The world’s oceans are our biggest climate ally, soaking up roughly a quarter of the carbon dioxide humanity releases and about 90% of the excess heat we’ve trapped in the atmosphere. In 2023, that ally got pushed to the limit.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-are-substantially-changing-the-seasons-of-the-ocean/">Sea-surface temperatures</a> jumped to unprecedented levels - from a supercharged El Niño in the tropics to blistering warmth across the North Atlantic - raising a pressing question: what happens to the ocean’s carbon sink when the water itself is record hot?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-stress-test-for-the-ocean-carbon-sink">Stress test for the ocean carbon sink</h2>



An international team led by <a href="https://ethz.ch/en.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH Zurich</a> dug into ship, buoy, and satellite observations. The researchers used machine learning to stitch those measurements into daily maps of surface CO₂ across most of the global ocean.&nbsp;



The results showed that in 2023, the ocean absorbed nearly one billion tons less CO₂ than recent trends would suggest, a drop of about 10 percent. That shortfall is roughly half the European Union’s annual emissions, or more than 20 times Switzerland’s.



“This sudden warming of the ocean to new record temperatures is challenging for climate research,” said ETH professor Nicolas Gruber. The results, he added, are “not good news,” but the decline was smaller than many feared when temperatures first spiked.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-heat-weakens-the-sink">Why heat weakens the sink</h2>



The basic physics are familiar to anyone who has watched a cold fizzy drink go flat in the sun. Warm water holds less dissolved gas. 



In 2023, exceptional heat in the extratropical Northern Hemisphere, especially the North Atlantic, reduced CO₂ solubility and flipped parts of the ocean from absorbing CO₂ to letting it escape. 



Study lead author Jens Daniel Müller explained that high temperatures reduced the solubility of CO₂, resulting in abnormal CO₂ outgassing and reducing the strength of the ocean carbon sink.



On paper, that solubility effect alone should have been devastating - large enough to nearly collapse the global <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/satellites-reveal-how-oceans-absorb-carbon-in-unprecedented-detail/">carbon sink</a>. It didn’t, and the reason is the ocean’s built-in capacity to counterpunch.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-forces-that-blunted-the-blow">The forces that blunted the blow</h2>



Three processes helped keep surface waters less saturated with carbon than they otherwise would have been, softening the hit to the sink.&nbsp;



First, as some CO₂ outgassed, it left the surface temporarily depleted, which slightly improved the gradient for uptake elsewhere and later. Second, extreme surface warmth strengthened stratification, limiting the upward supply of CO₂-rich deep water. 



Third, the biological pump kept working: <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plankton-at-risk-global-warming-threatens-the-oceans-lifeline/">plankton</a> captured CO₂ in sunlit layers and exported carbon to depth as organic matter sank.



Taken together, these mechanisms created a tug-of-war. Temperature pushed CO₂ out of the ocean; stratification, biology, and the drawdown created by outgassing itself pulled the system back toward balance.&nbsp;



As Gruber noted, the 2023 outcome reflects a permanent tug-of-war between temperature-induced outgassing and the concurrent depletion of dissolved CO₂.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-el-nino-helped-just-not-enough">El Niño helped - just not enough</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/el-nino-climate-shifts-date-back-250-million-years/">El Niño</a> usually weakens upwelling of cold, carbon-rich water in the tropical Pacific, which slashes the region’s natural CO₂ emissions and, paradoxically, tends to strengthen the global sink even in a warm year. 



That pattern held in 2023: the tropical eastern Pacific, a typical source of outgassing, emitted relatively little.



But the extratropics overwhelmed that gift. The sheer intensity of warming outside the tropics - again, with the North Atlantic as a standout - negated the El Niño boost. In net terms, the global sink still declined.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-team-measured-the-dip">How the team measured the dip</h2>



Unlike many assessments that lean primarily on models, this study is grounded in observations. 



The researchers combined decades of CO₂ measurements from research vessels and cargo ships with readings from autonomous buoys and satellite data to build daily global maps of surface CO₂.&nbsp;



Machine-learning tools filled gaps and kept the reconstruction consistent, allowing the team to calculate air-sea CO₂ fluxes and compare 2023 with recent years on an apples-to-apples basis.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-of-the-ocean-carbon-sink">Future of the ocean carbon sink</h2>



The ocean has cooled little since the 2023 records, and the planet continues to warm. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mapping-marine-heatwaves-to-understand-their-impacts/">Marine heat waves</a> are becoming more frequent and intense, which makes the big unknown painfully clear. Will the compensating mechanisms that steadied the sink last year keep doing so as background temperatures climb?



“We cannot yet say with certainty how this important carbon sink will develop in the future,” Müller cautioned. 



Gruber said that it’s unclear whether those counteracting processes will remain effective over the long term and limit temperature-driven outgassing.



The bottom line: the ocean is still helping - don’t make it do all the work. For now at least, the ocean remains a formidable buffer.



“For the time being, however, the global ocean is still absorbing a great deal of CO₂ - fortunately,” Gruber said. But 2023 was a stress test that revealed both vulnerability and resilience. Extreme warmth can dent the sink significantly, even when physics and biology rally to soften the blow.



The practical takeaway is straightforward. Cutting emissions reduces the heat and acidity the ocean must absorb, preserving the sink’s strength. Every tenth of a degree avoided keeps more of the carbon sponge intact and buys time for the planet’s biggest ally to keep doing what it does best.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02380-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Climate Change</a>.



-----



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Hot oceans weaken Earth’s carbon sink

The world’s oceans are our biggest climate ally, soaking up roughly a quarter of the carbon dioxide humanity releases and about 90% of the excess heat we’ve trapped in the atmosphere. In 2023, that ally got pushed to the limit.&nbsp; Sea-surface temperatures jumped to unprecedented levels - from a supercharged El Niño in the tropics to blistering warmth across the North Atlantic - raising a pressing question: what happens to the ocean’s carbon sink when the water itself is record hot? Stress test for the ocean carbon...

A protein discovered in the ringed teeth of a squid's arms may provide a biodegradable and renewable alternative to plastics. The protein can be processed into fibers and films with applications ranging from “smart” clothes for health monitoring to self-healing, recyclable fabrics.

Study lead author Melik Demirel is the director of the Center for Research on Advanced Fiber Technologies (CRAFT) at <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Penn State University</a>.

“Squid proteins can be used to produce next generation materials for an array of fields including energy and biomedicine, as well as the security and defense sector,” said Demirel. “We reviewed the current knowledge on squid ring teeth-based materials, which are an excellent alternative to plastics because they are eco-friendly and environmentally sustainable.”

After 100 years of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/plastic-belizes-great-blue-hole/">plastic</a> production, the subsequent waste is plaguing our planet, and scientists are seeking eco-friendly alternatives. 

“Nature produces a variety of smart materials capable of environmental sensing, self-healing and exceptional mechanical function,” said Demirel. “These materials, or biopolymers, have unique physical properties that are not readily found in synthetic polymers like plastic. Importantly, biopolymers are sustainable and can be engineered to enhance their physical properties.”

The protein from squid ring teeth (SRT) has remarkable properties that will produce elastic, flexible, and strong materials. These SRT-based materials will have self-healing, optical, thermal, and electrical conducting capabilities. In the textiles industry, the SRT protein could address one of the main sources of microplastic pollution by producing a coating that will reduce microfiber erosion in washing machines.

Multiple layers of SRT proteins may be combined with other compounds or technology for the development of “smart” clothes, which could protect people from air pollution while also monitoring health.

“SRT photonics are biocompatible and biodegradable, so could be used to make not only wearable health monitors but also implantable devices for biosensing and biodetection,” said Demirel.

SRT proteins are easily produced from renewable resources, and the researchers have found a way to make them without catching a squid. 

“We don't want to deplete natural squid resources and hence we produce these proteins in genetically modified bacteria. The process is based on fermentation and uses sugar, water, and oxygen to produce biopolymers,” explained Demirel.

The team hopes that SRT-based prototypes will soon become widely available, but more development is needed.

“Scaling up these materials requires additional work,” said Demirel. “We are now working on the processing technology of these materials so that we can make them available in industrial manufacturing processes.”


The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry">Frontiers in Chemistry</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Protein from squid could become a sustainable alternative to plastics

A protein discovered in the ringed teeth of a squid's...

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown form of neural communication that transmits itself across <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/brain-patterns-indicate-conscious/">brain</a> tissue. Incredibly, the signals can even jump from neurons in one brain region to another when the tissue has been completely severed. 

The study findings suggest that neurons are using an unknown process to talk to one another. The mysterious system is not related to any known communication mechanisms, such as synaptic transmission or axonal transport.

Dominique Durand is a neural and biomedical engineer at <a href="https://case.edu/">Case Western Reserve University</a>.

“We don't know yet the ‘So what?’ part of this discovery entirely,” said Durand. “But we do know that this seems to be an entirely new form of communication in the brain, so we are very excited about this.”


Scientists were already aware of unanswered questions regarding neural communication, including poorly understood neural oscillations that appear as slow waves in the cortex and hippocampus when we sleep.

“The functional relevance of this input‐ and output‐decoupled slow network rhythm remains a mystery,” explained neuroscientist Clayton Dickinson from the University of Alberta, who was not involved in the research. “But it's one that will probably be solved by an elucidation of both the cellular and the inter‐cellular mechanisms giving rise to it in the first place.”


Durand and his team investigated the brain waves in hippocampal samples extracted from decapitated mice. They discovered that slow periodic activity can generate electric fields which activate neighboring cells, enabling a wireless form of neural communication.

“We've known about these waves for a long time, but no one knows their exact function and no one believed they could spontaneously propagate,” said Durand. “I've been studying the hippocampus, itself just one small part of the brain, for 40 years and it keeps surprising me.”


The team was most surprised to find that these electrical fields could activate neurons even when the brain tissue was completely severed, as long as the two pieces of tissue were in close physical proximity.

“To ensure that the slice was completely cut, the two pieces of tissue were separated and then rejoined while a clear gap was observed under the surgical microscope,” wrote the study authors. “The slow hippocampal periodic activity could indeed generate an event on the other side of a complete cut through the whole slice.”


This finding was so radical that the review committee at The Journal of Physiology wanted the experiments to be performed again before they would agree to print the study.

“It was a jaw-dropping moment, for us and for every scientist we told about this so far,” said Durand. “But every experiment we've done since to test it has confirmed it so far.”


The study is published in <a href="https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14697793">The Journal of Physiology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Shocking discovery reveals that the brain can communicate wirelessly

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown form of neural communication...

2019 is shaping up to be a year filled with amazing lunar events including not one but three supermoons, the second of which is scheduled to light up the night sky on Tuesday, February 19th. 

A supermoon occurs when the moon is at its fullest and at its closest point to Earth. This point is called the perigee, and when the moon is farthest from the Earth in its orbit it’s called the apogee. 

The first supermoon of the year was not just a super moon but a “<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/super-blood-wolf-moon-eclipse/">Super Blood Wolf Moon</a>” because of a lunar eclipse that tinted the moon a reddish coppery color. 

Tonight’s supermoon will not be quite as exciting as a lunar eclipse Blood Moon, but it will be fuller and brighter.

February’s supermoon is what’s known as a “Super Snow Moon.” 

A <a href="https://moon.nasa.gov/news/22/the-snow-moon/">Snow Moon</a> was the name given to the second full moon of winter by Native American tribes in the Northern and Eastern United STates, according to the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">National Aeronautics and Space Administration</a> (NASA).

The Snow Moon has the snowy months of January and February to thank for its name. 

If you’re hoping to get a glimpse of the Super Snow Moon this month, moonrise between 5:30 and 6:30 pm will be your best chance. During moonrise, an optical illusion makes the moon seems larger than it is because of how close the moon is to the horizon. 

<a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/">Time and Date</a> has a moonrise and moonset calculator so you can find out when is the best time in your local area to see the spectacle. The Super Snow Moon will be the second supermoon of 2019 with a third, less impressive supermoon expected in March. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Another supermoon arrives tonight and here’s the best way to see it

2019 is shaping up to be a year filled with...

China is looking to build the first ever solar power station in space and has announced plans to send a one-megawatt solar facility into orbit by 2030. 

The announcement was made in the state-sponsored Science and Technology Daily newspaper and claims the the station would provide an almost constant supply of power to Earth. 

If <a href="http://en.cast.cn/">China’s Academy of Space Technology</a> can develop the technology needed to harvest the Sun’s rays and beam them down Earth, the solar power station could go a long way in meeting the Earth’s clean energy demands. 

The floating orbital station could also help power missions and aid in future space explorations including both crew-less and crewed missions to Mars that China has also announced.

Researcher Pang Zhihao told the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/plans-for-first-chinese-solar-power-station-in-space-revealed-20190214-p50xtg.html">Sydney Morning Herald</a> that the solar power space station, which would weigh more than double the International Space Station, could provide "an inexhaustible source of clean energy for humans."

China and its space program have been making headlines and history as the first country to land a lunar rover on the far side of the moon with the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/china-landing-moon/">lunar Chang’e-4 mission</a>. 

But exploring the furthest, coldest reaches of the moon is only the beginning for China as the country’s space agency also hopes to build a lunar base. 

Four future missions to the moon have been planned, and China’s space program is second only to the US in terms of government funds allocated to space exploration. 

With the power station, an experimental testing base has been built in the city of Chongqing and the technology will hopefully be ready for testing by 2025 at the latest. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmai.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

China announces plans to build a solar power station in space

China is looking to build the first ever solar power...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a> pinpoints the exact locations of two quarries in Wales where the “bluestones” of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/stonehenge-built-remains/">Stonehenge</a> originated. The research also reveals how the stones were quarried 5,000 years ago.

It was previously established that 42 of Stonehenge's smaller stones, known as bluestones, came from Pembrokeshire in west Wales. Now, two specific quarries have been identified by a team of archaeologists and geologists.


“What's really exciting about these discoveries is that they take us a step closer to unlocking Stonehenge's greatest mystery - why its stones came from so far away,” said Professor Mike Parker Pearson.

“Every other Neolithic monument in Europe was built of megaliths brought from no more than 10 miles away. We're now looking to find out just what was so special about the Preseli hills 5,000 years ago, and whether there were any important stone circles here, built before the bluestones were moved to Stonehenge.”

[caption id="attachment_1868170" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/stonehenge.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1868170" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/stonehenge.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="524" /></a> Stonehenge quarry, Image Credit: UCL[/caption]

The largest quarry was located almost 180 miles away from Stonehenge on the north slope of the Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire.

“This was the dominant source of Stonehenge's spotted dolerite, so-called because it has white spots in the igneous blue rock. At least five of Stonehenge's bluestones, and probably more, came from Carn Goedog,” said Dr. Richard Bevins.

The researchers found that the bluestone outcrops were formed of natural pillars with vertical joints. This would have made it easier to access the stones compared to the quarries in ancient Egypt, where obelisks were carved out of the solid rock. In the Welsh quarries, the workers simply inserted wedges into the joints between pillars before removing them. 

“The stone wedges are made of imported mudstone, much softer than the hard dolerite pillars. An engineering colleague has suggested that hammering in a hard wedge could have created stress fractures, causing the thin pillars to crack. Using a soft wedge means that, if anything were to break, it would be the wedge and not the pillar,” said Professor Parker Pearson.


The excavations also uncovered the remains of man-made stone and earth platforms at the foot of each outcrop.

“Bluestone pillars could be eased down onto this platform, which acted as a loading bay for lowering them onto wooden sledges before dragging them away,” said Professor Colin Richards.


The team now speculates that Stonehenge was initially a circle of rough, unworked bluestone pillars, and that sandstone blocks were added about 500 years later. The findings also challenge the theory that the bluestones were transported by sea to Stonehenge.

Professor Kate Welham explained, “Some people think that the bluestones were taken southwards to Milford Haven and placed on rafts or slung between boats and then paddled up the Bristol Channel and along the Bristol Avon towards Salisbury Plain. But these quarries are on the north side of the Preseli hills so the megaliths could have simply gone overland all the way to Salisbury Plain.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://antiquity.ac.uk/">Antiquity</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists pinpoint where the Stonehenge bluestones originated

A new study led by the University College London pinpoints...

Experts have been looking into ways to improve beef production methods in an effort to reduce harmful <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cowspiracy-film-review/">greenhouse gas emissions</a>. One environmentally-friendly option that is being explored is lab-grown meat. However, a new study from the <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> has revealed that cultured meat would not mitigate all of the negative impacts of beef production without a widespread shift to carbon-free energy.

The researchers determined that while some forms of cultured meat would be an improvement, others could actually drive higher global temperatures in the long term. The study authors emphasized that the climate impact of cultured meat production will depend on its energy demands and the availability of low-carbon power sources.

“There has been a great deal of public interest in cultured meat recently, and many articles highlight the potential for substituting cattle beef with cultured meat to provide an important climate benefit,” said study lead author Dr. John Lynch.

“We show that it is not yet clear whether this is the case, partly because of uncertainties about how cultured meat would be produced at scale. An important issue in comparing farmed and cultured beef is that the different warming impacts of greenhouse gases are also not well accounted for in the standard measure used in carbon footprints.”

Previous studies have established that agricultural greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for about 25 percent of the Earth's current warming. Replacing traditional beef with lab-grown meat has been widely discussed as a better alternative, but the emissions that result from creating meat in a lab may have been underestimated. 

“Cattle are very emissions-intensive because they produce a large amount of methane from fermentation in their gut,” explained study co-author Professor Raymond Pierrehumbert.

“Methane is an important greenhouse gas, but the way in which we generally describe methane emissions as ‘carbon dioxide equivalent’ amounts can be misleading because the two gases are very different. Per ton emitted, methane has a much larger warming impact than carbon dioxide, however, it only remains in the atmosphere for about 12 years whereas carbon dioxide persists and accumulates for millennia. This means methane's impact on long-term warming is not cumulative and is impacted greatly if emissions increase or decrease over time.”

A model created by the researchers showed that cattle have a greater initial warming effect through the release of methane, but some lab-grown meat techniques would ultimately result in more warming. 

“This is important because while reducing methane emissions would be good - and an important part of our climate policies - if we simply replace that methane with carbon dioxide it could actually have detrimental long-term consequences,” said Dr. Lynch.

“The climate impacts of cultured meat production will depend on what level of sustainable energy generation can be achieved, as well as the efficiency of future culture processes.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems">Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Cultured meat may not be the best substitute for conventional beef

Experts have been looking into ways to improve beef production...

A recent expedition has produced the first 3D map of the world’s largest underwater sinkhole, the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/plastic-belizes-great-blue-hole/">Great Blue Hole</a>, located off the coast of Belize. The team included Fabien Cousteau, the grandson of French oceanographer and filmmaker Jacques Cousteau, who made this region famous in the early 1970s.

The Great Blue Hole, which is 984 feet across and more than 400 feet deep, is ranked as one of the world's top dive sites. Surrounded by reefs and caves, the ancient sinkhole lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef Atoll.

Last December, a group of researchers set sail for the Great Blue Hole equipped with two submarines. In addition to capturing fascinating video and images, the team has created a 3D map of the hole’s interior.

Erika Bergman was the chief pilot, oceanographer, and operations manager on the expedition. She told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/">CNN</a>: “We did our complete 360 sonar map and that map is now almost complete. It looks really cool, it's this mesh-layered, sonar scan of the entire thousand-foot diameter hole.”

Near the bottom of the hole, the team found some previously undiscovered mineral foundations known as stalactites. There is also a hydrogen sulfide layer around 300 feet down that blocks out all the light, transitioning divers into total darkness. 

“You lose all of that Caribbean sunlight and it just turns completely black, and it's totally anoxic down there with absolutely no life,” Bergman told CNN.

High-resolution sonar enabled the researchers to view features that were 20 or 30 feet away in perfect detail. According to CNN, the team found some intriguing tracks at the bottom of the sinkhole that could not be identified. 

The explorers reported that the hole was essentially free from trash, and that it appeared to be almost unaffected by human activities. Bergman credited the work of the Belize Audubon Society, which helps to preserve the Great Blue Hole. 

“There were basically two or three little pieces of plastic - and other than that, it was really, really clear,” Bergman explained to CNN. “It's neat that there are spaces on our planet - and most of them in the oceans - that are exactly the way they were thousands of years ago and will remain exactly the way they are thousands of years in the future.”

On Sunday December 2, the Blue Hole Belize 2018 Expedition was live streamed on the Discovery Channel.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Researchers reveal what they found inside Belize’s Great Blue Hole

A recent expedition has produced the first 3D map of...

The entire genome of the great white shark has been decoded in a major scientific breakthrough and an important step in conserving the declining species. 

Great whites are an apex predator known for their immense size. Some sharks can grow up to 20 feet long and weigh 7,000 pounds. 

Despite their huge and intimidating presence in the ocean, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predator-replacing-great-white-sharks/">great whites are declining</a>, and more effort is needed to ensure the preservation of the species, including understanding how the species evolved and adapted the way it did.

[caption id="attachment_1868075" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/great-white-shark.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1868075" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/great-white-shark.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="394" /></a> Image Credit: Byron Dilkes, Danah Divers[/caption]

Researchers from <a href="https://cnso.nova.edu/save-our-seas/index.html">Nova Southeastern University's Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center</a>, <a href="https://www.vet.cornell.edu/">Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine</a>, and <a href="https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/">Monterey Bay Aquarium</a> sequenced the entire great white genome in a new study. 

The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

The genome of the shark itself is 1.5 times bigger than the human genome, and the researchers discovered many genetic changes that could explain how the shark evolved to be such a long-living and fast healing predator. The key is genome stability.

Repetitions of specific DNA sequences within the shark's genes indicated molecular adaptation which is essential in protecting DNA against damage. The repetitive sequences were found in genes linked to DNA repair. 

“Decoding the white shark genome is providing science with a new set of keys to unlock lingering mysteries about these feared and misunderstood predators - why sharks have thrived for some 500 million years, longer than almost any vertebrate on earth,” said Salvador Jorgensen, a co-author of the study.

The researchers also found evolutionary adaptations in genes that could be responsible for wound healing and specifically blood clotting. 

“Genome instability is a very important issue in many serious human diseases; now we find that nature has developed clever strategies to maintain the stability of genomes in these large-bodied, long-lived sharks,” said Mahmood Shivji, the co-leader of the study. “There's still tons to be learned from these evolutionary marvels, including information that will potentially be useful to fight cancer and age-related diseases, and improve wound healing treatments in humans, as we uncover how these animals do it.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Main Image Credit: Byron Dilkes, Danah Divers

Decoding the great white shark genome reveals key adaptations

The entire genome of the great white shark has been...

Through a genomic study of 50 African populations, researchers from the <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/">University of Pennsylvania</a> have found that some of the click-speaking hunter-gatherer populations of East Africa are more closely related to each other than their neighboring populations. The research also shows that this relation is fairly recent.

This evidence provides proof that a few of those who speak languages that utilize “clicks” can most likely be grouped into a single family, which goes against the belief of some linguists that the individual click languages are too different to be grouped together.

The genomic analysis, published February 18th in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, also shows the importance of infectious diseases, immunity, and diet in the shaping of diverse populations across <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/widespread-burn-scars-africa/">Africa</a>.

"It's very rare to have a study of this many groups that are genetically different in terms of ancestry, in their subsistence patterns, and are geographically dispersed as well," said senior author Sarah Tishkoff, a geneticist and <a href="https://pikprofessors.upenn.edu/">Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor</a>. "This allows us to characterize population structure and demographic history as well as to look at signatures of natural selection acting on these populations."

[caption id="attachment_1868031" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/East-Africa’s-hunter-gatherers-share-a-common-ancestry.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1868031" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/East-Africa’s-hunter-gatherers-share-a-common-ancestry.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="525" /></a> Clockwise from upper left: Sabue, San, Hadza, and Sandawe[/caption]

The study, which has been decades in the making and examines African populations that have otherwise remained understudied, looked at the genomes of 840 Africans from hunter-gatherer populations spread across sub-Saharan Africa and discovered 621,000 separate nucleotides in the DNA of each study participant.

Researchers were particularly interested in the relationships between African populations who speak languages identified as Khoisan — a language that uses click consonants.

"Some linguists say it's not correct to place all of these into the Khoisan family, arguing that the Hadza and Sandawe languages are so different from each other and from the San that they really should be in separate language classifications," Tishkoff said. "It's an ongoing question in linguistics and genetics, and we wanted to ask the question, 'Do these groups with click phonemes have a common genetic ancestry?'"

Via their genetic mapping process, the team found that four hunter-gatherer populations in East Africa — the Hadza, Sandawe, Dahalo, and Sabue — clustered together.

"Typically what we see is that populations cluster by geography, but here we're seeing an exception to that," Tishkoff said. "Here you have three groups that either speak a click language, have remnant clicks, or have an unclassified language, and they're showing a common ancestry even though they're spread across different countries."

Researchers could not find a shared ancestry between these four groups and the South African San people, who also speak with Khoisan clicks. However, they were able to find a genetic link between the San and a population of rainforest hunter-gatherers from Central Africa, despite the large geographical distance.

But other hunter-gatherer groups, like the Wata, El Molo, and Yaaku, were seemingly more genetically similar to neighboring agriculturalist and pastoralist groups than to each other.

The analysis revealed that the common ancestry of the Hadza, Sandawe, Dahalo, and Sabue populations dates back about 20,000 years ago, around the beginning of the last glacial maximum during which ice covered large portions of Earth.

"The idea is that this may have changed environmental conditions and introduced a barrier between populations," said lead author Laura Scheinfeldt, a former research associate in Tishkoff's lab, and currently with the <a href="https://www.coriell.org/">Coriell Institute for Medical Research</a>. “What we found was the strongest signatures of adaptation tended to be population-specific.” This means that targets of natural selection differed from group to group and could be responsible for the unique evolution of each population.

"Genes involved in immune responses, diet, and metabolism were the broad categories that we saw coming up over and over again," Scheinfeldt added. "We know infectious disease in general is a very strong pressure, and, when you look solely at how prevalent malaria is, that also explains some of the patterns we see in adaptive signatures. Just that one disease is a very strong selective pressure."

Next, Tishkoff wants to explore how genetic variants may affect physical traits of those who carry them, which could help scientists better understand disease susceptibility. Furthermore, the team will use whole-genome sequencing techniques to discover more relationships between Africa’s many populations. 

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Tishkoff lab

East Africa’s hunter-gatherers share a common ancestry

Through a genomic study of 50 African populations, researchers from...

A vital <a href="https://www.epa.gov/">Environmental Protection Agency</a> (EPA) research unit tasked with assessing the health risks of chemicals has not been able to publish any new findings since 2018, according to a government watchdog draft report.

The <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/epas-top-leaders-stymied-research-unit-report-finds-11550149201?emailToken=bede640d84fe49b63167308739ccda14K1Qoxu9RP4sFs92YNm/YgmitKm9kvd5C61CTFe8wEVRPBds4m5tJjYoMF4aQ1jLtiJWonP/LgIpu0lQvGHY5RxNbzg0S3p3RB0wbKsRZRM0%3D&amp;reflink=article_email_share">Wall Street Journal</a> was given an advance copy of the new report from the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/">Government Accountability Office</a> (GAO), currently in the process of being finalized for publication, which found although the EPA’s <a href="https://www.epa.gov/iris">Integrated Risk Information System</a> (IRIS) is supposed to evaluate chemicals and their risk to human health and wellbeing, progress has been stalled by new EPA leadership.

“The IRIS program has been unable to release any work since June 2018 while it was waiting for feedback from the Administrator’s office,” the report reads.

For those following the EPA’s recent track record of rolling back regulations, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/epa-fewer-penalties-polluters/">issuing fewer fines, </a>and giving states and companies more freedoms to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drop-epa-inspections-trump/">self-regulate</a>, this new report comes as no surprise.

Bernard Goldstein, a professor emeritus at the<a href="https://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/"> University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health</a>, told the Wall Street Journal that the GAO report shows that the Trump administration is challenging the EPA’s long-held standard approaches to science.

EPA officials, on the other hand, are quick to defend claims that the agency’s new leaders are not upholding the EPA mission.

Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and other EPA spokespeople have argued that they are not going easy on polluters but instead working with companies closely to prevent pollution that way.  

“The Trump EPA believes it is using the best available science to determine its proposed rules and regulations, just as the former administration believed it was doing the same thing,” James Hewitt, an EPA spokesperson, told the Wall Street Journal. “However, this administration clearly has huge disagreements with the way the Obama administration carried out the agency’s mission.”

The GAO report also found that 9 out of the proposed 16 IRIS chemical assessments were dropped.

One analysis dealt with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/politico-epa-formaldehyde-vapor-cancer/">formaldehyde</a> and its link to leukemia, but Wheeler said that the study was dropped because it wasn’t a high priority.

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers disagree and have been pushing for the release of the formaldehyde report. 

For business groups and oil and gas companies, the EPA’s shift in its scientific approach is a welcome change, and the Trump administration has not been shy about its pushes for coal and mining.

“It appears that this process has been guided and shepherded through by political appointees that have really strong conflicts of interest on certain chemicals,” Richard Denison, a senior scientist at the <a href="https://www.edf.org/">Environmental Defense Fund,</a> told the Wall Street Journal. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Report: EPA leadership stalled testing for chemical health risks

A vital Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) research unit tasked with...

Vinyl flooring is easy to clean, and a flame-retardant sofa seems like a smart, safe investment. But these and other common furnishings can produce household toxins that are now being found in the blood and urine of children.

A new study has found that children who live in homes where furniture has been treated with flame-retardant chemicals like polybrominated diphenyl ethers carry more evidence of semi-volatile organic compounds in their bodies than other children. So do those who live in homes with vinyl flooring.

"SVOCs are widely used in electronics, furniture and building materials and can be detected in nearly all indoor environments," Dr. Heather Stapleton of <a href="https://www.duke.edu/">Duke University</a>, who led the research, said in a press release. "Human exposure to them is widespread, particularly for young children who spend most of their time indoors and have greater exposure to chemicals found in household dust."

"Nonetheless, there has been little research on the relative contribution of specific products and materials to children's overall exposure to SVOCs," she added.

In 2014, Stapleton moved to address that. Joined by colleagues from Duke, <a href="http://www.bu.edu/">Boston University</a> and the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, she kicked off a three-year study of 203 children from 190 families, monitoring evidence of exposure to household toxins that contain semi-volatile organic compounds.

The team analyzed indoor dust and air from each home, along with foam from inside furniture – including flame-retardant chairs and sofas. They also took urine and blood samples from the children to test for the presence of household toxins. 

"We quantified 44 biomarkers of exposure to phthalates, organophosphate esters, brominated flame retardants, parabens, phenols, antibacterial agents and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)," Stapleton said.

Children from homes that had vinyl flooring were found to have benzyl butyl phthalate metabolite in their urine. The chemical has been linked to respiratory and skin conditions and multiple myeloma, along with other issues.

Stapleton and her colleagues presented their findings today at the <a href="https://meetings.aaas.org/">2019 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science</a> in Washington, D.C.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Are household toxins poisoning your children?

Vinyl flooring is easy to clean, and a flame-retardant sofa...

<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">NASA</a> has its sights set on returning to the Moon – to stay this time. The U.S. space agency plans to land a manned flight on the Moon by 2028, with a moon station in orbit that would allow easier travel between Earth and its only natural satellite.

The agency intends to land an unmanned craft on the lunar surface within the next five years, officials added.

“This time, when we go to the Moon, we're actually going to stay. We're not going to leave flags and footprints and then come home to not go back for another 50 years,” NASA head Jim Bridenstine said at the agency’s Washington headquarters on Thursday. “We're doing it entirely different than every other country in the world. What we're doing is, we're making it sustainable so you can go back and forth regularly with humans.”

NASA will work with private aerospace companies to help speed up the process, he said. The agency is accepting private sector bids to build the unmanned craft, the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html">Daily Mail</a> reported, as well as possible assistance from selected countries.

The moon station, called Gateway, could be in orbit by 2026. Gateway would not be permanently manned like the International Space Station.

NASA is accepting proposals for a space refueling system and a descent module, among other hardware, through March 25. It plans to select its first projects by May.

“For us, if we had any wish, I would like to fly this calendar year. We want to go fast,” Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, told the Mail.

The last time a manned mission landed on the Moon was Apollo 17 in 1972. However, in 2017, President Donald Trump spoke of a desire to return manned missions to the Moon, with the eventual goal of a Mars mission.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

NASA sets its sights on creation of moon station

NASA has its sights set on returning to the Moon...

<figure class="wp-block-embed 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXGGiynIjs
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Greenland is not sinking. In fact, it is the opposite.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-contrasting-climate-response">A contrasting climate response</h2>



Most coastal towns are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sinking-land-will-intensify-the-effects-of-rising-sea-levels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">preparing for higher sea levels</a>, but <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/greenland-no-longer-has-to-worry-about-rising-sea-levels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Greenland presents</a> a different scenario during climate change. The ground there is rising at a remarkable rate. Over the past decade, some areas have lifted about 20 centimeters, which translates to roughly 2 meters per century. This rate significantly exceeds current projections for sea level rise.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-geological-rebound-process-through-climate-change">Geological rebound process through climate change</h2>



The mechanism behind this phenomenon is straightforward. As the ice sheet melts, the immense weight is removed from the bedrock, causing the land to rebound upward. This process resembles the way compressed material springs back when pressure is released.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientific-monitoring-networks">Scientific monitoring networks</h2>



Researchers at the <a href="https://www.dtu.dk/english/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Technical University of Denmark</a> are documenting this uplift using the GNET network, consisting of 61 GPS stations positioned around Greenland's coast. These sensors can detect movement with millimeter precision, providing detailed measurements of the ongoing changes.



The data reveal that current uplift rates exceed the gradual rebound occurring since the last ice age ended approximately 12,000 years ago. This acceleration corresponds directly with increased ice sheet melting rates.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coastal-transformation">Coastal Transformation</h2>



This uplift is actively reshaping Greenland's coastline. New islands and rocky formations, called "skerries," are emerging as previously submerged land surfaces rise above the water level. This represents a notable contrast to global concerns about rising seas.



The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, demonstrates the varied regional impacts of climate change. While many locations face rising water levels, Greenland's bedrock is literally rising above the surrounding seas.



The full study was recently published in <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023GL104851" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geophysical Research Letters</a>.



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Greenland's ground rises while coasts worldwide face higher seas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXGGiynIjs Greenland is not sinking. In fact, it is the...

<figure class="wp-block-embed 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSM3EVeGHJU
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Companies like MindStudio help companies train their employees to implement the latest AI Agent building platform.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-agent-training-transforms-the-workplace-fear-factor-into-a-competitive-advantage">AI agent training transforms the workplace 'fear factor' into a competitive advantage</h2>



Organizations that offer comprehensive artificial intelligence training to their workers find remarkable value that extends well beyond basic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mind-wandering-might-be-more-productive-than-you-think/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">productivity improvements</a>. Emerging research demonstrates that carefully crafted AI training programs <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-does-not-replace-human-creativity-but-enhances-it/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">enhance</a> corporate performance, lower operational costs, and dramatically improve employee psychological well-being by turning workplace uncertainty into professional empowerment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-addressing-the-widespread-ai-anxiety-crisis-among-us">Addressing the widespread 'AI anxiety' crisis among us</h2>



A staggering 53% of employees expressed concern that the use of AI tools to automate work tasks could make them appear disposable to their employers, according to <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Microsoft</a>'s 2024 workplace survey. Such pervasive worry about being substituted by machines has caused what researchers have termed "AI technostress" – a psychological state that can result in occupational burnout and poorer mental well-being.



Data published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/palcomms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Humanities and Social Sciences Communications</a> showed that belief in AI learning ability was a moderator in the link between technology adoption and work pressure, and higher confidence significantly lowered negative psychological responses. Workers provided ample training to become competent with AI software have significantly lower stress.



Companies like <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MindStudio</a> have platforms for building what are known as "AI Agents". In essence, AI Agents are simply tools that employees can build for themselves or their teams quickly and inexpensively. MindStudio will even train entire companies, from the CEO on down, at no cost. By letting MindStudio empower employees, companies avoid hiring more IT staff, buying more software, and implementing solutions to problems that do not exist.



MindStudio even has partners locally for companies, like <a href="http://www.dominnus.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dominnus</a> with offices in the Carolinas, California, and Denver, to help build AI Agents and support employees as they become resident AI experts for their organization. The training provided by MindStudio is applicable across other AI Agent building platforms as well.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revolutionary-productivity-through-focused-learning">Revolutionary productivity through focused learning</h2>



Organizations that implement large-scale AI training programs achieve dramatic outcomes. Employees performed tasks significantly better when they utilized AI support compared to when they didn't, according to <a href="https://www.nngroup.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nielsen Norman Group</a> research findings. Their study documented productivity increases of 66% for a variety of professional tasks.



Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis research finds workers record 33% higher productivity in time working with generative AI tools. The benefit is equivalent to 5.4% of work time savings for AI users – around 2.2 hours per week for full-time workers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-psychological-well-being-benefits-through-ai-competence">Psychological well-being benefits through AI competence</h2>



The emotional transformation when employees are provided with proper technology training is a fundamental transformation from fear to professional confidence. A survey of 600 employees across industries, carried out by ScienceDirect, proved that AI capabilities strengthen work environment commitment and improve job satisfaction.



A <a href="https://www.lut.fi/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LUT University</a> study discovered that AI adoption has no direct effect on workers' well-being but does so indirectly through working conditions like task optimization and safety protocols. Strategically deployed AI that involves correct training can actually increase workplace mental well-being.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-replacement-anxiety-to-partnership-confidence">From 'replacement anxiety' to 'partnership confidence'</h2>



Although 35% of those interviewed in recent McKinsey studies were concerned about workforce displacement, firms with large-scale training initiatives witness such fears dissipate quickly. The World Economic Forum found that two out of three respondents believe AI competencies will enhance their career prospects and job marketability.



This shift from fear to trust has measurable implications for job satisfaction. Applied Sciences research indicates AI can create tailored wellness programs based on individual employee requirements.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-financial-benefits-of-increased-retention">Financial benefits of increased retention</h2>



The mental health advantages of AI learning have a direct impact on organizational bottom lines in the form of a positive feedback cycle with high retention of employees. Recent ROI research validates that artificial intelligence learning has a beneficial impact on employee turnover and satisfaction levels.



PriceWaterhouseCoopers' research documents 20% to 30% improvements in productivity, market speed, and revenue in organizations that attempt systematic AI adoption through comprehensive training.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-environmental-advantages-of-ai-enabled-teams">Environmental advantages of AI-enabled teams</h2>



AI training has unforeseen environmental benefits as it makes the work environment more efficient. According to a study in Scientific Reports, the carbon footprint in writing and illustrating work is significantly lower when AI performs it compared to humans. AI software produces 130 to 1,500 times less CO2 equivalent per page of text created than human authors.



In addition, AI-driven remote work functionality significantly reduces environmental impact. Research by Cornell University and Microsoft indicates that remote workers reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 54% by not commuting daily to offices. Hybrid workers working remotely two to four days a week can reduce their carbon footprint by 11% to 29%.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cumulative-organizational-advantages">Cumulative organizational advantages</h2>



The compounding gains of better mental well-being, reduced turnover, increased productivity, and environmental benefits flow to enterprises from the pairing. McKinsey analysis estimates the long-term AI potential at $4.4 trillion in incremental productivity growth opportunity from business use cases.



As of now, 75% of knowledge workers globally utilize generative AI, mirroring widespread adoption patterns. Organizations that provide organized training and assistance see the most favorable results in productivity, worker satisfaction, and ecological sustainability.



The research overwhelmingly indicates that companies that invest in proper AI education, like that offered through <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MindStudio</a>, establish win-win scenarios where employees are both more empowered and less stressed, and companies enjoy the gains of increased productivity, reduced turnover, and improved mental health outcomes throughout their workforce.



For more on MindStudio's free AI training for companies, visit the website's of MindStudio and Dominnus from the links below.



The research was published across a variety of peer-reviewed journals, including <a href="https://www.nature.com/palcomms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Humanities and Social Sciences Communications</a>, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence</a>, and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci">Applied Sciences</a>.



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MindStudio.AI: <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.mindstudio.ai</a>



Dominnus: <a href="https://www.dominnus.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.dominnus.com</a>

AI agent training boosts mental health and profits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSM3EVeGHJU Companies like MindStudio help companies train their employees to...

<figure class="wp-block-embed 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDXqTGEmi4
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Scientists give plants superpowers against bacterial disease</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-natural-solution-to-disease-through-crop-modification">A natural solution to disease through crop modification.</h2>



The agricultural industry stands at a crossroads between productivity and environmental responsibility, and crop modification often carries a negative connotation. While chemical pesticides have long been the go-to solution for crop protection, their harmful effects on ecosystems and human health have prompted scientists to seek alternatives. The recent breakthrough by <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Southampton</a> researchers offers a promising path forward through the precise manipulation of plant-associated microbial communities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-science-behind-microbial-partnerships">The science behind microbial partnerships</h2>



Plants naturally harbor diverse ecosystems of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms that function as biological allies. These microscopic partners contribute to disease resistance, nutrient absorption, and stress tolerance. However, until now, scientists lacked the tools to deliberately reshape these communities to enhance crop protection.



The Southampton team's approach centered on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/engineered-plant-microbiomes-the-future-of-crop-protection/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">modifying lignin biosynthesis genes in rice plants</a>. This strategic intervention altered the plant's metabolic output, creating conditions that favored beneficial bacterial populations while suppressing harmful ones. The result was a living defense system embedded within the plant itself.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-global-food-security">Implications for global food security</h2>



The successful demonstration against Xanthomonas oryzae, the pathogen responsible for bacterial blight in rice, represents more than a laboratory achievement. Rice feeds nearly half the world's population, and bacterial blight causes devastating crop losses annually. Traditional control methods rely heavily on pesticides that contaminate soil and water systems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-beyond-disease-resistance">Looking Beyond Disease Resistance</h2>



While disease protection represents the immediate application, the research framework opens doors to broader agricultural improvements. Future developments could engineer microbiomes to enhance nutrient uptake, reducing dependence on synthetic fertilizers. This dual benefit addresses both crop productivity and environmental sustainability.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-path-forward">The path forward</h2>



As this technology advances from laboratory to field applications, it promises to reshape sustainable agriculture. The ability to program plants with their own biological defense systems could herald a new era where crops protect themselves naturally, reducing chemical inputs while maintaining yields necessary for global food security.



The study is published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44335-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Revolutionizing agriculture through microbiome engineering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDXqTGEmi4 Scientists give plants superpowers against bacterial disease A natural...

<figure class="wp-block-embed 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVywlgRJXsc
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Some children read facial expressions when making food choices.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-other-people-s-reactions-influence-children-s-eating-habits">Other people's reactions influence children's eating habits</h2>



Many children are finicky eaters, but research explains how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-have-learned-why-so-many-kids-dislike-vegetables/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">watching others eat and social modeling</a> influence the eating habits of children.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Study Methodology Demonstrates Social Learning Impact</h2>



Researchers at <a href="https://www.aston.ac.uk/hls/school-of-psychology" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aston University School of Psychology</a> have published findings in Frontiers in Psychology that illuminate the neurobiological foundations of food preference development through observational learning. The investigation employed controlled video stimuli featuring adults consuming raw broccoli while displaying systematically varied facial expressions to measure participant responses.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Asymmetrical Response Patterns Identified</h2>



The research, conducted with 204 female participants, revealed a pronounced asymmetry in social modeling effects. Negative facial expressions during vegetable consumption significantly diminished observer food preference ratings, while positive expressions failed to produce corresponding increases in vegetable appeal. This finding challenges conventional assumptions about the bidirectional nature of social influence in dietary behavior formation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Evolutionary Psychology Framework Applied</h2>



Dr. Katie Edwards and her research team propose that these results reflect adaptive mechanisms developed through evolutionary processes. The heightened sensitivity to disgust expressions likely functions as a protective system, enabling individuals to identify potentially harmful foods through social cues without direct risk exposure.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Clinical and Educational Implications</h2>



These findings carry substantial implications for pediatric nutrition interventions and family meal dynamics. The research suggests that parental expressions of distaste during vegetable consumption may inadvertently reinforce children's existing food aversions through unconscious social transmission pathways.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Future Research Directions</h2>



The study establishes a foundation for expanded investigation into real-time social modeling effects and cross-demographic applicability. Researchers emphasize the necessity for longitudinal studies examining actual consumption behaviors rather than preference ratings alone, particularly within family contexts where social learning occurs most frequently.



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Social modeling affects our food choices

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVywlgRJXsc Some children read facial expressions when making food choices....

<figure class="wp-block-embed 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JynHpMaNO8A
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Chaotic cancer protein finally controlled after decades of mystery</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cancer-causing-protein-bound-and-blocked">Cancer-causing protein bound and blocked</h2>



In a discovery that can one day revolutionize cancer treatment, researchers at the <a href="https://www.ucr.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, Riverside</a> have successfully developed a means of controlling MYC, a notoriously slippery protein that causes approximately <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chaotic-protein-that-fuels-75-of-cancers-can-be-controlled/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">75% of all cancers in humans</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-makes-myc-different">What makes MYC different</h2>



MYC presents a unique challenge when studying cancer. Normally, this protein plays a vital role in healthy cells. It carefully controls transcription - the process that converts genetic information from DNA and RNA into proteins.



However, cancer changes everything. In cancer cells, MYC becomes a destructive force. It operates in overdrive mode with no regulation whatsoever.



Professor Min Xue, who led the research team, explains it simply: "MYC is less like food for cancer cells and more like a steroid. It drives cancer's aggressive growth." This superactive behavior makes MYC involved in three out of every four cancer cases.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-myc-is-hard-to-target">Why MYC is hard to target</h2>



Despite its clear role in cancer, targeting MYC has been one of medicine's biggest challenges. The main problem lies in MYC's unusual structure - or rather, its complete lack of structure.



Professor Xue describes the protein as "basically a glob of randomness." This means conventional drug discovery methods don't work. These traditional approaches rely on sharply defined protein structures. MYC simply doesn't have one.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A New Approach to Fighting MYC</h2>



The UCR research team developed a clever solution. They designed a special peptide molecule that could selectively bind to MYC. More importantly, this peptide could block MYC's destructive activity.



The key was fine-tuning two specific features: the peptide's stiffness and its shape. Through careful adjustments, researchers achieved something remarkable. They reached "sub-micro-molar affinity" - meaning their peptide binds as strongly as antibodies do.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-breakthrough-results">Breakthrough results</h2>



This accomplishment represents a major leap beyond previous attempts. The researchers enhanced their peptide's binding strength by two orders of magnitude. This dramatic improvement brings the work significantly closer to practical drug development goals.



The research opens new possibilities for treating the vast majority of cancers where MYC plays a destructive role.



The researchers are presently optimizing peptide-delivery systems based on lipid nanoparticles that deliver the peptide effectively into cancer cells. The<a href="https://www.nih.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> National Institutes of Health</a> and the <a href="https://www.defense.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. Department of Defense</a> funded the study, which appeared in the Journal of the <a href="https://www.acs.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">American Chemical Society</a>. This research offers renewed hope against cancer, and it can potentially open a door to more effective cancer therapies for most cancer patients worldwide.



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The protein that fuels 3 out of 4 cancers has been controlled

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JynHpMaNO8A Chaotic cancer protein finally controlled after decades of mystery...

<figure class="wp-block-embed 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE
</div></figure>



On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop and sunlight barely penetrates through the polar winter. It was here, however, that an international team of scientists found <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predatory-worms-were-terror-beasts-half-a-billion-years-ago/#google_vignette" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evidence of sea monsters</a> that would change our understanding of ocean life in the past.



This video captures the discovery of Timorebestia fossils that had been hidden for more than 500 million years in the Sirius Passet formation. The "terror beasts," as they are called, are a hidden chapter in the evolutionary history of <a href="https://www.earth.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth</a>, showing that sophisticated predator-prey interactions occurred much earlier than previously envisioned.



Dr. Jakob Vinther and his research team at the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Bristol</a>, in collaboration with researchers at the <a href="https://eng.kopri.re.kr/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Korean Polar Research Institute</a>, braved extreme weather conditions at 82.5 north latitude to locate these giant creatures. Using sophisticated electron microprobe analysis, they revealed the detailed anatomy of the animals, including their muscle and nerve tissues.



The find upsets the traditional timeline of sea predators. Although we've long appreciated that Cambrian oceans were at one time ruled by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWI3-UgA3_o&amp;list=PL1QLQMW9MWDwpkFOnvgAmu7wT6rZmYqdJ&amp;index=19" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">arthropods</a>, these discoveries indicate that relatives of arrow worms were first to dominate the seas. These worms were building sophisticated food webs several million years before other predator groups arose.



Each fossil is a story of ancient hunger, with fossil stomach contents revealing these meter-long beasts dined on heavily armored arthropods regularly, cementing their place as the ocean's first apex predators.



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop...

<figure class="wp-block-embed 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">New York is the site of the world's oldest forest.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-385-million-year-old-trees-discovered">385-million-year-old trees discovered</h2>



Scientists have uncovered something extraordinary just two hours north of New York City. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-oldest-forest-discovered-close-to-new-york-city/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">world's oldest forest</a>, dating back 385 million years, offers a window into how Earth's first complex forests shaped our planet's atmosphere.



Located near <a href="https://townofcairo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cairo, New York</a>, in Greene County, these weren't merely primitive plants struggling to survive. These were sophisticated trees with root systems remarkably similar to modern forests. This ancient woodland predates dinosaurs by 140 million years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cairo-forest-discovery">The Cairo forest discovery</h2>



385 million years ago, upstate New York was a tropical paradise near the equator. Thanks to continental drift, this ancient forest has traveled thousands of miles to its current location.



The fossil forest sits in an abandoned quarry, roughly half the size of a football field. This represents just a slice of what was likely a massive forest system stretching from New York into Pennsylvania.



Charles Ver Straeten, curator of sedimentary rocks at the <a href="https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York State Museum</a>, made the discovery in 2009. While scouting the former highway department property, his trained eye spotted wandering patterns in the stone that looked like marine features.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revolutionary-age-and-preservation">Revolutionary age and preservation</h2>



The site contains 385-million-year-old rocks with fossilized woody roots forming horizontal patterns up to 18 feet (5.5 meters) wide. As Christopher Berry, a paleobotanist at Cardiff University, explains: "You are walking through the roots of ancient trees."



This discovery pushes back advanced tree evolution by millions of years. The research, published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a> in December 2019, fundamentally changes our understanding of when complex forests first emerged.



Researchers believe a massive flood buried the forest floor, creating perfect fossilization conditions. Over millions of years, sediment hardened into rock, preserving these root patterns like nature's time capsule.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-meet-archaeopteris-the-first-modern-tree">Meet Archaeopteris: the first modern tree</h2>



The star of this ancient forest is Archaeopteris – not to be confused with the feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx. This tree was far older and more revolutionary.



William Stein from <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binghamton University</a> describes the roots as "strikingly modern, essentially what you'd see outside in my yard right now." These weren't simple root systems you'd expect from ancient plants.



Some fossilized roots are six inches (15 centimeters) in diameter, forming 36-foot-wide (11-meter) patterns. These giants grew up to 65 feet (20 meters) tall with five-foot-diameter (1.5-meter) trunks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-changing-impact">Climate-changing impact</h2>



These trees fundamentally changed Earth's environment. Kevin Boyce, a Stanford University geoscientist, explains how their deep roots triggered "weathering," chemical reactions that pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.



This process dropped atmospheric CO2 levels from 10-15 times higher than today to roughly modern concentrations. These ancient trees helped create atmospheric conditions that made complex life possible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-forest-ecosystem">Ancient forest ecosystem</h2>



The forest was remarkably diverse. Scientists identified Eospermatopteris, palm tree-like plants with short roots that reached 30 feet (9 meters) tall but lacked woody structure. The forest also housed cladoxylopsids and a mysterious third species still being studied.



All reproduced through spores rather than seeds – millions of years before seeds evolved. This tropical environment had no grass, flowers, or flying insects, just towering trees creating Earth's first complex forest canopy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientific-significance">Scientific significance</h2>



Before this finding, the Gilboa forest, located 25 miles (40 kilometers) away, held the "oldest forest" title. Cairo's trees are 2-3 million years older, showing that complex forest ecosystems developed much faster than scientists believed possible.



Patricia Gensel, a <a href="https://www.unc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of North Carolina</a> paleobotanist, notes: "The size of those root systems is really changing the picture. Even 20 years ago, researchers assumed trees with such complex root systems didn't evolve so early."



The Cairo site presents three unique root systems, suggesting Devonian period forests were diverse ecosystems with different trees occupying different environmental niches, much like today's forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modern-preservation-efforts">Modern preservation efforts</h2>



In 2022, New York State Senator Michelle Hinchey secured a $170,000 grant for the town of Cairo to construct specialized fencing around the fossil forest site. The town plans to conduct a feasibility study exploring the possibility of creating an educational center and working lab on-site.



Joe Hasenkopf, chair of the Cairo Planning Board, hopes to partner with educational institutions to create a research facility serving scientists, students, and the public.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-today-s-climate">Lessons for today's climate</h2>



Why does a 385-million-year-old forest matter today? It shows how dramatically forests can change Earth's climate. These ancient woodlands created the atmospheric conditions supporting complex life.



Understanding how prehistoric forests transformed the planet helps us appreciate modern forests' critical role in addressing climate change. Forests remain Earth's most effective carbon capture systems.



These prehistoric trees changed Earth's atmosphere by pulling massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. As we face modern climate challenges, this ancient forest reminds us of trees' incredible power to transform our planet's environment.



The next time you walk through a forest, remember you're experiencing an ecosystem whose blueprint was established 385 million years ago in upstate New York. These ancient pioneers didn't just survive – they thrived and changed the world forever.



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ New York is the site of the world's oldest...

<figure class="wp-block-embed 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Veg4HmmRVZY
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Our bodies hits two 'aging cliffs' at these ages.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientists-map-exact-ages-when-your-body-rapidly-ages">Scientists Map Exact Ages When Your Body Rapidly Ages</h2>



Scientists have <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-bodies-begin-breaking-down-two-very-precise-ages/#google_vignette">discovered that aging</a> isn't the gradual, steady process many assume it to be. Instead, researchers from Stanford Medicine have found that our bodies undergo dramatic molecular changes at two specific ages: 44 and 60. This research, published in Nature Aging, reveals that aging happens in sudden bursts rather than smooth transitions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-two-waves-of-rapid-aging">Two waves of rapid aging</h2>



The Stanford study tracked over 135,000 different molecules and microbes in 108 participants aged 25 to 75 over several years. Results showed that 81% of all molecules studied exhibited non-linear changes, meaning they shifted dramatically at certain ages rather than changing gradually over time.



Michael Snyder, chair of genetics at Stanford School of Medicine and the study's senior author, noted significant findings. "We're not just changing gradually over time; there are some really dramatic changes. It turns out the mid-40s is a time of dramatic change, as is the early 60s. And that's true no matter what class of molecules you look at."



The first wave of changes occurs around age 44, affecting molecules related to alcohol metabolism, caffeine processing, lipid <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/age-related-changes-in-metabolism-dont-match-our-expectations/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">metabolism</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heart-disease-remains-the-leading-cause-of-death-worldwide/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cardiovascular disease</a>, and skin and muscle function. The second wave hits around age 60, involving changes in carbohydrate metabolism, immune regulation, kidney function, and again cardiovascular and muscle health.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-happens-during-these-aging-bursts">What happens during these aging bursts</h2>



During the mid-40s transformation, researchers observed significant changes in how the body processes alcohol and fats. This period often coincides with increased stress levels in many people's lives, potentially contributing to lifestyle factors that accelerate these molecular shifts.



"It's possible some of these changes could be tied to lifestyle or behavioral factors that cluster at these age groups, rather than being driven by biological factors," Snyder explained. For instance, alcohol metabolism dysfunction might result from increased consumption during the typically stressful mid-40s period.



The changes at age 60 are perhaps less surprising, as this is when many age-related diseases begin to manifest more prominently. The molecular shifts affect immune function and kidney health, both critical for maintaining overall wellness as we enter our senior years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-latest-research-confirms-aging-patterns">Latest research confirms aging patterns</h2>



Recent 2025 studies have validated these findings. Research examining tissue samples from 76 people found similar aging patterns, noting an "inflection point" between ages 45 and 55.



Scientists discovered that blood vessels, particularly the aorta, age fastest among all body tissues. This vascular aging may drive aging in other body parts, highlighting cardiovascular health's central role in the aging process.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cellular-changes-and-microbiome-shifts">Cellular changes and microbiome shifts</h2>



The Stanford research revealed that these aging bursts affect our microbiome – the trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi living in and on our bodies. These microbial communities undergo substantial shifts during both aging periods, potentially affecting everything from digestion to immune function.



Additionally, researchers found that protein production and gene expression begin to fall out of sync as we age. This breakdown in cellular communication becomes especially pronounced during the two aging waves, contributing to the accumulation of damaged proteins associated with diseases such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/alzheimers-may-not-be-brain-disorder-important-data-was-fabricated/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alzheimer's</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-health-implications-and-longevity-considerations">Health implications and longevity considerations</h2>



Understanding these aging patterns has important implications for healthcare strategies. Research suggests that people should pay particular attention to their health during their 40s and 60s, when these dramatic molecular changes occur.



Snyder emphasized the importance of proactive health measures. "I'm a big believer that we should try to adjust our lifestyles while we're still healthy," he noted. This might include increasing exercise to protect heart health and maintain muscle mass, or reducing alcohol consumption in the 40s as the body's ability to metabolize it declines.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-approaches-to-anti-aging-treatment">New approaches to anti-aging treatment</h2>



Aging research has seen notable advances in 2025. Harvard Medical School scientists developed chemical cocktails that reverse cellular aging without genetic modification. These six combinations restored aged cells to youthfulness in under a week, offering safer alternatives to gene therapy.



Researchers identified new biomarkers like "InflammAge," a saliva-based test measuring chronic inflammation associated with aging. This non-invasive approach could change how we monitor aging and intervention.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-directions-in-aging-research">Future directions in aging research</h2>



Emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, cellular reprogramming, and senolytic therapies, are opening new possibilities for extending healthspan. Companies develop treatments targeting aging's fundamental mechanisms rather than just managing age-related diseases.



The Stanford findings provide a roadmap for implementing preventive measures. Rather than waiting for symptoms, people can prepare for and potentially mitigate these predictable aging waves.



As aging understanding evolves, one thing becomes clear: aging isn't inevitable decline, but specific biological events we may learn to prevent or reverse. The key is recognizing when these transitions occur and taking proactive health steps during vulnerable periods.



The study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nataging" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Aging</a>.



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Scientists discover we age in bursts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Veg4HmmRVZY Our bodies hits two 'aging cliffs' at these ages....

<figure class="wp-block-embed 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqlF0XKzHY4
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The hidden science behind tickling.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientists-discover-the-brain-s-tickling-command-center">Scientists discover the brain's 'tickling command center'</h2>



Researchers have finally solved one of humanity's most enduring mysteries: why we can't <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/after-centuries-of-debate-we-still-dont-know-how-tickling-works/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tickle</a> ourselves and what makes some people incredibly ticklish while others barely react? Recent scientific discoveries are revolutionizing our understanding of this peculiar human behavior.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-breakthrough-discovery-in-the-brain">Breakthrough discovery in the brain</h2>



In 2023, Dr. Michael Brecht's team at <a href="https://www.hu-berlin.de/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Humboldt University</a>-<a href="https://www.hu-berlin.de/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Berlin</a> made a major discovery published in the <a href="https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(22)01991-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">journal Neuron</a>. They identified the brain's actual "tickling command center" – specific neurons in a region called the periaqueductal gray that control both tickling responses and play behavior.



When researchers used cutting-edge optogenetic technology to shut down these neurons in laboratory rats, something remarkable happened. The animals completely lost their ability to be tickled or engage in playful behavior.



"We found that global blockade of the rat periaqueductal gray with either muscimol or lidocaine interfered with ticklishness and play," the research team reported in their study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-two-types-of-tickling-revealed">Two types of tickling revealed</h2>



What we call "tickling" is two completely different phenomena, according to the latest research. Light tickling – that feathery sensation that makes you want to scratch – is essentially your body's sophisticated bug detection system. This alerts you to potential insects or parasites on your skin.



Deep tickling – the kind that makes you laugh uncontrollably – involves complex brain circuits and is fundamentally social. You literally cannot tickle yourself with this type of stimulation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-self-tickling-is-impossible">Why self-tickling is impossible</h2>



Your cerebellum acts like a prediction machine, recent findings show. When you move your own hand to touch yourself, your brain generates precise predictions about what you will feel and then cancels out the tickling sensation through neural inhibition.



When someone else tickles you, your brain can't predict their movements, so the full tickling response activates. It's like your brain's way of distinguishing between self and others.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-individual-differences-explained">Individual differences explained</h2>



Individual differences in ticklishness depend on genetics, psychology, and even trust. Dr. Xinzhong Dong at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Johns Hopkins University</a> notes that people with denser nerve endings tend to be more sensitive.



Psychological factors matter just as much. You respond more strongly when tickled by people you trust, and anxiety completely shuts down tickling responses. This explains why the same physical stimulus can produce completely different reactions depending on who's doing the tickling.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-controlling-your-ticklishness">Controlling your ticklishness</h2>



Science offers answers for controlling your ticklishness. You can reduce tickling sensitivity through systematic desensitization – gradual exposure in controlled settings.



Dr. Konstantina Kilteni's 2025 research, published in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adt0350" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a>, reveals another technique: place your hand on the tickler's hand. This allows your brain to partially predict the sensations, reducing the tickling response by up to 90 percent.



"Your brain is essentially learning to override its own reflexes," Kilteni explained in her review of tickling research.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evolutionary-purpose-discovered">Evolutionary purpose discovered</h2>



From an evolutionary perspective, tickling serves vital functions according to <a href="https://www.umd.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Maryland</a> researcher Dr. Robert Provine's extensive studies. It trains our defense reflexes for vulnerable body areas and facilitates social bonding between family members.



Tickling-induced laughter is actually one of the first forms of communication between infants and caregivers. "Tickle involves a neurological self/nonself discrimination, providing the most primitive social scenario," Provine noted in his research.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clinical-applications-emerge">Clinical applications emerge</h2>



Research shows people with autism spectrum disorder perceive touches as more ticklish than people without the condition. Investigating this difference could provide insight into brain differences and help advance autism research.



People with schizophrenia tend to experience self-touches similarly to external tickles, allowing them to essentially tickle themselves. This suggests altered sensory prediction mechanisms in the condition.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-animal-research-reveals-universal-nature">Animal research reveals universal nature</h2>



Scientists have discovered that many species beyond humans are ticklish. Rats emit ultrasonic "laughs" when tickled, while chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans all respond to tickling stimulation.



This widespread occurrence across species suggests that tickling serves fundamental biological and social functions that evolved long before humans developed complex language and culture.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-directions">Future research directions</h2>



Dr. Kilteni argues that tickling research deserves more scientific attention. "It is a complex interplay of motor, social, neurological, developmental, and evolutionary aspects," she stated in her recent review.



New haptic technologies and advanced research methodologies now permit scientists to investigate tickle sensation with unprecedented precision. Standardized experimental methods using mechanical tickling devices ensure consistent results across studies.



Recent findings published in Science Advances show that tickling research is opening new doors in neuroscience, potentially leading to a better understanding of social behavior, sensory processing, and neurological conditions.



-----



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Scientists solve the mystery of tickling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqlF0XKzHY4 The hidden science behind tickling. Scientists discover the brain's...

<figure class="wp-block-embed 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elr4948_uOU
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Dr. Ronald Mallett from the University of Connecticut reveals secret mission to create working time travel device.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-could-an-equation-truly-bend-time-a-physicist-s-decades-long-quest-to-rewrite-reality">Could an equation truly bend time? A physicist's decades-long quest to rewrite reality</h2>



Imagine the impossible: stepping back through time in a time machine, not in fantasy, but through a scientific endeavor driven by profound personal loss. For <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/astrophysicist-says-hes-cracked-the-equation-for-time-travel/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Ronald Mallett</a>, a distinguished astrophysicist and professor emeritus at the <a href="https://uconn.edu/">University of Connecticut</a>, this deeply human longing has fueled a lifelong mission. He claims to have discovered the equation that could unlock temporal displacement, pushing boundaries once deemed purely science fiction.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-profound-grief-that-forged-a-vision">A profound grief that forged a vision</h2>



Mallett's extraordinary pursuit began with devastating tragedy in 1955. At merely 10 years old, he endured his father Boyd's sudden death—a television repairman whose passion for science had ignited a similar spark in his young son. Boyd Mallett, only 33, succumbed to a heart attack, leaving behind a grief-stricken child searching for solace.



That solace came through H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. Within its pages, Mallett found a captivating concept: "Time is only a kind of Space." These words transformed from a literary phrase into a guiding principle, becoming the driving force behind his unwavering commitment to unraveling time's fundamental mysteries.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-humble-beginnings-to-academic-heights">From humble beginnings to academic heights</h2>



Mallett's journey was far from straightforward. After serving in the Air Force during the Vietnam War era, he utilized the GI Bill for higher education, earning his Ph.D. in physics from Pennsylvania State University in 1973 at the age of 28.



In 1975, he made history as the first African American professor in the University of Connecticut's physics department, achieving full professorship in 1987 before retiring in 2024 as professor emeritus.



Throughout these successful academic years, Mallett harbored his radical ambition as a closely guarded secret. "I kept my time travel goal a secret," he confessed. "I worried people would think I was nuts." His public research centered on black holes, serving as a "cover story" while he quietly developed his revolutionary time travel theory.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-breakthrough-moment">The breakthrough moment</h2>



His pivotal insight arrived while hospitalized for a heart condition—a profound irony given his father's heart attack started this journey. The breakthrough was elegantly simple yet revolutionary: "If gravity can bend time, and light can create gravity, then light can bend time."



"It turns out that black holes can create a gravitational field that could lead to the creation of time loops that could allow us to go back in time," he explained.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-blueprint-for-a-temporal-vortex">The blueprint for a temporal vortex</h2>



Mallett's vision for a functioning time machine replicates spacetime-warping phenomena around black holes. He offers a compelling analogy: "Picture a cup of coffee. Stir it with a spoon, and the coffee swirls. A spinning black hole does the same to spacetime."



In Einstein's general relativity, the universe is a dynamic fabric woven from space and time. Massive objects like black holes warp this fabric—an effect we perceive as gravity. Mallett theorizes that an intense, continuous, circulating beam of light from a ring of powerful lasers could replicate this gravitational torsion, effectively twisting time into a loop.



This "time loop" would theoretically allow information—or perhaps matter—to travel backward in time. He detailed this mathematical concept in his 2006 autobiography, Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-published-research-and-recognition">Published research and recognition</h2>



His work, published in respected journals including <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/physics-letters-a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Physics Letters A</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/journal/10701" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Foundations of Physics</a>, suggests circulating laser light could generate gravitational fields potent enough to create closed timelike curves, enabling time travel for data.



Mallett's research has gained worldwide media attention, featured on <a href="https://www.thisamericanlife.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">National Public Radio's This American Life</a>, the <a href="https://www.history.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">History Channel</a>, and <a href="https://www.today.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NBC's Today Show</a>. The widespread interest reflects both his compelling personal story and rigorous scientific approach.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-galactic-hurdles-and-persistent-skepticism">The galactic hurdles and persistent skepticism</h2>



While Mallett's equations captivate imagination, the path to reality faces immense obstacles. The energy requirement is staggering—Mallett acknowledges needing "galactic amounts of energy," far beyond current technological capabilities.



There's also a poignant limitation: even if realized, his machine could only send information back to when it was first activated, meaning it couldn't transport him to 1955 to prevent his father's death.



The scientific community remains skeptical. Physicists Ken Olum and Allen Everett argue that Mallett's proposed laser ring would need to be larger than the observable universe to achieve the necessary spacetime distortion. They invoke Stephen Hawking's chronology protection conjecture, suggesting physics may prevent macroscopic time travel.



Astrophysicist Paul Sutter has voiced doubts about Mallett's underlying mathematics, while science writer Brian Clegg finds the concept intriguing enough to warrant experimental investigation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-legacy-that-transcends-time">A legacy that transcends time</h2>



Now approaching 80, Dr. Mallett remains steadfast. "I believe my work will show time travel is possible," he asserts. "Future generations will build on it in ways we can't yet imagine."



His equations, though yet to physically bend time, have bent our collective imagination. Ongoing public interest, evidenced by his continued media appearances and Spike Lee's film adaptation of his memoir, underscores his ideas' profound impact.



More than a scientific pursuit, Mallett's story testifies to human resilience, intellectual courage, and hope's enduring power. Whether his theoretical time machine ever materializes, his legacy is immeasurable—inspiring countless individuals to challenge conventional limits and perceive time not as an unyielding barrier, but as a boundless frontier awaiting exploration.







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Retired professor claims he solved time travel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elr4948_uOU Dr. Ronald Mallett from the University of Connecticut reveals...

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</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Acid rain and a crisis solved.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-don-t-we-ever-hear-about-acid-rain-anymore-the-environmental-crisis-that-was-solved">Why don't we ever hear about "acid rain" anymore? The environmental crisis that was solved</h2>



Remember the 1980s when acid rain dominated headlines? Dire warnings about rain eating buildings, killing fish, and destroying forests filled every news cycle. Then, almost like magic, acid rain vanished from public discourse. What happened? Did we actually solve one of the late 20th century's most pressing environmental challenges?



The answer might surprise you. Unlike many environmental issues that drag on indefinitely, acid rain represents one of modern history's most successful ecological recovery stories. It's a tale of science, politics, and technology working together to tackle what seemed impossible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What was acid rain?</h2>



Acid rain isn't regular rain having a bad day – it's precipitation that became significantly more acidic due to air pollution. When power plants, factories, and vehicles burn fossil fuels, they release sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the atmosphere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The science behind it</h2>



Think of acid rain as nature's chemistry experiment gone wrong. These compounds react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. When mixed with water vapor in clouds, they create precipitation with dangerously low pH levels.



While clean rain has a pH of about 5.6, acid rain could drop as low as 4.2 to 4.4 – roughly as acidic as tomato juice or coffee. According to US Geological Survey documentation, Scottish chemist Angus Smith first coined "acid rain" in 1872, but it didn't become a household phrase until the 1960s and 1970s when Swedish scientist Svante Odén documented its devastating effects on Scandinavian lakes and European forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The crisis at its peak</h2>



During the height of public concern, environmental damage was both widespread and visible. This wasn't some abstract future threat – people could see destruction happening in real-time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Environmental devastation</h2>



The most dramatic impacts were impossible to ignore. Research documented by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation shows that in the Adirondack Mountains, more than 200 lakes became so acidic they couldn't support fish life. The Adirondack Council reports that 409 lakes once supported brook trout, but many lost their fish populations due to acid rain.



By 1976, when scientists cataloged all acidified lakes in the Adirondack Park, researchers found that half of the lakes over 2,000 feet above sea level had no fish, according to studies published in environmental journals. The acidification process worked like a slow-motion disaster. As acid rain fell into watersheds, it gradually lowered pH levels. Fish couldn't survive in acidic water, and their food sources died off too.



Trees at high elevations showed stress directly linked to acid rain. It weakened them by leaching nutrients and making them susceptible to disease. Historical records show Germany's Black Forest saw nearly half its trees damaged by the mid-1980s.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Economic impact</h2>



Acid rain wasn't just environmental – it was expensive. Acidic precipitation corroded infrastructure, buildings, and monuments. Historic stone structures deteriorated at accelerated rates. Tourism suffered as lakes became fishless and forests declined. EPA economic analyses from the period documented repair costs mounting into billions annually.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The solution: government action and technology</h2>



Transformation from crisis to success required unprecedented cooperation between governments, industries, and environmental groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Clean Air Act of 1990</h2>



The turning point came with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, signed by President George H.W. Bush. This represented a fundamentally new approach to environmental regulation, as documented in EPA historical records.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cap-and-trade success</h2>



Instead of mandating specific technologies, the 1990 amendments introduced something revolutionary: a cap-and-trade system for sulfur dioxide emissions. EPA program documentation shows this market-based approach set overall limits but allowed companies to trade emission allowances.



The genius was harnessing market forces to find cost-effective pollution reduction. Companies reducing emissions cheaply could sell excess allowances to those facing higher costs. Research published in environmental economics journals and EPA progress reports shows this resulted in dramatic SO2 reduction at a fraction of projected costs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Technology advances</h2>



Policy provided the framework, but technology made reductions possible. Studies in atmospheric science journals document the widespread adoption of flue gas desulfurization systems ("scrubbers") that removed sulfur dioxide before it reached the atmosphere. By the 2000s, new installations could remove over 95% of SO2 emissions, according to EPA technical reports.



The push coincided with cleaner energy development. Natural gas produces fewer sulfur compounds than coal. Wind and solar, emerging in the 1990s, captured growing market share, reducing reliance on high-sulfur coal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-we-don-t-hear-about-it-today">Why we don't hear about it today</h2>



Why did acid rain disappear from headlines? Simple: the problem was largely solved.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Success doesn't make news</h2>



There's an old journalism saying: "If it bleeds, it leads." Environmental success stories don't generate urgency like crisis reporting. Media attention shifted to other challenges: climate change, plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss. There's only so much environmental anxiety the public can absorb, and newer concerns replaced acid rain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mission accomplished</h2>



The primary reason is beautifully simple: interventions worked. EPA monitoring data shows sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990. Academic research published in environmental science journals confirms pH levels in formerly affected areas returned closer to normal. This represents one of history's most dramatic environmental recoveries. Studies by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation show fishless lakes now support healthy populations. Forests recovered, and building damage slowed dramatically.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-it-really-gone">Is it really gone?</h2>



The crisis is largely resolved, but monitoring data shows the problem isn't completely eliminated – it's managed to acceptable levels. Some areas still experience occasional events during high pollution periods. International environmental research indicates that rapidly industrializing Asian countries face similar problems to what we experienced decades ago, though they're implementing successful strategies.



EPA research shows nitrogen oxide emissions proved more challenging than sulfur dioxide, coming from vehicles and mobile sources. Climate science studies suggest changing weather patterns add complexity to how acid rain forms and falls.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What this teaches us</h2>



The acid rain experience proves that seemingly intractable environmental problems can be solved with scientific understanding, political will, and technological innovation. Environmental monitoring data shows recovery speed was remarkable – within a decade, measurable improvements appeared in air quality and ecosystem health.



Success came from bipartisan support across party lines. Policy analysis studies show the market-based approach appealed to those preferring economic incentives while achieving environmental goals. This support created lasting policy surviving political changes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Conclusion</h2>



Acid rain's disappearance from public consciousness represents environmental science's greatest success stories. Through effective regulation, technological innovation, and international cooperation, we transformed an overwhelming crisis into a manageable challenge.



Today's silence isn't because we forgot – it's because we solved it. The 1990 Clean Air Act, combined with technology and energy market changes, reduced acid rain emissions over 90%, according to comprehensive EPA data analysis.



This success offers hope for current challenges. It proves complex problems can be solved when science, policy, and technology work together. As we face climate change and plastic pollution, acid rain reminds us that dramatic positive change is possible.



Next time someone asks whether environmental regulations work, remember acid rain. It's proof that sometimes, we get it right.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Sources: This article draws from EPA official documentation and progress reports, peer-reviewed research published in environmental and atmospheric science journals, historical data from the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation records, US Geological Survey publications, policy analysis studies, and environmental monitoring data collected over three decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Frequently Asked Questions</h2>



1. Is acid rain completely gone? No, but EPA monitoring shows it's reduced to manageable levels. US sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990, making acid rain much less severe than the 1980s crisis.



2. How long did solving take? Environmental monitoring data shows significant improvements began within 5-10 years of 1990s emission controls. Full ecosystem recovery took longer – some areas need 20-30 years for complete recovery.



3. What made the solution successful? Clear scientific understanding, visible damage motivating action, bipartisan support, available technology, and innovative market-based policies like cap-and-trade.



4. Do other countries have acid rain problems? Yes, particularly rapidly industrializing Asian countries. However, international environmental research shows many implement similar successful control strategies.



5. Could acid rain return? Potentially, if regulations weaken or we return to high-sulfur coal without controls, though effects would take years to become severe according to environmental projections.



6. Can you recommend any teaching tools on the subject of "acid rain"? The United States Environmental Protection Agency produced a wonderful teacher's guide for ages 14 and under that you can find on the EPA website here: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf</a>



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The environmental problem we actually solved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk Acid rain and a crisis solved. Why don't we...

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

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

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (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



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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



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Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.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

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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