Music can make a sleepy train ride feel romantic or turn a routine workout into an emotional burst of energy. 



Scientists have long wondered how a string of notes pushes the brain from one emotional <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/our-brain-doesnt-just-hear-music-it-becomes-the-rhythm/">feeling</a> to the next, and why the experience changes when the previous feeling was different. <a href="https://psychology.columbia.edu/content/matthew-sachs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Matthew Sachs</a> of Columbia University and colleagues set out to <a href="https://www.eneuro.org/content/early/2025/06/19/ENEURO.0184-24.2025" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">answer</a> that puzzle.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-wordless-path-to-emotion">A wordless path to emotion</h2>



Music reliably raises specific <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32898679/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">emotions</a> across cultures, making it a useful tool for lab work. Because melodies lack words, researchers can study pure feeling without the baggage of stories or language.



In recent <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1910704117" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">surveys</a>, listeners reported at least thirteen distinct emotional colors from songs, ranging from awe to tenderness. Those varied reactions let scientists choreograph controlled “emotional journeys” by arranging passages that lean happy, tense, calm, or sad.



The brain also treats music as a social signal, recruiting regions tied to empathy and perspective‑taking. That overlap makes findings with music relevant to understanding everyday interactions. 



Music’s precise timing helps investigators lock brain activity to exact seconds in a tune. Such temporal precision is important when studying transitions, which can unfold in a blink.



Finally, unlike pictures or movies, songs can be replayed in multiple orders without breaking logic. That flexibility allowed the team to test how a given passage feels when it follows joy versus when it follows anxiety.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-music-changes-emotion-fast">Music changes emotion fast</h2>



Sachs’s group asked professional composers to craft two fifteen‑minute pieces split into thirty‑two “emotion events,” each one lasting about 30‑70 seconds. The passages covered calm, joy, sadness, anxiety, and a mixed nostalgic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/live-music-connects-people-emotionally-and-physically/">feeling</a>.



Two versions of each piece shuffled the same events so that a joyful segment might follow calm in one version but chase sadness in the other. 



This context swap let the researchers isolate the effect of prior mood. Thirty‑nine volunteers lay in an <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/25034-functional-mri-fmri" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fMRI scanner</a>, a technique that tracks blood flow as a stand‑in for neural activity. The scanner’s pulses were timed to the beat so listeners heard smooth audio through special headphones.



After scanning, the volunteers replayed short clips of music online and rated how strongly each clip made them feel the target emotion. Those ratings confirmed that the music hit its emotional marks at the intended moments.



To align brains that never look identical, the team used a <a href="https://web.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/slp3/A.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hidden Markov model</a>, a statistical tool that spots stable patterns and the moments they shift. The model does not assume equal event lengths, matching how real feelings vary.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-music-mapped-onto-brain-activity">Music mapped onto brain activity</h2>



Activity patterns in auditory cortex and the adjoining superior temporal gyrus stayed steady within an event but flipped sharply at composer‑defined boundaries. Those flips still appeared after factoring out pitch, volume, and harmony, meaning the brain was tracking emotion rather than mere <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/music-and-repeated-sounds-reorganize-your-brain-networks-in-real-time/">acoustics</a>.



The same temporal‑parietal strip has been linked to social meaning in speech and laughter. Current <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627317305937" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">findings</a> add music‑evoked emotion dynamics to its résumé. 



Elsewhere, frontal regions associated with self‑reflection lit up when feelings changed. That response supports prior work showing prefrontal roles in labeling and regulating emotion.



Importantly, <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2768874/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subcortical reward hubs</a> showed general arousal but did not map fine‑grained transitions. Those areas may mark intensity rather than shifts in category. 



Together the data sketch a layered system: auditory regions sense change, temporal‑parietal regions label the new state, and frontal areas integrate the experience. That hierarchy resembles proposed models for narrative comprehension.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-past-emotions-change-how-you-hear-music">Past emotions change how you hear music</h2>



When a happy passage followed another positive passage, listeners’ brains switched to the new state about six seconds sooner than when the same passage followed a tense one. The volunteers also pressed the “happy” button nine seconds earlier in the same‑valence condition.



Context even changed the spatial pattern of activity during an event. Pairs of participants who heard a clip in the same order showed more similar neural signatures than pairs who heard it in opposite orders.



Such carry‑over echoes psychological <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31628982/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">findings</a> that earlier feelings bias how we perceive later stimuli. The study quantifies that bias down to single‑second resolution. 



Researchers call the stickiness of mood <a href="https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/10.1027/0269-8803.23.1.7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">valence</a> persistence, and extreme persistence can tip into emotional rigidity. Depression is often marked by this rigidity, trapping individuals in negative states.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-treating-emotion-with-playlists">Treating emotion with playlists</h2>



“We know that people who suffer from mood disorders or depression often demonstrate emotional rigidity, where they basically get stuck in an emotional state" said Sachs. 



"Maybe we could take someone with depression, for instance, and use the approach we developed to identify neural markers for the emotional rigidity that keeps them in a very negative state.”



His comment matches growing interest in music‑based interventions. Unlike medications, playlists can be tailored rapidly and have few side effects. 



If clinicians can spot delayed transition signatures in vulnerable patients, they might train quicker shifts through neurofeedback. Past <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19646532/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work</a> shows that people can learn to nudge targeted brain regions with real‑time feedback.



Therapists already use mood‑tracking apps; adding objective brain markers could improve accuracy. Personalized “emotion workouts” might teach flexible switching, similar to cognitive training for attention.



 Beyond clinics, the findings could improve soundtracks in virtual reality or adaptive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/video-games-can-rewind-the-clock-on-cognitive-performance/">games</a>. Systems might adjust musical cues to help users linger in, or exit from, certain feelings.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-science-hasn-t-tested-yet">What science hasn’t tested yet</h2>



The study focused on adults in a scanner; children, musicians, or people with disorders may show different timelines. Future projects could compare those groups directly.&nbsp;



Only five emotion labels were used. Real life holds many blended states such as awe or envy that might map differently. Subcortical areas did not show clear transition patterns here, but that may reflect scanner noise or event length.&nbsp;



Higher‑resolution recordings could reveal subtler dynamics. Music is just one trigger; spoken stories, movement, or smell might drive other networks. 



Combining modalities could pinpoint common versus unique pathways. Finally, the team manipulated valence but not arousal. Experiments that cross calm‑excited levels might tease apart the role of energy versus positivity.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.eneuro.org/content/early/2025/06/19/ENEURO.0184-24.2025" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eNeuro</a>.



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Music rewires the brain to quickly navigate emotion

Music can make a sleepy train ride feel romantic or turn a routine workout into an emotional burst of energy. Scientists have long wondered how a string of notes pushes the brain from one emotional feeling to the next, and why the experience changes when the previous feeling was different. Matthew Sachs of Columbia University and colleagues set out to answer that puzzle. A wordless path to emotion Music reliably raises specific emotions across cultures, making it a useful tool for lab work. Because melodies lack words,...

A new study suggests that humans are able to visually detect illness in other people within seconds. Experts believe that this could eventually be applied to artificial intelligence systems to warn us when we are sick.

Researchers found that small changes in facial expression can be identified as illness by the human eye in people with no medical training. A person who appears to be swollen in the face or tired, for example, is easily perceived as being sick.

According to the study, the most obvious subtle clues which tell us that another person is ill are droopy eyes or a pale face.

To examine the human ability to visually detect <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/socioeconomic-alcohol-related-death/">illness</a>, researchers injected volunteers with two solutions: one which was made up of sugar water and another which contained a chemical compound extracted from E Coli bacteria.

Images were captured of both groups two hours after the injections, and then shown to participants for a few seconds at a time. The study revealed that individuals could pinpoint the individuals who were sick 81 percent of the time.

“These results demonstrate that untrained people can, above chance level, identify acutely sick individuals from merely observing a photo for a few seconds,” wrote the study authors.

John Axelsson of the <a href="http://www.stressforskning.su.se/english/">Stress Research Institute</a> at Stockholm University is the lead author of the study.

“The photos here were taken in an experimental setting with neutral facial expressions only two hours after onset of a systemic inflammation,” said Axelsson. “This supports the notion that humans have the ability to detect signs of illness in an early phase after exposure to infectious stimuli.”

Axelsson pointed out that personalized applications may one day be able to alert us when we are sick. The study is published in the journal <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/">Proceedings B</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The human eye can detect illness in a matter of seconds

A new study suggests that humans are able to visually...

With 2018 now in full swing, many are starting to see their New Year's resolutions quickly fade away. 

The intention is admirable and some statistics say that nearly <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2013/01/01/just-8-of-people-achieve-their-new-years-resolutions-heres-how-they-did-it/#3f6acbff596b">40% of all</a> Americans make a New Year's resolution, most commonly losing weight or going to the gym. However, following through on those resolutions, plans, and goals is another thing entirely. 

Nearly <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-years-resolutions-courses-2016-12">80 percent</a> of New Year's resolutions fail within the first few months of the year, and very few people actually achieve their beginning of the year goals. 

The reason for this failure? Many factors can contribute to a lack of follow through and success, but making large sweeping life changes rather than taking it one step at a time plays a major role.

For example, planning to vaguely "lose weight" isn’t doing you any favors. But choosing to make small, purposeful changes in diet and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exercise-brain-major-boost/">exercise</a> will be much easier to attain and keep up. 

A new study has also found that taking purposeful steps and following through could reduce cancer risk by almost one-third. 

The study, conducted by researchers from the United Kingdom and led by Peter Elwood, a professor at<a href="https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/"> Cardiff University</a>, found that making healthy choices and sticking to them reduces chances of cancer and death due to cancer. 

The study was published in the journal ecancermedicalscience. 

The researchers analyzed data from the United Kingdom Biobank, which is a prospective study of half a million subjects. 

The research team identified healthy behaviors like not smoking, engaging in regular physical activity, eating healthy and limiting alcohol and compared the behaviors to risk of cancer in the Biobank subjects. 

The results showed that making healthy choices and behaviors was linked to a one-third reduction in cancer risk.

Of course the logic makes sense in theory, but this study shows by numbers how much just one healthy choice contributes to reduced cancer risk. 

“Perhaps the advice to take up one additional healthy behavior is the most acceptable message for most subjects,” said Elwood. “In our study, each additional healthy behavior was associated with a reduction of about 8% in cancer, independent of the effects of the other behaviors.” 

When faced with a list of New Year's resolutions, reducing the risk of cancer is certainly a strong motivator, and making small, purposeful changes to health and lifestyle could be the key to success.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Small healthy choices can reduce your cancer risk by one third

With 2018 now in full swing, many are starting to...

President Donald Trump has pledged to revive the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/major-coal-company-climate/">coal industry</a> through fewer regulations on coal mining and fossil fuel emissions in order to create more jobs. But aside from its serious environmental impact, coal isn't a sustainable industry. Even with lifted bans and coal subsidies, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/29/trump-promised-to-bring-back-coal-jobs-that-promise-will-not-be-kept-experts-say/?utm_term=.e4589a1b11cf">power plants are turning to natural gas</a>. 

By the numbers, coal is experiencing steep declines in employment while renewable energy is quickly moving to the head of the line in job growth. 

According to a new <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-24/health-care-stem-jobs-among-fastest-growing-u-s-occupations">Bloomberg</a> analysis of the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/">US Bureau of Labor of Statistics</a>’ biennial employment projections, solar panel installers and wind turbine technicians are slated be the fastest growing jobs in the country for the coming years. 

Solar photovoltaic installer jobs could see a growth rate of 105.3 percent and wind turbine technicians will see similar expansion with an increase of 96.1 percent. 

To put those numbers in perspective, <a href="https://qz.com/1111998/renewable-energy-is-creating-us-jobs-twice-as-fast-as-any-other-industry/">Quartz</a> reported that “solar &amp; wind jobs will grow twice as fast as any other US occupation.” This is due in large part to an increase in solar power capacity in the United States, having grown an average of 72% each year.

As much as utility companies would like to keep a monopoly on power, renewable energies are quickly becoming an economic force to reckon with. 

The Bloomberg report shows not only that the current administration's efforts to bring the coal industry back to its glory days is a largely futile endeavor, but also that solar and wind power will be strong investments in the coming years. 

Not only does renewable energy help the environment, but it may also be a dependable path for young people going into the workforce.

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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

Renewable energy creating jobs faster than most other industries

President Donald Trump has pledged to revive the coal industry...

A report recently published by the <a href="http://www.apa.org/">American Psychological Association</a> reveals that today's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/college-binge-drinking-brain-activity/">college students</a> are much more driven toward perfection than students of previous generations, and this may be having a negative impact on the mental health of young adults.

According to lead author Thomas Curran, this study is the first of its kind to examine how perfectionism has changed across generations. Curran and co-author Andrew Hill describe perfectionism as “an irrational desire to achieve along with being overly critical of oneself and others.”

The team analyzed data from over 40,000 American, Canadian, and British college students. They used samples from the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale from the late 1980s to 2016 to make comparisons across generations.

Three types of perfectionism were measured. Self-oriented perfectionism is an irrational desire to be perfect. Socially prescribed perfectionism is perceiving unrealistic expectations from peers, and other-oriented perfectionism is placing excessive standards on others.

The study revealed that recent generations of college students had substantially higher scores for all three types of perfectionism than earlier generations. Between 1989 and 2016, these scores increased by up to 33 percent.

Curran explained that this drive toward perfection is partly generated by a rise in meritocracy among millennials, as universities encourage competition among students to move up the social and economic ladder.

“Meritocracy places a strong need for young people to strive, perform and achieve in modern life,” said Curran. “Young people are responding by reporting increasingly unrealistic educational and professional expectations for themselves. As a result, perfectionism is rising among millennials.”

The researchers pointed out that there are higher levels of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts among current students compared to a decade ago. Hill explained that the irrational desire to be perfect may be affecting the psychological health of students.

The research suggests that less competition among young people would help to preserve their mental health. The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/bul/">Psychological Bulletin</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Young people today are more intent on being perfect, study finds

A report recently published by the American Psychological Association reveals...

When confronted with a stressful situation, like a tight deadline at work or a difficult time in a relationship, it’s hard not to become overwhelmed by negative feelings. 

Negative emotions and thoughts are not easy to offset and can often sour an entire day or impede one from making effective leadership decisions. 

When our emotions or thoughts get in the way, it’s common to try to “shake it off” or simply ignore the bad and choosing to be positive in the wake of whatever difficulties arise. 

But according to one Harvard psychologist, not processing difficult feelings and thoughts in favor of a positive attitude can actually hinder our emotional agility and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/politicians-voice-impacts-success/">success</a>. 

For the past 30 years, David has studied emotions and happiness and how the two affect personal achievement.

In her book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Agility-Unstuck-Embrace-Change/dp/1592409490">Emotional Agility: Get Stuck, Embrace Change and Thrive in Work and Life </a>, David discusses how facing difficult and negative emotions head-on rather than stifling them is necessary for developing emotional agility and improving well-being. 

David offers four steps to achieving healthier management and processing techniques as well as becoming more successful and productive at work.  

“We see leaders stumble not because they have undesirable thoughts and feelings—that’s inevitable—but because they get hooked by them, like fish caught on a line,” David wrote in the <a href="https://hbr.org/2013/11/emotional-agility">Harvard Business Review</a>. “Effective leaders don’t buy into or try to suppress their inner experiences. Instead, they approach them in a mindful, values-driven, and productive way—developing what we call emotional agility.”

The four steps are showing up, stepping out, walking your why, and moving on. When faced with a difficult emotion, the first step suggests embracing it rather than ignoring it. Instead, accept the negative emotion or thought and get at the root of what you’re feeling. 

The second step is all about creating space between you and your emotions. By “stepping out,” you can find a better management technique that doesn’t let your thoughts or emotions dictate your reactions or responses. 

The third step is perhaps the most crucial, as it instructs readers be ruled by their core values and moral compass. 

Finally, the fourth step is all about balance, honing your emotional agility and as David discusses, continually seeking self-improvement and development. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Stifling negative emotions can hinder growth and success

When confronted with a stressful situation, like a tight deadline...

It’s widely known that alcohol isn’t exactly great for your body, especially when consumed in excess. But according to a new study from researchers at the <a href="http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/">MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology</a> in Cambridge, it can actually affect your genetics. The results found that alcohol can damage DNA in stem cells, which helps explain why drinking increases your risk of cancer.

The researchers gave diluted alcohol to mice, then used chromosome analysis and DNA sequencing to examine the genetic damage caused by acetaldehyde, which is a chemical produced when our bodies process alcohol. Their findings showed that acetaldehyde can break and damage DNA within blood stem cells, resulting in rearranged chromosomes and permanently altered DNA sequences within the affected cells. 

When stem cells become faulty, they can give rise to cancer. This is why it’s important for scientists to study how the DNA within stem cells becomes damaged. These new findings help us to understand how drinking alcohol increases the risk of getting 7 types of cancer, including common forms such as breast and bowel. 

“Some cancers develop due to DNA damage in stem cells,” explains Professor Ketan Patel, lead author of the study and scientist at the <a href="http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/">MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology</a>. “While some damage occurs by chance, our findings suggest that drinking alcohol can increase the risk of this damage.”

Beyond just looking at how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/socioeconomic-alcohol-related-death/">alcohol</a> damages DNA, the researchers also examined how the body attempts to protect itself against damage caused by alcohol. They found that the first line of defense is a family of enzymes called aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH), which breakdown the harmful acetaldehyde into acetate, which our cells can use as a source of energy.

When mice lacking the ALDH enzyme were given alcohol, it was found that they suffered four times as much DNA damage in their cells compared to normal mice. Around the world, millions of people either lack these enzymes or carry faulty versions of them.

Cells also use a variety of DNA repair systems, which allow them to fix and reverse certain types of DNA damage. But they don’t always work and some individuals have mutations which prevent their cells from carrying out these repairs effectively. 

“Our study highlights that not being able to process alcohol effectively can lead to an even higher risk of alcohol-related DNA damage and therefore certain cancers,” explains Patel. “But it’s important to remember that alcohol clearance and DNA repair systems are not perfect and alcohol can still cause cancer in different ways, even in people whose defense mechanisms are intact.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Drinking alcohol increases cancer risk by damaging DNA

It’s widely known that alcohol isn’t exactly great for your...

The results of a 2017 national public opinion survey from <a href="http://www.researchamerica.org/">Research!America</a> show that 67 percent of Americans have a positive perception of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/washington-march-science-earth-day/">science</a>. The analysis also demonstrates, however, that the majority of Americans are largely unaware of who is conducting scientific research and where.

Over half of the respondents to the survey support basing the country's medical and health policies on the best available science. The majority of participants also agree that scientific research should be used to shape public policies regarding education, infrastructure, and national defense. 

82 percent of the public considers scientists to be the most trustworthy spokespersons for science compared to elected officials and the media. Americans have the expectation that scientists will be the primary messengers for scientific issues, even those with policy implications. 

Despite this level of trust, scientists remain essentially invisible to the American public. 81 percent of respondents cannot name a living scientist, while 67 percent cannot name an institution or company that conducts medical research. In addition, only 21 percent of the population is aware that health research is conducted in all 50 states.

“The findings related to the visibility of scientists and the scientific community have been consistent over the past decade - woefully low - which indicates a need for stronger engagement between scientists and the public,” said Mary Woolley, president of Research!America. “In order for science to have a more prominent position in our national agenda, the public and their policymakers must hear more from scientists about the health and economic benefits of public and private sector research.”

When asked about whether or not progress in science and innovation will continue under the Donald Trump Administration, 46 percent of respondents said yes and 33 percent said no. Far more Republicans agreed with this statement than Democrats or Independents.

Furthermore, 79 percent of Americans surveyed agree that it is important for President Trump to make health research and innovation a high priority to assure continued medical progress. 71 percent of Americans report having confidence in scientific institutions, while just 46 percent have confidence in the President and only 31 percent put their full trust Congress. 

“Scientists must initiate productive conversations with candidates to connect the dots between research and finding solutions to health threats like Alzheimer's disease and the opioid epidemic,” said Woolley.

The results of the Research!America survey are available <a href="http://www.researchamerica.org/polls-and-publications/polls/public-opinion-polls">here</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Public has more confidence in scientists than in policy makers

The results of a 2017 national public opinion survey from...

A study from <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> has found that winemakers may have to start using lesser-known varieties of grapes in response to climate change. The researchers say there is growing need for a better understanding of the wide diversity of grapes and how they adapt to changing environments.

“It's going to be very hard, given the amount of warming we've already committed to...for many regions to continue growing the exact varieties they've grown in the past,” said study co-author Elizabeth Wolkovich. “But what we're interested in talking about is how much more diversity of grape varieties do we have, and could we potentially be using that diversity to adapt to climate change.”

Wolkovich pointed out that Africa, Europe, and Asia have a huge assortment of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wine-glasses-bigger-drinking/">wine</a> grapes available, with over 1,000 varieties. The professor explained that some of these grapes are “better adapted to hotter climates and have higher drought tolerance than the 12 varieties now making up over 80 percent of the wine market in many countries.”

Despite the fact that the resilient varieties of grapes should be explored in preparation for climate change, Wolkovich said that most wine producers are unwilling to change the grapes they use. The professor said that the reason for this lies in the concept of terroir, which is the belief that a wine's flavor is a reflection of which grapes were used, where they were planted, and how they were grown. 

“There's a real issue in the premier wine-growing regions that historical terroir is what makes great wine, and if you acknowledge in any way that you have climate change, you acknowledge that your terroir is changing,” said Wolkovich. “So in many of those regions there is not much of an appetite to talk about changing varieties.”

Even if winemakers are willing to try new grapes, there is not yet enough conclusive evidence to show which particular varieties would thrive despite climate change.

“Part of what this paper sets up is the question of how much more do we need to know if we want to understand whether there is enough diversity in this crop to adapt wine regions to climate change in place,” said study co-author Ignacio Morales-Castilla. “Right now we know we have this diversity, but we have little information on how to use it. One of our other suggestions is for growers to start setting aside parts of vineyards to grow some other varieties to see which ones are working.”

Wolkovich said that proactively testing out new grapes could help to offset the negative consequences of climate change.

“With continued climate change, certain varieties in certain regions will start to fail - that's my expectation,” said Wolkovich. “The solution we're offering is how do you start thinking of varietal diversity. Maybe the grapes grown widely today were the ones that are easiest to grow and tasted the best in historical climates, but I think we're missing a lot of great grapes better suited for the future.”

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nclimate">Nature Climate Change</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Winemakers might need to switch grapes in a changing climate

A study from Harvard University has found that winemakers may...

Genome sequencing the remains of an infant that lived over 11,000 years ago has shed light on the earliest populations that migrated into the Americas. 

For the first time, researchers were able to find direct genetic traces of the earliest Native Americans and illustrate how people first entered Alaska in one wave rather than in several migrations. 

The new study was conducted by researchers from the Universities of <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">Cambridge</a> and <a href="http://www.ku.dk/">Copenhagen</a> and was published in the journal Nature. 

The researchers sequenced the genome of the remains of an infant girl discovered at the Upward Sun River archaeological site in Alaska 2013. 

The results of the gene mapping showed that the girl’s genetic information did not match either the Northern or Southern branches of the early Native Americans, but instead, belonged to a different population known as Ancient Beringians. 

There were connections between the Northern, Southern and Berginans genetics, suggesting that through time, the Ancient Beringians were possibly some of the first people to migrate into the Americas before separating into different groups. 

“We were able to show that people probably entered Alaska before 20,000 years ago,” said Professor Eske Willersle, the leader of the study. “It's the first time that we have had direct genomic evidence that all Native Americans can be traced back to one source population, via a single, founding migration event.”

Researchers believe that early settlers migrated to Alaska from Russia using a land bridge that spanned the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/north-american-ancestors-sooner/">Bering Strait</a>. However, there is some debate about when this occurred and if the Americas were settled in one migratory wave or several. 

For the study, the researchers compared genetic data from the archaeological remains of the infant girl with present-day Native American Populations and ancient Northern and Southern Native American genomes. 

The Ancient Beringians emerged 36,000 years ago, and the Beringian genome is closer to early Native Americans than Ancient Asian and Eurasian ancestors. 

“It looks as though this Ancient Beringian population was up there, in Alaska, from 20,000 years ago until 11,500 years ago, but they were already distinct from the wider Native American group,” said Jos Vctor Moreno-Mayar from the University of Copenhagen.

The study sheds light on ancient Native American migration, and gives convincing evidence for a single migratory event rather than multiple populations crossing the Bering Strait at different times before the end of the last Ice Age. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Genome research reveals when Native Americans first arrived

Genome sequencing the remains of an infant that lived over...

<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england">Public Health England</a> (PHE), an executive agency of the UK’s Department of Health, has launched a program called Change4Life, which is the country's first social marketing campaign to address the causes of obesity.

A National Diet and Nutritional Survey conducted by PHE revealed that children are consuming entirely too much sugar, over half of which comes from snacks and sugary drinks. The analysis showed that primary school children have an average of over three sugary snacks per day.

Change4Life is aimed at making parents aware of more nutritious snacks that have less sugar, and is offering money-off vouchers on healthier <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/junk-food-distracting/">snacks</a> which have 100 calories or less. The program also offers a free food scanner app that enables parents to easily view the sugar, salt, and fat content in the products they are purchasing.

Dr. Alison Tedstone is the Chief Nutritionist at Public Health England. 

Dr. Tedstone told the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/">BBC</a> , “If you wander through a supermarket you see many more things being sold as snacks than ever before. What has changed is kids' lunch boxes are getting full of snacking products. It leads to a lot of calories for lunch. Our research showed us that parents appreciated a rule of thumb. They were surprised how much sugar their children were consuming in snacks.”

Change4Life is recommending that parents give children no more than two snacks per day, which contain no more than 100 calories each.

Dr. Tedstone said in a letter to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk">The Guardian</a>, “The food we eat has the biggest impact on our waistlines: you can’t run off a bad diet. That’s why we’re working with industry and others to improve the food we all eat, starting with lowering sugar and calories.”

The Change4Life campaign also encourages children to be more active. Currently, there are over four million families participating in the program.

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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

Children’s snacks should be limited to 100 calories or less

Public Health England (PHE), an executive agency of the UK’s...

Bitcoin has created quite a stir, with some people enthusiastic about the cryptocurrency while others doubt it is sustainable or even practical. Bitcoin millionaires are making headlines, but bitcoin’s value is anything but stable. 

The cryptocurrency works by offering digital tokens that people can trade for goods and services, but finding a record of any payments made is difficult because Bitcoin is not based in any bank or real world financial transaction.

You can get bitcoins as payment, buying them yourself and mining for them.

Mining is probably one of the most popular ways to get bitcoins, but the processing power needed for mining is massive, creating concerns that the energy consumption for bitcoin mining is detrimental to the environment. 

The concerns are not unfounded, as bitcoin miners need specialized hardware and software for their computers and fossil fuels are still a primary means of producing energy and electricity. 

Mining is an exhaustive process, and the specially designed software scours the internet for coins and solves complex puzzles to acquire them. The more coins available, the harder the puzzles are to solve. 

Both economists and environmentalists are now worried about the sustainability of bitcoin, as a form of reliable currency in the market and its impact on fossil fuel consumption. 

One <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/qa-growth-bitcoin-affecting-environment-52083850">ABC News</a> report found that bitcoin mining takes more energy than is needed to run a small country. 

Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/12/19/why-the-bitcoin-craze-is-using-up-so-much-energy/?utm_term=.f50e9c6871dc">Washington Post</a> reported that experts say bitcoin’s energy use is equal to that of one to three <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-nuclear-reactor-design/">nuclear reactors</a>. 

Measuring the energy consumption of bitcoin is no easy feat, and if bitcoin’s worth continues its upward trajectory, its energy impact will also increase. 

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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

Concerns arise over the environmental impact of Bitcoin

Bitcoin has created quite a stir, with some people enthusiastic...

A new study led by Eirik Degerud from the <a href="https://www.fhi.no/en/">Norwegian Institute of Public Health</a> has found a link between frequent alcohol consumption and an increased risk of fatal cardiovascular disease. However, the association was only identified among people in the lowest socioeconomic position.

Individuals with low education, income, and wealth have been shown to consume alcohol less frequently than those in higher socioeconomic positions, yet they experience a higher rate of alcohol-related illnesses and deaths. 

The research team analyzed survey data on 207,394 Norwegian adults who were born before October 15, 1960. Information on the individuals included their health and socioeconomic status, as well as their cause of death.

The study revealed that individuals who had drank alcohol both moderately and frequently, which was designated as 2 to 3 times per week, had a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than infrequent drinkers. This association was the most prevalent among people of the highest socioeconomic status.

Individuals who drank alcohol very frequently, which was designated as 4 to 7 times a week, were found to have an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease among people in the lowest socioeconomic position.

The researchers also found that weekly <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/college-binge-drinking-brain-activity/">binge drinkers</a> had higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than those who did not binge drink, and this risk was the same across all socioeconomic positions.

"It is unclear if [these difference in risk] reflects differential confounding of alcohol consumption with health-protective or damaging exposures or differing effects of alcohol on health across socioeconomic groups," wrote the study authors. "The heterogeneity between groups in the population needs to be assessed when making population recommendations regarding alcohol consumption."

In an accompanying editorial, Jurgen Rehm and Charlotte Probst of Canada's <a href="http://www.camh.ca/">Centre for Addiction and Mental Health</a> said that the research provides significant evidence to help understand the complex interactions between socioeconomic position and mortality. 

They wrote that the findings of the study suggest that “it is not appropriate simply to extrapolate from risks associated with alcohol use in higher-income populations to address lower-income populations where the impact of alcohol use is highest."

The research is published in <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/">PLOS Medicine</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

Socioeconomics impacts rates of alcohol-related illness and death

A new study led by Eirik Degerud from the Norwegian...

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

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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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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