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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Rare gene explains why some people can thrive on less sleep

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

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.mottchildren.org/">University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital</a> has revealed how often children are targeted by advertisers while playing with their favorite apps. Of the most commonly downloaded educational and gaming apps marketed to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/green-spaces-childrens-respiratory/">children</a> ages five and under, 95 percent contain at least one type of advertising.

The investigation, which is the first of its kind to examine the prevalence of advertising in children's apps, was focused on 135 different apps.

The researchers found frequent interruptions by pop-up video ads, distracting banner ads, and persuasion by commercial characters to make in-app purchases. In addition, some of the content among the apps was found to be misleading and was not age appropriate.

Study senior author Dr. Jenny Radesky is a developmental behavioral expert and pediatrician at Mott Children's Hospital.

“With young children now using mobile devices on an average of one hour a day, it's important to understand how this type of commercial exposure may impact children's health and well-being,” said Dr. Radesky.

The team found high rates of mobile advertising that was both disruptive and deceptive. In some cases, exposure to ads even exceeded the time spent enjoying the app or playing the game.

“Our findings show that the early childhood app market is a wild west, with a lot of apps appearing more focused on making money than the child's play experience,” said Dr. Radesky. “This has important implications for advertising regulation, the ethics of child app design, as well as how parents discern which children's apps are worth downloading.”

While 100 percent of the free apps surveyed contained advertising content compared to 88 percent of purchased apps, the ads occurred at similar rates in both types of apps categorized as educational.

Ad videos that interrupted play were prevalent in more than a third of all apps and in more than half of all free apps. In-app purchases were also present in a third of all apps, and in 41 percent of all free apps.

The study authors pointed to prior research which found that children under the age of eight cannot distinguish between media content and advertising, and that fewer regulations apply to advertising in apps than on television, which raises many ethical questions surrounding the practice.

“Commercial influences may negatively impact children's play and creativity,” said Dr. Radesky. “Digital-based advertising is more personalized, on-demand and embedded within interactive mobile devices, and children may think it's just part of the game.”

“We hope further research will help us better understand the consequences of digital media advertisement, which hasn't caught up with the rapid growth of digital media products catered to children.”

Based on the findings of this study, child consumer advocacy groups led by <a href="https://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/">Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood</a> plan to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.lww.com/jrnldbp/pages/default.aspx">Journal of Developmental &amp; Behavioral Pediatrics</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Advertisers can target children through ads on popular apps

A new study led by the University of Michigan C.S....

The bright lights, bells, and whistles of slot machines may be influencing players to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gambling-monkeys-risk-taking/">take more risks</a>, a new study has revealed.

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia </a>examined how audiovisual feedback paired with a reward promotes risk-taking and gambling.

The study was published in the journal JNeurosci and the results shed light on how slot machines can support unhealthy gambling addictions. 

Previously, studies have found that for animals, sensory cues paired with a reward increased risk-taking behavior, and the researchers expanded on this theory to see if humans would have similar responses to sensory reward-paired cues. 

53 men and 78 women took part in the study, and the researchers had the participants complete two lottery tasks that involved both uncertainty and risk.

First, the participants played a game used in many research studies, the Iowa Gambling Task. 

Each player in the Iowa Gambling Task is presented with four decks and can randomly choose a card from whatever deck they want.  Each time a player clicks on a deck, they’ll either win or lose money and the goal of the game is to earn as much as possible. 

The second test was a two-choice lottery task, and for each task, the participants played with a cued version that had audiovisual feedback and one without cues.

The researchers tracked eye movements while the participants completed the tasks and found that audiovisual feedback cues increased risky decision making.

The participants were also more engaged when there were sensory cues paired with high rewards and less sensitive to the odds of winning the tasks. 

Risk-taking behavior and addiction go hand in hand, and the study shows how impactful audiovisual cues are in promoting risky choices and gambling. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Noisy slot machines encourage risky decision-making

The bright lights, bells, and whistles of slot machines may...

President Trump has been steadily forging ahead with his mission to put fossil fuels, industry, and domestic energy production first.

Wyoming is at the heart of a new <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fracking-harmful-human-health/">fracking</a> boom as more and more oil and gas companies seek permits to drill on leased land up for grabs in what the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/climate/trump-fracking-drilling-oil-gas.html">New York Times</a> calls a “federal lands free-for-all.” 

Over 12.8 million acres of federally controlled parcels of land across the West have been offered up for lease, and the number of acres leased by energy companies has reached record highs since 2012. 

According to the New York Times, the number of drilling rigs in Wyoming has doubled since 2016, a trend that shows no signs of stopping. 

Acquiring drilling rights to federal land has never been easier due to a concerted effort by the Trump administration and lobbyists to reverse policies implemented by the Obama Administration that stringently governed how federal lands were used. 

According to the New York Times, Trump’s administration is working to rollback protections for wildlife, air quality, and groundwater. 

Now, big energy companies like Chevron have applied for thousands of permits to drill on federal land and while the economic gains are considerable, so are the potential threats to the environment. 

Some of the policy rollbacks include how often federal land is up for bid, how quickly a permit can be approved, and limiting how long the public has to protest a sale. 

Previously, protests could be filed up to ten days before a lease was issued, and now that number has increased to month. 

The <a href="https://www.blm.gov/">Bureaus of Land Management</a> also faces constraints due to the policy rollbacks and federal leases must be approved by six months. 

To expedite the lease and permit process, the Trump administration has also advised in a memo that environmental assessments are no longer necessary and can be bypassed using a set of loopholes called categorical exclusions.

Perhaps most worrying are the rollbacks that lift restrictions for wildlife habitats and deregulate methane flaring. 

Wyoming is home to a large population of sage grouses and despite extreme conservation measures, male sage grouse populations have experienced declines of up to 30 percent due to increases in energy production. 

“The president, love him or hate him, he’s doing what he said he would do in Washington,” Samantha McDonald, who until August served as a top lobbyist at the <a href="https://www.ipaa.org/">Independent Petroleum Association of America</a>, said during an industry event in Houston. “He’s been actively pursuing a deregulatory agenda that has had millions of dollars of impact.”

Oil production in the U.S. has been growing at an extraordinary rate, and according to the New York Times, states are seeing big returns. Revenue from federal oil and gas sales amounted to $669 million alone for Wyoming. 

The industry and administration are celebrating these gains, but environmental concerns continue to grow along with the surge in fracking. 

“The American West embodies the American spirit, and that is at risk here,” Jeremy Nichols, the energy program director at <a href="https://wildearthguardians.org/">WildEarth Guardians</a>, told the New York Times. “The open spaces, clean air, wild rivers — this is all part of the fabric of the American West, and it is being torn apart, acre by acre, by this unfettered oil and gas leasing.”

Protests to save sage grouse habitats and conserve land have been largely ignored. 

“Literally, thousands of the birds winter there,” Tom Christiansen, who recently worked for the <a href="https://wgfd.wyo.gov/">Wyoming Game and Fish Department</a>, told the New York Times. “We are talking about the highest density population in Wyoming of sage grouse, which has the highest density population in the world. I am very concerned.”

Still, bidding continues, and the impacts of the new administration’s “energy first” policies can be visibly felt across the vast landscapes of Wyoming and the West.  

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Latest fracking boom prompted by Trump policy changes

President Trump has been steadily forging ahead with his mission...

According to a new study, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/life-expectancy-2040/">life expectancy</a> isn’t as linked to income as previously thought. As it turns out, it is income mobility that has a great deal of influence on how long a person lives. 

Previously, a 2016 <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard</a> study found that Americans who are in a higher income bracket at age 40 can expect to live six and half years longer than people who live in the lower 20th income percentile. 

Six and half years is a stark difference, and the study helped illustrate how detrimental income inequality is for people in the United States. 

However, researchers from the <a href="https://www.ku.dk/english/">University of Copenhagen</a> realized that the Harvard study didn’t factor in income mobility, and instead its results were based on the assumptions that the poor stay poor and the rich stay rich. 

In reality, this is hardly the case as people can increase and lose incomes throughout their lives. 

Over a ten year period, the researchers found that half of the poorest people move up into better income groups and half of the richest people drop down into lower income percentiles. 

This mobility of income makes calculating life expectancy challenging, but the researchers were able to factor in income changes using a classic model of social mobility. 

The results, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that there is a relatively small gap in life expectancy between rich and poor people.

[caption id="attachment_1861393" align="aligncenter" width="600"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/life-expectancy.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1861393" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/life-expectancy.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="600" /></a> Image Credit: University of Copenhagen, Center for Economic Behaviour and Inequality CEBI[/caption]

The researchers calculated life expectancy for people in Denmark at age 40 using income and mortality records from 1983 through 2013.

Income mobility resulted in a 2.4 year difference for Danish men at age 40 and 2.2 years for women. When income mobility was taken out of the equation, life expectancy difference doubled to nearly five years. 

The researchers suggest that in the United States, the difference in life expectancy between high and low-income people is around three years rather than six and a half. 

“Our results reveal that inequality in life expectancy is significantly exaggerated when not accounting for mobility,” said Thustrup Kreiner, a member of the research team. “This result is quintessential not only for our understanding of one of the most important measures of inequality in a society, namely, how long different groups can expect to live.”

Even though the researchers found there was less discrepancy between life expectancies for high and low-income groups, the difference in life expectancy is growing, and more research is required to determine what's driving the wedge.  

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Rich people don’t live all that much longer, new study finds

According to a new study, life expectancy isn’t as linked...

Researchers at <a href="https://wsu.edu/">Washington State University</a> recently made a discovery that debunks the longstanding theory that European traders introduced tobacco to Pacific Northwest Native Americans in the late 18th century. After studying the remains of pipes and pipe fragments used by the Nez Perce Indians, archaeologists now know the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/first-native-americans/">indigenous people</a> were smoking tobacco at least 1,200 years ago.

"Usually in archaeology we just find little pieces of artifacts, things that you might not think much of," Shannon Tushingham, a WSU assistant professor and director of its Museum of Anthropology, said. "But the information that we can extract from them on a molecular level is phenomenal."

Tushingham and her partner in the study, David Gang, a professor in the <a href="https://ibc.wsu.edu/">Institute of Biological Chemistry</a>, published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They wrote that their newfound data is "the longest continuous biomolecular record of ancient tobacco smoking from a single region anywhere in the world."

It has been previously thought that the Nez Perce Indians and other indigenous groups in the Pacific Northwest only smoked kinnikinnik and bearberry until traders brought tobacco to them in 1790. Naturally occurring tobacco in the region was fairly hard to come by due to the cool climate. However, Tushingham and Gang believe the native peoples were cultivating and growing their own tobacco well before the influence of traders.

Their findings show that the indigenous tribes were not as passive and reliant on nature as some like to believe. Not only did they most likely grow their own tobacco crops, but they also grew their own clams on the coast.

[caption id="attachment_1861382" align="aligncenter" width="643"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/native-americans-tobacco.jpeg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1861382" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/native-americans-tobacco-643x1024.jpeg" alt="" width="643" height="1024" /></a> Nez Perce Chief Lawyer holds an elbow pipe. Image Credit: University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, NA 627[/caption]

“This is just another sign of the sophistication of cultures in this area and how they managed plants and animals,” Tushingham said.

Tushingham and Gang hope that this realization will help in regards to native smoking-cessation programs. Since tobacco is much more ingrained into native society than originally thought, treatment could potentially be approached from a different, more effective standpoint.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Tobacco was part of Native American culture long before Europeans

Researchers at Washington State University recently made a discovery that...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bitcoin-consume-worlds-energy/">Bitcoin</a>, the much-buzzed about cryptocurrency sweeping the internet, has attracted a wide following and its value has surged nearly tenfold in recent years.Bitcoin growth could push global warming above 2 degrees Celsius 

Even though 2018 saw Bitcoin’s value dip to $6,000 USD, that hasn’t slowed interested or the number of cryptocurrency farms working to mine bitcoin. Bitcoin growth could push global warming above 2 degrees Celsius 

Unfortunately, as Bitcoin’s value grows and more and more minors work to hunt down and record bitcoin purchases, the amount of energy needed to decipher the bitcoin blockchains (a public ledger of all bitcoin exchanges) increases exponentially. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://manoa.hawaii.edu/">University of Hawaii at Manoa</a> conducted a study to project Bitcoin’s energy demands and calculate the cryptocurrency's carbon emissions. 

The results, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, show that if Bitcoin is embraced like other technologies now mainstream, it could produce enough greenhouse gas emissions to raise global temperatures by 2 degrees Celsius by the year 2033. 

In a warming world where scientists are racing to combat emissions and avoid catastrophic climate change, the study shows that bitcoin should be considered in any regulation or mitigation strategies to reduce warming. 

“Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency with heavy hardware requirements, and this obviously translates into large electricity demands,” said Randi Rollins, a co-author of the paper.

In 2017, <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2017/12/07/technology/bitcoin-energy-environment/index.html">CNN reported</a> that Bitcoin used 32 terawatts of energy per year, enough to power millions of households. 

Every Bitcoin purchase is recorded and processed by a group of miners, and miners compete to decipher these complex transactions and show “proof-of-work” since Bitcoin has no bank or stable currency to which it's tied. 

For the study, the researchers took into account several factors for their energy calculations including how much power bitcoin mining required, where miners were located, and the CO2 emissions of the areas where bitcoin mining is popular. 

After analyzing the data, the researchers discovered that in 2017 Bitcoin purchases and mining emitted 69 million metric tons of CO2. 

If implemented at even the slowest rate of other technologies adopted by society, the researchers calculated that Bitcoin emissions could cause global temperatures to climb above 2 degrees Celsius in 22 years. 

“With the ever-growing devastation created by hazardous climate conditions, humanity is coming to terms with the fact that climate change is as real and personal as it can be,” said Camilo Mora, the lead author of the study. “Clearly, any further development of cryptocurrencies should critically aim to reduce electricity demand, if the potentially devastating consequences of 2°C of global warming are to be avoided.”

--

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>

Bitcoin growth could push global warming above 2 degrees Celsius

Bitcoin, the much-buzzed about cryptocurrency sweeping the internet, has attracted...

A new study led by experts at the <a href="http://www.shh.mpg.de/en">Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History</a> suggests that early hominin migrations beyond <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/diverse-sustainable-farming-africa/">Africa</a> did not involve adaptations to climate extremes. The new data suggests that our early ancestors dispersed in order to expand their ranges, and not to adapt to new environmental conditions.

The researchers have found clear evidence, including stone tools and cut-marks on fossilized animal remains, that hominins settled in Saudi Arabia at least 100,000 years earlier than previously known.

“While these early hominin populations may have possessed significant cultural capacities, their movement into this part of the world would not have required adaptations to harsh and arid deserts,” explained study lead author Dr. Patrick Roberts. “Indeed, the isotope evidence suggests that this expansion is more characteristic of a range expansion similar to that seen among other mammals moving between Africa, the Levant, and Eurasia at this time.”

To understand human evolution, it is also important to understand the early and late dispersals of hominin populations beyond Africa. While the species that make up the genus Homo are often referred to as “human,” this evolutionary group - which emerged in Africa around three million years ago - is highly diverse.

Our own species, Homo sapiens, emerged in Africa around 300,000 years ago. The extent to which our species was able to adapt to new environments compared to other hominin members of the genus Homo is still up for debate.

[caption id="attachment_1861346" align="aligncenter" width="647"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/fossil.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1861346" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/fossil-647x1024.jpg" alt="" width="647" height="1024" /></a> Image Credit: Palaeodeserts Project (Ian R. Cartwright)[/caption]

Some experts have recently argued that early Homo sapiens occupied a diverse range of extreme environments around the world, including deserts, tropical rainforests, the arctic, and high-altitude settings. By contrast, earlier Homo species are believed to have stuck close to grasslands and forests in and around lakes and rivers.

A lack of data has made it difficult to test this idea, and some researchers believe that non-Homo sapiens species were much more flexible and adaptable.

For the current study, the researchers focused on the archaeological excavations and analysis of fossil fauna found at the site of Ti's al Ghadah, in the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia. 

“Ti's al Ghadah is one of the most important palaeontological sites in the Arabian Peninsula and it currently represents the only dated collection of middle Pleistocene fossil animals in this part of the world, and includes animals such as elephant, jaguar and water birds,” said study co-author Mathew Stewart.

Until now, the lack of stone tools has made it difficult to link these animals with early hominins. In this study, the research team found stone tools alongside evidence for the butchery of animals on bones, confirming a hominin presence with these animals 500,000 to 300,000 years ago. 

Michael Petraglia is the principal archaeologist of the project and a co-author on the paper.

“This makes Ti's al Ghadah the first, early hominin-associated fossil assemblage from the Arabian Peninsula, demonstrating that our ancestors were exploiting a variety of animals as they wandered into the green interior,” explained Petraglia.

A stable isotope analysis of the fossils indicates that they originated in a predominantly grassland region, which had aridity levels similar to those found in the open savanna of eastern Africa today.

Further research, including detailed studies into our past environments, is still needed to test whether our species is uniquely flexible in our ability to adapt to extreme environments.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Palaeodeserts Project (Klint Janulis)

The earliest hominins were migrating to expand their range

A new study led by experts at the Max Planck...

We encounter so many stimuli in our day-to-day lives, it’s hard to imagine everything that our <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/brain-compensates-uncertainty/">brain</a> has to process along the way. When we actively want to remember something – like when we’re in the classroom or learning a new co-worker’s name – we’ll often make a conscious effort. But how does our brain know when to remember and retain other information that is important, but not something we’re actively trying to learn?

<a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> biologists report in <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a> that they may have figured out how animals are able to learn which sights, sounds, and sensations within their environment are most important to remember. Through studying mouse models, the researchers found that a part of the brain called the paraventricular thalamus (PVT) plays the role of gatekeeper within the brain, ensuring that it tracks and identifies the most important details of a given situation.

In their study, the research team taught mice to associate specific odors with good and bad outcomes. One odor would indicate that a sip of water was coming, while the other signaled that the mouse was about to receive a puff of air to the face. The researchers then replaced the air puff with a mild shock – a more negative outcome. 

The results showed that neurons in the PVT tracked this change. During the air-puff outcome, two-thirds of PVT neurons responded to both odors, while an additional 30 percent were activated only by the odor that signaled water. This means that the PVT had a more significant response to the good outcome. But during the electric-shock phase, almost all PVT neurons responded to the shock, while only about three-quarters of the neurons responded to both good and bad outcomes.

The same type of shift occurred during the water phase when mice were not thirsty. The less the water mattered to the mice, the less responsive the PVT was to water, and the more responsive it was to air puffs. Together, these results indicate that the PVT tracks what is most important in the moment to the individual.

This study could lead to new ways to modulate learning through stimulating or suppressing PVT activity. Researchers also believe that one day this research could help find alternative strategies for treating drug addiction, through helping addicts to unlearn the association between taking a drug and the high that it provides.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How does the brain decide which information to retain?

We encounter so many stimuli in our day-to-day lives, it’s...

Ahead of Halloween, wildlife officials are urging people to take precautions to protect wildlife. While fake cobwebs are meant to be a fun part of the festivities surrounding the holiday, they pose a risk to wild animals who can become entangled in the fabric.

Fake cobwebs can catch a number of species who live in close proximity to humans such as deer, squirrels, raccoons and insects. <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/wind-turbines-harm-birds-100-miles-away/">Birds</a> are likely at the greatest risk of entanglement, especially when cobwebs are hung off the ground and obstruct a bird’s flight path. Since the cobwebs are lightweight, they can also blow away and enter animals’ habitats.

Even if wild animals normally keep their distance from humans, they may be attracted to the area by other Halloween decorations. Pumpkins left outside are a tempting treat and may entice wild animals to a front yard where they can encounter the cobwebs. The Arizona Game and Fish Department even warned residents ahead of Halloween this year that they could be fined up to $300 if wild animals eat their Halloween decorations, according to<a href="https://kvoa.com/news/local-news/2018/10/24/residents-could-be-fined-for-wildlife-eating-halloween-decorations/"> News 4 Tucson</a>.

In one instance, an owl in California became entangled in a fake cobweb on Halloween night. When the owl tried to escape, he panicked and only became more ensnared. Thankfully, the Marin Humane Society responded to the scene and rescued him. He was then taken to WildCare in San Rafael for treatment and was returned to the wild. The family took down their cobwebs after the incident and decided to stop using the decorations permanently.

It’s not just Halloween that threatens wildlife. WildCare has seen animals clash with decorations throughout the year.

"It's a lot more common than people realize," said WildCare Director Melanie Piazza told<a href="https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Real-Owl-Caught-in-Fake-Halloween-Spider-Web-132831773.html"> NBC Bay Area</a>. "We've had squirrels come in with Fourth of July banners wrapped around their tails and deer that have been stuck in Christmas lights."

Fireworks can also cause harm to wild animal through loud noises, toxins and direct obstructions. One Arkansas neighborhood famously brought in the New Year in 2011 with<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/us/04beebe.html"> thousands of dead birds falling from the sky</a>. Wildlife officials believe the fireworks caused the birds to become disorientated. The birds began flying at lower heights to avoid the fireworks and collided into homes and trees, resulting in their death.

People who want to enjoy their holidays do not need to forgo all decorations. For Halloween, people can hang fake cobwebs up from inside their windows or use other decorations such as jack-o’-lanterns with fake candles. This way the only ones who are spooked are the trick-or-treaters.

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By <a href="mailto:brianna.grant134@gmail.com">Brianna Lynne</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Fake cobwebs can cause more than just a spook to wildlife

Ahead of Halloween, wildlife officials are urging people to take...

Last year in the United States, 900,000 people were hospitalized and an estimated 80,000 people died from the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/an-outbreak-like-the-1918-flu-pandemic-could-kill-147-million-today/">flu</a> and its complications.

According to Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, it was the deadliest flu season in more than four decades.

In an article for <a href="http://theconversation.com/au">The Conversation</a>, Michelle Sconce Massaquoi of the University of Oregon explains why washing your hands is so important during flu season. Massaquoi says there are two main strategies in hand washing.


“The first is to decrease the overall biomass of microbes - that is, decrease the amount of bacteria, viruses and other types of microorganisms,” she writes. “We do this by lathering with soap and rinsing with water. Soap’s chemistry helps remove microorganisms from our hands by accentuating the slippery properties of our own skin.”

The second strategy, says Massaquoi, is to kill the bacteria. By using antibacterial soap, we can reduce some bacteria much more effectively compared to using plain soap.

“However, there’s a problem. Some bacterial cells on our hands may have genes that enable them to be resistant to a given antibacterial agent. This means that after the antibacterial agent kills some bacteria, the resistant strains remaining on the hands can flourish.”

“Further, the genes that allowed the bacteria to be resistant could pass along to other bacteria, causing more resistant strains. Together, the ‘take-over’ of resistant strains would render the use of the antibacterial agent essentially ineffective.”

“With this in mind, you may want to stick with plain old soap and water.”

The CDC recommends that we wet our hands with clean water, apply soap and lather for 20-30 seconds, and rinse well with clean running water.

“I was shocked to read a study that indicated that 93.2 percent of 2,800 survey respondents did not wash their hands after coughing or sneezing,” Massaquoi writes in The Conversation. “Also, one study showed that across a college-town environment with observations of 3,749 people, the average hand-washing time was approximately six seconds.”

Another option is an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent ethanol. However, these sanitizers may not eliminate all classes of germs.

According to the CDC, “The best way to prevent seasonal flu is to get vaccinated every year.” The CDC has a site dedicated to answering questions about the flu vaccine, which can be found here: <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/index.html">https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/index.html</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

Why washing your hands is so important during flu season

Last year in the United States, 900,000 people were hospitalized...

Kicking alcohol addiction is hard. Part of the difficulty might be because alcohol hijacks a neural pathway that forms memories, triggering your brain to remember the good times and ignore the bad.

A single alcoholic drink can alter that pathway for a time, a new study suggests – which may be why you remember the fun and forget about any embarrassing moments or the side effects that follow.

"All drugs of abuse – alcohol, opiates, cocaine, methamphetamine – have adverse side effects. They make people nauseous or they give people hangovers, so why do we find them so rewarding? Why do we remember the good things about them and not the bad?” Dr. Karla Kaun of <a href="https://www.brown.edu/">Brown University</a> said in a press release. 

Although alcohol addiction and substance abuse can ruin lives, it’s difficult to fight the addiction. Kaun and her team wanted to see what role memories played in keeping addicts from kicking their habits.

The researchers used fruit flies to study how alcohol affects memory, since the molecular signals that trigger rewarding memories and avoidance are similar to the signals in human brains. Fruit flies have about 100,000 neurons compared to humans’ more than 100 billion, making them a sort of scale model. And scientists have already developed genetic tools that allow them to manipulate and observe fruit flies’ neural pathways.

The team trained fruit flies to seek out alcohol, then observed which proteins were activated by the activity. The study uncovered a specific gene, dopamine-2-like receptor, that appeared to play a role in the fruit flies’ alcohol addiction.

"The dopamine-2-like receptor is known to be involved in encoding whether a memory is pleasing or aversive," said Dr. Emily Petruccelli, who led the research. 

They found that alcohol changed the version of the protein the gene produced. The single tiny change seemed to trigger the brain to encode memories as pleasant, or ignore them. That, in turn, seems to trigger cravings.

The way alcoholic drinks affect the D2-like receptor could help explain why alcohol addiction is so difficult to conquer despite its negative consequences.

"If this works the same way in humans, one glass of wine is enough to activate the pathway, but it returns to normal within an hour," Kaun said. "After three glasses, with an hour break in between, the pathway doesn't return to normal after 24 hours. We think this persistence is likely what is changing the gene expression in memory circuits.”

The study has been published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/neuron/home">Neuron</a>.

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By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Alcohol addiction tied to 'hijacking' of memory pathway

Kicking alcohol addiction is hard. Part of the difficulty might...

Rising sea levels could force England to sacrifice about 90 miles of its coast – 1.5 million coastal properties – by the year 2080, a new study warns.

“There's already a very significant risk of flooding and coastal erosion,” Dr. Jim Hall of the UK’s <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/">Committee on Climate Change</a> told the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html">Daily Mail</a>. “That could get a lot worse – about a million-and-a-half properties in future at risk from flooding, 100,000 properties at risk from coastal erosion.”

The committee estimates that the sea around England will rise as much as 3 feet by 2080 due to rising atmospheric temperatures around the world. Depending on the coastal elevation, this could cause England to lose anywhere from 0.1 to 25 meters of coastal land.

The rising sea levels won’t just cause flooding, the researchers said. The shift will allow for more devastating storm surges and cause issues with erosion.

Large swaths of the Lancashire coastline could be lost, along with south Devon, north Somerset and parts of Essex and Norfolk. Some areas may be saved, but financial impact mean others will not.

And as many as 55 landfills could be swamped, spilling hazardous materials into the ocean waters.

The UK study isn’t the first to warn people of the rising sea levels. 

One recent study found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-sea-levels-inland/">13.1 million people in the United States</a> alone could be displaced by coastal flooding. The <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> has released a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/maps-potential-sea-level-rise/">set of maps</a> predicting which areas might be hardest hit.

A global study found that even a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-level-rise-tsunami-flooding/">12-inch rise</a> could lead to flooding and more devastating tsunamis.

The UK government needs to sit down with small coastal communities and begin considering their options before the rising sea levels cause problems, Hall told the Mail.

“We are talking about abandoning houses and people being exposed to intolerable levels of coastal flood risk,” he said.

At least one member of the Committee on Climate Change agreed with him.

“Our current approach to protecting the coastline is really not fit for [this] purpose,” Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge and deputy chairwoman of the committee, told the Mail. “This is a wake-up call.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Rising sea levels could cost England 90 miles of coastland

Rising sea levels could force England to sacrifice about 90...

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

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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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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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