Arctic Rivers Are Defying What Scientists Thought They Knew About Erosion

07 Sept. 2026, By D. Nield

https://www.sciencealert.com/arctic-rivers-are-defying-what-scientists-thought-they-knew-about-erosion

The researchers combined lab experiments with Arctic field work. 

(Simon Fraser University)

Scientists have to follow the data, even if it doesn't make sense.

This is the situation that researchers recently found themselves in when analyzing the flow of rivers in the Canadian High Arctic.

Scientists from Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia in Canada were investigating river erosion.

Their starting point was the idea that frozen ground slows erosion, as the ice packed inside it was thought to act like glue, keeping the surrounding sediment locked in place.

However, field recordings have suggested something else is going on: That new river channels in the Arctic can form surprisingly quickly, suggesting erosion may actually outpace that in temperate landscapes.

A glass flume was used in the lab to stand in for Arctic rivers.

 (Simon Fraser University)



In controlled lab experiments, the researchers found that, to their surprise, this was the case.

Sediment erosion was around 10 times faster than what would be expected with unfrozen ground – findings that defied what they thought they knew about river erosion.

"We literally expected to see the opposite of what we ended up seeing," says environmental scientist Jonas Eschenfelder from Simon Fraser University.

"We re-ran the experiments a whole bunch of times until my supervisor actually believed the results."

In the lab, the team built a glass-sided 'flume' tilted at an angle, measuring 120 centimeters (47.2 inches) in length and 2 centimeters (0.8 inches) in width. Inside the channel, glass beads stood in for river gravel.

When testing frozen water over both frozen and unfrozen sediment beds, the surprising erosion results appeared. What had previously been strange anomalies in the field were being replicated over and over again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EEM6Slr_hY

"We saw the results, we looked at ourselves, we said, 'this can't be correct'," says environmental scientist Shawn Chartrand, from Simon Fraser University.

"I emailed some colleagues. They didn't believe me. We ran a second experiment. Same outcome."

The researchers developed mathematical models to help explain what they were seeing, based on the movement of beads and water in their simulation. They also traveled to the Arctic island of Tallurutit (Devon Island) to put their models to the test.

Here's what seems to be happening: During times when the ground is fully frozen, the erosion is limited, as expected. Nothing can move.

However, as seasonal thawing begins, a shallow layer of sediment melts while frozen ground remains beneath it.

Running water can't go down through the remaining permafrost, so instead it splits off in different directions, taking more sand and soil particles with it. That explains the accelerated erosion recorded in this study.

"You think you understand the basics of how things work, but it doesn't work that way sometimes," says Chartrand.

This is vital knowledge to have as researchers try to understand and predict what's going to happen to the Arctic region as climate change continues, and as more ice disappears from a landscape that's been frozen for thousands of years.

In the researchers' words, the Arctic is "waking up" as temperatures rise, and that awakening includes the appearance of more river systems.

Potential next steps include more detailed field recordings in the Arctic, spread across the entirety of the year and under different temperature conditions, to confirm the accelerated erosion process that's happening.

"The Arctic is becoming an increasingly important place, in terms of geopolitics, environmental concerns and infrastructure projects," says Eschenfelder. "But we clearly don't really know how it is behaving with climate change.

"Our science tries to bridge that gap so we can project future conditions and answer questions about how the landscape is evolving."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Ancient Human Teeth Uncover a Genetic Connection Hidden for 400,000 Years

By Chinese Academy of Sci. Sept. 6, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/ancient-human-teeth-uncover-a-genetic-connection-hidden-for-400000-years/

A cartoon illustration of the AMBN enamel protein. 

Credit: IVPP

Enamel proteins from Homo erectus teeth suggest genetic links to Denisovans while offering a less destructive way to study ancient human fossils.

A handful of ancient teeth may preserve clues to a relationship that has remained difficult to trace through fossils alone.

Researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have recovered molecular evidence suggesting a possible connection between Homo erectus and modern humans, while developing less invasive paleoproteomics methods for studying rare fossils.

Homo erectus, or H. erectus, was the first species in the genus Homo known to have migrated out of Africa and occupies an important place in human evolutionary history. Yet the scarcity of molecular evidence has left major questions unresolved, including the species’ genetic characteristics, population diversity, and possible relationships with modern humans. Its role in human evolution therefore remains a major subject of debate.

One reason for this uncertainty is that ancient hominin fossils are both irreplaceable scientific specimens and valuable cultural heritage. Molecular techniques that require destructive sampling are often unacceptable, severely limiting what researchers can learn from H. erectus remains.

Proteins bypass a major fossil barrier

To work around that problem, a multi-institutional team led by Qiaomei Fu of IVPP used a micro-destructive acid etching technique to recover molecular information from six Homo erectus teeth while preserving their overall morphology.

The findings were published in Nature.

A commentary published alongside the research in Nature emphasized how enamel proteins recovered from the six Chinese H. erectus teeth provided “new insights into how ancient genetic material was eventually introduced into modern human populations.”

Two mutations connect ancient human lineages

The researchers detected two mutations in teeth from fossils at least 400,000 years old, recovered from three sites: Zhoukoudian (Peking Man), Hexian, and Sunjiadong. The variants point to possible genetic connections between East Asian H. erectus and Denisovans, an archaic human group that also contributed genetic material to modern populations.

One mutation, AMBN-A253G, had not previously been identified. The researchers propose it as a potential molecular marker for these H. erectus populations, providing the first evidence that specimens from all three sites belonged to the same evolutionary population.

The second variant, AMBN-M273V, had previously been considered specific to Denisovans. The new results indicate that it was not unique to Denisovans and was also present in these H. erectus populations.

According to the researchers, AMBN-M273V may have entered the Denisovan lineage through admixture and later reached some modern human populations (in Southeast Asia and Oceania) through Denisovan introgression. The finding offers the first molecular clues to a possible relationship between East Asian H. erectus (such as those from Zhoukoudian) and Denisovans, as well as potentially deeper genetic connections with some present-day humans.

New methods could preserve more fossils

The work also introduces a set of experimental and computational methods for future paleoproteomics research.

These include a technique for determining the sex of ancient hominins using the male-specific enamel protein AMELY, a cross-validation strategy combining tandem mass spectrometry with multiple data analysis pipelines, and DNA analysis approaches tied to specific amino acid variants. Together, the methods provide a framework for extracting molecular information from ancient fossils while reducing damage to valuable specimens.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Canada built 44 bridges and tunnels across a single stretch of highway so that animals could cross without dying

By B. Brown, Published Sept. 6, 2026

https://scienceblog.com/b-canada-built-44-bridges-and-tunnels-across-a-single-stretch-of-highway-so-that-animals-could-cross-without-dying-and-collisions-with-wildlife-there-have-fallen-by-more-than-80-with-grizzly-mothers-n/

Canada built 44 bridges and tunnels across a single stretch of highway so that animals could cross without dying, and collisions with wildlife there have fallen by more than 80%, with grizzly mothers now teaching their cubs to use the crossings like a route the family has always known

When a highway became a deadly barrier to evolution itself, engineers built an invisible detour that wild animals instinctively learned to use.

The Trans-Canada Highway runs straight through Banff National Park — 82 kilometers of four-lane road through the Canadian Rockies, carrying a vehicle every few seconds through some of the richest wildlife country on the continent.

For decades, the arithmetic of that arrangement was written in carcasses. The highway killed elk, deer, bears and wolves at a relentless rate, and did something quieter and worse besides: it cut the park’s animal populations in two, a river of traffic no prudent animal would cross, splitting gene pools on either side of the pavement.

Canada’s answer, built out over three decades, was to give the animals their own infrastructure — and it has become the most-studied, most-copied piece of wildlife engineering on Earth.

Six bridges, thirty-eight tunnels

Along that one stretch of highway, Parks Canada built 44 crossing structures — six overpasses and 38 underpasses — beginning with the first two overpasses in 1996 at about $1.5 million each.

The overpasses are the famous ones: to a driver they look like ordinary concrete bridges, until you glimpse the top and see forest running unbroken across them — trees, shrubs and grass planted fifty meters wide, a strip of the Rockies carried over four lanes of traffic. The underpasses do the volume work below: culverts and tunnels sized for everything from cougars to moose.

The third component is the one that makes the other two function: fencing along both sides of the entire stretch. The fence keeps animals off the road; the crossings give the fence somewhere to deliver them. Neither works alone. Together, they turned the highway from a wall with a kill rate into a permeable line.

The numbers

The results are the benchmark every road ecologist now quotes. Wildlife-vehicle collisions along the fenced, bridged stretch have fallen by more than 80 percent — and by 96 percent for elk and deer, the species that once died there most.

Cameras at the crossings have logged more than 250,000 animal passages since monitoring began — the world’s longest-running wildlife-crossing research program — by more than a dozen large species: grizzly and black bears, wolves, cougars, lynx, wolverines, moose, elk, deer, coyotes.

And the adoption curve turned out to be a personality test. Elk, bold and unbothered, used the overpasses before construction crews had even finished them. The wary species — wolves, grizzlies — took up to five years of sniffing, approaching and retreating before committing. But once a crossing enters a grizzly’s mental map, it stays there: monitoring has recorded female grizzlies bringing cubs across the structures, the route passing from mother to cub as learned family geography — a trail the next generation will treat as something that was always there.

The mating question, answered in hair

The deeper worry was never just roadkill. It was genetics — whether the fenced highway, even with crossings, would still split bears into two slowly inbreeding populations.

A Montana State University team answered it with barbed wire strung at the crossings, snagging hair from passing bears for DNA. The genetic analysis showed bears not merely crossing but breeding across the highway — among crossing bears, 47 percent of black bears and 27 percent of grizzlies successfully bred, including one enterprising black bear male who fathered at least 11 cubs with five females while commuting between both sides. Gene flow, the thing the highway had severed, was measurably restored — for wolverines and grizzlies alike, the fragmentation problem dissolved.

The export

Banff’s structures now cost $2 to 4 million per overpass, and for years the price tag was the argument against them. The park’s three decades of data ended that argument: collisions with large animals are expensive too — in vehicles, injuries and lives — and an 80-plus percent reduction pays the mortgage.

So the model travels. Banff’s findings shape highway projects across Canada, the United States — including the giant Wallis Annenberg crossing over ten lanes of Los Angeles freeway — and schemes from Costa Rica to Asia. The park that started with two experimental bridges in 1996 has become the reference dataset for a global retrofit of the road network.

The elegance of the whole thing is that nothing about it required the animals to change. The highway was the intruder; the crossings simply restored, in concrete and planted soil, the routes that were there before the asphalt — which is why the grizzly cubs following their mothers over the traffic aren’t learning anything new. They’re inheriting the old map, with one modern edit: the valley now includes a bridge, and the bridge, as far as the bears are concerned, has always been there.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Chuck's picture corner from the last couple of weeks Sept. 6, 2026

Harvest and canning season has begun.

Sunflower at Rs

Gladiola at Rs

Water lily at Rs

Another gladiola at Rs

The wild asters have begun a sure sign of fall

This day lily just keeps on going.

Black eyed susans are going crazy

thriving along

Even ths smaller sedum is flowering well this year.

all the ran had my glads falling over

mornings are getting later and later fast.

my new tomato processing device, peels and deseeds

harvest today, and do the tomatoes ever taste compared to store bought.

on the vine

to in the jar, we did 6 more liter jars yesterday

It will soon be time to dig these guys up for the winter indoors.

another day is done

on my knees smelling the roses, lol

R. found a snake in the wood pile, or it found her, the gardener snakes are plentiful in the wood pile this guy a rare sight.

Enjoy your day

One Old-Fashioned Trick May Actually Help Ease Lower Back Pain, Clinical Trial Finds

05 Sept. 2026, By E. Öz

https://www.sciencealert.com/one-old-fashioned-trick-may-actually-help-ease-lower-back-pain-clinical-trial-finds

(Yamada Taro/The Image Bank/Getty Images)

You probably don't think twice about putting on your socks – until your back makes it the hardest part of getting dressed.

When ordinary movements become painful, even a little relief can matter. A new clinical trial suggests some of that relief could come from a surprisingly old-fashioned source: a soft belt wrapped around the lower back.

In the French study, published in JAMA Network Open, adults who added a lumbar belt to their usual care reported less pain and greater improvements in their ability to manage daily activities than those receiving usual care alone.

Fewer belt-wearers also used back-pain medication during the 12-week trial.

For people who find movement painful, that support could help make staying active more manageable.

"A belt may help some patients stay active by reducing discomfort during movement and providing a subjective feeling of support or reassurance," Grenoble Alpes University Hospital rheumatologist Laurent Grange told ScienceAlert.

The LOMBACT trial involved 168 adults at 17 French medical centers. Their current episode of nonspecific lower back pain had lasted between one and six months. "Nonspecific" means the pain cannot be attributed to a recognizable, specific underlying condition or injury.

Participants were randomly split into two groups. One group added a soft, adjustable belt to their usual care; the other continued with just their usual care, which may include physical and exercise therapy.

Both were advised to remain active and could use their usual pain medication.

Belt users were asked to wear the support during daytime activities for 4 to 8 hours and remove it for sleep. Heat sensors from some users showed that actual use averaged about 4 hours on days the belt was worn.

The researchers then asked a practical question: Was back pain interfering less with everyday life?

They measured this using the Oswestry Disability Index, a questionnaire assessing how much pain restricts daily activities. Scores improved in both groups, but more among people given a belt.

A visual abstract of the study. On average, belt wearers saw a greater reduction in daily limitations (ODI) from low back pain.

 (Grange et al., JAMA Network Open, 2026)

About 6 in 10 belt users reported at least a 30 percent reduction in daily limitations, compared with about 4 in 10 people receiving usual care alone. That level of improvement is commonly considered meaningful for an individual patient.

In other words, more people in the belt group experienced a noticeable improvement in how much their back pain limited them. It did not mean they were pain-free.

The medication findings offered another way to understand the possible benefit. Around half of belt users took pain medication during follow-up, compared with roughly two-thirds of the comparison group. This measured how many people used medication, not how many tablets they took or how often they needed pain relief.

Pain itself also eased more in the belt group, including pain during movement.

That could matter because staying active is a central part of managing lower back pain. Grange suggested that making movement more comfortable might help some patients keep going with daily activities.

Weekly pain outcomes were measured over 3 months. (Grange et al., JAMA Network Open, 2026)



The study did not establish how the belt produced its effects. Gentle support, feedback about body position, and greater confidence during activity are possible explanations, Grange said.

There are important limits to the findings, however.

The average extra improvement in daily functioning was modest, even though the difference between groups was statistically significant. Both groups improved, and receiving a belt did not guarantee relief.

Everyone knew who received a belt, and there was no sham belt for comparison. Expectations and reassurance could therefore have influenced the results.

Grange noted that even a convincing imitation might provide compression or a feeling of support, making those effects difficult to separate.

Pain and medication use were secondary outcomes, and the many additional comparisons were exploratory.

The trial also cannot show that benefits last after the belt comes off. Participants were not asked to assess their symptoms specifically without it, and follow-up ended after 12 weeks.

Six belt users reported mild device-related problems, including discomfort or skin irritation. Two serious adverse events occurred during the trial (an inguinal hernia in the belt group and positional vertigo in the control group), but doctors considered them unrelated to the study.

Thuasne, the belt manufacturer, funded the research and paid three authors for participating in a scientific committee for the study. The paper states that the funder had no role in study design, data analysis, interpretation, or the decision to publish.

Earlier evidence has been mixed, and the World Health Organization's 2023 guidance advises against routinely offering belts or lumbar braces for chronic primary lower back pain.

The LOMBACT trial does not establish benefits for every type or duration of back pain. Chronic back pain, which is generally defined as pain lasting more than 3 months, is a particularly complicated condition that scientists are still trying to understand.

"The main caution is that a lumbar belt should not replace active management," Grange told ScienceAlert.

For some patients, the aim may be simple: a little support to help them keep moving.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Not Money or Pleasure: Scientists Say They've Found The True Key to Happiness

05 Sept. 2026, By S, Vartan

https://www.sciencealert.com/not-money-or-pleasure-scientists-say-theyve-found-the-true-key-to-happiness

(Klaus Vedfelt/Digital Vision/Getty Images)

"It's great to have great sex and hot-fudge sundaes," says cognitive scientist Laurie Santos, who studies the science of well-being at Yale University.

"But ultimately, true happiness probably comes from what we do with others and building a broader good life."

The source of a "good life" has been a focus of philosophical thought for at least 2,300 years. The Greek philosopher Epicurus pondered it and named three primary components, friendship among them.

Over the last hundred years, the disciplines of psychology, genetics, and neurobiology have tackled the topic through their own lenses.

Now, new research suggests that there's a single important ingredient to happiness: freedom. Or, more specifically, whether we feel like we are actually in charge of our own lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xxwq7uGibY

The study, published in The Journal of Positive Psychology, comes from University of Toronto psychologists Jason W. Payne and Ulrich Schimmack, who wanted to look more closely at the ideas behind what makes a good life.

One side, known as the hedonic view, argues that well-being is fundamentally about pleasure and the avoidance of unpleasant experiences.

The other, often called the eudaemonic view, says a good life involves things that may matter even when they don't necessarily make us feel good in the moment.

Think about caring for a sick family member. It can be exhausting, stressful, and deeply unpleasant, but most people wouldn't conclude that the experience has no value simply because it doesn't make them happier in the short term.

The researchers were particularly interested in three psychological needs identified by self-determination theory: relatedness, or having meaningful relationships; competence, or feeling capable and effective; and autonomy, meaning that our actions feel voluntarily chosen rather than forced on us.

The model used in the study includes numerical estimates from survey data that represent how each part of happiness is related to the others. 

(Payne & Schimmack, J. Posit. Psychol., 2026)

They wanted to know whether these factors influenced people's perceptions of their own lives independent of their emotional state of simply "feeling good right now".

To find out, they surveyed over 1,200 adults aged 18 to 80 years old in Canada and the UK in 2022.

Study participants answered questions about their life satisfaction, positive and negative feelings, personality, and fulfillment of their three psychological needs.

All three psychological needs were associated with life satisfaction to some degree, but relatedness and competence were important mostly in that they made people feel good.

Autonomy was different.

People who felt more autonomous tended to report greater life satisfaction even after the researchers accounted for how positive or negative they felt about other aspects of their lives.

"Even after accounting for how good or bad people felt, those who felt more autonomous were more satisfied with their lives," Payne says.

"Autonomy was the only psychological need that seems to contribute something that feelings alone did not explain."

The idea is that we apparently don't just ask, "How do I feel?"

We also seem to consider: "Is this life mine?"

That distinction could explain why people sometimes make choices that don't maximize immediate pleasure.

We might take a demanding job because it gives us independence compared to an easier job, or move somewhere unfamiliar because we want to make our own decisions away from existing relationships and history.

Those choices may not produce a constant stream of positive emotions. But they can still contribute to the sense that our lives are going well – simply because we chose them.

The researchers aren't arguing that pleasure doesn't matter. In fact, positive and negative affect explained a substantial portion of people's life-satisfaction judgments.

Their results instead suggest that neither the purely hedonic nor the purely eudaemonic view tells the whole story. People appear to draw on both when evaluating their lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLPeUWsBRvw&t=609s

The researchers also acknowledged a limitation of the study: Their participants were from Western, English-speaking populations, meaning the findings need to be tested in more culturally diverse groups.

Other research has looked at the difference age makes too.

And there may be a broader lesson here for anyone trying to make other people happier.

"Programs and interventions designed to improve well-being may succeed in improving feelings, but if they restrict people's choices, then they could ultimately backfire and lead people to judge their lives as worse overall," says Payne.

Because sometimes what makes life satisfying isn't that someone made the "right" choice for you. It's that you got to make the choice yourself.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Don’t Miss: A Brilliant Venus and Glowing Harvest Moon Light Up the Sky

By NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab., Sept. 4, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/dont-miss-a-brilliant-venus-and-glowing-harvest-moon-light-up-the-sky/

Birds fly over a barn as a harvest Moon rises. 

Credit: Mike Linnihan

September offers several eye-catching skywatching opportunities, including a brilliant Venus, the September equinox, and a Harvest Moon rising near Saturn and Neptune. The Moon can also help observers locate Antares, the Teapot star pattern, and, under dark enough skies, the direction of the Milky Way’s center.

September Skywatching Highlights 

September 14-20: Follow the Moon to Antares and the Teapot; very dark skies may reveal the Milky Way center

September 18: Venus reaches maximum brightness for its current evening appearance

September 22: The September equinox marks the beginning of fall in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere

September 26: The Harvest Moon rises near Saturn and Neptune

September brings a varied lineup to the evening sky. The Moon passes through a celestial tea party, Venus reaches dazzling brightness, the seasons officially change, and the Harvest Moon appears alongside two distant planets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1HIYxq-2aA

Follow the Moon to Antares and Sagittarius

From September 14 through 20, the Moon can serve as a convenient guide to several recognizable features of the night sky. About an hour after sunset, face south and look for the Moon.

As the nights pass, the Moon will move against the background of stars and travel near Antares.

Antares is a prominent reddish star that represents the heart of the constellation Scorpius.

A sky chart looking southwest after sunset on September 20, 2026.

 Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Nearby in Sagittarius is another easy-to-recognize group of stars known as the Teapot. Its arrangement resembles a traditional teapot, with stars outlining a handle, lid, and spout.

Under especially dark skies, a hazy band may appear to rise like steam from the Teapot’s spout.

Trace that glowing band toward its densest region, and you will be looking in the direction of the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

A sky chart looking west after sunset on September 18, 2026. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Venus Reaches Peak Brilliance

On September 18, look toward the west as Venus reaches peak brilliance for this evening appearance.

The planet should be easy to identify. Soon after sunset, Venus will appear as an intensely bright point low above the western horizon, shining more brightly than any star nearby. An unobstructed view toward the horizon will provide the best opportunity to see it before it drops out of sight.

International Observe the Moon Night

September 19 is International Observe the Moon Night!

Observers around the world are encouraged to spend time with Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor while learning about lunar science, exploration, and the Moon’s influence on cultures throughout history. Find an event near you or learn how to take part from wherever you are at go.nasa.gov/ObserveTheMoon.

September Equinox Changes the Seasons

On September 22, fall officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere, while spring starts in the Southern Hemisphere.

The seasonal change is marked by the September equinox. At this time, the Sun is positioned directly above Earth’s equator, and daytime and nighttime are nearly equal in length across much of the world.

After the equinox, daylight continues to decrease in the Northern Hemisphere while increasing in the Southern Hemisphere.

Harvest Moon Rises Near Saturn and Neptune

The Harvest Moon becomes the main attraction on September 26, rising in the eastern sky shortly after sunset.

Two planets will share the scene. Saturn will appear nearby, while much fainter Neptune will form a broad triangle with Saturn and the Moon.

Saturn can be seen without optical equipment, making it the easier planet to spot. Neptune is much more difficult. At around magnitude 8, it is too dim for the unaided eye, so binoculars or a telescope will be needed. Dark skies and favorable viewing conditions can make Neptune easier to find.

Here are the phases of the Moon for September.

The phases of the Moon for September 2026. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Antarctica Gained a Record 695 Billion Tons of Ice in Just Two Years

By Chinese Academy of Sci.,  Sept. 4, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/antarctica-gained-a-record-695-billion-tons-of-ice-in-just-two-years/

A rare surge in Antarctic snowfall temporarily added hundreds of billions of tons of ice to East Antarctica, even as the continent’s long-term losses continued. 

Credit: Shutterstock

A tropical warming event helped drive record snowfall and a temporary 695-billion-ton ice gain in East Antarctica without reversing long-term Antarctic ice loss.

Between 2021 and 2023, the Antarctic Ice Sheet gained about 695 billion tons of mass, the largest increase recorded by the GRACE satellites. New research traces much of that unusual gain to sustained warming thousands of miles away in the tropical western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean, which altered atmospheric circulation and sent more moisture toward East Antarctica.

The finding stands out against Antarctica’s longer trend. Over the past two decades, the ice sheet has lost mass at an average rate of about 140.5 billion tons per year, making its future contribution to global sea-level rise a major source of uncertainty. The temporary gain did not reverse that decline, but it revealed how conditions in the tropics can influence Antarctic snowfall over several years.

The study was published in Nature.

Researchers led by the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) combined gravity-satellite observations, ice-core snow-accumulation records, water-vapor tracking, and atmospheric circulation simulations to investigate what caused the 2021–23 event.

Tropical warming redirected moisture south

During those years, the tropical warm pool where the western Pacific meets the eastern Indian Ocean remained unusually warm. According to the study, that sustained warming triggered a Rossby wave train that propagated toward high southern latitudes and reshaped atmospheric circulation over East Antarctica.

Eddy-mean flow feedbacks strengthened and maintained the pattern, producing a north–south dipole with low-pressure anomalies south of Australia and high-pressure anomalies along the East Antarctic coast. The resulting circulation redirected moisture from the midlatitude Indian Ocean toward Antarctica and increased the number of atmospheric rivers reaching the continent.

Teleconnection mechanism linking tropical warm-pool warming to temporary Antarctic ice-sheet mass gain. 

Credit: IOCAS

Water-vapor tracking simulations showed that this influx of moist air produced persistent heavy snowfall across the Queen Mary Land–Wilkes Land region, adding mass to the ice sheet.

Atmospheric circulation experiments identified the tropical warm pool as the direct driver of the circulation and snowfall response. By comparison, the increase in regional snowfall attributed to anthropogenic forcing amounted to only 9% of the observed snowfall anomaly, indicating that atmospheric moistening associated with global warming was not the primary cause of the event.

The researchers also found that similar periods of sustained tropical warm-pool warming occur roughly once a decade. This recurring connection suggests that conditions in the tropical ocean can influence multiyear changes in snowfall and ice mass across East Antarctica.

The ice gain does not reverse losses

Despite the temporary increase, Antarctica remains on a long-term trajectory of ice-sheet mass loss. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet continues to lose ice, while some outlet glaciers in East Antarctica face basal melting of their ice shelves and faster ice flow driven by warm ocean waters.

The study identifies the north–south dipole circulation over East Antarctica as a key link between tropical warming and changes in Antarctic ice mass, providing a mechanism for how distant ocean conditions can alter snowfall across the continent.

“We found a previously underrecognized ‘tropical warm pool–East Antarctic Ice Sheet’ teleconnection pathway,” said Yunhe Wang from IOCAS, first author of the study. “Our research provides a theoretical basis for understanding Antarctic ice-sheet mass changes and conducting future research on the East Antarctic climate.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Tomatoes Contain an Invisible Ingredient With Surprising Effects on Liver Health

By G. Rajewski, Tufts U., Sept. 4, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/tomatoes-contain-an-invisible-ingredient-with-surprising-effects-on-liver-health/

A colorless tomato compound may help explain why whole tomatoes can protect the liver more effectively than lycopene alone. 

Credit: Shutterstock

A tomato contains a hidden ingredient that the eye cannot see, and it may be just as important to liver health as the red pigment that made the fruit famous.

Researchers at Tufts University found that phytoene, a colorless precursor used by plants to make lycopene, sharply reduced fatty liver disease in mice. The discovery could help explain why whole tomato powder has sometimes protected the liver more effectively than purified lycopene alone.

The study, published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, focused on metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, a chronic condition estimated to affect up to 38% of U.S. adults.

A Growing but Often Silent Liver Disease

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease begins when fat accumulates inside liver cells. It may cause few noticeable symptoms at first, but persistent fat buildup can provoke inflammation, damage liver tissue, and eventually lead to cirrhosis.

As many as 100 million U.S. adults may have the disease. The estimated prevalence rises to 75% among Americans with obesity or diabetes, conditions closely connected to the metabolic problems that encourage fat to collect in the liver.

Diet is only one part of the disease, but foods and nutrients that influence how the liver stores or burns fat could help researchers identify new preventive strategies. Tomatoes have attracted interest because animal studies have repeatedly linked them to better liver health.

Phytoene is not only abundant in yellow, orange, and red tomatoes, but also exists in many common fruits and vegetables, including carrots, red peppers, pink grapefruit, watermelon, and apricots.

 Credit: Alonso Nichols/Tufts University



Why Lycopene Was Not the Whole Story

Lycopene has received much of the attention because it gives ripe tomatoes their red color and acts as an antioxidant. Yet tomato powder has outperformed purified lycopene in previous animal experiments, suggesting that the fruit’s benefits may come from several compounds working together.

Phytoene became a compelling candidate because plants use it as an early building block for lycopene and other carotenoids, the pigments responsible for many red, orange, and yellow foods. Unlike those colorful compounds, phytoene itself is colorless.

“Both lycopene and phytoene are found in substantial amounts in tomatoes and tomato products,” said Na Youn Lee, lead author of the study and a Ph.D. candidate at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. “But we know from previous research that phytoene is actually more readily absorbed by the body.”

To test its effects, the researchers fed mice a diet rich in refined carbohydrates for six months. The diet was intended to model eating patterns associated with fatty liver disease in people, including frequent consumption of sugary foods and beverages.

Half of the mice also received phytoene at a dose comparable to a person consuming three to four medium raw tomatoes or 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of tomato paste, slightly more than one third of a cup, each day.

Phytoene Helped the Liver Burn Fat

The team examined liver health, metabolism, and gut bacteria in mice that received phytoene and those that did not. The researchers also compared males with females and typical mice with animals missing two enzymes that transform carotenoids into biologically active metabolites.

Mice given phytoene developed far less severe fatty liver disease despite eating the same unhealthy diet. Changes in gut bacteria did not appear to explain the protection.

Instead, phytoene activated several proteins that control liver metabolism. This activity appeared to shift the liver toward burning excess fat for energy rather than allowing it to accumulate inside cells.

The experiment also produced an unexpected clue about how the compound works. Mice lacking the two carotenoid processing enzymes accumulated much larger amounts of phytoene, yet they did not receive the same liver protection. That result suggests phytoene may need to be broken into smaller metabolites before it becomes beneficial.

Genes and Sex Could Shape the Benefits

People can carry genetic differences in the enzymes that process phytoene. Identifying the protective metabolites could therefore reveal why some individuals might respond differently to the same amount of phytoene in food.

Biological sex may matter as well. Female mice accumulated more phytoene in their livers than males, indicating possible differences in absorption or metabolism. Researchers do not yet know whether that variation changes the compound’s protective power.

“Our findings have broad implications, as phytoene is not only abundant in yellow, orange, and red tomatoes but also exists in many common fruits and vegetables, including carrots, red peppers, pink grapefruit, watermelon, and apricots,” said Xiang-Dong Wang, senior author of the study and a senior scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. “Should further research validate our findings, encouraging people to eat more phytoene-rich fruits and vegetables could be a useful strategy to help prevent metabolic liver disease or slow its progression in high-risk individuals.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Aging Changes Memory in a Surprising Way, New Study Finds

By U. of East Anglia, Sept. 3, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/aging-changes-memory-in-a-surprising-way-new-study-finds/

Older adults may remember the meaning of an experience even as its vivid details fade. A new study reveals that this shift becomes especially noticeable when the brain must rapidly move between different types of memory.

 Credit: Shutterstock

A new study finds that as people age, they remember fewer details from their past and have more difficulty switching between different types of memories.

As people grow older, the broad story of a past experience may remain even as the sights, sounds, and emotions tied to a particular moment become harder to retrieve. Research from the University of East Anglia suggests that aging changes not only how much people remember, but also the type of information their memories emphasize.

The study found that older adults recalled fewer details from their past and had more difficulty when they needed to switch between different kinds of memories. At the same time, their recollections contained more general knowledge and interpretation, suggesting that aging may gradually shift memory away from vivid, moment-specific experiences and toward a broader account of what happened.

This more complex pattern suggests that age-related memory change cannot be understood simply as forgetting. Instead, the findings offer a closer look at how memories are retrieved and expressed across the lifespan, with potential relevance for efforts to support healthy cognitive aging.

Aging shifts memory toward the big picture

Lead researcher Prof. Louis Renoult, from UEA’s School of Psychology, said: “As we get older, our memories tend to become less detailed and more general, focusing on the overall story rather than specific moments.

“This shift is linked to changes in how the brain recalls information, meaning older people often remember the big picture but with fewer vivid details.

“We wanted to better understand how young and older adults retrieve autobiographical memories – the personal experiences that form the story of our lives.

“These sorts of memories can range from specific one-time events, such as a birthday party, to more general or repeated experiences like commuting to work.

“We focused on how flexible people are when asked to shift between these types of memories, and what happens when that flexibility is put under pressure.”

To examine that flexibility, the researchers recruited 37 students and 37 older adults from the community. Participants responded to cue words such as ‘market’ by retrieving two forms of autobiographical memory.

“We wanted to elicit both specific memories and categoric memories – which are the general or repeated experiences,” said Prof Renoult.

Switching memories exposes an age gap

The researchers first had participants recall each type of memory separately, allowing them to concentrate on one form at a time. Participants were then required to switch back and forth between specific and categoric memories, increasing the demands placed on cognitive control.

The researchers assessed whether participants followed the requested memory type and also examined how much detail appeared in what they recalled.

Prof Renoult said: “We found that across all age groups, memory performance declined when participants had to switch between memory types.

“However, older adults were particularly affected in one area – they were less accurate at recalling more mundane repetitive memories like commuting to work under switching conditions.

“Interestingly, their ability to recall specific memories like a birthday party was less affected by the task-switching challenge.

“This suggests that certain types of memory retrieval may be more vulnerable to the effects of aging when multitasking or adapting to changing demands.”

Looking beyond whether participants successfully produced the requested memories revealed another important difference between the age groups. When researchers analyzed the content of specific memories, older adults included fewer details tied directly to an experience, such as sights, sounds, and emotions.

At the same time, their accounts contained more semantic details, meaning general knowledge or interpretations associated with an event. The researchers observed a similar pattern when participants retrieved categoric memories.

Memory change is not simply forgetting

Together, the results suggest that aging affects the way memories are accessed and communicated, rather than simply causing information to disappear. Older adults’ recollections became less rich in specific contextual details while relying more heavily on broader knowledge.

Prof Renoult said: “When older adults recall events, the richness of those memories may be reduced.

“This shift may reflect changes in underlying brain systems involved in memory, particularly those responsible for retrieving detailed contextual information and managing complex cognitive tasks.”

Those changes could become especially noticeable in situations that require people to adjust quickly between different forms of recall.

“This has practical implications for everyday life. Tasks that require people to quickly adapt their thinking or switch between different kinds of recall – such as storytelling, decision-making or problem-solving – may become more challenging with age.

“At the same time, the increased reliance on semantic knowledge may have benefits. Generalized memories can support wisdom, pattern recognition, and efficient communication, even if the finer details are lost.”

The researchers hope that understanding this shift in greater detail could ultimately help inform approaches aimed at supporting healthy cognitive aging.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/