A Week-Long Meditation Retreat Produced Psychedelic-Like Brain Changes, Study Finds

11 Aug. 2026, By P. Dockrill

https://www.sciencealert.com/just-7-days-of-meditation-can-rewire-your-brain-study-suggests

(miniseries/E+/Getty Images)

It's only reasonable to assume that attending a seven-day meditation retreat would have a calming and restorative effect on a person.

After all, guided meditation classes, healing rituals, and sessions on how to achieve transcendental states… it sounds pretty good, right? Sure beats catching the bus to work.

But these kinds of activities could be much more transformative than we realized.

In unison, they appear to have a surprisingly dramatic and deep effect on the body and the mind, scientists say.

A study published in Communications Biology in 2025 found that attending a seven-day meditation retreat was associated with a kind of neural reprogramming in participants, potentially yielding changes that could be positive for our health.

"This isn't about just stress relief or relaxation," said biomedical researcher Hemal Patel from UC San Diego.

"This is about fundamentally changing how the brain engages with reality and quantifying these changes biologically."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8rRzTtP7Tc

While the findings don't demonstrate cause and effect – this was only a small observational study – they suggest the effects of meditation and related activities could be more powerful and wide-ranging than we realized.

Patel and his team studied 20 healthy adults who were randomly selected from more than 500 attendees at a meditation and health retreat in San Diego.

During the seven-day retreat, participants attended daily lectures emphasizing the body's self-healing abilities, the mind's capacity to shape reality, and the healing power of present-centeredness and mystical-type experiences.

They took guided meditation sessions, in which they practiced conscious breathing techniques, and were involved in group healing rituals, where 'healers' would meditate while focusing their attention on one of the group.

Of the 20 participants in the study – 14 female, 6 male, with an average age of about 46 – 11 of the group were advanced meditators (with at least six months' experience with the techniques), while the other 9 were novices.

The effects of meditation and related activities could be more powerful and wide-ranging than we realized. 

(ArtistGNDphotography/Getty Images Signature/Canva)



In addition to attending the retreat activities discussed above, the study participants also undertook several tests before and after the event.

This included having their brains scanned by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), blood plasma tests, and filling out a questionnaire designed to measure people's experience of mystical states and feelings – even in the absence of psychedelic drugs, which were not consumed by the study participants.

After taking part in the meditation retreat, the participants showed significant changes in multiple tests.

While we can't conclude the meditation activities caused these changes – there was no control group to compare against, for example, it's purely observational data – what the researchers found is definitely interesting.

The fMRI data showed that after the meditation, brain activity was reduced in the default mode network, which is associated with self-referential and internally directed thought. Brain activity was also reduced in the salience network, which helps detect both internal and external stimuli.

Meditation appeared to reduce the level of segmented activity in the brain, inducing a whole-brain functional state where information flowed more efficiently, the researchers report.

To test whether the meditation activities may have affected the participants' neuroplasticity, the researchers applied the participants' post-meditation blood plasma to neurons in a dish, observing that the cells grew significantly longer neurites (extensions branching from the cell) than pre-plasma-treated cells.

Other markers of change detected in participants' blood included a shift towards glycolytic metabolism, signals of immune modulation, and increases in endogenous opioids (naturally occurring pain-relief chemicals) in the body.

Post-retreat responses in the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ–30) showed participants with significantly increased scores (from 2.37 to 3.02), which the researchers say is comparable to results seen with psychedelic use.

"We're seeing the same mystical experiences and neural connectivity patterns that typically require psilocybin, now achieved through meditation practice alone," said Patel.

"Seeing both central nervous system changes in brain scans and systemic changes in blood chemistry underscores that these mind-body practices are acting on a whole-body scale."

It's worth noting that one of the co-authors of the study, Joe Dispenza, is the CEO of the company Encephalon, which hosts the meditation retreats described in the study, in addition to selling access to other meditation and healing content.

Other caveats to note include that this is only a small study, and it's not one that can show causality, which the researchers acknowledge, calling for future studies that could implement more rigorous, controlled designs to measure how and if meditation might be triggering these changes.

But while we should be cautious about how we interpret these findings, they are certainly not the first to suggest meditation can have powerful effects.

Another recent study captured evidence of meditation reshaping brain activity, and other research shows meditation can help with pain relief, or reduce the burden of stress and aging.

Quite how far these effects may go, we still aren't really sure.

But we're getting closer to understanding.

"We've known for years that practices like meditation can influence health," Patel said.

"But what's striking is that combining multiple mind-body practices into a single retreat produced changes across so many biological systems that we could measure directly in the brain and blood."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Sitting Up Straight Could Actually Help You Make Better Decisions

By McGill U., Aug. 11, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/sitting-up-straight-could-actually-help-you-make-better-decisions/

Sitting upright was linked to a more positive mood and more effective risk-taking in a study of nearly 200 people. 

Shutterstock

New research suggests that even a small shift in posture may influence both mood and the ability to take calculated risks.

In a McGill University experiment involving nearly 200 participants, people encouraged to sit upright reported stronger feelings of pride and performed better in a game that balanced risk against reward. Those who leaned over a low desk generally took fewer risks and earned less.

The findings suggest that ordinary features of a room, including desk height and screen placement, may shape behavior in subtle ways without people noticing.

Jorge Armony, a professor in McGill’s Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology and the study’s senior author, emphasized that the effects were modest and observed under controlled laboratory conditions. Still, he said the results offer further evidence that physical position can influence emotional experience and decision-making.

How Researchers Changed Sitting Position

Rather than asking participants to sit in a particular way, the researchers changed the environment around them. This distinction was central to the experiment.

After completing initial computer tests, participants moved to a tablet for what they believed was an evaluation of a mobile application. Some used a tablet raised on a stand and placed on an adjustable table, naturally encouraging a straighter sitting position. Others worked with the tablet lying flat on a lower desk, causing them to bend forward.

Upright Posture and Smarter Risk-Taking

The volunteers then played a computerized game known as the balloon analog risk task. Each time they inflated a virtual balloon, they increased the potential reward. But every additional pump also raised the chance that the balloon would burst and erase the earnings from that round.

Participants sitting upright tended to inflate the balloons further and collect larger rewards. Their behavior was not simply reckless, according to the researchers, because they also performed more successfully overall.

“This suggests they were not acting more impulsively but rather were engaging in more effective risk-taking,” Armony explained.

The difference also appeared in participants’ emotional responses. In a questionnaire, the upright group reported significantly greater feelings of pride, an emotion associated with positive mood.

Testing the Power Pose Debate

Debate over posture’s psychological effects has continued for years, particularly following widely publicized research on “power poses.” Critics have argued that people in such experiments may guess the study’s purpose and respond in ways they think researchers expect.

The McGill team designed its experiment to reduce that possibility. Participants received no instructions about how to hold their bodies. Instead, the position of the tablet and desk quietly guided their posture.

Interviews conducted afterward indicated that most participants did not realize posture was part of the experiment. The study also found that the results remained after accounting for possible complications such as physical discomfort and awareness of the manipulation.

What the Findings Really Mean

To confirm that the setup produced a measurable physical difference, the researchers used video analysis software to track the angle of each participant’s neck. Earlier posture experiments often relied on instructions without objectively measuring whether people consistently adopted the intended position.

The study does not show that sitting straighter will radically improve someone’s judgment, confidence, or success. Posture is only one of many factors that may affect mood and behavior, and the researchers cautioned against treating it as a dramatic life-changing technique.

Still, the findings raise a broader possibility: everyday surroundings, including the design of our workspaces, may quietly shape how we feel and make decisions.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Industrial Chicken Farming Is Supercharging the Spread of a Dangerous Foodborne Bacterium

BY U. OF OXFORD, AUG. 10, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/industrial-chicken-farming-is-supercharging-the-spread-of-a-dangerous-foodborne-bacterium/

Professor Samuel Sheppard, Science Lead for Digital Microbiology and Bioinformatics at the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI). 

Credit: Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI)

The global expansion of chicken farming has created conditions that allow Campylobacter to spread, mix and adapt more readily.

Commercial poultry farms now hold billions of chickens, creating a vast habitat where bacteria can move, mix and adapt. An analysis from the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research at the University of Oxford found that industrial poultry production has increased the movement of Campylobacter more than 100 times, allowing strains once associated with wild birds to circulate widely among farmed chickens.

Campylobacter is the world’s most common bacterial cause of diarrhea. In the UK, it produces more than 3.5 times as many cases of gastroenteritis each year as all other monitored foodborne bacteria combined. Treatment is also becoming more difficult as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the ability of bacteria to withstand drugs intended to kill them, continues to rise.

To reconstruct how poultry farming changed the bacterium, researchers analyzed nearly 2,800 Campylobacter genomes collected from chickens and wild birds in 30 countries (including the UK and USA) between 1979 and 2024. Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), indicates that the global growth of chicken production has given different strains more opportunities to spread, exchange genetic material and acquire traits that support survival.

Expanding flocks transformed bacterial spread

The worldwide chicken population has grown seven-fold since the 1960s, reaching approximately 31 billion birds. Chickens now represent about 70% of all bird biomass on Earth. This expansion has made affordable animal protein available on an enormous scale, but it has also produced favorable conditions for bacteria to circulate and evolve.

Genomic analysis identified changes associated with Campylobacter adapting to life in chickens. The affected genes were involved in antimicrobial resistance, tolerance of oxidative stress, acquisition of metals and motility, all of which can improve bacterial survival within modern poultry production systems.

Oakem Kyne, PhD researcher at the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI). 

Credit: Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI)



Professor Sam Sheppard, Professor of Microbial Genomics and Evolution at the University of Oxford and senior author of the paper, said: “Industrial farming has created one of the largest animal habitats on the planet. Our findings provide new evidence that human-driven environmental change can increase the spread of infectious diseases.

“As chicken populations have grown, bacteria that were once largely confined to wild birds have gained far more opportunities to enter poultry flocks, spread and become established. Understanding these evolutionary consequences is essential if we are to reduce future risks from zoonotic disease and antimicrobial resistance.”

Dense flocks can amplify new strains

The findings suggest that enormous, densely packed flocks may function as ecological ‘pathogen sponges,’ taking in bacterial strains from different sources and amplifying them.

Mathematical modeling showed that after chicken populations pass a critical size, Campylobacter strains originating in wild birds can continue circulating within poultry without repeated introduction. This can happen even when those strains are initially poorly suited to chickens.

The findings have direct relevance to human infection. An earlier IOI study associated 80% of human Campylobacter infections in Oxfordshire with poultry meat and found that many of those infections were resistant to antibiotics.

Farming practices shape bacterial evolution

Oakem Kyne, a DPhil student at the University of Oxford and first author of the paper, said: “As Campylobacter strains adapt to life in poultry, they can acquire traits that help them survive in challenging environments, including traits linked to antimicrobial resistance. Understanding how farming practices influence bacterial evolution is an important step toward reducing the burden of foodborne disease.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Psychopathic Tendencies Are Linked to Microbes Inside Your Body, Study Reveals

11 Aug. 2026, By P. DOCKRILL

https://www.sciencealert.com/psychopathic-tendencies-are-linked-to-microbes-inside-your-body-study-reveals

(Alexander Krivitskiy/Unsplash)

The more we find out about the microbiome, the more we realize how truly profound its effects are in shaping who we become.

We already know that the microbes in our bodies may affect our emotions – including our fear response – but how far does their influence reach in terms of determining our personality?

The answer, research suggests, is pretty far.

In a new early-release study published in Translational Psychiatry, scientists have found evidence to suggest that microbiota may even influence people's experience of psychopathy, with researchers discovering links between levels of certain gut and oral microbes and psychopathic personality traits.

While the findings have yet to undergo peer review, the researchers say it's the first time we've found evidence of how microbiota could contribute to psychopathic traits, which remain poorly understood in terms of their biological underpinnings.

Psychopathy is a personality construct marked by characteristics including lack of empathy, antisocial tendencies, impulsiveness, and egoism, but where psychopathic personalities emerge from is still not fully clear.

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

We know that psychopaths can share similarities in brain structure, with certain regions and pathways in the brain, including the prefrontal cortex, often linked with the phenomenon.

But researchers say there has to be more to it.

"Though brain alterations, particularly in the prefrontal cortex and temporo-limbic areas, are suggested to be directly implicated in psychopathy, these alone are insufficient to provide a comprehensive neurobiological explanation for psychopathic behavior," researchers explain in their paper, by first author and biomedical scientist Carolina Costa from the University of Porto in Portugal and her colleagues.

"We hypothesized that the composition of the gut and oral microbiota may be associated with subclinical psychopathic personality traits… To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore this association."

In their research, Costa and her team studied 200 healthy adult participants who filled out the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale-Short Form – a questionnaire designed to measure psychopathic traits – and donated blood, saliva, and fecal samples, which were analyzed for signs of bacterial composition in the body or various metabolic markers.

Psychopathy is a personality construct marked by lack of empathy, antisocial tendencies, impulsiveness, and egoism. 

(disqis/Getty Images)



When people's individual diversity of gut and oral microbes was analyzed, no clear links to psychopathy were found, but the picture changed when the participants' results were compared against one another.

From that perspective, a higher abundance of three specific kinds of bacteria showed a positive association with stronger psychopathic traits.

Carrying more microbes in your gut microbiome from the genera Allisonella or Prevotella – or from the species Cloacibacillus evryensis – could mean you're more likely to show psychopathic traits, based on the analysis here.

It's worth noting that none of these results can speak to causation; the research here only surfaces correlations in the data.

But hypothetically speaking, if these microbes do influence people's behavior towards psychopathic tendencies, then how?

We don't know for sure, but the researchers note that Allisonella has previously been linked to several human diseases, and its potential to promote inflammation, which is associated with anxiety and depression, could help explain its possible role in psychopathy.

Similarly, Prevotella has previously been linked with neuropsychiatric disorders, and is thought to affect emotional processing, while the researchers say C. evryensis's association might be due to its suspected role as a producer of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter involved in systems that regulate impulse control.

Interestingly, one species in the analysis showed a negative association: higher levels of Treponema vincentii in the oral microbiome were linked with lower psychopathy markers, although the researchers admit they don't have an answer for that.

While a lot more research is needed to better understand how these gut microbes may contribute to psychopathic traits, the findings do give us some important new leads to chase down – and could one day support clinicians in identifying people who show these dark impulses.

"Overall, our findings highlight the potential of microbiota and their metabolic outputs as biomarkers for psychopathic traits in the general population," the researchers write.

"The associations we observed, particularly between specific taxa (e.g., Allisonella, Prevotella, C. evryensis, T. vincentii) and traits such as callousness, manipulation, impulsivity, and anti-sociality, suggest a measurable biological footprint for psychopathy that extends beyond traditional neurocognitive models."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Ant Colonies Pulse Like a Physical System, And Scientists Are Beginning to Understand What Triggers Them

11 August 2026, By E. ÖZ

https://www.sciencealert.com/ant-colonies-pulse-like-a-physical-system-and-scientists-are-beginning-to-understand-what-triggers-them

(andersboman/E+/Getty Images)

An ant nest can appear to be a jumble of tiny bodies moving independently.

But every so often, something remarkable happens: much of the colony springs into action almost at once.

These sudden flurries, known as activity bursts, are followed by stretches of relative calm.

Scientists compare these bursts to phase transitions of physical systems and have observed them for decades, but how so many ants synchronize without a leader remains unclear.

A new mathematical model, described in a study published in PRX Life, suggests that ant colonies suddenly become synchronized after reaching a critical point.

(Pebi WMF/500px/Getty Images)



Before this point, ants move independently. But once the colony crosses it, a single ant can trigger a wave of activity throughout the nest.

"Synchronization does not depend on any specific individual; any ant can serve as the first mover," New Jersey Institute of Technology biologist Simon Garnier says in an article published by the American Physical Society.

New York University mechanical engineer Michael Napoli and urban systems engineer Maurizio Porfiri developed the model with Garnier.

"The emergence of activity rhythms in our model is closely dependent on two key ingredients: the colony must be responsive to the activity of a single individual – sensitive to social contagion – and this individual must spread the activity much faster than the timescale of the activity bursts," Napoli told ScienceAlert.

"This insight provides a perspective on other complex systems where burst-like behavior may emerge, but does not persist, whereby the lack of one of these two ingredients ruins the synchronization."

Activity rhythms generated by the mathematical model, showing bursts of activity separated by quieter periods. 

(Courtesy of Michael Napoli)

Ant colonies contain surprisingly large numbers of inactive workers, but an encounter with a moving nestmate can prompt one to start moving.

Earlier models represented this social activation as a probability. The new model also accounts for the physical encounters required for activity to spread.

In the model, ants switch among three states: active, inactive, and refractory.

Active ants move and can activate nearby nestmates. Inactive ants remain still but can be prompted into action. Refractory ants are stationary and temporarily unable to reactivate, preventing bursts from continuing indefinitely.

Model parameters were based on earlier measurements.

Two ants interacting. 

(Maksim Shutov/Unsplash)



In simulations, activity faded before spreading when ants moved too slowly or encountered one another too infrequently.

But when speed, density, or interaction range crossed a critical threshold, encounters became frequent enough for one ant's activity to cascade through the colony.

Napoli compares the effect with a physical phase transition, such as water freezing, but stresses a key limit.

"The transition decides whether the burst is present, not if a burst will occur over the next time period," he said.

The model therefore cannot predict exactly when a quiet colony will spring into action. It determines whether the colony is in a state capable of producing synchronized bursts.

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

How, then, can one ant's activity spread through an entire nest before dying out?

"This is, perhaps, the most interesting result in the paper," Napoli said.

Earlier research has found that ant colonies can behave like neural networks when making collective decisions, and coordinate as a "superorganism" when responding to threats.

"We find that the bursts in the model emerge due to the dramatic difference in time scale between the motion of the ants – which spreads the activity – and the cycle between the behavioral transitions – which determines the burst period," Napoli said.

"This separation of time scales creates the proper conditions for the bursts to persist, and is comparable to many decision-making cascading phenomena in biological systems."

In other words, interactions spread activity much faster than the colony passes through its broader cycle of activity and rest. This allows movement initiated by one ant to travel from nestmate to nestmate without a commander.

The simulated bursts were broadly consistent with observations reported in earlier studies. However, the new study was mathematical rather than experimental, and tests with living ants are underway.

"Presently, experiments are being conducted and analyzed to validate the model against real ant data," Napoli told ScienceAlert.

"We are specifically interested in gauging the proximity of the colony to the transition threshold, whereby the activity bursts may serve as a platform for the colony to spread information extremely rapidly through the nest."

The results could show how closely living colonies operate to this threshold and whether bursts help information travel efficiently. Any evolutionary advantage remains unknown.

A 2023 modeling study suggested synchronized movement could improve access within crowded nests by reducing obstacles created by inactive ants.

Yet a 2017 study found that short-term activity cycles can impede information transmission when synchronized inactivity interrupts chains of physical contact among workers.

Activity bursts may therefore involve trade-offs among movement, communication, energy use, and the organization of work.

The Life of Earth

Gut Bacteria May Leave a Lasting “Protective Memory” in the Intestine

BY O. DIMMER, NORTHWESTERN U., AUG. 6, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/gut-bacteria-may-leave-a-lasting-protective-memory-in-the-intestine/

A metabolite produced when gut bacteria digest fiber may leave a lasting molecular imprint on the intestinal lining. In mice, this “memory” helped sustain immune tolerance and reduced inflammation even after the metabolite was no longer present. 

Credit: Stock

A fiber-derived bacterial metabolite may leave a protective memory in the gut lining that supports long-term immune tolerance.

A signal made by gut bacteria as they break down dietary fiber may continue shaping intestinal immunity long after the signal itself disappears. Northwestern Medicine researchers found that butyrate can leave a durable molecular imprint on the cells lining the intestine, encouraging immune tolerance and protecting mice against conditions resembling inflammatory bowel disease after treatment has ended.

The findings were published in Nature Communications. Yingzi Cong, PhD, the Stanley Gradowski Professor of Gastroenterology and a professor of Microbiology-Immunology and of Pathology, served as senior and co-corresponding author.

The results suggest that beneficial compounds produced by gut microbes may effectively “train” the intestinal lining to preserve an immune-regulating state over time.

“Our laboratory has long been interested in how the gut microbiota regulates immune responses at intestinal mucosal surfaces,” said first and co-corresponding author of the study Tianming Yu, PhD, research assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. “Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which are produced by gut bacteria during the fermentation of dietary fiber, are known to have anti-inflammatory effects in the intestine.”

Tianming Yu, PhD, research assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, was the first and corresponding author of the study. 

Credit: Northwestern University



One important question, however, had remained unresolved.

“A large proportion of butyrate in the gut is rapidly absorbed and metabolized by intestinal epithelial cells (IECs), which limits the amount of free butyrate that can directly reach underlying immune cells,” Yu said. “This led us to ask whether butyrate might act through IECs to regulate intestinal immunity.”

Butyrate leaves lasting immune protection

To investigate that possibility, the researchers added butyrate to the drinking water of mice for a set period and then withdrew it. Two weeks after treatment stopped, CD4+ T-cells were still producing elevated levels of IL-10, a major anti-inflammatory cytokine that helps control inflammation in the intestine.

The treated mice were also more resistant to chemically induced colitis. Compared with untreated animals, they lost less weight, had lower levels of inflammatory markers, and developed less severe tissue damage. The study found that this protection depended on IL-10 signaling.

Changes in the existing gut microbial community did not explain the result. When the experiment was repeated in germ-free mice, which have no microbes, butyrate still produced a lasting immune-regulating environment.

“We found that oral butyrate treatment induces a sustained immunoregulatory response in the intestine, characterized by increased IL-10 production in CD4+ T-cells and protection from intestinal inflammation even after butyrate treatment is stopped,” Yu said. “This effect was also observed in germ-free mice, suggesting that butyrate can establish a lasting intestinal environment that does not depend on continuous microbial stimulation.”

Intestinal cells carry the signal

Yu and his collaborators next examined intestinal epithelial cells (IECs), the cells that create the physical boundary between the body and the gut microbiome. In laboratory experiments, epithelial cells previously exposed to butyrate strongly increased IL-10 production in both mouse and human T-cells.

Yingzi Cong, PhD, the Stanley Gradowski Professor of Gastroenterology and a professor of Microbiology-Immunology and of Pathology, was senior and co-corresponding author of the study. 

Credit: Northwestern University



“We further found that conditioned medium from butyrate-treated IECs strongly induced IL-10-producing CD4+ T-cells in both mouse and human T-cell culture systems,” Yu said. “These findings suggest that IECs secrete some immunoregulatory factors after butyrate treatment, and these factors can act on T-cells.”

A metabolite connects cells to tolerance

Metabolomic analysis, which measures small molecules produced during cellular activity, identified N1-acetylspermidine as one likely messenger. The compound increased IL-10 production in T-cells and appeared to account for part of the immune-regulating effect produced by butyrate-treated epithelial cells, Yu said.

“Mechanistically, we found that butyrate acts on IECs and induces sustained transcriptional and epigenetic activation of Sat1, an acetylpolyamine biosynthetic enzyme,” Yu said. “This promotes production of the metabolite N1-acetylspermidine, which contributes to the ability of butyrate-treated IEC-conditioned medium to induce IL-10 production in CD4⁺ T-cells.”

The results challenge the conventional view that intestinal epithelial cells are temporary responders whose main function is to form a protective barrier.

“The significance of this work is that it identifies a mechanism by which a microbiota-derived metabolite can create durable epithelial T-cell crosstalk,” Yu said. “The intestinal epithelium is often viewed as a short-lived barrier that responds rapidly to luminal stimuli. Our findings suggest that it can also retain a lasting imprint of a microbial metabolite signal. The study also introduces the idea that beneficial microbial metabolites may ‘train’ the IECs to maintain immune tolerance over time.”

Human disease remains the next test

The findings still require further confirmation, but Yu said the pathway could eventually prove relevant to inflammatory bowel disease.

“One important next step is to determine how this epithelial metabolic pathway operates in human intestinal disease, especially in patients with inflammatory bowel disease,” Yu said. “We are interested in testing whether the butyrate-Sat1-N1-acetylspermidine pathway is altered in human IECs and whether it correlates with immune regulation or disease activity.”

The researchers also intend to identify other metabolites involved in the response because N1-acetylspermidine did not fully account for the immune-regulating effects they observed.

More broadly, the findings may change how researchers think about the relationship among diet, microbial metabolites and the intestinal lining.

“Many studies have focused on how inflammation can leave harmful memory in epithelial cells, but our findings suggest that beneficial microbial metabolites may also establish protective epithelial programs,” he said. “Understanding how diet, microbiota-derived metabolites and inflammation shape intestinal epithelial memory could open new directions for restoring intestinal immune tolerance in inflammatory bowel disease.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Starlink Satellites Reveal a Hidden Atmosphere 300 Miles Above Earth

BY KYOTO U., AUG. 9, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/starlink-satellites-reveal-a-hidden-atmosphere-300-miles-above-earth/

Subtle changes in satellite orbits may reveal far more about near-Earth space than previously recognized. 

Credit: Shutterstock

Satellites designed to provide internet service are now serving an unexpected second purpose: helping scientists map the nearly invisible atmosphere at the edge of space.

Researchers at Kyoto University have used orbital changes from about 1,200 Starlink satellites to map Earth’s thermosphere, a thin and difficult-to-observe region of the upper atmosphere. Their analysis produced the first tomographic map of its kind, revealing atmospheric density patterns roughly 482 kilometers (300 miles) above Earth. The study was published in Earth, Planets, and Space.

Although satellites in low Earth orbit travel through what appears to be empty space, traces of atmosphere remain even hundreds of kilometers above the surface. Collisions with these sparse particles create drag, slowly reducing a spacecraft’s speed and altitude.

That effect becomes more intense when solar activity heats and expands the upper atmosphere. Geomagnetic storms can rapidly increase atmospheric density at satellite altitudes, altering predicted orbits and raising the difficulty of collision avoidance.

Why Thermospheric Density Matters

Knowing how density varies across the thermosphere is therefore important for tracking satellites, forecasting reentries, planning maneuvers, and estimating the paths of space debris. Yet the region remains difficult to observe directly.

The thermosphere extends from about 100 to 1,000 kilometers (62 to 621 miles) above Earth. More than 99 percent of the upper atmosphere consists of electrically neutral gas in this region. By comparison, the electrically charged particles of the ionosphere account for less than 1 percent.

A world-first achievement: successful tomographic analysis of thermospheric air density from Starlink satellite orbital data.

 Credit: KyotoU / Mamoru Yamamoto

The ionosphere can be studied through its effects on radio signals. Neutral particles in the thermosphere leave a far weaker signature, so scientists often rely on specialized instruments, models, or measurements collected along individual satellite paths.

The Kyoto University team instead treated the Starlink constellation as a vast network of moving atmospheric sensors.

Turning Orbital Drag Into Atmospheric Data

As each satellite traveled through the thermosphere, drag caused it to lose a small amount of orbital energy. The researchers calculated these changes using publicly available, detailed orbital records known as ephemeris data. They then applied tomography, a mathematical method also used to reconstruct medical scans, to estimate how atmospheric density varied across different locations.

“This is a multidisciplinary study between space science and space engineering,” says corresponding author Mamoru Yamamoto. “Reading papers from both research fields, we realized that deeper dialogue between researchers from both fields is necessary.”

Combining measurements from hundreds of satellites allowed the researchers to produce a two-dimensional map of density across latitude and longitude. Most earlier spacecraft observations provided readings only along a satellite’s individual route, which is similar to learning about a landscape by following a single road.

Improving Space Weather and Orbital Safety

The new method offers a wider snapshot. Its results were highly consistent with density variations measured by the European Space Agency’s SWARM satellites, providing an independent check on the reconstruction.

The work expands on an earlier study by the same team that used publicly available Two-Line Element, or TLE, records to examine changes in thermospheric density over time and altitude. The latest research adds the horizontal dimension, revealing how density differs from one geographic region to another.

Future versions of the system could potentially track thermospheric density close to real time. Such maps could improve space weather forecasts, refine orbital predictions, and help operators respond more effectively when solar storms disturb the upper atmosphere.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

“I Couldn’t Do It Anymore” – Antarctic Guides Quit Their Dream Jobs After Witnessing Tourism’s Damage

BY Z. SOKOLICKOVA, E. COOPER, AND C. HEHIR, AUG. 9, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/i-couldnt-do-it-anymore-antarctic-guides-quit-their-dream-jobs-after-witnessing-tourisms-damage/

Some Antarctic guides found that protecting the place they loved ultimately meant leaving it. Their decisions expose a deeper tension between environmental awareness and the impacts of tourism itself. 

Credit: Shutterstock

Antarctic guides walked away from their dream jobs after tourism’s environmental damage became impossible to ignore.

“You’d see massive glacier calvings, and you’d just want to cry. But all the guests would be cheering. And you’d be like … ‘Can you not put two and two together?’”

Those are the words of a former Antarctic tour guide we interviewed. For anyone interested in nature, few jobs sound more enviable. You spend months among penguins, orcas, and glaciers, helping visitors experience one of the world’s most extraordinary and unspoiled places.

But for some guides, like those we quote in this article, that privilege slowly became impossible to reconcile with their beliefs. Watching climate change unfold while helping thousands more visitors reach the continent eventually led them to leave the jobs they’d once dreamed of.

Antarctica’s Tourism Paradox

Antarctic tourism is growing fast, with over 120,000 visits in 2025-26 and up to 450,000 expected each summer within a decade. Our new study reveals how Antarctic tour guides grapple with the dilemma at the heart of their work—bringing more and more people to an ecologically vulnerable area and helping cause some of the greatest CO2 emissions of any form of tourism.

“I was down there on the hottest day ever recorded in 2020. Hiking up a glacier in my T-shirt, driving boats without gloves. It was really sad. The impacts of climate change absolutely hit you in the face.”

We interviewed 25 former Antarctic guides who decided to quit their jobs (all quotes are anonymized). These guides couldn’t align their morals with the effects of tourism they were witnessing day after day.

As Antarctic tourism expands, former guides describe a growing conflict between introducing visitors to the continent and contributing to pressures on its fragile ecosystems. 

Credit: Zdenka Sokolickova



“Very often, for long periods of time, the penguins had maybe a few hours’ break during the night. Otherwise, there were hundreds of people walking through the colonies non-stop.”

While tour operators often argue that visiting Antarctica can heighten tourists’ awareness of environmental issues, former guides were struck by guests’ ignorance of human impacts.

A Growing Moral Conflict

None of the guides quit overnight. Their decisions emerged through years of reflection, uncertainty, and moral conflict.

“We are always in conflict in our minds with two parts: the excitement to go to Antarctica to work in remote places we like and being complicit in tourism industry development.”

“I can’t work in the farce of climate change cruise tourism anymore. It’s just, how can I go there, tell people about climate change, and not do anything about it?”

The Personal Cost of Leaving

The former Antarctic tour guides show meaningful change is often a painful and gradual process rather than a single dramatic moment. For many, years of acting against their values affected their wellbeing.

“I think what it comes down to for me is, you know, if I think about being on my deathbed and trying to look my kids in the eyes and saying, ‘I tried.’ I don’t know if I could have done that if I kept doing what I was doing.”

The stories of guides who left one of the world’s most extraordinary tourism jobs powerfully illustrate how abandoning unsustainable lifestyles can come with real personal costs.

“To this day, Antarctica … stays in the forefront of my head as the most incredibly raw environment that deserves all the care and protection. And I just think tourism and us being there was doing the opposite of that completely.”

Loving Antarctica From Afar

Many of the research participants still felt deeply connected to Antarctica, and they sometimes regretted leaving. Mixed feelings and ambiguity are an inherent part of decisions we take out of concern and care for others, including remote environments.

“Do I wish I was getting on a flight and heading to the floe edge to take people out on the ice? Yes, there’s a big part of me that wishes I were doing that right now. And I also know that I would feel like shit after doing it.”

Walking Away to Protect It

In the case of the people we interviewed, caring about Antarctica meant walking away from Antarctic tourism. The interviews suggest that distance doesn’t necessarily weaken responsibility. For these former tour guides, caring for Antarctica ultimately meant leaving it—and many felt better after they quit. Sometimes the best way to protect a place you love is to leave it alone.

“I was working very much against what I knew wasn’t right, and I think that was coming out in my body as well. And then when I made that decision to walk away, I just felt so much better. It was like I could breathe again.”

If you’ve ever questioned whether your work aligns with your values, these former Antarctic tour guides offer a thoughtful perspective on balancing career, well-being, and environmental responsibility. Their stories may also inspire a deeper appreciation for protecting Antarctica by leaving it untouched.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Chuck's photo corner to Aug. 9th 2026

It's been a hot muggy couple of weeks. Way more rain than we usually get this time of summer. I even had to use the ac a few nights. Mainly to dry out the air in the bedroom, but a little cooler was nice as well. Still on average it's been a cooler summer especially some nights. Lawn cutting has been quite the chore with all the rain. Even some of the veggy garden is complaining about too much water.

hot peppers coming along

garden phlox

my fav red daylily washed out by yesterday's heavy rain storm

rudbeckia going crazy

rain pouring off the roof

rain and more rain

a misty morning

merlin came to look in at us during supper

dahlias with a long family history given to my by an old friend a few years ago

.

Up in the mountains earlier this week

day lily

choke cherry outside the dining room window,

looks like a variety of nicotina

this colour of bee balm was very popular with the bees

the thistle was a bee favorite as well

crossing the Ottawa river on the ferry, I spotted this boat one of the largest I have seen on the Ottawa.

Enjoy the day

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

What if The Brain Doesn't Create Consciousness? Scientist Proposes It Might Be The Fabric of Reality Itself

09 Aug. 2026, By E. ÖZ

https://www.sciencealert.com/what-if-the-brain-doesnt-create-consciousness-scientist-proposes-it-might-be-the-fabric-of-reality-itself

(Mevans/E+/Getty Images)

For decades, neuroscientists have searched the brain for the biological basis of consciousness, assuming our thoughts, emotions, and subjective experiences emerge from networks of neurons.

But what if that assumption is incomplete?

That's the provocative question explored by neuroscientist Christof Koch of the Allen Institute in Seattle.

Koch recently presented his 'challenges' to our understanding of consciousness at the Bial Foundation's 'Behind and Beyond the Brain' symposium in Porto, Portugal, in April 2026 – building on a body of published work that includes this 2016 paper in Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

Koch explained to ScienceAlert that it may be time to rethink one of neuroscience's deepest assumptions: that consciousness is something the brain produces.

Koch does not dispute the brain's essential role in conscious experience.

Decades of research have shown that injuries, disease, anesthesia, and electrical stimulation can profoundly alter – or even eliminate – awareness.

Instead, he asks a different question: Does the brain create consciousness, or could it be shaping something more fundamental?

Despite remarkable progress in understanding how the brain processes information, neuroscience still faces a profound mystery, Koch argues.

Scientists can increasingly identify the neural circuits involved in perception, memory, emotion, and decision-making. Yet those discoveries still cannot explain why physical brain activity is accompanied by subjective experience.

As Koch writes in a new, as-yet unpublished essay shared with ScienceAlert: "Nothing in science explains how three pounds of matter, a piece of furniture of the Universe like any other, subjects to the same natural laws, can love, hate, dream, imagine, fear or hope for its future."

It isn't the first time Koch has grappled publicly with this puzzle. In 2023, he conceded a 25-year bet with philosopher David Chalmers, admitting neuroscience was no closer to pinning down consciousness's neural mechanism than when he made the wager in 1998.

(Ashley Batz/Unsplash)




To address that question, Koch turns to a philosophical framework known as analytic idealism, which proposes that consciousness may be a fundamental feature of reality rather than something generated by the brain.

Within this framework, the brain is viewed less as a producer of consciousness and more as a filter or shaper of conscious experience.

The ideas did not emerge from a single scientific experiment. Instead, Koch describes a deeply personal experience that fundamentally changed the way he thinks about consciousness and reality.

Several years ago, while sitting alone on a beach, he recalls the boundary between himself and the world dissolving, describing the experience as a timeless and universal reality.

In his essay, Koch describes the experience as "the most meaningful of my life," writing that it "flipped my view of reality".

Koch is careful not to present the experience as scientific evidence. Instead, he writes that it gave him "a view of Mind-at-Large" and prompted him to re-examine the metaphysical assumptions that had guided much of his scientific career, taking alternative philosophical perspectives more seriously.

He also acknowledges that such experiences are inherently subjective. But he argues they should not be dismissed simply because they are difficult to explain, suggesting they, too, are part of the phenomenon science is ultimately trying to understand.

(Dmitry Berdnyk/Unsplash)

In the essay, he points to developments in modern physics as another reminder that some of science's deepest assumptions have already been revised. He does not argue that quantum physics explains consciousness. Rather, he suggests that the history of physics shows scientists have repeatedly been forced to rethink the nature of reality when new evidence emerged.

Koch argues that "our understanding of reality must be rebuilt on a simpler foundation, compatible with both the 'objective' outcome of empirical science as well as with 'subjective' experience."

Koch argues that if current assumptions about consciousness prove incomplete, neuroscience itself may eventually require a similarly profound conceptual shift.

The ideas also have implications for artificial intelligence. If consciousness is not simply the product of increasingly complex computation, the path toward conscious machines may be more complicated than simply building increasingly powerful AI systems.

That does not mean future AI systems could never become conscious. Rather, he argues that the debate cannot be settled simply by making computers more intelligent or more computationally sophisticated.

Koch acknowledges that analytic idealism is not an established scientific theory but a metaphysical framework whose future depends on whether its ideas can be translated into empirically testable hypotheses.

As he writes, "The most important task for the future is to take these insights and translate them into empirically testable hypotheses."

He argues that consciousness remains one of science's greatest unsolved mysteries, and that understanding it may require researchers to rethink long-held assumptions about the relationship between mind, brain, and reality.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/