Sept. 21, 2018.
All the plastic you can and cannot recycle
By Wesley Stephenson
Data journalist
Most people are trying their best to recycle plastic - but the many different ways in which recycling is collected by different councils across the UK has left them confused.
What can be recycled and what can't? We are putting more plastic in the recycling than ever before - but pictures of sea life tangled in all manner of waste plastic mean the pressure is on to do more.
The government is now considering changing the way plastic is recycled in England. In the rest of the UK the strategy for recycling is a devolved issue.
Each council collects their plastic recycling differently. BBC analysis shows there are 39 different sets of rules for what can be put in plastic recycling collections:
Most collect bottles
Others collect pots, tubs and trays
Some collect a much wider range
Around the UK, all four nations are hoping to improve their recycling rates. The review by the government may change the target for recycling in England, but currently the aim is that 50% of waste will be recycled by 2020.
Scotland has a target to recycle 70% of waste by 2025 as does Wales. Northern Ireland has a proposal that 60% of municipal waste is recycled by 2020.
Waste plastic is collected is different ways too:
Some local authorities collect all their recycling in one bin
Others ask households to separate their plastics from the rest of their recycling
Councils also employ many different companies to collect and sort their plastics.
And having different recycling schemes in different areas - for example, in some areas you can recycle margarine tubs and in other areas you cannot - makes labelling difficult.
Five ways to break up with plastic
Giant plastic catcher heads for ocean clean-up
The woman who found a new threat in plastic
Most people in Britain regularly recycle plastic but almost half have had disagreements at home about what type they can put in which bin, a ComRes poll for the BBC suggests.
And more than a quarter have these disagreements at least once a month.
What to expect from the government's review?
Of all the things we recycle, plastic is the most complicated. It comes in a profusion of very different types.
Many products carry labels about recycling but some do not. And the labels themselves can be a problem.
Your eye might fall on a recycling symbol but miss the very small print saying the item will not actually be collected from your home.
If you see the phrase "widely recycled" on a packet or carton, it means many councils will take it but not necessarily all of them.
Each of the UK's local authorities has come to its own decisions about what to accept and what to refuse:
In Reading, a yoghurt pot can be thrown into recycling
In Manchester it cannot
Swindon has plans to join the small band of councils recycling no plastic at all
The government realises the arrangements can be confusing, even irritating. And in England it's undertaking a review of the whole recycling system.
Ministers could order manufacturers to use only the types of plastic that are easiest to recycle - but might that lead to higher prices?
They could insist on labels that everyone can see and understand - but how would that work on tiny pots and bottles?
A more controversial idea is to get councils to harmonise their plastic recycling systems - but that risks provoking an uproar over local democracy
The desire to boost plastic recycling rates is clear. But every option comes with challenges. The word is, we'll see the government's plans in November.
Plastic can often become too contaminated for recycling and have to be sent to landfill or incinerated instead. This happens for several reasons:
People are confused about what goes in which bin
People are not always very careful about what they put in
The plastic is contaminated with food waste
In areas where all recycling is collected in one bin, one type of waste can contaminate another
Bottles are mainly made of PET and HDPE and these are easy to collect and recycle
Most trays are made from polypropylene and this is pretty easy to recycle too but not all councils have access to the right facilities
LDPE, used to make some carrier bags and cling film, is easy to process but more difficult to sort and can often be contaminated with food
Polystyrene, used to make some yoghurt pots and plastic cutlery, is not widely recycled
PVC makes up small amount of packaging but can contaminate other plastic recycling
Biscuit wrappers and meat trays can be made from a mixture of many different types of plastic, making them the most difficult type of packaging to recycle
All plastic can be recycled - but it is not always economical to do so.
Bottles attract the best prices, especially clear ones, which is why almost all councils recycle them
Coloured plastic is less desirable because the colour cannot be removed, restricting its reuse
Polystyrene is almost never recycled because there is no market for it
Most bottles will be sent for reprocessing in this country.
But plastic that is less valuable - about two-thirds collected for recycling - goes overseas and this figure has been rising.
Earlier this year, the National Audit Office reported the plastic sent abroad could be highly contaminated, meaning it may not be reprocessed and could end up in landfill or contributing to pollution.
Some countries are refusing to take any more of our waste.
China and Thailand have banned waste imports
Malaysia is considering banning imports of waste plastic
These bans are having an effect on the prices paid for waste plastic.
And this year the prices of the more contaminated plastics have fallen below zero, meaning companies are now expecting to be paid to take them away.
Showing posts with label SCIENCE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SCIENCE. Show all posts
Friday, September 21, 2018
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
The secret life of fungi: Ten fascinating facts - BBC News
The secret life of fungi: Ten fascinating facts
By Helen Briggs
BBC News
12 September 2018
Fungi come in all shapes and sizes
They're all around us, in the soil, our bodies and the air, but are often too small to be seen with the naked eye.
They provide medicines and food but also wreak havoc by causing plant and animal diseases.
According to the first big assessment of the state of the world's fungi, the fungal kingdom is vital to life on Earth.
Yet, more than 90% of the estimated 3.8 million fungi in the world are currently unknown to science.
"It's such an interesting set of organisms and we really know so little about them," says Prof Kathy Willis, director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which led the report.
"They're really weird organisms with the most bizarre life cycle. And yet when you understand their role in the Earth's ecosystem, you realise that they underpin life on Earth."
China is rich in fungal resources
Many people are familiar with edible mushrooms or the mould behind penicillin. But fungi have a range of vital roles, from helping plants draw water and nutrients from the soil to medicines that can lower blood cholesterol or enable organ transplants.
Fungi also hold promise for breaking down plastics and generating new types of biofuels. But they have a darker side: devastating trees, crops and other plants across the world, and wiping out animals such as amphibians.
Jekyll and Hyde
Dr Ester Gaya, who leads a research project at Kew exploring the diversity and evolution of the world's fungi, says fungi are a bit like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
"They can be good and also bad at the same time," she says. "The same fungus, it can be seen as a detrimental thing - it can be bad - but also can have a lot of potential and have a lot of solutions."
The report sheds light on a number of gaps in our knowledge of a group of organisms that may hold the answers to food security. The fungal kingdom contains some of the most damaging crop pathogens. But fungi also recycle nutrients and play a role in the regulation of carbon dioxide levels.
"We ignore fungi at our peril," says Prof Willis. "This is a kingdom we have to start to take seriously, especially with climate change and all the other challenges that we're being faced with."
There are hundreds of types of edible mushroom
Fascinating facts about fungi
Fungi are in a kingdom of their own but are closer to animals than plants
They have chemicals in their cell walls shared with lobsters and crabs
A fungus has been discovered capable of breaking down plastics in weeks rather than years
There is evidence to suggest that yeasts - a type of fungus - were being used to produce the alcoholic drink mead as long ago as 9,000 years ago
At least 350 species are consumed as foods including truffles, which can sell for thousands of dollars apiece, quorn, and those in marmite and cheese
Plastic car parts, synthetic rubber and lego are made using itaconic acid derived from a fungus
216 species of fungi are thought to be hallucinogenic
Fungi are being used to turn crop waste into bioethanol
Products made from fungi can be used as replacements for polystyrene foam, leather and building materials
DNA studies show that there are thousands of different fungi in a single sample of soil, many of which are unknown and hidden - so-called "dark taxa"
Penicillin alone has multiple uses - in antibiotics, the contraceptive pill and cheese production
The report, State of the World's Fungi, involved over 100 scientists from 18 countries. It found:
More than 2,000 new fungi are discovered each year, from a variety of sources, including a human fingernail
Hundreds of species are collected and eaten as food, with the global market for edible mushrooms worth £32.5bn a year
Only 56 types of fungi have been evaluated for the IUCN Red List, compared with more than 25,000 plants and 68,000 animals
Fungi, such as this rust pest, can cause widespread damage
At the last count, there were at least 15,000 types of fungi in the UK, some of which could be on the edge of extinction.
Citizen scientists are helping to identify fungi across the country, adding to a database of more than 1,000 new records.
Dr Brian Douglas of The Lost and Found Fungi Project says fungi are as beautiful as orchids and just as important to protect. "I think we need to teach people, invite people in to admiring fungi."
Colleague Dr Oliver Ellingham adds. "Fungi is a whole another kingdom equal if not greater than in diversity than both the plants and animals."
By Helen Briggs
BBC News
12 September 2018
Fungi come in all shapes and sizes
They're all around us, in the soil, our bodies and the air, but are often too small to be seen with the naked eye.
They provide medicines and food but also wreak havoc by causing plant and animal diseases.
According to the first big assessment of the state of the world's fungi, the fungal kingdom is vital to life on Earth.
Yet, more than 90% of the estimated 3.8 million fungi in the world are currently unknown to science.
"It's such an interesting set of organisms and we really know so little about them," says Prof Kathy Willis, director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which led the report.
"They're really weird organisms with the most bizarre life cycle. And yet when you understand their role in the Earth's ecosystem, you realise that they underpin life on Earth."
China is rich in fungal resources
Many people are familiar with edible mushrooms or the mould behind penicillin. But fungi have a range of vital roles, from helping plants draw water and nutrients from the soil to medicines that can lower blood cholesterol or enable organ transplants.
Fungi also hold promise for breaking down plastics and generating new types of biofuels. But they have a darker side: devastating trees, crops and other plants across the world, and wiping out animals such as amphibians.
Jekyll and Hyde
Dr Ester Gaya, who leads a research project at Kew exploring the diversity and evolution of the world's fungi, says fungi are a bit like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
"They can be good and also bad at the same time," she says. "The same fungus, it can be seen as a detrimental thing - it can be bad - but also can have a lot of potential and have a lot of solutions."
The report sheds light on a number of gaps in our knowledge of a group of organisms that may hold the answers to food security. The fungal kingdom contains some of the most damaging crop pathogens. But fungi also recycle nutrients and play a role in the regulation of carbon dioxide levels.
"We ignore fungi at our peril," says Prof Willis. "This is a kingdom we have to start to take seriously, especially with climate change and all the other challenges that we're being faced with."
There are hundreds of types of edible mushroom
Fascinating facts about fungi
Fungi are in a kingdom of their own but are closer to animals than plants
They have chemicals in their cell walls shared with lobsters and crabs
A fungus has been discovered capable of breaking down plastics in weeks rather than years
There is evidence to suggest that yeasts - a type of fungus - were being used to produce the alcoholic drink mead as long ago as 9,000 years ago
At least 350 species are consumed as foods including truffles, which can sell for thousands of dollars apiece, quorn, and those in marmite and cheese
Plastic car parts, synthetic rubber and lego are made using itaconic acid derived from a fungus
216 species of fungi are thought to be hallucinogenic
Fungi are being used to turn crop waste into bioethanol
Products made from fungi can be used as replacements for polystyrene foam, leather and building materials
DNA studies show that there are thousands of different fungi in a single sample of soil, many of which are unknown and hidden - so-called "dark taxa"
Penicillin alone has multiple uses - in antibiotics, the contraceptive pill and cheese production
The report, State of the World's Fungi, involved over 100 scientists from 18 countries. It found:
More than 2,000 new fungi are discovered each year, from a variety of sources, including a human fingernail
Hundreds of species are collected and eaten as food, with the global market for edible mushrooms worth £32.5bn a year
Only 56 types of fungi have been evaluated for the IUCN Red List, compared with more than 25,000 plants and 68,000 animals
Fungi, such as this rust pest, can cause widespread damage
At the last count, there were at least 15,000 types of fungi in the UK, some of which could be on the edge of extinction.
Citizen scientists are helping to identify fungi across the country, adding to a database of more than 1,000 new records.
Dr Brian Douglas of The Lost and Found Fungi Project says fungi are as beautiful as orchids and just as important to protect. "I think we need to teach people, invite people in to admiring fungi."
Colleague Dr Oliver Ellingham adds. "Fungi is a whole another kingdom equal if not greater than in diversity than both the plants and animals."
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
How your heart age is key to heart attack or stroke risk - BBC News
How your heart age is key to heart attack or stroke risk
4 September 2018
Public Health England is urging people over 30 to take an online test to find out their heart age, which indicates if they are at increased risk of suffering a heart attack or a stroke.
They predict about 80% of heart attacks and strokes in people under 75 could be prevented if heart health was improved.
Unhealthy lifestyles put four in five adults at risk of early death, they estimate.
People should quit smoking, eat a healthy diet and get enough exercise.
The test is not diagnostic - it will not tell you whether you are going to have a heart attack - but it can be a wake-up call to make healthy changes.
David Green, who is 59, took the test.
"The worst moment was being told my heart is 10 years older than me and that my life expectancy was shortened," he told the BBC.
"That took some digesting for sure, but I flipped it to a positive statement to do something to reverse that scenario."
David took the test after he struggled to keep up with rehearsals for his role in The Full Monty with his local theatre company in Plymouth.
He had never heard of heart age, but said he would have guessed he was only a few years off.
"I'm 59 now so I thought 'oh maybe it'll be 62 or 63', so a whole 10 years - that was a real shocker.
"They told me that 'you really need to do something otherwise you're not going to see that much of your pension'.
"I think that was the main thing for me, I'd just retired, I'd like to live a bit longer thank you very much."
Obesity, poor diet, a lack of exercise and high blood pressure are significant risk factors for the heart that can be changed.
How to improve your heart health:
Give up smoking
Get active
Manage your weight
Eat more fibre
Cut down on saturated fat
Get your five a day fruit and vegetables
Cut down on salt
Eat fish
Drink less alcohol
Read labels on food and drink packaging
Source: NHS Choices
Almost two million people have taken the heart age test and 78% of participants have a heart age higher than their actual age, putting them at greater risk of an early death. Of those, 34% were more than five years over their actual age and 14% at least 10 years higher.
More than 84,000 people die from a heart attack or stroke each year in England.
Dr Matt Kearney, from NHS England, said the test has the "potential to help millions of people".
The test is being backed by the British Heart Foundation and the Stroke Association.
Juliet Bouverie, chief executive at the Stroke Association, said: "We believe that across the UK there are around six million people who are undiagnosed and untreated for high blood pressure or atrial fibrillation, two of the biggest risk factors for stroke.
"However, treatment for these conditions can significantly reduce your risk of stroke and the devastation it causes."
The test asks 16 simple physical and lifestyle questions and gives an estimation of your heart age, and a prediction of the risk of having a heart attack or stroke by a certain age.
It also gives suggestions on lifestyle changes to help people reduce their heart age.
One year after quitting smoking, a person's risk of heart disease is about half that of a smoker's
Doing the recommended amount of weekly exercise - at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise, such as cycling or brisk walking - can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke
Increasing the amount of fruit and veg from three portions daily to more than five can lower the risk of heart disease or stroke
You can do the test here.
David joined the gym, cut down on his alcohol intake and is eating much more healthily. He says taking control of his health and knowing what he's dealing with is very satisfying and empowering.
So far David has lost two stone and his BMI has come down by six points.
"I want to have a long and happy and healthy retirement and that's what it's about now - I've worked for 40 years continuously and I want to be enjoying things, I don't want to be hobbling around on a stick, which I could have easily been doing by now.
"I know when I've had those temptations to have an extra pint of beer or glass of wine I know I've got to do something about that as a forfeit - it's good, it's an empowering thing to do."
Maureen Talbot, Senior Cardiac Nurse at British Heart Foundation, said: "The goal of the Heart Age Tool is not to diagnose any heart conditions but to make people more aware of risks to their heart health and give them the incentive to make simple lifestyle changes.
"If you are concerned about your heart age, you should speak to your GP."
4 September 2018
Public Health England is urging people over 30 to take an online test to find out their heart age, which indicates if they are at increased risk of suffering a heart attack or a stroke.
They predict about 80% of heart attacks and strokes in people under 75 could be prevented if heart health was improved.
Unhealthy lifestyles put four in five adults at risk of early death, they estimate.
People should quit smoking, eat a healthy diet and get enough exercise.
The test is not diagnostic - it will not tell you whether you are going to have a heart attack - but it can be a wake-up call to make healthy changes.
David Green, who is 59, took the test.
"The worst moment was being told my heart is 10 years older than me and that my life expectancy was shortened," he told the BBC.
"That took some digesting for sure, but I flipped it to a positive statement to do something to reverse that scenario."
David took the test after he struggled to keep up with rehearsals for his role in The Full Monty with his local theatre company in Plymouth.
He had never heard of heart age, but said he would have guessed he was only a few years off.
"I'm 59 now so I thought 'oh maybe it'll be 62 or 63', so a whole 10 years - that was a real shocker.
"They told me that 'you really need to do something otherwise you're not going to see that much of your pension'.
"I think that was the main thing for me, I'd just retired, I'd like to live a bit longer thank you very much."
Obesity, poor diet, a lack of exercise and high blood pressure are significant risk factors for the heart that can be changed.
How to improve your heart health:
Give up smoking
Get active
Manage your weight
Eat more fibre
Cut down on saturated fat
Get your five a day fruit and vegetables
Cut down on salt
Eat fish
Drink less alcohol
Read labels on food and drink packaging
Source: NHS Choices
Almost two million people have taken the heart age test and 78% of participants have a heart age higher than their actual age, putting them at greater risk of an early death. Of those, 34% were more than five years over their actual age and 14% at least 10 years higher.
More than 84,000 people die from a heart attack or stroke each year in England.
Dr Matt Kearney, from NHS England, said the test has the "potential to help millions of people".
The test is being backed by the British Heart Foundation and the Stroke Association.
Juliet Bouverie, chief executive at the Stroke Association, said: "We believe that across the UK there are around six million people who are undiagnosed and untreated for high blood pressure or atrial fibrillation, two of the biggest risk factors for stroke.
"However, treatment for these conditions can significantly reduce your risk of stroke and the devastation it causes."
The test asks 16 simple physical and lifestyle questions and gives an estimation of your heart age, and a prediction of the risk of having a heart attack or stroke by a certain age.
It also gives suggestions on lifestyle changes to help people reduce their heart age.
One year after quitting smoking, a person's risk of heart disease is about half that of a smoker's
Doing the recommended amount of weekly exercise - at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise, such as cycling or brisk walking - can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke
Increasing the amount of fruit and veg from three portions daily to more than five can lower the risk of heart disease or stroke
You can do the test here.
David joined the gym, cut down on his alcohol intake and is eating much more healthily. He says taking control of his health and knowing what he's dealing with is very satisfying and empowering.
So far David has lost two stone and his BMI has come down by six points.
"I want to have a long and happy and healthy retirement and that's what it's about now - I've worked for 40 years continuously and I want to be enjoying things, I don't want to be hobbling around on a stick, which I could have easily been doing by now.
"I know when I've had those temptations to have an extra pint of beer or glass of wine I know I've got to do something about that as a forfeit - it's good, it's an empowering thing to do."
Maureen Talbot, Senior Cardiac Nurse at British Heart Foundation, said: "The goal of the Heart Age Tool is not to diagnose any heart conditions but to make people more aware of risks to their heart health and give them the incentive to make simple lifestyle changes.
"If you are concerned about your heart age, you should speak to your GP."
Friday, August 17, 2018
Low-carb diets could shorten life, study suggests - BBC News
August 17, 2018.
Low-carb diets could shorten life, study suggests
By Alex Therrien
Health reporter, BBC News
Some low-carb diets are rich in animal fats and proteins
A low-carb diet could shorten life expectancy by up to four years, a study suggests.
Low-carb diets, such as Atkins, have become increasingly popular for weight loss and have shown promise for lowering the risk of some illnesses.
But a US study over 25 years indicates that moderate carb consumption - or switching meat for plant-based protein and fats - is healthier.
The study relied on people remembering the amount of carbohydrates they ate.
'Gaining widespread popularity'
In the study, published in The Lancet Public Health, 15,400 people from the US filled out questionnaires on the food and drink they consumed, along with portion sizes.
From this, scientists estimated the proportion of calories they got from carbohydrates, fats, and protein.
After following the group for an average of 25 years, researchers found that those who got 50-55% of their energy from carbohydrates (the moderate carb group and in line with UK dietary guidelines) had a slightly lower risk of death compared with the low and high-carb groups.
Carbohydrates include vegetables, fruit and sugar but the main source of them is starchy foods, such as potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and cereals.
The NHS Eatwell Guide provides details on how to achieve this kind of healthy, balanced diet and reduce the risk of serious illnesses in the long term.
Researchers estimated that, from the age of 50, people in the moderate carb group were on average expected to live for another 33 years.
This was:
four years more than people who got 30% or less of their energy from carbs (extra-low-carb group)
2.3 years more than the 30%-40% (low-carb) group
1.1 years more than the 65% or more (high-carb) group
The findings were similar to previous studies the authors compared their work with, which included more than 400,000 people from more than 20 countries.
Exchanging carbohydrates for plant-based fats and proteins might promote healthy ageing, experts said
The scientists then compared low-carb diets rich in animal proteins and fats with those that contained lots of plant-based protein and fat.
They found that eating more beef, lamb, pork, chicken and cheese in place of carbs was linked with a slightly increased risk of death.
But replacing carbohydrates with more plant-based proteins and fats, such as legumes and nuts, was actually found to slightly reduce the risk of mortality.
Dr Sara Seidelmann, clinical and research fellow in cardiovascular medicine from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who led the research, said: "Low-carb diets that replace carbohydrates with protein or fat are gaining widespread popularity as a health and weight-loss strategy.
"However, our data suggests that animal-based low carbohydrate diets, which are prevalent in North America and Europe, might be associated with shorter overall life span and should be discouraged.
"Instead, if one chooses to follow a low carbohydrate diet, then exchanging carbohydrates for more plant-based fats and proteins might actually promote healthy ageing in the long term."
'Not enough to focus on nutrients'
The authors speculate that Western-type diets that restrict carbohydrates often result in lower intake of vegetables, fruit, and grains and lead to greater consumption of animal proteins and fats, which have been linked to inflammation and ageing in the body.
Prof Nita Forouhi, from the MRC epidemiology unit at University of Cambridge, who was not involved in the study, said: "A really important message from this study is that it is not enough to focus on the nutrients, but whether they are derived from animal or plant sources.
"When carbohydrate intake is reduced in the diet, there are benefits when this is replaced with plant-origin fat and protein food sources, but not when replaced with animal-origin sources such as meats."
However, there are limitations to the study.
The findings show observational associations rather than cause-and-effect and what people ate was based on self-reported data, which might not be accurate.
And the authors acknowledge that since diets were measured only at the start of the trial and six years later, dietary patterns could have changed over the subsequent 19 years.
'High fibre intake'
Prof Tom Sanders, professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics at King's College London, also pointed out that the use of a food questionnaire in the study led to people underestimating the calories and fat they had eaten.
"One explanation for the finding in this and the other US studies is that it may reflect the higher risk of death in the overweight/obese, who may fall into two popular diet camps - those favouring a high-meat/low-carbohydrate diet and those favouring a low-fat/high-carbohydrate diet," he added.
Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: "This provides further evidence that low-carb diets could be incredibly damaging to our long-term health.
"High-fibre starchy carbohydrates should provide about half of our energy, including fruit and vegetables, while reducing intake of higher fat meat and dairy."
Low-carb diets could shorten life, study suggests
By Alex Therrien
Health reporter, BBC News
Some low-carb diets are rich in animal fats and proteins
A low-carb diet could shorten life expectancy by up to four years, a study suggests.
Low-carb diets, such as Atkins, have become increasingly popular for weight loss and have shown promise for lowering the risk of some illnesses.
But a US study over 25 years indicates that moderate carb consumption - or switching meat for plant-based protein and fats - is healthier.
The study relied on people remembering the amount of carbohydrates they ate.
'Gaining widespread popularity'
In the study, published in The Lancet Public Health, 15,400 people from the US filled out questionnaires on the food and drink they consumed, along with portion sizes.
From this, scientists estimated the proportion of calories they got from carbohydrates, fats, and protein.
After following the group for an average of 25 years, researchers found that those who got 50-55% of their energy from carbohydrates (the moderate carb group and in line with UK dietary guidelines) had a slightly lower risk of death compared with the low and high-carb groups.
Carbohydrates include vegetables, fruit and sugar but the main source of them is starchy foods, such as potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and cereals.
The NHS Eatwell Guide provides details on how to achieve this kind of healthy, balanced diet and reduce the risk of serious illnesses in the long term.
Researchers estimated that, from the age of 50, people in the moderate carb group were on average expected to live for another 33 years.
This was:
four years more than people who got 30% or less of their energy from carbs (extra-low-carb group)
2.3 years more than the 30%-40% (low-carb) group
1.1 years more than the 65% or more (high-carb) group
The findings were similar to previous studies the authors compared their work with, which included more than 400,000 people from more than 20 countries.
Exchanging carbohydrates for plant-based fats and proteins might promote healthy ageing, experts said
The scientists then compared low-carb diets rich in animal proteins and fats with those that contained lots of plant-based protein and fat.
They found that eating more beef, lamb, pork, chicken and cheese in place of carbs was linked with a slightly increased risk of death.
But replacing carbohydrates with more plant-based proteins and fats, such as legumes and nuts, was actually found to slightly reduce the risk of mortality.
Dr Sara Seidelmann, clinical and research fellow in cardiovascular medicine from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who led the research, said: "Low-carb diets that replace carbohydrates with protein or fat are gaining widespread popularity as a health and weight-loss strategy.
"However, our data suggests that animal-based low carbohydrate diets, which are prevalent in North America and Europe, might be associated with shorter overall life span and should be discouraged.
"Instead, if one chooses to follow a low carbohydrate diet, then exchanging carbohydrates for more plant-based fats and proteins might actually promote healthy ageing in the long term."
'Not enough to focus on nutrients'
The authors speculate that Western-type diets that restrict carbohydrates often result in lower intake of vegetables, fruit, and grains and lead to greater consumption of animal proteins and fats, which have been linked to inflammation and ageing in the body.
Prof Nita Forouhi, from the MRC epidemiology unit at University of Cambridge, who was not involved in the study, said: "A really important message from this study is that it is not enough to focus on the nutrients, but whether they are derived from animal or plant sources.
"When carbohydrate intake is reduced in the diet, there are benefits when this is replaced with plant-origin fat and protein food sources, but not when replaced with animal-origin sources such as meats."
However, there are limitations to the study.
The findings show observational associations rather than cause-and-effect and what people ate was based on self-reported data, which might not be accurate.
And the authors acknowledge that since diets were measured only at the start of the trial and six years later, dietary patterns could have changed over the subsequent 19 years.
'High fibre intake'
Prof Tom Sanders, professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics at King's College London, also pointed out that the use of a food questionnaire in the study led to people underestimating the calories and fat they had eaten.
"One explanation for the finding in this and the other US studies is that it may reflect the higher risk of death in the overweight/obese, who may fall into two popular diet camps - those favouring a high-meat/low-carbohydrate diet and those favouring a low-fat/high-carbohydrate diet," he added.
Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: "This provides further evidence that low-carb diets could be incredibly damaging to our long-term health.
"High-fibre starchy carbohydrates should provide about half of our energy, including fruit and vegetables, while reducing intake of higher fat meat and dairy."
Sunday, August 5, 2018
It started as a hobby. Now they're using DNA to help cops crack cold cases - CNN News
It started as a hobby. Now they're using DNA to help cops crack cold cases
By Eric Levenson, CNN
Updated 1919 GMT (0319 HKT) August 3, 2018
(CNN)In a dizzying span over the past few months, some of the nation's most frustratingly unsolvable cold cases have suddenly been, well, solved.
First was the arrest in April of a California man who police say is the notorious Golden State Killer.
Then came the arrest of a suspect in the 1986 killing of a 12-year-old girl in Washington state.
Soon authorities were charging a man for the 1992 sexual assault and killing of a 25-year-old schoolteacher in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and another suspect for the 1988 rape and slaying of an 8-year-old girl in Indiana.
These breakthroughs have come thanks to DNA evidence and a new field of study known as genetic genealogy -- pioneered by a group of passionate and largely unpaid hobbyists.
In the hands of law enforcement, the field is rapidly boosting detectives' ability to crack cases that have stymied them for decades. And the willingness to use that ability has sharply increased since the Golden State Killer case was solved.
"Once the world sort of opened up to the possibility of using this methodology for suspect cases -- and the world didn't explode as a result -- then the floodgates opened," said Margaret Press, who has used genetic genealogy to identify the remains of dead people.
What is genetic genealogy?
It's an emerging field that combines DNA evidence and traditional genealogy to find biological connections between people.
Over the past decade, companies like 23AndMe and Ancestry have encouraged people to spit into a tube and send it off for analysis. These companies analyze a customer's DNA and send back information on their ethnic heritage, genetic health risks and family story -- as well as a raw data file of their DNA.
The practice is increasingly popular and has become a big business. 23AndMe says it has over 5 million customers, while Ancestry says about 10 million people have used its services to have their DNA tested.
Genetic genealogists can use these raw data files to further learn about people's family trees. But 23AndMe and Ancestry are private businesses, so there are some limitations and restrictions on what they can do.
That's where a site called GEDMatch comes in.
What's so special about GEDMatch?
GEDMatch is a free, open-source website where people can upload their DNA raw data files. Curtis Rogers and John Olson started GEDMatch in 2010 and it has grown consistently since.
Rogers, an 80-year-old professional guardian with a passion for visiting graveyards and sifting through old records, told CNN he started GEDMatch to create tools for genealogists like himself. The basic idea is that the site has certain tools that are better tailored for the work of genetic genealogists than the big genetic testing companies. Plus, it's free.
Eight-year-old April Tinsley was abducted, raped, and killed on Good Friday in 1988.
Eight-year-old April Tinsley was abducted, raped, and killed on Good Friday in 1988.
GEDMatch takes in raw DNA files and compares them to the more than a million people who have already uploaded their name, email addresses and DNA data. After an analysis, GEDMatch produces a list of family relatives who have also opted in to its service, from immediate parents to fourth and fifth cousins, along with their contact information.
At this point, genetic genealogists get down to the nitty-gritty of their work -- lots and lots of research. Genealogists take those relatives' names and search through obituaries, birth certificates and other public documents to solve the puzzle that is building out an extended family tree.
This process allows genetic genealogists to help people locate long-lost family members, for example, or inform adopted children about their biological parents.
But what does that have to do with cold cases?
That same work is now being used to help detectives solve crimes.
Law enforcement already works plenty with DNA. Typically, investigators take DNA from a crime scene and compare it to a suspect's DNA. Or they enter the crime scene DNA into a national database to see if there's a match with a known criminal offender.
But if there's no match, the perpetrator's identity might remain unknown.
Now, though, investigators can take crime scene DNA and team up with genetics companies, such as Virginia-based Parabon NanoLabs, to turn that evidence into a raw data file and upload it to GEDMatch. The site then spits out a list of extended family members who are related to the perpetrator, allowing investigators to begin zeroing in on those who may have had close contact with the victim.
DNA evidence led police to charge John D. Miller, 59, with April Tinsley's murder.
DNA evidence led police to charge John D. Miller, 59, with April Tinsley's murder.
The use of these open databases thus expands the number of possible suspects to include people who have not previously committed a crime.
This type of detective work isn't allowed on the big genetic testing sites. On its website, 23andMe openly states that it "chooses to use all practical legal and administrative resources to resist requests from law enforcement." Similarly, Ancestry says it only releases customers' information in response to a trial, grand jury or subpoena.
But by using GEDMatch, genetic genealogists work to build out an extended family tree to narrow down the list of possible suspects. Then investigators can do further detective work, such as surveillance, questioning, and testing of abandoned DNA samples -- such as saliva on a napkin left in a suspect's trash -- to make an arrest.
Wasn't the Golden State Killer case like that?
Exactly. For decades, investigators had searched for a man they suspected of a series of killings, rapes and assaults in the 1970s and 80s in California. But tests of crime scene DNA had not turned up any matches.
But in the past year, Paul Holes, an investigator with the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office, put the Golden State Killer's DNA raw data into GEDMatch to narrow down the list of possible suspects.
Investigators pared down that list further by looking at people who were about the right age and living in the area during that period.
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 72, the alleged Golden State Killer.
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 72, the alleged Golden State Killer.
When one of the remaining possible suspects -- Joseph James DeAngelo, 72 -- went into a Hobby Lobby store in April, investigators swabbed the handle of his car's driver's-side door, according to arrest and search warrants. They then tested that DNA sample against an existing crime scene DNA sample. He was a match for the killer, law enforcement officials said.
"This investigation lasted over 40 years, but with this course of DNA testing and matching, it took us only four months to get to the right pool of people," Holes said.
Have other cases also been solved like this?
The use of DNA and genealogy in the Golden State Killer case garnered huge media attention and launched genetic genealogy into the mainstream.
Breakthroughs in other cold cases soon followed.
The 1986 killing of 12-year-old Michella Welch had long been a mystery for police in Tacoma, Washington. They had built a DNA profile of the suspect but had no matches in state or national databases. But after investigators began working with a genetic genealogist, they arrested Gary Hartman, 66, in June.
Michella Welch, 12, was slain in 1986. Her alleged killer was finally arrested in June.
Michella Welch, 12, was slain in 1986. Her alleged killer was finally arrested in June.
Genetic genealogy also helped identify the man who police say abducted, raped and killed 8-year-old April Tinsley in Indiana in 1988. The mysterious killer left taunting messages over the years but still could not be identified.
Then in May, just weeks after the arrest in the Golden State Killer case, police hired Parabon NanoLabs and genetic genealogist CeCe Moore to work their expertise on the case. They narrowed the suspects down to two brothers, one of whom was 59-year-old John D. Miller.
DNA found on condoms in Miller's trash matched that of the killer, and he confessed after police brought him in for questioning, a criminal affidavit states.
And in June, genetic genealogy helped solve the 1992 killing of schoolteacher Christy Mirack, 25, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman, the DNA work with Parabon NanoLabs was vital in leading investigators to Raymond Rowe, 49, now charged with her murder.
The slaying of Christy Mirack, 25, remained unsolved for 26 years.
The slaying of Christy Mirack, 25, remained unsolved for 26 years.
After comparing DNA found on a water bottle used by Rowe in May to samples taken from Mirack's body in 1992, detectives learned the probability of the perpetrator being anyone other than Rowe was approximately one in 200 octillion, Stedman said.
Before the DNA testing, Rowe wasn't a suspect, even though he had lived just four miles away from Mirack when she was killed.
Wait, so do police have access to people's DNA?
Not quite. Curtis Rogers, GEDMatch's founder, says GEDMatch provides matches to names and emails of relatives, but does not actually give out the raw DNA data.
Still, the ethics of allowing police any access to a site made up of people's private DNA remains uncomfortable, he told CNN. He has worked to educate GEDMatch users that when they input their DNA they are opting in to its potential use in police investigations, a fact now prominently displayed in the site's terms of service.
But if it helps solve old murders, he's cautiously okay with it.
Raymond Rowe, 49, was charged with Mirack's murder after police got his DNA from a water bottle.
Raymond Rowe, 49, was charged with Mirack's murder after police got his DNA from a water bottle.
"Certainly catching the Golden State Killer, who makes Jack the Ripper look like a choir boy, is worthwhile," he said. "But we do have an obligation to all of our people to give them the privacy that they want."
CeCe Moore, the genetic genealogist who appears on PBS' "Finding Your Roots," says GEDMatch has been crucial to the field.
"GEDMatch is absolutely the key, and had (the founders) decided that they didn't want law enforcement to use their database, we wouldn't have been able to do this," she told CNN.
What else can genetic genealogy be used for?
Margaret Press and Colleen Fitzpatrick, co-founders of the non-profit DNA Doe Project, use their genetic genealogy knowledge to identify the remains of unknown deceased people.
In April, they identified the "Buckskin Girl," a woman who was found strangled in Troy, Ohio in 1981 and whose identity had remained a mystery.
Press and Fitzpatrick are both PhDs -- they call themselves a "Pair-o'-docs" (get it?) -- and turned to genetic genealogy in their later years, like many of those in the field. In fact, the majority of people in genetic genealogy are hobbyists who volunteer their time, such as the "search angels" who help adopted children connect with their biological families.
Genetic genealogist CeCe Moore, right: "There is so much volunteerism in this community."
Genetic genealogist CeCe Moore, right: "There is so much volunteerism in this community."
There are a few professionals in the field, but even they often work pro bono on the side. This particular passion is already an emerging component of detective work and is only going to grow in the future.
"There is so much volunteerism in this community, it's just incredible to be a part of it," said Moore, who has personally helped solved several cold cases and says she was the first to call herself a professional genetic genealogist.
"It's been the most amazing thing to watch this ... field explode into an industry now, to see it from the beginning."
By Eric Levenson, CNN
Updated 1919 GMT (0319 HKT) August 3, 2018
(CNN)In a dizzying span over the past few months, some of the nation's most frustratingly unsolvable cold cases have suddenly been, well, solved.
First was the arrest in April of a California man who police say is the notorious Golden State Killer.
Then came the arrest of a suspect in the 1986 killing of a 12-year-old girl in Washington state.
Soon authorities were charging a man for the 1992 sexual assault and killing of a 25-year-old schoolteacher in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and another suspect for the 1988 rape and slaying of an 8-year-old girl in Indiana.
These breakthroughs have come thanks to DNA evidence and a new field of study known as genetic genealogy -- pioneered by a group of passionate and largely unpaid hobbyists.
In the hands of law enforcement, the field is rapidly boosting detectives' ability to crack cases that have stymied them for decades. And the willingness to use that ability has sharply increased since the Golden State Killer case was solved.
"Once the world sort of opened up to the possibility of using this methodology for suspect cases -- and the world didn't explode as a result -- then the floodgates opened," said Margaret Press, who has used genetic genealogy to identify the remains of dead people.
What is genetic genealogy?
It's an emerging field that combines DNA evidence and traditional genealogy to find biological connections between people.
Over the past decade, companies like 23AndMe and Ancestry have encouraged people to spit into a tube and send it off for analysis. These companies analyze a customer's DNA and send back information on their ethnic heritage, genetic health risks and family story -- as well as a raw data file of their DNA.
The practice is increasingly popular and has become a big business. 23AndMe says it has over 5 million customers, while Ancestry says about 10 million people have used its services to have their DNA tested.
Genetic genealogists can use these raw data files to further learn about people's family trees. But 23AndMe and Ancestry are private businesses, so there are some limitations and restrictions on what they can do.
That's where a site called GEDMatch comes in.
What's so special about GEDMatch?
GEDMatch is a free, open-source website where people can upload their DNA raw data files. Curtis Rogers and John Olson started GEDMatch in 2010 and it has grown consistently since.
Rogers, an 80-year-old professional guardian with a passion for visiting graveyards and sifting through old records, told CNN he started GEDMatch to create tools for genealogists like himself. The basic idea is that the site has certain tools that are better tailored for the work of genetic genealogists than the big genetic testing companies. Plus, it's free.
Eight-year-old April Tinsley was abducted, raped, and killed on Good Friday in 1988.
Eight-year-old April Tinsley was abducted, raped, and killed on Good Friday in 1988.
GEDMatch takes in raw DNA files and compares them to the more than a million people who have already uploaded their name, email addresses and DNA data. After an analysis, GEDMatch produces a list of family relatives who have also opted in to its service, from immediate parents to fourth and fifth cousins, along with their contact information.
At this point, genetic genealogists get down to the nitty-gritty of their work -- lots and lots of research. Genealogists take those relatives' names and search through obituaries, birth certificates and other public documents to solve the puzzle that is building out an extended family tree.
This process allows genetic genealogists to help people locate long-lost family members, for example, or inform adopted children about their biological parents.
But what does that have to do with cold cases?
That same work is now being used to help detectives solve crimes.
Law enforcement already works plenty with DNA. Typically, investigators take DNA from a crime scene and compare it to a suspect's DNA. Or they enter the crime scene DNA into a national database to see if there's a match with a known criminal offender.
But if there's no match, the perpetrator's identity might remain unknown.
Now, though, investigators can take crime scene DNA and team up with genetics companies, such as Virginia-based Parabon NanoLabs, to turn that evidence into a raw data file and upload it to GEDMatch. The site then spits out a list of extended family members who are related to the perpetrator, allowing investigators to begin zeroing in on those who may have had close contact with the victim.
DNA evidence led police to charge John D. Miller, 59, with April Tinsley's murder.
DNA evidence led police to charge John D. Miller, 59, with April Tinsley's murder.
The use of these open databases thus expands the number of possible suspects to include people who have not previously committed a crime.
This type of detective work isn't allowed on the big genetic testing sites. On its website, 23andMe openly states that it "chooses to use all practical legal and administrative resources to resist requests from law enforcement." Similarly, Ancestry says it only releases customers' information in response to a trial, grand jury or subpoena.
But by using GEDMatch, genetic genealogists work to build out an extended family tree to narrow down the list of possible suspects. Then investigators can do further detective work, such as surveillance, questioning, and testing of abandoned DNA samples -- such as saliva on a napkin left in a suspect's trash -- to make an arrest.
Wasn't the Golden State Killer case like that?
Exactly. For decades, investigators had searched for a man they suspected of a series of killings, rapes and assaults in the 1970s and 80s in California. But tests of crime scene DNA had not turned up any matches.
But in the past year, Paul Holes, an investigator with the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office, put the Golden State Killer's DNA raw data into GEDMatch to narrow down the list of possible suspects.
Investigators pared down that list further by looking at people who were about the right age and living in the area during that period.
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 72, the alleged Golden State Killer.
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 72, the alleged Golden State Killer.
When one of the remaining possible suspects -- Joseph James DeAngelo, 72 -- went into a Hobby Lobby store in April, investigators swabbed the handle of his car's driver's-side door, according to arrest and search warrants. They then tested that DNA sample against an existing crime scene DNA sample. He was a match for the killer, law enforcement officials said.
"This investigation lasted over 40 years, but with this course of DNA testing and matching, it took us only four months to get to the right pool of people," Holes said.
Have other cases also been solved like this?
The use of DNA and genealogy in the Golden State Killer case garnered huge media attention and launched genetic genealogy into the mainstream.
Breakthroughs in other cold cases soon followed.
The 1986 killing of 12-year-old Michella Welch had long been a mystery for police in Tacoma, Washington. They had built a DNA profile of the suspect but had no matches in state or national databases. But after investigators began working with a genetic genealogist, they arrested Gary Hartman, 66, in June.
Michella Welch, 12, was slain in 1986. Her alleged killer was finally arrested in June.
Michella Welch, 12, was slain in 1986. Her alleged killer was finally arrested in June.
Genetic genealogy also helped identify the man who police say abducted, raped and killed 8-year-old April Tinsley in Indiana in 1988. The mysterious killer left taunting messages over the years but still could not be identified.
Then in May, just weeks after the arrest in the Golden State Killer case, police hired Parabon NanoLabs and genetic genealogist CeCe Moore to work their expertise on the case. They narrowed the suspects down to two brothers, one of whom was 59-year-old John D. Miller.
DNA found on condoms in Miller's trash matched that of the killer, and he confessed after police brought him in for questioning, a criminal affidavit states.
And in June, genetic genealogy helped solve the 1992 killing of schoolteacher Christy Mirack, 25, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman, the DNA work with Parabon NanoLabs was vital in leading investigators to Raymond Rowe, 49, now charged with her murder.
The slaying of Christy Mirack, 25, remained unsolved for 26 years.
The slaying of Christy Mirack, 25, remained unsolved for 26 years.
After comparing DNA found on a water bottle used by Rowe in May to samples taken from Mirack's body in 1992, detectives learned the probability of the perpetrator being anyone other than Rowe was approximately one in 200 octillion, Stedman said.
Before the DNA testing, Rowe wasn't a suspect, even though he had lived just four miles away from Mirack when she was killed.
Wait, so do police have access to people's DNA?
Not quite. Curtis Rogers, GEDMatch's founder, says GEDMatch provides matches to names and emails of relatives, but does not actually give out the raw DNA data.
Still, the ethics of allowing police any access to a site made up of people's private DNA remains uncomfortable, he told CNN. He has worked to educate GEDMatch users that when they input their DNA they are opting in to its potential use in police investigations, a fact now prominently displayed in the site's terms of service.
But if it helps solve old murders, he's cautiously okay with it.
Raymond Rowe, 49, was charged with Mirack's murder after police got his DNA from a water bottle.
Raymond Rowe, 49, was charged with Mirack's murder after police got his DNA from a water bottle.
"Certainly catching the Golden State Killer, who makes Jack the Ripper look like a choir boy, is worthwhile," he said. "But we do have an obligation to all of our people to give them the privacy that they want."
CeCe Moore, the genetic genealogist who appears on PBS' "Finding Your Roots," says GEDMatch has been crucial to the field.
"GEDMatch is absolutely the key, and had (the founders) decided that they didn't want law enforcement to use their database, we wouldn't have been able to do this," she told CNN.
What else can genetic genealogy be used for?
Margaret Press and Colleen Fitzpatrick, co-founders of the non-profit DNA Doe Project, use their genetic genealogy knowledge to identify the remains of unknown deceased people.
In April, they identified the "Buckskin Girl," a woman who was found strangled in Troy, Ohio in 1981 and whose identity had remained a mystery.
Press and Fitzpatrick are both PhDs -- they call themselves a "Pair-o'-docs" (get it?) -- and turned to genetic genealogy in their later years, like many of those in the field. In fact, the majority of people in genetic genealogy are hobbyists who volunteer their time, such as the "search angels" who help adopted children connect with their biological families.
Genetic genealogist CeCe Moore, right: "There is so much volunteerism in this community."
Genetic genealogist CeCe Moore, right: "There is so much volunteerism in this community."
There are a few professionals in the field, but even they often work pro bono on the side. This particular passion is already an emerging component of detective work and is only going to grow in the future.
"There is so much volunteerism in this community, it's just incredible to be a part of it," said Moore, who has personally helped solved several cold cases and says she was the first to call herself a professional genetic genealogist.
"It's been the most amazing thing to watch this ... field explode into an industry now, to see it from the beginning."
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Parasite in cat poop could be reducing our fear of failure, study finds - NBC News
Parasite in cat poop could be reducing our fear of failure, study finds
Toxoplasma, found in cat feces, makes mice unafraid of cats, and it could give people the courage to start their own businesses.
by Maggie Fox / Jul.25, 2018.
A new study links the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, found in cat feces, to entrepreneurship.Justin Sullivan / Getty Images file
A mind-controlling parasite found in cat feces may give people the courage they need to become entrepreneurs, researchers reported Tuesday.
They found that people who have been infected with the Toxoplasma gondii parasite are more likely to major in business and to have started their own businesses than non-infected people.
The parasite, which makes rodents unafraid of cats, may be reducing the fear of failure in people, Stefanie Johnson of the University of Colorado and colleagues said.
They haven’t actually shown that. But toxoplasma does get into the brain, and it’s been linked to a variety of mental effects in mice and people alike. And fear of failure could be a good thing, Johnson said.
Toxoplasmosis has been linked to a greater risk of "car accidents, mental illness, neuroticism, drug abuse and suicide,” Johnson and her colleagues wrote in their paper, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
It might be affecting message-carrying chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters, or hormones such as testosterone, they wrote.
In particular, scientists have studied whether the parasite might increase risk-taking behavior.
Johnson is an associate professor of management at the University of Colorado and often told her students about the odd effects of the parasite, which travels to the brains of rodents and causes them to lose their innate fear of the smell of cat urine.
"What if that fear was a good thing? We want to know.”
That benefits the organism, which reproduces in the bodies of cats. Cats are more likely to eat the unafraid infected mice, thus helping the parasite in its life cycle.
People can catch it from handling droppings from cats that are newly infected, but most people catch the parasite when eating poorly cooked meat, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Pregnant women are warned to stay away from cat feces in litter boxes and raw meat because the parasite can cause miscarriages and birth defects.
No, your cat isn't making you crazy
It can make people with weakened immune systems very ill but most people do not even know that they have been infected, the CDC says. “More than 30 million men, women, and children in the U.S. carry the toxoplasma parasite, but very few have symptoms because the immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness,” it says on its website.
Johnson said she liked to tell her students about the links between toxoplasma and neurotic behavior.
“There’s this crazy finding that if you get infected with this parasite, you could get neurotic and nobody wants to get more neurotic,” she told NBC News.
“I always talk about this, and one day I was talking to my husband about the study and he said, ‘I lecture on that same exact study all the time.' ”
Is anti-anxiety medication the next U.S. drug crisis?
Johnson’s husband, Pieter Johnson, teaches biology at the university.
“So we thought we should form a collaboration because how often do biologists and business professors get a chance to work together?” Stefanie Johnson said.
“We thought if all these things are true, maybe it predicts this behavior that is kind of risky, which is entrepreneurship,” Johnson said.
“It’s never a good idea to become an entrepreneur because the risks outweigh the rewards. Very few succeed.”
They gave a saliva test for antibodies to toxoplasma to nearly 1,500 students and to nearly 200 people attending seminars on how to start your own business.
Overall, 22 percent of the people they tested had antibodies to T. gondii, meaning that they had been infected at some point.
The students who were infected were 1.4 times more likely to be business majors and 1.7 percent more likely to have an emphasis in "management and entrepreneurship," the team found.
Among people going to entrepreneurship seminars, infected people were 1.8 times as likely to have started their own businesses.
She’d also like to test whether successful entrepreneurs are more or less likely to have been infected. “So what if all the businesses started by toxoplasma-positive people fail? What if that fear was a good thing? We want to know.”
Johnson says she is not infected, even though she has two cats. “I had, like, four cats growing up. I felt sure I would have it,” she said. But it makes sense, she added.
“Being a professor is literally the most risk-averse job you can do,” she said.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
World's 'oldest coloured molecules' are bright pink - BBC News
July 10, 2018
World's 'oldest coloured molecules' are bright pink
The pink pigments are the fossilised molecules of ancient sea organisms
Scientists have discovered what they say are the world's oldest surviving biological colours, from ancient rocks beneath the Sahara desert.
The 1.1 billion-year-old pigments have a bright pink hue, but range from blood red to deep purple in their concentrated form.
The pigments are fossilised molecules of chlorophyll produced by sea organisms, Australian scientists said.
Researchers ground shale rocks into powder to extract the pigment.
"Imagine you could find a fossilised dinosaur skin that still has its original colour, green or blue... that is exactly the type of discovery that we've made," Associate Prof Jochen Brocks from the Australian National University (ANU) told the BBC.
"These are actual molecules, the oldest coloured molecules in the world.
"When held against the sunlight, they are actually a neon pink."
'Amazing that colour can survive'
ANU PhD student, Dr Nur Gueneli, discovered the pigments after running an organic solvent through the powdered rock. Mr Brocks said the extraction process was "similar to a coffee machine".
Colours in nature - and how we see them
"I heard her screaming in the lab when it came out, and she ran into my office," Asst Prof Brocks said.
"At first I thought it had been contaminated. It is just amazing that something with a biological colour can survive for such a long time."
Scientists extracted the molecules from ancient shale rock
A mining company had found the rocks in a marine shale deposit in the Taoudeni Basin in Mauritania, West Africa about 10 years ago, after drilling a hole several hundred metres deep, he said.
An analysis of the pigments found they had been produced by cyanobacteria in the seas at the time. Prof Brocks said this contributed to understanding on the evolution of life forms on Earth.
The toxic colour from volcanoes
The pigment made of human remains
World's first colour film viewed
"Tiny cyanobacteria dominated the base of the food chain in the oceans a billion years ago, which helps to explain why animals did not exist at the time," he said.
"Life only became bigger about 600 million years ago because before that there was no sufficient food source."
The research, which also involved scientists in the US and Japan, has been published in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America.
World's 'oldest coloured molecules' are bright pink
The pink pigments are the fossilised molecules of ancient sea organisms
Scientists have discovered what they say are the world's oldest surviving biological colours, from ancient rocks beneath the Sahara desert.
The 1.1 billion-year-old pigments have a bright pink hue, but range from blood red to deep purple in their concentrated form.
The pigments are fossilised molecules of chlorophyll produced by sea organisms, Australian scientists said.
Researchers ground shale rocks into powder to extract the pigment.
"Imagine you could find a fossilised dinosaur skin that still has its original colour, green or blue... that is exactly the type of discovery that we've made," Associate Prof Jochen Brocks from the Australian National University (ANU) told the BBC.
"These are actual molecules, the oldest coloured molecules in the world.
"When held against the sunlight, they are actually a neon pink."
'Amazing that colour can survive'
ANU PhD student, Dr Nur Gueneli, discovered the pigments after running an organic solvent through the powdered rock. Mr Brocks said the extraction process was "similar to a coffee machine".
Colours in nature - and how we see them
"I heard her screaming in the lab when it came out, and she ran into my office," Asst Prof Brocks said.
"At first I thought it had been contaminated. It is just amazing that something with a biological colour can survive for such a long time."
Scientists extracted the molecules from ancient shale rock
A mining company had found the rocks in a marine shale deposit in the Taoudeni Basin in Mauritania, West Africa about 10 years ago, after drilling a hole several hundred metres deep, he said.
An analysis of the pigments found they had been produced by cyanobacteria in the seas at the time. Prof Brocks said this contributed to understanding on the evolution of life forms on Earth.
The toxic colour from volcanoes
The pigment made of human remains
World's first colour film viewed
"Tiny cyanobacteria dominated the base of the food chain in the oceans a billion years ago, which helps to explain why animals did not exist at the time," he said.
"Life only became bigger about 600 million years ago because before that there was no sufficient food source."
The research, which also involved scientists in the US and Japan, has been published in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Ghostly 'Lightning' Waves Discovered Inside a Nuclear Reactor - Live Science
Ghostly 'Lightning' Waves Discovered Inside a Nuclear Reactor
By Marcus Woo, Live Science Contributor | May 18, 2018 10:18am ET
Ghostly 'Lightning' Waves Discovered Inside a Nuclear Reactor
A conceptual picture of fusion energy inside a tokamak, the doughnut-shaped machine that produces plasma for fusion energy. A new paper has found whistler waves, normally found in the ionosphere, inside a nuclear fusion reactor.
Credit: Shutterstock
Mysterious, ghostlike "whistler waves" that are normally created by lightning could protect nuclear fusion reactors from runaway electrons, new research suggests.
These whistler waves are naturally found high above ground in the ionosphere — a layer of Earth's atmosphere about 50 to 600 miles (80 an1000 kilometers) above the planet's surface. These ghostly whistler waves form when lightning bolts generate pulses of electromagnetic waves that travel between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. These waves change in frequency as they cross the globe, and when the signals are converted from light to audio frequencies, they sound like whistles.
Now these whistler waves have been discovered in the hot plasma inside a tokamak — the doughnut-shaped machine where nuclear fusion reactions take place — according to a recent study published April 11 in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Because whistlers can scatter and impede high-speed electrons, they could provide a new way to prevent runaway electrons from damaging the inside of a tokamak.
Fusion power
In nuclear fusion reactions, which power the sun and stars, atoms slam together, fusing into larger atoms while releasing energy. For decades, researchers have been trying to harness fusion energy on Earth, using powerful magnetic fields inside tokamaks to corral doughnut-shaped clouds of hot plasma — a weird phase of matter that consists of electrically charged gas.
Inside the tokamak, electric fields can propel electrons faster and faster. But as these high-speed electrons fly through the plasma, they can't slow down. Normally, objects moving through a gas or liquid feel a drag force that increases with speed. The faster you drive your car, for example, the more wind resistance you run into. But in plasma, drag force decreases with speed, allowing electrons to accelerate to near light speed, damaging the tokamak.
Researchers already have a few techniques to mitigate runaways, said Don Spong, a physicist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and a co-author of the new study. They can use artificial intelligence algorithms to monitor and adjust the density of the plasma to prevent electrons from accelerating too fast. If there are still runaways, they can inject pellets of frozen neon into the plasma, which increases the plasma density and slows runaway electrons.
But whistler waves could be yet another way to rein in runaway electrons. "We ideally want to avoid disruptions and runaways," Spong said. "But if they occur, we would like multiple tools available for dealing with them."
Stopping runaways
In the tokamak at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego, Spong's research team detected, for the first time, whistler waves being produced by runaway electrons.
Plasma, he explained, is like a piece of Jell-O with many modes of vibration. If some runaway electrons have just the right velocity, they excite one of these modes and trigger whistler waves — similar to how driving an old car at just the right speed can cause the dashboard to vibrate.
"What we would like to do is reverse engineer that process and put those waves on the outside [of the plasma] to scatter the runaways," Spong said.
By better understanding how runaways create whistlers, the researchers hope they can reverse the process — using an external antenna to generate whistlers that can scatter the electrons and prevent them from getting too fast.
The researchers still need to further explore the relationship between runaways and whistlers, Spong said, for example, by identifying what frequencies and wavelengths work best to inhibit runaways and by studying what happens in the denser plasma needed for fusion reactors.
Of course, suppressing runaway electrons is just one hurdle to creating clean energy from nuclear fusion. Right now, fusion reactors require more energyto heat plasma than is produced by the fusion. To reach the breakeven point, researchers still have to figure out how to get plasma to stay hot without having to add heat.
But Spong is optimistic about fusion energy. "I'm a believer that it's achievable."
In 2025, the ITER project in southern France is slated to begin experiments. and scientists hope it will be the first fusion machine to produce more energy than is used to heat the plasma. Several groups have set their sights on achieving net positive fusion energy by 2050. And a new collaboration between MIT and a company called Commonwealth Fusion Systems announced that the partners hope to put nuclear fusion on the grid in 15 years.
Originally published on Live Science.
By Marcus Woo, Live Science Contributor | May 18, 2018 10:18am ET
Ghostly 'Lightning' Waves Discovered Inside a Nuclear Reactor
A conceptual picture of fusion energy inside a tokamak, the doughnut-shaped machine that produces plasma for fusion energy. A new paper has found whistler waves, normally found in the ionosphere, inside a nuclear fusion reactor.
Credit: Shutterstock
Mysterious, ghostlike "whistler waves" that are normally created by lightning could protect nuclear fusion reactors from runaway electrons, new research suggests.
These whistler waves are naturally found high above ground in the ionosphere — a layer of Earth's atmosphere about 50 to 600 miles (80 an1000 kilometers) above the planet's surface. These ghostly whistler waves form when lightning bolts generate pulses of electromagnetic waves that travel between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. These waves change in frequency as they cross the globe, and when the signals are converted from light to audio frequencies, they sound like whistles.
Now these whistler waves have been discovered in the hot plasma inside a tokamak — the doughnut-shaped machine where nuclear fusion reactions take place — according to a recent study published April 11 in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Because whistlers can scatter and impede high-speed electrons, they could provide a new way to prevent runaway electrons from damaging the inside of a tokamak.
Fusion power
In nuclear fusion reactions, which power the sun and stars, atoms slam together, fusing into larger atoms while releasing energy. For decades, researchers have been trying to harness fusion energy on Earth, using powerful magnetic fields inside tokamaks to corral doughnut-shaped clouds of hot plasma — a weird phase of matter that consists of electrically charged gas.
Inside the tokamak, electric fields can propel electrons faster and faster. But as these high-speed electrons fly through the plasma, they can't slow down. Normally, objects moving through a gas or liquid feel a drag force that increases with speed. The faster you drive your car, for example, the more wind resistance you run into. But in plasma, drag force decreases with speed, allowing electrons to accelerate to near light speed, damaging the tokamak.
Researchers already have a few techniques to mitigate runaways, said Don Spong, a physicist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and a co-author of the new study. They can use artificial intelligence algorithms to monitor and adjust the density of the plasma to prevent electrons from accelerating too fast. If there are still runaways, they can inject pellets of frozen neon into the plasma, which increases the plasma density and slows runaway electrons.
But whistler waves could be yet another way to rein in runaway electrons. "We ideally want to avoid disruptions and runaways," Spong said. "But if they occur, we would like multiple tools available for dealing with them."
Stopping runaways
In the tokamak at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego, Spong's research team detected, for the first time, whistler waves being produced by runaway electrons.
Plasma, he explained, is like a piece of Jell-O with many modes of vibration. If some runaway electrons have just the right velocity, they excite one of these modes and trigger whistler waves — similar to how driving an old car at just the right speed can cause the dashboard to vibrate.
"What we would like to do is reverse engineer that process and put those waves on the outside [of the plasma] to scatter the runaways," Spong said.
By better understanding how runaways create whistlers, the researchers hope they can reverse the process — using an external antenna to generate whistlers that can scatter the electrons and prevent them from getting too fast.
The researchers still need to further explore the relationship between runaways and whistlers, Spong said, for example, by identifying what frequencies and wavelengths work best to inhibit runaways and by studying what happens in the denser plasma needed for fusion reactors.
Of course, suppressing runaway electrons is just one hurdle to creating clean energy from nuclear fusion. Right now, fusion reactors require more energyto heat plasma than is produced by the fusion. To reach the breakeven point, researchers still have to figure out how to get plasma to stay hot without having to add heat.
But Spong is optimistic about fusion energy. "I'm a believer that it's achievable."
In 2025, the ITER project in southern France is slated to begin experiments. and scientists hope it will be the first fusion machine to produce more energy than is used to heat the plasma. Several groups have set their sights on achieving net positive fusion energy by 2050. And a new collaboration between MIT and a company called Commonwealth Fusion Systems announced that the partners hope to put nuclear fusion on the grid in 15 years.
Originally published on Live Science.
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
'Monster' Black Hole Is Discovered That Consumes Mass Equivalent of the Sun Every 2 Days - Fortune
'Monster' Black Hole Is Discovered That Consumes Mass Equivalent of the Sun Every 2 Days
By SARAH GRAY May 15, 2018
Australian researchers have discovered what they’ve described as the fastest-growing black hole in the universe.
“This black hole is growing so rapidly that it’s shining thousands of times more brightly than an entire galaxy, due to all of the gases it sucks in daily that cause lots of friction and heat,” Dr. Christian Wolf, a researcher from the Australian National University who was on the team that made the discovery, said according to a statement.
Researchers believe that this “monster” of black hole consumes the mass equivalent to our sun every two days. If placed at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, it would not only “appear 10 times brighter than a full moon,” Wolf said, but it would also make life on Earth impossible due to the x-rays the black hole releases.
And according to Space.com, this black hole is distant enough that it likely released its light around 12 billion years ago, when the ANU researchers estimate that this black hole was as large as 20 billion suns, and grew 1% every million years.
Carl Zimmer
✔
@carlzimmer
15 May
Astronomers find a hungry black hole that could gobble up our sun in two days http://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/astronomers-find-fastest-growing-black-hole-known-in-space …
Carl Zimmer
✔
@carlzimmer
(It’s billions of light years away, so don’t cancel your weekend plans.)
11:46 AM - May 15, 2018
Initially the SkyMapper telescope at the ANU Siding Spring Observatory discovered light from the black hole in the “near-infrared.” Data from European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite helped discover the black hole, and the spectrograph on the ANU 2.3 meter telescope confirmed the discovery.
The next step for researchers is to learn how it grew so large during the beginnings of our universe, and to find other fast-growing black holes like it.
“Fast-growing supermassive black holes also help to clear the fog around them by ionising gases,” Wolf said in a statement, “which makes the Universe more transparent.”
The researchers’ findings will be published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.
By SARAH GRAY May 15, 2018
Australian researchers have discovered what they’ve described as the fastest-growing black hole in the universe.
“This black hole is growing so rapidly that it’s shining thousands of times more brightly than an entire galaxy, due to all of the gases it sucks in daily that cause lots of friction and heat,” Dr. Christian Wolf, a researcher from the Australian National University who was on the team that made the discovery, said according to a statement.
Researchers believe that this “monster” of black hole consumes the mass equivalent to our sun every two days. If placed at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, it would not only “appear 10 times brighter than a full moon,” Wolf said, but it would also make life on Earth impossible due to the x-rays the black hole releases.
And according to Space.com, this black hole is distant enough that it likely released its light around 12 billion years ago, when the ANU researchers estimate that this black hole was as large as 20 billion suns, and grew 1% every million years.
Carl Zimmer
✔
@carlzimmer
15 May
Astronomers find a hungry black hole that could gobble up our sun in two days http://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/astronomers-find-fastest-growing-black-hole-known-in-space …
Carl Zimmer
✔
@carlzimmer
(It’s billions of light years away, so don’t cancel your weekend plans.)
11:46 AM - May 15, 2018
Initially the SkyMapper telescope at the ANU Siding Spring Observatory discovered light from the black hole in the “near-infrared.” Data from European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite helped discover the black hole, and the spectrograph on the ANU 2.3 meter telescope confirmed the discovery.
The next step for researchers is to learn how it grew so large during the beginnings of our universe, and to find other fast-growing black holes like it.
“Fast-growing supermassive black holes also help to clear the fog around them by ionising gases,” Wolf said in a statement, “which makes the Universe more transparent.”
The researchers’ findings will be published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
The WHO Now Wants Every Country to Eliminate Trans Fats. Here's How That Will Change the Way You Eat - Fortune
The WHO Now Wants Every Country to Eliminate Trans Fats. Here's How That Will Change the Way You Eat
By HALLIE DETRICK May 14, 2018
On Monday the World Health Organization, the public health arm of the United Nations, announced a new plan to eliminate trans fats worldwide.
The plan, called REPLACE, aims to reduce the number of deaths caused by this particularly vicious type of fat. The WHO estimates that more than 500,000 people per year die from cardiovascular disease caused by trans fat intake through processed foods and some baked goods. Originally popularized after the negative impacts of saturated fatty acids were discovered, trans fats have fallen out of favor as their own health effects have gained prominence.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the organization is “calling on” governments around the world to eliminate trans fats by 2023. While REPLACE is not a mandate, the organization hopes it will help governments swiftly eliminate these fats.
Here’s what that means for your diet.
Less soy
Most of the trans fats you’re eating are probably made from soy beans. They take the form of partially hydrogenated oils, which are used to replace lard or shortening in packaged products. In fact, the advent of partially hydrogenated oil was one of the developments that led to the success of packaged foods across the U.S. and Europe after World War II. These types of oils last longer and make possible a food economy where products are manufactured long before they’re sold.
More palm, canola, and sunflower oil
Fear not, the move towards eliminating trans fats doesn’t mean you’ll have to kiss your precious Oreos goodbye. Food and food-oil manufacturers are working on replacements for the partially hydrogenated oils they’ve relied on for so many years, and palm, canola, and sunflower oil are widely used. While some of these other oils carry health and environmental concerns, they are generally seen as better overall than partially hydrogenated oils.
You probably won’t notice much of a change
If you live in the U.S. or Europe, you’ve probably been eating a largely trans fat-free diet for years. More than 20 nations have restricted the use of trans fats in the last 15 years, and major food manufacturers have practically eliminated the use of trans fats in their foods: Nestle has eliminated trans fats from 99.8% of the oils they use; members of the International Food and Beverage Alliance, which include Kellogg, General Mills, and McDonald’s, have eliminated trans fats from 98.8% of their global product portfolios; and Mondelez International, the maker of Oreos, is on track to eliminate all partially hydrogenated oils from its products by the end of the year.
Moreover, it’s possible to eliminate trans fats without changing the flavor of food, so even if you haven’t already been eating this way, you probably won’t know the difference.
But it’ll be a great equalizer
While the majority of products in Europe and the U.S. no longer contain trans fats, the rest of the world continues to use them and suffer the negative health outcomes. Moreover, the foods that still contain trans fats in the U.S. and Europe tend to disproportionately affect the poor, because foods containing trans fats tend to be cheaper. The WHO’s hope is that a global campaign to eliminate trans fats everywhere will lead to better health outcomes for everyone.
By HALLIE DETRICK May 14, 2018
On Monday the World Health Organization, the public health arm of the United Nations, announced a new plan to eliminate trans fats worldwide.
The plan, called REPLACE, aims to reduce the number of deaths caused by this particularly vicious type of fat. The WHO estimates that more than 500,000 people per year die from cardiovascular disease caused by trans fat intake through processed foods and some baked goods. Originally popularized after the negative impacts of saturated fatty acids were discovered, trans fats have fallen out of favor as their own health effects have gained prominence.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the organization is “calling on” governments around the world to eliminate trans fats by 2023. While REPLACE is not a mandate, the organization hopes it will help governments swiftly eliminate these fats.
Here’s what that means for your diet.
Less soy
Most of the trans fats you’re eating are probably made from soy beans. They take the form of partially hydrogenated oils, which are used to replace lard or shortening in packaged products. In fact, the advent of partially hydrogenated oil was one of the developments that led to the success of packaged foods across the U.S. and Europe after World War II. These types of oils last longer and make possible a food economy where products are manufactured long before they’re sold.
More palm, canola, and sunflower oil
Fear not, the move towards eliminating trans fats doesn’t mean you’ll have to kiss your precious Oreos goodbye. Food and food-oil manufacturers are working on replacements for the partially hydrogenated oils they’ve relied on for so many years, and palm, canola, and sunflower oil are widely used. While some of these other oils carry health and environmental concerns, they are generally seen as better overall than partially hydrogenated oils.
You probably won’t notice much of a change
If you live in the U.S. or Europe, you’ve probably been eating a largely trans fat-free diet for years. More than 20 nations have restricted the use of trans fats in the last 15 years, and major food manufacturers have practically eliminated the use of trans fats in their foods: Nestle has eliminated trans fats from 99.8% of the oils they use; members of the International Food and Beverage Alliance, which include Kellogg, General Mills, and McDonald’s, have eliminated trans fats from 98.8% of their global product portfolios; and Mondelez International, the maker of Oreos, is on track to eliminate all partially hydrogenated oils from its products by the end of the year.
Moreover, it’s possible to eliminate trans fats without changing the flavor of food, so even if you haven’t already been eating this way, you probably won’t know the difference.
But it’ll be a great equalizer
While the majority of products in Europe and the U.S. no longer contain trans fats, the rest of the world continues to use them and suffer the negative health outcomes. Moreover, the foods that still contain trans fats in the U.S. and Europe tend to disproportionately affect the poor, because foods containing trans fats tend to be cheaper. The WHO’s hope is that a global campaign to eliminate trans fats everywhere will lead to better health outcomes for everyone.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
The secret of the Leaning Tower of Pisa: Study finds unique mix of soil helped it stay upright during four earthquakes - Daily Mail
May 10, 2018
The secret of the Leaning Tower of Pisa: Study finds unique mix of soil helped it stay upright during four earthquakes
58-metre tall tower leans precariously at a five-degree angle
This leads to an offset at the top of over five metres
Survived at least four strong earthquakes that have hit the region since 1280
By Mark Prigg For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 03:29 AEST, 10 May 2018 | UPDATED: 03:44 AEST, 10 May 2018
The mystery of how the Leaning Tower of Pisa stays intact has long baffled scientists.
Despite leaning precariously at a five-degree angle, leading to an offset at the top of over five metres, the 58-metre tall tower has managed to survive, undamaged, at least four strong earthquakes that have hit the region since 1280.
Now, researchers they believe they have the answer - soil.
Despite leaning precariously at a five-degree angle, leading to an offset at the top of over five metres, the 58-metre tall Tower has managed to survive, undamaged, at least four strong earthquakes that have hit the region since 1280. +3
Despite leaning precariously at a five-degree angle, leading to an offset at the top of over five metres, the 58-metre tall Tower has managed to survive, undamaged, at least four strong earthquakes that have hit the region since 1280.
The research team concluded that the survival of the Tower can be attributed to a phenomenon known as dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI).
'Ironically, the very same soil that caused the leaning instability and brought the Tower to the verge of collapse, can be credited for helping it survive these seismic events,' said Professor Mylonakis, of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Bristol, who led the study.
The research team concluded that the survival of the Tower can be attributed to a phenomenon known as dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI). +3
The research team concluded that the survival of the Tower can be attributed to a phenomenon known as dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI).
The team say the considerable height and stiffness of the Tower combined with the softness of the foundation soil, causes the vibrational characteristics of the structure to be modified substantially, in such a way that the Tower does not resonate with earthquake ground motion.
This, they say, has been the key to its survival.
The unique combination of these characteristics gives the Tower of Pisa the world record in DSSI effects.
Professor Mylonakis, from Bristol's Department of Civil Engineering, was invited to join a 16-member research team, led by Professor Camillo Nuti at Roma Tre University, to explore this Leaning Tower of Pisa mystery that has puzzled engineers for many years.
Given the vulnerability of the structure, which barely manages to stand vertically, it was expected to sustain serious damage or even collapse because of moderate seismic activity.
THE BATTLE TO PRESERVE THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA
In 1987 the Tower of Pisa was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nation's cultural organisation Unesco, but as fears grew that it would topple over it was closed to the public in 1990 and engineers worked to stabilise it for the next 11 years.
'The tower was on the verge of collapse, but we managed to stop the tilt and secure it,' said Giuseppe Bentivoglio, from the Opera Primaziale organisation that preserves the tower.
The tower was reopened to the public in 2001 and remained open throughout a restoration costing almost £6million - partly to keep tourists happy, but partly because the revenue from ticket sales helped pay for the upkeep. The tower attracts over one million visitors a year.
In 2010 restorers made the tower even more stable by removing soil from beneath one side of its foundations. Its angle was previously 5.5 degrees from the perpendicular, but is now only 3.99 degrees off straight.
Experts say the seven-storey bell tower should now be safe from further intervention for at least the next 200 years.
But how did the tower achieve its lean? The most respected theory suggests the tower began to sink after construction - which began in 1173 - had progressed to the third floor after five years.
The cause was a flawed design - it had a foundation that was only three-metres deep set in weak, unstable subsoil.
Landmark: In 1987 the Tower of Pisa was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nation's cultural organisation Unesco, but as fears grew that it would topple over it was closed to the public in 1990 +3
Landmark: In 1987 the Tower of Pisa was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nation's cultural organisation Unesco, but as fears grew that it would topple over it was closed to the public in 1990
Back then that area of Italy was very belligerent, with various local land-grabbing factions jostling for position.
Because of the battles between Pisa and nearby Genoa, Lucca and Florence, the construction of the tower was put on hold for almost a century.
Thankfully this allowed enough time for the soil to settle - had there not been that length of break, many believe the tower would have toppled over centuries ago.
When tools were picked up once more, under architect Giovanni di Simone (who had built the Camposanto Monumentale, the fourth and last building to be erected in Cathedral Square) in 1272, the engineers built upper floors with one side taller than the other, in an effort to compensate for the tilt.
Because of this, the tower is actually curved. Construction was halted again in 1284, when the Pisans were defeated by the Genoans in the Battle of Meloria, and the seventh floor was not completed until 1319. Its stewardship at that point had passed to Tommaso di Andrea Pisano.
Just seven miles from the Mediterranean Sea on the west coast of Italy, the tower, which weighs some 14,500 metric tonnes, is frequently battered by storms that have eroded and discoloured it.
The distinctive, yellowish stone came from the quarries of San Giuliano, visible from the top of the tower on the green hills behind Pisa.
Surprisingly this hasn't happened and until now this has mystified engineers for a long time.
Results from the study have been presented to international workshops and will be formally announced at the 16th European Conference in Earthquake Engineering taking place in Thessaloniki, Greece next month
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5710455/The-secret-Leaning-Tower-Pisa.html#ixzz5F5hxcUsD
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
The secret of the Leaning Tower of Pisa: Study finds unique mix of soil helped it stay upright during four earthquakes
58-metre tall tower leans precariously at a five-degree angle
This leads to an offset at the top of over five metres
Survived at least four strong earthquakes that have hit the region since 1280
By Mark Prigg For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 03:29 AEST, 10 May 2018 | UPDATED: 03:44 AEST, 10 May 2018
The mystery of how the Leaning Tower of Pisa stays intact has long baffled scientists.
Despite leaning precariously at a five-degree angle, leading to an offset at the top of over five metres, the 58-metre tall tower has managed to survive, undamaged, at least four strong earthquakes that have hit the region since 1280.
Now, researchers they believe they have the answer - soil.
Despite leaning precariously at a five-degree angle, leading to an offset at the top of over five metres, the 58-metre tall Tower has managed to survive, undamaged, at least four strong earthquakes that have hit the region since 1280. +3
Despite leaning precariously at a five-degree angle, leading to an offset at the top of over five metres, the 58-metre tall Tower has managed to survive, undamaged, at least four strong earthquakes that have hit the region since 1280.
The research team concluded that the survival of the Tower can be attributed to a phenomenon known as dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI).
'Ironically, the very same soil that caused the leaning instability and brought the Tower to the verge of collapse, can be credited for helping it survive these seismic events,' said Professor Mylonakis, of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Bristol, who led the study.
The research team concluded that the survival of the Tower can be attributed to a phenomenon known as dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI). +3
The research team concluded that the survival of the Tower can be attributed to a phenomenon known as dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI).
The team say the considerable height and stiffness of the Tower combined with the softness of the foundation soil, causes the vibrational characteristics of the structure to be modified substantially, in such a way that the Tower does not resonate with earthquake ground motion.
This, they say, has been the key to its survival.
The unique combination of these characteristics gives the Tower of Pisa the world record in DSSI effects.
Professor Mylonakis, from Bristol's Department of Civil Engineering, was invited to join a 16-member research team, led by Professor Camillo Nuti at Roma Tre University, to explore this Leaning Tower of Pisa mystery that has puzzled engineers for many years.
Given the vulnerability of the structure, which barely manages to stand vertically, it was expected to sustain serious damage or even collapse because of moderate seismic activity.
THE BATTLE TO PRESERVE THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA
In 1987 the Tower of Pisa was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nation's cultural organisation Unesco, but as fears grew that it would topple over it was closed to the public in 1990 and engineers worked to stabilise it for the next 11 years.
'The tower was on the verge of collapse, but we managed to stop the tilt and secure it,' said Giuseppe Bentivoglio, from the Opera Primaziale organisation that preserves the tower.
The tower was reopened to the public in 2001 and remained open throughout a restoration costing almost £6million - partly to keep tourists happy, but partly because the revenue from ticket sales helped pay for the upkeep. The tower attracts over one million visitors a year.
In 2010 restorers made the tower even more stable by removing soil from beneath one side of its foundations. Its angle was previously 5.5 degrees from the perpendicular, but is now only 3.99 degrees off straight.
Experts say the seven-storey bell tower should now be safe from further intervention for at least the next 200 years.
But how did the tower achieve its lean? The most respected theory suggests the tower began to sink after construction - which began in 1173 - had progressed to the third floor after five years.
The cause was a flawed design - it had a foundation that was only three-metres deep set in weak, unstable subsoil.
Landmark: In 1987 the Tower of Pisa was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nation's cultural organisation Unesco, but as fears grew that it would topple over it was closed to the public in 1990 +3
Landmark: In 1987 the Tower of Pisa was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nation's cultural organisation Unesco, but as fears grew that it would topple over it was closed to the public in 1990
Back then that area of Italy was very belligerent, with various local land-grabbing factions jostling for position.
Because of the battles between Pisa and nearby Genoa, Lucca and Florence, the construction of the tower was put on hold for almost a century.
Thankfully this allowed enough time for the soil to settle - had there not been that length of break, many believe the tower would have toppled over centuries ago.
When tools were picked up once more, under architect Giovanni di Simone (who had built the Camposanto Monumentale, the fourth and last building to be erected in Cathedral Square) in 1272, the engineers built upper floors with one side taller than the other, in an effort to compensate for the tilt.
Because of this, the tower is actually curved. Construction was halted again in 1284, when the Pisans were defeated by the Genoans in the Battle of Meloria, and the seventh floor was not completed until 1319. Its stewardship at that point had passed to Tommaso di Andrea Pisano.
Just seven miles from the Mediterranean Sea on the west coast of Italy, the tower, which weighs some 14,500 metric tonnes, is frequently battered by storms that have eroded and discoloured it.
The distinctive, yellowish stone came from the quarries of San Giuliano, visible from the top of the tower on the green hills behind Pisa.
Surprisingly this hasn't happened and until now this has mystified engineers for a long time.
Results from the study have been presented to international workshops and will be formally announced at the 16th European Conference in Earthquake Engineering taking place in Thessaloniki, Greece next month
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5710455/The-secret-Leaning-Tower-Pisa.html#ixzz5F5hxcUsD
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Scientist claims life after death is impossible - Independent
May 5, 2018
Scientist claims life after death is impossible
Posted by Mimi Launder in offbeat
UPVOTE
Science may have bestowed us with gifts of medicines, air travel and the internet - but it is also the bearer of bad news.
One scientist thinks we should accept that there is no afterlife and move on with our lives on this earthly plane.
Sean Carroll, a cosmologist and physics professor at the California Institute of Technology, said according to the Express:
The laws of physics underlying every day life are completely understood.
Dr Carroll explained that for there to be an afterlife, consciousness would need to be entirely separated from our physical body.
But instead of an ever-lasting soul, consciousness appears to essentially composed of a series of atoms and electrons.
Dr Carroll added:
Claims that some form of consciousness persists after our bodies die and decay into their constituent atoms face one huge, insuperable obstacle.
The laws of physics underlying everyday life are completely understood.
And there's no way within those laws to allow for the information stored in our brains to persist after we die.
It is not like scientists haven't tested for an afterlife either.
Dr Carroll points to The Quantum Field Theory (QFT).
Simply put, QFT dictates that there is one field in the universe for each type of particle - one for all the photons, another for electrons, and every other type of particle.
If there was some sort of afterlife, quantum tests would reveal 'spirit particles' and 'spirit forces'. Spoiler: they have not.
HT Express
More: Alternative studies do think there may be activity in the brain after death
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Dying Stephen Hawking changed his mind on key theory - Times of London
Dying Stephen Hawking changed his mind on key theory
Oliver Moody, Science Correspondent
May 3 2018, 12:01am,
The Times
Science
Stephen Hawking’s last writing on physics announced a “significant departure” from his theory that the universe was effectively eternal
One of Stephen Hawking’s most famous and charismatic ideas was that the universe had no boundaries and time had no beginning.
However, it emerged yesterday that he had turned his back on the theory in the last paragraph of physics he wrote before his death.
The Cambridge University cosmologist, who died in March at the age of 76, has revised his signature hypothesis about the first instant of the Big Bang in a final, posthumous paper.
Hawking’s “no-boundary” proposal, set out jointly in 1983 with the American physicist James Hartle, held that the universe was effectively eternal because time curved back on itself like a sphere. It became so closely associated with Hawking that it furnished a pivotal scene in his 2014 biopic, The Theory of Everything, which turned the theory into a metaphor for his physical determination and courage.
It also left him unsatisfied, because it implied the possible existence of a large number of different universes, each with its own laws of physics. This made it impossible to explain why our universe should behave the way it does.
Hawking’s last scientific work, written with Thomas Hertog, a theoretical physicist at the University of Leuven in Belgium and his collaborator of two decades’ standing, announces a “significant departure” from the theory.
Professor Hertog journeyed frequently to Cambridge to develop the idea, even as it became increasingly difficult for Hawking to communicate. In fact, Hawking’s thinking had come full circle as he returned to the research of his youth, Professor Hertog said.
“There is a single, over-arching question behind all of this work by Hawking,” he said. “It is a deeper understanding of where the laws of physics that we test in our labs come from.”
As a young scientist, shortly after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, Hawking argued that the Big Bang began with a point beyond the reach of mathematics, where the equations Einstein had coined to describe reality broke down. This was replaced by the no-boundary proposal, his first big breakthrough after he was appointed to the Lucasian chair of mathematics at Cambridge.
Hawking’s “no-boundary” proposal became a metaphor for courage in The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie RedmayneHawking’s “no-boundary” proposal became a metaphor for courage in The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie Redmayne
ALLSTAR
The new paper, published in the Journal of High Energy Physics, ditches that hypothesis and states that there is a boundary after all. It also makes for a simpler set of alternative universes.
“The idea of the ‘no boundary’ is gone again,” Professor Hertog said. “At some point 13.8 billion years in the past we had a boundary, where our familiar notion of time ceases to be meaningful and we are left with a kind of timeless state. [Beyond it] there is nothing. No space. No time. Absolutely nothing.”
Marika Taylor, who studied under Hawking and is now professor of theoretical physics at the University of Southampton, said the no-boundary proposal had been a “beautiful” but flawed idea. Hawking’s final theory was a logical evolution of his earlier work and addressed a question to which there is still no conclusive answer, she added.
“I think it’s fair to say this is something which is still at the frontier of study. People believe that there was an inflationary period. What started that off is something that people are still exploring.”
However, Professor Taylor said that Hawking’s last paper was too speculative to ignite a revolution in cosmology: “There’s a core of sharp, rigorous work out there relating gravity to a theory with one less dimension, and they are pushing things beyond that. This is an interesting paper, and it’s Stephen’s last paper, but it’s not a breakthrough.”
The ‘no-boundary’ idea
The no-boundary proposal was one of Stephen Hawking’s most brilliant and troubling ideas. In 1983 he published a paper that appeared to solve the origin of time itself: it had no beginning. The further back you delve, the more time simply dwindles away. He compared it to travelling to the South Pole. By the time you arrive, the word “south” has lost its meaning.
However, the model had an awkward implication. It gave rise to any number of possible universes, most of them hostile to the stable existence of the matter that makes up stars, planets and human beings. Hawking found all this deeply messy. His last paper is an attempt to resolve the problem. Hawking and Thomas Hertog describe a new boundary at the start of a finite universe, which leads logically to reality as we know it.
Oliver Moody, Science Correspondent
May 3 2018, 12:01am,
The Times
Science
Stephen Hawking’s last writing on physics announced a “significant departure” from his theory that the universe was effectively eternal
One of Stephen Hawking’s most famous and charismatic ideas was that the universe had no boundaries and time had no beginning.
However, it emerged yesterday that he had turned his back on the theory in the last paragraph of physics he wrote before his death.
The Cambridge University cosmologist, who died in March at the age of 76, has revised his signature hypothesis about the first instant of the Big Bang in a final, posthumous paper.
Hawking’s “no-boundary” proposal, set out jointly in 1983 with the American physicist James Hartle, held that the universe was effectively eternal because time curved back on itself like a sphere. It became so closely associated with Hawking that it furnished a pivotal scene in his 2014 biopic, The Theory of Everything, which turned the theory into a metaphor for his physical determination and courage.
It also left him unsatisfied, because it implied the possible existence of a large number of different universes, each with its own laws of physics. This made it impossible to explain why our universe should behave the way it does.
Hawking’s last scientific work, written with Thomas Hertog, a theoretical physicist at the University of Leuven in Belgium and his collaborator of two decades’ standing, announces a “significant departure” from the theory.
Professor Hertog journeyed frequently to Cambridge to develop the idea, even as it became increasingly difficult for Hawking to communicate. In fact, Hawking’s thinking had come full circle as he returned to the research of his youth, Professor Hertog said.
“There is a single, over-arching question behind all of this work by Hawking,” he said. “It is a deeper understanding of where the laws of physics that we test in our labs come from.”
As a young scientist, shortly after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, Hawking argued that the Big Bang began with a point beyond the reach of mathematics, where the equations Einstein had coined to describe reality broke down. This was replaced by the no-boundary proposal, his first big breakthrough after he was appointed to the Lucasian chair of mathematics at Cambridge.
Hawking’s “no-boundary” proposal became a metaphor for courage in The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie RedmayneHawking’s “no-boundary” proposal became a metaphor for courage in The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie Redmayne
ALLSTAR
The new paper, published in the Journal of High Energy Physics, ditches that hypothesis and states that there is a boundary after all. It also makes for a simpler set of alternative universes.
“The idea of the ‘no boundary’ is gone again,” Professor Hertog said. “At some point 13.8 billion years in the past we had a boundary, where our familiar notion of time ceases to be meaningful and we are left with a kind of timeless state. [Beyond it] there is nothing. No space. No time. Absolutely nothing.”
Marika Taylor, who studied under Hawking and is now professor of theoretical physics at the University of Southampton, said the no-boundary proposal had been a “beautiful” but flawed idea. Hawking’s final theory was a logical evolution of his earlier work and addressed a question to which there is still no conclusive answer, she added.
“I think it’s fair to say this is something which is still at the frontier of study. People believe that there was an inflationary period. What started that off is something that people are still exploring.”
However, Professor Taylor said that Hawking’s last paper was too speculative to ignite a revolution in cosmology: “There’s a core of sharp, rigorous work out there relating gravity to a theory with one less dimension, and they are pushing things beyond that. This is an interesting paper, and it’s Stephen’s last paper, but it’s not a breakthrough.”
The ‘no-boundary’ idea
The no-boundary proposal was one of Stephen Hawking’s most brilliant and troubling ideas. In 1983 he published a paper that appeared to solve the origin of time itself: it had no beginning. The further back you delve, the more time simply dwindles away. He compared it to travelling to the South Pole. By the time you arrive, the word “south” has lost its meaning.
However, the model had an awkward implication. It gave rise to any number of possible universes, most of them hostile to the stable existence of the matter that makes up stars, planets and human beings. Hawking found all this deeply messy. His last paper is an attempt to resolve the problem. Hawking and Thomas Hertog describe a new boundary at the start of a finite universe, which leads logically to reality as we know it.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
The dark web and how to access it - CNBC News
The dark web and how to access it
MacKenzie Sigalos Published 10:00 AM ET Sat, 14 April 2018 Updated 11:40 PM ET Sat, 14 April 2018
CNBC.com
Dark web: how the unseen internet is accessed Dark web: how the unseen internet is accessed
9:45 AM ET Mon, 23 April 2018 | 03:39
In 2015, the founder of a website called the Silk Road was sentenced to life in prison. The billion-dollar black market site was once the premiere online bazaar for drugs and other contraband, but it remained hidden from casual internet users for years because of something called the dark web.
Here's how that dark side of the internet actually works.
Anatomy of the internet
If you think of the web like an iceberg, you have the surface web up top. It's the internet you see and use every day and consists of all the websites indexed by traditional search engines like Google. It's where you shop on Amazon and listen to music on Spotify.
What's submerged is the deep web — an anonymous online space only accessible with specific software. Then there's the dark web, which is the part of the deep web that hides your identity and location.
It's basically just "a series of encrypted networks that serve to anonymize peoples' use on the internet," said Matthew Swensen, a Special Agent for the Department of Homeland Security with an expertise in cyber crimes.
It's relatively easy for anyone to access this encrypted network. All it takes is downloading darknet software. Swensen said the most common dark web networks are Tor, I2P, and Freenet, but "Tor is, by far and away, the most popular."
Tor
Tor stands for "the onion routing project." It was developed by the U.S. Navy for the government in the mid-1990s. But it was open-sourced in 2004, and that's when it went public. Tor is now the dark web browser that the vast majority of people use to anonymously surf the internet.
To understand how Tor actually works you need to know what happens when you typically search the web. Think of your IP address as an online identity. Any device you use to connect to the internet has one. Each time you visit a website, you can be traced back to your exact location thanks to that IP address.
The Tor browser looks like any other, except that there's a whole lot happening that you don't see. Instead of your connection request bouncing from its origin right to its destination, Tor sends your request on a much more roundabout route.
Let's say you're in New York and you want to search a site hosted in New Jersey. Instead of connecting you directly, the Tor browser takes you on at least three random detours called relays. Your request could go from New York to South Africa, from South Africa to Hong Kong and from Hong Kong to New Jersey.
Tor is comprised of people from all over the planet who are donating their computers to the network. It has more than 7,000 relays to choose from. Bouncing your request around to random computers all over the world makes it much harder for people to find you.
Software firm Hyperion Gray put together a map showing all 6,608 dark web sites crawled during January 2018. Each screenshot is a site, and the content ranges from the nefarious to the noble.
Map of the Dark Web.
For some users — like journalists or whistleblowers — the dark web is about identity protection. It's where individuals can share anonymous tips with the press on secure drop sites. But more often than not, it's tied to the world of cybercrime. Special agents like Swensen are looking for the kinds of users who want this full cloak of anonymity in order to mask their illegal activity.
Putting a stop to this kind of crime has been described as a "never-ending game of whack-a-mole" for law enforcement. But even with the odds seemingly stacked against it, the anonymity of the dark web can sometimes play to the law's advantage. No ID and no location means you never really know who's communicating with you.
— CNBC's Ylan Mui and Karen James contributed to this report.
MacKenzie Sigalos Published 10:00 AM ET Sat, 14 April 2018 Updated 11:40 PM ET Sat, 14 April 2018
CNBC.com
Dark web: how the unseen internet is accessed Dark web: how the unseen internet is accessed
9:45 AM ET Mon, 23 April 2018 | 03:39
In 2015, the founder of a website called the Silk Road was sentenced to life in prison. The billion-dollar black market site was once the premiere online bazaar for drugs and other contraband, but it remained hidden from casual internet users for years because of something called the dark web.
Here's how that dark side of the internet actually works.
Anatomy of the internet
If you think of the web like an iceberg, you have the surface web up top. It's the internet you see and use every day and consists of all the websites indexed by traditional search engines like Google. It's where you shop on Amazon and listen to music on Spotify.
What's submerged is the deep web — an anonymous online space only accessible with specific software. Then there's the dark web, which is the part of the deep web that hides your identity and location.
It's basically just "a series of encrypted networks that serve to anonymize peoples' use on the internet," said Matthew Swensen, a Special Agent for the Department of Homeland Security with an expertise in cyber crimes.
It's relatively easy for anyone to access this encrypted network. All it takes is downloading darknet software. Swensen said the most common dark web networks are Tor, I2P, and Freenet, but "Tor is, by far and away, the most popular."
Tor
Tor stands for "the onion routing project." It was developed by the U.S. Navy for the government in the mid-1990s. But it was open-sourced in 2004, and that's when it went public. Tor is now the dark web browser that the vast majority of people use to anonymously surf the internet.
To understand how Tor actually works you need to know what happens when you typically search the web. Think of your IP address as an online identity. Any device you use to connect to the internet has one. Each time you visit a website, you can be traced back to your exact location thanks to that IP address.
The Tor browser looks like any other, except that there's a whole lot happening that you don't see. Instead of your connection request bouncing from its origin right to its destination, Tor sends your request on a much more roundabout route.
Let's say you're in New York and you want to search a site hosted in New Jersey. Instead of connecting you directly, the Tor browser takes you on at least three random detours called relays. Your request could go from New York to South Africa, from South Africa to Hong Kong and from Hong Kong to New Jersey.
Tor is comprised of people from all over the planet who are donating their computers to the network. It has more than 7,000 relays to choose from. Bouncing your request around to random computers all over the world makes it much harder for people to find you.
Software firm Hyperion Gray put together a map showing all 6,608 dark web sites crawled during January 2018. Each screenshot is a site, and the content ranges from the nefarious to the noble.
Map of the Dark Web.
For some users — like journalists or whistleblowers — the dark web is about identity protection. It's where individuals can share anonymous tips with the press on secure drop sites. But more often than not, it's tied to the world of cybercrime. Special agents like Swensen are looking for the kinds of users who want this full cloak of anonymity in order to mask their illegal activity.
Putting a stop to this kind of crime has been described as a "never-ending game of whack-a-mole" for law enforcement. But even with the odds seemingly stacked against it, the anonymity of the dark web can sometimes play to the law's advantage. No ID and no location means you never really know who's communicating with you.
— CNBC's Ylan Mui and Karen James contributed to this report.
Monday, April 30, 2018
VITAMIN B6 SUPPLEMENTS COULD HELP YOU REMEMBER YOUR DREAMS, STUDY CLAIMS - Independent
April 30, 2018
VITAMIN B6 SUPPLEMENTS COULD HELP YOU REMEMBER YOUR DREAMS, STUDY CLAIMS
Participants also reported better sleep quality and lower tiredness on waking
SARAH YOUNG
@sarah_j_young
10 hours ago
Taking a vitamin found in bananas, tuna and avocado could help people to recall their dreams, scientists claim.
New research from the University of Adelaide, published in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills, analysed the effects of taking high-dose vitamin B6 supplements on 100 participants from around Australia.
Half of the participants took 240mg of vitamin B6 – the equivalent of 558 bananas - immediately before bed for five consecutive nights, while the other half were given a placebo.
You are probably not getting enough sleep, and it is killing you
The results showed that those who took B6 recalled 64.1 per cent more dream content, reported better sleep quality and significantly lower tiredness on waking.
“It seems as time went on my dreams were clearer and clearer and easier to remember. I also did not lose fragments as the day went on,” one participant said.
Another added: ”My dreams were more real, I couldn't wait to go to bed and dream!“
Interestingly, the intake of vitamin B6 did not affect the vividness, bizarreness or colour of people’s dreams.
”The average person spends around six years of their lives dreaming,” said Dr Denholm Aspy, of the University of Adelaide's School of Psychology, Australia.
“If we are able to become lucid and control our dreams, we can then use our dreaming time more productively.
”Lucid dreaming, where you know that you are dreaming while the dream is still happening, has many potential benefits.
“For example, it may be possible to use lucid dreaming for overcoming nightmares, treating phobias, creative problem solving, refining motor skills and even helping with rehabilitation from physical trauma.”
According to the NHS, vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, can be found in various foods including whole grain cereals, fruits such as banana and avocado, vegetables such as spinach and potato, milk, cheese, eggs, red meat, liver, and fish.
Vitamin A antibiotic could be new superbug killer, finds study
It suggests that the daily amount of vitamin B6 adults aged 19 to 64 need is 1.4mg for men and 1.2mg for women, which can be acquired from a normal diet.
Despite the study’s findings, the NHS adds that taking doses of 10-200mg a day for short periods may not cause any harm but could lead to a loss of feeling in the arms and legs, known as peripheral neuropathy, overtime.
As such, people should not take the supplement over 10mg unless advised by a doctor
VITAMIN B6 SUPPLEMENTS COULD HELP YOU REMEMBER YOUR DREAMS, STUDY CLAIMS
Participants also reported better sleep quality and lower tiredness on waking
SARAH YOUNG
@sarah_j_young
10 hours ago
Taking a vitamin found in bananas, tuna and avocado could help people to recall their dreams, scientists claim.
New research from the University of Adelaide, published in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills, analysed the effects of taking high-dose vitamin B6 supplements on 100 participants from around Australia.
Half of the participants took 240mg of vitamin B6 – the equivalent of 558 bananas - immediately before bed for five consecutive nights, while the other half were given a placebo.
You are probably not getting enough sleep, and it is killing you
The results showed that those who took B6 recalled 64.1 per cent more dream content, reported better sleep quality and significantly lower tiredness on waking.
“It seems as time went on my dreams were clearer and clearer and easier to remember. I also did not lose fragments as the day went on,” one participant said.
Another added: ”My dreams were more real, I couldn't wait to go to bed and dream!“
Interestingly, the intake of vitamin B6 did not affect the vividness, bizarreness or colour of people’s dreams.
”The average person spends around six years of their lives dreaming,” said Dr Denholm Aspy, of the University of Adelaide's School of Psychology, Australia.
“If we are able to become lucid and control our dreams, we can then use our dreaming time more productively.
”Lucid dreaming, where you know that you are dreaming while the dream is still happening, has many potential benefits.
“For example, it may be possible to use lucid dreaming for overcoming nightmares, treating phobias, creative problem solving, refining motor skills and even helping with rehabilitation from physical trauma.”
According to the NHS, vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, can be found in various foods including whole grain cereals, fruits such as banana and avocado, vegetables such as spinach and potato, milk, cheese, eggs, red meat, liver, and fish.
Vitamin A antibiotic could be new superbug killer, finds study
It suggests that the daily amount of vitamin B6 adults aged 19 to 64 need is 1.4mg for men and 1.2mg for women, which can be acquired from a normal diet.
Despite the study’s findings, the NHS adds that taking doses of 10-200mg a day for short periods may not cause any harm but could lead to a loss of feeling in the arms and legs, known as peripheral neuropathy, overtime.
As such, people should not take the supplement over 10mg unless advised by a doctor
Psychopaths drink their coffee black, study finds - Independent
April 30, 2018
Psychopaths drink their coffee black, study finds
Posted 10 months ago by indy100 staff in discover
UPVOTE
If you like your coffee black, you may be someone who prefers strong flavours, takes good care of their health, or just wants to drink their coffee the way it’s supposed to be drunk.
Or, you may be a psychopath.
At least, that’s according to a new study published in the journal Appetite, which found a correlation between a love of black coffee and sadist or psychopathic tendencies.
The research surveyed more than 1,000 adults, asking them to give their food and flavour preferences. The participants then took a series of personality tests assessing antisocial personality traits, such as sadism, narcissism and psychopathy.
The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Innsbruck, found that a preference for bitter flavours was linked to psychopathic behaviour.
The closest association was between bitter foods and “everyday sadism” – that is to say, enjoyment of inflicting moderate levels of pain on others.
And it isn’t just black coffee that should ring alarm bells – the study also found participants who reported a fondness for radishes, celery and tonic water were also more likely to exhibit antisocial traits.
This is not the first time research has found a link between taste and personality.
Previous studies have shown sweet taste experiences increase “agreeableness” and eagerness to help, while bitter taste experiences increase hostility and elicit harsher moral judgments.
The researchers Christina Sagioglou and Tobias Greitemeyer believe this association may “become chronic” in people who have a strong liking for bitter flavours, and lead them to have more hostile personalities.
So if your next Tinder date orders strong, black coffee at the end of a meal, or reaches over for a stick of celery, you have been warned.
Psychopaths drink their coffee black, study finds
Posted 10 months ago by indy100 staff in discover
UPVOTE
If you like your coffee black, you may be someone who prefers strong flavours, takes good care of their health, or just wants to drink their coffee the way it’s supposed to be drunk.
Or, you may be a psychopath.
At least, that’s according to a new study published in the journal Appetite, which found a correlation between a love of black coffee and sadist or psychopathic tendencies.
The research surveyed more than 1,000 adults, asking them to give their food and flavour preferences. The participants then took a series of personality tests assessing antisocial personality traits, such as sadism, narcissism and psychopathy.
The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Innsbruck, found that a preference for bitter flavours was linked to psychopathic behaviour.
The closest association was between bitter foods and “everyday sadism” – that is to say, enjoyment of inflicting moderate levels of pain on others.
And it isn’t just black coffee that should ring alarm bells – the study also found participants who reported a fondness for radishes, celery and tonic water were also more likely to exhibit antisocial traits.
This is not the first time research has found a link between taste and personality.
Previous studies have shown sweet taste experiences increase “agreeableness” and eagerness to help, while bitter taste experiences increase hostility and elicit harsher moral judgments.
The researchers Christina Sagioglou and Tobias Greitemeyer believe this association may “become chronic” in people who have a strong liking for bitter flavours, and lead them to have more hostile personalities.
So if your next Tinder date orders strong, black coffee at the end of a meal, or reaches over for a stick of celery, you have been warned.
Saturday, April 28, 2018
Five things you might be surprised affect weight - BBC News
April 28, 2018
Five things you might be surprised affect weight
By Kirstie Brewer
BBC News
People might think battling obesity is down to sheer willpower, but medical research says otherwise. Here are five potentially surprising factors that can affect your weight, as unearthed by The Truth About Obesity .
1. Gut microbes
Gillian and Jackie are twins - but one weighs over six stone (41kg) more than the other.
Prof Tim Spector has been tracking their progress over 25 years, as part of the Twins Research UK study.
He believes a lot of their weight differences are down to the tiny organisms - microbes - that live deep in the gut.
"Every time you eat anything, you're feeding a hundred trillion microbes. You're never dining alone," he says.
A stool sample from each twin revealed Gillian, the thinner of the two, had a very diverse range of microbes, whereas Jackie had very few species living in her gut.
"The greater the diversity, the skinnier the person. If you're carrying too much weight, your microbes aren't as diverse as they should be," says Prof Spector, who found the same pattern in a study of 5,000 people.
Having a healthy and varied diet, rich in different sources of fibre, has been shown to create a more diverse range of gut microbes.
Prof Spector warns most Britons eat only half the fibre they should.
Good sources of dietary fibre include:
wholegrain breakfast cereals
fruits, including berries and pears
vegetables, such as broccoli and carrots
beans
pulses
nuts
2. The gene lottery
Why do some people diligently follow diets and exercise regularly but still struggle to see results, while others do very little and don't pile on the pounds?
Scientists at Cambridge University believe 40-70% of the effect on our weight is down to variation in the genes we inherit.
"It is a lottery," says Prof Sadaf Farooqi.
"It is now very clear that genes are involved in regulating our weight, and if you have a particular fault in some genes that can be enough to drive obesity."
Particular genes can affect a person's appetite, how much food they want to eat and what type of food they might prefer. Genes can also affect how we burn calories and whether our bodies can efficiently handle fat.
There are at least 100 that can affect weight, including one called MC4R.
It is thought about one in every 1,000 people carries a defective version of the MC4R gene, which works in the brain to control hunger and appetite. People with a fault in this gene tend to be more hungry and crave higher fat foods.
Prof Farooqi says: "There's not really anything you can do about your genes, but for some people, knowing that genes may increase their chances of gaining weight can help them to deal with changes in diet and exercise."
If you can't see the calculator tap or click here.
Can we trust BMI to measure obesity?
3. What time it is
There's some truth to the old saying: "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord and dinner like a pauper," but not for the reasons you might think.
Obesity expert Dr James Brown says the later we eat, the more likely we are to gain weight. Not because we're less active at night, as is commonly believed, but because of our internal body clocks.
"The body is set-up to handle calories much more efficiently during the daytime period when it's light than it is at night when it's dark" he says.
For that reason, people who do shift-work and erratic hours might face a particular battle to stave off weight gain.
During the night our bodies struggle to digest fats and sugars so eating the bulk of calories before about 19:00 can help you lose weight or prevent you from gaining it in the first place.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption
"Go to work on an egg" isn't a bad idea
Over the past decade, the average dinnertime in Britain has moved from 17:00 to around 20:00, and this has contributed to rising obesity levels, according to Dr Brown.
But today's working patterns and hectic lifestyles aside, there are things we can do that will make a difference to our waistlines.
Skipping breakfast or just having a piece of toast is a no-no in Dr Brown's book.
Instead, eating something with lots of protein and some fat, as well as carbohydrates - such as eggs on wholegrain toast - will make you feel fuller for longer.
Follow that up with a substantial nutritious lunch, and have something lighter at dinnertime.
4. Tricking your brain
The Behavioural Insights Team suggests Britons are bad at keeping track of how much they eat, and that calorie consumption is being underestimated by 30-50% as a result.
Behavioural scientist Hugo Harper suggests a number of ways to subconsciously change your eating behaviour, rather than rely on calorie counting.
For example, removing visual temptations might be more effective than relying on conscious willpower.
So don't have unhealthy snacks out on the kitchen counter - put a fruit bowl or healthy snacks in reach instead.
Don't sit down with a whole packet of biscuits in front of the television, put the number you plan to eat on a plate and take that through instead.
Dr Harper also encourages substitution behaviours - swapping to lower calorie alternatives of favourite foods rather than trying to banish them all together.
Opt for diet versions of soft drinks, for example. And reducing portion sizes can also be more effective than trying to cut out that ritual afternoon tea with a chocolate biscuit (or is that just us?).
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Not now Fido!
"People don't tend to notice a difference when their portion sizes are reduced by 5-10%," Dr Harper says.
There is a tendency to eat without thinking about it, so following the serving suggestions on food packets and using a smaller plate when dishing up dinner can prevent someone absent-mindedly chomping through excess calories.
5. Hormones
The success of bariatric surgery isn't just down to creating a smaller stomach, but the change in hormones it creates.
Our appetites are controlled by our hormones and it has been discovered that bariatric surgery - the most effective treatment of obesity - makes the hormones that make us feel full increase and the ones that make us feel hungry drop in number.
But its a major operation that involves reducing the size of the stomach by up to 90% and is only carried out on people with a BMI of at least 35.
Researchers at Imperial College London have recreated the gut hormones that cause appetite changes after bariatric surgery and are using this for a new clinical trial.
A mixture of three hormones are given to patients as an injection every day for four weeks.
"Patients are feeling less hungry, they're eating less and they're losing between 2-8kg (4-17lb) in just 28 days," says Dr Tricia Tan.
If the drug is proven safe, the plan is to use it until the patients reach a healthy weight.
Five things you might be surprised affect weight
By Kirstie Brewer
BBC News
People might think battling obesity is down to sheer willpower, but medical research says otherwise. Here are five potentially surprising factors that can affect your weight, as unearthed by The Truth About Obesity .
1. Gut microbes
Gillian and Jackie are twins - but one weighs over six stone (41kg) more than the other.
Prof Tim Spector has been tracking their progress over 25 years, as part of the Twins Research UK study.
He believes a lot of their weight differences are down to the tiny organisms - microbes - that live deep in the gut.
"Every time you eat anything, you're feeding a hundred trillion microbes. You're never dining alone," he says.
A stool sample from each twin revealed Gillian, the thinner of the two, had a very diverse range of microbes, whereas Jackie had very few species living in her gut.
"The greater the diversity, the skinnier the person. If you're carrying too much weight, your microbes aren't as diverse as they should be," says Prof Spector, who found the same pattern in a study of 5,000 people.
Having a healthy and varied diet, rich in different sources of fibre, has been shown to create a more diverse range of gut microbes.
Prof Spector warns most Britons eat only half the fibre they should.
Good sources of dietary fibre include:
wholegrain breakfast cereals
fruits, including berries and pears
vegetables, such as broccoli and carrots
beans
pulses
nuts
2. The gene lottery
Why do some people diligently follow diets and exercise regularly but still struggle to see results, while others do very little and don't pile on the pounds?
Scientists at Cambridge University believe 40-70% of the effect on our weight is down to variation in the genes we inherit.
"It is a lottery," says Prof Sadaf Farooqi.
"It is now very clear that genes are involved in regulating our weight, and if you have a particular fault in some genes that can be enough to drive obesity."
Particular genes can affect a person's appetite, how much food they want to eat and what type of food they might prefer. Genes can also affect how we burn calories and whether our bodies can efficiently handle fat.
There are at least 100 that can affect weight, including one called MC4R.
It is thought about one in every 1,000 people carries a defective version of the MC4R gene, which works in the brain to control hunger and appetite. People with a fault in this gene tend to be more hungry and crave higher fat foods.
Prof Farooqi says: "There's not really anything you can do about your genes, but for some people, knowing that genes may increase their chances of gaining weight can help them to deal with changes in diet and exercise."
If you can't see the calculator tap or click here.
Can we trust BMI to measure obesity?
3. What time it is
There's some truth to the old saying: "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord and dinner like a pauper," but not for the reasons you might think.
Obesity expert Dr James Brown says the later we eat, the more likely we are to gain weight. Not because we're less active at night, as is commonly believed, but because of our internal body clocks.
"The body is set-up to handle calories much more efficiently during the daytime period when it's light than it is at night when it's dark" he says.
For that reason, people who do shift-work and erratic hours might face a particular battle to stave off weight gain.
During the night our bodies struggle to digest fats and sugars so eating the bulk of calories before about 19:00 can help you lose weight or prevent you from gaining it in the first place.
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Image caption
"Go to work on an egg" isn't a bad idea
Over the past decade, the average dinnertime in Britain has moved from 17:00 to around 20:00, and this has contributed to rising obesity levels, according to Dr Brown.
But today's working patterns and hectic lifestyles aside, there are things we can do that will make a difference to our waistlines.
Skipping breakfast or just having a piece of toast is a no-no in Dr Brown's book.
Instead, eating something with lots of protein and some fat, as well as carbohydrates - such as eggs on wholegrain toast - will make you feel fuller for longer.
Follow that up with a substantial nutritious lunch, and have something lighter at dinnertime.
4. Tricking your brain
The Behavioural Insights Team suggests Britons are bad at keeping track of how much they eat, and that calorie consumption is being underestimated by 30-50% as a result.
Behavioural scientist Hugo Harper suggests a number of ways to subconsciously change your eating behaviour, rather than rely on calorie counting.
For example, removing visual temptations might be more effective than relying on conscious willpower.
So don't have unhealthy snacks out on the kitchen counter - put a fruit bowl or healthy snacks in reach instead.
Don't sit down with a whole packet of biscuits in front of the television, put the number you plan to eat on a plate and take that through instead.
Dr Harper also encourages substitution behaviours - swapping to lower calorie alternatives of favourite foods rather than trying to banish them all together.
Opt for diet versions of soft drinks, for example. And reducing portion sizes can also be more effective than trying to cut out that ritual afternoon tea with a chocolate biscuit (or is that just us?).
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Image caption
Not now Fido!
"People don't tend to notice a difference when their portion sizes are reduced by 5-10%," Dr Harper says.
There is a tendency to eat without thinking about it, so following the serving suggestions on food packets and using a smaller plate when dishing up dinner can prevent someone absent-mindedly chomping through excess calories.
5. Hormones
The success of bariatric surgery isn't just down to creating a smaller stomach, but the change in hormones it creates.
Our appetites are controlled by our hormones and it has been discovered that bariatric surgery - the most effective treatment of obesity - makes the hormones that make us feel full increase and the ones that make us feel hungry drop in number.
But its a major operation that involves reducing the size of the stomach by up to 90% and is only carried out on people with a BMI of at least 35.
Researchers at Imperial College London have recreated the gut hormones that cause appetite changes after bariatric surgery and are using this for a new clinical trial.
A mixture of three hormones are given to patients as an injection every day for four weeks.
"Patients are feeling less hungry, they're eating less and they're losing between 2-8kg (4-17lb) in just 28 days," says Dr Tricia Tan.
If the drug is proven safe, the plan is to use it until the patients reach a healthy weight.
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Nasa to make announcement about nuclear power in space - Independent
April 19, 2018
Nasa to make announcement about nuclear power in space
The 'Kilopower' project could be used to generate clean energy on the moon, Mars and further into the universe
Andrew Griffin @_andrew_griffin
NNSS
Nasa is to make a major announcement about its project to put nuclear power in space.
The agency has been working on "Kilopower" – a project to use a nuclear reactor to generate clean energy on the Moon, Mars and beyond – for some time. And now it will hold a press conference to reveal the latest results from its plans to unveil a new space exploration power system, it has said.
The conference will see the agency discuss the results of its latest experiments, it said in a release. It has been conducted from November 2017 through until March 2018, at the Nevada National Security Site or NNSS.
That site, deep in the Nevada desert, has long served as a testing ground for nuclear experiments. In the 1950s, for instance, it was used to detonate nuclear bombs that could be felt across the state and into Las Vegas.
Nasa hopes that Kilopower can use some of that same nuclear technology to provide energy for space explorers as they make their way through the solar system. They will need energy for a wide variety of tasks, from generating the light, water and oxygen they need to conducting experiments and sending information back to Earth.
How Nasa's newest satellite could help us find proof of aliens
"That’s why NASA is conducting experiments on Kilopower, a new power source that could provide safe, efficient and plentiful energy for future robotic and human space exploration missions," Nasa wrote in a statement in January.
"This pioneering space fission power system could provide up to 10 kilowatts of electrical power -- enough to run two average households -- continuously for at least ten years. Four Kilopower units would provide enough power to establish an outpost."
Using nuclear fission will allow astronauts to be able to generate energy wherever they are. If people on Mars, for instance, the amount of energy coming from the sun varies wildly; on Moon, the night lasts for 14 days.
“We want a power source that can handle extreme environments,” says Lee Mason, NASA’s principal technologist for power and energy storage. “Kilopower opens up the full surface of Mars, including the northern latitudes where water may reside. On the Moon, Kilopower could be deployed to help search for resources in permanently shadowed craters.
Nasa to make announcement about nuclear power in space
The 'Kilopower' project could be used to generate clean energy on the moon, Mars and further into the universe
Andrew Griffin @_andrew_griffin
NNSS
Nasa is to make a major announcement about its project to put nuclear power in space.
The agency has been working on "Kilopower" – a project to use a nuclear reactor to generate clean energy on the Moon, Mars and beyond – for some time. And now it will hold a press conference to reveal the latest results from its plans to unveil a new space exploration power system, it has said.
The conference will see the agency discuss the results of its latest experiments, it said in a release. It has been conducted from November 2017 through until March 2018, at the Nevada National Security Site or NNSS.
That site, deep in the Nevada desert, has long served as a testing ground for nuclear experiments. In the 1950s, for instance, it was used to detonate nuclear bombs that could be felt across the state and into Las Vegas.
Nasa hopes that Kilopower can use some of that same nuclear technology to provide energy for space explorers as they make their way through the solar system. They will need energy for a wide variety of tasks, from generating the light, water and oxygen they need to conducting experiments and sending information back to Earth.
How Nasa's newest satellite could help us find proof of aliens
"That’s why NASA is conducting experiments on Kilopower, a new power source that could provide safe, efficient and plentiful energy for future robotic and human space exploration missions," Nasa wrote in a statement in January.
"This pioneering space fission power system could provide up to 10 kilowatts of electrical power -- enough to run two average households -- continuously for at least ten years. Four Kilopower units would provide enough power to establish an outpost."
Using nuclear fission will allow astronauts to be able to generate energy wherever they are. If people on Mars, for instance, the amount of energy coming from the sun varies wildly; on Moon, the night lasts for 14 days.
“We want a power source that can handle extreme environments,” says Lee Mason, NASA’s principal technologist for power and energy storage. “Kilopower opens up the full surface of Mars, including the northern latitudes where water may reside. On the Moon, Kilopower could be deployed to help search for resources in permanently shadowed craters.
Monday, April 16, 2018
Scientists Want to Replace Pesticides With Bacteria - Bloomberg
Scientists Want to Replace Pesticides With Bacteria
Indigo’s microbes could change Big Agriculture forever.
By
April 16, 2018, 7:00 PM GMT+10
Healthy microbiomes are increasingly recognized as critical to our overall health. SOURCE: INDIGO AG
Fresh snow coats the sidewalks outside Indigo Ag Inc.’s Boston offices, but inside the temperature is calibrated to mimic spring in the Midwest. Hundreds of almost identical soy seedlings sit beneath high-intensity arc lamps, basking in the artificially sunny 60F weather.
The plants aren’t destined to stay identical for long. “We haven’t imposed the stress yet,” says Geoffrey von Maltzahn, the company’s lanky 37-year-old co-founder. The MIT-trained microbiologist gestures toward photos showing what happens when you apply Indigo’s signature product—a coating of carefully chosen microbes—to some seeds but not others before planting, then dial back the water supply: One shows a tall, flourishing stalk; the other, what looks like a tangle of shriveled leaves.
In humans, a healthy microbiome—the universe of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that lives inside all of us—is increasingly recognized as critical to overall health. The same is true of the plant world, and Indigo is among the dozen or so agricultural technology startups trying to take advantage of the growing scientific consensus. Their work is enabled by advances in machine learning and a steep reduction in the cost of genetic sequencing, used by companies to determine which microbes are present. Approaches vary: AgBiome LLC, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is studying how microbes can help control sweet potato weevils in Africa, while Ginkgo Bioworks Inc. announced a $100 million joint venture with Bayer AG to explore how microbes can encourage plants to produce their own nitrogen.
The grow room at Indigo Ag.SOURCE: INDIGO AG
Indigo is the best-funded of the bunch, having raised more than $400 million. To develop its microbial cocktails, Indigo agronomists comb through normal fields in dry conditions to see which plants seem healthier than average. They take samples of the thriving plants and “fingerprint” their microbiomes using genetic sequencing; once they’ve done this with thousands of samples, they use statistical methods to pick out which microbes occur most often in the healthiest plants. These proceed to testing, then large-scale field trials.
The company’s first commercial products are focused on improving drought tolerance, one of the most difficult traits to address through genetic modification. “It’s like a symphony,” founder von Maltzahn says of a plant’s reaction to water stress, “and GMOs are like slamming down on one note on one instrument.” Drought conditions are likely to become a greater threat to agriculture because of global warming. Indigo is also investing heavily in research and development efforts to see how microbes influence factors such as nitrogen use and pest resistance, aiming to reduce or even eliminate the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers as well as genetically modified seeds. With the general public rejecting chemical treatments and GMOs in favor of “natural” foods, Indigo is counting on a potentially multibillion-dollar market. So far, its microbe coatings have boosted cotton yields by an average of 14 percent in full-scale commercial trials in Texas and wheat yields by as much as 15 percent in Kansas.
Indigo’s microbe coatings have boosted cotton yields by an average of 14 percent in commercial trials in Texas.SOURCE: INDIGO AG
Indigo Chief Executive Officer David Perry doesn’t want to just market a suite of seed treatments, however. He wants to reshape the structure of the agriculture industry completely, competing not only with chemical companies such as Monsanto and Dow Chemical, but also with agricultural distributors like Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland. Perry, a biochemist who grew up on a small farm in rural Arkansas, founded two pharma-related companies, a drugmaker he eventually sold for multiple billions of dollars and an online marketplace for research supplies that went public in 1999. After joining Indigo in 2015, Perry quickly zeroed in on a fundamental business challenge: Most farmers have no choice but to sell their harvest at commodity prices. Without the opportunity to earn more for using environmentally sustainable methods, they have little incentive to alter their ways.
For farmers to adopt Indigo technology, they’d need a buyer willing to pay a premium for non-GMO, pesticide-free products. So, Perry reasoned, Indigo would facilitate the sale. Today the company contracts upfront with hundreds of farmers to buy their entire harvest of, say, Indigo Wheat, at a hefty premium. “Now you’re growing a value-added product, and that starts to go directly to farm profitability,” he says. Indigo then sells the wheat to end users such as breweries, flour mills, and food companies, which have become more interested in transparency and control when it comes to the origin of their grains. Perry says he’s betting on a long-term shift away from commodity agriculture and toward specialty markets, as the coffee and cocoa industries are seeing.
While the science behind microbiome treatments is promising, Indigo has a long road ahead. Its success depends on proving that microbes can meaningfully influence more than just drought tolerance while at the same time scaling up to the kind of sprawling, complex operation that can buy and sell millions of bushels of grain from tens of thousands of farms.
Michael Dean, chief investment officer for the venture capital investment platform AgFunder Inc., sees Indigo’s technologies as potentially disruptive but suggests that one of the biggest challenges the company will face is persuading farmers to turn their back on comfortable relationships with Big Ag. “Farmers have tended to buy seed from the guy their dad bought from, and sold it to the same grain elevator,” Dean says. “This is going to make waves, and not everyone will be happy about it.”
BOTTOM LINE - Leveraging the plant microbiome to improve crop yields is more and more promising, but any upstarts will have a hard time getting between farmers and Monsanto.
Indigo’s microbes could change Big Agriculture forever.
By
April 16, 2018, 7:00 PM GMT+10
Healthy microbiomes are increasingly recognized as critical to our overall health. SOURCE: INDIGO AG
Fresh snow coats the sidewalks outside Indigo Ag Inc.’s Boston offices, but inside the temperature is calibrated to mimic spring in the Midwest. Hundreds of almost identical soy seedlings sit beneath high-intensity arc lamps, basking in the artificially sunny 60F weather.
The plants aren’t destined to stay identical for long. “We haven’t imposed the stress yet,” says Geoffrey von Maltzahn, the company’s lanky 37-year-old co-founder. The MIT-trained microbiologist gestures toward photos showing what happens when you apply Indigo’s signature product—a coating of carefully chosen microbes—to some seeds but not others before planting, then dial back the water supply: One shows a tall, flourishing stalk; the other, what looks like a tangle of shriveled leaves.
In humans, a healthy microbiome—the universe of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that lives inside all of us—is increasingly recognized as critical to overall health. The same is true of the plant world, and Indigo is among the dozen or so agricultural technology startups trying to take advantage of the growing scientific consensus. Their work is enabled by advances in machine learning and a steep reduction in the cost of genetic sequencing, used by companies to determine which microbes are present. Approaches vary: AgBiome LLC, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is studying how microbes can help control sweet potato weevils in Africa, while Ginkgo Bioworks Inc. announced a $100 million joint venture with Bayer AG to explore how microbes can encourage plants to produce their own nitrogen.
The grow room at Indigo Ag.SOURCE: INDIGO AG
Indigo is the best-funded of the bunch, having raised more than $400 million. To develop its microbial cocktails, Indigo agronomists comb through normal fields in dry conditions to see which plants seem healthier than average. They take samples of the thriving plants and “fingerprint” their microbiomes using genetic sequencing; once they’ve done this with thousands of samples, they use statistical methods to pick out which microbes occur most often in the healthiest plants. These proceed to testing, then large-scale field trials.
The company’s first commercial products are focused on improving drought tolerance, one of the most difficult traits to address through genetic modification. “It’s like a symphony,” founder von Maltzahn says of a plant’s reaction to water stress, “and GMOs are like slamming down on one note on one instrument.” Drought conditions are likely to become a greater threat to agriculture because of global warming. Indigo is also investing heavily in research and development efforts to see how microbes influence factors such as nitrogen use and pest resistance, aiming to reduce or even eliminate the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers as well as genetically modified seeds. With the general public rejecting chemical treatments and GMOs in favor of “natural” foods, Indigo is counting on a potentially multibillion-dollar market. So far, its microbe coatings have boosted cotton yields by an average of 14 percent in full-scale commercial trials in Texas and wheat yields by as much as 15 percent in Kansas.
Indigo’s microbe coatings have boosted cotton yields by an average of 14 percent in commercial trials in Texas.SOURCE: INDIGO AG
Indigo Chief Executive Officer David Perry doesn’t want to just market a suite of seed treatments, however. He wants to reshape the structure of the agriculture industry completely, competing not only with chemical companies such as Monsanto and Dow Chemical, but also with agricultural distributors like Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland. Perry, a biochemist who grew up on a small farm in rural Arkansas, founded two pharma-related companies, a drugmaker he eventually sold for multiple billions of dollars and an online marketplace for research supplies that went public in 1999. After joining Indigo in 2015, Perry quickly zeroed in on a fundamental business challenge: Most farmers have no choice but to sell their harvest at commodity prices. Without the opportunity to earn more for using environmentally sustainable methods, they have little incentive to alter their ways.
For farmers to adopt Indigo technology, they’d need a buyer willing to pay a premium for non-GMO, pesticide-free products. So, Perry reasoned, Indigo would facilitate the sale. Today the company contracts upfront with hundreds of farmers to buy their entire harvest of, say, Indigo Wheat, at a hefty premium. “Now you’re growing a value-added product, and that starts to go directly to farm profitability,” he says. Indigo then sells the wheat to end users such as breweries, flour mills, and food companies, which have become more interested in transparency and control when it comes to the origin of their grains. Perry says he’s betting on a long-term shift away from commodity agriculture and toward specialty markets, as the coffee and cocoa industries are seeing.
While the science behind microbiome treatments is promising, Indigo has a long road ahead. Its success depends on proving that microbes can meaningfully influence more than just drought tolerance while at the same time scaling up to the kind of sprawling, complex operation that can buy and sell millions of bushels of grain from tens of thousands of farms.
Michael Dean, chief investment officer for the venture capital investment platform AgFunder Inc., sees Indigo’s technologies as potentially disruptive but suggests that one of the biggest challenges the company will face is persuading farmers to turn their back on comfortable relationships with Big Ag. “Farmers have tended to buy seed from the guy their dad bought from, and sold it to the same grain elevator,” Dean says. “This is going to make waves, and not everyone will be happy about it.”
BOTTOM LINE - Leveraging the plant microbiome to improve crop yields is more and more promising, but any upstarts will have a hard time getting between farmers and Monsanto.
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Two weeks before his death, Stephen Hawking predicted 'the end of the universe' - CNBC News
Two weeks before his death, Stephen Hawking predicted 'the end of the universe'
The world-famous physicist, who died last Wednesday aged 76, was a co-author to a mathematical paper in which he sought to prove the so-called "multiverse" theory, according to a report by U.K. newspaper The Sunday Times.
Hawking's final work — titled "A Smooth Exit From Eternal Inflation" — is being reviewed by a leading scientific journal.
In it, he predicted how our universe would eventually fade to darkness as the stars run out of energy.
Sam Meredith | @smeredith19
Published 9:55 AM ET Mon, 19 March 2018 Updated 12:23 PM ET Mon, 19 March 2018
CNBC.com
Two weeks before his death, Stephen Hawking predicted 'the end of the universe' Two weeks before his death, Stephen Hawking predicted 'the end of the universe'
12:07 PM ET Mon, 19 March 2018 | 00:56
Stephen Hawking completed a theory outlining his prediction for the end of the world just two weeks before his death, it has emerged.
The world-famous physicist, who died last Wednesday aged 76, was a co-author to a mathematical paper in which he sought to prove the so-called "multiverse" theory, according to a report by U.K. newspaper The Sunday Times. This theory imagines the existence of many separate universes other than our own.
Hawking's final work — titled "A Smooth Exit From Eternal Inflation" — is being reviewed by a leading scientific journal. In it, he predicted how our universe would eventually fade to darkness as the stars run out of energy.
Alongside Professor Thomas Hertog of Belgium's KU Leuven University, Hawking also proposed a way in which scientists might be able to find alternate universes by using probes on space ships. This would allow humans to attain a more accurate understanding of our own universe, decipher what else is out there and ultimately realize our place in the cosmos.
"He has often been nominated for the Nobel and should have won it. Now he never can," Hertog told The Sunday Times in an interview published Sunday.
'Intelligent life may be watching'
Hawking, who was perhaps best known for his work on black holes and the theory of relativity, had previously posited the idea that Earth would turn into a giant ball of fire by 2600. Therefore, humans would eventually need to colonize another planet or face extinction, he said.
Stephen Hawking dies at age 76 Stephen Hawking dies at age 76
6:26 AM ET Wed, 14 March 2018 | 01:18
In 2015, Hawking joined Russian billionaire Yuri Milner to launch a project that aimed to use high-powered computers to listen for aliens. The project, known as Breakthrough Initiatives, supports SETI@home, a scientific experiment based at the University of California, Berkeley. It uses computers to scan the skies to look for life.
"Somewhere in the cosmos, perhaps, intelligent life may be watching these lights of ours aware of what they mean," Hawking said. "Or do our lights wander a lifeless cosmos, unseen beacons announcing that here on our rock, the universe discovered its existence?"
— CNBC's Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.
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