Rare 8,000-Year-Old Rock Shelter Captures a Turning Point in Human History

By Autonomous U. of Barcelona, July 26, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/rare-8000-year-old-rock-shelter-captures-a-turning-point-in-human-history/

Archaeologists excavating Coves del Fem in northeastern Spain have uncovered unusually well-preserved evidence from both Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Early Neolithic farming communities. Credit: Autonomous University of Barcelona

A Catalan rock shelter preserves a rare record of the transition from hunter-gathering to farming.

For thousands of years, people repeatedly returned to a rock shelter above the Montsant River, leaving behind traces of a profound change in human life. Excavations at Coves del Fem (Ulldemolins, Priorat), within Serra de Montsant Natural Park, have now uncovered new evidence that could clarify the prehistory of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula.

The field campaign ran from May 30 to June 28, 2026. Researchers from the Department of Prehistory at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the Milà i Fontanals Institution for Research in the Humanities of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC-IMF) led the work, supported by the Ulldemolins Town Council and Serra de Montsant Natural Park through the Catalan Ministry for Culture’s four-year archaeology program.

Twenty-five lecturers, researchers, and students took part in the four-week excavation. Archaeology students from UAB also used the dig to complete practical field training for their bachelor’s degree.
Storage pits reveal early farming life

The excavation exposed extensive evidence of occupation from the Early Neolithic Cardial period. Archaeologists documented two hearths and eight pits cut into the ground that appear to have begun as storage silos.

After the pits were no longer used for storage, residents filled them with household waste. Inside, researchers found decorated pottery fragments, flint tools, debris from stone tool production, remains of animals that had been eaten, carbonized seeds and fruits, and other materials connected to the daily lives of the Montsant Valley’s first farming communities.

Together, these remains offer a closer view of how early Neolithic groups organized their economies, obtained and consumed food, and lived. Digging, using, and later abandoning the pits also disturbed older layers without pottery that most likely came from Mesolithic occupations already documented elsewhere at the site.

Mesolithic layers preserve an older world

One of the most important results from the 2026 campaign was the identification of two unusually well-preserved Mesolithic layers, unlike those encountered during earlier excavations. The deposits contain three associated hearths and a rich collection of surviving archaeological material.

Researchers recovered flint artifacts, animal remains, and a substantial group of archaeobotanical remains, which include preserved evidence of ancient plants. These materials could help reconstruct the environment and activities of the final hunter-gatherer communities that occupied the area.

The significance of the Mesolithic layers extends beyond Coves del Fem itself. They offer a rare opportunity to investigate the social and economic changes that occurred when hunter-gatherers gave way to the first farming and herding communities in an inland mountain landscape such as the Montsant massif.

This transformation, known as Neolithization, remains poorly understood in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. Few sites preserve archaeological layers that are as extensive and well maintained as the sequence at Coves del Fem.

Further analysis of the recovered materials could reveal how these communities obtained food, moved across the landscape, used natural resources, and reorganized social life as agriculture and livestock farming became established.

One shelter records a major transition

Coves del Fem is a large rock shelter covering approximately 300 m² above the Montsant River in the municipality of Ulldemolins. Archaeologists have excavated the site continuously since 2013, and it has become an important location for studying recent prehistory in Catalonia.

Its archaeological record captures a major but still poorly understood period of social and economic change. Materials recovered during recent campaigns strengthen the site’s importance for examining the transition from the last hunter-gatherer societies to the first communities that produced food through farming and herding in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula.

Excavations conducted in recent years have documented nearly continuous human occupation from the Late Mesolithic (around 6000 BC) through the Early Neolithic (around 4500 BC). This sequence begins with the final hunter-gatherer occupations and continues through the arrival and establishment of the region’s first farming communities.

Researchers have also found scattered evidence of earlier activity that may date to the closing stages of the Upper Paleolithic. Other remains come from later periods of prehistory, including the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Metal Age.

Such continuity is uncommon among Catalan sites from this period. It makes Coves del Fem an unusually valuable place for tracing the cultural, technological, and economic changes associated with the Neolithization of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula.

The four-week excavation was part of the archaeology and paleontology research project “Coves del Fem: Land Use and Exploitation in the Upper Montsant Basin (8000–2000 BC)” (2026–2029), a four-year project awarded to UAB. Its goal is to better understand the prehistoric communities that lived in the area, including how they used the surrounding landscape, obtained resources, and changed their environment. The work was made possible by the Borrull family, who own Coves del Fem.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Mathematicians Reveal Why Humans Keep Becoming Cannibals

27 July 2026, By D. NIELD

https://www.sciencealert.com/mathematics-reveals-why-human-cannibalism-keeps-reappearing

(Grigorenko/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Cannibalism is something of a paradox: It's considered taboo and unacceptable, and yet the entire timeline of human history is dotted with records of the practice emerging.

Why does Homo sapiens keep turning to it, but never stick with it?

To try and find some answers, researchers from the University of Wrocław in Poland and Charles University in Czechia tackled the question from a math perspective, quantifying the risks versus the benefits of cannibalism.

You might reasonably think that there aren't any benefits – but human flesh gives nutrients and energy to the body just like any other meat. In the most extreme circumstances, it might just save your life.

As cannibalism spreads, the risk of infection increases.

 (Charles University)



The results are published in PNAS, and show that the longer cannibalism is practised, the more dangerous and damaging it becomes, irrespective of any ethical concerns.

"Our model clearly demonstrates that regular cannibalism is unsustainable for human populations in the long run," says theoretical and evolutionary biologist Petr Tureček, from Charles University.

There's actually a very limited scenario where cannibalism actually makes some sort of sense, the study concludes: when other food is very scarce, when the cannibalized humans are dead (so there's no energy expended in hunting), when the meat can be cooked for safety, and when you're not consuming people who were themselves cannibals.

Beyond that, everything starts to mount up quickly in the 'reasons against' column.

This is primarily due to the risk of infection and disease transmission: When pathogens circulate within the same species (which isn't the case when you're eating other meat), infections are much more likely to take hold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT2Yf7O-MCw

As cannibal 'chains' build up – so someone eats the flesh of someone else who was also a cannibal – so do the dangers of pathogens spreading. A community that relies on cannibalism gets killed off pretty quickly.

"The epidemiological costs of spreading incurable diseases quickly outweigh any caloric benefits, reliably leading to community collapse," says Tureček.

"The cultural taboo therefore acts as an effective shield that protected our ancestors from this evolutionary trap."

The researchers even point to a real-world example: the Fore people of Papua New Guinea were extensively hit by a fatal brain disease called kuru, which only faded when the community gave up the practice of eating their dead as part of the rituals at funerals.

Kuru is a prion disease, spread by misfolded proteins that aren't eliminated through cooking like other pathogens can be.

This is a very pragmatic view of cannibalism that leaves out a lot of the natural revulsion and disgust that would normally go along with the practice – but it recognizes that this is something humans have resorted to, at times.

"These constraints help explain both its episodic occurrence and the widespread emergence of cannibalism taboos," write the researchers in their published paper.

"More broadly, the findings illustrate how epidemiological dynamics can shape cultural evolution, producing stable norms that limit behaviors which are locally adaptive but globally destabilizing."

Cannibalism is typically considered an ancient, primitive, and barbaric custom, and it very rarely happens today. The calculations made in this study show that cannibals may indeed have wiped themselves off the map by their actions.

The researchers admit there are factors outside the scope of the study that may be having some influence as well, and which could be followed up on in the future.

For example, certain cultures may have decided to practice cannibalism as a way of terrorizing neighboring communities or asserting status. It's taboo-breaking and frightening, which may motivate the practice in some cases.

"Formalizing these social payoffs would require a different modelling framework, potentially incorporate signalling theory or intergroup competition, and lie beyond the scope of the present study," write the researchers.

"Exploring how such individual-level benefits interact with the population-level costs identified here represents a promising direction for future research."

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

THC-CBD Treatment Dramatically Reduces Agitation in Dementia Trial

BY K. TEBER, GEORGETOWN U. MEDICAL CENTER, JULY 26, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/thc-cbd-treatment-dramatically-reduces-agitation-in-dementia-trial/

In a nationwide study, nearly 90% of participants receiving an experimental cannabinoid-based medication showed behavioral improvement. Researchers caution, however, that the formulation differs substantially from commercial cannabis products.

 Credit: Shutterstock

A medically formulated THC and CBD treatment reduced agitation in a blinded trial involving people with late-stage dementia.

Restlessness, aggression, and emotional distress can make late-stage dementia especially difficult for patients and caregivers. In a first-of-its-kind U.S. clinical trial, a specially prepared medication containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), two active compounds in marijuana, significantly reduced agitation compared with a placebo.

Jacobo Mintzer, MD, of the Medical University of South Carolina, and Georgetown University’s Brigid Reynolds, MSN, APRN, ANP-BC, presented the main findings on July 14, 2026, at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London.

Known as the LiBBY trial (Life’s end Benefits of cannaBidiol and tetrahYdrocannabinol), the study included 120 hospice-eligible participants with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia who were experiencing agitation. Ten medical centers across the United States conducted study visits in participants’ homes or other places of residence. After 12 weeks, nearly 90% of those who received the treatment showed overall improvement.

“These trial results were extremely impressive and showed a level of response not seen before in clinical trials related to dementia. Rarely do we see close to 90% of patients in a trial respond positively to a new medication,” said Mintzer, the co-lead investigator.

“Agitation affects many people with late-stage dementia, causing symptoms such as restlessness, aggression, and emotional distress that can profoundly impact patients and their caregivers,” explained Reynolds, the co-lead investigator. “Current treatment options are limited and often carry significant side effects, underscoring the need for safer, more effective therapies.”

Current drugs offer limited relief

Morphine, Valium, and Haldol are among the medications used to manage dementia-related agitation, but they have shown limited effectiveness and can produce unwanted side effects.

The LiBBY trial examined the effectiveness, safety, and tolerability of purified THC and CBD delivered orally in a rapidly absorbed oil suspension. Participants, whose average age was 80, were randomly assigned to receive either the cannabinoid formulation or a placebo.

To limit bias, participants, caregivers, and clinicians were all kept unaware of which treatment each person received. Because the medication was designed to act quickly, the primary comparison took place after 2 weeks, followed by another assessment at 12 weeks.

Agitation was measured with the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory, a survey covering 29 behaviors associated with agitation. This allowed the investigators to compare changes among participants receiving THC and CBD with those receiving the placebo.

Agitation declines within two weeks

Caregivers, who also administered the medication, rated each behavior on a 7-point scale ranging from “never” to “several times per hour.” By the 2-week assessment, average agitation scores had fallen 6.27 points more in the THC and CBD group than in the placebo group. The reduction remained statistically significant at 12 weeks.

A second measure, the Clinical Global Impression of Change in Behavior assessment, produced a similar pattern. Improvement in agitation was reported for 83.9% of the THC and CBD group at 2 weeks, compared with 30.5% of the placebo group. At 12 weeks, the figures were 87.2% and 23.6%, respectively.

Rates of adverse events, including infections and gastrointestinal disorders, were similar between the treatment and placebo groups (46.7% vs 42.4%). Such events were considered expected within this patient population.

Laura, whose mother joined the LiBBY trial, said participating gave her hope that future treatments might improve life for families affected by dementia. She did not know whether her mother had received the cannabinoid medication or the placebo, but she noticed changes during their time together. “She seemed happier,” Laura said. “We experienced joy. There were still moments of connection.”

Commercial products are not equivalent

Despite the encouraging results, the medication tested in the trial was substantially different from THC and CBD products available commercially.

“People should not assume that products available at dispensaries or online are equivalent to what was studied in this trial,” Reynolds said. “The medication used in this research was carefully formulated, manufactured, and administered under close medical supervision. Over-the-counter or commercially available THC and CBD products may vary widely in their composition, quality, and dosing, making them potentially ineffective or even harmful.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Chuck's photo corner to July 26, 2026

It's been a great summer's week, with cooler nights and hot days. Some nights as cool as 12c with most days in the mid to higher 20 c range. I spent half the week in the Laurentians at Rachelle's. We visited Brockville, for grandma (great great grandma) to visit a hearing place, and went to Embrun to see niece Anik sing. All the driving was done in Rachelle's new hybrid vehicle. 

Anik singing last night

daylily

pea

the robins enjoy these red (Korean) honeysuckle berries

another variety of bee balm (bergamot) has come to flower, the leaves of these guys make a great tea

another variety of daylily

another colour of honeysuckle, the birds will go after these once all the red are eaten. These berries ferment easily and often the birds get drunk eating them.

I do enjoy oxalis (shamrock) 

The choke cherry at R's is coming along, when they ripen the birds will consume them as sour as they are.

growing out of the gravely road that is salted all winter.

we are slowly getting there, only two rows of bricks a day can safely be put up which are then held firmly to the wall with boards. We are a day more advanced than this pic.

The old Brockville train tunnel when transportation was primarily done by water and train.

An island on the US side of the river.

three or four people can fit in these chairs

waterfront space

a popular spot on the Brockville waterfront

Enjoy the day

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Itching May Have Its Own Sensory Organ

24 July 2026, By J. COCKERILL

https://www.sciencealert.com/itching-may-have-its-own-sensory-organ

(Henry Ry/Pexels)

If you're feeling itchy, it's probably a warning sign from your body that something alien is on your skin.

Dry flakes of skin, dirt, bug bites, or even your own hair tickling your nose: all of these triggers make us squirm and yearn to itch, which, in many scenarios (though not all), works quite well to remove the offending irritant.

A new study in mice suggests this protective impulse may even have its own dedicated sensory organ: vellus-like hairs.

In mice, these hairs grow most prolifically behind their ears and on their hind paws. Their skin is at its most exposed in these areas.

Humans, by contrast, are almost totally covered in vellus hairs, also known as 'peach fuzz'. This kind of hair seems to go hand-in-hand with very exposed areas of skin.

Vellus hairs in mice grow most prolifically behind their ears and on their hind paws.

 (GlobalP/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Vellus hairs play an important role in regulating our body temperature: they stand on end when we're cold, and wick sweat away from our skin when we're hot.

But they also seem involved in sensing certain kinds of touch, especially when it comes to triggering our compulsion to itch.

There's been a fair bit of research into itchiness triggered by direct skin contact with irritants, but the authors of the new study, led by biologists at the University of Michigan, noticed that hair movement-induced itching has been under-explored.

"For instance, the gentle vibration of vellus hair on the chin, in contrast to the forehead, face, or arms, induces intense itching in healthy human subjects," they note in their research paper, which was published in Neuron.

Vellus hairs, aka 'peach fuzz', cover almost every inch of the human body. 

(helivideo/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

"These findings suggest the presence of specialized hair structures and afferents dedicated to this form of mechanical itch."

They turned to mice to get a closer look at how it all works.

There's no guarantee that if something works a certain way in mice, it will be the same in humans – but since we share a similar, recent evolutionary history, there is often some pretty good overlap.

"In humans, tactile perception is governed by two distinct types of hair: terminal and vellus hairs. By contrast, rodents have drawn considerable attention for their pelage hairs, which include guard, awl/auchene, and zig-zag types that are essential for mechanosensation and thermoregulation," the authors explain.

"Beyond these well-studied hair types in rodents, certain body regions feature atypical hair variants with unique functions."

Which brings us to the vellus-like hairs.

A gentle stroke of the tip of a vellus-like hair was enough to trigger itching in mice. The researchers found this impulse was modulated by a protein called Piezo2, and transmitted by TLR5+ sensory neurons. 

(Fatima et al., Neuron, 2026)

Through a series of experiments, the researchers discovered each of these hairs is attached to a particular kind of fast-conducting sensory neurons that transmit the sensation of 'itch' with just a light touch of the hair.

In mice with chronic skin inflammation in the vellus-like hair areas, these neurons were firing on all cylinders, and the mice were visibly itchy.

But when the researchers switched off the genes that activate this particular genre of sensory neuron, mice did not register the inflammation as itchy.

"These specialized hairs and their associated nerve terminals are crucial for regulating trichoknesis [itching triggered by hair contact] in chronic itch, underscoring their importance in abnormal sensory processing," the researchers report.

It may seem odd to investigate what makes mice itch, of all creatures, but because of our shared genes, these animals are used widely in biomedical research to test whether treatments for human conditions might work, before starting clinical trials.

Understanding how this kind of itching works in mice – and how similar it is to the itching reflex of human vellus hairs – gives scientists an indication that mice could be ideal test subjects in search of treatments for our own itchy ailments, like insect bites, eczema, and poison ivy exposure.

"We need a new pathway to target if we want to treat chronic itch," molecular biologist Bo Duan says.

"And our research suggests that this population of neurons could be a target in the future."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Earth’s Hidden Thermostat Has Regulated Climate for 60 Million Years

By S. Grogan, Syracuse U., July 25, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/earths-hidden-thermostat-has-regulated-climate-for-60-million-years/

For tens of millions of years, Earth’s climate may have been stabilized by a hidden feedback linking sea level, ocean oxygen, phosphate, and carbon burial. New geological evidence suggests that this system helped control how much carbon dioxide remained in the atmosphere. 

Credit: Shutterstock

Researchers found that a narrow range of ocean conditions maximized carbon burial for millions of years at a time.

For more than 100 million years, Earth has remained within a temperature range suitable for life, as though the planet were regulated by a natural thermostat. Exactly how that system worked has remained difficult to explain. New research points to a missing connection involving sea level, phosphate, and the amount of carbon locked away in ocean sediments.

Temperature altered polar ice sheets and sea level, which changed how much phosphate was available to marine life. That nutrient supply then influenced carbon burial, atmospheric carbon dioxide, and ultimately whether the planet became warmer or cooler.

A study coauthored by Zunli Lu, professor of Earth and environmental sciences in the University’s College of Arts and Sciences, examined how changes in sea level and dissolved oxygen shaped ocean phosphate availability and the accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 60 million years. The findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Zunli Lu. 

Credit: Syracuse University



“We know that atmospheric carbon dioxide decreased substantially as Earth cooled over the last 60 million years, but we have had remarkably little understanding of where that carbon ended up,” says lead author Ros Rickaby, professor of Earth sciences at the University of Oxford, in a department news article. “Our results suggest that enhanced burial of organic carbon in marine sediments played a much more important role than was previously appreciated.”

Phosphate connects sea level and climate

At the center of the process is phosphate, a form of phosphorus that marine organisms need to grow. The researchers describe it as a previously “invisible” part of the climate puzzle.

When sea levels were high, wide continental shelves captured phosphate in shallow seafloor sediments before it could reach the open ocean. With less of the nutrient available, marine productivity fell, and less organic carbon sank and became buried on the seafloor. Ocean waters remained rich in oxygen, while more carbon dioxide accumulated in the atmosphere.

Falling sea levels produced the opposite pattern. As continental shelves contracted, more phosphate entered the water, stimulating the growth of marine organisms. When this organic material sank and decomposed, the process used up dissolved oxygen and created expanding zones of oxygen-poor water.

AI-generated graphic describing the findings. 

Credit: Syracuse University

Once those zones reached organic-rich sediments on continental shelves, they initiated a reinforcing cycle. Low oxygen conditions released additional phosphate from the sediments, supporting more marine growth and increasing the burial of organic carbon. As more carbon was trapped beneath the seafloor, less carbon dioxide remained in the atmosphere.

“Our co-author, Christian Bjerrum, studied the connection among sea level, ocean oxygen and phosphate with a computer model two decades ago,” Lu says. “We finally pieced together the geologic records necessary to test this hypothesis.”

A narrow sea level range maximized burial

The strongest carbon burial occurred within a relatively limited window, when sea level stood about 10 to 40 meters above its present height. Within this sea level “sweet spot,” oxygen minimum zones aligned with organic-rich shelf sediments, allowing the feedback to continue for millions of years.

The researchers tested this pattern against geological evidence covering 60 million years. Their records included carbon isotopes, phosphorus accumulation in deep-sea sediments, and a newly developed iodine-to-calcium proxy for estimating oxygen levels in ancient oceans.

Lu’s laboratory performed the iodine-to-calcium measurements. The method examines the preserved chemistry of foraminifera, microscopic marine organisms whose remains accumulate in seafloor sediments, to determine how much oxygen was present in ancient water. The samples were measured with a mass spectrometer at Syracuse University through funding from the National Science Foundation.

High seas weakened Earth’s carbon sink

The Eocene epoch, spanning approximately 56 to 34 million years ago, provides a clear example of what happened when the carbon burial feedback stopped operating effectively. Sea levels were extremely high, flooding continental shelves and trapping phosphate in shallow sediments. The open ocean remained highly oxygenated, while the mechanism that promoted organic carbon burial was largely inactive.

With less carbon being removed and stored in marine sediments, carbon dioxide accumulated in the atmosphere and Earth remained warm.

The study proposes that the range of conditions favorable for carbon burial became narrower over geological time as oxygen minimum zones shifted into deeper water. This gradual change helped stabilize atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide. Fluctuations between ocean carbon burial and atmospheric accumulation became less pronounced, increasing the resilience of Earth’s climate system.

Ancient oxygen records sharpen climate history

The results extend earlier work from Lu’s laboratory using the iodine-to-calcium proxy to reconstruct the oxygen content of ancient oceans.

A study published in Nature Geoscience in January used the same method to show that tropical oceans during the Proterozoic Eon contained abundant oxygen, the opposite of the modern pattern. That research also identified a planetary tipping point hundreds of millions of years ago that reversed the distribution of oxygen in the oceans.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Scientists Warn a Silent Oxygen Crisis Is Spreading Through Earth’s Waters

By B. Hook, U. of California San Diego, July 24, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-warn-a-silent-oxygen-crisis-is-spreading-through-earths-waters/

Researchers argue that aquatic oxygen loss should be recognized alongside climate change, biodiversity loss, and other planetary boundaries. Its links to warming, pollution, and ecosystem instability suggest it may be more than a regional environmental problem. 

Credit: Shutterstock

New research calls for aquatic deoxygenation to be recognized as a critical planetary process under threat.

Oxygen is declining across oceans, coastal waters, rivers, lakes and streams, threatening the organisms and chemical processes that depend on it. A review led by researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography warns that this widespread deoxygenation is moving Earth toward an “unsafe space,” with some effects potentially lasting beyond human timescales.

The researchers examined how aquatic deoxygenation, meaning the loss of dissolved oxygen from marine and freshwater environments, interacts with the nine processes included in the Planetary Boundaries framework. Introduced in 2009, the framework identifies major Earth systems and evaluates how human activity is pushing them beyond the conditions that support a stable and resilient planet.

Those nine boundaries cover climate change, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, atmospheric aerosol loading, stratospheric ozone depletion, freshwater change, land use change, chemical pollution and biogeochemical flows (including the nitrogen cycle). The authors argue that dissolved oxygen should also be included.

Oxygen loss threatens planetary stability

“The health and stability of our planet depends on the health and stability of aquatic ecosystems, which need oxygen to function normally,” said lead author Erica Ferrer, a Scripps Oceanography alumna and current postdoctoral scholar at UC Santa Barbara’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. “This study is designed to elevate the profile of aquatic deoxygenation as a global threat and show that it does not operate in isolation.”

A diagram showing some of the key interactions that exist between aquatic deoxygenation and the other planetary boundaries, including primary and secondary drivers and effects. Here, emphasis is placed on interactions that occur in the marine environment, however, similar interactions are also known to take place in freshwater systems. 

Credit: dataMares

Human-caused warming, excess nutrient pollution and changes in the circulation that carries oxygen into deeper waters are the primary drivers of aquatic deoxygenation. Declining oxygen interferes with biological and chemical processes that help regulate Earth’s climate while threatening organisms ranging from microbes to fish and sharks. Marine mammals can also be affected despite breathing at the surface because oxygen loss changes their habitats, prey, and surrounding food webs.

Scientists call for a new boundary

Ferrer and senior author Lisa Levin, a biological oceanographer at Scripps, developed the idea for the review after attending COP25, the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Madrid in 2019. They hope the work encourages researchers and policymakers to address aquatic deoxygenation together with the other pressures affecting Earth’s systems.

“Adding aquatic deoxygenation to the Planetary Boundaries framework will help us understand its impacts on Earth system stability,” said Ferrer. “Mitigating its impacts represents a critical component of maintaining biodiversity and climate.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Watching Too Much TV May Actually Rot Your Brain After All, Study Finds

25 July 2026, By S. J. Vartan

https://www.sciencealert.com/watching-too-much-tv-may-actually-rot-your-brain-after-all-study-finds

(Brasil2/Canva)

If you click on the TV and hear a voice from your childhood saying, "That idiot box is going to rot your brain!" – you're not alone. My grandma said exactly that whenever she walked by me watching cartoons as a kid.

Turns out, grammy wasn't entirely wrong.

It's not just the sitting, which as we've now heard, isn't so great for longevity, or your brain, and may increase the risk of Alzheimer's and other types of dementia.

When it comes to brain health specifically, a new study suggests that spending hours glued to the TV may have a negative effect that's not seen when the same amount of time is spent sitting at a desk solving problems, answering emails, or otherwise putting your gray matter to work.

The research, published in Alzheimer's and Dementia: Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, followed more than 1,700 adults for nearly 24 years.

It found that men (but not women) who frequently watched television in midlife had smaller brain volumes in regions vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease, along with more of the kind of damage to the brain that's associated with cognitive decline and dementia.

Brain regions associated with the frequency of TV watching (left) and sitting during work (right). Red indicates areas associated with lower cortical volumes, while purple indicates volume increases. 

(Feter et al., Alzheimers Dement., 2026)



In contrast, people whose jobs involved sitting for much of the day tended to have healthier-looking brains.

Importantly, when the researchers accounted for differences in overall physical activity, that didn't seem to impact the outcome, so no, exercise didn't impact these findings.

The striking sex difference surprised the researchers.

"We found that the links between TV watching and brain structure were much stronger in men than in women," biological scientist Natan Feter from the University of Southern California told ScienceAlert.

"This could be because men and women accumulate sedentary time differently – for example, women may interrupt their sitting more often – or because of biological differences in how the brain responds to prolonged sedentary behavior."

Previous studies have found that women tend to prefer TV programming in shorter chunks, though they spend more time watching overall, while men's preferences for watching sports and movies are more likely to spend long, uninterrupted periods on the couch.

Hormonal differences, lifestyle factors (such as childcare responsibilities), or differences in how male and female brains age could also play a role.

The striking sex difference surprised the researchers. (pablo_rodriguez1/Canva)



"For years we've focused on how much people sit. Our findings suggest we should also pay attention to what they're doing while they're sitting," says biologist David Raichlen from the University of Southern California.

The data for the study came from 1,712 participants in the long-running Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

Volunteers, who were in their early 50s when they enrolled in the late 1980s, reported how often they watched television during their leisure time and how much they sat at work.

About 24 years later, when they were in their mid-70s, their brains were scanned using an MRI.

Researchers looked specifically at brain areas that are known to show early changes in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, and areas of increased white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume, which is "a marker of small vessel cerebrovascular disease associated with cognitive decline and dementia risk," according to the study.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL5lA2edBwg

Compared to those who reported watching television "very often," people who reported sitting "always" during work had fewer white matter lesions and larger volumes in the frontal, parietal, and occipital cortex.

Importantly, sitting itself wasn't consistently associated with poorer brain health – it depended on the context.

Watching TV is considered a cognitively passive activity.

On the other hand, even sedentary office work often involves planning, reading, writing, decision-making, and problem-solving. Previous research has suggested these kinds of mentally stimulating activities may help build "cognitive reserve", allowing the brain to better cope with age-related changes.

The study has limitations. It used self-reported data from participants who estimated how much TV they watched or how much time they spent sitting at a desk, which is less reliable than objectively measured data.

Research also can't prove that watching TV directly caused the brain differences, and clearly there's a gender element too.

Other unmeasured lifestyle factors, such as snacking, drinking alcohol, or reclining or napping while "watching" TV, could have contributed to the findings.

Still, the study tracked participants for nearly a quarter century, used MRI scans rather than cognitive tests alone, and results were consistent across analyses.

Considering that there's research showing that book-readers live almost 2 years longer than non-readers, it does seem that there's some kind of difference between an active versus passive brain while sitting.

Things like puzzling, crafts, and even texting, which require your brain to work while you are sitting might also change how much sitting negatively impacts your brain, but "more research is needed to confirm," said Natan.

So keep it in mind if you're settling in for another TV marathon tonight. Your brain might appreciate a few breaks – even if your streaming-service-of-choice doesn't provide commercial interruptions anymore.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

'Tremendously Grave': The First US City Is on Track to Run Out of Water

25 July 2026, By D. Nield

https://www.sciencealert.com/tremendously-grave-the-first-us-city-is-on-track-to-run-out-of-water

(Nithin PA/Pexels)

It seems inconceivable, even if you're aware of the perilous situation that the world's water supplies are in, but a developed coastal city in Texas that more than 300,000 people call home is now in serious danger of running out of water.

The city is Corpus Christi, and difficulties with water scarcity are now coming to a head after years of concerns over shortages.

There are multiple issues combining here, perhaps most importantly the arrival of major industrial developments, off the back of the unlocking of vast oil and gas reserves that came with the shale revolution.

One plastics chemical complex, built in 2022, uses as much water for cooling every day as all the Corpus Christi residents combined.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIvKXHStAjY

A planned seawater desalination plant, which was supposed to ease some of the pressure brought on by rising industrial water usage, never materialized, further compounding the problem of supply.

And then there's climate change: Texas has been hit by a series of historical droughts in recent years. It all adds up to a scarcity of water that life and businesses rely on.

"Corpus Christi has come as close to running out of water as practically any city in the United States," says Dylan Baddour, a journalist at Inside Climate News.

"They've rebounded a good bit since the beginning of this year, but they have about one year of water in storage right now, which would already be considered an emergency for any city."

Water levels in Lake Corpus Christi, the second-largest reservoir supplying the city. 

(Water Data for Texas)

While rainfall during 2026 has eased the pressure somewhat, reservoir levels are still precariously low, and it's not clear how much longer the situation can go on for.

The desalination plant plans haven't been completely abandoned.

There's still a proposal on the table to build a huge facility for removing salt and impurities from seawater, which would produce an estimated 378 million liters (100 million gallons) of water a day (twice as much as the biggest desalination plant currently in the US, in San Diego).

However, the plant has been discussed since 2017, and efforts to move forward with it are being caught up in red tape and questions over funding. The bill for the facility is reportedly in the region of $6 billion.

"There were years of fumbling around, of folks trying to get something on the books, other people seeking to stop it, and all the while, water was running out," says Arcelia Martin, also a journalist at Inside Climate News.

Other options being explored are groundwater wells drilled deep underground – already supplying 12 million gallons a day – but these solutions are also vulnerable to drought. Plans to use wastewater for industrial cooling purposes are also being explored, with supplies set to go online this year.

City residents have faced restrictions around watering their gardens or washing their cars since August 2024, but it was expected that emergency measures might have to be introduced as early as December 2026.

Thanks to the rains we've seen this year, that prediction has now been pushed back to September 2027, but there's still very little margin for error. City authorities need to find a solution to the water scarcity problem, and quickly.

Emergency measures might include rolling 'water blackouts', where water is only available for some parts of the day, for example. However, that's not really a solution for industrial uses – these refineries and plants would have to be shut down, bringing subsequent knock-on effects on the economy and communities.

Sadly, as with other natural resources, it seems that we haven't been appreciating what we had until we're dangerously close to running out.

"What this story shows us is that point where we begin to see what it means for a city to run out of water," says Baddour.

"It's never really happened here, or on a large scale in the world, in modern times."

"The possibilities that it raises are tremendously grave, and that's what we're dealing with here."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

A Wild Parasite Makes Ants Live 10x Longer And Tricks Others Into Worshipping Them

24 July 2026, By M. Irving

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-wild-parasite-makes-ants-live-longer-and-tricks-others-into-worshipping-them-scientists-finally-know-how

Temnothorax nylanderi.

 (April Nobile/AntWeb/CC BY 4.0)

Imagine a parasite that makes you live up to 10 times longer than you naturally would – while also inspiring others to treat you like royalty.

It sure seems like a pretty good deal, but of course there's a catch.

The parasite just wants to keep you lazy so you'll be easy pickings for a giant predator – the bowels of which are the parasite's preferred breeding ground.

It might sound like an intriguing setup for an indie horror movie, but that's the reality for Temnothorax nylanderi ants. Now, thanks to a new study in the journal BMC Genomics, we know more about the biology of this bizarre story.

When ant larvae of this species are fed woodpecker droppings, they can become infected with the tapeworm Anomotaenia brevis – and so begins an insidious cycle.

Infected ants start to change color, becoming pale yellow rather than their usual darker brown. They tend not to grow as big as their nest mates, and even start to smell different – in fact, they seem to emit pheromones that other ants interpret as being from a queen.

Infected workers (right) become much lighter in color than uninfected ants (left).

 (©: Susanne Foitzik)



As such, the workers roll out the red carpet for the infected ants. They bring them food, carry them around, and groom them, to the detriment of the rest of the colony.

Infected ants, meanwhile, lean into their new lifestyle. They ignore their chores, rarely leaving the nest during their extended lifespans while generations of regular workers tend to their every whim.

And throughout all this, the tapeworm larvae are just biding their time. Eventually, a woodpecker may come knocking, and while the healthy ants scatter, the infected ones sit there helpless, providing an easy snack.

A worker ant of the species Temnothorax nylanderi. 

(Herman/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY SA 2.0)



Finally, the tapeworm larvae can reach their ultimate goal: the bird's gut. There, they develop into adult tapeworms, breed, and lay eggs – which are then pooped out by the woodpecker to begin the whole cycle over again.

But biologically, how does the tapeworm manage to pull off such extreme manipulation from inside the ant?

To find out, a team of biologists from Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (JGU) in Germany and Zhejiang University in China has now investigated the gene expression in infected and uninfected ants, as well as queens.

The researchers examined the ants' brains and fat bodies – a type of tissue in the insects that helps with metabolic and immune function.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the team found that gene expression in the fat bodies of queens had a lot more in common with infected workers than uninfected ones.

"Our genetic analyses show that the infection does not simply make the ants sick, but alters their physiology in a highly targeted way," says Susanne Foitzik, lead author of the study and a behavioral ecologist at JGU.

"At the molecular level, infected workers showed a profile that was partially queen-like."

These changes were linked to metabolism, the immune system, stress, and aging, which helps explain their longer lives and why other ants give them the royal treatment.

Close-up of the head of a Temnothorax nylanderi. 

(April Nobile/AntWeb/CC BY 4.0)



Intriguingly, the similarities between queens and infected workers disappeared when the researchers looked at their brains. Infected ants seemed to have suppressed signaling molecules and receptors, which could explain why they seem to entirely lose the work ethic these industrious insects are known for.

Strangely though, the researchers found that the signaling molecules in the brains of infected ants don't really resemble those produced by the parasite.

This could shut down one hypothesis: that the tapeworms use their own peptides to hack into their host's brain.

"The data rather suggest that the parasite influences the ant indirectly by intervening in the host's own regulatory networks, which control metabolism, the immune system, aging, and behavior, among other processes," says Giulia Blasi, first author of the study and a biologist at JGU.

This tapeworm is far from the only parasite that preys on ants in a way worthy of a horror movie.

The cordyceps fungus hacks the nervous system of its victims and turns them into 'zombies', before forcing them to climb a plant and lock their mandibles onto the underside of a leaf.

A stalk then grows from their head, which bursts open, spreading spores to unsuspecting ants on the forest floor below.

Given the choice, we think most ants would probably pick the tapeworm.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/