Most of us have heard a parent or grandparent say, “Time goes by faster every year,” while shaking their head at how quickly July 4 seems to roll around. 



When you’re twelve, however, the brain has a different perception of time - the wait for summer vacation feels endless, and a single school day can feel as slow as a traffic jam in August heat.



That gap between the child’s long afternoon and the adult’s lightning-fast month isn’t just storytelling, it’s how our brain's perception of time changes, altering the way it measures all of the moments that make up our lives.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-first-vs-fresh-experiences">First vs. fresh experiences</h2>



Children cram their days with firsts: a first dive into the pool, a first try at long division, a first sleepover away from home.



These fresh experiences swarm the brain with new images to file away, stretching the subjective length of a single afternoon.



Adults, by contrast, tend to replay <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-heat-impacts-our-daily-routines-and-transportation/">familiar routines</a>. With fewer novel snapshots to store, the days collapse into something closer to a highlight reel than a feature film.



According to psychologist Marc Wittmann at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health <a href="https://igpp.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(IGPP</a>), the feeling that time accelerates is tightly linked to how much new material our brains record each day.



He points out that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/memory-clutter-speeds-up-aging-in-the-brain/">memory</a> and time perception sit on the same neural bench; when one slows, the other shrinks. "Newness" holds the key to this phenomenon.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-human-brain-and-time-perception">Human brain and time perception</h2>



Whenever a brain encounters something it has never processed before, a quick surge of attention flags the event as worth keeping. The more flags raised, the thicker the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-brains-use-storage-trick-to-keep-your-memories-in-sequential-order/">memory log</a> becomes, and the longer that span later feels.



Kids, still green to nearly everything, throw flags left and right. A lunchroom joke, a new word in science class, or a game of tag - each registers as its own small chapter.



Adults often glide through copy-and-paste days that differ only by the date on the calendar. With fewer chapters recorded, the book of any given week reads as a short story.



Research using immersive virtual reality in 2024 showed that older volunteers underestimated simple time intervals by roughly 15 percent, highlighting how novelty <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S096800042300302X" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sharpens the inner clock</a>.



Routine doesn’t just compress the past; it also drains the present.



Studies tracking holiday seasons in several countries found that people who stuck to predictable daily rhythms felt that Christmas or Ramadan arrived sooner every year, while those who sprinkled in new activities reported a slower march toward the festivities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-processing-speed-linked-with-time">Brain processing speed linked with time</h2>



Every sensation has to travel from eye or ear to cortex. In youngsters, those <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/speech-pattern-wfd-that-is-a-clear-indication-a-person-is-in-cognitive-decline/">neural highways</a> are short and well-paved. As bodies grow, the routes lengthen, and the conduction speed though still quick can’t match its earlier zip.



Add natural age-related slowing of signal processing and the brain starts sampling the world less often each second.



Fewer samples mean fewer “ticks” on the subjective stopwatch, so a morning meeting seems to vanish faster for a forty-year-old than for a fourth grader.



This sampling <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-link-pupil-dilation-to-brains-working-memory-levels/">shows up in the eyes</a>. Our eyes jerk from point to point in rapid saccades, pausing in brief fixations while the brain grabs a visual frame.



Young, rested eyes squeeze in more fixations per minute. Older or fatigued eyes lag, offering the brain fewer still frames to stitch together. With a thinner film strip, the projection of the day speeds along.



Scientists studying eye movements liken perception to a flipbook. Each fixation is a page; flip them fast enough and you see smooth action.



When fixations slow, the flipbook loses pages. Motion still appears, but the storyline gets choppy, and, in recall, it shortens.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sleep-and-alertness">Sleep and alertness</h2>



A single night of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-can-boost-memory-in-a-surprising-way/">good sleep</a> can pull the brake on runaway days. When neurons are well-rested, they fire faster, notice more, and form clearer memories.



Athletes know the flip side: stepping onto the field after too little shut-eye makes the whole match blur. The plays happen, but the mind records only a highlight or two before the final whistle.



Students grinding through an all-nighter meet the same fate - an exam that seems to finish moments after it starts.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-is-the-best-treatment-for-excessive-daytime-sleepiness/">Chronic fatigue</a> magnifies the effect. Continually short-changing rest lowers baseline alertness, trimming snapshots day after day.



Over months, life can feel like it’s slipping through the cracks, not because the clock sped up but because the recorder slowed down.



<a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/dopamine-the-pathway-to-pleasure" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dopamine</a>, a neurotransmitter tied to motivation and time estimation, also dips with sleep debt, further warping the <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1364166/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sense of duration</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-social-media-and-lost-time-perception">Social media and lost time perception</h2>



Endless feeds promise variety, yet most algorithms serve look-alike posts. Swipe through video after video of the same dance trend, and the brain barely registers a change.



Hours evaporate while the memory log remains nearly blank. Compound that with the blue-light-induced bedtime delay, and you have a double punch: fewer snapshots captured and fewer hours slept.



Cutting back on passive scrolling or swapping it for an activity with genuine novelty - trying a new recipe, learning a chord on guitar - feeds the brain more distinct moments. Those moments stretch subjective time, turning a blur of an evening into something that feels full.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-with-age-comes-responsibility">With age comes responsibility</h2>



Beyond slower processing, adults juggle long lists of responsibilities. Focus narrows to tasks at hand - emails, errands, budgets - scanning less of the environment for new input. Novelty drops, and subjective days shorten.



<a href="https://www.tiaa.org/public/institute/publication/2023/young-adults-their-attitudes-and-outlook-toward-retirement-and-the-future" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A 2023 survey</a> comparing young adults with retirees found that the older group reported the year as “rushing by” nearly twice as often, linking the feeling to the predictability of daily routines rather than to health issues.



Even so, not every senior feels the rush. Researchers tracking so-called “<a href="https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/4-habits-super-agers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">super-agers</a>” note that those who keep learning new skills and staying socially engaged maintain sharper senses of time, along with stronger memory performance. Variety keeps the brain’s camera clicking.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-use-your-brain-to-slow-time-perception">Use your brain to slow time perception</h2>



Here's the good news - the tools to lengthen your days fit into ordinary life. Go to bed on a schedule that honors the seven-to-nine-hour rule.



Plan at least one activity each week that forces you out of autopilot: a different jogging route, a museum you’ve never visited, a new language app.



While doing it, pay close attention to sights, sounds, and textures. Engagement packs extra snapshots into the mental album.



Stay curious daily. Swap a lunchtime scroll for a short walk and notice five things you’ve never clocked before - a mural, a bird call, the scent of a bakery vent.



Those micro-discoveries add pages to the flipbook, expanding the subjective afternoon. Over time, the habit can "thicken" the memory book that tells the story of a year, making December feel like it belongs twelve full months away, right where the calendar says it should be.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-review/article/why-the-days-seem-shorter-as-we-get-older/2CB8EC9B0B30537230C7442B826E42F1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">European Review</a>.



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Scientists explain why time seems to move faster and 'fly by' as we age

Most of us have heard a parent or grandparent say, “Time goes by faster every year,” while shaking their head at how quickly July 4 seems to roll around. When you’re twelve, however, the brain has a different perception of time - the wait for summer vacation feels endless, and a single school day can feel as slow as a traffic jam in August heat. That gap between the child’s long afternoon and the adult’s lightning-fast month isn’t just storytelling, it’s how our brain's perception of time...

Researchers have that they discovered a new state of matter that can actually exist as both a liquid and a solid at the same time.

In a new study, researchers from the <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/">University of Edinburgh</a> and <a href="http://men.xjtu.edu.cn/">Xi'an Jiaotong University</a> in China turned to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-previously-unknown-human-ancestor/">artificial intelligence</a> to help make sense of what happens to the metal potassium when it’s compressed under pressures that would you find in the Earth’s mantle.

At these extreme pressures, researchers have found that matter can exist in some interesting states.

For example, <a href="https://www.newswise.com/articles/view/550014/">one past study</a> discovered that sodium, a simple metal that conducts heat and electricity, transforms into a transparent material under extreme pressure. The new state of compressed sodium is also no longer conductive.

Potassium, like sodium, reacts out of character under pressure and the potassium atoms rearrange themselves. However, until now, researchers were not sure what exactly was going on at the atomic level to create this change.

“Somehow, these potassium atoms decide to divide up into two loosely linked sub-lattices,” said Andreas Hermann, a member of the research team.

The researchers used artificial intelligence to simulate what happens to potassium atoms under extreme pressure.

The artificial intelligence program learned quantum mechanics and was trained to analyze potassium atoms so that the program could simulate the reactions of thousands of potassium atoms under pressure.

The AI computer models showed that when exposed to extreme temperatures and heat, potassium becomes both liquid and solid and enters a chain-melted state.

The chains of potassium atoms dissolve in this state, but the potassium crystals remain solid.

It’s hard even to imagine what this state might look or feel like, but the researchers compare it to a sponge that is dripping, but both the sponge and dripping material are made of the same thing.

“Potassium is one of the simplest metals we know, yet if you squeeze it, it forms very complicated structures,” said Herman. “We have shown that this unusual but stable state is part solid and part liquid. Recreating this unusual state in other materials could have all kinds of applications.”

The researchers described their findings in a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New state of matter exists as solid and liquid at the same time

Researchers have that they discovered a new state of matter...

City viaduct bridge road landscape.

A <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09426-0">new study</a> from the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a> has found that flying cars like the ones seen on the 1960s animated series “The Jetsons,” known in real life as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOLs), would not be sustainable for short-term commutes. However, VTOLs with their helicopter-like vertical takeoff and similar aerodynamic flight to that of an airplane, could potentially be a more sustainable option for longer trips, especially within congested cities.

The study will be published April 9th in <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

"To me, it was very surprising to see that VTOLs were competitive with regard to energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in certain scenarios,” said senior author Gregory Keoleian, the director of the <a href="http://css.umich.edu/">Center for Sustainable Systems</a> at Michigan’s <a href="https://seas.umich.edu/">School for Environment and Sustainability</a>. “VTOLs with full occupancy could outperform ground-based cars for trips from San Francisco to San Jose or from Detroit to Cleveland, for example.”

In partnership with Ford Motor Company, the University of Michigan study is the first comprehensive look at the sustainability of VTOLs. The team looked at their energy use, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/greenhouse-gas-emissions-100-companies/">greenhouse gas emissions</a>, and time saved traveling via VTOL in comparison to cars.

VTOLs produce zero emissions during flight, however, their batteries require power plant-provided electricity. But the researchers found that emission levels tied to VTOL travel were 52% lower than gasoline-powered vehicles and 6% lower than battery-powered vehicles.

"With these VTOLs, there is an opportunity to mutually align the sustainability and business cases," said first author Akshat Kasliwal, a graduate student at the School for Environment and Sustainability. "Not only is high passenger occupancy better for emissions, it also favors the economics of flying cars. Further, consumers could be incentivized to share trips, given the significant time savings from flying versus driving."

The Michigan and Ford research team used information available to the public to create a physics-based model that tracks energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions of VTOLs.

"Our model represents general trends in the VTOL space and uses parameters from multiple studies and aircraft designs to specify weight, lift-to-drag ratio and battery-specific energy," said coauthor Noah Furbush, a master's student at the <a href="https://www.engin.umich.edu/">University of Michigan College of Engineering</a>. "In addition, we conducted sensitivity analyses to explore the bounds of these parameters, alongside other factors such as grid carbon intensity and wind speed.”

By tracking the VTOLs energy usage, the team saw that it expended the most energy during takeoff and climb. But at cruise speed of 150 mph, the craft was fairly sustainable and would therefore be ideal for long trips.

"As a result, the trips where VTOLs are more sustainable than gasoline cars only make up a small fraction of total annual vehicle-miles traveled on the ground," said coauthor Jim Gawron, a graduate student at the School for Environment and Sustainability and the <a href="https://michiganross.umich.edu/">Ross School of Business</a>. "Consequently, VTOLs will be limited in their contribution and role in a sustainable mobility system."

More research must be done on VTOL cost, noise, and consumer/societal acceptance before the team can conclude that VTOLs are, in fact, the craft of the future.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Dave Brenner/University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability

Could Jetsons-like flying cars be a sustainable option for the future?

A new study from the University of Michigan has found...

For the first time, four lizards have been genetically modified using the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gene-editing-tool-color-plants/">CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool</a>.

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.uga.edu/">University of Georgia</a> (UGA) were able to target the pigmentation genes of Anolis sagrei lizards to create four albino offspring.

This feat is particularly noteworthy because reptile embryos are very difficult to manipulate and work with given their soft shells and difficult to pinpoint fertilization. 

“Reptiles are very understudied in terms of their reproductive biology and embryonic development,” said Douglas Menke, the leader of the study. “There are no good methods to manipulate embryos like we can easily do with mammals, fish or amphibians. To our knowledge, no other lab in the world has produced a genetically altered reptile.”

But the researchers were able to overcome these challenges and microinject CRISPR proteins into multiple immature eggs or oocytes located in the ovaries of 21 Anolis lizards. 

The team specifically targeted the tyrosinase gene and successfully injected the gene editing solution into 146 oocytes. 

After just four weeks, four albino lizard offspring hatched from their eggs, and the team’s efforts paid off. 

“When I saw our first albino hatchling, it was truly awe inspiring,” said Ashley Rasys, the first author on the study. “I’m most excited about the possibility of expanding this approach into many other reptilian model systems, effectively opening the doorway for future functional studies.”

Albinism is a trait inherited from both parents and in this study, the researchers found that the CRISPR protein targeted the tyrosinase protein from both the mother and father of the offspring which means that the CRISPR solution was active long after fertilization. 

“That was a surprise,” said Menke. “It enabled us to see the functional requirements of the gene without having to breed mutated animals to produce offspring who inherit the mutated gene from both parents. It’s a big time-saver.”

The researchers say that the results of their study, now submitted for peer-review, could have far-reaching implications for future gene-editing research and also human genetics as the tyrosinase gene is necessary for some aspects of eye development.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Image Credit: <a href="https://www.uga.edu/">University of Georgia</a>

Researchers create the first ever gene-edited lizards

For the first time, four lizards have been genetically modified...

<h2>How does photosynthesis work?</h2>
Plants and bacteria convert sunlight into sugar through the magic of photosynthesis. The evolution of this process enabled life to be what it is today. All life feeds on the sun, either directly or indirectly.

This essential process is made up of a series of complicated chemical reactions. Plants have tiny factories that control each step of this reaction. This process is complex, but the simple version is that proteins move electrons to charge machinery that produces sugar. 

In the end, plants combine CO2 and water, producing sugar and oxygen.
<h2>What makes photosynthesis slow?</h2>
One of the proteins involved in photosynthesis is tasked with the essential job of grabbing CO2. This enzyme is called RuBisCO, and it is the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9905/#1659">most common protein on Earth</a>. Part of the reason for this is that it’s not very good at its job.

It turns out that <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/digest/scientists-fix-photosynthetic-inefficiency-boost-crop-yields-40-percent">RuBisCO accidentally grabs oxygen</a> instead of carbon dioxide about one-fifth of the time. When this happens, toxins are created rather than food. In order to decrease the harm, the plant spends energy recycling and removing these toxins. This can result in a 20-50% loss of efficiency. 

This protein is so ancient and essential to life that it seems there isn’t much room for evolution to play around. RuBisCO is estimated to have originated between <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/photosynthesis-plants-started/">720 million and 1.2 billion years ago</a>. Because it is so essential, any decrease in the function will quickly be selected against. However, sometimes things need to get worse before they get better. 
<h2>Building a better plant</h2>
We have known for a long time that the efficiency of plants could be improved. Modifying something so essential is not easy. The Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project aims to do just this.

Researchers at the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a> have had exciting breakthroughs in this area. They have re-engineered how plants remove the toxins produced by RuBisCO and their results are quite impressive.

The researchers edited the genes of 1700 plants to test this process. Top performers were <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/article/scientists-engineer-shortcut-photosynthetic-glitch-boost-crop-growth-40">as much as 40% larger</a>.

RuBisCO performs worse at higher temperatures. With the climate change on the rise, this could be a real problem and researchers hope to improve food security globally. The RIPE program is committed to providing these innovations to farmers royalty-free. 

Researchers in China and San Francisco have had success with similar work. They used a bioengineering approach called GOC to improve photosynthesis and photorespiration and were able to increase <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bioengineering-improve-rice-crop-yields/">rice yields by 27 percent</a>.

Modifying photosynthesis has also allowed researchers to save water. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/altering-photosynthesis-crops-less-water/">Editing the pores of plant leaves</a> (stomata) allowed plants to grow more efficiently.

Controlling photosynthesis has exciting implications and improving technology may allow us to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/artificial-cells-photosynthesis/">design our own photosynthetic organisms</a>.

Other researchers have discovered that <a href="https://www.futurity.org/photosynthesis-efficiency-1812892/">under the right circumstances</a> RuBisCO may be substantially more efficient.
<h2>Are we able to do better?</h2>
Humans have created their own version of photosynthesis. Solar panels (or photovoltaic cells) achieve the same goal as photosynthesis by turning sunlight into energy.

Comparing the two processes is complicated. Photosynthesis produces sugar, which can be stored for a long time. Solar panels produce electricity, but storing this electricity is a major problem. 

Batteries are inefficient and dangerous. Photosynthesis clearly has us beat when it comes to providing steady energy. Research into <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/battery-solar-energy-cheaper/">better battery technology</a> is essential for all renewable energy sources.

In terms of pure energy output, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/plants-versus-photovoltaics-at-capturing-sunlight/">photosynthesis doesn’t fare so well</a>. About 3% of the available sunlight is stored. Solar panels, on the other hand, can convert up to 10% of available light. This discrepancy points to the inefficiencies that do exist in photosynthesis.

Advanced technologies have even been able to <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/superefficient-cost-effec/">achieve efficiencies of up to 40%</a>. These are not practical yet but show that there is a lot of room to improve.

Plants also provide other advantages. While producing energy, they also consume CO2, helping mitigate climate change. When the CO2 is used up, they create oxygen. This process creates breathable air, which we can all agree is pretty important.

Though photosynthesis has room to improve, we still have much to learn from plants. The diversity of plants may still reveal important secrets about collecting and storing energy, as new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-type-photosynthesis-infrared-light/">forms of photosynthesis are still being discovered</a>. 

--

By <a href="mailto:casey.hofford@gmail.com">Casey Hofford</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Is photosynthesis efficient enough?

How does photosynthesis work? Plants and bacteria convert sunlight into...

A new study of rats has confirmed a theory scientists have long held about humans who use performance-enhancing drugs: steroids are linked to cocaine addiction.

Previous research has found that as many as a third of young people who use steroids and similar drugs also abuse cocaine. That’s much higher than the reverse; only about 5 percent of young people who use cocaine also use performance-enhancing drugs.

To test that link, a team of scientists from the <a href="http://www.upr.edu/">University of Puerto Rico</a> studied the effects of the drugs on female rats. 

Half the rats were exposed to nandrolone, which is one of the anabolic steroids most popular among young people. After 10 days, the researchers split the nandrolone group in two, exposing one group to nandrolone only, and the other to both nandrolone and cocaine. 

In addition, the group of rats not exposed to the performance-enhancing drugs was also split. Half of that nandrolone-free group was exposed to cocaine only, while the other part acted as the control for the study.

The team of scientists found that the rats exposed to nandrolone were much more sensitive to the effects of cocaine than the rats who had never been given performance-enhancing drugs. The rats exposed to cocaine only didn’t experience that same sensitivity. In short, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/alcohol-susceptible-cocaine-use/">like alcohol abuse</a>, anabolic steroids can make users more vulnerable to cocaine addiction.

Additionally, the rats exposed to the performance-enhancing drugs, with or without cocaine, saw damage to their ovaries, including new ovarian cysts. That reproductive damage could lead to infertility, the researchers said.

Part of the problem may be that anabolic steroids contain both synthetic and natural androgens, including testosterone. Overexposure to androgens in young people can "modifies the brain circuitry that regulates addictive behaviors, increasing the psychoactive properties of cocaine," the researchers wrote in a press release. 

The study emphasizes why it’s so important to keep young athletes from using performance-enhancing drugs. Not only can it damage their reproductive system, it can also make them even more vulnerable to cocaine addiction.

The researchers will present their findings in Orlando today at <a href="https://experimentalbiology.org/2019/home.aspx">Experimental Biology 2019</a>, the <a href="http://www.the-aps.org/">American Physiological Society’s</a> annual meeting.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Performance-enhancing drugs can lead to cocaine addiction

A new study of rats has confirmed a theory scientists...

Dogs have a sense of smell that is 10,000 times more powerful than that of humans, which means they are aware of many scents that we cannot detect. A new study has revealed that dogs can use their remarkable sense of smell to identify cancer in blood samples with an accuracy rate of nearly 97 percent.

“Although there is currently no cure for cancer, early detection offers the best hope of survival,” said Heather Junqueira, who is the lead researcher at <a href="https://www.capf.org/bioscentdx/">BioScentDx</a>. “A highly sensitive test for detecting cancer could potentially save thousands of lives and change the way the disease is treated.”

The research team trained four beagles to distinguish between blood samples collected from patients with malignant lung cancer and normal blood samples. While one of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dogs-detect-epileptic-seizures/">dogs</a> was uncooperative, the other three beagles correctly identified the samples from cancer patients almost 97 percent of the time. These dogs also identified the healthy samples 97.5 percent of the time.

“This work is very exciting because it paves the way for further research along two paths, both of which could lead to new cancer-detection tools,” said Junqueira. “One is using canine scent detection as a screening method for cancers, and the other would be to determine the biologic compounds the dogs detect and then design cancer-screening tests based on those compounds.”

BioScentDx has recently launched a breast cancer study in which participants donate samples of their breath for screening by cancer-sniffing dogs. The researchers also hope to isolate the chemical components that the dogs are detecting when they pick up on the presence of cancer. 

The research was presented at the American Physiological Society’s annual meeting <a href="https://experimentalbiology.org/2019/home.aspx">Experimental Biology 2019</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: BioScentDx

Dogs can accurately detect cancer in blood samples

Dogs have a sense of smell that is 10,000 times...

From 1972 to 1983, anthropologists found four ancient teeth in a cave in Yanhui, China. At first, the teeth were classified as belonging to Homo erectus, a human ancestor who lived in China hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Recently, a team of scientists began to question that conclusion, and they’ve uncovered a real mystery.

Using new analytical techniques, the researchers from the <a href="http://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a>, the <a href="https://www.cenieh.es/">Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana</a> and <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a> have come to the conclusion that the more than 200,000-year-old teeth don’t belong to Homo erectus, or to the Neanderthals who followed them.

“It’s strange. We don’t know where to put it,” study author Dr. Song Xing told <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic</a>.

The teeth aren’t the first hominid fossils found in Asia that don’t really seem to fit anywhere on the known human evolutionary tree.

“We always think of Africa as the 'cradle of humankind,'” study author Dr. María Martinón-Torres said. 

But that collection of Chinese and other Asian fossils, including the ancient teeth, show that evolution didn’t stop when human ancestors left Africa – and there is a lot to learn in Asia. 

The researchers used a technique called micro-computed tomography to analyze the Yanhui teeth, from structure to surface details. Then, they compared that data to ancient teeth from Africa and throughout Eurasia.

[caption id="attachment_1870901" align="aligncenter" width="634"]<img class="size-full wp-image-1870901" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Ancient-Teeth1.jpg" alt="Four ancient teeth found in Yanhui, China in the 1970s and 1980s were recently reanalyzed using modern techniques. Image credit: Dr. Song Xing, Chinese Academy of Sciences." width="634" height="696" /> Four ancient teeth found in Yanhui, China in the 1970s and 1980s were recently reanalyzed using modern techniques. Image credit: Dr. Song Xing, Chinese Academy of Sciences.[/caption]

They found a lot more matches than they thought – in parts. The Yanhui teeth shared a mishmash of traits with both Homo erectus, Neanderthal and later hominid teeth, while lacking some of the important features that could place them solidly in one category.

That points to the possibility they came from other human ancestors, who are known to have lived through Asia and Oceania, from Siberia to Papua New Guinea: Denisovans.

Denisovans are believed to have split from the Neanderthal branch of the human tree about 300 generations after Neanderthals and the branch that would become modern humans began to grow apart.

A handful of remains from Denisovans and possible <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-teen-human-species/">Denisovan-Neanderthal hybrids</a> were found Denisova cave in Siberia. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/denisovans-harsh-tibetan-plateau/">Archaeological sites in Tibet</a> offer intriguing clues pointing to Denisovan occupation. But they’re mostly recognized by their distinct DNA, found throughout Asia, especially in the Pacific Islands. Not much is known about the cousins of modern humans.

The Siberian cave also held some ancient teeth, but they were from a different position in the mouth than the Yanhui teeth, so they can’t be directly compared.

The Yanhui teeth might be from the mysterious Denisovans. Or they might be an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-previously-unknown-human-ancestor/">entirely new human cousin</a>, or a hybrid of Neanderthal and Denisovan or Neanderthal and Homo erectus. There are any number of possibilities.

Anthropologists not involved with the study agree the teeth are distinct from both Homo erectus and Neanderthals, but like Xing and Martinón-Torres, they don’t know how to classify them.

“I am sure that there is Denisovan material out there,” Dr. Shara Bailey, a dental paleoanthropologist from <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/">New York University</a>, told National Geographic. “The thing is, is that until we have good comparative cranial and mandibular material, it’s just a guessing game.”

The study is encouraging anthropologists to take another look at Chinese fossils, including more ancient teeth found in Panxian Dadong and Xujiayao, and skull fragments from throughout the country. In the past, studies haven’t always been translated from Chinese to other languages, but that’s beginning to change. 

And that’s important, Martinón-Torres said, because understanding human evolution in Asia is  “crucial to understanding the whole picture.”

The study has been published in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248418303464">Journal of Human Evolution</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Image credits: Dr. Song Xing, <a href="http://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a>; Shutterstock

Ancient teeth offer intriguing theory of human relative

From 1972 to 1983, anthropologists found four ancient teeth in...

Sunscreen does a lot more than just protect against sunburn and skin cancer. It also protects the skin’s blood vessels from damage caused by ultraviolet light.

That’s important, because our skin is our largest organ. It provides a waterproof, flexible barrier that protects the rest of the bodies organs and holds everything together. It protects us from the sun, and allows us to touch and feel things. It produces vitamin D, which is vital to health.

It also helps to regular temperature, by expanding and contracting blood vessels close to the skin’s surface.

Sunscreen already does a lot to protect skin from cancer and aging – as long as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sunscreen-protectio/">it’s applied correctly</a>.

Now, researchers from <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Pennsylvania State University</a> have found that sunscreen can protect the skin’s blood vessels, keeping them in tip-top shape.

"For those who spend a lot of time working, exercising or participating in other various activities outdoors, using sunscreen may protect not only against skin cancer, but also against reductions in skin vascular function," doctoral student S. Tony Wolf wrote.

Wolf and his colleagues recruited a group of young people with medium to light skin tone to test what effects sunscreen had on the skin’s blood vessels. They tested the effects of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) on their arms, treated with either chemical sunscreen or simulated sweat, while the other arm was left untreated as a control group.

They found that the control arm when exposed showed less nitric oxide-associated vasodilation – an important process that helps prevent overheating. 

The treated arms didn’t show that reduction.

"Further, when sunscreen was applied prior to UVR, UVR exposure actually augmented [nitric oxide-associated vasodilation] compared to [the control arm], or when sweat was on the skin," the research team wrote. "The presence of sunscreen or sweat on the skin may play a protective role against this effect [of UVR]."

So slather on that sunscreen before spending time outdoors. Just be sure that it’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sunscreen-ingredient-human-skin/">oxybenzone free</a>.

The researchers will present their findings today at <a href="https://experimentalbiology.org/">Experimental Biology 2019</a>, the American Physiological Society's annual meeting, in Orlando.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Sunscreen keeps skin's blood vessels healthy

Sunscreen does a lot more than just protect against sunburn...

A team of engineers at <a href="https://www.tufts.edu/">Tufts University</a> has created dyed threads that are designed to change color when they detect a variety of gases. The color changes can be detected visually, but can be interpreted even more precisely by using a smartphone camera.

According to the study authors, the safety threads could be woven into clothing to detect gases in medical, workplace, military, and rescue environments. The goal is not to replace electronic devices commonly used to detect volatile gases, but to provide a method of gas detection that requires no equipment or specialized training.

The researchers used a manganese-based dye, MnTPP, methyl red, and bromothymol blue to demonstrate the concept. While MnTPP and bromothymol blue can detect ammonia, methyl red can detect hydrogen chloride. These gases are commonly released from <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cleaning-products-sanitizers-health/">cleaning supplies</a>, fertilizer, and during the production of chemical and materials.

The experts established a three-step process that “traps” the dye in the thread, including the use of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to physically seal the thread and dye. The PDMS creates a flexible seal that is also gas permeable, allowing the analytes to reach the optical dyes.

Study co-author Sameer Sonkusale is a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Tufts University's School of Engineering.

“The dyes we used work in different ways, so we can detect gases with different chemistries,” said Professor Sonkusale. “But since we are using a method that effectively traps the dye to the thread, rather than relying so much on binding chemistry, we have more flexibility to use dyes with a wide range of functional chemistries to detect different types of gases.”

The way the dyes changed color during testing was dependent and proportional to the concentration of the gas as measured using spectroscopic methods. Smartphones could be used to quantify the color changes or interpret color signatures using multiple threads and dyes. “That would allow us to scale up the detection to measure many analytes at once, or to distinguish analytes with unique colorimetric signatures,” said Professor Sonkusale.

Study lead author Rachel Owyeung is a graduate student in the Tufts Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. She explained that the threads even worked under water, detecting the presence of dissolved ammonia. 

“While the PDMS sealant is hydrophobic and keeps water off the thread, the dissolved gases can still reach the dye to be quantified.” said Owyeung. “As dissolved gas sensors, we imagine smart fabrics detecting carbon dioxide or other volatile organic compounds during oil and gas exploration as one possible application.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/scientificreports">Scientific Reports</a>. 

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Rachel Owyeung, Tufts University, Nano Lab

Special thread sewn into clothing can detect dangerous gases

A team of engineers at Tufts University has created dyed...

After an autonomous car struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona last year, the woman's family is suing the city of Tempe for negligence. Meanwhile, cognitive and computer scientists are debating whether <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/self-driving-car-americans/">self-driven vehicles</a> should be held responsible for their own actions and wrongdoing.

Study co-author Yochanan Bigman is an expert in social and moral psychology at the <a href="https://www.unc.edu/">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill</a>.

“We're on the verge of a technological and social revolution in which autonomous machines will replace humans in the workplace, on the roads, and in our homes,” said Bigman. “When these robots inevitably do something to harm humans, how will people react? We need to figure this out now, while regulations and laws are still being formed.”

The researchers believe that the perceived competence of some machines, including the ability to act independently of humans, could make people more likely to hold them morally responsible for their own actions. 

Beyond autonomy, the very appearance of a robot has an influence on moral judgement. For example, a human-looking robot will likely be perceived as having a human mind. Realistic robots are also expected to have an awareness of their surroundings, and are thought to have the freedom to act with intent.


These issues have important implications for the people and companies who develop and operate autonomous machines. The study authors argue that there could be cases where robots act as a scapegoat for those who are responsible for programming them.

Autonomous technology continues to advance, and the subject of whether the rights of robots need to be legally protected has already been addressed. The experts pointed out that the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Robots and a 2017 European Union report have laid the groundwork for extending certain moral standards to include machines.

“We suggest that now - while machines and our intuitions about them are still in flux - is the best time to systematically explore questions of robot morality,” wrote the study authors. “By understanding how human minds make sense of morality, and how we perceive the mind of machines, we can help society think more clearly about the impending rise of robots and help roboticists understand how their creations are likely to be received.”


The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/trends-in-cognitive-sciences">Trends in Cognitive Sciences</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Should robots and autonomous vehicles take the blame for wrongdoing?

After an autonomous car struck and killed a pedestrian in...

RNA and DNA may have arisen at the same time to form the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/building-blocks-life-space/">building blocks for all life on Earth</a>, according to a new study. 

It’s the first time that researchers have been able to show that RNA and DNA could feasibly have come from the same precursor molecules and that even the earliest forms of life used both RNA and DNA in the same way that life on Earth does today. 

The study was conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.scripps.edu/">Scripps Research Institute</a> and published in the journal Nature Chemistry. 

The results contradict the popular “RNA World” hypothesis which suggests that early life first used the simpler RNA and DNA only entered the picture later. 

Even though most scientists agree with the “RNA World” hypothesis, no studies have shown how one converted to the other as life started evolving and this may be because both arose at the same time on Earth. 

It was generally assumed that RNA was the basis for the first life on Earth because it’s simpler and more versatile compared to DNA. 

“These new findings suggest that it may not be reasonable for chemists to be so heavily guided by the RNA World hypothesis in investigating the origins of life on Earth,” said Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, a co-principal investigator for the study. 

The researchers built on a 2017 study that identified a compound that could have helped RNA and DNA blocks form chains.

The team focused on a compound called thiouridine which could have been an early precursor to the building blocks of life. 

In just a few chemical reactions the researchers were able to convert thiouridine into deoxyadenosine, which is a building block of DNA. 

“There is the beginning of a realization in the field that RNA and DNA could have been mixed together initially but later separated according to the things they do best,” Krishnamurthy says.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

DNA and RNA may have appeared on Earth at the same time

RNA and DNA may have arisen at the same time...

Which natural material is five times stronger than steel and can be stretched two to four times its original length, all while being finer than a human hair? If you answered spider silk – or at least “spider webs” – then you’d be correct. And while the potential applications for this material are tremendous, harvesting it is another matter altogether. <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/peacock-spiders-mating-displays/">Spiders</a> only produce very small amounts of this silk, and when they’re grouped together, they have the bad habit of eating each other. 

Luckily, a new method of bio-manufacturing may have come up with an answer for the silk-harvesting problem. 

“My lab is interested in engineering microbes so that we can not only produce these materials, but make them even better,” says Fuzhong Zhang, Ph.D., the principal investigator of this project. “NASA is one of our funders, and they are interested in bioproduction. They’re currently developing technologies in which they can convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates that could be used as food for the microbes that we’re engineering. That way, astronauts could produce these plant-based materials in space without bringing a large amount of feedstocks.”

Other projects have tried to pair silk proteins in plants, yeast, and even goats – but the end product has not measured up to the real thing. The researchers say one of the issues is that proteins in spider silk are encoded by long, repetitive sequences of DNA, which often breakdown in other hosts. 

Zhang’s research involves implanting the proteins in bacteria, book-ended by protein sequences called split inteins, which are able to join with each other and cut out an exact protein replica. The results of this experiment were full-length proteins that – upon being removed from the bacteria – were purified, spun, and made into an exact match of spider’s silk.

Along with being used in space by <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">NASA</a>, this non-spider silk could be used in manufacturing bulletproof Kevlar vests and surgical sutures. The researchers are currently refining the process while also beginning to work on other materials, one of which is a protein found in mussels that could be used as an underwater adhesive.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists use bacteria to produce ulta-strong spider silk

Which natural material is five times stronger than steel and...

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

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features 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.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Kainji Lake, a reservoir on the Niger River.



In 1968, Kainji Lake was created by the construction of the Kainji Dam. The Niger River, the third longest in Africa, enters the lake in the north.&nbsp;



According to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rivers-in-the-american-west-are-a-lifesaving-resource-for-birds/">ESA</a>, the creation of the lake submerged Foge Island and the town of Bussa and permanently flooded other riverine settlements, leaving around 50,000 people displaced.&nbsp;



Large parts of Foge Island are temporarily exposed during low water tides, and the land is often used by migrating fishermen. Kainji Dam is a dam across the Niger River in Niger State of Central Nigeria. 



Wild mammals occur at relatively low densities due to illegal hunting. Lake Kainji has suffered a dramatic decline as a fishery due to the high numbers of artisanal and subsistence fisherfolk using the lake. It has been suggested that a period of closure, together with controlled fishing rights may help improve fish stocks.



Kainji Lake National Park is the oldest of its kind in Nigeria. The park contains three distinct areas: a part of the Kainji Lake, the Borgu Game Reserve to the west of the lake, and the Zugurma Game Reserve to the southeast. The park is home to around 65 mammal species, 350 bird species, and 30 species of reptiles and amphibians. 



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&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.

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> reveals how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress.



“We need to double crop production by 2050 to feed a growing global population, and not only are we not on track to do that, but climate change is further complicating things,” said Amanda Cavanagh, a lecturer at the University of Essex. 



The study is part of Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), an international research project that aims to develop food crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently.



“Using an engineering approach we designed multiple alternative metabolic pathways to photorespiration. Testing them in the field showed increases in productivity which led Amanda to significantly move the project forward by showing our engineered plants can withstand pretty extreme temperature stress,” said study co-author and RIPE researcher Paul South.&nbsp;



“As the climate changes and temperature stresses increase the pressure on our global food supply, farmers will need every tool available including engineering approaches like the synthetic biology used here to maintain safe and productive harvests.”



The experts tested plants modified to have more efficient photorespiration to see if they were better adapted to warmer temperatures.&nbsp;



The team found that the engineered plants produced 26 percent more biomass than the wild-type plants exposed to the same temperatures, and had 15 percent less yield loss under the higher temperatures.



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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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.

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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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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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes the first comprehensive estimate of carbon density in the Saharan, Sahel, and Sudanian zones of Africa. In an effort to measure the amount of carbon stored across these drylands, a team of scientists used high-resolution satellite images and artificial intelligence to map nearly 10 billion individual trees. 



"The high spatial resolution (50 cm) combined with AI and field measurements used in this study is key to improving tree inventories in drylands," said Pierre Hiernaux, a French researcher working for NASA. "The ever-increasing availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery will make it possible to assess carbon pools and their dynamics at the individual tree level on a global scale."



"This study is exceptional because it is pioneering a type of approach that will revolutionize the monitoring of trees and forests on a global scale: in the short term, it will be possible to map the world's trees from the centre of the Amazon to our schoolyards," said <a href="https://www.inrae.fr/en">INRAE</a> researcher Jean-Pierre Wigneron.



"Many fields of application will become much more efficient and accurate, such as tracking carbon stocks, biodiversity, monitoring logging and protection against illegal forest degradation, in near real time.”



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.

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features 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

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



"Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming," says NASA.



"Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands."&nbsp;



According to NASA, understanding methane emissions from wetlands and other natural sources is critically important for scientists and policymakers who are working to combat climate change by reducing emissions from human activities.



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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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.

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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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

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes why experts are studying zebrafish to gain a better understanding of how the immune system responds to injury. Zebrafish have the ability to repair and regenerate organs.



“Organ regeneration offers an exciting opportunity for studying the immune system and to inquire why some species can regenerate organs like the heart or missing limbs while others like humans cannot,” explained Dr. Tatjana Piotrowski.



Zebrafish sensory organ hair cells are an ideal system to investigate the pathways and cell types involved in regeneration since they are easily destroyed with antibiotics and begin regenerating within five hours. This enabled the researchers to identify the exact timing and genetic programs for each anti-inflammatory macrophage activation state.&nbsp;



“Our hypothesis is that human macrophages do not receive the proper chemical activation 'cocktail' to instruct pro-regenerative processes,” said Dr. Nicolas Denans. “Identifying the molecular recipe of macrophage activation in zebrafish may one day enable us to design regenerative immunotherapies in humans.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The new evidence is a valuable resource for comparative studies on the genetic programs involved in macrophage-mediated repair and regeneration. In other words, different types of injuries may induce different kinds of inflammatory responses. We want to decipher whether this 'language' is universal or if there are a variety of dialects."



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&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.

How the immune system responds to injury

[sendtonews key="0dEcERCq61-2283382-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Stowers...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes how record-breaking heat expressed itself around the world in 2022.



Scientists have determined that 2022 was the 5th warmest year since 1880. Furthermore, the last nine consecutive years have been the warmest on record.



From devastating floods and wildfires to natural disasters like Hurricane Ian, 2022 showed us yet again how a warming climate affects people across the globe.&nbsp;



"As we look back at 20:22 and years past, we see that each year we better understand the challenges we face and how important it is to meet them," says NASA.



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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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.

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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