Photo: monkeybusiness/Depositphotos

Getting older is something many of us fear, but life doesn’t end at retirement. Old age is a privilege, and finding joy in your later years is possible, especially when you start adjusting your mindset and building healthy habits now.

Eating healthy and physical exercise play a big role in supporting longevity, but emotional well-being matters just as much. Addressing loneliness and staying socially connected are key to not only living longer but truly enjoying those extra years.

California-based gerontologist Dr. Kerry Burnight studies aging from every angle—biological, social, and psychological—and believes there are four key elements to living a happier and healthier life in older age: growing, connecting, adapting, and giving. Her own mom, 96-year-old Betty Parker, sets a great example. She still finds joy in the little things, like baking pies, picking roses from her garden, and playing cards with friends.

John Batsis, a geriatrician and an associate professor at UNC’s School of Medicine and Gillings School of Global Public Health in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has teamed up with Burnight to share four key ways to improve your later years. You can start putting these into practice today to build a healthier, more connected, and more fulfilling future.

Start these 4 easy practices now to set yourself up for a happier future.

Find a hobby outside of work

Once you stop working, how do you imagine spending your days? Batsis says, “The retirement cliff, so to speak, is very difficult for individuals who have been working a lifetime.” His advice is to start exploring hobbies and activities you’d enjoy in retirement while you’re still working. That way, the transition feels more natural.

Whether you want to write a book, start gardening, or learn pottery, it’s never too late to start something new.

Challenge your mind

Crossword puzzles and sudoku are great for keeping your mind active, but to truly stay mentally sharp and get the most out of your later years, it’s important to challenge yourself with activities that really push you. “New experiences activate neuro plasticity…that is our brain’s ability to keep growing,” Burnight explains. “If you do the same things you’ve always done, you’re really not setting yourself up for continued growth.”

Batsis recommends to keep moving and to find a hobby that will keep you physically active. One of his patients took up golf after he retired, but he even started playing the guitar. Batsis says, “Individuals need to find something that is of interest to them, because the more interesting it is to them, the more they’re going to be willing to kind of engage in that type of activity.”

Stay social

Loneliness can be harmful to both physical and mental health, so both Batsis and Burnight urge people to stay socially active. Even small interactions, like talking with a neighbor or your local barista, can help you feel more connected to your community.

Every month, Parker meets up with a group she calls “the youngs” to play canasta—a game she taught them. They’re women in their 60s she got to know through her daughter-in-law, and even though they’re much younger, Parker says having friends of all ages means a lot to her. That’s especially true now, since she’s outlived her husband and many of her longtime friends.

“Like how we diversify our financial portfolio, socially we want to have friends of different ages, friends from your neighborhood, as well as friends from the past,” Burnight explains. “You need to be the one to call to make a plan or to remember a birthday, or to sit by somebody’s hospital bed or to drive them to their chemo.”

Adapt your thinking

Studies show that your mindset about aging can have a powerful influence on how you actually age. “People who believe that aging is a time of continued growth live 7.5 years longer than those who think, ‘Oh, I’m old. I’m going to retire and just go knit with the ladies,’” Burnight says. “The way that you adapt largely is recognizing that it isn’t wrong that you’re going to have tough stuff. It’s how you’re going to respond to that tough stuff.”

Getting physically weaker with age doesn’t mean you have to step back from life. Burnight encourages shifting your focus to helping others. Research shows that giving back can boost your sense of joy, purpose, and even help you live longer. “Purpose is small and daily and a decision,” Burnight says. “It’s saying, ‘Okay, today, how am I going to use the fact that I’m alive and that I have things to give?’”

Source: 96-year-old shares what she does to keep life vibrant. You can start doing it now

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READ: 4 Practices You Can Start Now for a Happier and More Connected Life When You’re Older

Photo: mathes/Depositphotos

Nearly 55 years after first being unintentionally set on fire, the Darvaza gas crater is finally showing signs of dying down. Located in the heart of the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan, this crater is also known as the “Door to Hell” or “Gates of Hell” because of the fires that have been taking place within it since 1971.

How this fiery crater came to be is an interesting piece of little-known history. The Karakum desert region of Turkmenistan was part of the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Soviet engineers were interested in mining the desert for oil fields, so upon their arrival, they drilled for quality testing. Instead of finding oil, however, the engineers found something much more volatile: a large natural gas pocket that was unable to support the weight of heavy oil rig machinery, and subsequently collapsed.

This collapse brought down the entire scouting camp along with it, leaving behind a massive, bowl-like basin measuring 230 feet wide and 100 feet deep. To make matters worse, the natural gas that had been trapped in that pocket began leaking out into the atmosphere at an astounding rate, endangering local wildlife and nearby communities.

Scientists sought to burn off the natural gas as an end-all solution, estimating it would take a few weeks to resolve. In reality, the Darvaza crater has been burning for decades, and it’s only in 2025, nearly 55 years after its inception, that the fires of the Gates of Hell seem to be subsiding.

According to Turkmengaz, the state-subsidized national gas company, the Darvaza crater’s flames have demonstrated a visible weakening as of June 5, 2025. Scientists who monitor the crater’s fires presented research at the International Scientific and Practical Conference on Environmental Aspects of Innovative Technologies in Hydrocarbon Development (TESC 2025) that indicates the flames have diminished to nearly a third of their original size.

Scientists have also observed that the crater fires are now only visible when up close to the cavity, whereas in the past, its flames could be seen miles away. Turkmengaz officials and scientists are hopeful that this rapid decline is thanks to an exhaustion of natural gas stores, meaning that the blazing crater may be on its way to finally dying out.

The news is welcome amongst the citizens and leaders of Turkmenistan. The burning crater has long been a topic of discussion, with many opining that the continuous burning of precious natural gases is simultaneously wasteful and dangerous. The gradual extinguishing of the Darvaza crater marks the possible end of one of the world’s most unusual man-made phenomena. As the fires wane, they close a decades-long chapter in Turkmenistan’s landscape and history.

An accidental man-made crater from the Soviet era that has been burning for 54 years in Turkmenistan is finally beginning to die down.

Photo: mathes/Depositphotos

The Darvaza gas crater is also known as the “Door to Hell” or the “Gates to Hell” because of the fires that have continuously burned in it since a natural gas pocket beneath the earth collapsed in 1971.

Photo: Kloeg008/Depositphotos

However, as of June 5, 2025, national authorities have reported that the crater's flames have decreased significantly.

Photo: AlexelA/Depositphotos

This news comes amid discussions related to the precious natural gas wasted as a result of the original 1971 accident, and may signify the end of an era for Turkmenistan's landscape and history.

Photo: mathes/Depositphotos

Sources: Soviet-era gas crater ‘Door to Hell’ is finally dying down after 50 years of burning; Turkmenistan's achievements in reducing methane emissions announced at TESC 2025

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READ: The World’s Largest Flaming Gas Crater Is Showing Signs of Dying Out

Alvin Lucier (Photo: Non Event via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0))

What if death weren’t the end for human creativity, but instead the catalyst for a new kind of art? Revivification is a haunting and immersive installation created in collaboration with the late American composer Alvin Lucier that probes the liminal space between life and the afterlife. Speculative science fuses raw emotion to create a piece that invites us to question not just how far creativity can go, but whether it even should go that far.

Revivification is an immersive installation in the Art Gallery of Western Australia that, according to the gallery, has been “four years in the making.” The concept was developed by artists Nathan Thompson, Matt Gingold, and Guy Ben-Ary, in collaboration with neuroscientist Stuart Hodgetts and Lucier.

One of the most respected experimental composers of his time, Lucier’s compositions were known for drawing from principles of physics in sound. He often took a curious and playful approach to creating music; one particularly memorable example is his 1969 piece titled “I Am Sitting in a Room,” where he read a passage multiple times over while recording on the same tape. Lucier repeated the process until it became nearly impossible to pick out the words of his phrase in the cacophony.

Lucier began working with the artists and scientists on this project in 2018, three years before he died in 2021. Ever the risk-taker, the composer provided the group with his blood. White blood cells from this sample were “reprogrammed into stem cells,” then into organoid structures that are meant to resemble and mimic a developing human brain.

In Revivification, these cerebral organoids run the show, physically and metaphorically. Placed in the center of the installation space in an incubator, the organoids represent Lucier’s “in-vitro brain” that lives beyond his earthly and departed body. Electrical signals derived from this brain matter then send impulses that trigger mallets to periodically hit 20 brass plates mounted to the installation space.

The result is a haunting experience that prompts us to think deeper about the creation of art that occurs during and after our lifetimes. University of San Francisco cognitive neuroscientist Indre Viskontas has one way of framing it. “Creativity really has to have a conscious element to it,” she says in an interview with NPR. “I don’t think this particular piece of art is conscious. Those cells have no intention.”

Revivification doesn’t offer an easy answer or way out; rather, it lingers in this uncertainty, much like the reverberations of Lucier’s compositions. By animating remnants of a life once lived, the installation challenges us to confront questions of agency, authorship, and legacy. Is the music produced by Revivification a continuation of Lucier’s work, a resurrection, or something completely new and original?

Revivification is on view at the Art Gallery of Western Australia in Perth now through September 21, 2025.

The late experimental composer Alvin Lucier is still creating music three years after his death, thanks to science and brain matter derived from his white blood cells.

Photo: iLexx/Depositphotos

In the immersive installation Revivification, cerebral organoids developed in a lab send out electrical impulses to mallets, which then periodically hit brass plates lining the gallery's walls to create sound.

The installation prompts us to ask questions about agency, authorship, and legacy in creating art after life.

Sources: Artificial ‘Brain’ Aims to Allow Composer to Keep Making Music Three Years After His Death; Revivification; A Musician’s Brain Matter Is Still Making Music—Three Years After His Death

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READ: Musical Composer’s Brain Matter Is Still Making Music Three Years After His Death

Photo: Mike Kotsch via Unsplash

In terms of renewable energy, solar power offers an incredible solution—except, of course, when it’s raining. A team of researchers at the National University of Singapore is hoping to change that through the development of a tool that produces electricity by harnessing rainwater. A recent study published in ACS Central Science illustrates how, exactly, such an innovation can be accomplished.

For their experiments, the research team relied upon charge separation, a scientific phenomenon in which oppositely charged particles separate and ultimately create a voltage between one another. To maximize this effect, which is otherwise quite inefficient if not negligible, scientists fashioned a device that sifted water through tiny tubes composed of an electrically conductive polymer.

“Water that falls through a vertical tube generates a substantial amount of electricity by using a specific pattern of water flow and plug flow,” Siowling Soh, one of the study’s authors, said in a statement.

“Plug flow” was a key ingredient to the device’s electricity generation, in which water moved in small columns separated by air pockets rather than in continuous floods.

“This plug flow pattern could allow rain energy to be harvested for generating clean and renewable electricity,” Soh added, though cautioned that this current device would be best suited for smaller and slower volumes of water.

Steel cups beneath the device’s tubes collected charged droplets, while wires connected to the top of the tube and the bottom of the cup harvested the electricity. This “plug flow” system managed to power 12 LED light bulbs, but could only keep pace for about 20 seconds. Even so, the team stressed the advantages of plug flow, highlighting its simple, inexpensive setup that can readily be “scaled up” for “large-scale harvesting,” whether it be in urban or rural environments.

To read the full study, visit ACS Central Science.

A recent study by scientists at the National University of Singapore found a way to generate renewable energy with falling drops of water.

Photo: PAN XIAOZHEN via Unsplash

Sources: A step toward harnessing clean energy from falling rainwater; Clever new technique turns falling rain into renewable energy; Clean energy from rain? Scientists generate electricity from falling droplets; Plug Flow: Generating Renewable Electricity with Water from Nature by Breaking the Limit of Debye Length

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Photo: HayDmitriy/Depositphotos

For many, daily chores can be a nuisance they avoid at all costs; for others, there's a sincere desire to keep one's home tidy and chores are an inescapable necessity. Ultimately, domestic duties are a universal part of life—yes, even for millionaires. Though the wealthy are often seen as having a staff ready to put everything in place, some financially successful people continue to carry out certain chores, as they often translate to good habits, discipline, and an added sense of productivity. And research shows there's one chore in particular that seems to put people in the path of success.

Hoping to dissect the habits and routines of high earners, socio-economist Randall Bell, Ph.D. got to work. He interviewed over 5,000 people from around the world. Not just millionaires, but also professionals, students, retirees, and unemployed people. “We studied dozens of rituals ranging from writing thank-you notes to eating together as a family,” he wrote. “We then statistically correlated various habits with different measures of success.” With this, Bell found that rich people had very specific daily rituals in common.

On top of doing things like waking up early, planning out their day, and exercising, Bell found a fascinating pattern: wealthy individuals also make their bed. According to his research, people who make their bed in the morning are up to 206.8% more likely to be millionaires. “It changes your frame of reference that carries out throughout the day, that when there's a job to be done you're going to get it done,” Bell told CBS News. “Habits are what form our lives.”

Making the bed also has other benefits, like making you feel more motivated and instilling a sense of discipline. Beyond maintaining the tidiness of your space, it can also make you feel more in control in your life and environment. “Making your bed every morning is correlated with better productivity, a greater sense of well-being, and stronger skills at sticking with a budget,” adds author Charles Duhigg, who describes it as a “keystone habit.”

While certainly there are a myriad of other factors to becoming a millionaire, developing good habits is a way to keep you motivated and inspired. With this, you'll always know deep in your heart that you've been doing your best. In the end, it's within that sense of peace—not the material stuff—where the true richness lies.

Sources: Developing The Right Habits Could Make You A Millionaire; Randall Bell, PhD, MAI; 7 ‘rich habits’ of highly successful people, from a man who studied them for 25 years

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READ: People That Do This One Chore Every Day Are 206% More Likely To Become a Millionaire

Photo: © Trustees of the Natural History Museum

London’s Natural History Museum has recently opened an immersive experience featuring the legendary Sir David Attenborough. Titled Our Story with David Attenborough, the 50-minute-long presentation brings the walls and floor of the Jerwood Gallery to life. It’s teeming with 360 degrees of animations, projections, and real-world footage, all narrated by Attenborough and accompanied by a score from Tony Award and Olivier Award-nominated composer Nick Powell.

This incredible exhibition takes visitors down a narrative path. “In this new immersive experience at the Natural History Museum, we explore two stories,” Attenborough explains, “the 4-billion-year epic of the Earth, and our own, relatively brief chapter, the story of humankind. These two stories are not, at this moment, aligned—but they could be. My hope is that anyone visiting the Our Story experience will come to understand how important humanity is in writing the planet’s next chapter.”

Our Story with David Attenborough marks the Natural History Museum’s first-ever immersive experience and was done in collaboration with Open Planet Studios. While there, attendees bear witness to the emergence of Homo sapiens, commune with gorillas (our closest relatives), and discover how we’ve impacted—including our recent efforts to protect—the great whales of the oceans.

The experience is an awe-inspiring look at the Earth and a sobering examination of the environmental impact of humans. The Natural History Museum hopes that it will inspire more advocacy for the planet's health. When we can immerse ourselves in what’s at stake, it will help us move differently through the world in a way that aligns with a more sustainable future.

Tickets are available for Our Story with David Attenborough through January 18, 2026. Visit the Natural History Museum's website to reserve one.

London’s Natural History Museum has recently opened an immersive experience featuring the legendary Sir David Attenborough.

Photo: © Trustees of the Natural History Museum

Titled Our Story with David Attenborough, the 50-minute-long presentation brings the walls and floor of the Jerwood Gallery to life.

Photo: Open Planet Studios, Photographer Gavin Thurston

Photo: Open Planet Studios, Photographer Gavin Thurston

It’s teeming with 360 degrees of animations, projections, and real-world footage.

Photo: © Trustees of the Natural History Museum

This incredible exhibition takes visitors down a narrative path.

Photo: © Trustees of the Natural History Museum

“In this new immersive experience at the Natural History Museum, we explore two stories,” Attenborough explains, “the 4-billion-year epic of the Earth, and our own, relatively brief chapter, the story of humankind.”

Photo: © Trustees of the Natural History Museum

“These two stories are not, at this moment, aligned—but they could be. My hope is that anyone visiting the Our Story experience will come to understand how important humanity is in writing the planet’s next chapter.”

Photo: © Trustees of the Natural History Museum

Get a peek into the experience here:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Natural History Museum, London (@natural_history_museum)

Exhibition Information:
Our Story with David Attenborough
June 19, 2025–January 18, 2026
Natural History Museum
Cromwell Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD

Natural History Museum: Website | Instagram | Facebook

All images via Natural History Museum. 

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Photo: nm737/Depositphotos

Many people begin to notice the arrival of spring with the large, beautiful blooms of the magnolia flower. Magnolia trees can be found in many parts of the world, and their beautiful forms have symbolic, medicinal, and visual meaning across cultures—and have for centuries. If you’re ever near a magnolia tree, though, look closely: you’ll notice that beetles, instead of bees, will be moving amongst the flowers.

So, why beetles over bees? The answer is simpler than you might think. Magnolias are so ancient that they were around long before bees came into existence. They’ve been around for over 100 million years, in fact, and beetles have existed for even longer , approximately 300 million years.

Named after the French botanist Pierre Magnol, magnolias belong to one of the oldest lineages of flowers on Earth. (Dinosaurs still walked the Earth at this time, to put it into perspective!) Given this ancient setting, the pollinators we’re most familiar with, butterflies and bees, had not yet evolved. Beetles were the primary insect pollinators for the time, and so they became the de facto agents for the magnolia’s survival.

This partnership between the flower and the beetle reveals itself in the magnolia’s look and scent. The flowers are large and shaped like a bowl, which is ideal for beetles to climb into. Their petals also boast more muted colors, as their partner pollinators navigate better through scent than sight. Which leads to the next, and perhaps most iconic, trait of the magnolia flower: its intoxicating scent that attracts beetles to it, meant to mimic the smell of fermenting or ripening fruit.

Another aspect of the magnolia that shows its advanced evolution is the sturdiness of the petals. Where many flowers usually have reputations for being delicate, the magnolia has developed thick, leathery petals. This is to withstand the beetle’s movement within its center, which can be clumsy and at times, rough.

As far as pollinators go, the beetle isn’t the most sophisticated. They can’t hover to collect nectar (or collect nectar at all) or perform more advanced pollinating behaviors. The way they pollinate is more of a happy accident. In their search for food, beetles will plow through petals of flowers, often leaving a mess behind. But in this process, they also get coated in pollen, which they carry on to the next flower, and the one after that, as they continue their search.

The beetle's method of pollinating, though not as sophisticated as that of bees or butterflies, has stood the test of time, at least for our dear magnolias. The ancient flower’s partnership with beetles is a testament to both of these agents’ ancient origins and resilience. With sturdy petals and a rich scent, the magnolia continues to thrive today, just as it did millions of years ago: through simple, time-tested evolution.

Magnolias, the beautiful pink and white flowers that bloom in early spring, have been around since dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

Photo: courtyardpix/Depositphotos

They're so old, in fact, that they rely on beetles instead of bees to pollinate them.

Photo: Reinhold Möller via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Beetles, who have been around for even longer than magnolias, predate bees by hundreds of millions of years.

Photo: wasnoch/Depositphotos

The arrangement, makeup, and scent of magnolia flowers reflect their unique and ancient partnership with beetles.

Photo: matenchuk/Depositphotos

Sources: Magnolias are so ancient they’re pollinated by beetles — because bees didn’t exist yet; The Botany of Magnolias

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READ: Magnolias Are So Old That They’re Pollinated by Beetles

Photo: Nils Koenning

The Venice Architecture Biennale is all about innovation, and Heatherwick Studio certainly embodies that with a new project that pushes the boundaries of science and sustainability. Space Garden, created in collaboration with the Aurelia Institute, is a fascinating concept where common garden plants are grown inside pods that make up a low-Earth-orbit greenhouse.

The four-meter-by-four-meter model on view at the Venice Biennale features 30 pods that individually open and close to regulate sunlight exposure and shield from debris. Symbolically, the central chamber houses a pomegranate tree, one of the earliest plants to be cultivated by humans.

While the project may seem futuristic, a proof-of-concept launch isn't far off. It's all part of an effort to “offworld,” which means relocating certain processes from Earth's surface to space, allowing the planet to rest and recover.

“The unique environment of space offers us an extraordinary opportunity to design for humanity’s greatest challenges on Earth,” says MIT graduate and space architect Dr. Ariel Ekblaw, CEO of Aurelia Institute. “Space Garden is our vision for an orbiting greenhouse, and an invitation to engage with new ways of thinking about building in, and for, extreme environments. We are focused on developing in-space infrastructure for the public good of life on Earth.”

Thanks to Heatherwick, the greenhouse has an elegant, futuristic design that is both beautiful and functional. This edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale is centered on humans and their ability to use their intellect to solve the most pressing challenges facing humanity. Turning to space is certainly one possibility, and one section of the Biennale is dedicated to projects that see it as a solution.

“I’m fascinated by outer space. But, maybe surprisingly, not in its own right. Instead, by its potential to help humans live better lives on Earth,” says architect Thomas Heatherwick.

Space Garden is on view at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which runs through November 23, 2025.

Heatherwick Studio explores supporting life on Earth through outer space with Space Garden.

Photo: Marco Zorzanello

The prototype for this low-Earth-orbit greenhouse features 30 pods ready to host community garden plants.

Photo: Marco Zorzanello

Photo: Nils Koenning

The entire structure opens and closes to protect against debris and manage sunlight exposure.

Photo: Raquel Diniz

Photo: Raquel Diniz

While the project may seem futuristic, a proof-of-concept launch isn't far off.

Photo: Nik Eagland

Heatherwick Studio: Website | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Heatherwick.

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MUSE view of the Sculptor Galaxy, detail. (Photo: ESO/E. Congiu et al.)

Thanks to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have created a thousand-color image of a nearby galaxy. The Sculptor Galaxy, also called NGC 253, is located 11 billion light-years away from us and can easily be viewed in the Southern Hemisphere with binoculars. But you've never seen it quite like this before.

In a stunning high-definition photograph, astronomers have revealed previously hidden parts of the galaxy. By differentiating the hues of the stars, dust, and gas that comprise this galaxy, they've been able to analyze everything from their age to their composition. Meanwhile, they've also produced a dazzling image and recently presented their findings in a study that will be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

“Galaxies are incredibly complex systems that we are still struggling to understand,” says ESO researcher Enrico Congiu, who led the study on Sculptor. Reaching hundreds of thousands of light-years across, galaxies are extremely large, but their evolution depends on what’s happening at much smaller scales.

“The Sculptor Galaxy is in a sweet spot,” says Congiu. “It is close enough that we can resolve its internal structure and study its building blocks with incredible detail, but at the same time, big enough that we can still see it as a whole system.”

To obtain the image, researchers observed the galaxy for 50 hours with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s VLT. They then stitched together over 100 exposures to cover an area of the galaxy about 65,000 light-years wide. In addition to the color image, the team also produced a fascinating false-color composition that shows the light released by different gases in the galaxy. These colors represent everything from newborn stars to a black hole at the center of the galaxy.

Now that the map of Sculptor has been created, researchers plan on using it to explore how gas flows, changes its composition, and forms stars all across this galaxy. Congiu says, “How such small processes can have such a big impact on a galaxy whose entire size is thousands of times bigger is still a mystery.”

Astronomers have created a detailed thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy.

This image shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Regions of pink light are spread throughout this whole galactic snapshot, which come from ionised hydrogen in star-forming regions. These areas have been overlaid on a map of already formed stars in Sculptor to create the mix of pinks and blues seen here. (Photo: ESO/E. Congiu et al.)

This image shows the Sculptor Galaxy in a new light. This false-color composition shows specific wavelengths of light released by hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, and oxygen. These elements exist in gas form all over the galaxy, but the mechanisms causing this gas to glow can vary throughout the galaxy. The pink light represents gas excited by the radiation of newborn stars, while the cone of whiter light at the center is caused by an outflow of gas from the black hole at the galaxy’s core. (Photo: ESO/E. Congiu et al.)

Visible in the Southern Hemisphere, the galaxy, also known as NG253, sits within the Sculptor constellation.

This chart shows the location of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 253 within the constellation of Sculptor. This galaxy is bright enough to be easily seen as an elongated haze through binoculars from a dark site. (Photo: ESO, IAU and Sky & Telescope)

ESO: Website | Facebook | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by the ESO.

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The “beauty shot version” of Perpetual Ocean 2: Western Boundary Currents. (Photo: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center via NASA Scientific Visualization Studio)

Photos taken from space help us better understand things that happen on land. They visualize land masses such as mountain ranges, show where different ecosystems meet, and even how the population of cities expand over time. But have you ever considered that space imaging may also help us understand the Earth’s oceans, too?

Oceans cover about 71% of Earth, while land makes up the remaining 29%. It’s no secret that much of the world’s oceans are a mystery, but a project from NASA may help us uncover just a bit more of what happens beneath the surface.

An ocean current visualization model created by NASA’s Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECOO) Group plots out the most traveled underwater highways on Earth. Pulling data from buoys, spacecraft, and other instruments, the model almost resembles Vincent van Gogh’s famous impasto style, immortalized in Starry Night.

Besides looking beautiful, this visualization also demonstrates the importance of Earth’s oceans in creating the conditions that allow life to thrive. Ocean currents function as underwater highways and operate on horizontal and vertical axes. Thanks to this dual flow, ocean currents transport carbon, nutrients, and heat around the planet. In effect, these underwater highways support marine ecosystems and regulate the Earth’s climate.

In an article written for NASA, James Riordon says: “In addition to affecting global weather patterns and temperatures, western boundary currents can drive vertical flows in the oceans known as upwellings. The flows bring nutrients up from the depths to the surface, where they act as fertilizer for phytoplankton, algae, and aquatic plants.” A prime example of this happens near the Kuroshio Current of Japan. Upswelling that occurs there supports robust local marine ecosystems, which support Japan’s fishing industry.

The oceanic current patterns connect to essentially form a “conveyor belt,” which distributes heat from the equator towards the poles of the planet. It has a direct effect on regional climates, both near and far. Take, for example, the Gulf Stream and the United States. This particular current is responsible for moderating temperatures along the U.S.’s Eastern Coast. It is also important for the climate in Europe and parts of Africa: without it, the winters in the former would be significantly colder, and droughts would be more severe in the latter.

If you’ve watched any of the hurricanes that have recently occurred in the United States, you may notice that sometimes they seem to follow the path of these underwater highways as well. With climate change and the increasing addition of freshwater from melting polar ice caps, the underwater highway systems are experiencing a slowdown in their current exchange.

Researchers worry that if currents continue to slow, these underwater highways may collapse. Such a breakdown would greatly affect planetary heat distribution, marine ecosystem support, and weather pattern disruption. As we appreciate the beauty of this ocean visualization model and Earth’s underwater highways, we must remember how delicate these systems that sustain life are, and the consequences we may face if they become altered beyond repair.

To learn more about the ocean visualization model, visit NASA's website.

While images from space usually show us what happens on land, a new project by NASA dives deeper into the Earth's oceans.

Photo: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Reto Stöckli via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Developed using data from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECOO) Group, the visualization model examines the planet's current systems. These “underwater highways” regulate the Earth's temperature, support marine ecosystems, and determine regional climate and weather events.

View from outside the International Space Station of Hurricane Florence on the morning of September 12th, 2018 (Photo: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

Watch the video below to learn more about the ocean visualization model.

Sources: Going with the Flow: Visualizing Ocean Currents with ECCO; An Ocean in Motion: NASA's Mesmerizing View of Earth's Underwater Highways

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READ: Incredible NASA Imaging Shows the Most Traveled “Underwater Highways” on Earth