Coffee is prized for its taste and mental boost. A new study shows that caffeine may also fine‑tune the internal clock that makes cells grow old.



Researchers observed that yeast aged more slowly when caffeine altered the same energy pathways that help human cells <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/organ-aging-can-predict-diseases-decades-in-advance/">survive</a> under stress.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-caffeine-slows-aging-in-yeast-cells">Caffeine slows aging in yeast cells</h2>



Dr. Charalampos (Babis) Rallis of <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/">Queen Mary University of London</a> focused on the yeast species Schizosaccharomyces pombe because its DNA repair and growth controls echo our own. 



The team logged changes in <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9139625/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">chronological lifespan</a>, the length of time that non‑dividing cells stay viable, then mapped the molecular traffic that caffeine set in motion.



“This is our most exciting find to date,” said Dr. Rallis. The results point to a fuel‑sensing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/healthy-aging-how-some-people-live-past-100-years/">pathway</a> that kicks in when nutrients dip, mirroring how people burn stored energy between meals.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-yeast-helps-us-understand-aging">Yeast helps us understand aging</h2>



Fission yeast may seem worlds apart from humans, but it shares many core <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4772020/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">regulatory pathways</a> found in our cells. Systems like <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2779044/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AMPK</a> and <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3241408/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TOR</a> have been conserved over hundreds of millions of years because they work so well.



This makes yeast an ideal testing ground for decoding how compounds like caffeine affect <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-are-experimenting-with-new-approach-to-fight-and-stop-human-aging-necrosis/">lifespan</a> and stress response. What happens in a petri dish often sparks questions that ripple out to animal models and eventually to people.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-caffeine-may-slow-aging">How caffeine may slow aging</h2>



The key player is AMPK, an enzyme that "notices" when the cell’s ATP (energy) balance tilts toward empty and then shifts metabolism to survival mode. 



“Caffeine helps flip that switch,” said <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=913OCBIAAAAJ&amp;hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. John‑Patrick Alao</a>, the postdoctoral scientist who ran the experiments.



Earlier <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23551936/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work</a> suggested caffeine blocked <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23551936/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TOR</a>, a growth promoter, but new data reveal the compound reaches TOR indirectly by first waking up AMPK. 



Cells then slow growth, patch damaged DNA, and boost antioxidant defenses, the very responses that lengthen life in many lab organisms.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-caffeine-and-metformin-use-same-pathway">Caffeine and metformin use same pathway</h2>



<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6779524/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metformin</a>, the common diabetes drug, also charges AMPK and is being tested as a geroprotector in humans. The overlap hints that coffee’s benefits may parallel those seen in metformin cohorts, though dosage and metabolism differ widely.



Both agents dial back inflammation, clear out faulty proteins through autophagy, and keep insulin signaling from running too hot. 



If future trials confirm safety, researchers may combine low‑dose caffeine with metformin analogs to see whether their effects stack without side effects.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-caffeine-helps-manage-cell-stress">Caffeine helps manage cell stress</h2>



The AMPK pathway doesn’t just manage fuel, it also guides how cells respond to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/medgen/222489" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">genotoxic stress</a>, such as radiation or chemicals that harm DNA. 



The yeast data showed caffeine increased sensitivity to DNA damage in some mutants, revealing AMPK's role in damage response.



This dual role, energy control and DNA repair, suggests that caffeine tunes both survival and quality control systems. 



It’s part of a wider stress adaptation strategy that has been conserved across <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-discover-a-protein-that-reverses-cellular-aging/">evolution</a>, and is now offering new angles for anti-aging research.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-people-who-drink-coffee-may-live-longer">People who drink coffee may live longer</h2>



Observational work involving hundreds of thousands of adults links two to four cups of coffee daily with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31055709/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lower all‑cause mortality</a>. 



Separate <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34468722/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">analyses</a> in Asian populations find similar protection against heart disease and several cancers.



Because these studies track behavior, not biology, confounding factors like diet, exercise, and income can cloud cause and effect. 



The yeast data now give those population numbers a plausible mechanism anchored in cell chemistry, without the noise of other factors.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-on-caffeine-and-aging">Future research on caffeine and aging</h2>



Yeast tolerate caffeine levels far above a latte, so dose matters when translating findings to people. 



Human AMPK is embedded in tissues that react differently, so benefits in muscle may come at a cost elsewhere if DNA repair stalls during caffeine peaks.



High caffeine can raise blood pressure, trigger anxiety, and interfere with sleep - processes that can speed cell aging if left unchecked. 



Clinical trials that track AMPK activation, cardiovascular markers, and cognitive scores together will be needed before doctors advise specific amounts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-role-of-diet-and-exercise">The role of diet and exercise </h2>



Exercise is one of the most well-known ways to activate AMPK in humans. When muscles burn through energy during physical activity, this pathway turns on to help cells adapt and recover.



Certain foods, including those high in polyphenols like berries and green tea, may also give AMPK a nudge. 



Understanding how diet and lifestyle naturally influence this system could lead to everyday habits that support healthy aging.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-healthy-lifestyle-matters">A healthy lifestyle matters</h2>



For now, moderate coffee remains a safe pleasure that lines up with epidemiology and basic science. Sleepless nights and energy drinks loaded with sugar still pose risks that no enzyme tweak can erase.



Nutrient‑sensing pathways such as AMPK give researchers a roadmap for therapies, yet lifestyle, steady sleep, balanced diet, and movement, keep the road free of potholes. 



The next wave of studies may explore caffeine analogs that lock onto AMPK with precision, separating the perks from the jitters.



The study is published in <a href="https://microbialcell.com/researcharticles/2025a-alao-microbial-cell/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Microbial Cell</a>.



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Scientists learn that caffeine could slow cellular aging under the right conditions

Coffee is prized for its taste and mental boost. A new study shows that caffeine may also fine‑tune the internal clock that makes cells grow old. Researchers observed that yeast aged more slowly when caffeine altered the same energy pathways that help human cells survive under stress. Caffeine slows aging in yeast cells Dr. Charalampos (Babis) Rallis of Queen Mary University of London focused on the yeast species Schizosaccharomyces pombe because its DNA repair and growth controls echo our own. The team logged changes in chronological lifespan,...

Many people who work office jobs find themselves sitting at a desk much of the day, with hardly any opportunity to be active. Population-based studies have found that in the U.S., adults sit for more than seven hours per day. In European countries, it ranges from 3.2 to 6.8 hours of daily sitting. This sedentary behavior has been linked to the obesity epidemic, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.

However, other options have become more widely available to the average desk worker. Standing desks and even desks with stationary bikes or treadmills have gained popularity in recent years. Now, a new study in the<a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/home/cpr"> European Journal of Preventive Cardiology</a> shows that standing instead of sitting for six hours a day could help people <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/consistent-weight-loss-success/">lose weight</a> in the long term. 

In the first systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the difference between calories burned while sitting or standing, researchers from <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/">Mayo Clinic</a> evaluated 46 studies with 1,184 participants. They found that individuals burn an additional 0.15 calories (kcals) per minute more while standing compared to sitting. This means that if a 143-pound adult substitutes standing for sitting six hours a day, they would expend an extra 54 calories per day. This would roughly equate to 5.5 pounds in one year. 

“Standing for long periods of time for many adults may seem unmanageable, especially those who have desk jobs, but, for the person who sits for 12 hours a day, cutting sitting time to half would give great benefits,” says Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, chair of preventative cardiology at Mayo Clinic and senior author of the study.

In an effort to boost public health, moderate to vigorous physical activities have been encouraged to help individuals lose weight and reduce the risk of heart disease. But often people will claim that they lack the time, motivation, or access to the necessary facilities. 

Drs. James Levine and Michael Jensen, endocrinologists and obesity researchers at Mayo Clinic, developed a concept known as NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), which focuses on the daily calories a person burns while doing normal daily activities. 

“Standing is one of components of NEAT, and the results of our study support this theory,” explains Dr. Lopez-Jimenez. “The idea is to work into our daily routines some lower-impact activities that can improve our long-term health.”

The researchers also found that calories burned between standing and sitting is roughly twice as high in men as in women. This is likely due to men having greater muscle mass, as calories burned is proportional to muscle mass activated while standing. They also note that more research will need to be done to determine is replacing sitting with standing is effective and if there may be long-term health risks due to standing for long periods.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Standing instead of sitting at work could help you lose weight

Many people who work office jobs find themselves sitting at...

Tobacco control measures have succeeded in reducing overall <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quit-smoking-blame-genes/">smoking</a> rates in the United States over the past 50 years, but researchers have pinpointed groups that are more prone to smoking than others. The report, which is published by the <a href="https://www.cancer.org/">American Cancer Society</a>, explains that higher rates of smoking in certain subpopulations is one of the biggest challenges in combating tobacco use.

People in lower socioeconomic groups, certain ethnic or gay communities, and those with mental illnesses are among those subgroups that remain more susceptible to smoking. In addition, members of the military and people who work for lower wages are also more likely to smoke tobacco.

The number of college-educated individuals who smoke dropped from 40 percent to only 6.5 percent over the last five decades. However, 23.1 percent of people with no more than a high school level of education are smokers.

While tobacco use has declined in all socioeconomic groups, the largest reductions have been among higher income groups. As of 2016, 25 percent of adults in households beneath the poverty line smoked compared to only 10 percent of adults in higher income households.

Regarding race, the highest prevalence of smoking is found in people of American Indian or Alaskan Native origin. Among individuals who suffer from mental illness, 60 percent of those diagnosed with schizophrenia use tobacco.

Members of the LGBT community smoke more than heterosexuals, which experts believe may be attributed to the social stress of living in a society that can be hostile toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

While smoking rates are still significantly higher in the military than they are among the general population, they declined by at least  25 percent between 1980 and 2011 - from around 50 percent to 24 percent.

The researchers also found a huge discrepancy in tobacco usage across the states. The study authors identified an area from Michigan to Mississippi, including several adjacent states, where smoking prevalence is substantially above the national average. 

“The high prevalence of cigarette smoking among vulnerable populations is one of the most pressing challenges facing the tobacco control community,” wrote the study authors. 

“More attention to and support for promising novel interventions, in addition to new attempts at reaching these populations through conventional interventions that have proven to be effective, are crucial going forward to find new ways to address these disparities.”

The study is published in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.3322/(ISSN)1542-4863">CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians</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

Which groups of people are still smoking?

Tobacco control measures have succeeded in reducing overall smoking rates...

New research from the <a href="http://www.apa.org/">American Psychological Association</a> suggests that most of us view dishonest people as being less capable in life.

“Although arguments can be made that an individual's moral behavior is, or should be, irrelevant to their overall competence, we found consistent support that immoral behavior reduced judgments of people's competence,” said lead author Dr. Jennifer Stellar. 

The research team developed various experiments focused on over 1,500 participants for the study. The individuals were presented with hypothetical characters who were portrayed as being immoral in scenarios such as shoplifting or receiving low morality ratings from co-workers.

The participants were instructed to rate their perception of each character's overall competence or ability to complete a task. In one experiment, for example, the participants rated how good they thought the hypothetical individual was at his or her <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/renewable-energy-creating-jobs/">job</a>. 

In every phase of the study, individuals who had committed moral transgressions were consistently rated as being less capable of doing their jobs and were viewed as being generally incompetent. 

The participants had been asked if morality was linked to competence in an early phase of the analysis.

“We found that most people rated immoral behavior in one's private life as irrelevant to determining how good that person was at their job,” said Dr. Stellar. “Essentially, people said they didn't think they would use moral information in that way, but when they were provided with it, they did.”

As the investigation proceeded, the experts found evidence that immoral characters were viewed as incompetent because they seemed to be lacking in social intelligence due to their dishonorable actions.

“Social intelligence is often conceived of as the ability to manage complex social situations,” said Stellar. “It includes characteristics such as taking the others' perspectives, being adaptable, managing impressions of oneself and adhering to established social norms. A person who is socially intelligent would understand when and why a coworker is angry and effectively manage their coworker's potentially destructive emotional response.”

The research is published in the <a href="http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/psp/">Journal of Personality and Social Psychology</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

People who are dishonest are perceived as incompetent

New research from the American Psychological Association suggests that most...

Cape Town, South Africa is set to become the first major city in the world to run out of water, and people are taking to social media to find ways to help. The municipal water supply will be mostly turned off on April 12, a dreaded day that is referred to as “Day Zero.” 

The coastal city of <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/cape-town-south-africa/">Cape Town</a> is the second largest urban region in South Africa. The population of Cape Town exploded over the past couple of decades, and has now reached over 4 million people. 

Three of the driest years in almost a century, from 2015-2017, added to the already strained municipal infrastructure. Scientists are attributing this intense drought to man-made climate change, and warn that these events will become more frequent.

Piotr Wolski is a researcher in Climate and Hydrology at the <a href="http://www.uct.ac.za/">University of Cape Town</a>. 

“There is the term of ‘new normal’ being thrown about, and in a way there’s a misconception about what this means,” Wolski told <a href="https://futurism.com/">Futurism</a>. “We’ll still have wet years, and we’ll have to cope with floods. But if these droughts are becoming more severe, more frequent, or longer, you have to make the water supply system a bit more robust, more resilient.”

Over the last week, a social media initiative to donate water to Cape Town has gained incredible momentum. What started out as a request for help on WhatsApp by East London resident Talita van der Heever has now become a full-blown phenomenon. 

“My phone doesn't stop ringing,” van der Heever told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/">CNN</a>. “Every time someone sends me a message on WhatsApp, by the time I finish reading it it's already moved down another 100 messages.”

Drop-off locations were set up in East London and surrounding towns such as Durban and Johannesburg with the help of a disaster-relief charity called <a href="http://www.giftofthegivers.org/">Gift of the Givers</a>.

Teachers, students, farmers, and volunteers all across the country are collecting and transporting water to Cape Town. According to Gift of the Givers chairman Imtiaz Sooliman, donations are now starting to come in from outside of the country as well.

As this inspiring campaign continues to rapidly expand across the globe, a website and Twitter page have been created for the initiative. To make a donation or to see what you can do to help, visit “<a href="http://water4capetown.org/">Water 4 Cape Town</a>.”

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Cape Town set to run out of water in April

Cape Town, South Africa is set to become the first...

New research from <a href="http://home.dartmouth.edu/">Dartmouth College</a> suggests that we perceive the world the same way that our friends do. An investigation revealed that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/friends-synch-brain-waves-happier/">friends</a> have very similar neural response to real-world stimuli such as video clips.

The study is the first of its kind to compare the neural activity of people within a social network as they respond to real-world prompts.

“Neural responses to dynamic, naturalistic stimuli, like videos, can give us a window into people's unconstrained, spontaneous thought processes as they unfold,” said lead author Carolyn Parkinson. “Our results suggest that friends process the world around them in exceptionally similar ways.”

The study was focused on the social connections of nearly 280 graduate students. Based on mutually reported social ties, the experts estimated the social distance between pairs of individuals.

The researchers presented 42 of the participants with videos on subjects ranging from politics to music. While the students watched the videos, the team recorded their neural activity in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. 

The students viewed the same videos in the same order, and were given the same instructions. The researchers found that resemblance in neural response was significantly strongest among friends. Exceptionally similar patterns of activity could be seen across the brain regions involved in emotional response, high-level reasoning, and focusing.

The researchers found that fMRI response similarities could be used to predict not only if two participants were friends, but also the extent of social distance between the pair.

“We are a social species and live our lives connected to everybody else,” said senior author Thalia Wheatley. “If we want to understand how the human brain works, then we need to understand how brains work in combination-- how minds shape each other.”

This research expanded on a previous study by the team, which found that our brains immediately inform us of how important or influential individuals are to us as soon as we see them.

Next, the researchers want to examine how we end up becoming close with people who think the same way we do. They will explore whether we are naturally drawn to these particular people or if we become more similar after the friendship is established. 

The study is published in in <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Friends literally think alike and perceive the world similarly

New research from Dartmouth College suggests that we perceive the...

A new study of how we as humans learn <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/music-universal-language/">language</a> could have exciting implications for language education and the treatment of language disorders such as dyslexia. 

It’s long been thought that the human capability of language is the result of specific brain components that evolved for language alone. 

But now, researchers have shown that language is learned in ancient brain circuitry that is part of many learning and memory-related tasks, and that these systems even pre-date humans.

“These brain systems are also found in animals - for example, rats use them when they learn to navigate a maze,” said Phillip Hamrick, a co-author of the research. “Whatever changes these systems might have undergone to support language, the fact that they play an important role in this critical human ability is quite remarkable.” 

The study was published in the journal PNAS and involved 16 studies that examined language learning in the brain. 

There are two commonly studied brain systems that are associated with language and learning: declarative memory and procedural memory. 

All studies combined had 665 participants, and the researchers analyzed the different methods and research and combined the results. 

The results showed that our ability to remember words is directly linked to declarative memory, which is also necessary for memorizing shopping lists and learning to drive. 

Adults learning a new language also used declarative memory at first, and then procedural memory in the later stages, which makes sense as children learning the grammar of their native tongue use procedural memory. 

Both procedural and declarative memory are used with other tasks besides language which proves that language learning is not an inherently human trait, nor is there a special brain system devoted to it. 

The results were similar when different languages were studied, and the findings could help pave the way for understanding how the brain learns different languages and help treat language disorders. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Humans learn language using ancient brain circuitry

A new study of how we as humans learn language...

New research has found that when it comes to trusting strangers, our brains tend to gravitate toward those who resemble trustworthy people we’ve known in the past. 

The new study was conducted by psychologists from <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/">New York University</a> and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

If a stranger bears a resemblance to a trustworthy person, then we are inclined to trust them, and if they look like an untrustworthy acquaintance, then we are less likely to trust them. 

“Our study reveals that strangers are distrusted even when they only minimally resemble someone previously associated with immoral behavior,” said Oriel FeldmanHall, now an assistant professor in<a href="https://www.brown.edu/"> Brown University</a>'s Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences and the study’s lead author. 

FeldmanHall compared the response to Pavlov's dog, which was a famous experiment in which a dog was trained to salivate at the sound of a bell because it meant feeding time. The dog then salivated whenever he heard a similar bell tone no matter if it meant food or not. 

We use the same sort of Pavlovian response when deciding whether or not a stranger is trustworthy. 

For the study, the researchers asked participants to play several <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/infidelity-forgive-rebuild-trust/">trust</a> games. Each player had to decide whether or not to entrust their game money to three different players who were represented by a facial image. 

In the game, the money could be multiplied four times, as each player was given the opportunity to share the money back with the original player or keep the money for themselves. 

The players were categorized as highly trustworthy, somewhat trustworthy, or not at all trustworthy, and the participants associated these categorizations with the facial images of the players they were grouped with. 

In a second experiment, the first players were asked to choose new partners, but the new facial images were slightly modified to resemble the original players in their group. 

The changes were not noticeable, but the players continued to opt to play with the strangers who had facial images similar to the highly trustworthy individual they played with during the first experiment. 

The more a player looked like a highly trustworthy player, the more they were likely to be chosen for the game. 

The researchers also examined the brain activity of the participants while they were deciding between players and the same region of the brain was activated during the first and second rounds of the game. 

The study shows the unique way in which our brains base trust base decisions on past experiences and facial recognition. 

“We make decisions about a stranger's reputation without any direct or explicit information about them based on their similarity to others we've encountered, even when we're unaware of this resemblance," said Elizabeth Phelps, the paper's senior author. “This shows our brains deploy a learning mechanism in which moral information encoded from past experiences guides future choices.” 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a> <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How the brain decides who we do and do not trust

New research has found that when it comes to trusting...

A new study has found that Americans are spending more time at home, and it has resulted in a substantial amount of saved energy.

Researchers found that more and more people are working from home, shopping online, and streaming media online, which has resulted in energy savings of 1,700 trillion British Thermal Units (bTU) in the year 2012. To put this figure into perspective, it accounts for 1.8% of the national total.

The study was conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">University of Texas at Austin</a> and <a href="https://www.rit.edu/">Rochester Institute of Technology</a> and published in the journal <a href="http://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(18)30003-">Joule</a>.

Even though energy demand in residential spaces increased with more people at home, there was still a net gain in energy and less energy demand in office and non-residential areas. 

For the study, researchers focused on two aspects of characterizing lifestyle, the first being how people spend money on goods and services, and the second being how and where people spend their time. 

The researchers collected data from the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a>’ annual <a href="https://www.bls.gov/tus/">American Time Use Survey</a>, in which an estimated 11,000 people report on how they allocate their time. 

After analyzing the data, the research team found that Americans spent an average of 8 more days at home, 1 day less traveling, and 1 week less in non-residential buildings in 2012 compared to 2003. 

The changes were most apparent in younger demographics, as people ages 18-24 spent 70 percent more time at home than most everyone else. 

The researchers then mapped <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/energy-colonialism-hurricane-maria/">energy</a> use, taking into account the more time spent at home. 

In 2012, these changes resulted in both an increase in residential energy use of 480 trillion bTU and a decrease in energy in non-residential spaces of 1,200 trillion bTU.

The reason for the significant drop in energy use in non-residential spaces could be related to the amount of time spent online and how many more people work from home compared to previous years. 

“This work raises awareness of the connection between lifestyle and energy,” said Ashok Sekar, the study’s first author. “Now that we know people are spending more time at home, more focus could be put on improving residential energy efficiency.” 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Americans are working and shopping from home, and it saves energy

A new study has found that Americans are spending more...

A new study from the <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">University of California San Diego</a> has revealed that subtle, emotionally charged images appearing on a billboard or a television screen can have a profound effect on our behavior.

A research team led by Piotr Winkielman conducted previous research which demonstrated that images of happy or scowling faces have an impact on how individuals behave. For the current study, the team set out to observe responses to other images and words in addition to pictures of faces.

“We wanted to compare two major kinds of emotional stimuli that people encounter in their life: words and pictures, including those of emotional faces and evocative images of objects,” said Winkielman. “We also tested if it matters whether these stimuli are presented very briefly or for a longer period of time.”

Study participants were instructed to classify objects, faces, or words on a computer screen. The researchers planted brief flashes of faces, pictures, or words that were either positive or negative into a series of emotionally neutral images displayed in rapid succession. After observing the images, the individuals were provided with soft drinks and told to drink as much as they desired.

One experiment compared the effect of emotionally charged words, such as "panda" and "knife,” with the influence of happy and angry facial expressions. A second experiment analyzed the effect of words with images of objects that stimulate emotion, such as a gun or a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/puppies-talk-older-dog/">cute dog</a>.

The results of the study were consistent with the previous research. Participants drank more after seeing happy faces and less after seeing angry faces. The individuals also drank more after seeing positive objects compared with those who viewed negative objects. Positive words did have any effect on how much soda the individuals consumed.

“We found that emotive images of objects altered the amount that participants drank, with 'positive' objects increasing consumption and 'negative' objects decreasing it,” said Winkielman. “But people were not swayed by emotional words, which were somehow powerless -- even though the words were rated to be as emotive as the pictures.”


The experts were surprised to find that images which were nearly invisible and only shown for 10 milliseconds had the same effect as clearly visible images that were shown for 20 times longer.


“In our experiment, the duration of the emotional cue did not matter for its ability to influence consumption," explained Winkielman. “This echoes some previous studies, however we need stronger evidence to confidently claim that fleeting images work as well as more noticeable images in altering behavior.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology">Frontiers in Psychology</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Emotionally charged images influence people more than words

A new study from the University of California San Diego...

It has been 4 months since <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hurricane-maria-slams-puerto-rico/">Hurricane Maria</a> slammed into Puerto Rico, and half of the residents on the island are still living without power. Dr. Catalina de Onís of <a href="http://willamette.edu/">Willamette University</a> is reporting that this humanitarian crisis can be blamed on the energy colonialism of the United States just as much as the storm itself.

The Trump Administration recently announced that Puerto Rico is too wealthy to be given additional funding for recovery. However, over a million people still have no electricity and tens of thousands are relying on drinking water that may be contaminated with raw sewage.

According to Dr. Onís, a perfect storm of devastation was created in Puerto Rico by the colonial legacy, a $73-billion debt crisis, outdated infrastructure, and Hurricanes Irma and Maria. She has been investigating the country's colonialist energy policies and has determined that many of these policies must be given further examination.

“Inspired by local grassroots organizing efforts, and angered by the ongoing exploitation of Puerto Rico as a US colony, I have spent four years studying how the territory has been exploited as a sacrifice zone for empire building and experimentation, corporate greed, and toxic energy projects,” said Dr. Onís.

The study addresses one particular policy, known as Operation Bootstrap, that “continues to haunt Puerto Rico.” Launched in the 1940s, the initiative industrialized the economy of Puerto Rico and positioned the territory as a destination for wealthy investors and corporate polluters, including the fossil fuel industry.

Dr. Onís notes that there are ongoing efforts by some communities in Puerto Rico to develop and implement resident-managed solar projects.

She explains: “If shifting to solar and wind becomes a license for green capitalism, continued hyper-consumption and an outsider-knows-best mentality, then alternative energy sources only perpetuate the same unsustainable systems that created our current problems. As so many Puerto Ricans have argued, radical transformations and disruptions to colonial, neoliberal business-as-usual are urgent and they begin with local community control.”

This research ultimately emphasizes the importance of understanding energy colonialism's role as a barrier to energy justice. Dr. Onís says that energy colonialism should be addressed in every conversation about weather disasters and everyday crises to support the needed movement toward energy democracy.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/communication">Frontiers in Communications</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

Energy colonialism at the root of Hurricane Maria aftermath

It has been 4 months since Hurricane Maria slammed into...

The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU) — commonly known as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fear-foreigners-influenced-brexit/">Brexit</a> — was an unprecedented move and has left the UK, as well as most of Europe, scrambling to see what will happen as a result. Among many significant changes that will occur, a new study in the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/social-policy-and-society">Journal of Social Policy and Society</a> finds that Brexit is one of the greatest threats to women’s rights and social inclusion.

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.surrey.ac.uk/">University of Surrey</a> and <a href="http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/">University of Canterbury</a>, New Zealand, assessed the potential impact of Brexit on gender equality in the UK and investigated the country’s past voting record in the Council of the European Union on related issues. They determined that gender equality in the UK may be at risk following Brexit, as business interests tend to take precedence over women’s rights when it comes to historical negotiation of terms with the EU.

Another worrying factor is the recent silence on these issues throughout the Brexit discussions, which have mainly focused on trade. There was also a recent vote against amendments to the European Withdrawal Bill that was meant to safeguard the rights in the 2010 Equality Act. These recent occurrences have led the researchers to believe that gender equality policies are likely to be weakened following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

The UK also has a less than stellar record of protecting women’s rights. This is evident by the UK’s resistance of the Pregnant Workers Directive, an action that showed a clear preference for business interests over the interest of the country’s women. Additionally, the UK has a restrained position regarding gender balance on corporate boards and seeks to avoid regulation in this area, showing a preference to preserve the status quo, often leading to discrimination towards women.

“Brexit poses the greatest modern-day threat to women’s rights and gender equality policies in the UK,” says Roberta Guerrina, Head of Politics at the <a href="https://www.surrey.ac.uk/">University of Surrey</a>. “European legislation affords a degree of protection to women in the UK, but once we leave Europe there is no guarantee that the same levels of protection will remain intact.” 

The researchers believe that women’s reproductive rights will be especially vulnerable to attack, “as business production remains more valued than reproduction.” It’s safe to say that Brexit represents a major shift both politically and culturally within the UK, and it may end up hurting the women that call this country home.

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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

Brexit may be a major threat to women’s rights in the UK

The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU) —...

Last summer I travelled with my partner Erin throughout the state of Colorado.  Most of our trip was climbing mountains but we also hiked to alpine lakes, camped in the woods, wandered Great Sand Dunes National Monument.  

At first I thought it was an isolated incident, someone hiking a 14er (mountain of 14,000 ft +) with a wireless speaker playing their music.  I cringed, myself preferring the sound of squeaking Pikas and Marmots to music while in the mountains.  

Then it happened again.  As I was descending Mt. Massive above tree line, a man playing loud rock music stopped me to ask how far it was to the summit.  I was polite but inwardly angry.  How is it this man’s right to impose his music on other hikers, much less wildlife, especially in a wilderness area?  Wandering on the sand dunes at night near the trickle of a stream, Erin and I went looking for stars and a place to lay on the sand and watch them.  Tourists played their music as they wandered on the dunes near us, shattering any illusion of solitude, destroying the remnant of quiet nature.

Finishing up with a bouldering session near Tucson this winter, a man with blonde dreadlocks asked us if it was ok to play music while he and his partner climbed on the other side of the boulder.  I felt a little better that at least I was being asked for my permission.  Erin and I were leaving anyway and said that music was ok, we were heading out.

Running through parks or even hiking on trails, headphones are omnipresent and they give an easy excuse for ignoring other people around you.  Headphones are a poor substitute for solitude though, they only create a wall, not a place of self-reflection or connection to the Earth.  I watched a woman moving up a mountain in Colorado, listening to her headphones; as the woman hiked quickly uphill, clouds gathered and thunder rumbled ominously.  Thunder is a dangerous situation at that elevation, especially when moving up the mountain.  I wondered if the woman was fool hardy, inexperienced or perhaps tuned out of her immediate environment by music, not being fully present on a mountain full of hazard.

The last time I went into REI to price and compare different climbing rope, something clicked.  It wasn’t that hundreds of people decided on their own that wireless speakers and music were good to carry into the outdoors.  Wireless speakers were being marketed for outdoor recreation.  I understand some music, especially if you’re out in a remote location for months, it can be comforting.  The main problem is when we never turn off our music and listen to our surroundings or connect to each other.  A mountain is NOT a gym, it is a sacred place, listen to it.  A fellow hiker is NOT a distraction or annoyance but a person with whom you might share more than you suspect.  Wildlife should be respected, watched, loved at a distance and not disturbed by your inconsiderate music. Can you imagine a world where music is always playing?  Would you replace bird song with Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds?  I love both and both have their place but bird song lives deeper within us than human music.

Some would argue that at least people listening to music are getting outside.  Isn’t what we want is more people outdoors?  I would argue that more people aren’t getting outside because of portable music, instead it’s changing the reality for people who already get outside.  

Stats from the National Parks Service suggest that in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/national-parks-trump-ghost-teddy-roosevelt/">National Parks</a> at least, a smaller percentage of the population is recreating out of doors.  I don’t think access to an iPod is going make a person take to a mountain trail instead of a gym treadmill but even if it does it highlights the problem.  Using portable music creates the illusion that you are in an environment, let’s say a gym, that is under human control.  As more and more people learn to rock climb not on a cliff face but inside of a gym, it’s ever more important to emphasize the difference between the two.  Climbing in a gym can be a real challenge and the hardest climbs are much harder than the easiest outdoor climbs but the outdoors offers so much more.  You aren’t likely to be surprised by an encounter with a wild animal or caught in a rainstorm inside of a gym.  

Cacti, trees, clouds, rattlesnakes and dirt are all minimized inside gyms.  A gym also has one major difference from outside, a gym can be anywhere.  A climbing gym in Rapid City South Dakota looks very similar to a climbing wall in Grand Junction, Colorado but the outside climbing is radically different.  In South Dakota you’d be climbing dark granitic rock surrounded by ponderosa pine.  In Grand Junction it’d be light colored sandstone surrounded by high desert piñon-juniper woodlands.  It’s the natural environment and the unobstructed, wild freedom that goes with it which is threatened, not a trip to the gym and not your music.  

Further down the line, I worry that people absorbed in their own music will miss wildlife.  In missing wildlife, there may be no awareness when the forests, mountains and deserts are bereft of wild creatures.  The scariest thing of all is a loss of a wild environment without anyone even noticing.       

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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Is portable music ruining the outdoors?

Last summer I travelled with my partner Erin throughout the...

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

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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