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 recent study published in <a href="https://link.springer.com/journal/10071">Animal Cognition</a> has found that toddlers use some of the same gestures as chimpanzees and gorillas to communicate. Of the 52 limb and body movements used by one and two year olds to communicate, many of these movements are also observed in great apes.

“'Wild chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans all use gestures to communicate their day-to-day requests,” says Dr. Catherine Hobaiter of the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at <a href="https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/">St. Andrews University</a>. “But until now there was always one ape missing from the picture – us.”

In a first of its kind study, Hobaiter’s international team of researchers used the same method of recording gestures for both species. They filmed <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/chimpanzees-learn-tools/">chimpanzees</a> in the Budongo Forest in Uganda, and recorded 13 young children interacting with their peers, caregivers, and relatives at home, in nurseries, and during shopping trips in Germany and Uganda.

According to Hobaiter, chimpanzees and humans are the only species that have a system of communication where they intentionally send messages to another individual. Analysis of the chimpanzees and children found that, of the 52 distinct gestures used by children, 46 of them are present in the chimpanzees’ communication as well. This included actions such as reaching with an outstretched palm, raising, waving, or shaking the arm, clapping, and shaking or throwing objects.

“‘Of the six remaining, four of the gestures used by children: “Hit self,” “Object on head,” “Rub” and “Tapping self,” are present in the gorilla repertoire and two gestures: “Arm bend” and “Hand wave,” were specific to children,” explains Hobaiter. “Like chimpanzees, children used them both singly, and in sequences, and employed individual gestures flexibly towards different goals. We thought we might find a few of these gestures – reaching out your palm to ask for something or sticking your hand up in the air. But we were amazed to see so many of the “ape” gestures used by the children.”

The researchers found that children used these motions in a similar way to young apes when communicating with parents or peers, and even used combinations to ask for different things. However, there were some distinct differences. For example, children point significantly more than young apes, and it appears that hand waving to say “hello” or “goodbye” is unique to humans.

“Since chimpanzees and humans shared a common ancestor around five to six million years ago, we wanted to know whether our evolutionary history of communication is also reflected in human development,” says first author Dr. Verena Kersken of the <a href="http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/1.html">University of Gottingen</a>.

While we humans would go on to develop a complex language, these findings show that we still share an ancient gestural heritage. 

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Toddlers and chimps share many of the same gestures to communicate

A recent study published in Animal Cognition has found that...

While efforts to improve access to proper <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/war-urbanization-global-malnutrition/">nutrition</a> in the developing world have improved over the years, there are still about 2 billion people on the planet who are affected by micronutrient malnutrition – also known as “hidden hunger.” Currently, the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/">United Nations’</a> second Sustainable Development Goal aims to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030. But new research has found that we may need a different approach to assessing the nutrient sufficiency of the global food system.

In the first study to quantitatively map the flow of energy, protein, fat, essential amino acids, and micronutrients from “field-to-fork” on a global level, a report published in <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems">Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems</a> highlights the complexities that are part of delivering a balanced food system.

“There are two main issues with how we currently talk about food systems,” says <a href="https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/501115/overview">Hannah Ritchie</a> of the <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/">University of Edinburgh</a>, who led the study. “The first is that we focus our measure of food security in terms of calories (energy), when micronutrient malnutrition (‘hidden hunger’) affects more than ~2 billion people across the world. The second issue is that aspects of our food system are reported in tonnes or kilograms, and it’s very hard to put these numbers in the context of how many people this could feed.”

The researchers aimed to assess the full food system by looking at average nutrients per person across a wide array of nutrients that are necessary for good health. Through using food balance and nutrient composition datasheets from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to quantify digestible protein, fat, calories, amino acids and micronutrients across the supply chain, they calculated food and nutrient losses from FAO regional waste data. 

Their results showed that all nutrients – not just calories – exceeded average requirements. 

“Previous studies have shown that we produce much more than we need in terms of calories (5,500-6,000 kilocalories per person per day), but I was not expecting this for protein and essential micronutrients. Some nutrients were up to five times the average requirement,” says Ritchie.

However, although nutrients exceeded requirements, food wastage and nutrient losses in the supply chain made it so by the time some nutrients reached households, they barely made the nutrition requirements.

“This would be okay in a perfectly equitable food system,” says Ritchie. “But with large inequalities in food availability, we know that many people will be deficient in several essential nutrients.”

 One of the biggest complexities is that these losses don’t happen in the same place for each nutrient. The most significant micronutrient losses occur in post-harvest waste of fruits and vegetables, while the largest losses of energy and protein happen in the allocation of crops to animal feed and biofuel. Beyond this one complication, there are many other issues that arise when attempting to remedy nutrient loss.

“This study is just the start,” says <a href="https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/484235/overview">Professor David Reay</a>, a supporting researcher from the University of Edinburgh. “In the future, this replicable framework can be used to map food pathways for specific regions and countries. Our hope is that governments and development agencies can use it to assess food security risks and develop locally specific solutions.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Nutrient loss leaves billions of people at risk of “hidden hunger”

While efforts to improve access to proper nutrition in the...

Previous research has shown that people often interpret new information in a way that supports their pre-existing beliefs, which is known as confirmation bias. A new study by researchers at the <a href="https://www.uke.de/english/index.html">University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf</a> (UKE) and <a href="https://english.tau.ac.il/">Tel Aviv University</a> has demonstrated that a tendency toward confirmation bias prevails even when <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/people-decisions-intuition-logic/">decisions</a> are as trivial as choosing the direction of dots running across a screen. 

“Confirmation biases have previously only been established in the domains of higher cognition or subjective preferences,” said study co-author Tobias Donner. “It was rather striking for us to see that people displayed clear signs of confirmation bias when judging on sensory input that we expected to be subjectively neutral to them.”

The findings of the study suggest that confirmation bias is linked to selective attention, a process in which people react to certain pieces of information and not others when several are presented at the same time.

Although the phenomenon of confirmation bias is well-established, it has not been entirely determined what drives this tendency. One theory is that, after making a decision, people like to find ways to confirm they made the right choice. Another theory is that people become less sensitive to new information after making an important decision.

To investigate, the researchers instructed study participants to look at two videos that featured a cloud of small white dots on a white computer screen. The individuals were asked to report the direction of the moving dots, which was difficult because the dots were embedded in many more dots that moved sporadically.  

After the first video, the participants were asked to decide whether the motion of the dots pointed clockwise or counterclockwise from a reference line drawn next to the cloud. After the second video, the volunteers were asked to drag the mouse over the screen to represent their best estimate of the average direction that they had observed in both videos. 

The study revealed that after making an initial call based on the first video, the participants were more likely to use subsequent evidence that was consistent with this initial choice when making their final decision. This discovery indicates that the initial choice acts as a cue, selectively directing attention toward any incoming information that supports it.


“Contrary to a common phrase, first impression does not have to be the last impression,” said study first author Bharath Talluri. “Such impressions, or choices, lead us to evaluate information in their favor. By acknowledging the fact that we selectively prioritize information agreeing with our previous choices, we could attempt to actively suppress this bias, at least in cases of critical significance, like evaluating job candidates or making policies that impact a large section of the society.”


The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

People interpret new information to back their existing beliefs

Previous research has shown that people often interpret new information...

Donkeys have been a prominent figure throughout our history, steadily helping humans for centuries. Today, donkeys fill many roles for humans from agricultural animals to beloved pets. But now, donkeys are increasingly filling an unexpected role as a medicinal good.

The market for donkey skins is driven by demand for ejiao, a medicine made from donkey skins that is used for a wide variety of purposes, from <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/anti-aging-hormone/">anti-aging</a> to increased libido and cancer treatment. Ejiao has been around for 2,500 years, but its popularity has recently grown as a result of marketing campaigns and new uses for the product. 

According to a<a href="https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/sites/uk/files/2017-11/under_the_skin_report.pdf"> 2017 report</a> by The Donkey Sanctuary, an estimated 1.8 million donkey skins are traded every year. Like many animal products used for traditional medicine, ejiao is seen as a luxury good.

Sadly, the lives of the donkeys used for their skins is often far from luxurious. Donkeys are either killed in illicit slaughterhouses or taken to legal operations to be slaughtered and skinned.

These donkey slaughterhouses are often marked by poor living conditions including lack of food and water, exposure to infectious diseases and inhumane slaughter techniques. Some donkeys are even skinned while they are still alive, likely enduring extreme pain and distress. After the donkeys are skinned, their carcasses are sometimes simply dumped in a pile or buried outside creating potential public health concerns.

The National Council of SPCAs notes one especially horrific case at a donkey slaughterhouse, “The Bloemfontein SPCA investigated an issue involving 70 sick, weak and emaciated donkeys on a plot outside the city. According to workers, the donkeys had been on the property for two weeks without food or water. Some had aborted and dead foetuses were found on the ground.”

 Now, certain regional donkey populations are dwindling as donkeys cannot keep up with demand. China, who is a large consumer of donkey skin products, experienced a decline in donkey populations from<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-22/ejiao-threatens-donkey-populations/9282138"> 11 million in 1990 to 3 million in 2017</a>. To help with this decline, donkeys are exported to China from developing countries where donkeys are common.

The sudden and overwhelming demand for donkeys adversely affects farmers who depend on donkeys for their livelihood. Since the donkey skin market has exploded, the price for donkeys has increased in countries such as Niger and Kenya.<a href="https://spana.org/"> SPANA</a>, the international working animal charity, states that the price of a donkey in some African countries has inflated up to four times its normal price. If farmers can still afford to buy donkeys, they risk having their donkeys stolen for the donkey skin trade. Almost 1,000 donkeys were stolen in Kenya from December 2016 to April 2017 alone.

Farmers in countries such as Tanzania and Kenya are now receiving help from non-profits groups such as <a href="https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/">The Donkey Sanctuary</a> and <a href="https://www.thebrooke.org/">The Brooke</a> in protecting their donkeys and preventing theft. 

In addition to community level actions, some African and Asian countries are fighting back and banning donkey skin exports from their countries. As illegal donkey slaughterhouses continue to proliferate, country-wide bans of donkey exports should be followed by increased enforcement efforts.

--

By <a href="mailto:brianna.grant134@gmail.com">Brianna Lynne</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Increased demand for donkey skins has created a horrific market

Donkeys have been a prominent figure throughout our history, steadily...

Our eyesight is an integral part of the survival of our species, as it allows us to identify both food and predators – two of the most important things for a species’ survival. Identifying the presence and direction of a moving object helps animals find <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/bats-echolocation-hunt-prey/">prey</a>, and also avoid being prey. 

Vertebrate retinas have four kinds of motion-sensitive cells to help with this task, with each being responsive to a motion that is up, down, right, or left. But in the nighttime, our retinas have a good deal of difficulty detecting motion. A new study in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/neuron/home">Neuron</a> reports findings on how the retina is able to reprogram itself for dealing with low light.

Retinal circuits were believed to be unchanging, programmed for specific tasks and unable to be reprogrammed. Cells programmed to respond to upward motion were thought to only deal with movement in the up direction, as were cells programmed for the other three directions. It’s known that when an object is moving exactly in one of those directions, that population of neurons fires strongly. If the motion is halfway between two directions – such as going up and to the right – both populations of cells will fire, just not quite as strongly.

These directional neurons make up roughly 4 percent of the cells that send signals from the retina to the brain in humans. In rodents, these neurons make up about 20 to 30 percent, as motion detection is even more important for an animal that is constantly being hunted. Because they are always at risk of being attacked by a predator, rodents tend to forage at night, most likely because it’s harder for predators to see. “But of course, nature is an arms race,” explains Greg Field, an assistant professor of neurobiology and biomedical engineering at <a href="https://www.duke.edu/">Duke University</a>. 

“Owls and cats have developed highly specialized eyes to see at night. The prey have altered what they have to survive.”

One of these potential alterations was found by Xiaoyang Yao, a graduate student in Field’s lab who looked at mouse retinas under a microscope equipped with night vision in a very dark room. She found that the retinal cells programmed for upward movement actually change their behavior in low light. These “up” neurons will fire when they detect any kind of movement – not just upward motion. This was shown through placing a small sample of mouse retina on an electrode array that measures the individual firing of hundreds of neurons at once. The researchers then showed it movies, and assessed the firing of the neurons in daytime and nighttime conditions.

They found that only the “up” cells become reprogrammed for all motion in low light. Although the researchers don’t know the exact reasons for this, Fields believes it is because up is the most important direction for a prey animal to spot a predator, as it may loom upwards while it approaches prey. While they haven’t refined exactly why this adaptation occurred, the discovery that large populations of retinal neurons adapt their function for low light conditions is an important finding. Because it is driven by both the circuitry and chemical signals between cells, there may be many other adaptations like this one that can be found with further research.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How our eyes adapt and reprogram to see at night

Our eyesight is an integral part of the survival of...

Researchers have identified a <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/amish-people-live-longer/">gene mutation</a> that triggered changes in humans more than two million years ago, and ultimately shaped the physical capacity of modern humans. According to the study, the loss of a single gene called CMAH may have contributed to the ability of humans to run long distances. 

Around the same time as the CMAH mutation, early humans were making the  transition from living in the forest to living primarily in the arid savannahs of Africa. Human bodies and their abilities were evolving dramatically, particularly changes in physiology that resulted in long legs, big feet, and powerful gluteal muscles. 

Study senior author Dr. Ajit Varki is the Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine at <a href="http://som.ucsd.edu/">UC San Diego School of Medicine</a>.

“We discovered this first clear genetic difference between humans and our closest living evolutionary relatives, the chimpanzees, more than 20 years ago,” said Dr. Varki.


The team set out to investigate the loss of CMAH in mice to examine how the genetic difference may have contributed to physiological changes and the origin of Homo.

“Since the mice were also more prone to muscle dystrophy, I had a hunch that there was a connection to the increased long distance running and endurance of Homo, but I had no expertise on the issue and could not convince anyone in my lab to organize this long-shot experiment,” said Dr. Varki.


The challenge was ultimately taken on by graduate student Jon Okerblom, who built mouse running wheels and borrowed a mouse treadmill. 

“We evaluated the exercise capacity (of mice lacking the CMAH gene), and noted an increased performance during treadmill testing and after 15 days of voluntary wheel running,” said Okerblom.

The team found that the mice displayed greater resistance to fatigue, increased mitochondrial respiration and hind-limb muscle, and more capillaries to increase blood and oxygen supply.

Dr. Varki said that these findings suggest CMAH loss contributed to improved skeletal muscle capacity for oxygen utilization. “And if the findings translate to humans, they may have provided early hominids with a selective advantage in their move from trees to becoming permanent hunter-gatherers on the open range.”

The study is published in the <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Gene mutation made humans capable of running long distances

Researchers have identified a gene mutation that triggered changes in...

Anyone who has ever <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/anxiety-logical-decisions/">gambled</a> knows that it can give you quite the rush, and requires a fair amount of analysis, whether you’re betting on poker, a sporting event, or how many slices of pizza you can eat in one sitting. Analysis of brain activity during betting can give insight into how we make decisions and assess the choices we’ve made. 

A new study from the <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">University of California, Berkeley</a> has found that once a gambler places a bet, they immediately begin experiencing regret about past bets – both won and lost.

“Right after making a choice and right before finding out about the outcome, the brain is replaying and revisiting nearly every feature of what happened during the previous decision,” says senior author Ming Hsu, an associate professor in the Haas School of Business and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley. “Instead of ‘I just gambled but maybe I shouldn’t have,’ it is, ‘Last round I gambled and that was a really good choice.’ Or, ‘I played it safe last time but should have gone for it.’”

For their study, published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>, the researchers focused on the orbitofrontal cortex of the brain, which is involved in reward processing and social interactions. Past research has found that this area of the brain is involved in how people value their choice options, how much regret they feel, how valuable their choice is, and how much risk they are willing to take. These feelings have influence over future choices, and help an individual determine how good or bad an outcome may have been.

The researchers recorded fast human brain activity at a thousand measurements per second to reveal the complex array of activity underlying decisions being made by study participants. They used electrodes to record this activity, and did so while participants were presented with a betting opportunity and deciding whether or not to bet. They also recorded brain activity once the individual placed the bet and then learned the outcome. Their recording allowed the researchers to track the activity moving through the orbitofrontal cortex on a millisecond by millisecond basis.

&nbsp;

“It turns out that the most prevalent information encoded in the orbitofrontal cortex was the regret subjects experienced from their previous decision,” says first author Ignacio Saez, a former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow, now an assistant professor at UC Davis.

Brain activity showed that gamblers were second-guessing their earlier decision based off whether they won or lost, even before they discovered whether or not they had won their current bet.

“After the subject has made a decision, the brain, far from idly waiting to find out the outcome, was busy revisiting what occurred during the previous decision – everything from whether they gambled and how much was won or lost, to how much regret they felt from their earlier decision,” says Hsu. “From our subjects we get a better picture of the brain and what it is doing during decision-making, but it also gives some ground-truth for the type of signals we might look for in people with dysfunctions in decision-making,” Hsu said. “There is a lot more going on under the hood than is represented in our elegant but overly-simplified models and theories.”

The researchers see an opportunity to better understand both addictive and antisocial behavior, as well as compare regret in normal brains versus injured brains. Future findings may help improvement treatment for individuals with disorders or injuries related to the orbitofrontal cortex.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

When betting, gamblers mainly feel regret over past wagers

Anyone who has ever gambled knows that it can give...

A new study published by the <a href="http://www.apa.org/">American Psychological Association</a> has revealed that more than one-third of college freshmen suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder. The investigation involved first-year <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/college-students-thought-suicide/">university students</a> in eight industrialized countries worldwide. 

Dr. Randy P. Auerbach of <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a> is the study's lead author.

“While effective care is important, the number of students who need treatment for these disorders far exceeds the resources of most counseling centers, resulting in a substantial unmet need for mental health treatment among college students,” said Dr. Auerbach. “Considering that students are a key population for determining the economic success of a country, colleges must take a greater urgency in addressing this issue.”

The research team analyzed data from the World Health Organization's World Mental Health International College Student Initiative, which involved nearly 14,000 students from 19 colleges in eight countries. The participants reported on symptoms associated with common mental disorders, including major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder.

Overall, 35 percent of the respondents suffered from symptoms that were consistent with at least one mental health disorder. The most common ailment was found to be major depressive disorder, followed by generalized anxiety disorder.

“The finding that one-third of students from multiple countries screened positive for at least one of six mental health disorders represents a key global mental health issue,” said Dr. Auerbach.

According to previous research, only 15 to 20 percent of students will address their issues with local psychologists or at their school counseling center. For those who will not seek out help in person, Dr. Auerbach recommends Internet resources, such as online cognitive behavioral therapy.

“University systems are currently working at capacity and counseling centers tend to be cyclical, with students ramping up service use toward the middle of the semester, which often creates a bottleneck,” said Dr. Auerbach. “Internet-based clinical tools may be helpful in providing treatment to students who are less inclined to pursue services on campus or are waiting to be seen.”

The study is published in the <a href="http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/abn/">Journal of Abnormal Psychology</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

One in three college freshmen suffer from mental health disorders

A new study published by the American Psychological Association has...

When researchers investigated a potential connection between personality traits and Christmas shopping habits, they found that people who are more emotionally stable spend more money during the holidays. People who are less stable, particularly those who have higher levels of neuroticism, were found to spend less money on Christmas shopping.

For retailers, holiday sales can represent 20 percent of revenue for the entire year, which means that understanding how consumers spend money during this time is of particular interest. The research team set out to find personality traits that may predict holiday spending.

“We've known for a while that personality is related to what we call ‘broad outcomes:’ how much money you make or how happy you are or how long you live, but we know less about why personality is related to those things,” explained co-lead author Sara Weston of <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu/">Northwestern University</a>.

The team, which also included co-lead author Joe Gladstone of the <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a> and colleagues, determined that personality traits are related to specific spending behaviors.

The study was focused on more than two million individual transactions from the bank accounts of over 2,000 participants. The researchers compared the relationship between the Big 5 personality traits and spending over the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/christmas-sex-september-births/">Christmas</a> season.

The study revealed that people who are more emotionally stable spend more during the holidays, while those high in neuroticism spend less. The experts also found that individuals with more artistic interests and more active imaginations spend less during the holiday season compared to people who are less artistic and imaginative. In addition, individuals who are highly conscientious spend more during the holidays.

This research provides a guide for examining how large scale information combined with personality traits can create an overview of consumer habits.

“By providing objective measures of both annual and holiday spending, the data allow for a truly ecological study of the relationship between personality traits and consumer behavior,” said Gladstone.

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/home/spp">Social Psychological and Personality Science</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

People who are emotionally stable spend more during the holidays

When researchers investigated a potential connection between personality traits and...

According to recent estimates, as much as 70 percent of all the world's freshwater is used for crop irrigation. 

Global agricultural has placed a huge burden on water resources and there is growing concern that climate change and population increases will strain already precariously low watersheds too thin. 

The world’s population is projected to increase from <a href="https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/Files/Key_Findings_WPP_2015.pdf">7.4 billion to 9.725 billion </a>by 2050, and the big question that arises is how will agriculture meet the food demands of a growing population?

Moreover, will there be enough water to meet the new agricultural demands? Assessing the world’s water consumption, particularly in terms of agriculture, is difficult because many areas do not report water consumption levels for agriculture. 

The <a href="http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/SMOS/How_much_water_is_used_for_irrigation">European Space Agency (ESA)</a> recently reported on a new study published in the journal International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation that discussed the possibility of using ESA <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/smap-satellite-will-measure-moisture-in-earths-soil/">satellites to measure soil moisture</a>. 

If researchers have a better idea of how much water is being used for crops than that information could inform water conservation and management in the future. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.cnr.it/en/institute/066/research-institute-for-geo-hydrological-protection-irpi">CNR Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection</a> in Italy proposed the satellite soil moisture measurement application. 

“As a first step to demonstrating how this type of satellite measurements could be used, we chose nine sites in all – sites in the US, Europe, Africa and Australia,” Luca Brocca, the study’s lead author, told the ESA. “We took four satellite missions that observe soil moisture and we were able to measure the amount of water applied for irrigation between two consecutive soil-moisture measurements from space.”

The researchers propose that satellite data from different missions like the ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission as well as <a href="https://smap.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive mission</a>, could record accurate soil moisture measurements and help show how much water is used for crops around the world. 

“This really is a first step, but we can anticipate that higher resolution data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions offer further potential,” said Brocca. 

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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 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Agricultural irrigation places massive burden on freshwater supply

According to recent estimates, as much as 70 percent of...

This summer saw a dramatic spike in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/record-setting-heat-waves/">temperatures across the world</a>. Record-breaking heat waves in the United Kingdom claimed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/03/deaths-rose-650-above-average-during-uk-heatwave-with-older-people-most-at-risk">700 more deaths than average</a> and extremely high temperatures in Quebec Province in Canada are estimated to have contributed to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/07/10/627687639/estimated-70-deaths-linked-to-canadas-heat-wave">70 deaths</a>. 

As climate change continues to increase temperatures, the number of deaths attributed to heat waves and weather extremes will only increase.

Now, a new study has found ensuring the goals of the Paris Accord are met is crucial to minimizing catastrophic death tolls due to high temperatures. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/">London School of Hygiene &amp; Tropical Medicine </a>(LSHTM) conducted the study, the first of its kind, to examine the health impacts of rising temperatures under climate scenarios in line with goals of the Paris Accord. 

The aim of the Paris Agreement is to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius with some countries hoping to limit warming even more.

While many studies have focused on the Paris Accord and made predictions about global climate, sea level, weather extremes, and health impacts based on many different emission scenarios, this study specifically focuses on mortality due to heat extremes if the Paris Accord is not met. 

The results were published in the journal Climate Change. 

Historical data on temperature-related deaths were collected and analyzed from 451 locations in 23 countries around the world. 

Using this data, the researchers simulated scenarios that were inline with the Paris Accord or higher to get a sense of how rising temperature would impact heat-related deaths. 

The results showed that if global warming exceeded three or four-degree Celsius, there would be a dramatic increase in heat-related deaths. 

Even in the scenarios that used the goal temperatures of keeping warming below two degrees Celsius saw an increase in deaths in warmer regions of the globe, but not nearly as much as the higher warming scenarios. 

“Our projections suggest that large increases in temperature-related deaths could be limited in most regions if warming was kept below 2°C,” said Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera, the first author of the study. “Under extreme changes in climate, large parts of the world could experience a dramatic increase in excess mortality due to heat. Efforts to limit the increase in global temperature to below 1.5°C could provide additional benefits in tropical or arid regions, including the most populous and often poorest countries.”

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By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Heat-related deaths set to skyrocket with warming temperatures

This summer saw a dramatic spike in temperatures across the...

Ancient civilizations in Mesoamerica captured and kept animals for more than just food, according to a new study.

Domesticating and herding livestock played an important role in our early ancestors’ transition from hunting and gathering in nomadic groups to forming permanent settlements and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/goat-genome-domestication/">cultivating the land for food and resources. </a>

New research shows that on top of captive animals being used for important resources like food or clothes made from animal skins, some civilizations traded wild animals through a large network to serve a variety of purposes. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www2.gmu.edu/">George Mason University</a> discovered evidence of wild animals like pumas and jaguars being traded in the Maya city of Copan in Honduras which dates back to 426 to 822 AD. 

The findings were published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202958">PLOS ONE. </a>

Mesoamerican cultures traded wild animals as a symbolic display of power, for rituals, and also to be used for important resources like venison or crafts. 

The capture and trade of wild animals in ancient Mesoamerica dates back to the Teotihuacan culture in what is central Mexico today. 

However, it was not well understood how large a role wild animal trade and management played at the time due to the scarce evidence of domesticated animals in archaeological excavations. 

For this study, the researchers analyzed animal samples that were found in five different ritual sites in Copan. 

Stable isotope analysis performed on the samples showed the diet and geographical region of the animals. The researchers found that many of the samples were likely used in rituals or made into goods and the animals were from far regions of the Copan Valley. 

“Encoded into the bones of jaguars and pumas at the Maya site of Copan was evidence of both captivity and of expansive trade networks trading ritualized carnivores across the dynamic Mesoamerican landscape,” said Nawa Sugiyama, the lead author of the study. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: N. Sugiyama

Wild animals were traded for rituals in ancient Mesoamerica

Ancient civilizations in Mesoamerica captured and kept animals for more...

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

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features 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?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

[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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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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



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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