See how aerosols fly through Earth’s skies

NASA mapped how sea salt, dust and other tiny particles drifted over six weeks

The sky abounds with tiny bits of solid or liquids known as aerosols. Some are flecks of black carbon or dust. Others are specks of sulfates or sea salt. All play roles in managing Earth’s temperature. And a new NASA visualization reveals how these airborne bits swirl through about. It now shows how aerosols can affect air quality far from their sources.

NASA’s Goddard Earth Observing System created the visual. It combined observations from space and the ground together with computer models. They map where these  aerosols traveled over a six-week span last year.

Sulfates (green, in the visual) are linked most often to the burning of fossil fuels, especially coal. Some countries, such as the United States, have reduced coal burning. Many Asian nations, however, still rely on…

The sweet truth about carbohydrates

Some people worry about eating carbs. But these starches and sugars give our bodies energy

In the liver, an enzyme called fructokinase (Frook-toh-KY-nase) sets off the first step in turning fructose into glycogen. But unlike the enzyme that processes glucose, fructokinase “doesn’t seem to get turned off — ever,” explains Stanhope at UC Davis.

So if you’re drinking a sugary soft drink, “86 percent of all the fructose you’re consuming in that … drink goes into the liver,” Stanhope says. “The liver does the best it can with all this fructose, but now it’s overloaded.” The liver will now turn any excess into fat, she explains.

Too much fat can hamper how the liver reacts to hormones such as insulin. As a result, the organ stores even more sugars as fat. “You just keep going around in circles and making the situation worse,” Stanhope explains.

Children at risk for depression get “stuck” on sad faces

Depression may change which emotional faces children notice most, but the pattern appears to depend on family history. Children at higher familial risk became increasingly focused on sad faces, while lower-risk children with rising symptoms paid less attention to happy ones.

A smile or a frown may reveal more than emotion alone. The faces that capture a child's attention could provide important clues about their mental health and how depression develops.

New research from Binghamton University, State University of New York, suggests that depression may influence how strongly children focus on emotional expressions such as happy or sad faces. The pattern appears to differ depending on whether a child has a family history of depression.

Researchers at the Mood Disorders Institute at Binghamton University study how depression develops in children and adolescents, with particular attention to how family history and…

Even one strength training session a week could make a difference

Strength training may be one of the most powerful tools for staying independent as you age. Age related muscle loss, known as sarcopenia, can make everyday tasks harder while increasing the risk of falls, fractures, and loss of mobility. Research shows that resistance exercises such as squats, weights, resistance bands, and even body weight movements can preserve or rebuild strength, and surprisingly, even one session a week can produce meaningful benefits.

Even one strength training session a week could help preserve the muscle, mobility, and independence that matter most as we age. Credit: Shutterstock

Healthy aging is about staying independent, maintaining mobility and continuing to enjoy everyday activities as you get older. For many people, what matters most is being able to get out of a chair without help, carry shopping home, climb the stairs and recover quickly after…

Scientists accidentally discover a genetic code that breaks the rules of life

A routine experiment involving a microscopic organism from a freshwater pond led scientists to an extraordinary genetic discovery. The tiny creature was found to interpret DNA instructions in a way researchers had never documented before, challenging a long held assumption about how the genetic code works.

The surprise came when scientists examined a previously unknown protist called Oligohymenophorea sp. PL0344. Two genetic signals that ordinarily tell cells to stop making proteins had taken on completely different functions. Even more remarkably, the signals had been reassigned to two different amino acids, breaking a pattern scientists believed was closely linked by evolution.

The discovery, published in PLOS Genetics in October 2023, revealed an unexpected level of flexibility in one of life's most fundamental biological systems. Subsequent research has uncovered additional genetic code variations in related microorganisms, suggesting that many more surprises…

Earth has a natural thermostat and scientists finally know how it works

Scientists have identified a hidden feedback loop that may explain how Earth has regulated its climate for tens of millions of years. As sea levels rose and fell, they changed how much phosphate reached the open ocean, affecting marine life and the amount of carbon buried beneath the seafloor. That burial removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping cool the planet.

Earth appears to have a natural climate control system that has helped keep the planet habitable for more than 100 million years. Scientists have long known that this system exists, but the mechanisms behind it have remained difficult to explain.

New research points to a previously overlooked connection between sea level and the availability of phosphate in the ocean. Changes in global temperature affected the size of polar ice sheets, which altered sea level. Those shifts then…

Scientists reveal how breathwork unlocks psychedelic bliss in the brain

High ventilation breathwork while listening to music was associated with reports of blissful states and reduced negative emotions, accompanied by increased blood flow to emotion-processing brain regions.

Breathwork while listening to music may induce a blissful state in practitioners, accompanied by changes in blood flow to emotion-processing brain regions, according to a study published August 27, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Amy Amla Kartar from the Colasanti Lab in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, U.K., and colleagues. These changes occur even while the body's stress response may be activated and are associated with reporting reduced negative emotions.

The popularity of breathwork as a therapeutic tool for psychological distress is rapidly expanding. Breathwork practices that increase ventilatory rate or depth, accompanied by music, can lead to altered states of consciousness (ASCs) similar…

An invisible chemical rain is falling across the planet

A new study reveals that chemicals used to replace ozone-damaging CFCs are now driving a surge in a persistent “forever chemical” worldwide. The pollutant, called trifluoroacetic acid, is falling out of the atmosphere into water, land, and ice, including in remote regions like the Arctic. Even as older chemicals are phased out, their long lifetimes mean pollution is still rising.

Chemicals introduced to shield the ozone layer are now tied to an unexpected environmental consequence. A new study shows that these substances have helped spread large amounts of a long-lasting and potentially harmful forever chemical across the planet.

Researchers in atmospheric science, led by a team at Lancaster University, have calculated for the first time how much of this pollution has accumulated worldwide. Their analysis estimates that chemicals used to replace CFCs, along with certain anesthetic gases, led to roughly a…

Why the human body has so many design flaws

Many of the body's biggest flaws are the result of evolution building on old designs instead of starting over. Our spine, eyes, teeth, pelvis, and even certain nerves all reveal compromises that worked well enough for survival but still leave us prone to pain, injury, and disease. Structures like the appendix and ear muscles also remain because they were never harmful enough for evolution to eliminate. Together, these features tell the story of a body shaped by history rather than perfection.

The human body is often described as a marvel of “perfect design”: elegant, efficient and finely tuned for its purpose. Yet, when we look closer, a rather different picture emerges.

Far from being a flawless machine, the body reads more like a patchwork of compromises shaped by millions of years of evolutionary tinkering. Evolution does not design structures from scratch.…