Being cool can feel elusive and almost mythic - something we “know when we see it,” yet struggle to define.



A sweeping new investigation led by marketing scholars Todd Pezzuti of <a href="https://www.uai.cl/">Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez</a> and Caleb Warren of the <a href="https://www.arizona.edu/">University of Arizona</a> argues that the concept is far less mysterious than it seems.



Across twelve nations, nearly 6,000 participants independently picked out the same constellation of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/personality-type-can-accurately-predict-your-relationship-status/">personality</a> traits when describing a cool person. 



The findings reveal not only what separates “cool” from “good” but also why cool people tend to become catalysts of social change.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mapping-cool-across-12-nations">Mapping cool across 12 nations</h2>



Between 2018 and 2022, the research team collected online responses from adults in the United States, Australia, Chile, mainland China, Hong Kong, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey.



Participants first confirmed that they understood the slang meaning of the word “cool,” then spent a few minutes imagining someone who embodied one of four labels: cool, uncool, good, or not good.



Afterward, volunteers evaluated that imagined person on a battery of personality dimensions drawn from psychology’s “Big Five” model and Schwartz’s theory of universal values.



Because all responses came from internet users in relatively urban settings, the sample leans toward technologically connected citizens. 



Still, it is one of the most culturally diverse datasets ever assembled to study reputational judgments. The result is a uniquely global snapshot of how people assign social prestige.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-cool-and-good-part-ways"><a></a>Where cool and good part ways</h2>



When the investigators compared ratings, they found considerable overlap: both cool and good people scored high on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/people-with-many-facial-expressions-seem-more-social-and-likeable/">likability</a>. Yet important divergences emerged.



In all the places they studied, people consistently perceived cool individuals as more extraverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open, and autonomous. 



Good people, by contrast, ranked as conforming, traditional, secure, warm, agreeable, universalistic, conscientious, and calm.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cool-people-aren-t-always-good">Cool people aren't always "good"</h2>



In Pezzuti’s view, the cool profile evokes a kind of charismatic boundary-pusher: energetic, novelty seeking, and unapologetically self-directed.



That explains why cool individuals can inspire fashion trends or launch creative movements - roles that sometimes require bending social rules rather than following them.



“To be seen as cool, someone usually needs to be somewhat likable or admirable, which makes them similar to good people," said Warren. "However, cool people often have other traits that aren’t necessarily considered ‘good’ in a moral sense, like being hedonistic and powerful.”



The cool persona therefore straddles acceptance and transgression: admired enough to influence peers, rebellious enough to feel fresh.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cool-traits-go-global">Cool traits go global</h2>



In the mid-20th century, “cool” circulated in small countercultures - from Black jazz clubs to Beatnik cafés. Over the decades, fashion labels, record companies and Hollywood studios harnessed the aura of cool, broadcasting certain looks and attitudes to a worldwide audience.



The new study suggests that process may have standardized the meaning of the term. Even participants who live 10,000 miles apart now recognize the same signature <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/personality-traits-linked-to-willingness-to-volunteer-or-donate/">traits</a>. As the authors note, the meaning of cool has crystallized on a similar set of traits and values around the world.



Pezzuti does not see commercialization as a death knell. “Coolness has definitely evolved over time, but I don’t think it has lost its edge. It’s just become more functional,” he said.



“The concept of coolness started in small, rebellious sub-cultures, including Black jazz musicians in the 1940s and the beatniks in the 1950s. As society moves faster and puts more value on creativity and change, cool people are more essential than ever.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-coolness-matters">Why coolness matters</h2>



Because cool people display power and autonomy while earning admiration, the researchers argue that coolness helps establish informal hierarchies. Instead of relying solely on wealth or institutional authority, communities also elevate figures who embody daring and originality.



These individuals, in turn, shape cultural norms by modeling alternative ways to dress, speak, or live. As Pezzuti puts it, “everyone wants to be cool, or at least avoid the stigma of being uncool, and society needs cool people because they challenge norms, inspire change, and advance culture.”



That dual role - both aspirational and disruptive - makes the cool persona uniquely influential. Marketers know this instinctively when they cast charismatic musicians in sneaker ads. Activists harness it when they infuse protest art with edgy style.



The study provides empirical backing for those intuitions: people from Lagos to Los Angeles consistently associate coolness with adventurous independence.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coolness-in-the-digital-age">Coolness in the digital age</h2>



The team notes their study excludes rural and offline groups, whose ideas of cool may differ significantly. They also restricted the study to cultures already familiar with the English slang term, potentially narrowing linguistic nuance.



Future projects could test whether the six-trait profile - extraverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open, and autonomous - holds in additional societies or emerges in other languages.



Researchers are likewise curious about how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/social-media-pressure-is-straining-teen-friendships/">social media</a> platforms, which accelerate the spread of trends, might further synchronize or fragment global standards of cool. Does TikTok broaden identity through niche subcultures or reinforce the six-trait mold by favoring charismatic risk-takers?



For now, the evidence is striking: when people across five continents imagine someone undeniably cool, they picture remarkably similar qualities. 



Coolness, it turns out, may be one of the few cross-cultural constants - an unwritten code that transcends borders even as it keeps pushing boundaries.



The study is published in the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxge0001799">Journal of Experimental Psychology: General</a>.



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What makes people cool? Scientists tracked down the traits

Being cool can feel elusive and almost mythic - something we “know when we see it,” yet struggle to define. A sweeping new investigation led by marketing scholars Todd Pezzuti of Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and Caleb Warren of the University of Arizona argues that the concept is far less mysterious than it seems. Across twelve nations, nearly 6,000 participants independently picked out the same constellation of personality traits when describing a cool person. The findings reveal not only what separates “cool” from “good” but also why cool...

The retina is the light-sensitive area at the back of our eye. It contains photosensitive cells called rods and cones that translate an image into electrical neural impulses through the optic nerve to our <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/switch-turns-brain-off-sleep/">brain</a>, creating the image you’re seeing now.

Now normally, retinas develop and grow within the confines of our eyeballs – which shouldn’t come as a surprise. But biologists at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> have recently grown human retinas from scratch in petri dishes, helping them determine how the cells that allow us to see in color are made.

The study, published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>, focuses on the cells that allow people to see blue, red, and green – the three cone photoreceptors in the human eye. Most vision research is done with mice or fish, but neither of these species have dynamic daytime and color vision like us humans. And since they obviously couldn’t use human models, the research team created the human eyes they needed using stem cells.

“Everything we examine looks like a normal developing eye, just growing in a dish,” said Robert Johnston, a developmental biologist at Johns Hopkins. “You have a model system that you can manipulate without studying humans directly.”

It took months for the cells to grow and become complete retinas. During this time, the researchers observed that blue-detecting cells materialized first, followed by the red- and green-detecting cells. They also determined that the key to the molecular switch was the ebb and flow of thyroid hormone. But the level of this hormone was not controlled by the thyroid gland – as it obviously wasn’t in the dish with the retina – rather, the retina controlled its own levels of thyroid hormone.

Johnston’s team was then able to manipulate whether the cells became blue, or red and green by adjusting the amounts of thyroid hormone. Through this, they could make retinas that – were they a part of a complete human eye – would only see blue or only see green and red.

This finding regarding thyroid hormone makes sense, as pre-term babies who have lowered thyroid hormone levels also have a higher incidence of vision disorders. 

“If we can answer what leads a cell to its terminal fate, we are closer to being able to restore color vision for people who have damaged photoreceptors,” says Kiara Eldred, a graduate student at Johns Hopkins. “This is a really beautiful question, both visually and intellectually – what is it that allows us to see color?”

Their work could be the foundation for developing new therapies for eye diseases such as color blindness and macular degeneration. Furthermore, the research team has established lab-generated “organoids” as a model that can be used to study human development on a cellular level. 

Johnston goes even further when he says, “What’s really pushing the limit here is that these organoids take nine months to develop just like a human baby. So what we’re really studying is fetal development.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists reveal the hormone that allows us to see in color

The retina is the light-sensitive area at the back of...

A new report from Johannes Kohl, a postdoctoral fellow at <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a>, has won the grand prize in the annual international competition for The Eppendorf &amp; Science Prize for Neurobiology. His research depicts how a cluster of neurons controls parenting behavior in mice. 

Kohl assessed neurons located in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) of the hypothalamus. These neurons contain a molecule called Galanin, which has been shown to be crucial in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/workplace-incivility-harsher-parenting/">parenting</a> behavior for both male and female mice. Through the use of mouse models and imaging techniques that recorded the activity of specific neurons in rodents, Kohl investigated the underlying processes responsible for the MPOA neurons’ ability to control complex behavior.

“I started my project by tracing the connections that MPOA neurons expressing galanin (or MPOAGal) form with the rest of the brain,” explains Kohl. 

He determined that MPOAGal neurons are organized into distinct subpopulations – or pools – each of which projects into a different area of the brain. Each pool had access to incoming information from about 10 brain areas.

Kohl then wanted to see the effect neuronal pools have on parenting behavior, which he did by identifying the pools that were most highly activated when mice interacted with their pups. He found that, while the entire MPOAGal population became active during all actions of parenting, some individual pools were activated during discrete parenting events, which suggests that they control specific parts of mice parenting.

Through further assessment, Kohl found that activating certain neuronal pools would increase parental actions such as grooming of their pups and checking on the pups – or even suppressing interactions with other adult mice, quelling non-parental social behaviors. 

“This research is significant because it sheds light on the brain circuits that shape such important traits like parenting behavior,” says senior <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a> editor Dr. Peter Stern.

And although Kohl states that "it is too early to know whether these findings are directly applicable to humans – where behavior is considerably more complex and subject to many additional social or cultural influences, for example," his findings indicate major progress in determining how a social behavior is wired into the brain.

Human parental care can be affected by stress and mental illnesses like postpartum depression and anxiety. Better understanding how physiological states and environmental factors influence these circuits could lead to improved treatments. 

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Award-winning research reveals brain activity that shapes parenting

A new report from Johannes Kohl, a postdoctoral fellow at...

A new study has shown that if you’re prone to money problems, it might be because you’re simply too nice of a person.

Researchers from <a href="https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/">Columbia Business School</a> conducted a study examining the link between nice personalities and the risk of financial hardships. 

The results, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, show that people who are more agreeable may be more likely to experience debt and financial strain because of the level of value they place on <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dealy-instant-gratification-money/">money</a>. 

“Previous research suggested that agreeableness was associated with lower credit scores and income. We wanted to see if that association held true for other financial indicators and, if so, better understand why nice guys seem to finish last,” said Sandra Matz, the lead author of the study. 

The researchers reviewed online panels, a national survey, bank account data, and publicly available geographic data to assess the financial standing and personalities of over 3 million people. 

After analyzing the data, the researchers discovered a definite link between agreeable personalities and financial hardship, but it wasn’t because nicer people are more cooperative as was previously thought. 

“We found that agreeableness was associated with indicators of financial hardship, including lower savings, higher debt, and higher default rates,” said Joe Gladstone, a co-author of the study. “This relationship appears to be driven by the fact that agreeable people simply care less about money and therefore are at higher risk of money mismanagement.”

The risks of financial hardship varied depending on income and the people with higher incomes were better equipped to compensate for their mismanagement of money, according to Gladstone. 

Agreeableness was such a strong predictor of financial hardship that the researchers even found that children who were considered more agreeable had a harder time with money later on in life. 

The results also held true for entire cities when the researchers compared personalities and financial data between two cities in the United Kingdom. 

The city that scored higher on agreeableness had a 50 percent higher bankruptcy rate even though the two areas had similar per-capita income levels. 

“Our results help us to understand one potential factor underlying financial hardship, which can have serious implications for people's well-being,” said Matz. “Being kind and trusting has financial costs, especially for those who do not have the means to compensate for their personalities.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Nice people are more likely to have money problems, study finds

A new study has shown that if you’re prone to...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">University of California, Berkeley</a> have led the first comprehensive study to evaluate water pollution over the last several decades. The investigation revealed that the 1972 <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/duke-energy-pleads-guilty-to-violating-the-clean-water-act-3/">Clean Water Act</a> has been successful in significantly improving water quality in the United States.

The study was focused on 50 million water quality measurements collected between 1962 and 2001 at 240,000 monitoring sites throughout the country. 

Out of 25 water pollution markers, most showed improvement, including an increase in dissolved oxygen concentrations and a decrease in fecal coliform bacteria. In addition, the portion of rivers safe for fishing increased by twelve percent between 1972 and 2001.

Despite these clear improvements, nearly all of 20 recent economic reviews have reported that the costs of the Clean Water Act outweigh the benefits. Meanwhile, other environmental regulations including the Clean Air Act have been found to provide much higher benefits compared to costs.

Study co-author Joseph Shapiro is an associate professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics in the College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley.

“Water pollution has declined dramatically, and the Clean Water Act contributed substantially to these declines,” said Professor Shapiro. “So we were shocked to find that the measured benefit numbers were so low compared to the costs.”

According to the researchers, these studies may be overlooking certain benefits, such as improvements to public health or the reduction of industrial chemicals that are no longer included in water quality testing.

Water pollution is consistently ranked as the top environmental concern of Americans in Gallup polls - higher than air pollution and climate change. The Clean Water Act has imposed environmental regulations on individuals and industries that dump waste into waterways, and has led to $650 billion in federal grants to build sewage treatment plants and to upgrade existing facilities.

Comprehensive studies of water quality have been a challenge due to the diversity of data sources, with many measurements coming from local agencies rather than national organizations. For the current analysis, Professor Shapiro teamed up with Professor David Keiser of Iowa State University to compile data from three national water quality data repositories. 


“Air pollution and greenhouse gas measurements are typically automated and standard, while water pollution is more often a person going out in a boat and dipping something in the water.” said Professor Shapiro. “It was an incredibly data and time-intensive project to get all of these water pollution measures together and then analyze them in a way that was comparable over time and space.”

In addition to a significant reduction in water pollution, the team found that water quality downstream of sewage treatment plants improved significantly after facilities had received grants to modify wastewater treatment. The experts also established that it costs approximately $1.5 million to make one mile of river fishable for one year.


After conducting their own cost-benefit analysis, the researchers found that the economic benefits of the legislation were less than half of the total costs. Professor Shapiro suggested that the benefits may still be understated.

“Many of these studies count little or no benefit of cleaning up rivers, lakes, and streams for human health because they assume that if we drink the water, it goes through a separate purification process, and no matter how dirty the water in the river is, it's not going to affect people's health,” said Professor Shapiro. “The recent controversy in Flint, MI recently seems contrary to that view.”

“Similarly, drinking water treatment plants test for a few hundred different chemicals and U.S. industry produces closer to 70,000, and so it is possible there are chemicals that existing studies don't measure that have important consequences for well-being.”

The study is published in the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</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: Public domain

Study: Clean Water Act benefits greatly outweigh the costs

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have led the...

Global temperatures are rising, and according to new research, this may have a significant effect on mental illness rates along with the numerous environmental consequences. Currently, more people are facing mental health issues in the United States than ever before. Last year was also the third hottest ever recorded, and while correlation doesn’t equal causation, research from <a href="http://www.mit.edu/">MIT</a> and <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> suggests that this isn’t a coincidence.

In their research, the scientists found that with every degree Celsius the global temperature rises, mental health issues become two percent more common. Previous studies have shown that more people visit the emergency room on hotter days – and not just because of heat stroke or dehydration, the volume of people there for psychological and psychosocial reasons increases as well.

A study from <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> earlier this year reported that a single degree Celsius of temperature rise was linked to higher rates of depressive tweets and an increase in suicides in both the U.S. and Mexico.

In the study from Harvard and MIT researchers, they compared temperature changes and mental health issues as reported by over two million people across the United States. Through using more than a decade’s worth of data, they examined mental health around the time of single, extreme events, over the period of a month, and over a five-year period

No matter the length of the increased temperature event, in every scenario mental health problems became more prevalent. And as would be expected, the most dramatic shifts in mental health occurred during the most devastating weather events. However, even more subtle shifts in temperature over the course of a month made <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/college-freshmen-mental-health/">mental health</a> issues more prevalent. 

But it’s not just the heat that gets to people. When there was rain for more than 25 days out of the month, the population was two percent more afflicted by mental health issues. 

Although the exact causes behind why natural disasters and changing temperatures affect mental health so significantly remain unknown, scientists are certain the problem will only spread and intensify. 

“Warming is likely to amplify the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, which often cause physical injury, psychological trauma infrastructure damage, and societal disruption in affected regions,” the authors say. “Gradual changes in climate change are also expected to alter human systems in costly ways. While the precise magnitude of these climate-induced adversities is difficult to estimate, the theoretical relationship between climate change and mental health risk is compelling.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

As global temps rise, so does the prevalence of mental health issues

Global temperatures are rising, and according to new research, this...

Last summer, FUNAI, a government agency in Brazil responsible for the protection of indigenous people released <a href="https://youtu.be/oFGZyMaQMNg">a video</a>.  The video is simply a half a minute footage of a man chopping down a tree in the Amazon rainforest.  FUNAI also released still photos taken in the Amazon; pictures of a stone ax, dugout canoes and thatched huts.  What makes the video and photos interesting and controversial is context. The footage was released with another video of aerial footage showing people walking across a clearing, holding poles or spears.  Both videos are footage of ‘uncontacted’ tribes in the Amazon rainforest and both videos were shot by drones without knowledge or consent from those featured in the footage. Most likely, the people in the film have no knowledge of either drones or videos at all.  

The <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/taller-older-rainforests-drought/">Amazon rainforest</a> has a dark history of exploitation and violence, especially when it comes to its indigenous population.  For decades rubber was only tapped from trees found in the wild and it was an incredibly profitable endeavor.  Rubber trees couldn’t simply be planted close together in plantations in the Americas because of the prevalence of diseases that could wipe out entire plantations.  In the wild, trees were spaced apart sufficiently that disease was a relatively minor threat. 

Because rubber tapping had to be carried out in the wild, the work was extremely labor intensive.  Business owners, wanting to maximize their profits sought to minimize their own expenses and this often meant slave labor.  Native Americans in South America were forced into labor in horrendous conditions. Sometimes a rubber baron would kidnap a man’s children or wife and hold them captive, forcing the man to work.  Occasionally men came willingly to work tapping rubber but were lent things like boots, gloves and machetes, then continuously kept in debt to rubber barons. The more a man worked under this indentured servitude the more he fed the cycle of his own debt, never escaping the burden.  The violence towards the enslaved natives is hard to comprehend, one man burnt down a house with natives inside simply to shoot the people fleeing from within for target practice. 

Many of the tribespeople on the rubber frontier fled deeper into the Amazon rainforest to escape slavery, rape and murder from colonists.  Some of these tribespeople became ‘uncontacted’ tribes, living for generations without contacting the outside world. Other uncontacted tribes people may have never been in direct contact with European colonists or outsiders but undoubtedly they’ve heard rumors from other indigenous groups in the Amazon region.  

Brazil pioneered the protection of indigenous people in South America.  Initially it created FUNAI, or the <a href="http://www.funai.gov.br/">National Indian Foundation</a> to promote peaceful integration of native peoples with mainstream society.  Initially the agency worked as a buffer between indigenous people living in the Amazon or other remote areas of Brazil and loggers, ranchers, or other pioneers.  Over time the agency evolved and eventually refuges were created for indigenous people to live and practice their traditional way of life. In a similar vein, neighboring Peru has created unique national parks were indigenous people continue to live on their traditional lands.  Brazil further innovated by creating the first lands set aside for uncontacted tribes, granting them the opportunity to decide whether they would contact the outside world or live in isolation, with no push from the government and no one else allowed to interfere or visit them.

In Brazil, all Indigenous people are given the inalienable right to the land they traditionally occupied.  In practice this can lead to legal battles over land of uncontacted tribes and between mainstream native peoples and others.  According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_territory_(Brazil)">Wikipedia</a>, today there are 672 indigenous territories which make up 13% of Brazil despite indigenous people making only .41% of Brazil’s overall population.  Some are critical of Brazil’s system, seeing land set aside for indigenous people as a drain on the economic development of the country. The footage from the drone shows how much untouched land is used by only a few people but it also shows how Brazil through restraint has been able to save something now rare and irreplaceable.                  

The drone footage now released by FUNAI is a glimpse into the lives of uncontacted tribes.  The footage was part of surveillance to ascertain whether native people were involved with altercations between pioneers in the remote Amazon.  The especially controversial part of the footage isn’t so much that the footage was shot but that it was released to the public. Monitoring the safety of a group of people while also maintaining a policy of not contacting them is undoubtedly a hard job so it’s easy to understand why FUNAI would film ‘uncontacted’ tribes.  It’s a little harder to understand why FUNAI would release footage of these people to the public, violating privacy they exist partially to ensure. 

The film of the man chopping at a tree with an axe is especially tragic.  The man is said to have lived alone in the Amazon for years, the sole survivor of genocide.  The man is the last of a group of people largely unknown to the outside. There is no way of knowing the man’s language or the majority of information about his culture or religion.  

According to an article published in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/23/world/americas/brazil-amazon-tribe.html">The New York Times</a>, FUNAI knows of eight contacted indigenous peoples in the area and 11 uncontacted.  FUNAI travelled more than 180 miles by foot, boat and motor vehicle to the region where the photos were taken.  Two groups of illegal hunters and farmers were arrested in the area which is to be solely occupied by indigenous groups.  

<a href="http://unpo.org/article/20208">Unrepresented Nations &amp; Peoples Organization</a> (UNPO) reported last year that FUNAI had serious budget cuts from Brazil’s federal government and had to shut several of their offices.  UNPO said that the system of reserves managed by FUNAI was barely functioning and then about a year later, FUNAI released the footage of uncontacted tribes.  

The footage released during one of FUNAI’s biggest budget cuts could almost be interpreted as a cry for help as much as a thoughtless breach of basic privacy.  FUNAI is in a tough position, being a government agency that must protect people that have no direct contact with the government of Brazil from people who elect that government.  For many uncontacted tribes are a relic of the past, people that must be drug into the 21st century for their (or our) own good. People hungry for land, timber, minerals and game to hunt all seem to want the border opened up. 

With government funding being cut from FUNAI and much of the public being against the agency, they again navigate the dangerous place between people and land easily exploited and the greed of the masses.  Footage like this could be a step towards a change in policy towards contacting tribes but it also shows the world what could be lost if organizations like FUNAI continue to be underfunded. 

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Drones spy on ‘uncontacted’ tribes in the Amazon

Last summer, FUNAI, a government agency in Brazil responsible for...

The string of nonsense sounds that make up an infant’s speech, commonly known as babble babble, could actually be used to indicate future reading comprehension, according to a new study. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www.fsu.edu/">Florida State University</a> conducted the research which was published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0204006">PLOS ONE.</a>

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dog-assisted-speech-therapy/">Children</a> who have problems identifying letters are more at risk of developing issues with literacy and reading impairment, but there aren’t any early signs at infancy that could help caregivers work with children to improve future reading ability. 

Letter identification problems don’t arise until a child reaches three to five years of age. 

The researchers wanted to examine if baby babble, which showcases an infant’s language capabilities, could be used to indicate future literacy. 

Nine infants from English-speaking families in the United States between 9 and 30 months of age were observed for the study. 

The researchers recorded the infant’s babbling as the children interacted with their primary caregivers and took note of the ratio of consonant to vowel use, which has been shown to measure complex speech capability in infants. 

After several years, the researchers went back to observe letter identification in the children when they had reached age 6. 

The team found that the children who had exhibited complex babble were more apt at letter identification and performed better in reading tests. 

It’s important to note that the sample size for the study was small and so there are limitations to the study’s results, but the researchers say that future research could aid in the early identification of reading problems. 

This, in turn, could help parents and professional find methods to improve literacy skills at a critical juncture in a child’s development. 

“This paper provides exciting data to support an early and robust connection between speech production and later literacy skills,” said Kelly Farquharson, the lead author of the study. “There is clinical utility in this work - we are moving closer to establishing behavioral measures that may help us identify reading disabilities sooner.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Baby babble could indicate a child’s future literacy

The string of nonsense sounds that make up an infant’s...

Madagascar isn’t just the location of a DreamWorks movie where various zoo animals participated in animated hijinks – it also happens to be a large island off the east coast of Africa. This island is important to historians and paleontologists, as the colonization of Madagascar is key for tracing prehistoric human movement across the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/monsoon-runoff-indian-ocean/">Indian Ocean</a>. And up until very recently, the exact time when human settlement began there has remained unknown.

Now, new archaeological evidence found in southwest Madagascar has revealed that modern humans colonized the island thousands of years later than previously thought. In the past, several pieces of evidence – including archaeological findings such as chert tools and charcoal – have provided direct links to human presence in Madagascar from roughly 1500 years before present (BP). But recent studies have suggested that the island’s early settlers first landed as early as 5000 years BP. This has been based on indirect evidence from animal bones with damage attributed to human activity.

In a study led by Atholl Anderson of the <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/">Australian National University</a>, he and his colleagues revisited the bone collections and excavated three new sites in southwest Madagascar to collect more samples. In their excavation efforts, they recovered almost 1,800 bones belonging to extinct megafauna, such as giant lemurs, giant tortoise, and elephant birds. These bones dated between 1900 BP and 1100 years BP.

[caption id="attachment_1860790" align="aligncenter" width="644"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/madagascar.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-1860790" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/madagascar.png" alt="" width="644" height="707" /></a> Image Credit: Anderson et al., 2018[/caption]

Through microscopic analyses, they revealed that potential cut marks in the bones that dated before 1200 years BP were a result of animal biting and gnawing, root etching, or chop marks from the excavation. This suggests that cutmarking (a result of human activity) only appeared after this time point. The researchers found similar results after re-examining the bone damage that was previously believed to be cutmarks in samples from old collections. 

“Recent estimates indicate human arrival in Madagascar as early as ~10,000 years ago. Diverse evidence (from bone damage, palaeoecology, genomic and linguistic history, archaeology, introduced biota and seafaring capability) indicate initial human colonization of Madagascar was later at 1350-1100 y B.P.,” the researchers explain. “Results have implications for decline and extinction of megafauna, a proposed early African hunter-gatherer phase, and transoceanic voyaging from Southeast Asia.”

This study adds to the evidence that the start of prehistoric human colonization of Madagascar occurred between 1350 and 1100 years BP. It’s also an important example of why scientists are constantly checking and re-checking each other’s work. Science isn’t always perfect, but through continued efforts such as this, it can get as close as possible.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Humans colonized Madagascar thousands of years later than thought

Madagascar isn’t just the location of a DreamWorks movie where...

A research team from the <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/">University of York</a> has determined that the average person is familiar with around 5,000 faces. This is the first time experts have managed to put a number on how many <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/brains-recognize-familiar-faces/">faces</a> we recognize.

The researchers tested study participants on how many faces they could recall from their personal lives or from the media and television.

While humans typically exist in small groups of around one hundred individuals, the results of the study suggest that our facial recognition abilities enable us to deal with thousands of faces.

“Our study focused on the number of faces people actually know- we haven't yet found a limit on how many faces the brain can handle,” said study co-author Dr. Rob Jenkins. “The ability to distinguish different individuals is clearly important - it allows you to keep track of people's behavior over time, and to modify your own behavior accordingly.”

The study participants spent an hour writing down as many faces from their personal lives as possible, including people from school, work. and family. Next, they did the same for famous faces, such as actors and politicians.

The volunteers found it easy to add to the list at first, but thinking of new faces became more difficult by the end of the hour. This change of pace allowed the researchers to estimate when they would run out of faces completely.

The participants were also asked who they recognized out of thousands of photographs of famous people. The volunteers needed to recognize two different photos of each person for consistency. Overall, the participants knew between 1,000 and 10,000 faces.

“The range could be explained by some people having a natural aptitude for remembering faces,” said Dr. Jenkins. “There are differences in how much attention people pay to faces, and how efficiently they process the information. Alternatively, it could reflect different social environments-some participants may have grown up in more densely populated places with more social input.”

The average age of the participants was 24, which may lead to further research.

“It would be interesting to see whether there is a peak age for the number of faces we know,” said Dr. Jenkins. “Perhaps we accumulate faces throughout our lifetimes, or perhaps we start to forget some after we reach a certain age.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/">Royal Society Proceedings B</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Most people remember an average of 5,000 faces, study finds

A research team from the University of York has determined...

Researchers at the <a href="http://www.stockholmresilience.org/">Stockholm Resilience Centre</a> have determined that a global population of 10 billion people could be fed sustainably by 2050. According to the study, this would require a shift toward more plant-based diets, reducing food loss and waste by half, and improving farming practices and technologies.

According to the researchers, adopting these sustainable practices on a global scale could reduce the risk of exceeding environmental limits related to: <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/science-climate-change-denial/">climate change</a>, the use of agricultural land, the extraction of freshwater resources, and the pollution of ecosystems through overapplication of fertilizers.


Dr. Marco Springmann of the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> is the study's lead author.

“No single solution is enough to avoid crossing planetary boundaries. But when the solutions are implemented together, our research indicates that it may be possible to feed the growing population sustainably,” said Dr. Springmann.

“Without concerted action, we found that the environmental impacts of the food system could increase by 50-90% by 2050 as a result of population growth and the rise of diets high in fats, sugars and meat. In that case, all planetary boundaries related to food production would be surpassed, some of them by more than twofold.”

The study combined environmental accounts with a model of the global food system that tracks the production and consumption of food across the world. Using this model, the researchers identified ways to keep the food system within the Earth’s limitations.

“Improving farming technologies and management practices will require increasing investment in research and public infrastructure, the right incentive schemes for farmers, including support mechanisms to adopt best available practices, and better regulation, for example of fertilizer use and water quality,” said study co-author Line Gordon.

Fabrice de Clerck is the director of science at the EAT foundation, which funded the study. 

“Tackling food loss and waste will require measures across the entire food chain, from storage, and transport, over food packaging and labeling to changes in legislation and business behavior that promote zero-waste supply chains,” said de Clerck.

Dr. Springmann concluded: “When it comes to diets, comprehensive policy and business approaches are essential to make dietary changes towards healthy and more plant-based diets possible and attractive for a large number of people.” 

“Important aspects include school and workplace programs, economic incentives and labeling, and aligning national dietary guidelines with the current scientific evidence on healthy eating and the environmental impacts of our diet."

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How to feed 10 billion people sustainably by the year 2050

Researchers at the Stockholm Resilience Centre have determined that a...

Experts at the <a href="https://www.port.ac.uk/">University of Portsmouth</a> are reporting that antidepressant drugs have become a major threat to the environment. After entering water systems in the form of human waste, the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/antidepressants-fish-great-lakes/">drugs</a> are persisting and harming marine life. In the UK alone, an estimated six million people are taking antidepressants such as Prozac on a regular basis.

“Our aquatic life is bathing in a soup of antidepressants,” said study co-author Professor Alex Ford. “Antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications are found everywhere, in sewage, surface water, groundwater, drinking water, soil, and accumulating in wildlife tissues. They are found in sea water and rivers and their potential ability to disrupt the normal biological systems of aquatic organisms is extensive.”

“This isn't about a one-off pollutant entering their habitat; wildlife are bathed in drugs for their entire lifecycle. Laboratory studies are reporting changes such as how some creatures reproduce, grow, the rate at which it matures, metabolism, immunity, feeding habits, the way it moves, its color and its behavior.”

Dr. Helena Herrera of Portsmouth's School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences explained that many doctors who are prescribing antidepressant medication may not be aware that it persists in the environment or that it is harmful to marine life.

On the other hand, Dr. Herrera said that “prescribers which may be aware of the problems and persistence of such drugs in the environment need to weight those concerns with the human in front of them presenting with a debilitating medical condition.”

The researchers have identified many important steps that could be taken to address the environmental issues of prescription drugs, including educating patients on the safe disposal of medications and modifying wastewater treatment so that the chemicals can be filtered out.

The team also suggested that pharmacological companies should make drugs that break down more easily and safely. Furthermore, counseling could be used to replace many prescriptions. The experts say that taking just one of these steps would make a big difference.


The research is published in the <a href="https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/systempages/usefulresources/journals.aspx">British Journal of Psychiatry Bulletin</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.vom">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Antidepressants are seeping into waterways and harming marine life

Experts at the University of Portsmouth are reporting that antidepressant...

Tap water in America has been under scrutiny recently with a handful of communities who lack access to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/radioactive-material-drinking-water/">clean drinking water</a> from their taps. Yet most Americans - even those with presumably clean drinking water - are still guzzling down H2O that contains measurable amounts of harmful substances. The plight of Americans in cities like Flint, Michigan and Compton, California are on the extreme side of the unsafe drinking water spectrum, but they call attention to a much larger and looming problem. 

Drinking water arrives in our homes through 1 million miles of pipes laid throughout the country. Many of these pipes were laid in the early to mid-20th century and consequently are outdated and <a href="https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Drinking-Water-Final.pdf">beginning to fail</a>. This is a system that the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/">Environmental Protection Agency</a> (EPA) estimates will cost almost <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3913015-Infrastructure-Needs-Survey-2011.html#document/p19/a366385">$400 billion to update</a>. Americans are facing a rapidly aging water system amongst other challenges like droughts and contamination making access to clean and fresh tap water increasingly unreliable. 

Water quality in America is a big picture problem that will need to be addressed by governing bodies. But in the meantime, I wanted to learn more about what was in my local water and take its quality into my own hands without relying on plastic bottles which just create more <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/norm-schriever/post_5218_b_3613577.html">environmental problems</a>. 

Tap water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and requires cities to frequently test their water supplies and make the results available to the public. However, the EPA does allow a certain level of contaminants in these supplies. In some cases, the legal limit is above the “healthy limit”. Healthy limits are set by a non-profit organization called the Environmental Working Group. You can check your local water provider for contaminants on their <a href="http://www.ewg.org/tapwater/#.W7u9Zy2ZN-U">website</a>. 

I did a search with my zip code and found that fifteen carcinogenic contaminants were detected in the same water that came from my tap - all within federally set limits. The five contaminants found in water from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power that were in excess of healthy limits were arsenic, bromate, chromium (hexavalent), radiological contaminants, and total trihalomethanes (TTHMs).

During tests conducted from 2010 to 2017, fifteen other contaminants were also found: 1,2,3-Trichloropropane, 1,4-Dioxane, bromide, bromochloromethane, chlorate, chlorodifluoromethane (Freon 22), chromium (total), fluoride, molybdenum, nitrate, strontium, tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene), trichloroethylene, trichlorofluoromethane (Freon 11), and vanadium.

If all of these chemicals and heavy metals were not enough, a study by Orb Media found that 94% of<a href="https://orbmedia.org/stories/Invisibles_plastics/multimedia"> tap water</a> in the U.S. and 93% of <a href="https://orbmedia.org/sites/default/files/FinalBottledWaterReport.pdf">bottled water</a> worldwide contained microplastics. Although there is no consensus on the effects of microplastics in humans yet; microplastics have been associated with <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28440941">behavioral changes</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3836290/">liver toxicity</a> in animals. 

Water makes up roughly 60% of the human body, 93% of blood, and 75% of muscles. How could I reliably get pure water? To significantly reduce water contamination, I invested in a reverse osmosis unit for the tap in my kitchen. A reverse osmosis filter completely eliminates all natural and synthetic toxins, microbes, debris, and minerals.

RO works by using pressure to force water molecules through a semipermeable membrane. This process flushes out everything else and leaves perfect drinking water. Most systems only cost a couple hundred dollars and require simple maintenance every six months - I felt this was a small price to pay to ensure the quality of my drinking water. Last but not least, my RO unit completely eliminated any desire for plastic water bottles - a win for my health and the environment. 

--

By <a href="mailto:bianca@earth.com">Bianca Vierra</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

What contaminants are hiding in your tap water?

Tap water in America has been under scrutiny recently with...

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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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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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



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Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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



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Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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