A year‑long investigation following almost 20,000 adults has uncovered a clear link between getting to sleep early at night and doing more physical activity the following day. 



The recent <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2420846122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>, reports that volunteers who habitually nodded off near 9 p.m. accumulated roughly 30 extra minutes of brisk movement each day compared with people who stayed awake until 1 a.m.



<a href="https://lens.monash.edu/@josh-leota" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Josh Leota</a> of <a href="https://lens.monash.edu/@josh-leota" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Monash University</a> led the project, working with colleagues across Australia, the United States, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.



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



Those <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deep-sleep-during-naps-can-spark-insight-and-creativity/">early sleepers</a> also beat the sample average, clocking about 15 more minutes of moderate‑to‑vigorous physical activity <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2021.682233/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(MVPA)</a> than peers who usually fell asleep around 11 p.m.



Public‑health agencies <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/guidelines/adults.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">advise</a> adults to rack up at least 150 minutes of moderate effort each week, or about 30 minutes a day, meaning the extra half hour observed in the early‑to‑bed group can single‑handedly meet the daily target.



Crucially, the data show it is not just what time you fall asleep most nights, but whether you shift that time earlier while still getting your usual amount of shut‑eye. This combination produced the highest next‑day MVPA totals in the sample.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-night-owls-under-pressure">Night owls under pressure</h2>



Your natural preference for early or late sleep, known as your <a href="https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/chronotypes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">chronotype</a>, is not merely a quirk of habit. Research using accelerometers has <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-12267-5">linked</a> extreme evening chronotypes to more sedentary time and a higher ten‑year cardiovascular risk score in middle‑aged adults.



Another analysis of college students found that people who experience at least a two‑hour mismatch between work‑day and weekend sleep, known as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39321660/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">social jetlag</a>, were less likely to hit either aerobic or strength‑training recommendations.



“Standard 9‑to‑5 routines can clash with the natural sleep preferences of evening types, leading to social jetlag, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/one-particular-sleep-stage-slow-wave-deep-is-most-important-for-preventing-dementia/">poorer sleep quality</a>, and increased daytime sleepiness, which can all reduce motivation and opportunity for physical activity the next day,” explained Dr. Leota.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-activity-gadgets-that-never-sleep">Activity gadgets that never sleep</h2>



The Monash team relied on a wrist‑worn wearable sensor called <a href="https://www.whoop.com/us/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WHOOP</a> that logs heart rate, motion, and skin temperature every few seconds.



To confirm their findings, they repeated the analyses with almost 6,000 volunteers whose Fitbits fed data into the <a href="https://allofus.nih.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. All of Us Research Program</a>. The patterns held firm across age, gender, and ethnicity.



Earlier <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4341978/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work</a> has already shown that exercise and sleep travel a two‑way street: better sleep encourages movement, while regular movement deepens sleep quality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-work-schedules-make-it-worse">Work schedules make it worse</h2>



Evening‑type workers who are forced into early starts also face higher odds of metabolic trouble. Nurses who self‑identified as night owls had a 72 percent greater risk of developing diabetes than their early‑bird colleagues, although a healthier lifestyle cut that figure dramatically.



Adding vigorous workouts late in the evening can backfire too. An <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2025/05/10/working-out-night-sleep-quality/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">analysis</a> of 15,000 fitness‑tracker users found that strenuous activity inside the four‑hour window before bedtime delayed sleep onset by up to 80 minutes and severely reduced total sleep.



The <a href="https://www.who.int/initiatives/behealthy/physical-activity" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World Health Organization</a> notes that exceeding the weekly activity minimum of up to 300 minutes of moderate effort, delivers extra <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fitness-focused-medicine-physical-activity-reduces-chronic-disease-risk/">protection</a> against heart disease, depression, and several cancers. These benefits could be even easier to leverage if early sleep routines lead to increased daily activity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-small-sleep-tweaks-big-gains-in-activity">Small sleep tweaks, big gains in activity</h2>



Participants who advanced their bedtime by even 30 minutes, without shortening their total sleep, recorded noticeable lifts in activity the next morning.



“Our findings are consistent across different populations and show that if you can get to sleep earlier than usual whilst keeping your sleep duration the same, you may be more likely to increase your physical activity the following day,” said <a href="https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/elise-facer-childs">Dr. Elise Facer‑Childs</a>, senior author of the study. 



The pattern held regardless of age or fitness level, suggesting that a modest scheduling change is one lever almost anyone can pull.



If carving out time to exercise feels impossible, consider starting with the bedroom clock. An earlier lights‑out not only guards sleep duration but also builds momentum for next‑day <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/small-bursts-of-intense-exercise-can-slow-brain-aging/">activity</a>. 



This helps people reach or surpass the 150‑minute‑a‑week benchmark without adding another appointment to an already packed calendar.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-earlier-bedtimes-may-help-fight-obesity">How earlier bedtimes may help fight obesity</h2>



Mounting research connects <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3632337/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">obesity</a> with sleep habits, particularly the timing and quality of rest. People who sleep later are more likely to snack at night and less likely to engage in early‑morning activity, both of which can contribute to long‑term weight gain.



A 2020 <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7154640/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">meta‑analysis</a> found that late bedtimes are linked to higher body mass index in both children and adults, even when total sleep time is adequate. Shifting sleep earlier may align eating patterns and activity schedules in a way that helps regulate metabolism and reduce excess fat storage.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2420846122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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Early sleep times linked to enhanced activity during the day

A year‑long investigation following almost 20,000 adults has uncovered a clear link between getting to sleep early at night and doing more physical activity the following day. The recent study, reports that volunteers who habitually nodded off near 9 p.m. accumulated roughly 30 extra minutes of brisk movement each day compared with people who stayed awake until 1 a.m. Dr. Josh Leota of Monash University led the project, working with colleagues across Australia, the United States, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Why bedtime matters Those early sleepers also beat...

A recent study from <a href="https://www.chapman.edu/">Chapman University</a> has found that men are much more willing to punish co-workers in an effort to move up the career ladder. The experts believe that this merciless behavior may help to explain why <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/men-perceive-themselves-smarter/">men</a> make more money than women on average.

The study was focused on 96 undergraduate students. A series of economic games played by the participants revealed that ambitious men were twice as likely to financially penalize their peers when the effort would earn them a higher rank in the game. 

The enterprising males even punished players who had fully cooperated and had done nothing wrong in an effort to advance their status in the game.

Dr. Terence Burnham is an associate professor in Chapman's Economic Science Institute and the lead author of the study.

“Outside the laboratory, high-powered punishment and rank-based reward may be the norm,” said Dr. Burnham. “This study connects academic research to current headlines including the #metoo movement.”

According to the researchers, men may use punishment more often than women because men favor physical conflict when they consider behavior to be unfair.

Furthermore, the gender differences in punishment that were clearly demonstrated in this study could be due to the fact that men are naturally less generous and less cooperative than women. 

Research published last year in Nature Human Behavior revealed that cooperation and prosocial behavior activate the brain's reward center, or the ventral striatum, in women. On the other hand, men were found to have more stimulation in the reward region of the brain as a result of selfish behavior.

The current study was published in the journal <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/home/srd">Socius</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Men more likely to mistreat co-workers to get ahead

A recent study from Chapman University has found that men...

A recent study is shedding new light on how our expectations and biases influence the music that we enjoy. The researchers found that people responded differently to the same <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/music-influences-social-connections/">music</a> when they were told the musicians were professionals or students, and the prejudiced responses were recorded in their brain activity.

The investigation was focused on 20 participants who had no formal music training. 

The individuals were presented with eight pairs of musical excerpts, which included two different performances of the same excerpt. The matching songs were performed by musicians who were introduced as either a “conservatory student of piano” or a “world-renowned professional pianist.”

The participants listened to the music while inside of a functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) machine at the Brain Imaging Research Center at the <a href="https://uconn.edu/">University of Connecticut</a>. The fMRI scans were used to examine regions of the brain associated with cognitive control, pleasure and reward, and auditory processing.

Similar to how <a href="https://vacuum-tubes.com/">vacuum tubes</a> once amplified and distorted sound, our minds amplify and distort our perception of music based on preconceived notions.

In order to evaluate the potential for bias, the student musicians and professionals were reversed so that participants thought they were listening to a student when it was actually a professional and vice versa.

The researchers compared the brain activity of the participants who gave higher ratings to the “professional” compositions with the brain activity of those who preferred the “student” excerpts. 

The experts found that, when a participant preferred the professional player, there was heightened activity in the primary auditory cortex and a region of the brain associated with pleasure and reward before the music even began. This activity remained consistent throughout the performance, which indicates that the simple belief that these participants were hearing a professional had biased their entire music experience.

The other group of participants, who preferred the songs by “students,” were found to have more activity in a region of the brain related to cognitive control and deliberative thinking throughout the song. These individuals also had stronger connectivity between the areas of their brain linked to cognitive control and reward processing.


“It was different when people listened carefully enough to realize we were fooling them - that is, when they realized they liked the performance labeled 'student' better,” said neuroscientist and co-author Edward Large.

“The participants who could resist the bias (who decided they liked the performance primed as student or disliked the one primed as professional) had to recruit regions devoted to executive control - it looked like work for them to suppress the bias,” said study co-author Elizabeth Margulis.

The researchers explained that the results of this study have implications beyond music preferences.

“Our findings are relevant for behavioral economists, psychologists and artists alike, as they demonstrate that 'deliberative and effortful thinking' can play a crucial role in overcoming cognitive heuristics related to socially constructed concepts and stereotype.”

The research is published in the journal in <a href="http://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>.

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

Biases about music are deeply rooted, study reveals

A recent study is shedding new light on how our...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mice-birds-bats-pollination/">Mice</a> scurrying around your home are more than just a nuisance, as they can also be a health and safety concern.

A new study has found that mice in New York City carry potentially harmful disease-causing gastrointestinal bacteria which may be resistant to antibiotics. 

When it comes to rodent problems in New York, most would assume that rats are the worst offenders for carrying diseases. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www.mailman.columbia.edu/research/center-infection-and-immunity">Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) </a>at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that often overlooked house mice may carry more risks. 

“New Yorkers tend to focus on rats because they are larger and we see them scurrying around in streets or subways; however, from a public health vantage point, mice are more worrisome because they live indoors and are more likely to contaminate our environment, even if we don't see them,” said Ian Lipkin, MD, the senior author of the new study. 

The findings were published in the journal mBio. 

For the study, the researchers collected 416 mice from residential buildings at seven sites across New York City. The mice were gathered over a year and the researchers analyzed the mice’s droppings. 

The researchers found. C. difficile, E. coli, Shigella, and Salmonella bacteria in the droppings, all of which cause gastrointestinal diseases.

Salmonella is one of the leading causes of food poisoning in the U.S with 1.4 million reported cases every year. Salmonella can even be life-threatening in some instances. 

Along with the different kinds of bacteria, the researchers discovered antimicrobial resistance to several common antibiotics in the droppings. 

“Our study raises the possibility that serious infections--including those resistant to antibiotics--may be passed from these mice to humans, although further research is needed to understand how often this happens, if at all,” said Simon H. Williams, the study’s lead author. 

Another study that was also published in the journal mBio examined viruses that can be found in mice droppings. 

The results of that study showed that none of the 36 viruses found can infect humans, but they could potentially infect dogs, chicken and pigs. 

The new research raises concerns about house mice and the possibilities that mice could cause cases of antibiotic resistant gastrointestinal diseases in humans. 

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

House mice in New York City carry antibiotic-resistance bacteria

Mice scurrying around your home are more than just a...

Advertising can be very effective – whether you realize it or not, and it can be especially effective on children. A new study published in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14401754">Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health</a> has found that junk food ads are shown more frequently on TV during times when lots of children are watching. The study determined that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/children-judge-behavior-race/">children</a> were exposed to twice as much junk food advertising as healthy food advertising.

Through building a bespoke TV monitoring system – potentially the first of its kind – <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/">University of Adelaide</a> associate professor Lisa Smithers and her team were able to capture an entire year’s worth of television and ads from one free-to-air commercial TV network in South Australia. The results showed that children who watch over 80 minutes of TV per day could possibly view more than 800 junk food ads each year.

“This is the most robust data we’ve seen anywhere. It is the largest dataset ever used by health researchers for examining food advertising in Australia, and probably the world,” says Smithers. “Most research in this area is based on only a few days of data, and there are no Australian studies taking seasonality into account.”

Among the most frequently advertised foods, snack foods, crumbed/battered meats, fast food, and sugary drinks were most often advertised. Furthermore, during children’s peak viewing times, the frequency and duration of junk food advertising was more than two times higher each hour than for healthy foods.

“Diet-related problems are the leading cause of disease in Australia, and the World Health Organization has concluded that food marketing influences the types of foods that children prefer to eat, ask their parents for, and ultimately consume,” explains Smithers. 

In Australia, all advertising during children’s TV programming has to meet the Children’s Television Standards, but any codes aimed at limiting children’s exposure to junk food ads are voluntary. However, other countries and regions have implemented children’s television advertising bans – like in Quebec, Canada – and junk food advertising bans – such as Norway. France even has requirements to publish healthy eating messages when unhealthy foods are advertised.

The research group is focused on how these policies may be implemented in Australia, as “policy experts agree that reducing children's exposure to junk food ads is an important part of tackling obesity and there is broad public support for stronger regulation of advertising to protect children,” says Smithers.

Smithers also states that their uniquely designed system – which uses a digital television tuner attached to a computer – could potentially be used across all Australian markets and internationally. “This is the kind of thing that would be fairly easy to set up to monitor change over time and to evaluate the impact of different policies,” she says.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Junk food advertising hits hardest with children

Advertising can be very effective – whether you realize it...

When <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/false-news-stories-twitter/">Twitter</a> isn’t the breeding ground of unique viral stories or contentious political debates, it can actually be a useful tool of productive collaboration. This was on display in an interaction between <a href="https://www.bucknell.edu/">Bucknell University</a> Professor Chris Martine and his Twitter followers.

While searching for the Pennsylvania state-endangered golden corydalis on steep cliffs this past summer, Martine came across some specimens of what he believed to be Heuchera americana. He took a quick picture of a bumblebee on the plant, and tweeted it out. The interactions spurred by this post led Ryan Folk of the <a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/">Florida Museum of Natural History</a> to correct Martine, informing him that it was actually Heuchera alba, which is “quite rare.” This may be the first record of this plant in the state of Pennsylvania. 

Upon returning from collecting specimens they gathered rappelling up and down the cliffs, the research team examined historical collections held at Bucknell University. Through their analysis, they determined that local botanists have been misidentifying this species for over 100 years. With this new information, the researchers were able to discover seven additional populations of H. alba, which indicates a major range expansion for a species that has only been known to exist in small populations in the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia.

[caption id="attachment_1212945" align="aligncenter" width="996"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/167881.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1212945" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/167881-1024x784.jpg" alt="" width="996" height="763" /></a> Image Credit: Christopher T. Martine[/caption]

The research team has recorded their observations – as well as tips for how other can locate and protect more H. alba populations – in the open access journal <a href="https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/">PhytoKeys</a>. 

This combination of scientific work with modern social media platforms points towards a more modern way of conducting field research. If scientists can use these platforms to better collaborate, it may help expedite discoveries such as these. 

“Importantly, this discovery is not just a cool showcase for how science and modern communications outlets can work together, it also gave us key information on the status of H. alba that can guide future conservation efforts,” explains Martine.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image: <a href="https://twitter.com/martinebotany?lang=en">@MartineBotany</a> on Twitter

Twitter post leads to discovery of endangered plant population

When Twitter isn’t the breeding ground of unique viral stories...

The links between caffeine and an increased risk of heart disease are not well defined, and there is a great deal of conflicting research on how exactly caffeine affects heart problems like arrhythmias. 

Arrhythmias can increase the risk of sudden cardiac arrest and Atrial fibrillation (AFIb) and can cause strokes. Patients with atrial or ventricular arrhythmias are often advised against having caffeine. 

However, researchers from the <a href="https://www.thermh.org.au/">Royal Melbourne Hospital</a> and <a href="https://www.alfredhealth.org.au/">Alfred Hospital </a>in Melbourne, Australia have found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coffee-cannabis-brain-health/">coffee</a> and tea don’t increase the risk of cardiac arrest and actually decrease the frequency of arrhythmias in some people.

“There is a public perception, often based on anecdotal experience, that caffeine is a common acute trigger for heart rhythm problems,” said Peter Kistler, the review's lead author. “Our extensive review of the medical literature suggests this is not the case.”

The study, published in the journal JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology, sheds light on how caffeine influences cardiac rhythm. 

The researchers analyzed multiple population-based studies trying to determine the impact of caffeine on atrial and ventricular arrhythmias.

What the researchers found were consistent results pointing to a decrease in AFib with an increase in caffeine, suggesting that several cups of coffee a day may not be harmful to patients with heart rhythm disorders.

One analysis showed the frequency of AFib decreased by six percent in people who regularly drank coffee, and another evaluation found a 13 percent reduced risk of AFib in 115,993 patients. 

The researchers were able to determine that caffeine does not impact ventricular arrhythmias and that drinking up to six cups of coffee a day did not make ventricular arrhythmias any more severe or frequent. 

“Caffeinated beverages such as coffee and tea may have long-term antiarrhythmic properties mediated by antioxidant effects and antagonism of adenosine,” said Kistler. “In numerous population-based studies, patients who regularly consume coffee and tea at moderate levels have a lower lifetime risk of developing heart rhythm problems and possibly improved survival.”

The effects of caffeine may differ from person to person, so the researchers note that people who are susceptible to caffeine should continue to avoid it.

The results of the study help clarify the links between caffeine and some heart conditions, and possibly proves that coffee, to some extent, is beneficial for people with heart arrhythmias. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Drinking 3 cups of coffee per day could be good for your heart

The links between caffeine and an increased risk of heart...

It has long been assumed that higher levels of wealth and comfort were the main factors driving longer and healthier lives. But now, a recent investigation from the <a href="http://www.iiasa.ac.at/">International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis</a> has revealed that an individual's level of education is a much better predictor of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/big-gaps-life-expectancy/">life expectancy</a>.

Study co-authors Wolfgang Lutz and Endale Kebede set out to determine whether income or education is more important in how long people live using data collected between 1970 and 2015 from 174 countries.

When Lutz and Kebede plotted life expectancy against the average years of schooling among adults, the curve created was much more linear. There was no upward shift of the curve that would have required explanation by other factors, indicating a clear association between educational level and life expectancy

According to the researchers, improved cognition leads to better health-related choices and behaviors. In recent years, there has been a shift from more infectious to more chronic diseases, which are largely caused by lifestyle choices. The link between education, better health decisions, and longevity is expected to become more noticeable over time.

“This paper is more radical than previous analyses in terms of challenging the ubiquitous view that income and medical interventions are the main drivers of health,” said Lutz. “It even shows that the empirical association between income and health is largely spurious.”


The connection between health and income can be explained by the fact that higher education results in better health and higher income.

“The findings matter for the entire global health research community, and they matter for everybody in global development and deciding on funding allocations for the different aspects of development,” said Lutz. He pointed out that funding for quality education should be a much higher priority.

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.popcouncil.org/research/population-and-development-review">Population and Development Review</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Education has more of an impact on life expectancy than income

It has long been assumed that higher levels of wealth...

Researchers at <a href="http://som.ucsd.edu/">University of California San Diego School of Medicine</a> are reporting that depression in mothers can have a negative effect on the cognitive development of their children up until the age of 16.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every ten women in the United States will experience <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/insomnia-depression-genetic/">depression</a> at some point.

The current study was focused on approximately 900 healthy children and their mothers living in Santiago, Chile. The participants were surveyed every five years from the child's infancy through age 16. 

The research team investigated how affectionate and responsive mothers were to their children at each interval. They also noted whether age-appropriate learning materials were provided for the children by their mothers.

While the moms were tested for signs of depression during each follow-up survey, the children were evaluated on verbal cognitive abilities using standardized intelligence tests.

“We found that mothers who were highly depressed didn't invest emotionally or in providing learning materials to support their child, such as toys and books, as much as mothers who were not depressed. This, in turn, impacted the child's IQ at ages 1, 5, 10 and 16,” said study co-author Dr. Patricia East.

“The consistency and longevity of these results speak to the enduring effect that depression has on a mother's parenting and her child's development.”

At age five, the average cognitive test score for all of the children in the study was 7.64. The children of severely depressed mothers were found to have an average verbal IQ score of 7.30 compared to a score of 7.78 in children without depressed mothers.

“Although seemingly small, differences in IQ from 7.78 to 7.30 are highly meaningful in terms of children's verbal skills and vocabulary,” said Dr. East. “Our study results show the long term consequences that a child can experience due to chronic maternal depression.”

The study results also indicated that 20 percent of mothers who are severely depressed when their child turns a year old will struggle with depression for a long time.

“For health care providers, the results show that early identification, intervention and treatment of maternal depression are key,” said Dr. East. “Providing resources to depressed moms will help them manage their symptoms in a productive way and ensure their children reach their full potential.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/index.html">Child Development</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Depression in moms can impact their children’s cognitive growth

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine...

Researchers have found that cooperation was key in the survival of ancient humans during the rapid climate change that followed a massive volcanic eruption 40,000 years ago. The results of the study suggest that social networking could help us to overcome future <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/warming-shifting-climate-boundaries/">global warming</a>.

Julien Riel-Salvatore is a professor of Archeology at the <a href="http://www.umontreal.ca/en/">University of Montreal</a> who co-authored the study with his Italian colleague Fabio Negrino. The team analyzed human remains and ancient tools from a prehistoric rock shelter called Riparo Bombrini, which is located in Liguria on the Italian Riviera.

"Liguria is where some of the first Homo sapiens, more or less our direct ancestors, lived in Europe," said Riel-Salvatore.

 "They came after the Neanderthals, and unlike them, when they were faced with sudden changes in their climate they didn't go locally extinct or abandon the region - they adapted."

Home sapiens had been living in the region for about 1,000 years when a supervolcano erupted in southern Italy. 

“It used to be thought that this wiped out most of the early Homo sapiens in Europe, but we've been able to show that some were able to deal with the situation just fine,” said Riel-Salvatore. “They survived by dealing with the uncertainty of sudden change.”

The archeologists examined tool fragments such as bladelets and found that some of the rocks used were from hundreds of kilometers away. This indicates that the ancient humans had a widespread trading and social network that helped them cope with the challenges of their shifting climate.

“They had a link to people living far away, so that if things went haywire in the territory where they lived, they had the social option of depending on people they'd built relationships with - the broader the network, the easier it was to survive,” said Riel-Salvatore.

He said that, while it may be a bit of a leap to say that what happened tens of thousands of years ago can help predict how humans today will handle climate change, learning from the past can help put things in perspective for the future.

“It underscores the importance of archeology in being able to inform the more immediate issues we face. Cooperation and resilient social networks were really key in helping people ride out dramatic climate change in the past.”

“And considering some of the challenges we're facing nowadays, and some of the entrenched positions we have to deal with, maybe this notion that cooperation is fundamental is something we can communicate as a take-home lesson.”

The study is published in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10991417">Journal of Quaternary Science</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Ancient humans survived climate change by working together

Researchers have found that cooperation was key in the survival...

Running faster helps mice learn better, according to a new study that could have potential implications for improving problem-solving in humans.

The study was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience and the results show how motor activity that stimulates the cerebellum can aid in quickly learning new tasks.

Researchers from the<a href="http://neuro.fchampalimaud.org/"> Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown</a> in Portugal happened across the surprising findings by accident.

At first, the researchers examined the links between cellular plasticity in the brain and learning ability. 

The cerebellum is a part of the brain that is crucial for skilled movements and the researchers wanted to understand how motor activity impacted circuitry in the cerebellum in mice.

Mice running a treadmill were taught to close their eyes in response to a flash of light. The light was followed by a puff of air so the light served as a warning for the mice.

However, the data the research team accumulated through numerous experiments with the mice showed no direct connections and there was too much variability in the results.

The researchers tried to get the bottom of what would cause such disparity in the data from the experiments and eventually it was discovered that the mice in the experiments didn’t run very well.

When the mice were all tasked with running at the same speeds, the data started to make more sense and showed how running improves learning.

The faster the mice ran, the better they did at learning the new task and vice versa.

“The mice performed less well when we slowed down the treadmill, and this happened at time scales of a few seconds,” said Catarina Albergaria, the first author of the study.

Once this link between motor activity and learning had been established, the researchers next looked at what neural processes in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/older-adults-brain-cells/">brain</a> were responsible.

Specific neurons in the mice were stimulated with a laser light using a technique called optogenetics. The neurons were connected to the cerebellum through a series of mossy fibers

“We substituted motor activity with direct stimuli to the cerebellum and we found that if you are able to increase the activity of the mossy fibers, you enhance learning,” said Albergaria.

What’s exciting about the study are the implications the results have for improved learning in humans, as the researchers say that stimulating the mossy fibers in the brain could help with learning new tasks.

“We tend to think that to manipulate the plasticity of the brain, so that people learn faster and slow learners improve, we have to use drugs,” said Megan Carey, leader of the research. “But here, all we had to do was control how fast mice were running to obtain an improvement. It would be interesting to see if this holds for humans, for cerebellar forms of learning - and even for other types of learning.”

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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

Running faster could improve learning ability

Running faster helps mice learn better, according to a new...

According to a study from <a href="https://www.global.hokudai.ac.jp/">Hokkaido University</a>, heat waves and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/2018-record-cold-temperatures/">cold spells</a> come with different health risks. The researchers found that extreme cold increases the risk of illness and death among people with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, while extreme heat is risky for people with renal diseases.

“We analyzed the data from Twin Cities, Minnesota, in the U.S., and found patterns with universal validity across the globe,” said lead author Matteo Convertino. 

Extreme weather events are known to be dangerous to human health, yet not enough research has been focused on how specific temperatures affect morbidity and mortality. This insight would be critical in tailoring public service messages for people with specific health conditions.


Professor Convertino teamed up with experts at the <a href="https://twin-cities.umn.edu/">University of Minnesota Twin Cities</a> and the <a href="http://www.health.state.mn.us/">Minnesota Department of Health</a> to investigate which public health warnings should be given ahead of hazardous temperatures.

In the Twin Cities, the winters are harsh while the summers are hot and humid. The researchers obtained extreme temperature data and compared it to deaths in the city between 1998 and 2014. They also compared temperatures to emergency room visits from 2005 to 2014.

The experts noted that the relative risk for mortality and morbidity increased with more extreme temperatures, but at-risk populations were affected differently depending on their health conditions. 

There was a higher risk for people with cardiovascular disease or respiratory illness in the winter but not in the summer, and the opposite was found to be true for patients with renal diseases. In addition, diabetics showed no significant response to extreme temperatures. 

The findings of the study also indicate that heat index and percentile-based temperature thresholds are more useful than absolute temperatures for determining when public health warnings should be issued.

“Considering climate variability over space and time, tailored emergency risk communication programs are extremely important for informing the general public about potential health risks, such as severe heat waves or cold snaps, and how individuals can protect themselves,” said Professor Convertino. 

“Our model can determine such temperature thresholds to start risk communications, which is important for saving human lives.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_07.htm">Risk Analysis</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Extreme temperatures pose different threats to human health

According to a study from Hokkaido University, heat waves and...

Dr. Eryn Newman of <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/">The Australian National University </a>(ANU) is reporting that the way that scientific research is presented has the most impact on whether or not people believe it. According to the investigation, the presentation of a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/evangelicals-climate-change-evolution/">scientific study</a> is more influential on the audience than the new discovery itself.

“When people are assessing the credibility of information, most of the time people are making a judgement based on how something feels,” said Dr. Newman.

“Our results showed that when the sound quality was poor, the participants thought the researcher wasn't as intelligent, they didn't like them as much and found their research less important.”


The study participants were shown video clips of scientists presenting research at conferences. One group of participants heard the video recordings in high-quality audio, while another group heard the same recordings with poor-quality sounds.

When the participants evaluated the researchers and their work, individuals who had heard the poor quality audio consistently rated the experts as being less intelligent and the studies as being less important.


The researchers conducted a second phase of the trial in which video clips of world-renowned scientists were used. Unlike the first phase of the experiment, this time the videos included introductions of the scientists along with their qualifications and institutional affiliations.

“It made no difference,”said Dr. Newman.”As soon as we reduced the audio quality, all of a sudden the scientists and their research lost credibility.”

The findings of this analysis suggest that researchers need to reconsider the delivery of their studies. Dr. Newman pointed out that this is especially important in a time when authentic scientific facts are forced to compete with fake news.

“Another recent study showed false information travels six times faster than real information on Twitter,” she said. “Our results show that it's not just about who you are and what you are saying, it's about how your work is presented.”

Dr. Newman's study is published in the journal <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/home/scx">Science Communication</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

What determines whether or not people believe science?

Dr. Eryn Newman of The Australian National University (ANU) is...

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

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" 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.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

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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

[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...

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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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