A crucial system of ocean currents is slowing. It's already supercharging sea level rise in the US.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, known as the AMOC, works like a vast conveyor belt, transporting heat, salt and freshwater through the ocean and influencing climate, weather and sea levels around the planet.
Coastal flooding is caused by a cluster of factors, chief among them climate change-driven sea level rise, but the AMOC also plays a critical role in the Northeast, according to the study published Friday in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Scientists used data from tide gauges — instruments which monitor sea level change — combined with complex ocean models to calculate how the AMOC has affected flooding in the region over the past decades.
They found between 2005 and 2022, up to 50% of flooding events along the northeastern coast were driven by a weaker AMOC. Drilling down, that means AMOC-driven sea level rise contributed to up to eight flood days a year over this period.
The models used by the scientists also give a glimpse into the future, allowing them to forecast coastal flooding frequency in the Northeast up to three years in advance, according to the study.
The idea that the AMOC is influencing sea level rise in this region is not new, but this study is the first to find it's substantially affecting flood frequency, said Liping Zhang, a study author and project scientist at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
There are two main reasons why the AMOC affects sea level rise, said David Thornally, professor of ocean and climate science at University College London, who was not involved in the research.
A strong AMOC is typically associated with dense deep water that flows along the western boundary of the North Atlantic. When the AMOC weakens, water becomes less dense, literally taking up more space and fueling sea level rise. A weaker AMOC also affects the flow of the Gulf Stream, causing water to flow back onto the coastal shelf and increasing sea level rise at the coast.
Rising seas are a huge and urgent issue for society as the climate warms, making it vital to better understand how it's being affected, Zhang told CNN. Coastal flooding can 'reshape the coastal environment… (and) poses threats to both lives and infrastructure in coastal regions,' she said.
The findings will be very useful for helping society better predict and plan for costly and devastating flooding events, UCL's Thornally told CNN.
'A study like this is a good way to demonstrate the day-to-day impacts of changes AMOC, rather than invoking dramatic scenes from Hollywood disaster movies which are exaggerated and thus easily dismissed,' he told CNN, referring to the movie The Day After Tomorrow, which depicts the world plunging into a deep freeze after the AMOC collapses.
As the research relies on climate models, the results will depend on how well these represent the physics of the real world, he cautioned. 'The high resolution means it probably does a good job — and it can mimic observed sea-level patterns — but it won't be perfect,' he said, especially as this is a complex area of the ocean where different currents meet.
Gerard McCarthy, an oceanographer at Maynooth University in Ireland, also not involved in the research, said the study is significant because it shows 'how AMOC can help predict sea level extremes along this coast.'
A slew of recent research has pointed to signs the AMOC could be on course to significantly weaken over the next decades as climate change warms oceans and melts ice, disrupting its delicate balance of heat and salinity. This would have catastrophic planetary impacts, including on sea level rise.
'The science is still not clear,' McCarthy said, but a collapse would be a 'high-impact event and it is critical that we know what to expect.'
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CNET
12 hours ago
- CNET
These Kitchen Items Are Hiding Millions of Microplastics. Here's What to Swap Them Out For
Microplastics have invaded the world we live in. These tiny shards of plastic exist all around us these days, and have been found in food, water, and even the air we breathe. Microplastics are so small that they can't always be seen by the naked eye, and research has found them in human blood, organs, and even the brain. A recent study published in Nature Medicine and reported by CNN found significantly higher concentrations of microplastics in cadaver brain samples compared to liver and kidney tissues. Even more concerning, brain tissue from dementia patients in the study showed up to 10 times more microplastic buildup than tissue from healthy brains -- underscoring just how deeply these particles can embed themselves in our bodies. The good news is you can take steps to minimize your microplastic intake. Before you cook your next meal, let's head to the kitchen and see which items among your food and cookware may be secretly hiding microplastics. Are microplastics harmful? Microplastics have become a serious problem for pollution, and now scientists worry about the potential health effects too. An estimated 22,000,000 micro and nanoplastics are inhaled by humans each year, and that is largely because they are so hard to avoid. You are exposed to microplastics in three ways: inhalation, ingestion or touch. Microplastics have been shown to cause a number of issues in the human body. Microplastics and nanoplastics found in blood vessels have been linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and, in severe cases, even death. Tissue inflammation, cell death and lung and liver impacts have all been noted. In animals and marine life, it also can cause oxidative and DNA damage, as well as cancer. Mice were shown to have reduced sperm count, ovarian scarring and hereditary metabolic disorders. Much is still unknown about the exact effects of microplastics, but studies so far have been sobering. They've inspired many home chefs to reconsider what they use in the kitchen and put in their bodies. Microplastics are plastic particles smaller than 5 millimeters. Nanoplastics are much smaller and invisible to the naked eye, ranging from 1 to 1,000 nanometers -- a fraction of the width of a human microplastics hide in your kitchen Unfortunately, microplastics are more common than you think. These are some places they may be hiding in your kitchen. Nonstick cookware A new study found that plastic and nonstick cookware released microplastics into food during cooking, heightening one's exposure to these potentially harmful pollutants. Australian researchers estimate that Teflon-coated cookware contains thousands, maybe millions, of microplastic particles, while a simple crack or fracture in your pan could mean exposure to over two million microplastic particles. Plastic food containers Your Uber delivery could inadvertently be damaging your health, and it has nothing to do with what you order. With the rise of home delivery services, plastic containers are more common than ever, but these containers can easily add microplastics to your food when heated or washed. One study found that all reusable plastic takeout containers typically used by restaurants contain microplastics. Plastic utensils Plastic utensils can leach microplastics into your food when exposed to high heat also show that plastic utensils release microplastics into your food, especially when used with hotter foods. When you ingest the food, you also ingest microplastics that settle into your body and bloodstream. Tea bags It may come as a surprise, but microplastics could be hiding in your tea bags. When you brew tea, the bag is exposed to extremely high temperatures that can release its microplastics. 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Yahoo
14 hours ago
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FIRST ON CNN: Fighting early-stage Alzheimer's with intensive lifestyles changes works, study finds
As her memory faded from Alzheimer's disease in her late 50s, Tammy Maida began to lose track of her life. Car keys, eyeglasses and her purse disappeared multiple times a day. Key characters in novels she was reading were forgotten. Groceries were left in the garage. Keeping the books for the family's businesses became impossible. 'I honestly thought I was losing my mind, and the fear of losing my mind was frightening,' Maida told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in the 2024 CNN documentary 'The Last Alzheimer's Patient.' After 20 weeks in a randomized clinical trial designed to drastically change her diet, exercise, stress levels and social interactions, Maida's cognition improved. She was able to read and recall novels and correctly balance spreadsheets again. A blood test even found levels of amyloid, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, were retreating in her brain, according to the study published in June 2024. 'I'm coming back. It was really good — like I was prior to the disease being diagnosed,' Maida, now 68, told a researcher on the study. 'An older but better version of me.' Maida's cognition showed additional improvement, however, after she completed a total of 40 weeks of intensive lifestyle changes, said principal investigator Dr. Dean Ornish, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and creator of the Ornish diet and lifestyle medicine program. Ornish gave a study update on Tuesday at the 2025 Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Toronto. While not everyone in the 26-person interventional group benefited, 46% showed improvement in three of four standardized tests, he said, including one that measures changes in memory, judgment and problem-solving as well as the ability to function at home, practice hobbies and practice personal hygiene. 'An additional 37.5% of people showed no decline in cognition during those 40 weeks,' Ornish said. 'Thus, over 83% of patients improved or maintained their cognition during the five-month program.' The new findings mirrored those of other studies on lifestyle interventions, he said, including the recent US POINTER study, the largest clinical trial in the United States to test moderate lifestyle interventions over two years in people who are at risk but do not yet have Alzheimer's disease. 'Our study complements these findings by showing, for the first time, that more intensive lifestyle changes may often stop or even begin to reverse the decline in cognition in many of those who already have Alzheimer's disease, and these improvements often continue over a longer period of time,' Ornish told CNN. And unlike available medications for Alzheimer's, he added, lifestyle changes have no side effects, such as bleeding and swelling in the brain that may occur with the newest class of drugs. EmblemHealth, a New York-based insurance company, announced Tuesday that it will be the first health insurer to cover the Ornish lifestyle medicine program for patients who have early-stage Alzheimer's disease. 'Eat well, move more, stress less and love more' The lifestyle intervention Ornish created — which he calls 'eat well, move more, stress less and love more' — has been tested before. In 1990, Ornish showed for the first time in a randomized clinical trial that coronary artery disease could often be reversed with nothing more than diet, exercise, stress reduction and social support. The US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, declared in 2010 that Ornish's program for reversing heart disease was an 'intensive cardiac rehabilitation' and that it would be eligible for reimbursement under Medicare. Additional research has shown the same four-part program can lower blood sugars and heart disease risk in patients with diabetes, reduce prostate cancer cell growth, improve depression and even lengthen telomeres, the protective caps of chromosomes that are worn away by aging. During the Ornish intervention, one group of people consumed a strict vegan diet, did daily aerobic exercise, practiced stress reduction and engaged in online support groups. The rest of the participants were in a control group and were asked to not make any changes in their daily habits. Therapists led hour-long group sessions three times a week in which participants were encouraged to share their feelings and ask for support. Meditation, deep breathing, yoga and other ways to reduce stress took up another hour every day. The program also encouraged participants to prioritize good-quality sleep. Supplements were provided to everyone in the intervention group, including a daily multivitamin, omega-3 fatty acids with curcumin, coenzyme Q10, vitamin C and B12, magnesium, a probiotic, and Lion's mane mushroom. In addition to online strength training led by a physical trainer, people in the intervention attended hour-long video classes on vegan nutrition hosted by a dietitian. Then, to ensure a vegan diet was followed, all meals and snacks for both participants and their partners were delivered to their homes. Complex carbs found in whole grains, vegetables, fruits, tofu, nuts and seeds made up most of the diet. Sugar, alcohol and refined carbs found in processed and ultraprocessed foods were taboo. While calories were unrestricted, protein and total fat made up only some 18% of the daily caloric intake — far less than the typical protein intake by the average American, Ornish said. Working harder pays off People in the intervention group who put the most effort into changing their lifestyle have the most improvement in their cognition, said Ornish, founder and president of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and coauthor of 'Undo It! How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseases.' 'There was a statistically significant dose-response relationship between the degree of adherence to our lifestyle changes and the degree of improvement we saw on measures of cognition,' Ornish said. The 25 people in the study's original 20-week control group — who did not receive the intervention — had shown further cognitive decline during the program. They were later allowed to join the intervention for 40 weeks and significantly improved their cognitive scores during that time, Ornish said. It all makes sense, said co-senior study author Rudy Tanzi, an Alzheimer's researcher and professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. 'If you picture a brain full of damage as a sink full of water, when you just turn off the tap, it takes a long time for that sink to slowly drain, right?' Tanzi told CNN in 2024. 'If you want the amyloid to go down in 20 weeks, as we found on one blood test, you're going to need a Roto-Rooter.' Additional blood testing may offer insights In the 2024 study, a blood test called plasma Aβ42/40 showed a significant improvement in the original intervention group. Aβ42/40 measures the level of amyloid in the blood, a key symptom of Alzheimer's. Tests that measure amyloid in different ways, however, did not show improvement, Dr. Suzanne Schindler, an associate professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who specializes in blood biomarkers told CNN at the time. There was no significant change in a test for amyloid called p-tau 181, considered to be a superior measure of Alzheimer's risk, said Schindler, who was not involved in the study. Nor was there any change in glial fibrillary acidic protein, or GFAP, another blood biomarker that seems to correlate reasonably well with Alzheimer's disease. 'If one of these markers improves, you typically see all of them improve, so the fact they did not makes me wonder whether this effect is real,' Schindler said. 'If they were to repeat the study with a much larger population for a longer period of time, perhaps more change could be seen.' Over the complete 40-week program, however, a number of people in the intervention group did continue to improve their Aβ42/40 scores, according to the study update. 'Changes in amyloid — as measured as the plasma Aβ42/40 ratio — occur before changes in tau markers such as p-tau 218, so this is not surprising after only 40 weeks,' Ornish said. For Ornish, who has watched members of his family die from Alzheimer's disease, the study's results are important for one key reason — hope. 'So often when people get a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer's, they are told by their doctors that there is no future, 'It's only going to get worse, get your affairs in order.' That's horrible news and is almost self-fulfilling,' Ornish said. 'Our new findings empower patients who have early-stage Alzheimer's disease with the knowledge that if they make and maintain these intensive lifestyle changes, there is a reasonably good chance that they may slow the progression of the disease and often even improve it,' he said. 'Our study needs to be replicated with larger, more diverse groups of patients to make it more generalizable,' Ornish said. 'But the findings we reported today are giving many people new hope and new choices — and the only side effects are good ones.' Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being.
CNN
18 hours ago
- CNN
4,000-year-old handprint found on ancient Egyptian tomb
A 4,000-year-old handprint has been discovered on a clay model used for offerings in an Ancient Egyptian tomb. Researchers from Cambridge University's Fitzwilliam Museum, in the United Kingdom, stumbled upon the imprint while preparing for an exhibition, which is set to open this fall. It was found on the base of a 'soul house,' a building-shaped clay model typically found in burials and said to have provided a place for the soul to live, according to a press release from the museum. The model has an open space at the front where food offerings, like bread, lettuce or an ox's head, could be placed. Dating back to about 2055–1650 BCE, the soul house underwent extensive examinations that revealed how it was made four millennia ago. It showed that the unnamed potter would have first created a framework of wooden sticks for the two-story building, which was then coated with clay. The firing process would have burnt the wood away. The handprint was found underneath the soul house and was most likely formed when the potter moved the model while the clay was still damp and before it was fired in a kiln. 'We've spotted traces of fingerprints left in wet varnish or on a coffin in the decoration, but it is rare and exciting to find a complete handprint underneath this soul house,' said Helen Strudwick, senior Egyptologist at the museum and curator of the exhibition. 'This was left by the maker who touched it before the clay dried,' she said in the release. 'I have never seen such a complete handprint on an Egyptian object before. You can just imagine the person who made this, picking it up to move it out of the workshop to dry before firing.' 'Things like this take you directly to the moment when the object was made and to the person who made it, which is the focus of our exhibition,' Strudwick added. Vast amounts of pottery have survived from the ancient Egyptian period as ceramics were widely used for functional objects and decorative pieces. It was common for pottery containing food and drink to feature in burials. While much is known about ancient Egyptian rulers like Tutankhamun, the stories of those who made some of the many artifacts discovered in their tombs is often overlooked. The ready availability of clay and low value of pottery is likely to have affected social status of potters, according to the museum. The soul house will be on display at the Cambridge museum as part of the 'Made in Ancient Egypt' exhibition, which aims to highlight the stories of artisans like the one who left this handprint behind. It opens on October 3. Discover your world Go beyond the headlines and explore the latest scientific achievements and fascinating discoveries. Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter.
