Hand,Putting,Out,Cigarette,In,Ashtray.,Glass,Ashtray,With,Cigarette

Cigarette smoking has been on a steady decline across the United States. New research shows that young adults are driving this shift, especially in states where smoking rates were once the highest. However, there is still a long road ahead for older generations, whose slower progress in quitting may delay broader public health improvements. 



Scientists from the <a href="https://ucsd.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California San Diego</a> published their findings in the journal JAMA Network Open. The study points to major differences in smoking habits depending on age, region, and background.



Although national smoking rates have dropped sharply, adults over 50 are quitting at a much slower pace. This slower change could keep smoking-related diseases like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-may-trigger-lung-cancer-in-non-smokers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lung cancer</a> and heart disease high for years to come.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-smoking-rates-progress-and-persistence">Smoking rates: Progress and persistence</h2>



The researchers used data from the Tobacco Use Supplements to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. This large monthly survey gathers information from about 54,000 households across the country. 



The analysis, covering responses from 1.77 million people between June and October 2024, revealed some striking trends. Across the board, smoking has dropped. But the states that once had the highest smoking rates have seen the biggest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/neighborhood-green-space-linked-to-lower-rates-of-smoking/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">improvements</a>.



In contrast, places with historically lower rates saw more modest declines. One of the most important findings was the difference between younger and older adults. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cigarette-smoking-among-teens-has-declined-dramatically/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Young people</a> have quit smoking at much faster rates than those over 50.



Dr. Matthew Stone, the study's first author, is an assistant professor at the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health.



“The rapid decline in smoking among young adults is clear evidence that the smoking epidemic will come to an end in our lifetime,” said Dr. Stone.



“Indeed, we project that the national smoking prevalence will be under 5% by 2035. However, the much slower decline in smokers over the age of 50, particularly in previously high smoking states, will mean that the high rates of lung cancer, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/smokers-have-weaker-hearts-that-pump-less-blood/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">heart</a> disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that are caused by lifelong smoking will take longer to decrease.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-far-we-have-come">How far we have come</h2>



Smoking in America has been on a steady decline for decades. In 1955, more than half of U.S. adults - 56.9% - were smokers. 



By 2000, that number had fallen by more than half. It dropped again by 50% by 2022. If current trends continue, smoking rates are expected to fall to under 5% by 2035.



Another important pattern has also emerged. States that cut smoking rates the most have seen the biggest drops in lung cancer deaths - though with a delay of about 16 years. This connection shows how public health efforts, policies, and education campaigns can pay off over time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-decline-in-smoking-rise-in-vaping">Decline in smoking, rise in vaping</h2>



While cigarette smoking is fading, other problems are taking its place. "The ongoing decline in cigarette smoking is a major public health success story," said study co-author Dr. John P. Pierce, a professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science and Moores Cancer Center.



"Recent evidence suggests that the tobacco industry has successfully recruited a new generation of teenagers into <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/e-cigarettes-linked-to-increased-risk-of-heart-failure/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">e-cigarette</a> use and nicotine addiction. Further research is needed to assess the long-term impact of this shift."



As <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vaping-epidemic-half-of-students-who-try-e-cigs-get-hooked/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">vaping</a> and e-cigarette use grow among teens, public health experts are concerned about what the next chapter in tobacco use might look like. Today's young adults may be turning away from cigarettes, but tomorrow's teenagers could be facing a different kind of addiction.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-smoking-and-public-health-the-future">Smoking and public health: The future</h2>



Public health efforts over the past several decades have made a real difference. Education campaigns, smoking bans, higher tobacco taxes, and smoking cessation programs have all played a role in driving down smoking rates. However, the work isn’t finished.



Addressing the slow decline among older adults will be key to reducing the burden of smoking-related illnesses. At the same time, understanding and managing the rise in e-cigarette use among younger people will be critical. 



As smoking habits shift, researchers and policymakers alike will need to adapt to ensure the next generation stays healthy and smoke free.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2833289" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JAMA Network Open</a>.



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Young adults lead dramatic decline in smoking rates

Cigarette smoking has been on a steady decline across the United States. New research shows that young adults are driving this shift, especially in states where smoking rates were once the highest. However, there is still a long road ahead for older generations, whose slower progress in quitting may delay broader public health improvements. Scientists from the University of California San Diego published their findings in the journal JAMA Network Open. The study points to major differences in smoking habits depending on age, region, and background. Although...

Hand grip strength could be an indicator of cardiovascular health and heart structure, according to a new study. 

Typically, hand grip strength is used to measure muscular strength, but researchers from the <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/">Queen Mary University of London</a> wanted to explore the little-studied correlation between handgrip and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/football-players-cardiovascular-problems/">heart health</a>. 

Previous research has found that hand grip strength is associated with cardiovascular incidents, but until now that link has not been thoroughly investigated. 

The findings, published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0193124">PLOS ONE</a>, show that better hand grip strength illustrates certain healthy cardiac functions and could mean a reduced risk of cardiovascular incidents. 

For the study, the researchers collected and analyzed cardiovascular magnetic resonance images and measured the hand grip strength of 5,065 participants. 

A statistical model was then created so the researchers could account for potential factors that would influence the study such as demographics, how physically active the participants were, and other known cardiac risk factors. 

After analyzing the measurements and images, the researchers found that the participants with a stronger hand grip had lower heart mass and pumped more blood per heartbeat than those with decreased hand grip strength. 

The more blood per heartbeat means that for those participants, the heart is not suffering from remodeling which can occur with high blood pressure or after a heart attack. 

The results show that a stronger hand grip could be indicative of a healthy heart and reduced risk of cardiovascular issues. 

“Our study of over 4,600 people shows that better handgrip strength is associated with having a healthier heart structure and function,” said Steffen Petersen, a leader of the research.

The researchers also note that future research should investigate this connection in depth as measuring hand-grip strength would be an easy way for medical professionals to measure heart health. 

“Handgrip strength is an inexpensive, reproducible and easy to implement the measure, and could become an important method for identifying those at a high risk of heart disease and preventing major life-changing events, such as heart attacks,” said Peterson. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A strong hand grip could indicate a healthy heart

Hand grip strength could be an indicator of cardiovascular health...

More than 8 million people over the age of 50 in the United States are socially isolated. 

Social isolation occurs when someone no longer has the traditional support of a network of friends, family, and community. These seniors often describe themselves as invisible to society, especially when cloistered in apartments or rural areas. 

A collection of research published in the new issue of the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ppar/issue/27/4">Public Policy and Aging Report </a>presented by the <a href="https://www.geron.org/">Gerontological Society of America</a> (GSA) reveals how social isolation poses a major health risk and outlines several promising new innovations to combat this problem. 

According to the new research, social isolation can be as harmful to a person’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. 

Social isolation has been linked to higher blood pressure, an increased susceptibility to flu, a greater likelihood of cardiovascular disease, and an earlier onset of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/positive-attitude-dementia-risk/">dementia</a>. 

“As we age, social connections can be an important contributor to our well-being,” said James Appleby, an executive director and CEO of the GSA. “Now through our Public Policy &amp; Aging Report, I am proud that GSA is adding momentum to research in this topic area -- ultimately leading to new evidence-based insights that can be translated into sound policy and practice.”

Appleby and the GSA offer some innovative new plans for dealing with the problem of social isolation, some of which are already currently underway.

One of the new ventures discussed in the report is a collaboration with the <a href="https://www.uscbodycomputing.org/home">USC Center for Body Computing</a> that will provide free Lyft rides to appointments in order to study whether or not this improves health and well-being in older adults. 

Another proposed plan is testing out interactive devices with built-in speech-recognition that would give reminders of community information. 

These studies and ventures are not just innovative, but according to Julianne Holt-Lunstad, one of the authors in the new issue, they are also a vital part of helping seniors live longer, more fulfilling lives. 

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By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Social isolation poses a growing health risk for seniors

More than 8 million people over the age of 50...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.colostate.edu/">Colorado State University</a> have found that most of the world's largest cities depend on evaporation from surrounding regions for more than 33 percent of their water supply. In dry years, these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cities-stay-hotter-night/">cities</a> depend even more on surface water.

The researchers determined that the following cities are the most dependent on moisture recycling: Karachi, Pakistan, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Chongqing. The experts also identified the cities which are the least dependent on moisture recycling including Cairo, Paris, Sao Paulo, and Chicago.

“A lot of these cities have complex and significant management processes for water resources and supplies,” said study co-author Pat Keys. 

“Cities like Chicago have experienced water stress in the past, but they are well-buffered by water management. On the other hand, many megacities are not able to buffer themselves from fluctuations in climate and seasonal weather patterns, such as Lagos in Nigeria, or Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.”

When water evaporates from the land and rises up into the atmosphere, the moisture is transported by the wind and falls as precipitation in a nearby region.

“What you do on the land influences that whole branch of the water cycle,” said Keys. “If you plant a forest or cropland where there used to be a shrubland or desert, it probably won't last without substantial irrigation. If you change the amount of water or change when it is evaporated and flows up into the atmosphere, that can have impacts for other places and people.”

The research team analyzed the sources of water for 29 major cities representing more than 450 million people across the globe. They used a moisture tracking model to estimate how much the cities depended on surface water, and found that 19 out of the 29 cities were significantly dependent on precipitation from local evaporation.

The study authors hope that the findings of this research will make people more aware, especially considering that most of the cities evaluated in the study will continue to grow in size.


“Cities and countries have limited resources,” said Keys. “If I were in one of those highly vulnerable cities, I'd want to look at this additional dimension of vulnerability for the water supply.”


“With climate change, and demographic and land use fluctuations, it is important to understand where vulnerabilities exist and have a full picture.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</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: Patrick W. Keys/<a href="https://www.colostate.edu/">Colorado State University</a>

Many large cities depend on evaporation for their water supply

Researchers at Colorado State University have found that most of...

2017 was one of the costliest year on record for wildland fire suppression, according to the <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2017/09/14/forest-service-wildland-fire-suppression-costs-exceed-2-billion">U.S Department of Agriculture. </a>

New research has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/risk-wildfires-europe-increase/">wildfires</a> are increasing because more and more people are living in areas close to wild lands, and this flurry of development makes it difficult for both fire prevention and suppression.  

The study was led by the <a href="https://www.wisc.edu/">University of Wisconsin-Madison</a> in collaboration with researchers from the <a href="https://www.usda.gov/">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a>, the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/">U.S. Geological Survey</a>, the <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">University of California, Berkeley</a>, the<a href="http://research.haifa.ac.il/~biology/"> University of Haifa-Oranim</a> in Israel and the <a href="https://consbio.org/">Conservation Biology Institute in Oregon.</a>

Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the results show how new home developments near wild areas have increased since 1990 and this can be linked to an increase in wildfires. 

The wildland-urban-interface (WUI) describes where homes and wild areas like forests meet. 

The researchers collected and analyzed data from the <a href="https://www.mrlc.gov/finddata.php">United States Geological Survey National Land Cover Database</a> and overlapped this with modified Census Data in order to track how much WUIs had increased over a 20 year period beginning in 1990. 

WUIs in the U.S. increased rapidly over the years and the results showed that 9.5 percent, 190 million acres, of the continental U.S could be categorized as WUIs in 2010. 

The more developed land there was near wild areas, the researchers also found an increase in invasive species, pollution, and disease. 

“We've seen that many wildfires are caused by people living in close proximity to forests and wildlands,” said Volker Radeloff, the leader of the research. “And that when these fires are spreading, they are much harder to fight when people are living there, because lives are at risk, because properties have to be protected.” 

The study is the first to link the increase in severe wildfires to the growth in urban areas near wildlands, and the researchers caution against further development in these areas. 

The research team instead urges that land management take precedent in order to limit the risks of fires in WUIs. 

“So there's a lot that can be done. And I think what our data shows on the development side, and others have shown on the climate change side, we better start doing it or otherwise we will have news like what we had last fall again and again," said Radeloff, referring to the fires that swept through Northern California in 2017. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New building developments near wild lands increases fire risk

2017 was one of the costliest year on record for...

Researchers have found that the pursuit of happiness tends to backfire when too much emphasis is placed on it. People who strive to feel <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/teens-phones-less-happy/">happy</a> often feel like there are not enough hours in the day, and ironically end up feeling discouraged and unhappy.

Aekyoung Kim of <a href="https://www.rutgers.edu/">Rutgers University</a> and Sam Maglio of the <a href="https://www.utoronto.ca/university-life/campuses/scarborough">University of Toronto Scarborough</a> conducted a series of investigations to analyze how our perception of time is influence by both the pursuit of happiness and the state of being happy.

One group of study participants was given a set of tasks that presented happiness as a goal that must be pursued. These individuals were either instructed to compile a list of things that would make them feel happier or were asked to try and force themselves to feel happy while watching a boring film about building bridges. 

Another group of participants was presented with tasks which made it seem that they had already accomplished happiness. These individuals were instructed to either write down all of the things that made them happy or to watch a slapstick comedy.

After completing the tasks, participants in both groups reported on how much free time they felt like they had.


The study revealed that the active pursuit of happiness caused the first group of people to think of their time as being scarce. The second group of individuals, who were in the mindset that they had already achieved happiness, reported having more free time.


“Time seems to vanish amid the pursuit of happiness, but only when seen as a goal requiring continued pursuit,” explained the study authors. “This finding adds depth to the growing body of work suggesting that the pursuit of happiness can ironically undermine well-being.”

The researchers said that, while the findings indicate that a desire for happiness can impair positive emotions, this does not necessarily have to be the case. If someone believes they have already achieved happiness to some degree, they are left with the time to appreciate this happiness.

“By encouraging people to worry less about pursuing happiness as a never-ending goal, successful interventions might just end up giving them more time and, in turn, more happiness,” wrote the researchers.

“Because engaging in experiences and savoring the associated feelings requires more time compared with merely, for instance, buying material goods, feeling a lack of time also leads people to prefer material possessions rather than enjoying leisure experiences.”

According to the study authors, the way that people perceive their time availability can significantly influence the decisions they make and their overall sense of well-being. For this reason, the experts believe that it is important to understand when, why, and how individuals use their time in pursuit of happiness and other goals.

 The study is published by <a href="http://www.springer.com/">Springer</a> in the journal <a href="http://www.springer.com/psychology/cognitive+psychology/journal/13423">Psychonomic Bulletin &amp; Review</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

People who actively pursue happiness often feel limited by time

Researchers have found that the pursuit of happiness tends to...

Today, New England is bracing for its third major winter storm in less than two weeks, battering the area with snow, dangerous winds, and power outages. This winter has been especially brutal for the northeast, which has seen bomb cyclones and record snowfall in parts of the region. 

The cause of the extreme winter weather in the northeast region has now been linked to warming in the Arctic, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications. 

Researchers from <a href="https://newbrunswick.rutgers.edu/">Rutgers University-New Brunswick </a>and <a href="https://www.aer.com/">Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER)</a> were able to illustrate how Arctic warming contributes to major winter weather in the United States. 

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/record-high-temperatures-arctic/">Arctic</a> is also undergoing extremes with record high temperatures and reports of melting sea ice. If Arctic warming extends into the stratosphere, it disrupts the polar vortex which in turn, causes severe winter weather in the northeast United States. 

“Warm temperatures in the Arctic cause the jet stream to take these wild swings, and when it swings farther south, that causes cold air to reach farther south,” said Jennifer Francis, the study’s co-author. “These swings tend to hang around for awhile, so the weather we have in the eastern United States, whether it's cold or warm, tends to stay with us longer.”

The researchers analyzed weather patterns and temperatures in the Arctic over the past several years. 

The findings show that severe winter weather is two to four times more likely in the eastern United States, northern Europe, and Asia when the Arctic is displaying unusually warm temperatures. 

Conversely, the researchers also discovered that extreme winter weather in the western United States is caused by colder than normal temperatures in the Arctic. 

The study is yet another that shows the wildly disruptive and varied nature of climate change.

“Five of the past six winters have brought persistent cold to the eastern U.S. and warm, dry conditions to the West, while the Arctic has been off-the-charts warm,” said Francis. “Our study suggests that this is no coincidence. Exactly how much the Arctic contributed to the severity or persistence of the pattern is still hard to pin down, but it's becoming very difficult to believe they are unrelated.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A warmer Arctic leads to more brutal winters in the northeast

Today, New England is bracing for its third major winter...

Researchers at <a href="http://www.cnrs.fr/index.php">The National Center for Scientific Research</a> (CNRS) have investigated why it is hotter in some cities after the sun goes down compared to others. They found that more organized cities with straight and perpendicular streets trap more heat than those with less structure and organization.

When the air temperature is higher in the city than its surrounding rural areas, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-green-facades-cool-urban-heat-islands/">urban heat islands</a> (UHIs) are created. 

Around 80 percent of the urban population in the United States is affected by heat islands, which have a detrimental effect on health, worsen air pollution, intensify energy consumption, and generally lower the quality of life. The environmental and economic costs of UHIs are barely being offset by any current strategies. 

The research team examined the major factors that drive warmer urban temperatures, such as the thermal mass of buildings. The experts wanted to gain insight into how much of the heat being absorbed during the day is being released or retained at night and why.

The researchers documented the footprints of buildings and the temperatures recorded in urban and rural areas over the course of several years. By studying more than 50 major cities, the research team was able to investigate the link between urban geometry and the effects of UHIs at night.

The study revealed that buildings release heat depending on their level of spatial organization. The experts demonstrated that a high level of urban organization, which is found in most North American cities, corresponds with more pronounced UHI effects and greater heat retention. The opposite is true for less organized cities, which release more heat at night.

The findings of the research could be used to explore new urban planning methods that could help to achieve optimal energy management.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.aps.org/prl/">Physical Review Letters</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Some cities stay hotter at night due to their layout

Researchers at The National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) have...

The Great Recession, which began in 2007 and lasted until 2010, will be remembered as a period of great economic turmoil for the United States. It was the longest-running recession since World War II, with many losing their jobs, homes, savings.

Now, a decade after the Recession first began, researchers are examining its effects beyond the financial sector and how it impacted the health and well-being of the American people.

While economists can show the full extent of how the stock market was affected by the mortgage crisis that peaked during the Great Recession, less is known about the physical and mental toll that the Recession took on Americans.

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.ucla.edu/health-system/">University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) Health Sciences </a>wanted to thoroughly investigate the impacts the Recession had on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/football-players-cardiovascular-problems/">cardiovascular health</a> and stress. 

The results, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the Recession adversely affected heart health and increased blood pressure and glucose levels among older homeowners and younger people in the workforce.

According to the researchers, previous studies that measured the impacts the Recession had on health were inconsistent in their results, and did not use well-known health biomarkers to measure health over a period spanning before and after the Recession. 

For their research, the UCLA team collected data from 4,600 participants of the <a href="https://mesa-nhlbi.org/">Multi-Ethnic Study of  Atherosclerosis</a> (MESA) from 2000 to 2012.

The researchers measured blood pressure and glucose levels at different periods before, during, and after the Recession. 

In order to fairly compare any changes in cardiovascular health, the researchers first projected normal changes in blood pressure and glucose levels without the added strain of the Recession in the age range of the participants from 45 to 84. 

After analyzing and comparing the data to the projected non-Recession outcomes, the results showed that both blood pressure and glucose levels rose during the Recession. 

People in the workforce and retired homeowners were particularly susceptible to an increased risk of cardiovascular issues. 

The researchers suspect that the stress of possibly losing jobs or houses would have greatly affected both physical and mental health for the participants. 

This new study shows that economic crises like the Great Recession can have an impact on physical and mental health.

The researchers hope the results will urge policymakers and healthcare providers to better prepare for periods of economic downturn in the future. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The Great Recession impacted public health and wellbeing

The Great Recession, which began in 2007 and lasted until...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rise-obesity-mortality-rates/">Obesity</a> is a major health issue in many developed countries around the world, and is a condition that often begins at an early age. It’s linked to increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, among numerous other medical conditions. Much of the research around obesity involves determining the factors that may predispose an individual to being obese, and the potential ways in which this can be prevented and treated.

But new research published in <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/">JNeurosci</a> has found that reduced ability to maintain body temperature in cold environments may contribute to the development of obesity in adulthood. Researchers from the <a href="http://www.usc.es/en/index.html">University of Santiago de Compostela</a> and <a href="http://www.umh.es/?lang=EN">Institute of Neuroscience/University Miguel Hernandez of Alicante</a> (Spain) studied mice lacking the cold-sensing ion channel TRPM8. They found that these mice, when placed in a mildly cold environment, ate more food during the daytime – when mice are usually asleep. 

The increased daytime eating began at an early age, and led to obesity and high blood sugar in adulthood, which could have been a result of reduced fat utilization. When compared to control mice, the TRPM8-deficient mice lost more heat in the cold, particularly during periods of fasting, as their body temperature dropped below 86 degrees Fahrenheit. 

This is important, as energy from food is used to maintain constant body temperature through generating and conserving heat. In fact, almost half of the human energy budget that is spent during a sedentary life is used to maintain our body temperature. 

These results show evidence for a never before seen link between thermal sensing systems, thermoregulation, and food intake. The researchers believe this discovery could lead to new ways of preventing and treating obesity.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Reduced ability to maintain body temperature linked to obesity

Obesity is a major health issue in many developed countries...

After the eruption of the super volcano Mount Toba in Indonesia around 74,000 years ago, plants and trees were struggling to survive under the drastic conditions of rapid climate change. Scientists have found evidence that early modern humans on the coast of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cape-town-day-zero/">South Africa</a> were not only surviving, but thriving, after this catastrophic event.

In 1816, there was a year without summer. Experts believe that a volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia was to blame, as crops failed across North America and Eurasia and mass migrations occurred. The impact of volcanic activity at nearby Mount Toba, however, was around 100 times more intense.

The Toba eruption devastated some ecosystems more than others, and likely created areas called refugia, in which some human populations were more successful than others throughout the event. The blast at Mount Toba violently shot out fire, smoke, and microscopic pieces of glass that spread across the planet’s atmosphere like wildfire.

In the 1990s, scientists began arguing that this eruption of Mount Toba, the most powerful in the last two million years, caused a long-lived volcanic winter that may have caused humans to nearly become extinct.

Panagiotis Karkanas is the director of the <a href="http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/Wiener-Laboratory/">Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science</a> at the American School of Classical Studies in Greece. He examined a single shard of glass from this explosion that was encased in resin and dated back 74,000 years. The shard had been recovered on the coast of South Africa.

“It was one shard particle out of millions of other mineral particles that I was investigating. But it was there, and it couldn't be anything else,” said Karkanas.

The scientists found a distinct chemical signature that could be used to learn more about the massive eruption.


“Many previous studies have tried to test the hypothesis that Toba devastated human populations,” explained study co-author Curtis Marean. “But they have failed because they have been unable to present definitive evidence linking a human occupation to the exact moment of the event.”


While previous  studies have confirmed that extreme climate change was caused by the explosion at Mount Toba, this study is the first to provide evidence of how people were impacted. Along the food-rich coastline of southern Africa, people not only survived but actually thrived through this historic eruption. 

Photorealistic 3D models were developed based on samples and fossils removed from the dig site of ancient humans on the South African coast. Erich Fisher is an associate research scientist with the <a href="https://iho.asu.edu/">Institute of Human Origins</a> who constructed the digital models.


“These models tell us a lot about how people lived at the site and how their activities changed through time,” said Fisher. “What we found was that during and after the time of the Toba eruption people lived at the site continuously, and there was no evidence that it impacted their daily lives.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

South Africans survived super volcano that could’ve ended humans

After the eruption of the super volcano Mount Toba in...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/younger-siblings-develop-empathy/">Empathy</a> is what we use to relate to other people around us and respond to their feelings and emotions in the correct manner. It helps us to build and sustain relationships and share our emotional sides with each other. But now, a new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/tp/">Translational Psychiatry</a> suggests that an individual’s ability to empathize is not only due to our upbringing and experience, but is also a result of our genes.

There are two parts to empathy: the ability to recognize another person’s thoughts and feelings (known as “cognitive empathy”) and the ability to respond with an appropriate emotion to someone else’s thoughts and feelings (known as “affective empathy”). Over a decade ago, researchers at the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> developed the Empathy Quotient (EQ), which is a self-report measure of empathy that measures both parts. 

Past studies have found that on average, women are slightly more empathetic than men, and that autistic people score lower on the EQ. Now, this Cambridge research group has teamed up with the genetics company 23andMe, along with a team of international scientists, to report the results of the largest genetic study of empathy ever. This study used information from over 46,000 23andMe customers, who all completed the EQ online and provided a saliva sample for genetic analysis. 

Ultimately, the study had three major results. The first of these is that how empathetic we are is partly due to genetics. In fact, about 10% of this variation is a result of genetic factors. Secondly, the study confirmed that women are more empathetic than men, on average. Interestingly, this difference is not due to our DNA, as there were no differences in the genes that contribute to empathy in men and women. This result indicates that sex difference in empathy is a result of other biological factors, such as prenatal hormone influences, or non-biological factors such as socialization. Lastly, the study determined that genetic variants linked to lower empathy are also associated with a higher risk for autism.

“This is an important step towards understanding the small but important role that genetics plays in empathy,” says Varun Warrier, a Cambridge PhD student and lead author of the study. “But keep in mind that only a tenth of individual differences in empathy in the population are due to genetics. It will be equally important to understand the non-genetic factors that explain the other 90%.”

Furthermore, while the study has shown that genes play a role in empathy, it didn’t determine the specific genes that are involved. The researchers plan to address this moving forward with additional studies, and use future findings to help us better understand the factors behind autism and other disabilities.

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By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Your ability to empathize is partially determined by your genes

Empathy is what we use to relate to other people...

Most of us can recall very few of our life experiences that occurred before the age of four or five, and researchers are now explaining why some of our earliest childhood <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/certain-smells-memories/">memories</a> become inaccessible.

“Childhood amnesia,” as Sigmund Freud called it, was previously thought to be an inability to remember anything before age seven. This theory did not hold up, however, as studies began to show that children as young as infants have memories that persist, even if they are short-lived.

In 2005, it was determined that five-year-olds can remember 80 percent of things that happened when they were three, yet only around half of this memory bank is retained by age 7.5.

Scientists have found that, in childhood, our brains can absorb a lot of information in a very short amount of time. The region of the brain that stores memories in the hippocampus, however, is still developing up until our early teens.

Most early childhood memories are lost during the adult brain development process as neurons are being continuously modified. Ultimately, our brain circuitry is lined with fatty tissues and memories become more long-term. 

Patricia Bauer of <a href="http://www.emory.edu/home/index.html">Emory University</a> is a leading expert on memory development. She explained that the long-term memories we set aside during childhood are the least stable recollections that we will store over the course of our lives. 

Studies have shown that childhood memories are not completely wiped out, but events are often recollected inaccurately due to early restructuring within the brain.

“This is a phenomenon of long standing focus,” Bauer reported to <a href="http://nautil.us/">Nautilus</a>. “It demands our attention because it’s a paradox: Very young children show evidence of memory for events in their lives, yet as adults we have relatively few of these memories.”

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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

Childhood memories are lost as the brain restructures itself

Most of us can recall very few of our life...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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"

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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

[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" 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> 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

[sendtonews key="qas3EhyI0Y-2220951-12187" 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.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

[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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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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