Being cool can feel elusive and almost mythic - something we “know when we see it,” yet struggle to define.



A sweeping new investigation led by marketing scholars Todd Pezzuti of <a href="https://www.uai.cl/">Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez</a> and Caleb Warren of the <a href="https://www.arizona.edu/">University of Arizona</a> argues that the concept is far less mysterious than it seems.



Across twelve nations, nearly 6,000 participants independently picked out the same constellation of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/personality-type-can-accurately-predict-your-relationship-status/">personality</a> traits when describing a cool person. 



The findings reveal not only what separates “cool” from “good” but also why cool people tend to become catalysts of social change.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mapping-cool-across-12-nations">Mapping cool across 12 nations</h2>



Between 2018 and 2022, the research team collected online responses from adults in the United States, Australia, Chile, mainland China, Hong Kong, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey.



Participants first confirmed that they understood the slang meaning of the word “cool,” then spent a few minutes imagining someone who embodied one of four labels: cool, uncool, good, or not good.



Afterward, volunteers evaluated that imagined person on a battery of personality dimensions drawn from psychology’s “Big Five” model and Schwartz’s theory of universal values.



Because all responses came from internet users in relatively urban settings, the sample leans toward technologically connected citizens. 



Still, it is one of the most culturally diverse datasets ever assembled to study reputational judgments. The result is a uniquely global snapshot of how people assign social prestige.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-cool-and-good-part-ways"><a></a>Where cool and good part ways</h2>



When the investigators compared ratings, they found considerable overlap: both cool and good people scored high on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/people-with-many-facial-expressions-seem-more-social-and-likeable/">likability</a>. Yet important divergences emerged.



In all the places they studied, people consistently perceived cool individuals as more extraverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open, and autonomous. 



Good people, by contrast, ranked as conforming, traditional, secure, warm, agreeable, universalistic, conscientious, and calm.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cool-people-aren-t-always-good">Cool people aren't always "good"</h2>



In Pezzuti’s view, the cool profile evokes a kind of charismatic boundary-pusher: energetic, novelty seeking, and unapologetically self-directed.



That explains why cool individuals can inspire fashion trends or launch creative movements - roles that sometimes require bending social rules rather than following them.



“To be seen as cool, someone usually needs to be somewhat likable or admirable, which makes them similar to good people," said Warren. "However, cool people often have other traits that aren’t necessarily considered ‘good’ in a moral sense, like being hedonistic and powerful.”



The cool persona therefore straddles acceptance and transgression: admired enough to influence peers, rebellious enough to feel fresh.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cool-traits-go-global">Cool traits go global</h2>



In the mid-20th century, “cool” circulated in small countercultures - from Black jazz clubs to Beatnik cafés. Over the decades, fashion labels, record companies and Hollywood studios harnessed the aura of cool, broadcasting certain looks and attitudes to a worldwide audience.



The new study suggests that process may have standardized the meaning of the term. Even participants who live 10,000 miles apart now recognize the same signature <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/personality-traits-linked-to-willingness-to-volunteer-or-donate/">traits</a>. As the authors note, the meaning of cool has crystallized on a similar set of traits and values around the world.



Pezzuti does not see commercialization as a death knell. “Coolness has definitely evolved over time, but I don’t think it has lost its edge. It’s just become more functional,” he said.



“The concept of coolness started in small, rebellious sub-cultures, including Black jazz musicians in the 1940s and the beatniks in the 1950s. As society moves faster and puts more value on creativity and change, cool people are more essential than ever.”



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



Because cool people display power and autonomy while earning admiration, the researchers argue that coolness helps establish informal hierarchies. Instead of relying solely on wealth or institutional authority, communities also elevate figures who embody daring and originality.



These individuals, in turn, shape cultural norms by modeling alternative ways to dress, speak, or live. As Pezzuti puts it, “everyone wants to be cool, or at least avoid the stigma of being uncool, and society needs cool people because they challenge norms, inspire change, and advance culture.”



That dual role - both aspirational and disruptive - makes the cool persona uniquely influential. Marketers know this instinctively when they cast charismatic musicians in sneaker ads. Activists harness it when they infuse protest art with edgy style.



The study provides empirical backing for those intuitions: people from Lagos to Los Angeles consistently associate coolness with adventurous independence.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coolness-in-the-digital-age">Coolness in the digital age</h2>



The team notes their study excludes rural and offline groups, whose ideas of cool may differ significantly. They also restricted the study to cultures already familiar with the English slang term, potentially narrowing linguistic nuance.



Future projects could test whether the six-trait profile - extraverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open, and autonomous - holds in additional societies or emerges in other languages.



Researchers are likewise curious about how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/social-media-pressure-is-straining-teen-friendships/">social media</a> platforms, which accelerate the spread of trends, might further synchronize or fragment global standards of cool. Does TikTok broaden identity through niche subcultures or reinforce the six-trait mold by favoring charismatic risk-takers?



For now, the evidence is striking: when people across five continents imagine someone undeniably cool, they picture remarkably similar qualities. 



Coolness, it turns out, may be one of the few cross-cultural constants - an unwritten code that transcends borders even as it keeps pushing boundaries.



The study is published in the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxge0001799">Journal of Experimental Psychology: General</a>.



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What makes people cool? Scientists tracked down the traits

Being cool can feel elusive and almost mythic - something we “know when we see it,” yet struggle to define. A sweeping new investigation led by marketing scholars Todd Pezzuti of Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and Caleb Warren of the University of Arizona argues that the concept is far less mysterious than it seems. Across twelve nations, nearly 6,000 participants independently picked out the same constellation of personality traits when describing a cool person. The findings reveal not only what separates “cool” from “good” but also why cool...

As we age, we begin to see a decline in cognitive function and brain plasticity. Brain plasticity, or brain flexibility, refers to our brain's remarkable way of adapting and changing in reaction to internal or environmental factors. Brain plasticity is crucial to early development and is part of our cognitive ability to learn and transition between different concepts we are introduced to as we age. Through aging, we lose brain plasticity, and our brain’s ability to repair itself or adapt to new environmental factors is hindered. 

Reversing the effects that aging has on brain plasticity and cognitive functions could lead to life-saving treatments for stroke victims and victims of severe brain injuries. 

A study from the<a href="https://healthcare.utah.edu/"> University of Utah Health </a> discovered a gene in mice that actually reversed aging effects on brain plasticity and restored the brain to youthful flexibility, allowing the mice to adapt to external factors and recover quickly from changes in input. 

Researchers found that a single gene, called Arc, played a crucial role in maintaining and restoring <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/taste-buds-wired-brain/">brain</a> plasticity.

The research team examined how Arc was involved in a window period of brain plasticity in mice. This window is also present in humans and explains why we are sometimes able to correct certain conditions like a lazy eye in early childhood but not later on. The inflexibility of the brain makes these corrections impossible as we age. 

The researchers discovered that mice without the gene Arc never went through this window period. So even early on, some of the mice lacking the gene could not adapt or recover from environmental or input changes the way those mice with the window and gene could. 

“It's exciting because it suggests that by just manipulating one gene in adult brains, we can boost brain plasticity,” said Dr. Jason Shepherd, the lead researcher and Assistant Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Utah Health. 

This exciting discovery focusing on a single gene will open up further studies that will test the reactions to the gene in humans to see if they mirror the results in mice. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists can now reverse the effects of aging on the brain

As we age, we begin to see a decline in...

Taboo words, or terminology that is forbidden by society, provokes responses in people that range from increased heart rate to decreased attention and memory. A new study suggests that the reaction of the body and mind to taboo language depends largely on the situation and the nature of each individual.

Previous studies did not capture the impact of taboo language in real-life circumstances. Instead, researchers analyzed psychological and physiological responses to isolated words. Kiel Christianson is a professor of Educational Psychology at the <a href="http://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a> who led the current study. 

"In the real world, taboo words are uttered or written by people in specific situations," said Christianson. "Depending on the identity of the speaker and the appropriateness of the situation in which they say it, a given taboo word may have stronger or weaker psychological and/or physiological effects on the listener."

Christianson and his team performed assessments on participants as they read sentences containing swear words. Eye-tracking software was used to monitor each individual's attention levels and memory levels.

80 participants read a series of sentences that depicted "saints" or "sinners.” These figures represented people viewed as likely or unlikely to use taboo words, and were placed in circumstances where <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/modern-times-value-self-expression-swearing-proves/">swearing</a> could be distinctively viewed as appropriate or inappropriate.

Prior to the observation, participants had completed a survey that revealed their feelings toward swearing. This predetermined attitude was used to gauge the likelihood an individual would be offended by profanity. The assessment also helped establish the circumstances under which each person may view swearing as acceptable.

"The eye-tracking software allowed us to see where and for how long readers' attention was directed," Christianson said. "According to binding theory, one of the two popular theories about taboo words' effects, participants' recall should have improved when they read sentences containing taboo words. However, according to global resource theory, the other current popular theory, their memory should have been poorer when a sentence included a taboo word."

The study revealed that the readers paid more attention to taboo language. Context was found to be particularly important to the readers when saints used swear words in appropriate situations, and participants focused more energy on reading both the sentence and the taboo word itself. In these cases, their accuracy in recalling the probe words improved.

"Taken together, the results seem to support both global resource theory and binding theory, but only to an extent," explained Christianson. "Our finding that a taboo word draws attention - either at the word or sentence level - when a 'saint' utters it in a taboo-appropriate situation is not accounted for by either theory.” 

For a second study, readers were given a heads up at the beginning of each sentence where a taboo word was about to appear.

"Participants' memory and attentional resources were diminished as their attention was increasingly allocated to the taboo word," Christianson said. "Conversely, as their likelihood of taking offense decreased, the details became more memorable due to the emotionally conditioned but nonthreatening taboo word. An utterance’s shock value rises as a function of situational factors and an individual audience member's propensity for offense."

Since neither binding theory was fully proven or disproven by this particular research, Christianson proposed combining them into a new theory called situated speaker-hearer individual difference theory. The findings of the study are published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/acta-psychologica">Acta Psychologica</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Study: Impact of bad language depends on the context

Taboo words, or terminology that is forbidden by society, provokes...

A new study suggests that staying unemployed is a better alternative to accepting a job that is stressful or does not pay well. Researchers found that individuals who transitioned into low quality work from unemployment had elevated risks for a range of health problems.

The report, published in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ije">International Journal of Epidemiology</a>, also indicates that job quality plays an important role in a person's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/online-food-shopping-healthy/">health</a> and overall wellbeing. This contradicts previous research which concluded that employment promotes a better quality of life than unemployment. 

The experts set out to evaluate the connection between re-employment and chronic stress related biomarkers. More specifically, they wanted to establish the health effects of transitioning into good quality and poor quality jobs, and compare the results to those of unemployed individuals.

Surveys of British residents who were unemployed during 2009- 2010 were followed up on in 2010-2011 and in 2011-2012 for physiological stress markers and self-reported health. The data was collected from <a href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/">Understanding Society</a>, a UK Household Longitudinal Study which began in 2009 and included over 100,000 people. 

Among the participants in the longitudinal study, 10,175 gave a blood sample with information on at least one biomarker that the team utilized for the current research. The experts used a total of 12 biomarkers including measures of cholesterol, triglycerides, pulse, and blood pressure to construct their allostatic load index. This index represents the physiological consequences of being exposed to chronic stress.

Job quality was factored into the analysis as one of five possible work-related variables. These variables included low pay, job insecurity, control, satisfaction, and anxiety.

The study revealed that formerly unemployed adults who transitioned into poor quality jobs had higher levels of chronic stress related biomarkers compared to those who remained unemployed. Adults who had transitioned into poor quality work had the highest levels of biomarkers, while adults who transitioned into good quality jobs had the lowest levels of biomarkers. 

Re-employment did not lead to an improvement in physical health, but good quality work was linked to an improvement in mental health scores. There were no differences in mental health scores between those who engaged in poor quality work and those who were unemployed. 

"Job quality cannot be disregarded from the employment success of the unemployed," said lead author Tarani Chandola, professor of Medical Sociology at the <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/">University of Manchester</a>. "Just as good work is good for health, we must also remember poor quality work can be detrimental to health."

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

When not having a job is healthier than having a bad job

A new study suggests that staying unemployed is a better...

Scientists have discovered properties in saliva that speed up the healing process. This revelation explains why cuts in the mouth heal faster, and could lead to the development of improved treatment for other wounds.

<a href="http://www.uchile.cl/english">University of Chile</a> Professor Vicente Torres and his research team set out to determine why mouth cuts heal faster and better than wounds outside of the mouth. Prior to this study, the role of saliva in healing was not fully understood.

“Saliva is a key factor that contributes to the high efficiency of wound healing in the inside of the mouth,” said Torres. “This is not only attributed to physical cues but also to the presence of specific peptides in the saliva, such as histatins.”

The scientists analyzed the effects of histatin-1 on the development of new blood vessels. The team used healthy samples of chicken embryos, human skin, and blood vessel cells. 

“Histatin-1 is an antimicrobial peptide, highly enriched in human saliva, which has been previously reported to promote the migration of oral skin cells in lab animals,” explained Torres.

The study, published in <a href="http://www.fasebj.org/">The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal</a>, revealed the protein histatin-1 found in saliva speeds up healing by boosting the formation of blood vessels. Histatin-1 molecules also improved the contact and behavior of the migrating cells. 

“Specifically, histatin-1 promoted skin cell contact and spreading as well as migration in the wound closure tests,” said Torres. “Finally, we showed that salivary histatin-1 is required for the pro migratory effects of saliva on skin cells.”

The researchers have already started using these histatins to develop materials and implants to aid in wound <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-antarctic-ozone-layer-is-healing/">healing</a>.

“These findings open new alternatives to better understand the biology underlying the differences between oral and skin wound healing,” said Torres. “We believe the study could help the design of better approaches to improve wound healing in tissues other than the mouth.”

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Saliva helps speed up the healing process for cuts and wounds

Scientists have discovered properties in saliva that speed up the...

Horror movies, you either love them or avoid them like the plague. Many psychologists have looked into our propensity for horror and just why some people love to be scared. Possible answers include a need for seeking higher<a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093650209356441"> emotional experiences</a> or emotional gratification related to a person’s preference for the genre. 

This makes sense, as horror is nothing if not filled with moments meant to heighten our emotions and play with our fears and anxieties. Sometimes these movies even prompt jump scares, when you reach out and grab for the person next to you and scream. 

A new study from the <a href="https://www.unine.ch/">University of Neuchatel</a> in Switzerland set out to determine why exactly we reach for someone next to us, sometimes even subconsciously, when we’re scared or startled. 

What the researchers found was that the act of reaching for someone close when frightened is about personal preservation. 

460 photos were taken of visitors at a haunted attraction in Canada, and three-quarters of the pictures showed participants grabbing onto someone next to them after having just been scared.

The researchers hypothesized that this reaction is about self-preservation and not about protecting someone else. 

“This happens potentially as a means to protect oneself. But it is an example of people using self-preservation rather than acting out of selfishness,” said Co-author of the study, Julie Greez of the <a href="http://english.inserm.fr/">French National Institute of Health and Medical Research</a>. 

The study also revealed that the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/men-work-family-conflicts/">women</a> photographed were more likely to reach for someone else when startled. 

Only after the scare did the study find people reaching out to help others, which aligns with the idea that the reaction to grab or hide behind someone is one of self-preservation. After the initial shock has passed, we can be more prosocial and selfless. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Why we reach out and grab others when scared

Horror movies, you either love them or avoid them like...

According to a new study, both both men and women say that the eyes are the most attractive part of a person’s face. 

Psychologist Daniel Gill from the <a href="http://www.winchester.ac.uk/">University of Winchester</a> in New Hampshire led the study that examined how facial features were perceived by men and women, and what features were considered the most attractive. 

According to the results, both men and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/male-attitudes-toward-women-often-shaped-pornography-exposure/">women</a> view the eyes as the most important facial feature. The other highly rated facial features included attractive hair and lips, while the nose was reported as one of the least important features. 

Gill asked 32 men and 32 women look at a series of color photographs of faces without makeup, jewelry, facial hair, or glasses and rate individual facial features as well as the face as a whole. 

The results of the study differed slightly depending on gender, but both men and women found that the eyes were the most attractive part of a face.

Breaking the study down further, women judged eyes and hair as the most attractive in men and women, while men put an emphasis on the whole face, eyes, and hair in women. Men also found the eyes to be the most important facial feature when judging male pictures. 

Our preferences in facial features and what we consider attractive can be linked to evolutionary traits meant to aid in choice of mate. 

“The beauty of the opposite-sex face is proposed to reflect, at least in part, appropriate mate choice for reproduction. Therefore it is expected that men and women should hold different strategies for beauty appraisal,” said Gill. 

Although the study, published in the journal Evolution of Human Behavior, is relatively small, it differs from other studies of attractiveness in that it singles out individual facial features and further looks at how we judge and rate attractiveness in others. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Both men and women say eyes are the most important feature

According to a new study, both both men and women...

Although the experience of “hearing voices” is often attributed to individuals with schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses, it is also present in people without any diagnoses psychiatric disorder. In a new publication from <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> that was released in the journal Science, researchers studied subjects both with and without diagnosed psychotic illnesses using a 125-year-old experiment designed to induce hallucinations.

The point of the study – led by Philip Corlett and Al Powers of <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale</a> – was to identify factors that lead to auditory hallucinations and analyze what makes certain individual’s experiences unhealthy while others’ are benign.

“Hallucinations may arise from an imbalance between our expectations about the environment and the information we get from our senses,” said Powers, the study’s lead author. “You may perceive what you expect, not what your senses are telling you.”

In the 1890s, a technique was developed at <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale</a>, which was designed to induce auditory hallucinations. The experiment involves four groups of subjects: voice hearers (psychotic and non-psychotic) and non-voice hearers (psychotic and non-psychotic). Participants in each group underwent brain scans while being repeatedly exposed to a light and a tone at the same time. The researchers asked them to detect the tone, which at times was difficult to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/early-whales-limited-hearing-land/">hear</a>.

After a while, study subjects in all groups reported hearing the tone when only light was presented and no tone was played. However, this phenomenon was much more prevalent in both of the two voice-hearing groups.

“In both clinical and non-clinical subjects, we see some of the same brain processes at work during conditioned hallucinations as those engaged when voice-hearers report hallucinations in the scanner,” said Corlett, senior author of the study.

The study also used computational modeling to differentiate people who had psychosis from those who didn’t. Results showed that people with psychosis had a hard time accepting that they had not actually heard the tone. They exhibited altered brain activity in regions that are often implicated in psychosis.

The researchers believe that these behavioral and neuroimaging markers may be an early sign of pathology in psychosis. They state that the findings of this study may eventually help identify those who need psychiatric treatment.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Hallucinations caused by a discrepancy in expectations and senses

Although the experience of “hearing voices” is often attributed to...

A groundbreaking study has revealed that calorie restrictions can delay the aging process. While analyzing how aging alters the biological clock's effect on metabolism, scientists discovered that a low-calorie diet helps the body's metabolism work at an optimal level that promotes youth. 

The study was led by Paolo Sassone-Corsi, director of the Center for Epigenetics &amp; Metabolism at the <a href="https://uci.edu/">University of California, Irvine</a>. His team showed how the body's circadian rhythms change as a result of aging. They found that the connection between circadian activity and the aging process is based on effective metabolic transformation of energy within cells.

The research team tested mice at 6 months and 18 months. They collected tissue samples from the liver, which links nutrition and energy distribution in the body. 

Precise circadian activity controls how energy is metabolized within cells. The researchers found that the 24-hour cycle in the metabolic system of older mice remained the same over the course of the year. However, the circadian mechanism that expresses or represses genes based on the energy usage of cells displayed noticeable changes. In other words, the cells of the older mice processed energy inefficiently.

"This mechanism works great in a young animal, but it basically shuts off in an old mouse," said Sassone-Corsi.

The team analyzed a second group of aged mice after feeding them a diet containing 30 percent less calories for six months. The researchers found that the circadian mechanism worked effectively and the energy processing within cells was not changed.

"In fact, caloric restriction works by rejuvenating the biological clock in a most powerful way," explained Sassone-Corsi. "In this context, a good clock meant good aging."

Scientists from the <a href="https://www.irbbarcelona.org/">Barcelona Institute for Research in Biomedicine</a> joined the team for a second study. The researchers tested the functioning of the biological clock in stem cells from younger and older mice. The outcome revealed that a low-calorie diet conserved most of the circadian activity of youth.

"The low-calorie diet greatly contributes to preventing the effects of physiological aging," said Salvador Aznar Benitah, co-author of the study. "Keeping the rhythm of stem cells 'young' is important because in the end these cells serve to renew and preserve very pronounced day-night cycles in tissue. Eating less appears to prevent tissue aging and, therefore, prevent stem cells from reprogramming their circadian activities."

Previous studies have established that low calorie diets can extend the life spans of fruit flies. The scientists will continue to study how metabolism has such a huge influence on the stem cell <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-cells-control-aging/">aging</a> process. If they can identify the link that slows or speeds up the aging process, they can develop treatments which may be able to regulate aging.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A low-calorie diet can slow the aging process

A groundbreaking study has revealed that calorie restrictions can delay...

It’s been a summer of record breaking heat waves in Spain, with some recorded temperatures as high as 109 degrees Fahrenheit. These sometimes long-lasting heat waves are no stranger to many parts of the world, but are cause for concern among the scientific community due to the ill health effects and rise in mortality rates that they can cause.

Research has shown an increase in mortality rates of 15% to 20% during extremely hot periods, and recovery from heat waves can take several days even after the heat wave recedes. 

The <a href="http://www.csic.es/">Spanish National Research Council</a>, or CSIC, participated in an international study that looked at heat waves in 400 cities across eighteen countries from 1972 to 2012. The study specifically looked at the effects extreme heat had on people’s health. The results were published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

The research concluded that the risks heat waves pose on a person’s health are the same whether the spell lasts several days or just one day. Thus, even short but potent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heat-waves-disrupt-airplanes-takeoffs/">heat waves</a> can be very dangerous.

As temperatures increase, the risk to health and well-being also increases, and those effects can last up to three or four days after the heatwave tapers off. 

Even though the scientific community agrees that heat waves are periods during which high temperatures reach an intolerable threshold, there’s not a global definition or account of just what makes a heat wave. 

"Although, from a health point of view, a heatwave is described as a day of which the temperature exceeds a certain threshold, there is no internationally agreed definition,” said  Aurelio Tobí­as of CSIC's Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Studies.

Climate change will no doubt increase the number of heat waves, and studies like this one could have important implications for creating global standards for intolerable conditions and proper preparation for changing conditions.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Severe heat waves, even brief ones, increase mortality rates

It’s been a summer of record breaking heat waves in...

According to a study from the <a href="http://www.albany.edu/">University of Albany</a>, online food shopping makes it easier to skip the junk food and purchase foods that are healthy. Ordering food online helps individuals comply with dietary goals and may even be used as a health intervention tool in the future. 

The new research found that using the internet to shop for groceries results in less impulse buying and more nutritional food selection. The authors of the study pointed out that home food delivery could serve as a dietary intervention tool, and the growing use of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rational-choices-smartphones-computers/">smartphones</a> makes this possibility even greater. 

Previous research has established that individuals who are overweight are more prone to impulse buying. From this perspective, online shopping that leads to less random purchases will help curb obesity rates.

The University of Albany study contradicts the theory that online grocery shopping is unhealthy. Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer in England, warned last year that people need regular trips to the supermarket to stay active. However, the current research suggests that dodging the grocery store may lead to a healthier diet.

For the study, 60 college students were asked about their food shopping habits and impulsive tendencies. They were given $48.50 to shop for “nutritious, affordable, and tasty” food products. The study showed that all of the selections made by the students had equal nutritional value, regardless of how impulsive the students had revealed themselves to be.

“It didn't matter how impulsive a person was, the nutritional outcomes didn't vary,” explained lead author Jaime Coffino.

According to the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html">Daily Mail</a>, online food sales are expected to nearly double in England by 2020. In the United States, online grocery shopping totaled $7 billion in 2015 and is projected to hit $18 billion by 2020.

Coffino said that future studies could compare online grocery shopping with in-store grocery shopping. The results of the study were presented on August 4th at the annual meeting of the <a href="http://www.apa.org/">American Psychological Association</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Online food shopping found to make healthy decisions easier

According to a study from the University of Albany, online...

It’s a pretty common adage that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/genetic-variant-linked-arthritis/">arthritis</a> and hip or joint pain serve as a somewhat of a weather predictor. We’ve all heard that people with arthritis can tell when it’s about to rain because they feel increased swelling and pain in their joints.

It turns out that weather does indeed have a direct impact on arthritis and joint pain, but has more to do with temperatures and activity levels than rain.

Data from Google search trends gathered across 45 states was used to determine what effect, if any, weather had on searches for joint pain and arthritis. Researchers from the 

The <a href="http://www.uwmedicine.org/">University of Washington Medicine</a> and <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard</a> found that it was temperature and activity levels that drove the most searches, while there was a tapering off of search trends for joint pain during rainy weather. 

As temperatures rose within the range of 23 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, Google searches about joint pain increased as well. Searches for knee pain peaked at 73 degrees and tapered off at higher temperatures, while hip pain searches peaked at 83 degrees and tapered off at higher temperatures. But rainy weather actually decreased search results for both knee and hip pain. 

The researchers concluded that warmer temperatures, which could spur more activity, are a likelier cause in the influx in Google searchers rather than rainy and damp weather.

"We haven't found any direct mechanism that links ambient temperature with pain. What we think is the much more likely explanation is the fact that people are more active on nice days, so more prone to have overuse and acute injuries from that and to search online for relevant information. That's our hypothesis for what we'll explore next," said Scott Telfer, researcher from the University of Washington School of Medicine.

This study could prove an invaluable tool for further data driven studies using Google search trends to decipher what impacts and prompts online searches in relation to a person’s health. 

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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

Google searches reveal surprising news about rain and joint pain

It’s a pretty common adage that arthritis and hip or...

Currently, over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and the United Nations estimates that another 2.5 billion people will move to cities by 2050. Urbanization is increasing globally as the Earth’s population continues to grow, which has led to expanding cities as well as expanding worries regarding the environmental costs of increased urbanization. While this trend continues, the need to study the trade-off between economic benefits and environmental policy costs of urbanization is only getting larger.

Defining the relationship of how pollution scales as urban population grows is necessary for policymaking, yet has remained unknown. The important question is: do environmental regulations that decrease pollution emissions from urbanization also hurt the economic benefits of this urbanization?

A recent study led by researchers at <a href="about:blank">Carnegie Mellon University</a>, and published in the multidisciplinary journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>, has found that air pollution policy reduces the extent to which population growth in urban areas results in increased pollution emissions, without harming economic growth of urbanization.

“We find that the relationship between urbanization (population) and economic output (GDP) is not affected by environmental policy,” says Nicholas Muller of the <a href="http://tepper.cmu.edu/">Tepper School of Business</a>. “This has profound implications for the current policy debate that frames environmental goals and economic goals as at odds with each other.”

The researchers analyzed data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in an effort to determine if the counties in the U.S. that are compliant with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), which were established in 1990 by the Clean Air Act Amendment. This data was paired with county-level data on population, economic indicators, and pollution levels to assess the economic and environmental impacts of pollution regulation.

“When a county is found to be non-compliant with NAAQS, it is subject to stricter regulation than compliant counties,” says Akshaya Jha from the <a href="http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/index.aspx">Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy.</a> “By comparing the outcomes of compliant and non-compliant counties, we can determine how the stringency of environmental regulation affects both economic output and environmental damages.”

The results showed that stricter NAAQS criteria imposed on counties that were non-compliant actually reduced pollution damages while not detracting from the rate of economic growth relative to compliant counties. The researchers also found that the pollution per person decreases as population grows, so pollution does not scale linearly with population.

Ultimately, these findings show that environmental policy may decrease the consequences of pollution from urbanization without hurting that area’s economic growth. This is important moving forward if we want to continue to expand our cities while limiting impact on the environment. Economists and environmentalists must work together to determine how we can further reduce environmental impact without moving backwards in our <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/biodiversity-help-economy-colombia/">economy</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Why environmental policy doesn’t have to hurt economic growth

Currently, over half of the world’s population lives in urban...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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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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