitting-smoking-improves-lungs/">reduce the health risks</a> associated with smoking including lung cancer and heart disease. 

But in China, programs and services that provide help with quitting are not readily available even with the proven success of smoking cessation programs in other areas of the world. 

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.xyeyy.com/">Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University</a> in China conducted a study to test the effectiveness of an inexpensive cessation intervention program using text messages. 

The study was published in the journal PLOS Medicine, and the results show that mobile phone interventions could be an effective method to help smokers quit. 

1,369 smokers across 30 cities and provinces in China took part in a text-based intervention program. 

The participants were randomly split into groups, and either received a high-frequency of messages, low-frequency text-messages, or text messages entirely unrelated to smoking or quitting.

For 12 weeks, participants in the high and low-frequency groups received text messages that encouraged self-efficacy or the belief in the ability to stop smoking and provided support for the quitting process. 

After the text message program was done, 6.5 percent of the participants in the high-frequency messaging group successfully quit smoking along with six percent of the participants in the low-frequency group. 

Even though the percentages of quitters were low, the results of the study are encouraging.

The researchers dubbed their cessation method the “Happy Quit” intervention and said that wide-scale use of the program in China could have great potential for reducing smoking and health risks.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Text messaging program in China helps smokers quit

China has some of the highest numbers of smokers compared...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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