What’s the secret to aging well? It might be curiosity. If you're the kind of person who enjoys learning new things, you're already on the right path.



Recent research shows that some types of curiosity not only persist into old age - they can actually grow stronger. This is important because it could help protect your brain.



Older adults who stay curious and actively seek knowledge - especially about things they care about - may lower their risk for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/alzheimers-may-not-be-a-brain-disease/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alzheimer’s disease</a>. On the other hand, losing interest in learning and becoming mentally disengaged could be a warning sign of future cognitive issues.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-does-curiosity-decline-with-age">Does curiosity decline with age?</h2>



The insights come from a team of psychologists at <a href="https://www.ucla.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UCLA</a>, Western Carolina University, the University of Tübingen, and Kochi University of Technology. Their work challenges earlier studies that claimed curiosity steadily fades as we grow older.



“The psychology literature shows that oftentimes what's known as trait curiosity, or a person’s general level of curiosity, tends to decline with age,” said UCLA psychologist Alan Castel. 



“But we thought that was a little bit strange and went against some of the things we saw in some of the older adult participants in our experiments, who would often be very engaged and interested in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/secrets-of-learning-how-the-brain-stores-new-information/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">learning</a> about memory, specifically, but even other forms of trivia.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-two-kinds-of-curiosity">Two kinds of curiosity</h2>



To better understand how interest in learning changes across the lifespan, the researchers looked at two specific types: trait curiosity and state curiosity.



Trait curiosity is your overall tendency to be curious. It’s more like a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/personality-traits-linked-to-willingness-to-volunteer-or-donate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">personality trait</a> - something that stays relatively stable over time. Some people are naturally inquisitive about many things, while others are more content to take life as it comes.



State curiosity, by contrast, is the moment-to-moment interest you feel when something grabs your attention. It’s often tied to specific topics, hobbies, or experiences. 



Even people who don’t consider themselves naturally curious might light up when asked a question in their favorite area of interest.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-curiosity-across-ages">Testing curiosity across ages</h2>



To test how curiosity works, the team asked over 1,000 participants aged 20 to 84 to complete an online questionnaire. This measured their level of trait curiosity. 



Then came the fun part. Participants were asked to guess answers to obscure trivia questions, like “What was the first country to give women the right to vote?” (It’s New Zealand, if you're wondering).



Before revealing the correct answers, participants rated how interested they were in learning the truth. This rated their state curiosity in the moment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-findings-about-curiosity">Surprising findings about curiosity</h2>



People with high trait curiosity usually showed high state curiosity, and vice versa. But when the researchers looked at how these two types of curiosity changed with age, an interesting pattern emerged.



Trait curiosity did tend to drop off as people got older. But state curiosity followed a different curve. It declined in early adulthood, hit a low around middle age, and then rose again steadily in older adults.



That might sound familiar. The researchers noted that this pattern mirrors other life trends - like how happiness tends to dip during middle age before climbing back up.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-middle-age-slows-us-down">Why middle age slows us down</h2>



The drop in curiosity during midlife may not be a mystery. That phase of life is packed with responsibilities: raising children, building careers, paying mortgages. 



People focus their energy on achieving goals, which might leave less time for exploring new ideas. Once those obligations ease - after retirement, for example - people may feel freer to pursue personal interests and hobbies again.



“Our findings fit with some of my work on selectivity theory, which is that as we get older, we don’t want to stop learning, we’re just more selective about what we want to learn,” Castel said. 



“You see this in the context of lifelong learning: A lot of older adults will go back to take classes or pick up hobbies or engage in bird watching. I think it shows that this level of curiosity, if maintained, can really keep us sharp as we age.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-curiosity-keeps-the-brain-engaged">Curiosity keeps the brain engaged</h2>



There’s another reason curiosity matters as we age: It helps with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/memory-isnt-only-stored-in-our-brains-other-cells-can-remember-too/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">memory</a>. "As we get older, maybe we want to be focused on the things that are important, and we forget the things that are less relevant,” Castel said.



“Anecdotally, a lot of older adults I speak to say that it's important to stay curious. That fits with some of the research that shows that people who have early stages of dementia might show disinterest in things that they once enjoyed.”



In other words, curiosity may act like a filter, helping us pay more attention to meaningful information - and ignore what doesn’t matter. That selective focus could be a key strategy for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/experts-reveal-how-much-sleep-you-need-for-successful-aging/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aging successfully</a>.



So if you’re always chasing answers, digging into facts, or asking questions, keep it up. Staying curious might just be one of the smartest things you can do for your brain.



The full study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0320600" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PLOS One</a>.



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Curiosity might help you stay sharp as you age

What’s the secret to aging well? It might be curiosity. If you're the kind of person who enjoys learning new things, you're already on the right path. Recent research shows that some types of curiosity not only persist into old age - they can actually grow stronger. This is important because it could help protect your brain. Older adults who stay curious and actively seek knowledge - especially about things they care about - may lower their risk for Alzheimer’s disease. On the other hand, losing interest...

This summer, people across the globe have been <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heatwaves-severe-frequent/">feeling the heat</a>. In North America, summer kicked off with an unusually hot May after which followed long, dry, hot spells making for dangerous wildfire conditions. 

Wildfires even made their way as far as the Arctic circle and a worldwide heat wave drove record temperatures in the UK and parts of Europe. 

Unfortunately, 2018’s hot summer will most likely be the new norm in the coming years, as a new study found that the next five years could get even warmer than climate models had projected. 

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.cnrs.fr/index.html">French National Center for Scientific Research</a> (CNRS), the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a> and <a href="https://www.knmi.nl/over-het-knmi/about">the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute</a> created a new system for predicting climate scenarios that veer from traditional simulation methods. 

The results were published in the journal Nature and show that globally, temperatures will be abnormally hot for the rest of 2018 through 2022. 

During the early 21st century, the Earth experienced a kind of lapse in global warming from greenhouse gas emissions. 

This lapse is called the global warming hiatus in the scientific community, but the new study shows that the hiatus is not a predictable event to base future climate conditions on and that temperatures will climb higher and higher in the next few years. 

Florian Sévellec, a CNRS researcher, helped develop a new climate modeling system that used statistical methods of 20th and 21st century climate simulations and then predicted future conditions based on those searches. 

The new method can also calculate simulations in just a few hundredths of a second on a laptop while other modeling methods can take up to a week to get results. 

The researchers found their method was comparable in accuracy and reliability to other methods but the system shows that future temperatures could be abnormally higher than previous estimates based on only carbon emissions from human activities.

The new system predicts that in the next few years, the frequency of cold events will greatly decrease and tropical storm activity will increase. 

The new system shows global averages will be hotter in the coming years but Sevellec plans to fine-tune the statistical method to make regional predictions and estimate future precipitation levels. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

The next five years are expected to be unusually hot

This summer, people across the globe have been feeling the...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a> has found that the safety of e-cigarettes has been largely overstated and misunderstood. While vaping is indisputably safer than smoking <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/try-cigarette-smokers/">cigarettes</a>, it can still cause long-term health issues including lung disease.

Most previous investigations into the safety of e-cigarettes have been focused on the chemical makeup of the nicotine-infused liquid before it is evaporated by heat. In the current study, the researchers demonstrated that this liquid becomes much more potent and damaging to cells after it is vaporized. 

The experts developed a mechanical procedure to mimic vaping and tested the effects of the vaporized chemicals on healthy human cells in the laboratory. The study was focused on dust cells, or alveolar macrophages, extracted from the lung tissue samples of eight non-smokers who had no history asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).


The cells were exposed to different conditions for 24 hours, including plain e-cigarette fluid or varying strengths of the vaped condensate with and without nicotine. Another group of cells was exposed to nothing as a control group.

The condensate was found to be significantly more harmful to the cells than plain e-cigarette fluid. In addition, the impact on the cells increased along with the amount of condensate.

After 24 hours, the total number of viable cells exposed to the vaped condensate was notably reduced compared to the unexposed cells, and condensate containing nicotine worsened this effect.


The condensate caused cells to die and the rate of production of oxygen free radicals was found to be up to fifty times higher. The production of inflammatory chemicals was also substantially increased, particularly when nicotine was present.

Overall, the researchers concluded that e-cigarettes may be more harmful than we think. They compared the cell damage that was observed in the laboratory to that seen in regular smokers and people with COPD. 

According to the experts, further research is needed to better understand the health impacts of vaping.

“In terms of cancer-causing molecules in cigarette smoke, as opposed to cigarette vapor, there are certainly reduced numbers of carcinogens. They are safer in terms of cancer risk, but if you vape for 20 or 30 years and this can cause COPD, then that's something we need to know about,” said study lead author Professor David Thickett.

“I don’t believe e-cigarettes are more harmful than ordinary cigarettes, but we should have a cautious skepticism that they are as safe as we are being led to believe.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://thorax.bmj.com/">Thorax</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The health risks of vaping e-cigarettes have been underestimated

A new study from the University of Birmingham has found...

Researchers at the <a href="http://www.bath.ac.uk/">University of Bath</a> have found that eating breakfast before exercise can optimize the benefits of a workout. The study has revealed that breakfast prepares the body to burn more carbohydrates, both during <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exercise-improve-mental-health/">exercise</a> and after.

A total of 12 healthy male participants were divided into two groups, one that rested and another that cycled after a breakfast of porridge made with milk. The active group of volunteers exercised two hours after eating.

The experts measured blood glucose levels and muscle glycogen levels after the participants rested or cycled.

The researchers discovered that eating breakfast increased the rate at which the body burned carbohydrates during exercise, and also increased the rate at which the body digested and metabolized food eaten after exercise.

“This is the first study to examine the ways in which breakfast before exercise influences our responses to meals after exercise,* said co-lead author Dr. Javier Gonzalez. 

“We found that, compared to skipping breakfast, eating breakfast before exercise increases the speed at which we digest, absorb and metabolize carbohydrate that we may eat after exercise.”

Study co-lead author Rob Edinburgh added: “We also found that breakfast before exercise increases carbohydrate burning during exercise, and that this carbohydrate wasn't just coming from the breakfast that was just eaten, but also from carbohydrate stored in our muscles as glycogen.”

“This increase in the use of muscle glycogen may explain why there was more rapid clearance of blood sugar after ‘lunch’ when breakfast had been consumed before exercise.” 

Edinburgh pointed out that this study only represents the effect of breakfast before exercise in the short-term. He explained that the team is conducting ongoing studies to investigate how eating breakfast before or after exercise on a regular basis can influence health in the long-term.

“In particular there is a clear need for more research looking at the effect of what we eat before exercise on health outcomes, but with overweight participants who might be at an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. These are some of the questions we will now try to answer,” said Edinburgh.

“This study suggests that, at least after a single bout of exercise, eating breakfast before exercise may ‘prime’ our body, ready for rapid storage of nutrition when we eat meals after exercise.”


The research is published in the <a href="https://www.physiology.org/journal/ajpendo">American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Eating breakfast before exercise primes the body to burn carbs

Researchers at the University of Bath have found that eating...

A new study seems to have conclusively proven that hypnopedia, or the ability to learn in your sleep, is impossible. 

It had previously been suggested that it is possible learn <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/yes-you-can-learn-a-foreign-language-in-your-sleep-say-swiss-psychologists-9574112.html">a new language in your sleep</a>. However, what studies revolving around this research really showed was that sleeping can help strengthen new memories, such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-newly-learned-information/">newly learned foreign vocabulary</a>. 

The fact of the matter is that learning new things in your sleep, as helpful as it would be, is just not possible because our brains can’t learn from external stimuli during the different phases of sleep. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://uni.ulb.ac.be/">ULB Neuroscience Institute in Brussels</a> tested sleep learning in 26 participants. 

The results of the new study were published in the journal Scientific Reports. 

For the study, the researchers scanned each participant’s brain activity while awake and during low-wave or non-rapid eye movement sleep.

The researchers used magnetoencephalography (Meg) scanning which shows ongoing brain activity in real time. 

The participants were then asked to listen to a set of random or grouped together sounds. When the participants were awake, they could make out patterns in the sounds but during sleep, the participants’ brains only recognized the sounds but nothing beyond that. 

During sleep, the brain wasn’t able to process or learn the sounds’ patterns. 

“Frequency-tagged responses analysis showed that sleeping participants keep processing auditory information at the tone level, but that auditory processing was not influenced by the presence of statistical regularities in the auditory stream,” the researchers wrote. 

This study isn’t the first to debunk sleep learning or hypnopedia, but the brain scans add another element to this myth-busting showing how our brains register information, like sounds, while we sleep, but that there’s no context for the brain to process or learn the information. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

No, you can’t actually learn new information while you sleep

A new study seems to have conclusively proven that hypnopedia,...

Halting the aging process by rejuvenating old cells. Scientists have long worked to unlock the secrets of aging and reverse the potential for age-related diseases like dementia, cataracts, and cancer which are caused by deteriorating cells. Previous studies have even found that it may be possible to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/aging-systems-reversed/">reverse some symptoms of aging</a>. 

But in 2016, researchers from the <a href="https://www.salk.edu/">Salk Institute for Biological Studies</a> successfully extended the lifespan of mice and reversed damage from an injury. The Salk researchers told the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/aging-is-reversible-at-least-in-human-cells-and-live-mice/">Scientific American</a> that aging is somewhat malleable like plastic, according to the senior author of the study. 

Now, a new study conducted by researchers from the <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter </a>confirms the theories that aging is possible to manipulate and cells can be rejuvenated.Halting the aging process by rejuvenating old cells 

Cells are thought to deteriorate and speed up the aging process when they can no longer effectively regulate gene expression within the cells and turn genes on and off. Deteriorated cells or senescent cells spread their effects to other cells.

For the study, the Exeter researchers injected hydrogen sulfide directly into the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, of old deteriorating cells. 

Once the sulfide took effect in the mitochondria, the researchers discovered that the number of senescent cells decreased by half, successfully rejuvenating the cells and improving its ability to regulate genes. 

The promising results, published in the journal Aging, could pave the way for revolutionary anti-aging treatments that reverse or slow down processes that lead to dementia and other age-related diseases. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Halting the aging process by rejuvenating old cells

Halting the aging process by rejuvenating old cells. Scientists have...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">University of California, Berkeley </a>has found that people who suffer from sleep deprivation feel lonely and are less inclined to socially engage with others. In addition, people who are well-rested typically do not enjoy the company of those who have a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/body-need-sleep/">sleep</a> deficit, further increasing the risk of social isolation among sleep-deprived individuals.

Study senior author Matthew Walker is a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at UC Berkeley.

“We humans are a social species. Yet sleep deprivation can turn us into social lepers," said Professor Walker.

The researchers examined the brain activity of sleep-deprived participants as they viewed video clips of strangers walking toward them. The scans showed powerful social repulsion activity in neural networks that are usually stimulated when people feel their personal space is being invaded. 

Furthermore, in brain regions that normally encourage social engagement, activity was essentially flatlined by a lack of sleep.

“The less sleep you get, the less you want to socially interact. In turn, other people perceive you as more socially repulsive, further increasing the grave social-isolation impact of sleep loss," Walker added. "That vicious cycle may be a significant contributing factor to the public health crisis that is loneliness."


The results of national surveys suggest that nearly half of Americans feel lonely or left out. Loneliness has been found to increase one's risk of mortality by more than 45 percent, which is double the mortality risk associated with obesity.

“It's perhaps no coincidence that the past few decades have seen a marked increase in loneliness and an equally dramatic decrease in sleep duration,” said study lead author Eti Ben Simon. “Without sufficient sleep we become a social turn-off, and loneliness soon kicks in.”


For the investigation, Simon and Walker conducted a series of experiments using fMRI brain imaging, standardized loneliness measures, videotaped simulations, and online surveys. Their findings contradict the assumption that humans are designed to nurture group members that are socially vulnerable for the survival of the species.


“There's no biological or social safety net for sleep deprivation as there is for, say, starvation. That's why our physical and mental health implode so quickly even after the loss of just one or two hours of sleep,” said Professor Walker.

For the online phase of the study, more than 1,000 people viewed video recordings of study participants discussing their opinions and everyday activities.

The observers, who were unaware which subjects had been deprived of sleep, were asked to rate each of them based on how lonely they appeared, and whether they would want to interact with them socially. Over and over again, study participants that were sleep deprived were rated as lonelier and less socially desirable.

To test whether sleep-loss-induced alienation is contagious, observers were also asked to rate their own levels of loneliness after watching the videos. Surprisingly, the healthy observers reported feeling alienated after viewing just a 60-second clip of a sleep-deprived person who was perceived as being lonely.

“This all bodes well if you sleep the necessary seven to nine hours a night, but not so well if you continue to short-change your sleep,” said Professor Walker. “On a positive note, just one night of good sleep makes you feel more outgoing and socially confident, and furthermore, will attract others to you.”

This research is the first to show that sleep loss and social isolation have a two-way relationship. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Lack of sleep can make you isolated and less social

A new study from the University of California, Berkeley has...

A group mentality may have helped humans to evolve. A recent analysis published by <a href="https://www.cell.com/">Cell Press</a> has found that showing favoritism toward a member of one's own social group may not be the result of learned behavior, but instead may happen simply out of instinct. While this favoritism may ultimately lead to stereotyping or discrimination, it may have originally facilitated human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/evolutionary-changes-bipolar-disorder/">evolution</a>.

Yarrow Dunham is an assistant professor of Psychology at <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> and the author of the review.

“Researchers have found that you can randomly assign someone to a group, and even if they theoretically have no vested interest in that group, they will have persistent favoritism for it, an ingroup bias, across a range of different measures,” said Durham.A group mentality may have helped humans to evolve 

“Many theories attempt to explain inter-group dynamics by capturing the complexity of each group, but I argue that they can be explained with the simpler concept of mere membership, of us-and-them.”


To investigate, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/group-mentality-human-evolution/">Dunham</a> analyzed previous studies that described the neural basis for distinguishing ingroup from outgroup, the ways social groupings affect the friend preferences of preschoolers, and methods for social and self-categorization. 

Dunham found an ingroup bias where people not only tended to like other group members more, but were also more generous among their own group, more easily forgave team members, and more easily cooperated within their group.

Conflicts across different social classes, religions, and even our favorite sports teams share the dynamics of us and them.

According to Dunham, the us-and-them phenomenon can explain most of the observations we have about inter-group dynamics, and the things it fails to explain should become the primary focus of social <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=psychology&amp;cvid=50ecf8af42f34f1db89e7b0890621d1f&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">psychology</a> research.

“Our strong adaptations for group living have made humans so successful as a species over thousands of years; groups give us other people to cooperate with, trust, and learn from,” said Professor Dunham. 

“On one hand, this ingroup bias has made us a deeply cultural, quick-to-learn species of flexible learners. But as soon as more than one group interacts, we see tendencies toward bias in the form of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotypes, and this is particularly true in more modern societies in which we're just interacting with all kinds of different people all the time.”

While Dunham's research investigates the roots of ingroup biases in order to identify strategies to help combat the associated prejudices, this type of favoritism may still be helping humans develop as a species. 

“From an evolutionary perspective, I'm not sure ingroup bias is something we would actually want to overcome because it constitutes so much of how we learn as a cultural, social species,” said Professor Dunham.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/home">Trends in Cognitive Sciences</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A group mentality may have helped humans to evolve

A group mentality may have helped humans to evolve. A...

A new study has found a potential cause of migraines that could explain why women are affected more often than men. The research may ultimately lead to personalized treatments for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-treats-migraines-better/">migraine</a> sufferers.

The investigation revealed that sex hormones have an influence on cells around the trigeminal nerve and the blood vessels that are connected to it. High levels of estrogen, in particular, were found to make these cells more susceptible to triggers for migraine headaches.

Antonio Ferrer-Montiel is a professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the <a href="http://www.umh.es/?lang=EN">University Miguel Hernández</a> in Spain.

“We can observe significant differences in our experimental migraine model between males and females and are trying to understand the molecular correlates responsible for these differences,” said Professor Ferrer-Montiel.

“Although this is a complex process, we believe that modulation of the trigeminovascular system by sex hormones plays an important role that has not been properly addressed.”

To identify the role of specific hormones, the research team analyzed decades of research on sex hormones, migraine sensitivity, and cell responses to migraine triggers. Some hormones like testosterone seemed to protect against migraines, while others like prolactin appeared to make migraines worse. 

The hormones make the cells either more or less vulnerable to migraine triggers by affecting the ion channels, which regulate the sensitivity of the cells.

Further research is needed to determine the role of some hormones, but changes in estrogen levels stood out as playing a big role in making cells more sensitive to the onset of a migraine attack.


Professor Ferrer-Montiel emphasized that this research is only preliminary. The study authors also pointed out the need for studies which focus on the relationship between menstrual hormones and migraines.

The team will continue their own investigation using preclinical, human-based models. Professor Ferrer-Montiel said, “If successful, we will contribute to better personalized medicine for migraine therapy.”


The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-biosciences">Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Why women tend to get more migraines than men do

A new study has found a potential cause of migraines...

Teamwork is important for problem-solving, and in today's world of constantly being <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/smartphone-addiction-social-connection/">plugged in and connected</a>, people are able to share, collaborate, and tackle problems 24/7. 

At first, this might seem like the most efficient way to get things done. But a new study conducted by researchers from <a href="https://www.hbs.edu/Pages/default.aspx">Harvard Business School</a> found the exact opposite to be true. 

The researchers found that constant connection brings about the least creative solutions and doesn’t foster any real communication or learning opportunities.

Instead, the researchers recommend “intermittent” collaboration, working alone for a good chunk of your time and coming together on occasion to get the best results. 

The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

For the study, a trio of Harvard Business researchers asked participants split into groups of three to complete a complex problem-solving task. 

Some of the group members were constantly interacting to mirror today's “always on” access to technology. The other members either interacted occasionally or never interacted with each other. 

The researchers had several hypotheses about what would happen with the group members. 

It was assumed that the group members that worked alone and never interacted with each other would come up with the fewest variations of solutions but would produce the most creative possibilities. 

With the group members that were constantly interacting, the researchers guessed that the groups would produce higher average quality but mediocre solutions. 

Both of these scenarios turned out to be true, but the researchers found that the group members who occasionally interacted had the best of both worlds. The group members were able to take advantage of each other's skills and input but not to such an extent that it became routine for certain members to carry others. The intermittent interaction also allowed for finding creative and high-quality solutions similar to the group members who were always alone. 

The researchers say that several things can be learned from these study results and that businesses looking for optimal problem-solving methods should take a step back from the “always-on” mindset that new technological advancements are enforcing. 

Rather business should allow team members to work together occasionally, as it was often done in the past, and then return to their own jobs. 

“As we replace those sorts of intermittent cycles with always-on technologies, we might be diminishing our capacity to solve problems well,” said Ethan Bernstein, a leader of the study. 

The results also explain why businesses like <a href="https://www.ideo.com/">IDEO</a>, which is known for its excellence in creativity and brainstorming, is so successful because intermittent problem-solving collaborations are part of the business model. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Staying plugged in to work colleagues leads to less efficiency

Teamwork is important for problem-solving, and in today's world of...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California, Davis</a> have investigated <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gender-bias-lawyers-courtroom/">gender attitudes</a> across 47 countries to compare the different levels of support for equal rights. The experts found that support for women's rights has spread across the globe since the movement of the 1960s, but it is still not distributed evenly.

Professor Xiaoling Shu and graduate students Bowen Zhu and Kelsey Meagher used machine learning to analyze data involving more than 70, 000 people from the <a href="http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/">World Values Survey</a>.

The researchers compared individual variables that affect gender attitudes such income, education, and religion. They also examined three country-level influences including economic development, women's economic independence, and workforce participation.

Overall, the highest amount of support for equal rights was found in countries where the largest numbers of women participate in the workforce.

The team identified three distinct transitions in gender attitudes, which were associated with national characteristics.


Across the social democratic countries of Finland, Sweden, and Norway that are characterized by high economic development, there were high rates of women's labor force participation and high levels of women's economic independence. These factors promote highly egalitarian views toward both women's rights and dual mother-worker roles.


Liberal and conservative Western countries such as the United States, Germany, and New Zealand are characterized by economic wealth, modest rates of women's labor force participation, fewer women as chief breadwinners, and inadequate maternity provisions. This combination promotes women's equality, but also projects gender-based expectations of intensive mothering onto women.


Former socialist states such as Russia, China, and Romania - which are characterized by far less economic development - foster an ideology that upholds male supremacy.

“Although economic development has liberalized attitudes toward gender equality, it has not led to growing support for women's dual roles as mothers and workers, largely due to the policies of liberal and conservative welfare states which are based on a male breadwinner model and provide little institutional support for working women,” wrote the study authors.

"On the other hand, despite high levels of women as primary wage earners and strong maternity provision in former socialist countries, women's paid employment has not routinely led to beliefs about their equal rights and status with men.”


The study will be presented at the 113th <a href="http://www.asanet.org/">American Sociology Association</a> Annual Meeting.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Support for gender equality has spread, but not evenly

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have investigated gender...

When researchers model and estimate ancient climate conditions, they do so using sediment and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ice-cores-show-how-abruptly-climate-shifts-affect-earth/">ice cores</a> because each layer in the core sample can reveal important isotopic information about temperature, weather extremes, biomass, and precipitation when the layer was formed. 

But a new study has proven that we can discern climate and precipitation information by analyzing excavated bones and pots from ancient human settlements.

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> studied pots and bones excavated from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic city settlement of Çatalhöyük in southern Anatolia, Turkey which existed from approximately 7500 BC to 5700 BC.

A well-documented climate change event occurred 8,200 years ago at the peak of the settlement’s existent, and the researchers used archeological remains to see how the ancient Neolithic people adapted. 

The settlement dealt with severe drought-like conditions due to a sudden decrease in global temperatures because a massive amount of glacial meltwater was released from a freshwater lake in northern Canada. 

The researchers discovered that during this time, sheep and goats were more popular for herders rather cattle because they are more drought resistant and the cut marks on the ancient bones found at the site showed that meat was a major food source during the drought. 

In the cooking pots, the researchers also analyzed cooking fats that lined the pots which clearly came from the sheep, goats and whatever ruminant (cud-chewing) animals could be spared for food. 

The results of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  show that animal fat remnants in pottery can be used to assess climate and precipitation conditions of ancient human settlements. 

The bones and fats show that meat was readily consumed because the drought would have hindered agricultural operations. 

Changes in the isotopic information in the hydrogen atoms found in the fats reflect a period of major climate change according to the study researchers. 

“It is really significant that the climate models of the event are in complete agreement with the H signals we see in the animal fats preserved in the pots,” said Richard Evershed, a co-author of the study. “The models point to seasonal changes farmers would have had to adapt to - overall colder temperatures and drier summers - which would have had inevitable impacts on agriculture.”

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By <a href="mailto:kayvadette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Çatalhöyük Research Project

How did ancient humans cope with climate change?

When researchers model and estimate ancient climate conditions, they do...

The total solar eclipse of 2017 was so popular that towns in the path of totality were booked solid months in advance to the event. Campgrounds were full, hotels had no vacancies, and people flocked to buy solar eclipse safe viewing glasses from stores and online. 

People who weren’t lucky enough to view it in person tuned in to one of the many live broadcasting streams of the eclipse, and a new survey found that 216 million American adults viewed the eclipse. 

To put that number in perspective, only <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/super-bowl-lii-tv-ratings/">104 million Americans</a> watched the 2018 Super Bowl. 

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/importance-solar-eclipses-history/">solar eclipse</a> didn’t just bring people out of the woodwork to watch the moon come directly between the Earth and Sun, but researchers from the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan (U-M)</a> found that it also garnered a flurry of interest, engagement with science, conservation and research about the event. 

Jon Miller, director of the <a href="https://isr.umich.edu/">International Center for the Advancement of Scientific Literacy at U-M's Institute for Social Research</a>, along with the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">National Aeronautics and Space Administration,</a> leads a series of yearly surveys to gauge public scientific literacy. 

Miller and his team conduct a survey at both the beginning and end of the year to see how people seek out scientific information. 

Given the rare opportunity the 2017 solar eclipse provided in capturing people’s attention, the researchers administered a third survey in the weeks following the August eclipse. 

The results of the eclipse survey showed that 88 percent of American adults watched the event, and people sought out information around 16 times three months following the total eclipse. 

Before and after the eclipse people were more motivated to find information as well as talk to friends and family about the event. Miller and his team found that on average survey respondents reported having at least eight eclipse-related conversations. 

"What we found was that there was a substantial amount of people going online, going to libraries, talking to their friends, trying to figure out what was going to happen with the eclipse before and after the event," said Jon Miller, "To a large extent, scholars have watched what people do before a scientific event, but not what they do after. The event can be a stimulus that causes people to look for more information."

People who traveled to be in the path of totality or to get a better view of the eclipse reported engaging in more information-seeking activities than those who just watched at home. 

Of the millions of Americans who did watch the eclipse, 62 million tuned into a live or recorded broadcast of the eclipse online or on TV. 

“This level of public interest and information seeking about a science-oriented event is unparalleled,” said Miller said. “It suggests that groups and organizations interested in fostering increased adult interest in science should think about post-event programming to provide resources and a forum for these discussions.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

2017 solar eclipse was watched by a record number of Americans

The total solar eclipse of 2017 was so popular that...

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?

[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

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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