<p>Astronomers have caught a nearby stellar duo in a dramatic act. A super-dense white dwarf star is siphoning material from its larger companion at a pace never seen before.</p>



<p>The system, known as V Sagittae (V Sge), sits about 10,000 light-years away and orbits so tightly that the two stars whirl around each other every 12.3 hours. </p>



<p>As the white dwarf feeds, the pair blazes far brighter than similar systems - a century-old mystery that a new study says it has finally cracked.</p>



<p>Led by Pasi Hakala from the <a href="https://www.utu.fi/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Turku</a> in Finland, the team used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile to probe V Sge’s extreme behavior. The results point to a runaway case of “stellar cannibalism.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-white-dwarf-in-a-feeding-frenzy">White dwarf in a feeding frenzy</h2>



<p>White dwarfs are the ultra-compact embers left behind when <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/planet-forming-disks-surrounding-stars-often-last-much-longer-than-expected/">sun-like stars</a> exhaust their fuel. On their own, they glow faintly. Paired with a close companion, they can become voracious, as gravity from the white dwarf pulls gas - mostly hydrogen - off the neighboring star.</p>



<p>As that gas piles up, it heats to extraordinary temperatures and ignites thermonuclear burning on the dwarf’s surface. </p>



<p>The study concludes that V Sge’s famous overbrightness comes from this very process operating at ferocious rates. It turns the white dwarf’s outer layers into a sustained, nuclear-powered beacon.</p>



<p>The V Sge system has baffled astronomers since its discovery in 1902 because it outshines its peers so dramatically. The study argues the system is in a “feeding frenzy,” with mass transfer exceeding what the white dwarf can absorb.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-luminous-halo-signals-instability">Luminous halo signals instability </h2>



<p>One of the team’s most striking finds is a broad ring of gas - a luminous <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/breathtaking-photo-shows-an-ice-halo-forming-around-the-sun/">halo</a> encircling both stars. That ring appears to be the overflow. </p>



<p>The system rips material from the companion that the white dwarf can’t accrete and flings it outward to form a circumbinary shroud.</p>



<p>The sheer energy released in the process, the researchers say, is also jostling the system, contributing to the erratic, “wild” motion seen in monitoring data.</p>



<p>That halo isn’t just window dressing. It’s a clue that V Sge is being pushed toward instability. When the inflow of fuel momentarily overwhelms the white dwarf’s ability to burn it steadily, pressure can build until the surface layers detonate in a thermonuclear flash.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-rare-outburst-on-the-horizon">A rare outburst on the horizon</h2>



<p>The team warns that V Sge is primed for a classic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/t-coronae-borealis-nova-explosion-nearby-star-light-up-earths-skies/">nova</a> - a powerful, but non-destructive outburst triggered when accumulated hydrogen ignites on the white dwarf’s surface. </p>



<p>If that happens in the coming years, the system could brighten enough to be visible to the naked eye. It would be a rare treat for skywatchers.</p>



<p>Farther down the line, the endgame could be even more spectacular. As the stars spiral inward and the white dwarf gains mass, they may collide or reach a catastrophic limit.</p>



<p>In that scenario, V Sge would explode as a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/supernovae-explosions-seem-to-have-altered-earths-climate-in-the-past-and-could-do-so-again-at-any-time/">supernova</a> - an event so luminous it would be visible even in daylight. That fate isn’t guaranteed, and it may be centuries away. But the current feeding rate and the presence of the gas ring suggest this binary is on a dangerous trajectory.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-star-system-in-real-time">A star system in real time</h2>



<p>For decades, astronomers struggled to explain why V Sge was the brightest system of its kind. </p>



<p>By tying its glare to sustained thermonuclear burning driven by extreme mass transfer - and by revealing the telltale, system-wide gas ring - the new study provides a coherent picture of how this oddball works.</p>



<p>It also offers a living laboratory where scientists can study how close binaries evolve and how novae trigger. It may even explain how some white dwarfs cross the threshold into supernovae.</p>



<p>Most of the time, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/massive-star-redefines-our-understanding-of-stellar-evolution/">stellar evolution</a> plays out slowly, across eons. V Sagittae is a rare exception: a nearby, rapidly changing system writing its next chapter in real time. Keep an eye on the southern sky. The next burst from this hungry white dwarf could be bright enough for all of us to see.</p>



<p>The research is published in the journal <em><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.22637" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</a></em>. </p>



<p>Image Credit: University of Southampton</p>



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White dwarf star devours its companion in record feeding frenzy

Astronomers have caught a nearby stellar duo in a dramatic act. A super-dense white dwarf star is siphoning material from its larger companion at a pace never seen before. The system, known as V Sagittae (V Sge), sits about 10,000 light-years away and orbits so tightly that the two stars whirl around each other every 12.3 hours. As the white dwarf feeds, the pair blazes far brighter than similar systems - a century-old mystery that a new study says it has finally cracked. Led by Pasi Hakala...

<p>Some birds hold greater influence than others when a flock decides where to go next. New research shows that the most persuasive geese in the flock are bold, not aggressive, and that the birds most likely to fall in line are the curious explorers. Together, they steer collective journeys in ways that balance safety and discovery.</p>



<p>The study tackles a classic puzzle in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-tool-superanimal-can-accurately-analyze-animal-behavior/">animal behavior</a>: why certain individuals end up shaping group decisions over months and years. </p>



<p>Simple rules of interaction can explain how groups move in sync. But they do not say much about why some animals consistently get others to go with them.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-geese-personalities-in-flight">Geese personalities in flight</h2>



<p>To find out, researchers watched a marked population of greylag geese over four years at the <a href="https://klf.univie.ac.at/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Konrad Lorenz Research Station</a> in Grünau im Almtal, Austria. The flock traces back to birds introduced by Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz in the 1970s, which makes it unusually well-documented.</p>



<p>Field teams logged hundreds of collective departures. They noted who gave a departure call, who launched first, who followed, and the size of each departing party. In parallel, they measured personality with standardized tests.</p>



<p>Flight initiation distance - a measure of how close an approacher can get before a bird takes off - indexed boldness. A mirror test probed aggressiveness. Interaction with a novel object indexed exploration, or curiosity.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-stable-traits-shape-geese-social-life">Stable traits shape geese social life</h2>



<p>The first finding is simple and important. Individual geese showed stable personality differences - boldness, aggressiveness, and exploration - that persisted across years. Those traits mapped onto daily social roles.</p>



<p>The flock typically moved in subgroups to forage or roost at different sites in the valley. Within those subgroups, bold individuals tended to initiate and be followed. Explorers tended to follow, especially when the leader was bold rather than aggressive.</p>



<p>In other words, a goose’s temperament predicted its influence in real decisions with real stakes. Bolder initiators were more likely to be heeded when they called and took flight. </p>



<p>Followers with a taste for novelty were more likely to go with them, and less likely to trail aggressive or socially dominant birds.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-leadership-as-protection-not-domination"><a></a>Leadership as protection, not domination</h2>



<p>One result surprised the team. Aggressiveness, though linked to higher social rank, did not predict leadership in group departures. The most influential initiators were bold but not aggressive. That points to a protective leadership style rather than a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/female-dominance-in-primates-is-more-common-than-we-thought/">dominant</a>, coercive one.</p>



<p>The ecology helps explain why. Each daily move pits risk against reward. Sticking to familiar feeding grounds offers safety but limits opportunity. Striking out raises the chance of finding better food, but it also raises exposure.</p>



<p>Bold leaders reduce uncertainty in the moment - helping a flock launch and cross risky gaps - while exploratory followers tilt the group toward innovation and help spread new routes through social learning.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-followers-matter-in-geese-decisions">Followers matter in geese decisions</h2>



<p>The study reframes influence as a two-way negotiation. Yes, some geese initiate more. But followers are not passive. </p>



<p>They choose whom to follow - and whom to ignore - based on the benefits they receive. Leadership, in this view, is not merely a trait of the few. It is a relationship built from many selective acts of following.</p>



<p>“This research helps to explain why individuals with specific traits consistently wield more influence,” said lead author Sonia Kleindorfer. “More importantly, it draws attention to followers - often overlooked in our human fascination with securing resources."</p>



<p>"What if followers actively choose whom to follow based on the benefits they receive? This shifts focus to the cognitive abilities of followers and challenges traditional ideas about which traits matter most in leaders.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-flocks-transform-signals-into-action">Flocks transform signals into action</h2>



<p>The mechanics of a departure are simple on the surface: a call, a launch, and a stream of followers. Underneath is a flow of information. Bold birds lower the cost of action and explorers raise the value of new options.</p>



<p>The result is a collective that can both protect itself and learn. Over time, that learning becomes tradition - routes, schedules, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/murrelets-rely-on-each-other-to-find-breeding-sites/">site preferences</a> that shape the flock’s culture.</p>



<p>By documenting these roles across four years and tying them to stable traits, the study moves beyond one-off observations. </p>



<p>It shows that personality can structure the everyday choices that add up to a group’s way of life. It also shows that “dominance” and “leadership” are not synonyms. A bird that wins fights does not necessarily win followers.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-geese-teach-other-species">What geese teach other species</h2>



<p>The implications reach well beyond a single Austrian valley. Many social species face the same daily trade-off between the familiar and the new. In those systems, protective boldness may attract followers more reliably than brute force, and curiosity may be the glue that keeps groups open to change.</p>



<p>By spotlighting follower choice, the work also nudges theory toward the minds of many, not the charisma of a few. Influence depends on who wants to be influenced - and why. </p>



<p>That shift has consequences for how researchers think about collective decision-making, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/food-availability-influences-social-learning-among-orangutans/">social learning</a>, and cultural evolution across species - including our own.</p>



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



<p>Understanding how individual differences scale up to group behavior can inform conservation, animal welfare, and even the design of autonomous swarms. </p>



<p>It can help explain when groups adapt smoothly to changing conditions and when they stall. It can also help predict who will lead a move to safer ground in a warming, human-altered world.</p>



<p>The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bold-personality-traits-improve-parenting-success-in-geese/">greylag geese</a> offer a clear lesson. Boldness can protect a flock of geese without aggression. Curiosity can carry new ideas across wings. And influence, far from being the property of the loudest bird, emerges from a conversation between those who initiate - and those who decide to follow.</p>



<p>The study is published in the journal <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2589004225014312" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>iScience</em></a>.</p>



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Geese guide the flock with boldness, not aggression

Some birds hold greater influence than others when a flock...

<p>A team of astronomers has captured one of the sharpest images ever of a plasma jet shooting from the heart of a distant galaxy. The galaxy, OJ 287, lies roughly 5 billion light-years from Earth. </p>



<p>It has long been known for its erratic light bursts, but until now, no one had seen its inner workings in such vivid detail.</p>



<p>This new image, made possible by the <a href="https://science.nrao.edu/about/news/radioastron-operational" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RadioAstron mission</a>, shows a long, twisted stream of high-energy particles - like a glowing ribbon - bending and curling as it moves through space.</p>



<p>The image gives scientists a rare look inside the chaotic core of the galaxy, where black holes are likely locked in a cosmic dance.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-oj-287-and-two-supermassive-black-holes">OJ 287 and two supermassive black holes</h2>



<p>Scientists from <a href="https://www.heidelberg.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heidelberg University</a> and <a href="https://www.tudelft.nl/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Delft University of Technology</a> were among the international team behind the discovery.</p>



<p>The work involved researchers from Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Italy, the United States, and Russia. Some have been working on the RadioAstron project for decades.</p>



<p>“I joined the project in 1979, before many of my co-authors were born,” said Professor Leonid Gurvits of Delft University of Technology, whose decades of expertise in space <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/monster-black-hole-is-spinning-in-the-nearby-galaxy-m87-study-confurms/">VLBI</a> (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) and active galactic nuclei helped shape the study.</p>



<p>OJ 287 is thought to contain not one but two <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/supermassive-black-holes-are-much-more-common-in-the-universe-than-believed/">supermassive black holes</a> orbiting each other. Together, they have a combined mass exceeding a billion times that of our Sun.</p>



<p>The intense gravity near these black holes pulls in surrounding gas and dust, heating it and releasing radiation. That is how astronomers detect what is happening inside.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-telescope-bigger-than-earth">Telescope bigger than Earth</h2>



<p>To capture this image, the team used RadioAstron’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/35-years-of-hubble-the-telescope-that-changed-our-view-of-the-universe/">space telescope</a> in combination with 27 radio observatories around the world. </p>



<p>Together, they formed a virtual telescope five times the diameter of Earth. The resolution was so sharp that it would be like reading a newspaper in New York from a park bench in Delft.</p>



<p>This powerful setup revealed more than just the jet’s unique ribbon shape. It also uncovered regions inside the jet with temperatures over 10 trillion Kelvin - evidence of extreme energy near the black holes.</p>



<p>The team also recorded something remarkable: the birth of a shock wave in the jet. Polarization readings showed that the jet’s magnetic field runs along its length. </p>



<p>That alignment helps scientists understand how these jets get their shape - and how they move.</p>



<p>“We captured the birth of a jet component and watched it travel down this beautiful ribbon until it hit a shock wave and produced the most energetic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/integral-gamma-ray-telescope-mission-was-a-brilliant-success/">gamma rays</a> ever detected from this source,” said first author Dr. Thalia Traianou of Heidelberg University.</p>



<p>That collision coincided with the historic detection of trillion-electron-volt gamma rays from OJ 287 in early 2017.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-twists-in-the-cosmic-ribbon">Twists in the cosmic ribbon</h2>



<p>OJ 287 has baffled astronomers for over a century. Its brightness varies in a strange 60-year cycle. That odd timing has led many to suspect a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/supermassive-binary-black-holes-secrets-revealed/">binary black hole</a> system at its center.</p>



<p>The newly imaged jet supports this idea. If two black holes are indeed orbiting each other, their movement could twist the jet, bending it over time. </p>



<p>The image captured this twist. It also matches earlier signs of the jet’s wobble, likely caused by precession from the black holes’ orbital motion.</p>



<p>This makes OJ 287 a strong candidate for studying how pairs of supermassive black holes evolve and eventually collide. Those collisions would release gravitational waves - tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-help-from-the-lisa-mission">Help from the LISA mission</h2>



<p>Future missions may be able to detect those ripples directly. One of the most promising is the joint ESA- NASA mission known as <a href="https://lisa.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LISA</a> (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), planned for launch in 2035.</p>



<p>While this study focused only on radio signals, it sets the stage for multi-messenger astronomy. </p>



<p>That’s a new way of observing the universe using different types of signals - light, gravitational waves, and even particles like neutrinos. </p>



<p>Together, they can reveal much more than any single type of observation could alone.</p>



<p>“One of the beautiful things about fundamental science is the unpredictability of its impact,” said Gurvits. “When <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cities-need-resilient-electricity-networks-to-cope-with-climate-change/">electricity</a> was discovered two hundred years ago, no one could have imagined how deeply it would shape modern society."</p>



<p>"It’s the same with our research: we don’t know when and what its effects will be. But that uncertainty is part of what makes fundamental science so exciting. That said, it is certain that this RadioAstron study is a prelude to the upcoming transformational discoveries in the new era of multi-messenger astronomy.”</p>



<p>The full study was published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2025/08/aa54929-25/aa54929-25.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Astronomy and Astrophysics</a></em>.</p>



<p>Image credit: Juan Carlos Algaba - University of Malaya</p>



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Massive plasma jet reveals the merger of two supermassive black holes

A team of astronomers has captured one of the sharpest...

<p>The NISAR mission - short for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar - has successfully deployed its massive 39-foot antenna reflector in space.</p>



<p>Seventeen days after launch, the reflector, which had been folded up like an umbrella, finally unfurled after the satellite’s 30-foot boom was fully extended and locked in place. Now it’s ready to begin its work monitoring Earth in stunning detail.</p>



<p>The mission is a collaboration between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (<a href="https://www.isro.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ISRO</a>). It launched on July 30 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in southeastern India. </p>



<p>From its orbit, <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/nisar/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NISAR</a> will track movements in ice sheets, glaciers, and land surfaces affected by earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides. It will also monitor forests and wetlands with precision down to a fraction of an inch.</p>



<p>“The successful deployment of NISAR’s reflector marks a significant milestone in the capabilities of the satellite,” said Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division. </p>



<p>“From innovative technology to research and modeling to delivering science to help inform decisions, the data NISAR is poised to gather will have a major impact on how global communities and stakeholders improve infrastructure, prepare for and recover from natural disasters, and maintain food security.”</p>



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



<p>This reflector is the largest ever deployed for a NASA Earth science mission. </p>



<p>It’s built to handle two powerful radar systems at once: an L-band radar that can see through clouds and trees, and an S-band radar that’s better at detecting changes in light vegetation and wet snow. The reflector is essential to both.</p>



<p>“This is the largest antenna reflector ever deployed for a NASA mission, and we were of course eager to see the deployment go well. It’s a critical part of the NISAR Earth science mission and has taken years to design, develop, and test to be ready for this big day,” said Phil Barela, NISAR project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (<a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JPL</a>). </p>



<p>“Now that we’ve launched, we are focusing on fine-tuning it to begin delivering transformative science by late fall of this year.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-antenna-opened-in-orbit">How the antenna opened in orbit</h2>



<p>The reflector weighs around 142 pounds and is built from 123 composite struts and a gold-plated wire mesh. </p>



<p>On August 9, the satellite's boom began unfolding, one joint at a time. Four days later, it was fully extended. The reflector assembly, attached to the end of the boom, was next.</p>



<p>On August 15, small explosive bolts fired to release the reflector. This kicked off the "bloom" - a gradual unfurling that relied on tension built up in the frame while it was stowed. Motors and cables then pulled it into its final locked position.</p>



<p>To image <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biomass-satellite-mission-sends-first-images-of-earths-most-extreme-environments/">Earth's changing landscape</a> at about 30-foot resolution, the antenna had to be big - about the width of a school bus. Without synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the same level of detail would require a traditional antenna nearly 12 miles long.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-new-lens-on-earth-s-surface">A new lens on Earth’s surface</h2>



<p>“<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/radar-imaging-will-help-protect-polar-bears-from-human-disturbances/">Synthetic aperture radar</a>, in principle, works like the lens of a camera, which focuses light to make a sharp image. The size of the lens, called the aperture, determines the sharpness of the image,” explained Paul Rosen, NISAR’s project scientist at JPL. </p>



<p>“Without SAR, spaceborne radars could generate data, but the resolution would be too rough to be useful. With SAR, NISAR will be able to generate high-resolution imagery." </p>



<p>Using special interferometric techniques that compare images over time, NISAR enables researchers and data users to create 3D movies of changes happening on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-model-reveals-the-evolution-of-the-earths-surface/">Earth’s surface</a>.</p>



<p>NISAR builds on decades of radar research. It follows earlier missions from JPL, including Seasat in 1978 and Magellan in the 1990s, which mapped the surface of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/venus-secret-past-may-have-implications-for-earths-future/">Venus</a>. But this is the first time two SAR systems have flown together on a single Earth science satellite.</p>



<p>The technology has come a long way, and the stakes are real. </p>



<p>NISAR isn’t just about pretty pictures from space. It’s about tracking the changes happening on our planet - shifting ice, sinking coastlines, moving fault lines - so we can respond faster, plan smarter, and understand the systems we all depend on to live, grow food, and stay safe.</p>



<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://youtu.be/7fvTqm8Lt2U
</div></figure>



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NISAR satellite unfurls antenna in orbit, set to begin unprecedented Earth imaging mission

The NISAR mission - short for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar...

<p>Two weeks ago, 43 endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs took to the skies in a helicopter from the Oakland Zoo. A team transported them to their new home in the high country of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The zoo has now successfully translocated its 1,000th frog to its mountain home. This marks a milestone for the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs and the zoo.</p>



<p>This high-profile release is the latest chapter in a long fight to save the species.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-yellow-legged-frogs-disappeared">How yellow-legged frogs disappeared </h2>



<p>The Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs (<em><a href="https://www.fws.gov/species/sierra-nevada-yellow-legged-frog-rana-sierrae" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rana sierrae</a></em>), also called yellow-legged frogs, used to be common across California’s alpine lakes and streams. Keeping insect populations balanced and feeding predators like birds and snakes. </p>



<p>Non-native trout introduced in the late 1800s were the first blow to this native species. The trout ate the tadpoles in large numbers. </p>



<p>Having always lived in fishless lakes, the tadpoles were defenseless. Then the frogs faced more threats because of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/endangered-species-act-faces-its-biggest-legal-shift-in-decades/">habitat destruction</a>.</p>



<p>The final blow was the devastating <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-020-0335-x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">chytrid fungus</a> (<em>Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis</em>, or Bd). Succumbing to it, their population crashed by more than 90% in a decade. </p>



<p>Young frogs fresh after their tadpole stage (called metamorphs) are most susceptible to this fungus.</p>



<p>“Yellow-legged frogs once were a keystone species in high-elevation lakes, but chytrid and other factors reduced their populations significantly,” the Oakland Zoo stated in a <a href="https://www.oaklandzoo.org/news/1000th-frog-release" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">press release</a>.</p>



<p>Conservationists feared the endangered species would vanish. But they rolled up their sleeves and went to work. Now the tide is turning through years of sheer persistence.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-taming-of-a-lethal-fungus">The taming of a lethal fungus</h2>



<p>Researchers got together as part of the High Mountain Lakes Project. It is a collaboration between UC Santa Barbara (<a href="https://www.ucsb.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UCSB</a>), the Oakland Zoo, and others. </p>



<p>Pooling their resources, they studied the chytrid fungus and its effects on frogs. They identified skin peptides and beneficial bacteria that have antifungal properties.</p>



<p>The UCSB researchers developed a trick to improve <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/frog-saunas-hot-solution-to-fighting-global-amphibian-extinction-apocalypse/">frog immunity</a>. At the zoo, the frogs are exposed to a controlled dose of the chytrid fungus to train their immune systems. </p>



<p>Then, they undergo treatment with antifungal baths. This immune “training” gives the frogs a better chance of fighting the fungus. It’s the trick that prepares the frogs for the wild.</p>



<p>The zoo staff know each frog; they pit tag, weigh, measure, and swab every frog and keep a record.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-first-rays-of-hope-in-yosemite">First rays of hope in Yosemite</h2>



<p>Scientists found that some frog populations were naturally resistant to the deadly fungus. These frogs were all Bd-positive, indicating that they had the fungal infection. But they continued to thrive. This finding was the beginning of a meticulous reintroduction plan. </p>



<p>Researchers collected adult Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs from three large, naturally recovering populations. Then, they relocated the frogs to 12 suitable, empty <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-save-native-turtles-by-removing-thousands-of-bullfrogs/">lake habitats in Yosemite</a> between 2006 to 2020.</p>



<p>Their long-term observations changed the outlook for the survival of these frogs in the wild. Of the 12 reintroduced populations, nine reproduced successfully - a 75 percent success rate.</p>



<p>The transplanted frogs kept low-to-moderate fungal loads even in new habitats. Just low enough to avoid severe fungal disease and death. </p>



<p>This showed that the resistance was built into the frogs’ genetic makeup. Therefore, it would pass on to their offspring. </p>



<p>Additionally, resilience could persist across different locations and did not hinge on environmental characteristics.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-yellow-legged-frog-survival-rates">Yellow-legged frog survival rates</h2>



<p>The full-scale study on the reintroduction of frogs in Yosemite reported that many factors influence frog survival. The study published in <em>Nature Communications</em>, led by Roland D. Knapp, Ph.D., from UCSB, found indicators that improve the survival of the frogs. </p>



<p>Surviving the first year was a powerful predictor of long-term persistence. If 50% of frogs survive their first year, the population often remains stable for decades, according to their model.</p>



<p>Notably, Bd load at the time of release did not predict survival. The frogs survived despite carrying a fungal load because of their inherent resistance. Therefore, choosing a resilient donor population was critical.</p>



<p>Where the scientists release frogs mattered as much as the frogs’ resistance. Sites with overwintering refuges, like submerged boulders, improved survival rates. </p>



<p>These protected the frogs from the cold. Chances of survival also improved if the winter was less severe a year after release. </p>



<p>These suitable sites are not easy to reach, however. The conservationists hiked to remote areas or used helicopters to keep track of the reintroduced frogs.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-yellow-legged-frogs-have-friends-for-life">Yellow-legged frogs have friends for life</h2>



<p>Even after reintroduction, the conservationists continue to be the frogs’ friends. Field teams conduct capture-mark-recapture <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/small-scale-wildlife-surveys-can-reveal-the-health-of-entire-ecosystems/">surveys</a> to track individual frogs during the summer months. They also look for the juveniles and tadpoles to count them.</p>



<p>The pit tags identify the reintroduced frogs, acting like microchips on pets. Researchers capture the adult frogs in a hand-held net. They test the captured frogs for Bd, then measure their size and weight before releasing them.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The rise in population can be tracked with “new recruits”. They are the progeny of the translocated frogs. Researchers tag them after their first capture.</p>



<p>Keeping track is critical to keep the frogs safe in their new home. If an outbreak occurs, a quick reaction is the only way to prevent the fungus from wiping them out. </p>



<p>This is where the Oakland Zoo’s Rapid Response team comes in. They can mobilize within days to treat the frogs in the wild.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-saving-a-keystone-species">Saving a keystone species</h2>



<p>Yellow-legged frogs once anchored Sierra Nevada alpine ecosystems, controlling insects and supporting predators. Their disappearance disrupted those systems. Reintroducing them helps repair the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reintroducing-wolves-could-help-scotland-fight-climate-change/">ecosystem</a>.</p>



<p>Challenges still stand in the way. Metamorphs, the young adults, remain highly vulnerable to Bd, slowing the growth of adult populations. </p>



<p>Genetic monitoring is critical to enhance diversity in reintroduced populations. Future efforts may use selective breeding to <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10668650/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">strengthen resistance</a> even further. For now, the Sequoia and Kings Canyon release offers a clear sign of progress. </p>



<p>Samantha Sammons is the Oakland Zoo’s wildlife recovery program manager. “We need to keep this movement going to make sure that these frogs don’t disappear again,” said Sammons, calling the event “a major milestone.” </p>



<p>Conservationists are giving the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs a real chance at recovery. If these efforts succeed, the chorus of frogs may once again echo across California’s mountain lakes - a sign of restored ecosystems.</p>



<p>The full study was published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-53608-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Nature Communications</em></a><em>.</em></p>



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Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs reintroduced in landmark event

Two weeks ago, 43 endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs took...

<p>Most of us know music can make life feel lighter - it turns chores into something tolerable and workouts into something motivating. But what about when you hit play after an experience instead of during it? That’s where things get interesting.</p>



<p>A new study from scientists at <a href="https://www.ucla.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UCLA</a> shows that music can shape how well we remember something - if it makes us feel the right way. This effect is not influenced by whether the song is happy, sad, or even familiar. It’s about how much emotion the music stirs in you.</p>



<p>“We found that whether music was negative or positive or whether it was familiar didn’t have as much of an influence on memory as the emotional response people felt while listening to it,” said study co-author Professor Stephanie Leal.</p>



<p>“There was an optimal level of emotional response that aided in remembering the details of an experience. Too much or too little emotional response had the opposite effect - worse memory for details, but better memory for the gist of an experience.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-music-memory-and-emotions">Music, memory, and emotions</h2>



<p>The study involved volunteers who were shown pictures of everyday objects - things like oranges, laptops, and telephones. After viewing about 100 images, they listened to 10 minutes of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/classical-music-orchestrates-a-mood-lifting-dance-in-the-brain/">classical music</a>. </p>



<p>When their emotional arousal had returned to normal, the volunteers were tested on what they remembered.</p>



<p>Some images were exactly the same. Some were slightly altered versions. Some were completely new. </p>



<p>Participants had to say whether they had seen the object before and if it was identical or different. They also answered questions about how the music made them feel and whether it was familiar.</p>



<p>The music itself didn’t boost memory across the board. But it helped some people a lot - especially when it came to spotting that an image was similar but not exactly the same.</p>



<p>The key factor? <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/listening-to-music-can-change-how-we-recall-memories/">Emotional arousal</a>. The participants with the best recall weren’t the ones who felt the strongest emotions. They were the ones who felt just enough.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-music-shapes-memory">How music shapes memory</h2>



<p>Memory isn’t just about capturing every detail. Most of the time, we’re remembering the big picture - what researchers call gist-based memory. It’s what helps us recall the idea of something without holding onto all the tiny facts. But sometimes, the details matter. That’s where detail-based memory comes in.</p>



<p>“We used a task designed to tap into the difference between gist- and detail-based memory,” said Leal. “Music helped with detail-based memory but only when the level of emotional arousal was just right for that person.”</p>



<p>This makes sense. If you’re overwhelmed, your brain might blur the details. If you’re bored, it might not care enough to store them. There’s a sweet spot in between where <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/memory-isnt-only-stored-in-our-brains-other-cells-can-remember-too/">memory</a> for detail gets sharper.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-music-in-learning-and-therapy">Music in learning and therapy</h2>



<p>The researchers say this kind of emotional “tuning” could eventually help in real-world situations. </p>



<p>For example, listening to moderately arousing music after studying might help you hold onto more precise information for a test. But music that’s too emotional might have the opposite effect.</p>



<p>“Music has the ability to influence a part of your <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-does-the-human-brain-create-retrieve-memories-engram-cells-connections/">brain</a> called the hippocampus, which is essential for turning experiences into memories,” Leal said. “We think it should be possible to tap into that in a selective way to boost or impair memory depending on the therapeutic goals.”</p>



<p>It’s not just about learning. This could also help with memory loss in aging, or in people with early-stage <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-disruptions-could-signal-the-onset-of-alzheimers/">Alzheimer’s</a>. And for people with anxiety or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/meditation-can-rapidly-reduce-ptsd-without-revisiting-trauma/">PTSD</a>, music might help them remember the general idea of a tough experience - without reliving every sharp edge of it.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-different-effects-for-everyone">Different effects for everyone</h2>



<p>The challenge is that what works emotionally varies a lot between people. What’s “moderately arousing” for one person might not hit the same for another. That’s why this line of research is moving toward personalized therapy.</p>



<p>“In my lab, we’re trying to detect changes in the brain and cognition early. Music is noninvasive, low cost, and easy to personalize, and by learning more about the mechanisms that connect it to memory, we can develop treatments and interventions to prevent the disease from progressing,” Leal said. </p>



<p>“If the federal government reduces funding for Alzheimer’s research, the chances that we’ll be able to develop this line of research into inexpensive yet effective treatments are very low, as developing personalized treatments requires lots of participants in research to really capture individual needs.”</p>



<p>In other words, music isn’t just for playlists and background noise. If we can figure out how to fine-tune its emotional effects, it could become a powerful way to shape how we remember - and how we heal.</p>



<p>The full study was published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/content/45/31/e0158252025" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JNeurosci</a></em>.</p>



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Music boosts memory - but only with the right emotional spark

Most of us know music can make life feel lighter...

<p>The northern frontier of Roman Britain just added an unexpected data point, and it is shoe size. Archaeologists at Magna Roman Fort have uncovered leather footwear that is unusually large for the period, in some cases longer than 12 inches, with one example measuring roughly 12.8 inches.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The scale of the discovery stands out in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-roman-concrete-offers-lessons-for-sustainable-building/">Roman</a> archaeology and raises fresh questions about who was wearing what on Hadrian’s Wall. The find is not a one-off.&nbsp;</p>



<p>From the season’s assemblage at Magna, about a quarter of the shoes exceed 11.8 inches, while a nearby site, Vindolanda, shows only a tiny fraction of supersized examples in its long-studied collection. That contrast invites careful comparison rather than quick conclusions.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.uwo.ca/classics//about-us/greene.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr Elizabeth Greene</a>, Associate Professor at <a href="https://www.uwo.ca/arts/">West</a><a href="https://www.uwo.ca/arts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">e</a><a href="https://www.uwo.ca/arts/">rn University</a> and the Vindolanda Trust’s footwear specialist, and <a href="https://ajaonline.org/author/4743/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr Andrew Birley</a>, CEO and Director of Excavations at the <a href="https://romanarmymuseum.com/about-vindolanda/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vindolanda Trust</a>, are among the researchers interpreting the new material.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-size-for-roman-shoes">Surprising size for Roman shoes</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/317-skeletons-from-the-roman-empire-found-beneath-an-old-shopping-center/">Roman</a> footwear usually mirrors modern feet more than myths suggest, which is why Magna’s outliers get attention. Eight shoes longer than 11.8 inches have been logged so far this season, including the current Trust record at about 12.8 inches, taken from a defensive ditch just outside the fort wall.</p>



<p>What explains the upsizing here but not next door at Vindolanda, where more than 5,000 Roman shoes have been cataloged over decades of work. </p>



<p>One hypothesis is a garrison or community with different body types or supply habits, but the data set is still small and under conservation, so restraint is wise.</p>



<p>Shoes are not just sizes and soles. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/archeologists-discover-sculptures-that-could-be-almost-life-size-representations-of-a-roman-family/">Roman</a> cobblers built layers of cowhide into sturdy platform shoes and pegged them with iron hobnails, so the outsole gripped and lasted on rough surfaces, which helps archaeologists read use, wear and gait.</p>



<p>When leather survives with seams, thongs, and nail patterns, it can point to workshop traditions, supply routes, and even rank or role within a unit or household. Those are testable lines of inquiry at Magna as conservation advances.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clues-from-the-soil">Clues from the soil</h2>



<p>The shoes survive because the ditch fills at Magna have been at least partly anaerobic, meaning oxygen was limited and decay slowed way down. </p>



<p>Low oxygen, high groundwater, and fine sediments together create <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/preserving-archaeological-remains/heag100e-appendix4-water-monitoring-for-archaeological-sites/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">preservation pockets</a> where organic finds hang on for centuries.</p>



<p>Those conditions also seal in fragile traces of daily life, like insect parts, seeds, and parasite eggs. </p>



<p>The team at Vindolanda, just a short walk east along the frontier, previously recovered roundworm and whipworm eggs from drain sediments linked to a latrine, which adds a health dimension to material culture studies.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-preserving-ancient-roman-shoes">Preserving ancient Roman shoes</h2>



<p>The same chemistry that protects leather can be undone by drying soils, fluctuating water tables, and shifts in oxidation reduction potential (<a href="https://www.gov.nt.ca/sites/ecc/files/oxidation-reduction_potential.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ORP</a>). </p>



<p>Site monitoring on Hadrian’s Wall has documented the vulnerability of waterlogged archaeology to modern weather patterns, which is a polite way of saying that climate variability can accelerate loss of information in a single hot, dry season.</p>



<p>At Vindolanda, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-94853-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scientists</a> have paired portable X-ray fluorescence with microbial DNA surveys to track how buried conditions shape preservation. </p>



<p>That work provides a technical baseline for interpreting the state of organic artefacts and for planning how to stabilize deposits before they turn aerobic and start crumbling.</p>



<p>“We can only celebrate and marvel at the diversity and differences of these people if we can still see them in the archaeological data we gather today,” said Birley, pointing to the bigger picture that sits behind a single large sole.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-as-analysis-continues">What to watch as analysis continues</h2>



<p>Conservators expect modest shrinkage during treatment, so final measurements may tick down a hair. </p>



<p>Even so, the current proportions already push the edges of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasas-roman-space-telescope-hopes-to-solve-the-dark-matter-mystery/">Roman</a> footwear known from Britain and justify careful comparison to the long-run dataset at Vindolanda.</p>



<p>Wear patterns, nail layouts, and any surviving uppers will help distinguish winter boots from everyday shoes, and medical padding from sizing differences. </p>



<p>Context matters, so associated pottery and construction phases inside the fort will anchor the footwear in time and use.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-frontier-that-keeps-teaching">Frontier that keeps teaching</h2>



<p>Hadrian’s Wall is famous for stone and turf, but its quieter story is the organic record below the grass. When that record holds together, it can show how soldiers and families shopped, worked, walked, and stayed warm, right down to what got tracked through a doorway.</p>



<p>That is why Magna’s ditch fills matter beyond a headline about big feet. They give archaeologists more than a snapshot, they give a sequence of choices across seasons and supplies that we cannot reconstruct from pottery alone.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-health-hygiene-and-the-small-stuff">Health, hygiene, and the small stuff</h2>



<p>Archaeologists are also looking for tiny traces in the same layers, since these deposits can contain important health-related evidence. </p>



<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24141513/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Paleoparasitology</a> integrates microscope work with site context to trace infections across time and place, and it already has a track record in Roman Britain.</p>



<p>At Vindolanda, the latrine drain eggs confirmed gastrointestinal infections that were widespread across the empire, a pattern echoed by independent <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/roman-toilets-gave-no-clear-health-benefit-and-romanisation-actually-spread-parasites" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a> of Roman sanitation and parasite prevalence. That kind of evidence sits in the same micro-environments that keep leather intact.</p>



<p>The simplest next step is the hardest: patient conservation, measurement, and context-by-context analysis. </p>



<p>Only then will the statistics settle enough to test whether Magna’s footwear points to taller people, different supply chains, or colder kit.</p>



<p>Meanwhile, the preservation question will not wait forever. Keeping ditch fills wet and low in oxygen is not just a technical preference, it is the condition that keeps this period’s most personal artefacts readable at all.</p>



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Archaeologists discover giant shoes dating back 2,000 years, the largest ever found

The northern frontier of Roman Britain just added an unexpected...

<p>The sun is ramping up right now. We're in one of its most active periods, something that happens roughly every 11 years. That means more solar storms, more polar lights, and more disruptions to satellites and electrical systems here on Earth.</p>



<p>But even at its wildest, our sun is relatively quiet compared to others like it. In fact, its strongest radiation outbursts are 10 to 100 times weaker than those from similar stars. That surprising calmness may be a key reason life on Earth exists at all.</p>



<p>Scientists at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (<a href="https://www.hzdr.de/db/Cms?pOid=74004&amp;pNid=0&amp;pLang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HZDR</a>) in Germany believe they may have found an explanation for the sun's stability. And it might come down to something closer to home: the planets in our solar system.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-planets-shape-the-sun-s-activity">Planets shape the sun’s activity</h2>



<p>Over the past decade, researchers at HZDR have developed a model that ties nearly all of the sun’s activity cycles to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mars-gravity-pulls-earth-closer-to-the-sun-warming-our-climate-scientists-say/">gravitational pull</a> of the planets. Venus, Earth, and Jupiter line up every 11 years and create a combined tidal force on the sun.</p>



<p>This isn’t a simple push and pull. It’s more like a steady nudge, one that keeps the sun’s magnetic engine ticking in a predictable rhythm. When combined with the sun's own motion through space, this mechanism produces overlapping cycles that match what we see in solar behavior.</p>



<p>"All the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/suns-next-solar-cycle-26-has-already-begun/">solar cycles</a> identified are a logical consequence of our model; its explanatory power and internal consistency are really astounding. Each time we have refined our model we have discovered additional correlations with the periods observed," said Frank Stefani, one of the lead researchers at HZDR.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cycle-that-limits-solar-activity">Cycle that limits solar activity</h2>



<p>In their most recent study, the team focused on a specific cycle known as the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, or QBO. This is a smaller pattern - about two years long - that shows up in various features of solar activity.</p>



<p>The model doesn’t just predict the QBO. It gives it an exact period and shows that the QBO actually limits the sun's overall activity. </p>



<p>While the main 11-year cycle swings between high and low <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/solar-dynamo-sun-magnetic-field-origin-generated-near-surface/">magnetic fields</a>, QBO adds a shorter pattern on top. That causes the sun to spend less time at peak magnetic strength, which means fewer extreme solar events overall.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bursts-of-solar-radiation">Bursts of solar radiation</h2>



<p>Previous solar data put the QBO somewhere between 1.5 and 1.8 years. Some earlier studies hinted at a connection between QBO and bursts of high-energy solar particles that hit Earth’s surface. These are called Ground Level Enhancement (<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/massive-solar-outburst-detected-simultaneously-at-earth-the-moon-and-mars/">GLE</a>) events, and they can cause sudden spikes in cosmic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/noaa-severe-solar-storm-expected-to-reach-earth-tomorrow-october-10-2024/">radiation</a>.</p>



<p>"A study conducted in 2018 shows that radiation events measured close to the ground occurred more in the positive phase of an oscillation with a period of 1.73 years. Contrary to the usual assumption that these solar particle eruptions are random phenomena, this observation indicates a fundamental, cyclical process," Stefani noted.</p>



<p>When the team reanalyzed the timeline of these events, they found the strongest correlation at 1.724 years. That number lined up almost perfectly with the 1.723-year cycle predicted by their model.</p>



<p>"This value is remarkably close to the value of 1.723 years which occurs in our model as a completely natural activity cycle," said Stefani. "We assume that it is QBO."</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-sun-stays-relatively-calm">Why the sun stays relatively calm</h2>



<p>The QBO’s influence may explain why our sun doesn’t produce the kinds of violent eruptions seen from similar stars. </p>



<p>In the team's model, the QBO creates a "bimodal" pattern in the sun’s magnetic field. That is, instead of peaking once and staying high, the magnetic strength sees two peaks with a dip in between. That dip lowers the sun’s average field strength over time.</p>



<p>"This effect is so important because the sun is most active during the highest field strengths. This is when the most intense events occur, with huge <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/massive-geomagnetic-storm-reveals-earths-technological-vulnerabilities/">geomagnetic storms</a> like the Carrington event of 1859 when polar lights could even be seen in Rome and Havana, and high voltages damaged telegraph lines," said Stefani.</p>



<p>"If the sun's magnetic field remains at lower field strengths for a significantly longer period of time, however, this reduces the likelihood of very violent events," he added.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-sun-s-built-in-stability">The sun’s built-in stability</h2>



<p>The study suggests that the relatively calm nature of our sun may not be an accident. It could be the result of a finely balanced set of gravitational nudges from its surrounding planets - especially from Earth, Venus, and Jupiter.</p>



<p>According to the researchers, this built-in stability might be part of why Earth has been such a good home for life.</p>



<p>While solar physicists are still piecing together the full story, the research from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf offers a new way to think about the sun - not just as a fiery ball of gas, but as part of a much more synchronized system than we ever imagined.</p>



<p>The full study was published in the journal <em><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11207-025-02521-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Solar Physics</a></em>.</p>



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Why our sun is unusually calm - and what that means for Earth

The sun is ramping up right now. We're in one...

<p>Federal scientists report the first detection of tetrahydrocannabinol (<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563174/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">THC</a>) in human breath after people ate cannabis edibles, marking a careful but notable step toward measuring recent use outside a lab.</p>



<p>There is a catch, though, and it is important. The signals vary widely from person to person and from one moment to the next, which means no one should rush to treat a single breath reading as proof of recent use or impairment.</p>



<p>Lead author <a href="https://www.nist.gov/people/jennifer-berry" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jennifer L. Berry</a> is a research chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (<a href="https://www.nist.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NIST</a>). She worked alongside colleagues from the same institution and a partnering medical campus who contributed to the study’s design and analysis.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-thc-breath-tests-matter">Why THC breath tests matter</h2>



<p>Researchers have long wanted a simple roadside tool, but chemistry keeps getting in the way. </p>



<p>THC and related <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11264354/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cannabinoids</a> are large, sticky molecules that ride in airborne droplets rather than cleanly evaporating like alcohol, which complicates collection and measurement.</p>



<p>That is why teams now test both aerosol capture devices and exhaled breath condensate (<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2170898/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">EBC</a>) approaches that chill the breath to trap what comes out. </p>



<p>Even with these methods, prior studies found THC hanging around before any observed use, a reminder that abstinence windows and device sensitivity can skew results.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-the-study-learned">What the study learned</h2>



<p>The new study enrolled 29 adults, asked them to abstain ahead of time, and collected breath samples before consumption and again at about 47 minutes, 92 minutes, and 180 minutes after eating their own labeled edible product.</p>



<p>Two devices were used, one designed to catch aerosol particles and another that collects a cooled condensate. </p>



<p>The team then analyzed each sample for THC and 10 other cannabinoids using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.</p>



<p>Despite the abstinence requests, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/popular-new-thc-variant-delta-8-is-not-harmless-despite-marketing-claims/">THC</a> appeared in pre-use breath from 27 of 29 participants, ranging from trace levels to more than 0.4 ng per device. </p>



<p>After edible ingestion, 19 participants showed a significant increase at one or more post-use time points, 4 showed no change, and 6 showed a significant decrease.</p>



<p>“This proof-of-concept study shows that THC concentration in breath can increase after the ingestion of cannabis-infused edibles, but the uncertainty of breath measurements and a longer time window need to be further explored,” wrote Berry.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-thc-breath-tests-and-baseline-issues">THC breath tests and baseline issues</h2>



<p>“The finding of detectable and/or quantifiable THC before cannabis use shows how challenging it is to interpret a single THC concentration measurement in breath with no prior information about THC at baseline,” wrote Berry. </p>



<p>The most striking pattern, beyond the individual variability, is the high rate of detectable THC before anyone ate an edible.</p>



<p>That baseline problem is not unique to breath. A 2025 systematic <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12032524/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">review</a> of studies connecting blood THC to driving performance found that most papers reported no linear relationship, even when driving metrics like lateral control and reaction time were measured with care.</p>



<p>Oral fluid tests are popular because they are easy to use, but their purpose matters. </p>



<p>An <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35640367/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">analysis</a> of over 18,000 paired samples found that although THC in oral fluid can show whether THC is present in the blood, using it to identify drivers above standard blood limits would lead to many false positives. </p>



<p>NIST’s own breath work in cannabis smokers supports taking repeated measurements rather than a one-off reading, since THC often falls sharply within hours and device methods differ in what they capture.</p>



<p>Put simply, the new edible study adds a missing piece, but it does not turn breath into an instant yes or no test. It suggests that trends over time, not single snapshots, are more promising for identifying recent use across routes of administration.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-this-means">What this means</h2>



<p>Traffic safety policy has leaned on numerical cutoffs for alcohol for decades. Cannabis does not play by the same rules, and federal safety agencies have said as much in <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/documents/812440-marijuana-impaired-driving-report-to-congress.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a> to Congress that caution against equating blood THC numbers with impairment in the way we do for alcohol.</p>



<p>“If you have chronic users versus infrequent users, they have very different concentrations correlated to different effects,” said <a href="https://nij.ojp.gov/library/podcast/whats-known-and-unknown-about-marijuana-part2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frances Scott</a>, a physical scientist at NIJ’s Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences.</p>



<p>The team also tracked other cannabinoids. In many participants, CBN and CBG rose and fell in step with THC, while CBD sometimes did not, a hint that multi-analyte panels or ratios may carry more information than THC alone when the goal is to pinpoint recent use after edibles.</p>



<p>That pattern echoes earlier breath work showing some non-THC <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trema-micrantha-brazilian-plant-contains-cbd-without-thc-found-in-cannabis/">cannabinoids</a> appear only after use and could act as markers when combined with THC kinetics. It is a direction that calls for standard methods, shared reference materials, and longer sampling windows.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-next-steps-for-thc-breath-tests">Next steps for THC breath tests</h2>



<p>This was a small, carefully designed study without standardized dosing, and participants brought their own edibles labeled <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cbd-relieves-anxiety-without-the-risks-that-come-with-thc/">THC</a> that the researchers did not independently verify.</p>



<p>Sampling ended at 3 hours, which likely missed some peak values, and device differences could influence capture and recovery. None of the breath measures were tied directly to driving performance in this experiment.</p>



<p>A credible breath test will require validated collection protocols, calibration standards, and clear guidance on how to interpret rising or falling readings over time. </p>



<p>Those pieces are starting to come together in studies that map breath changes minute by minute and compare matrices side by side.</p>



<p>For now, the message is measured. Breath can carry THC after edibles, the kinetics can be tracked, and multi-timepoint strategies may be the fairest and most informative way to use that signal in real life.</p>



<p>The study is published in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jat/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jat/bkaf063/8196217" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Journal of Analytical Toxicology</em></a>.</p>



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New test is able to detect THC in breath for the first time after eating or smoking cannabis

Federal scientists report the first detection of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in...

<p>New observations of comet 12P/Pons Brooks have pinned down a <a href="https://sci.esa.int/web/herschel/-/49378-the-deuterium-to-hydrogen-ratio-in-the-solar-system" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">D/H ratio</a> in its water that matches Earth’s oceans within acceptable uncertainties. This unexpected discovery tightens the link between cometary ice and the water at our taps.</p>



<p>For the first time, researchers <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02614-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mapped</a> ordinary water and deuterium bearing water in a comet’s coma using ALMA, giving spatial detail that nailed the source and sharpened the measurement.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-led-the-study">Who led the study</h2>



<p><a href="https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci/bio/martin.cordiner" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Martin Cordiner</a> of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center led the international team that combined <a href="https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/home/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ALMA</a> and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (<a href="https://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IRTF</a>).</p>



<p>“Our new results provide the strongest evidence yet that at least some Halley type comets carried water with the same isotopic signature as that found on Earth, supporting the idea that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/comet-3i-atlas-shows-unusual-dust-patterns-as-it-zips-through-our-solar-system/">comets</a> could have helped make our planet habitable,” said Cordiner.</p>



<p>“By mapping both H2O and HDO in the comet’s coma, we can tell if these gases are coming from the frozen ices within the solid body of the nucleus, rather than forming from chemistry or other processes in the gas coma,” said <a href="https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci/bio/stefanie.n.milam" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stefanie Milam</a> from NASA's <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Goddard</a> and co-author of the study.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-isotopes-explain-earth-s-water">Isotopes explain Earth’s water</h2>



<p>Water is H2O, but the hydrogen can be the heavy isotope deuterium, so scientists track the D/H ratio to compare water across the solar system and test shared origins or separate histories. </p>



<p>Different comets have shown different D/H values in the past, which complicated the idea that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-a-comet-explodes-cosmic-airbursts-are-more-common-than-we-thought/">comets</a> filled Earth’s oceans.</p>



<p>A warm inner solar system comet, <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/103p-hartley-hartley-2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">103P/Hartley 2</a>, carried water with a D/H close to Earth’s, measured with the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/herschel-space-observatory/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Herschel</a> telescope in 2011 and often cited as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10519" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evidence</a> for icy deliveries from small bodies.</p>



<p>Other targets pulled in the opposite direction. Rosetta sampled <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1261952" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko</a> and found a much higher D/H, pointing to diverse water reservoirs among comets.</p>



<p>Meteorites have long weighed in too. Many <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1223474" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">carbonaceous chondrites</a> (a rare type of primitive stony meteorite characterized by their high carbon content and other volatile elements) show ocean-like water, which led many researchers to favor asteroids over comets as the main source of Earth’s water supply.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-comet-12p-reveals">What comet 12P reveals</h2>



<p>12P/Pons Brooks belongs to <a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Halley-type comets</a>, objects with orbits between 20 and 200 years that sweep through the inner solar system only now and then. </p>



<p>Its orbital period is about 71 years according to NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s (<a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JPL</a>’s) Small-Body Database (<a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SBD</a>) database, so it gives us rare chances to study an icy body that likely formed far from the Sun.</p>



<p>Many members of this class are thought to originate in the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11214-015-0161-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oort cloud</a>, a distant reservoir of small icy bodies nudged inward over time, which means their ice can preserve early solar system conditions.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-measuring-comet-12p-water">Measuring comet 12P water</h2>



<p>ALMA’s <a href="https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/about-alma/how-alma-works/technologies/interferometry/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interferometry</a> links many antennas to create high resolution images at millimeter wavelengths, letting scientists map where molecules arise within the coma rather than just tallying totals along a line of sight.</p>



<p>The group paired ALMA’s maps with near infrared measurements from the NASA IRTF, using its <a href="https://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/~ishell/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">iSHELL</a> spectrograph to track water and companion gases that inform composition and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/whats-up-in-the-night-sky-during-the-month-of-april-2025/">context</a>. </p>



<p>That one-two approach narrowed uncertainties enough to report a D/H with a precision that separates it from many past comet results.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-earth-like-water-in-12p-is-important">Earth-like water in 12P is important</h2>



<p>If some Halley-type comets carry ocean-like water, then the roster of plausible couriers expands beyond certain asteroids and a few Jupiter family comets. </p>



<p>A mixed delivery, timed during heavy bombardment in early Earth history, remains a coherent picture that many geochemists and dynamicists can test with new targets.</p>



<p>Comets also carry carbon based molecules. <a href="https://www.mps.mpg.de/en/rosetta/rosina" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ROSINA</a> (Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis) mass spectrometer <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27386550/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">identified</a> the amino acid glycine and phosphorus at 67P, a reminder that icy bodies can ship both water and life’s raw materials together to rocky worlds.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-comets-show-different-water">Why comets show different water</h2>



<p>Different formation zones, thermal histories, and processing by sunlight and cosmic rays can tweak isotope ratios in ices. </p>



<p>That leads to the mix of D/H values seen so far, including the high number at 67P and Earth-like water at Hartley 2 and now 12P.</p>



<p>Sampling a broader set of Oort cloud and Halley-type objects will show whether 12P sits at one end of a spectrum or marks a common <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/interstellar-comet-31-atlas-stuns-astronomers-with-size-and-speed/">pattern</a> for this family.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-comet-12p-and-future-space-missions">Comet 12p and future space missions</h2>



<p>Future campaigns can repeat the ALMA plus IRTF playbook on other periodic comets as they approach the Sun. </p>



<p>Missions on the horizon, such as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11214-023-01035-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Comet Interceptor</a>, aim to visit a dynamically pristine object and could take isotope studies off Earth entirely with in situ measurements.</p>



<p>Each target with a precise D/H moves the debate from broad strokes to fine lines, where models of solar system dynamics and geochemistry either hold water or spring leaks.</p>



<p>12P passed perihelion in April 2024, which brought its activity within reach of powerful facilities that did not exist during many earlier apparitions. </p>



<p>Timing, instrumentation, and careful cross calibration combined to give the field a clean measurement that others can challenge or confirm with comparable methods.</p>



<p>Precision like this offers a stepping stone toward a full inventory of small-body water sources across different dynamical classes and origins. This is a leap forward, even by today’s technological standards.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-we-still-need-to-learn">What we still need to learn</h2>



<p>Isotope ratios in other molecules, such as nitrogen and oxygen species, will further test shared heritage between cometary ices and Earth’s reservoirs. </p>



<p>Linking those chemical fingerprints with dynamical simulations of how material moved around the young solar system will sharpen which bodies delivered what, and when.</p>



<p>A handful of well measured comets can anchor those models, but the goal is a population view that explains the widespread seen so far without special pleading.</p>



<p>The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02614-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Nature Astronomy</em></a>.</p>



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Comet 12P/Pons Brooks is made of water that is almost identical to Earth's water

New observations of comet 12P/Pons Brooks have pinned down a...

conciertos-madrid-2026-fechas-artistas-entradas - 1

<p>Eight Pacific sleeper sharks showed up for dinner when researchers dropped a cow carcass to the seafloor of the South China Sea at 5,344 feet (1,629 meters) near Hainan Island. </p>



<p>The visit offered a rare observation of how these deep residents feed, wait, and make room for one another.</p>



<p>The <a href="https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/65736/noaa_65736_DS1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">species</a> is hard to study because it ranges widely and spends much of its life in cold, dark water. Scientists struggle to track it across the North Pacific, from Japan and Alaska down to Baja California, and into a few tropical outposts.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-put-a-cow-on-the-seafloor">Why put a cow on the seafloor?</h2>



<p>A whale fall is what biologists call it when a dead whale sinks and turns the seafloor into a temporary buffet. </p>



<p>Research teams sometimes simulate that scene to <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.885572/pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a> who arrives and how energy moves through the deep. The South China Sea team followed that playbook with cameras and a carefully placed cow.</p>



<p>These carcasses create waves of life that unfold in stages, starting with mobile scavengers, then opportunists, then long, slow bone feasts powered by microbes. </p>



<p>The point is not the species of the carcass, it is the sudden pulse of organic matter that draws in animals from far and wide.</p>



<p>The <a href="https://spj.science.org/doi/pdf/10.34133/olar.0095" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paper</a>’s lead author is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Han-Tian-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Han Tian</a> of <a href="https://www.sysu.edu.cn/sysuen/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sun Yat-sen University</a> and the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory. </p>



<p>The group partnered with the Institute of Acoustics (<a href="http://english.ioa.cas.cn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IOA</a>) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and an offshore engineering team to run the operation.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sleeper-sharks-appeared-unexpectedly">Sleeper sharks appeared unexpectedly</h2>



<p>The sharks attacked, waited, and circled in turn, with body size shaping tactics. Individuals longer than 2.7 meters, 8.9 feet, hit the carcass directly, while smaller <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/warming-oceans-are-changing-shark-migration-patterns/">sharks</a> moved carefully and held back.</p>



<p>They also queued in a rough order. “This behavior suggests that feeding priority is determined by individual competitive intensity, even in deep-water environments, reflecting a survival strategy suitable for non-solitary foraging among Pacific sleeper sharks,” explained Han Tian.</p>



<p>This was the first documented presence of Pacific sleeper sharks in the South China Sea, which expands the species’ known range in a warm basin long considered outside its core distribution. </p>



<p>The observation raises fair questions about how currents, food availability, or temperature structure their movements.</p>



<p>Past records already nudged the map south when sightings surfaced near the Solomon Islands and Palau, almost 1,250 miles below traditional range limits. Those scattered reports hinted at flexibility that formal surveys struggle to capture.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-pecking-order-at-depth">The pecking order at depth</h2>



<p>Social rules showed up in the footage even without sound or light beyond the cameras. </p>



<p>Sharks yielded positions to an approaching neighbor and one animal carried a fin scar, a hint that status is negotiated with both restraint and force when necessary.</p>



<p>Scavenging order is not unique to this species, and researchers have documented multi-shark meals with shifting access on other large carcasses in blue water. </p>



<p>Field <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/fish-science/articles/10.3389/frish.2025.1520995/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a> show oceanic whitetips and tiger sharks sharing a carcass with loose spacing and brief disputes, a pattern that mirrors what the cameras captured on the seafloor here.</p>



<p>The video picked up a quick eye retraction movement during feeding. That makes sense for a shark lineage that lacks a nictitating membrane, the third eyelid that many other sharks deploy as a shield.</p>



<p>A nictitating membrane slides across the cornea during risky moments and is common in ground sharks such as requiems and hammerheads, but not in all <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/prehistoric-sea-monster-shark-fossils-found-in-worlds-largest-cave-325-million-years/">sharks</a>, so animals without it rely on other defenses like rolling or retracting the eyes.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-breath-and-the-spiracle-question">Breath and the spiracle question</h2>



<p>Suspended particles were seen exiting the sharks’ spiracles, small openings behind the eye, which suggests these structures help route water when the mouth is busy with food. </p>



<p>Classic lab <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/52/3/569/21545/Use-of-the-First-Gill-Slits-for-Water-Intake-in-a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a> show that water can be taken in through the first gill slits to keep oxygen flowing when the mouth is obstructed, a practical workaround during feeding.</p>



<p>A spiracle is a modified first gill slit that, in many bottom-dwelling sharks, provides a pathway to ventilate the eye and brain while the rest of the body holds steady. </p>



<p>It is reduced in some fast swimmers and more prominent in species that rest on the seafloor, which fits a slow, patient hunter like a sleeper shark.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-parasites-plague-sleeper-sharks">Parasites plague sleeper sharks</h2>



<p>White, elongated copepods clung to the heads of several sharks. </p>



<p>Close relatives often carry eye parasites, and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12099414/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a> in Alaska found nearly universal infection of Pacific sleeper shark corneas by Ommatokoita elongata, with typical loads of one to two adults per infected eye. </p>



<p>Those parasites can scar the cornea, which makes non-visual senses even more important in the deep.</p>



<p>Other visitors wandered in and out of frame, including a snailfish and a crowd of amphipods with the occasional giant isopod. </p>



<p>The community that assembles around a carcass changes hour by hour as the meal is taken apart and the energy is spread into the sediment.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-it-means-for-deep-sea-food-webs">What it means for deep-sea food webs</h2>



<p>Eight large scavengers arriving within hours means there is a network ready to respond when food drops. </p>



<p>That response plugs into a broader pattern in which carcasses feed mobile animals first, then fuel a long, microbial afterlife that supports worms and crustaceans for years.</p>



<p>The South China Sea sighting adds a piece to the puzzle of where these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shark-skeletons-could-lead-to-technological-innovations/">sharks</a> live and how they share food. </p>



<p>It also shows that simple, well-designed experiments can turn a single drop into a map point, a behavior log, and a better grasp of who eats what in the dark.</p>



<p>The study is published in <a href="https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/olar.0095" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research</em></a>.</p>



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Scientists put a dead cow on the deep ocean floor and filmed something very unexpected

Eight Pacific sleeper sharks showed up for dinner when researchers...

<p>In the bearded dragon, sex isn’t determined by chromosomes alone. These lizards can hatch male or female depending not just on their DNA, but also on the temperature of their nest. </p>



<p>This rare phenomenon has made the bearded dragon a focus for scientists exploring how sex is determined in vertebrates.</p>



<p>Now, two separate studies have built nearly complete reference genomes of the central <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/australian-dragons-reveal-new-clues-about-the-mysteries-of-sleep/">bearded dragon</a>, <em>Pogona vitticeps</em>.</p>



<p>The research provides the clearest look yet at what makes a male a male - and why sometimes, a genetically male dragon hatches as a female.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-bearded-dragon-s-genetic-switch">The bearded dragon's genetic switch</h2>



<p>The new research comes from scientists at the <a href="https://www.canberra.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Canberra</a> in Australia and <a href="http://www.zju.edu.cn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zhejiang University</a> in China. Both groups independently sequenced the bearded dragon genome, using different technologies and approaches.</p>



<p>The teams landed on the same key insight: a likely master sex-determining gene hiding in the dragon’s Z chromosome.</p>



<p>Unlike humans, where sex is determined entirely by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animal-chromosomes-have-conserved-specific-elements-for-600-million-years/">chromosomes</a>, bearded dragons follow a ZZ/ZW system. Males are ZZ and females are ZW. </p>



<p>But high temperatures during egg incubation can flip the switch - turning a genetic male (ZZ) into a fully functional female. That rare flexibility in vertebrates has made these lizards essential for studying how environment and DNA interact.</p>



<p>With the help of advanced sequencing tools, both teams zoomed in on one region of the genome they believe controls this entire process.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-two-genomes-one-big-answer">Two genomes, one big answer</h2>



<p>The first study used a combination of DNBSEQ short-reads and long-reads from the new CycloneSEQ nanopore sequencer. It’s the first time this technology has been used to sequence an animal <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/turtles-have-genomes-unlike-any-other-animal/">genome</a>.</p>



<p>The second project, focused on a female lizard, used a mix of PacBio HiFi, ONT ultralong reads, and Hi-C sequencing.</p>



<p>By analyzing different animals (one male, one female) and utilizing different technology, the teams created genomes that complement each other. </p>



<p>Together, the genomes help fill in gaps and confirm shared findings - like the identification of roughly 124 million base pairs of previously missing sequence, including genes and regulatory elements.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bearded-dragon-sex-gene">Bearded dragon sex gene</h2>



<p>Thanks to these advanced methods, the scientists were able to assemble nearly the full genome - 1.75 billion base pairs in each case - down to the telomeres. </p>



<p>The researchers also mapped the Z and W chromosomes in detail, including a key “pseudo-autosomal region” (PAR) where the sex chromosomes pair and recombine.</p>



<p>Most importantly, both teams pinpointed the same region of the genome as the likely home of the sex-determining gene. Within that region, one gene stood out: Amh, or Anti-Müllerian hormone. </p>



<p>The hormone - along with its receptor Amhr2 and another gene, Bmpr1a - were identified as strong candidates for controlling sex.</p>



<p>Expression analysis showed that Amh is far more active in developing males, suggesting it could be the master regulator. The twist? Bearded dragons also have autosomal (non-sex chromosome) versions of these genes, meaning they might act together in a network, not just through the sex chromosomes.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-milestone-for-reptile-genetics">A milestone for reptile genetics</h2>



<p>Until now, no reptile had a clearly identified master sex-determining gene like mammals (Sry) or birds (Dmrt1). This discovery may be the closest we’ve come in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reptiles-survived-hellish-conditions-during-earths-worst-climate-crisis/">reptiles</a>.</p>



<p>Arthur Georges, senior author on the second paper, explained that the new genome assemblies will fuel rapid progress in many research areas. They open the door to studies on cranial and brain development, behavior, and how genes interact with one another as well as with the environment. </p>



<p>Georges added that the bearded dragon now offers a strong squamate model for comparison with more traditional model species, including mice, humans, and birds.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sex-determination-in-bearded-dragons">Sex determination in bearded dragons</h2>



<p>Qiye Li, senior author on the first paper, explained why the bearded dragon was the first animal genome sequenced using the new technology.</p>



<p>“We decided to start working on the bearded dragon genome last year as the first animal genome for this new sequencer because it was the Year of the Dragon in China," said Li.</p>



<p>"The two reference genomes, derived from opposite sex and generated by different technologies, are indeed complementary to each other."</p>



<p>"I am excited that both genomes pinpoint the key role of AMH signaling in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/snakes-depend-on-their-sex-chromosomes-for-survival/">sex determination</a> in this species. But how did the sex chromosomes arise? We anticipate that additional high‑quality genomes from related species will further elucidate the evolutionary origin of the ZW system and complete the story."</p>



<p>A webinar with the two lead authors will take place on August 26 at 10:00 AM UTC, offering a chance for researchers and the public alike to ask questions and learn more about what’s next for this fascinating species.</p>



<p>The research was published in the journal <em><a href="https://academic.oup.com/gigascience/article/doi/10.1093/gigascience/giaf085/8237437">GigaScience</a></em>.</p>



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<p>-----</p>

How heat can rewrite the destiny of a bearded dragon

In the bearded dragon, sex isn’t determined by chromosomes alone....

<p>We all know the feeling. You meet someone new, trade a few words, and it feels like you’ve known them forever. With others, no matter how much time you spend together, the connection never comes. But why?</p>



<p>Researchers say the answer might be hidden in the brain. A new study shows that people whose brains respond in similar ways to the world are more likely to become <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-friendships-improve-your-health-as-you-age/">friends</a> later. Long before two strangers grab coffee or share stories, their brains may already be in sync.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-people-prefer-like-minded-company">People prefer like-minded company</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/discovery-changes-what-we-thought-about-friendship-between-plants-fungus-networks/">Humans</a> have always preferred like-minded company. Scientists call this tendency homophily - the pull toward people who look, act, or think like us. It explains why friends often share hobbies, values, or humor. </p>



<p>But a deeper question has nagged researchers for years. Do friendships create this similarity, or do people seek out those who already see the world the same way?</p>



<p>Carolyn Parkinson at the <a href="https://www.ucla.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, Los Angeles</a> wanted to find out. She and her colleagues designed an experiment that started before friendships had a chance to form.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-brain-predicts-future-friendships">The brain predicts future friendships </h2>



<p>The team recruited 41 graduate students. Just before classes began, and before anyone had a chance to build connections, each student entered a brain scanner. </p>



<p>Inside, they watched 14 short movie clips. The clips covered many styles and topics - documentaries, comedies, debates, food, sports, science.</p>



<p>The researchers tracked activity across 214 brain regions. Each student’s brain left a unique signature of how they paid attention, reacted, and interpreted what they saw. These “neural fingerprints” became the key to predicting future friendships.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mapping-friendships-in-the-brain">Mapping friendships in the brain</h2>



<p>Two months later, all 288 students in the program completed surveys asking who they spent free time with. They repeated the surveys six months after that. These results created a living map of friendships - who became close, who drifted apart, and who stayed distant.</p>



<p>When the researchers compared this map to the brain data, patterns emerged. Students who became <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/oxytocin-has-a-hidden-influence-on-who-we-call-friends/">friends</a> eight months later had already shown more similar brain responses back at the start. </p>



<p>The strongest overlap appeared in the orbitofrontal cortex, a region linked to how we assign value and meaning.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-first-impressions-aren-t-enough">First impressions aren’t enough</h2>



<p>Interestingly, at the two-month mark, there was no big difference between the brains of friends and non-friends. That means early friendships may form out of convenience - living nearby, attending the same events, or sitting together in class. </p>



<p>But as time passes, people sort themselves out. Those with deeper neural similarities grow closer. Others drift away.</p>



<p>The study also revealed that people who became closer showed stronger alignment across 42 brain regions. </p>



<p>Many of these areas help us understand stories, focus attention, and imagine other people’s perspectives. It seems that lasting friendships may rely on how similarly two minds interpret the world.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-similar-ways-of-thinking">Similar ways of thinking</h2>



<p>These findings go beyond shared taste in movies or music. Even after accounting for whether students enjoyed the clips, the brain similarities held. That suggests something more fundamental at work.</p>



<p>“Sociodemographic factors, at least in terms of what we were able to measure here, just seem to explain part of the picture,” Carolyn Parkinson explained.</p>



<p>In other words, friendships aren’t just about being the same age or studying the same subject. They may be built on hidden compatibilities in thought.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-thinking-lines-up">When thinking lines up</h2>



<p>The brain regions that mattered most belong to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/friends-affect-how-our-brain-responds-to-shopping/">networks</a> that knit together memories, beliefs, and emotions into a picture of what’s happening. </p>



<p>When two people’s brains line up in these areas, conversations flow more easily. Communication feels natural rather than forced.</p>



<p>“People whose thinking processes are more similar find it easier to get on. When they say something, they just know what the other is thinking because it is how they think themselves,” noted Robin Dunbar at the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Oxford</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-friendship-is-deeper-than-background">Friendship is deeper than background</h2>



<p>The team checked whether similarities in gender, nationality, or academic background explained the brain overlap. These factors played a role, but they didn’t erase the effect. </p>



<p>Even after adjusting for such variables, people who grew closer showed distinct neural alignment. This means that the roots of friendship run deeper than surface similarities. </p>



<p>You might connect with someone from a different culture, age, or background if your minds process experiences in the same way. That connection could outlast friendships built only on proximity or circumstance.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-are-friendships-born-or-shaped">Are friendships born or shaped?</h2>



<p>For some scientists, these results confirm an old intuition. Dunbar, who wasn’t part of the study, sees the findings as expected. </p>



<p>“That like attracts like, rather than people thrown together by accidents draw closer in their traits. In other words, close friends are born, not made,” noted Dunbar.</p>



<p>But the story isn’t entirely one-sided. Life still shapes friendships. Initial bonds may form by chance. Over time, those built on deeper alignment endure, while others fade. </p>



<p>Both circumstance and compatibility matter, but this research shows that compatibility often wins out.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hidden-compass-in-our-brains">Hidden compass in our brains</h2>



<p>What does this mean for everyday life? It suggests that our brains act like quiet compasses, pointing us toward the people who will eventually become close friends. </p>



<p>We may not be aware of it, but the ease we feel with some people could reflect deep similarities in how our minds process the world.</p>



<p>Friendship, then, is more than shared interests or happy accidents. It is also about shared rhythms of thought, hidden long before we realize it.</p>



<p>The study is published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02266-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Human Behaviour</a></em>.</p>



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Secrets of lasting friendships are hiding in the brain

We all know the feeling. You meet someone new, trade...

<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>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



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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>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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%.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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>.</p>



<p id="block-9bd989d6-2fd3-4580-957f-6cacce134f08">-----</p>



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<p id="block-1f9a227a-ec37-4140-81b8-ffa4a7cc6689">-----</p>



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



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

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>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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"><em>Nature Communications</em></a>.</p>



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



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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>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>-----</p>



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<p>-----</p>



<p></p>

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>



<p>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>.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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>.<br>This research offers renewed hope against cancer, and it can potentially open a door to more effective cancer therapies for most cancer patients worldwide.</p>



<p>-----</p>



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<p>-----</p>

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>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>-----</p>



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<p>-----</p>

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>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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."</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>The forest was remarkably diverse. Scientists identified <em>Eospermatopteris</em>, 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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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."</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>The full study was published in the journal <em>Current Biology</em>.</p>



<p>-----</p>



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<p>-----</p>

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>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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."</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>"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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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>.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>-----</p>



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<p>-----</p>

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>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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 <em>Neuron</em></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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>"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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



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



<p>Dr. Konstantina Kilteni's 2025 research, published in <em><a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adt0350" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a></em>, 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.</p>



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



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>-----</p>



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<p>-----</p>

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>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>That solace came through H.G. Wells' <em>The Time Machine</em>. 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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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."</p>



<p>"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.</p>



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



<p>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."</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



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



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



<p>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 <em>This American Life</em></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 <em>Today Show</em></a>. The widespread interest reflects both his compelling personal story and rigorous scientific approach.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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."</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p></p>



<p>-----</p>



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<p>-----</p>

Retired professor claims he solved time travel

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

<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=prrq8Ql81zk
</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>



<p>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?</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



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



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



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



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



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



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



<p><strong>Sources:</strong> <em>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.</em></p>



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



<p><strong>1. Is acid rain completely gone?</strong> 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.</p>



<p><strong>2. How long did solving take?</strong> 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.</p>



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



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



<p><strong>5. Could acid rain return?</strong> 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.</p>



<p><strong>6. Can you recommend any teaching tools on the subject of "acid rain"?</strong> 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></p>



<p>-----</p>



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<p>-----</p>

The environmental problem we actually solved

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

<p>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. </p>



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



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https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



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



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



<p>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. </p>



<p>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).</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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>.</p>

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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<p>Today’s <strong>Video of the Day</strong> 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.</p>



<p>"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.</p>



<p>"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."</p>



<p><em>Video/ Image Credit: ESA</em></p>



<p><em>-</em><em>--</em></p>



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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<p>Today's <strong>Video of the Day</strong> 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.</p>



<p>"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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p><em>Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;</em></p>



<p><em>-</em><em>--</em></p>



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



<p>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.</p>

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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<p>Today’s <strong>Video of the Day</strong> 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;</p>



<p>"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.</p>



<p>"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."</p>



<p>"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."</p>



<p><em>Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;</em></p>



<p><em>-</em><em>--</em></p>



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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

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<p>Today's <strong>Video of the Day</strong> 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;</p>



<p>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;</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p><em>Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;</em></p>



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



<p>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.</p>

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



<p>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;</p>



<p>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;</p>



<p>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. </p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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. </p>



<p><em>Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;</em></p>



<p><em>-</em><em>--</em></p>



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



<p>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.</p>

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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<p>Today’s <strong>Video of the Day</strong> 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.</p>



<p>“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. </p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>“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;</p>



<p>“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.”</p>



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



<p>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.</p>



<p><em>Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois</em></p>



<p><em>-</em><em>--</em></p>



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



<p>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.</p>

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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<p>Today’s <strong>Video of the Day</strong> 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?</p>



<p>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;</p>



<p>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;</p>



<p><em>Video Credit: ACS Reactions</em></p>



<p><em>-</em><em>--</em></p>



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



<p>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.</p>

How does salt makes things taste better?

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<p>Today’s <strong>Video of the Day</strong> 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;</p>



<p>'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)."</p>



<p>"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.</p>



<p><em>Video/ Image Credit: ESA</em></p>



<p><em>-</em><em>--</em></p>



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



<p>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.</p>

Santiago, Chile in South America

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