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>.



-----



Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.



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



-----

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...

<a href="https://ciliopathyalliance.org/cilia">Cilia</a> are hairlike structures that sprout from the surface of different cells in the body, and can be found throughout the body in the brain, kidneys, and lungs.

In cavities in the brain, cilia play a crucial role in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-directs-body-developing/">brain development</a> and health, but it had not been well understood just how cilia impact brain activity. 

Cilia dysfunction and defective cilia have been linked to scoliosis and hydrocephalus which is when water builds up in the cavities of the brain. 

In the hopes of understanding cilia and their function in the brain’s cavities, researchers from the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/kavli">Yaksi group at Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)</a> examined cilia and cerebrospinal fluid movement in zebrafish larvae. 

A study detailing the research was published in the journal Current Biology, and the results show how cilia function in the brain. 

Zebrafish were used for the study because they are an excellent model for humans. The fish are vertebrates and transparent in their larval stage which allowed the researchers a rare inside look at brain activity and development in the growing fish. 

“We could even investigate each individual cell and cilia,” said Christa Ringers, a co-author of the study. 
The human brain has cavities called ventricles that are filled with cerebrospinal fluid which is always moving and the researchers found that cilia are particularly important to the flow of fluid in the ventricles. 

“Several theories exist, but for many years this circulation of fluid has been recognized as supplying nutrients to the brain, while also removing waste products,” said Nathalie Jurisch-Yaksi, the senior researcher for the study. 

Cilia are grouped into different zones in the ventricles, and these groupings help with direction and flow of ventricle fluid. 

The ventricles in the brain are all connected, and cilia in each ventricle seem to be interconnected to the other ventricles, and a steady flow of fluid is important to keeping the ducts between the ventricles open. 

“If we stop the cilia's motion, the ducts close,” said Jurisch-Yaksi.

Activity and heartbeat also influence this movement, according to the study. 

“We found surprisingly little exchange of fluid between the ventricles as long as the fish were at rest, even though the heartbeat pulsations caused some flow between them,” said Emilie Willoch Olstad, the first author of the study. 

The researchers noted that cilia in the ventricles are different from cilia in the lungs and other moving cilia in the body. Overall, the team found that cilia are crucial for directing the flow of cerebrospinal fluid and this, in turn, drive healthy neural development.  

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Yaksi Group

Forget body hair, the most important hairs are inside your brain

Cilia are hairlike structures that sprout from the surface of...

China made history on Thursday by becoming the first nation to land on the far side of the moon. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_National_Space_Administration">China National Space Administration</a> (CNSA) released pictures captured by its Chang'e 4 lunar probe, which is named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology.

The CNSA announced on its website that the spacecraft successfully landed on the far side of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/moon-dust-toxic-health/">moon</a> at 10:26 a.m. Beijing time. The agency said that the mission “has opened a new chapter in humanity’s exploration of the moon.”

The ambitious journey is just the first in a series of upcoming space missions by China, which is already one the most innovative nations in the world. China is projected to overtake the United States for the top position in scientific research within the next decade, and now the country has claimed a leading role in space exploration.

Zhu Menghua is a professor at the <a href="https://www.must.edu.mo/en/">Macau University of Science and Technology</a> who has worked with the CNSA.

“This space mission shows that China has reached the advanced world-class level in deep space exploration,” Professor Menghua told the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/">New York Times</a>. “We Chinese people have done something that the Americans have not dared try.”

China plans to begin operating its third space station in the next three years, and to have astronauts based on the moon in the next decade.

According to the New York Times, the Chang'e 4 lunar probe has landed on the oldest and deepest crater on the moon, which means that discoveries here could offer new insights into the origin and evolution of the moon. 

Namrata Goswami is an independent analyst who wrote about space for the Defense Department’s Minerva Research Institute.

[caption id="attachment_1864702" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/moon.jpeg"><img class="wp-image-1864702" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/moon.jpeg" alt="" width="700" height="700" /></a> Image Credit: CNSA[/caption]

“This is a major achievement technically and symbolically,” Goswami told The Times.  “China views this landing as just a stepping stone, as it also views its future manned lunar landing, since its long-term goal is to colonize the moon and use it as a vast supply of energy.”

The Chang’e-4 was launched in Xichang, China, early on the morning of December 8, reaching a lower orbit around the moon 22 days later. The lander will release a 300-pound rover for exploration of the mineral composition and the structure of the moon’s surface. 

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a post on Twitter: “Congratulations to China's Chang'e 4 team for what appears to be a successful landing on the far side of the moon. This is a first for humanity and an impressive accomplishment!”
--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

China completes the first ever landing on the far side of the Moon

China made history on Thursday by becoming the first nation...

Many plants rely on the process of photorespiration to overcome a photosynthetic glitch, but photorespiration wastes energy and drastically reduces production among crops. A new study led by the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a> has revealed that crops can be modified with a photorespiratory shortcut that makes them 40 percent more productive in real-world conditions.

“We could feed up to 200 million additional people with the calories lost to photorespiration in the Midwestern U.S. each year,” said Professor Donald Ort. “Reclaiming even a portion of these calories across the world would go a long way to meeting the 21st Century's rapidly expanding food demands - driven by population growth and more affluent high-calorie diets.”

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-type-photosynthesis-infrared-light/">Photosynthesis</a> uses the enzyme Rubisco and sunlight energy to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugars that support plant growth. The problem comes in when Rubisco grabs oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, which happens about 20 percent of the time, resulting in a toxic compound that must be removed through photorespiration.

Study lead author Paul South is a research molecular biologist with the <a href="https://www.ars.usda.gov/">Agricultural Research Service</a>.

“Photorespiration is anti-photosynthesis,” said South. “It costs the plant precious energy and resources that it could have invested in photosynthesis to produce more growth and yield."

The scientists engineered new pathways so that photorespiration does not have to take the complicated route that it usually takes in the plant cell. The rerouted process is drastically shorter and preserves enough resources to boost plant growth by 40 percent.


“Rubisco has even more trouble picking out carbon dioxide from oxygen as it gets hotter, causing more photorespiration,” said study co-author Amanda Cavanagh. “Our goal is to build better plants that can take the heat today and in the future, to help equip farmers with the technology they need to feed the world.”

The breakthrough research is part of Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), an international project that is developing crops that can photosynthesize more efficiently in an effort to sustainably increase food productivity. The project is funded by the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research(FFAR), and the U.K. Government's Department for International Development (DFID).

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</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: Claire Benjamin/RIPE Project

Scientists give crops a photorespiratory boost of productivity

Many plants rely on the process of photorespiration to overcome...

Experts at the <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/">Mayo Clinic</a> have demonstrated in mice that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/poor-sleep-habits-obesity/">obesity</a> increases the number of senescent cells in the brain, and that those cells are, in turn, linked to anxiety. When drugs were used to eliminate the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-have-identified-anti-aging-drugs-using-ai-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">senescent cells</a>, the symptoms of anxiety disappeared among the mice.

Senescent cells, also known as “zombie cells,” are older, dormant cells that have lost the ability to divide. As these cells linger in a given area of the body, they impair other functions. 

Previous studies have shown that cell senescence contributes to many aspects of the aging process, including osteoporosis and diabetes. The current investigation was focused on understanding how obesity is related to increased anxiety in both humans and mice. 

Through an experiment with both genetically modified mice and normal mice, the researchers determined that the obese mice developed more fat cells in the brain region that controls anxiety. In addition, the mice had a noticeable increase in the number of senescent cells in the same region. 

After the cells were cleared with senolytic drugs, the anxious behavior ended, lipid cells in the brain disappeared, and normal neurological cell growth resumed. 

The study authors wrote: “Our data demonstrating a link between obesity, senescence, and anxiety like behavior provide critical support for the potential feasibility of administering senolytics to treat obesity-associated anxiety like behavior, provided that clinical trials validate this approach.”

The experts said that preclinical research is needed to determine which type of senescent cells are involved and also to define the underlying mechanism in greater detail.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/home">Cell Metabolism</a>.

--

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

Zombie cells in the brain linked to obesity-related anxiety

Experts at the Mayo Clinic have demonstrated in mice that...

A new powder has been created by scientists at the <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/">University of Waterloo</a> that can filter and remove CO2 from the air at factories and power plants. According to the researchers, they have managed to make the substance twice as efficient in preventing <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/higher-co2-levels-forgetful/">CO2</a> from reaching the atmosphere. 

Once the powder is saturated with carbon dioxide captured at large facilities, the powder could be transported to storage sites and buried underground.

The substance was developed in the lab of Zhongwei Chen, who is a professor of Chemical Engineering. He explained that the technique used by the team could also be used to produce carbon powders for other applications, such as water filtration and energy storage.

“This will be more and more important in the future,” said Professor Chen. “We have to find ways to deal with all the CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels.”


In a process known as adsorption, CO2 molecules stick to the surface of carbon when they come in contact with it. Carbon is an ideal candidate for CO2 capture because it is abundant, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly.

The research team, which also included experts at several universities in China, set out to improve the adhesive performance of adsorption by manipulating the size and concentration of pores in carbon materials.

Ultimately, the researchers developed a system that uses heat and salt to extract a black carbon powder from plant matter. The powder is made up of carbon spheres that have an abundance of microscopic pores.

Professor Chen explained, “The porosity of this material is extremely high. And because of their size, these pores can capture CO2 very efficiently. The performance is almost doubled.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/carbon">Carbon</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists create powder that can help capture and store CO2

A new powder has been created by scientists at the...

Researchers may have discovered a revolutionary new method for treating skin cancer by using immune cells. 

Skin cancer is the most <a href="https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2018/cancer-facts-and-figures-2018.pdf">commonly diagnosed form of cancer</a> in the United States, according to the <a href="https://cancer.org/">American Cancer Society</a>, as millions are affected by skin cancer every year. 

Australia and New Zealand also have incredibly high rates of skin cancer and a little under 2,000 Australians die every year of the disease. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.doherty.edu.au/">Peter Doherty Institute</a> and <a href="https://www.telethonkids.org.au/">Telethon Kids Institute</a> recently discovered that immune cells known as T-cells put melanoma tumors “to sleep.”

The discovery is remarkable, and the study finally provides an explanation for how T-cells work and why they are effective against cancer. The study was published in the journal Nature. 

T-cells, the researchers found, stop melanoma tumors from growing and cancer cells from spreading. 

“What we found was that the cells are capable of basically inducing a state of dormancy of the tumour, like putting the cancer to sleep,” Simone Park, the lead author of the study, told the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare/hopes-of-melanoma-breakthrough-from-cells-that-put-cancer-to-sleep-20181231-p50oz3.html">Sydney Morning Herald</a>. “The cancer cells aren’t completely killed. They are still there, but they are held in check by the tissue-resident memory T cells.”

The researchers monitored T-cells and melanoma cells with fluorescent markers to observe how the cells reacted to each other. 

T-cells were also removed from mice with dormant melanomas as part of the study, and after the T-cells were gone, tumors began to spread. 

“We could watch in real time the T cells interacting with melanoma cells,” Park told <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6543745/Breakthrough-Australian-scientists-discover-cell-melanoma-tumours-sleep.html">Daily Mail Australia.</a> “We could identify melanoma cells that can't be seen with the naked eye. This mechanism hadn't been described before.”

This discovery opens the door to new research on T-cells and provides a better understanding of how T-cells work to fight cancer.

The researchers hope that eventually T-cells will be used for safe and effective treatments for skin cancers. 

“We now have a much better understanding of which T cells are important in controlling skin cancers and how these cells are working, but there is still much more work to do to make these cells work even better,” said Thomas Gebhardt, the senior author of the study to the Sydney Morning Herald.
--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a> Earth.com Staff Writer 

Image Credit: <a href="https://www.doherty.edu.au/">Peter Doherty Institute</a>, <a href="https://www.telethonkids.org.au/">Telethon Kids Institute</a>

Immune cells may hold the key to breakthrough skin cancer treatment

Researchers may have discovered a revolutionary new method for treating...

A team of researchers led by <a href="https://medicine.wustl.edu/">Washington University School of Medicine</a> have identified distinct molecular signatures in cancers like the deadly brain tumor glioblastoma in male and female patients. These unique molecular signatures can explain why more males are diagnosed with and die from <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cancer-excess-body-weight/">cancer</a> compared to women. 

Furthermore, these findings, published January 2nd in <a href="http://stm.sciencemag.org/">Science Translational Medicine</a>, could be used to better treat both men and women with glioblastoma and increase chances of survival.

"It is our expectation that this study could have an immediate impact on the care of patients with glioblastoma and further research, as the findings indicate we should be stratifying male and female glioblastoma into risk groups and evaluating the effectiveness of treatment in a sex-specific manner," the study’s co-senior author, Joshua B. Rubin, MD, PhD, a Washington University professor of pediatrics and of neuroscience, said. "The biology of sex differences and its applications in medicine are highly relevant but almost always ignored aspects of personalized treatments."

The researchers realized that standard glioblastoma treatment is often more effective in women than in men. Using MRI scans and patient data from a cancer research database, the team measured velocity growth of tumors every two months in 40 males and 23 females with glioblastoma. They noticed that tumor size steadily shrunk in females who took the chemotherapy drug, temozolomide, whereas the males’ tumors seemed unaffected.

“The males did not respond as well, and we wanted to understand why, so we looked at the underlying genetics of patients' tumors," Rubin said. 

Using the The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a National Cancer Institute- and National Human Genome Research Institute-funded project launched in 2005 to find the genetic basis of cancer, the researchers employed statistical algorithms to differentiate male- or female-specific gene expression patterns from male- and female-shared patterns. They then focused in on the  sex-specific gene expression to find the molecular subtypes that were linked to survival in males and females.

“We observed tremendous genetic sex differences in the tumors of glioblastoma patients that correlated with survival,” the study's co-senior author Jingqin "Rosy" Luo, PhD, a Washington University associate professor of surgery in the Division of Public Health Sciences. “All evidence supports the need to define these distinctions and incorporate the sex differences into glioblastoma biology research and treatment."

“We identified genetic pathways that correlated with the longest survival, and they were very different in males compared with females," Rubin said. "For example, in males survival was all about regulating cell division, which suggests that drugs that block cell-cycle progression may be more effective in men. For females, survival was all about regulating invasiveness, which suggests that drugs targeting integrin signaling may be more effective in women.”

“This tells us it might be better to separate males and females and examine their sex-specific genetic signatures,” he continued. “We tested this hypothesis by doing a series of in vitro drug screens in which we took four relatively common chemo drugs and looked at how the expression of these genes correlated with response to those drugs. In both males and females, there was a clear correlation."

And unlike other sex-linked diseases, glioblastoma is not related to hormones like breast cancer is linked to estrogen.

Rubin says that he wants the findings of this study to encourage more people to consider sex in relation to disease treatment. 

“I hope the research will inspire more specific approaches to treatments,” he said. “It may be that we shouldn't be using the same criteria when treating diseases in males and females, and as a next step we should definitely develop and evaluate sex-specific treatment regimens for glioblastoma.”

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Brain tumor severity and survival may be dependent on sex

A team of researchers led by Washington University School of...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.lsi.umich.edu/">University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute</a> have found the cause of declining motor function in aging worms. The experts have identified a molecule that can be targeted to improve motor function, and they speculate that similar pathways may be involved in the aging process of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/mammals-survive-urban-areas/">mammals</a> as well.


The deterioration of motor function is a natural part of aging among both humans and animals. The study was focused on the aging patterns of millimeter-long roundworms called nematodes, which only live for about three weeks.

“We previously observed that as worms age, they gradually lose physiological functions," said study senior author Professor Shawn Xu. “Sometime around the middle of their adulthood, their motor function begins to decline. But what causes that decline?”

To investigate how the interactions between cells shifted as worms aged, the team examined the regions where motor neurons communicate with muscle tissue. The researchers found that a molecule called SLO-1 regulates these communications. The molecule slows down the signals from neurons to muscle tissue, which reduces motor function.

After manipulating SLO-1, the experts observed two major effects in the roundworms. They maintained motor function later into their lives, and they also lived longer than normal roundworms.

“It's not necessarily ideal to have a longer lifespan without improvements in health or strength,” said Professor Xu. “But we found that the interventions improved both parameters - these worms are healthier and they live longer.”

The study also revealed that the timing of the interventions drastically changed the effects on both motor function and lifespan. When SLO-1 was manipulated during the early days of the worm's' life, there was no effect on lifespan, and there was even a detrimental effect on motor function in the young worms. On the other hand, when the activity of SLO-1 was blocked in mid-adulthood, both motor function and lifespan improved.

Professor Xu hopes these findings will lead to future research that examines the role of the SLO-1 channel in other organisms.

“Studying aging in organisms with longer lifespans is a major investment. But now we have identified a molecular target, a potential site and specific timing, which should facilitate further investigation.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Is there a way to slow down the decline of brain motor function?

Researchers at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute have...

A mere billion miles from Pluto, located in the Kuiper Belt on the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/super-planet-solar-system/">fringes of our solar system</a>, sits an object known Ultima Thule. 

Ultima Thule is a primitive, rocky lump that dates back to the very beginnings of the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago. 

On January 1, 2019, the<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/"> National Aeronautics and Space Administration's’ (NASA)</a> New Horizons spacecraft did a flyby of Ultima Thule sending back blurry photos and signals. 

Ultima Thule was the nickname given to the planetary object, and it means “beyond the known world,” which is fitting as New Horizons is on track to leave our solar system completely, traveling into the unknown depths of space. 

NASA scientists were beaming as they unveiled the first images of Ultima Thule taken by New Horizons, and it will take some time before NASA sorts through all the data sent back by the spacecraft.

[caption id="attachment_1864616" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/New-Horizons-sends-back-images-from-the-edge-of-the-solar-system.png"><img class="wp-image-1864616" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/New-Horizons-sends-back-images-from-the-edge-of-the-solar-system.png" alt="" width="700" height="394" /></a> Image Credit: Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI; sketch courtesy of James Tuttle Keane[/caption]

“New Horizons performed as planned today, conducting the farthest exploration of any world in history — 4 billion miles from the Sun,” said Alan Stern, the Principal Investigator of the project in a <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/807/new-horizons-successfully-explores-ultima-thule/">NASA press release</a>. “The data we have look fantastic, and we're already learning about Ultima from up close. From here out the data will just get better and better!”

In the early morning of January first, New Horizons passed by Thule, according to the <a href="http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Ultima/Ultima-Thule.php">John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory</a>, home to the makers of New Horizons. 

New Horizons was 2,200 miles away from Ultima Thule when it passed the relic, and the blurry images reveal that Thule is shaped like a bowling pin or a peanut depending on who you’re talking to. 

The hope is that Thule will provide insight into the early beginnings of the solar system and the formation of its planets. 

“New Horizons holds a dear place in our hearts as an intrepid and persistent little explorer, as well as a great photographer,” said Ralph Semmel, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Director. “This flyby marks a first for all of us — APL, NASA, the nation and the world — and it is a great credit to the bold team of scientists and engineers who brought us to this point.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

&nbsp;

New Horizons sends back images from the edge of the solar system

A mere billion miles from Pluto, located in the Kuiper...

SONY DSC

Researchers are sharing new details about how gulls contour their wing shape to stabilize their flight using a technique known as wing morphing. The findings could ultimately lead to the development of more efficient flying vehicles, such as drones for environmental or agricultural monitoring.

The study was a collaboration between zoologists at the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> (UBC) and engineering expert Professor Philippe Lavoie of the <a href="http://www.utias.utoronto.ca/home/">University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies</a> (UTIAS). 

The researchers measured the lift and drag of 12 different wing shapes, all with slightly different elbow and shoulder angles. They discovered that gulls are able to form an impressive range of wing shapes to stabilize glide with a simple adjustment of their elbow joints, expanding the wings either outwards or inwards.

While the gulls are soaring, the wings are fully extended and have a more rounded shape. On the other hand, the wings are tucked in and have a flatter shape when the birds are taking off or landing.

“If you can change the shape of the wings, you can create more stable configurations with lower drag when you want more endurance,” said Professor Lavoie. “Gulls can use updrafts to increase altitude so they don't have to flap their wings as much to conserve energy. But if they need to make quick maneuvers, like diving to catch fish, they can change the shape of the wing for that particular purpose.”

Professor Lavoie is particularly interested in how gulls control their flight over long distances by changing their wing shape because a better understanding of this technique could inform the design of future aircraft, such as <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/drones-find-nightjar-nests/">drones</a>.

“The benefit of morphing is that you don't need bulky control surfaces during flight and it makes it easier to take advantage of energy harvesting through soaring.”

Professor Lavoie has a vision of fixed-wing drones that could coast on thermal updrafts as they scan pipelines for defects, look for signs of drought or crop disease on large farms, or monitor the movements of caribou herds. This type of drone could also be used to track forest fires.

“The idea of bio-inspired research is to try and understand how nature does it, given that it had millions of years to adapt to certain conditions,” said Professor Lavoie. “Once we do that, we can see if there are elements that we can pluck out for our own designs.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsif">Royal Society Interface</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: Christina Harvey - UBC

Wing technique used by gulls can help design advanced drones

Researchers are sharing new details about how gulls contour their...

Scientists at the <a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/">Florida Museum of Natural History</a> are urging other experts to take advantage of the massive data resources that are available to help predict how plants will respond to human-induced <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/freshwater-bodies-increasingly-polluted/">environmental changes</a>. The researchers are also asking their colleagues to help answer longstanding questions about plant diversity. 

“Using big data to address major biodiversity issues at the global scale has enormous practical implications, ranging from conservation efforts to predicting and buffering the impacts of climate change,” said study co-author Doug Soltis. “The links between big data resources we see now were unimaginable just a decade ago. The time is ripe to leverage these tools and applications, not just for plants but for all groups of organisms.”

For several centuries, natural history museums have accumulated massive collections with billions of specimens and much of their associated data is now available online. New technologies such as remote sensors and drones give scientists the opportunity to monitor plants and animals and share data in real time. In addition, citizen scientists are documenting their observations using digital tools such as iNaturalist.

As all of these databases have grown, so have the computational tools needed to analyze and link them. The development of systems such as GenBank, which stores DNA sequences, makes it possible for a study that was previously focused on a single plant community to be expanded on a global level. 

Study co-lead author Julie Allen is an assistant professor in the <a href="https://www.unr.edu/">University of Nevada-Reno</a> Department of Biology.

“We're in this exciting and terrifying time in which the unprecedented amount of data available to us intersects with global threats to biodiversity such as habitat loss and climate change,” said Professor Allen. “Understanding the processes that have shaped our world - how plants are doing, where they are now and why - can help us get a handle on how they might respond to future changes.”


“We can't survive without plants,” said co-lead author Ryan Folk. “A lot of groups evolved in the shadow of flowering plants. As these plants spread and diversified, so did ants, beetles, ferns and other organisms. They are the base layer to the diversity of life we see on the planet today.”

In addition to using and growing plant data resources, the researchers hope the scientific community will address one of the toughest remaining obstacles, which is finding a way for these large databases to work smoothly with each other.

“This is still a huge limitation,” said Professor Allen. “The data in each system are often collected in completely different ways. Integrating these to connect in seamless ways is a major challenge.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nplants/">Nature Plants</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Big data can help monitor plant health and protect biodiversity

Scientists at the Florida Museum of Natural History are urging...

Predatory <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dinosaurs-nasal-passages-cool/">dinosaurs</a> from the Early Jurassic are very rare and usually quite small in size. But now, Italian paleontologists are describing a previously unknown type of ceratosaurus known as Saltriovenator zanellai, which weighed about one ton. The specimen, which represents largest predatory dinosaur of its time, was uncovered in the Italian Alps. 

The fossil remains of S. zanellai were found by an amateur archaeologist in 1996 in a quarry near Saltrio, just northeast of Milan. This marks the first time that a Jurassic dinosaur was recovered from Italy. 

An analysis of the fossil revealed that many of the bones had feeding marks by marine invertebrates, which indicates that the dinosaur carcass floated in a marine basin and then sank, remaining on the bottom of the sea for a long time before burial.

Study first author Cristiano Dal Sasso of the <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/">Natural History Museum</a> in Milan reassembled and studied the fossil for several years.

“Saltriovenator shows a mosaic of ancestral and advanced anatomical features, respectively seen in the four-fingered dilophosaurids and ceratosaurians, and the three-fingered tetanuran theropods, such as allosaurids,” said Dal Sasso.

Study co-author Simone Maganuco added, “Paleohistological analysis indicates that Saltriovenator was a still growing subadult individual, therefore its estimated size is all the more remarkable, in the context of the Early Jurassic period.”

“The evolutionary ‘arms race’ between stockier predatory and giant herbivorous dinosaurs, involving progressively larger species, had already begun 200 million of years ago.”


Scientists have long debated how the hand of birds evolved from their dinosaur ancestors, and the answer remains unclear.

Study co-author Andrea Cau explained, “The grasping hand of Saltriovenator fills a key gap in the theropod evolutionary tree: predatory dinosaurs progressively lost the pinky and ring fingers, and acquired the three-fingered hand which is the precursor of the avian wing.”

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://peerj.com/">PeerJ</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Largest predatory Jurassic dinosaur recovered from Italy

Predatory dinosaurs from the Early Jurassic are very rare 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.



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0dEcERCq61-2283382-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"]</div>



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)



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

News coming your way