Brainless sponges have cells that might be the precursors of neurons
Sponges are arguably the simplest animals and they lack a nervous system, but peculiar cells in their digestive chambers may be evolutionary precursors of neurons https://www.newscientist.com/article/2296329-brainless-sponges-have-cells-that-might-be-the-precursors-of-neurons/
It calculated the cost to build transmission between now and 2035, with a few scenarios of how that might unfold. Most important, PJM did this looking forward rather than the usual approach, which is to build for the first new renewable energy project, then start building for the second project, and not consider the needs of a third or fourth project. By capturing the economies of planning ahead—and using fewer, bigger lines—the study reported real savings for meeting states’ needs.
This looks good
The PJM report estimates the cost of transmission upgrades for wind, solar and storage (just the transmission system costs) would be $2.4 billion to $3.2 billion. That’s actually a small amount. The gas industry has predicted that pipeline construction costs would average $25 billion per year for 20 years. (Take note, planning ahead when building big is less costly than making many incremental steps and missing the efficiency and economies of scale.)
We think that PJM and ISO-NE can help their states by adopting forward-looking regional transmission planning that plans for future generation to help states meet their energy-related goals more efficiently and cost-effectively https://blog.ucsusa.org/mike-jacobs/what-is-the-supply-chain-for-clean-energy-and-climate-change/
A greener path China is making its Belt and Road Initiative more environmentally friendly. The massive infrastructure program could still cause ecological devastation https://www.science.org/content/article/china-s-global-infrastructure-program-goes-green-could-still-devastate-ecosystems
Several countries pledge to phase out heavily polluting coal — but U.S and China aren't among them
Social Sharing
U.S., China, India and Japan still haven't set a date for ending their dependence on coal https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cop26-coal-phase-out-pollution-fossil-fuels-1.6236938
“A key part of the solution was being able to reliably produce nursery stock free of Phytophthora, an especially damaging group of water molds,” explained Swiecki. “Because nurseries are so favorable for Phytophthora, complete exclusion of these soil- and water-borne pathogens is necessary to consistently produce stock free of Phytophthora.”
Swiecki and colleagues developed a set of Nursery Phytophthora Best Management Practices (NPBMPs), designed to eradicate Phytophthora by starting clean and staying clean. These practices include a sensitive protocol that tests groups of plants to detect even low levels of infection. They also started a clean nursery accreditation program to help nurseries comply with the NPNMPs.
“Through extensive testing, we have verified that nurseries that fully comply with the NPBMPs have had no detectable Phytophthora in their stock,” said Swiecki. “Agencies that have helped fund this program and others have been able to use clean nursery stock from accredited nurseries for habitat restoration plantings.” https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/933880
Black carbon aerosols heating Arctic: Large contribution from mid-latitude biomass burning
The year-to-year spring variation in Arctic black carbon (BC) aerosol abundance is strongly correlated with biomass burning in the mid-latitudes. Moreover, current models underestimate the contribution of BC from biomass burning by a factor of three. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/933667
Savoca explains:
“It's not that these whales add more iron —or other nutrients — to the system, they just convert it from within the bodies of their prey, to in the seawater itself, where it could, in theory, fertilize phytoplankton — the base of all open ocean food webs.”
But while whale poop has enormous effects on global ocean ecosystems, recent research suggests the decline in whales has been slowing down that global conveyer belt of nutrient recycling. https://www.inverse.com/science/why-the-world-needs-more-whale-poop
Even in countries where consumers are still relatively likely to report having adapted their behaviour to counteract climate change, the proportion of environmentally conscious consumers seems to have fallen significantly since the last survey https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/science/environmentally-conscious-consumers-down-globally-india-records-12-decline-wef-survey/2362965/
Social isolation impacts brain function in significant, sometimes permanent ways
Using animal models, researchers are beginning to identify the neurological effects of solitude https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/933739
Originally, they were thought to be just specks of dust on a microscope slide.
Now, a new study suggests that microchromosomes – a type of tiny chromosome found in birds and reptiles – have a longer history, and a bigger role to play in mammals than we ever suspected.
By lining up the DNA sequence of microchromosomes across many different species, researchers have been able to show the consistency of these DNA molecules across bird and reptile families, a consistency that stretches back hundreds of millions of years. https://www.sciencealert.com/useless-specks-of-dust-turn-out-to-be-ancient-building-blocks-of-all-vertebrate-genomes
“The potential of neuroscience to improve our lives is almost unlimited,” says David Grant, a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne. “However, the level of intrusion that would be needed to realise those benefits … is profound”.
Grant’s concerns about neurotech are not with the work of companies like Synchron. Regulated medical corrections for people with cognitive and sensory handicaps are uncontroversial, in his eyes.
But what, he asks, would happen if such capabilities move from medicine into an unregulated commercial world? It’s a dystopian scenario that Grant predicts would lead to “a progressive and relentless deterioration of our capacity to control our own brains”.
And while it’s a progression that remains hypothetical, it’s not unthinkable. In some countries, governments are already moving to protect humans from the possibility.
A new type of rights
In 2017 a young European bioethicist, Marcello Ienca, was anticipating these potential dangers. He proposed a new class of legal rights: neuro rights, the freedom to decide who is allowed to monitor, read or alter your brain. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/nov/07/our-notion-of-privacy-will-be-useless-what-happens-if-technology-learns-to-read-our-minds
Stress can have a significant negative effect on health, but our understanding of how stress impacts the development and progression of cancer is just beginning. A team from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has identified an important mechanism by which chronic stress weakens immunity and promotes tumor growth. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20211106/Key-link-between-chronic-stress-and-cancer-discovered.aspx
Step aside, influencers. The coolest unboxing video this week isn’t a toy or gadget. Instead, it’s the mighty James Webb Space Telescope — an orbital observatory so advanced that some experts think it’s likely to discover the first evidence of alien life.
Before any of that, though, the giant telescope still needs to get to space. https://futurism.com/the-byte/video-shows-glorious-unboxing-of-james-webb-space-telescope
Using a force-choice question in Study 1 revealed that men (vs. women) were more upset to be deceived about a potential partner’s attractiveness, and women (vs. men) were more upset to be deceived about occupation. When it came to deception regarding volunteerism, there were no observed sex differences, suggesting both sexes are equally upset by deception relating to altruistic tendencies.
Using a continuous measure, Study 2 revealed that men were most likely to cancel their date when lied to about looks, rather than employment or volunteerism. However, there were no sex differences in the likelihood of cancelling a date due to attractiveness deception. The researchers suggest this could be due to women’s preferences for partner attractiveness being higher in university populations. https://www.psypost.org/2021/11/women-get-more-upset-when-deceived-about-mens-work-while-men-get-more-upset-when-deceived-about-womens-looks-62081
It's normal in life to have peaks and valleys, and I think some of the language we've developed around self-actualization is helpful in many regards. It corrects a lot of previous imbalances, but also can give someone an overly sunny view of what life should be like. Freud famously said that the goal of psychoanalysis is to move someone from like neurotic misery to normal unhappiness. https://www.salon.com/2021/11/05/diagnoses-are-helpful-but-unnecessary-why-we-may-be-thinking-about-mental-health-all/
Blue Origin doesn't disclose any "ticket prices" for space tourism trips aboard their New Shepherd suborbital vehicle. However, it was revealed that an anonymous bidder paid $28 million for a seat onboard the first crewed spaceflight of New Shepherd, https://www.iflscience.com/space/tom-hanks-on-why-he-turned-down-a-trip-to-space-with-bezos-blue-origin/
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have transformed cancer care by unleashing T-cells to fight tumors, but they can cause serious cardiotoxicities including myocarditis. ICI-induced myocarditis represents a new clinical syndrome because of the novelty and considerable usage of ICIs.
While it has been hard to fully define the clinical features of ICI-myocarditis, new research provides a clearer picture of the highly arrhythmogenic nature of myocarditis brought about by these inhibitors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-11-cancer-immunotherapies-myocarditis-potentially-arrhythmias.html
The first of Hydrostor’s two plants is set to open in 2026, and the company says its system will last for about 50 years—making it a lot longer-lived than almost any energy storage of its kind. The near future of energy is likely made of a dozen different solutions that are all suited to different environments and situations, so adding compressed air to the portfolio simply makes sense https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a36300986/compressed-air-grid-energy-storage-system/
Unfortunately, chlorine and bromine produced from human activities erode the ozone as the sun emerges over the Antarctic after the polar winter, as the sun's radiation spurs erosion in that region. The 1987 Montreal Protocol restricts ozone-depleting substances among the nearly 50 abiding nations, but a majority of world nations are not signatories; at least some of that majority do not abide by the protocols.
Still, NASA said the protocol has been helpful. "This is a large ozone hole because of the colder than average 2021 stratospheric conditions, and without a Montreal Protocol, it would have been much larger," Paul Newman, chief scientist for Earth sciences at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, https://www.space.com/antarctica-ozone-hole-2021-video
Coffea arabica L. Resistant to Coffee Berry Borer (Hypothenemus hampei) Mediated by Expression of the Bacillus thuringiensisCry10Aa Protein https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.765292/full
The downside of satellites becoming more like flying computers is that we risk exporting the same cyber vulnerabilities we see on Earth. This is a real problem since the flawed ways we develop and utilize software in space is coming to resemble how we do it on the ground. Hacked satellites could be shut down, disabled indefinitely by ransomware, or possibly even hijacked by attackers.
To prevent this grim reality, we have to get cybersecurity in space right from the beginning. We will be stuck with whatever we create now given the difficulty of updating hardware once it is in orbit. https://spacenews.com/op-ed-dont-let-hackers-follow-us-to-space/
Only when run in glassware did the reaction create a brown broth containing at least 52 organic compounds. In particular, a dipeptide, certain amino acids, dicarboxylic acids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and a group of biological nucleobases formed more efficiently or exclusively in glass vessels – and to a lesser extent when glass shards were added to a plastic flask. While it remains unclear how exactly glass promotes reactivity, it likely has to do with surface silanol groups and traces of metal released from the glass into solution.
In the decades since 1952, evidence has emerged that the gas mixture used in the reaction might not be representative of early Earth’s early atmosphere after all. Nevertheless, the Spanish–Italian team suggests that by running the reaction in borosilicate flasks, Miller and Urey might have been unwittingly simulated the role of rocks and minerals – a factor now known to be important in origin of life processes. https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/glassware-found-to-promote-reactions-in-miller-urey-primordial-soup-experiment/4014710.article
While Graham was glad to see this latest study adding to these discussions, Osiecka noted how hard it was to even raise the issue of unpaid work in the scientific literature.
Before she and her collaborators could get their study published, their analysis was first rejected by another scientific journal after a reviewer dismissed the problem entirely, essentially saying, if you want to work, you work for free because you’re dedicated, Osiecka recalls. “That [response] was really showing you the exact people … the exact mindset that leads to the issue that we’re facing.” https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/early-career-scientists-face-a-wall-of-unpaid-positions/
It’s all about event control
Event managers will often turn the lights up, or play music with a slower tempo, to help tame a rowdy audience. Lighting conditions and music are both important psychosocial considerations.
In fact, there are several ways organisers and performers on stage can attempt to settle a crowd — even among audiences of high-intensity musical acts.
For instance, German heavy-metal band Rammstein can attract intense and sometimes aggressive crowds. When the band played the 2011 Big Day Out festival in Sydney, managers put on a pyrotechnic display and ambient music between sets to helps shift and control the crowd’s mood. https://theconversation.com/astroworld-tragedy-heres-how-music-festival-organisers-can-stop-big-crowds-turning-deadly-171397
Infinite growth on a finite planet is nonsense. Even "green" growth relies on continued extraction of natural resources — and is fundamentally at odds with the idea of environmental sustainability. While some economists believe that we can "decouple" growth from our dependence on extraction, real-world data does not bear this out. In fact, what we see are ever-increasing amounts of materials being extracted from the Earth even as our society has embraced supposedly more environment-friendly policies. https://www.salon.com/2021/11/07/infinite-economic-growth-caused-the-environmental-crisis-degrowth-will-help-us-fix-it/
The massive explosion of Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago has become one of history's best-known natural disasters, killing thousands and burying Pompeii under 20 feet of ash, essentially stopping the entire city and its inhabitants in one tragic freeze frame. The city is now a UNESCO world heritage site, housing precious information about life long ago. https://www.npr.org/2021/11/07/1053356424/how-did-the-enslaved-workers-of-pompeii-live-a-new-discovery-provides-a-rare-gli
Rivelino Verá Gabriel said soy farming was wrecking the lifestyle of the South American nation's Mbya Guarani people.
It comes as the effect on deforestation by goods imported to Wales from high risk areas is exposed in a new report.
It has led the Welsh government to promise action on products such as beef, soy and palm oil.
Mr Gabriel lives in Brazil's Atlantic Forest and is a coordinator of the Guarani Yvyrupa Commission, which brings together members of the Guarani people.
Commenting on the report, he said: "People who buy soya must know where it comes from, that there's strong traceability.
"They need to know whether this soya they're buying to feed a chicken from Wales, for instance, is coming from deforested areas in indigenous territories." https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-59199514
In contrast, the recipe for a good nap is one that takes place early to mid-afternoon and is relatively short. According to the Sleep Foundation, both of these factors "allow you to catch a quick rest without entering slow-wave sleep and feeling excessively groggy after waking."
Research, including one 2015 study which looked at how naps could improve cognitive flexibility, have found that napping in early to mid-afternoon, while the body clock experiences a natural circadian dip, has the optimum restorative and energising benefits.
The best nap length is relatively brief at around 10 to 30 minutes. While measuring post-nap effects such as sleepiness, vigour, and cognitive performance, studies have found 10-minute naps to produce the best results, occurring immediately after waking up and lasting for as long as 155 minutes.
It can therefore be argued that these factors constitute the perfect nap according to science. This is based on the grounds that the purpose of the nap is both to combat tiredness and to re-invigorate the brain. https://patient.info/news-and-features/do-naps-count-as-getting-good-sleep
3D-printed robot ant colonies work together to solve problems https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/3d-printed-ant-robots-work-together-to-solve-problems
Currently, the team is conducting a 100-day check-out that has them testing satellite systems and subsystems and calibrating instruments. Once the calibration checkout is over, the mission will be turned over to USGS in January. USGS will operate Landsat 9 and Landsat 8 together. The two satellites are expected to collect around 1500 images of the surface of the planet daily and cover the entire globe every eight days.
NASA notes that all data collected by Landsat 9 will be available for free to the public from the USGS website once the satellite begins normal operations. https://www.slashgear.com/nasa-shares-the-first-images-from-landsat-9-07698545/
For the first time, researchers have shown that there is a genetic component underlying the amazing spatial memories of Mountain Chickadees. These energetic half-ounce birds hide thousands of food items every fall and rely on these hidden stores to get through harsh winters in the mountains of the West. To find these caches, chickadees use highly specialized spatial memory abilities. Although the genetic basis for spatial memory has been shown for humans and other mammals, direct evidence of that connection has never before been identified in birds. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/934335
A strange barrier is keeping cosmic rays out of the Milky Way’s centre
The very centre of the Milky Way has an unexpectedly low density of cosmic rays compared with the rest of the galaxy, which means that they are somehow being kept out https://www.newscientist.com/article/2296717-a-strange-barrier-is-keeping-cosmic-rays-out-of-the-milky-ways-centre/
Can our brain trigger an actual illness in the body? New research by Technion-Israel Institute of Technology scientists conducted on mice suggests that the answer is likely yes.
Over the years, the intuitive idea that the brain exercises a significant influence on people’s physical wellbeing has been supported by increasing scientific evidence. https://m.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/can-our-brain-make-our-body-sick-likely-yes-israeli-research-shows-684493
The "teapot effect" has been threatening spotless white tablecloths for ages: if a liquid is poured out of a teapot too slowly, then the flow of liquid sometimes does not detach itself from the teapot, finding its way into the cup, but dribbles down at the outside of the teapot.
This phenomenon has been studied scientifically for decades - now a research team at TU Wien has succeeded in describing the "teapot effect" completely and in detail with an elaborate theoretical analysis and numerous experiments: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/934301
Despite the outsized role of militaries, we know surprisingly little about their emissions. This is remarkable given their reach and fossil fuel dependency. Some scientists estimate that, together, militaries and their supporting industries might account for up to 5% of global emissions: more than civilian aviation and shipping combined.
One reason we know so little is due to militaries being one of the last highly polluting industries whose emissions do not need to be reported to the United Nations. The US can take the credit for that. https://phys.org/news/2021-11-world-militaries-huge-carbonemissions.html
Four weeks of spice consumption lowers plasma proinflammatory cytokines and alters the function of monocytes in adults at risk for cardiometabolic disease: secondary outcome analysis in a three-period, randomized, crossover, controlled feeding trial https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/ajcn/nqab331/6380477?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Musk’s straw poll follows a proposal by U.S. Senate Democrats to tax billionaires’ stocks and other tradeable assets to help finance President Joe Biden’s social spending agenda and fill a loophole that has allowed them to defer capital gains taxes indefinitely.
“The last thing you do when offloading a massive exposure is to reveal your hand,” said Chris Weston, head of research at broker Pepperstone in Melbourne.
“The buyers tend to step away when you have an overhang like this, but this is no ordinary story and is Musk’s way of getting back at the proposal to tax the elite with gains on unrealized profits.”
Tesla breached a trillion dollars in market capitalization last month, becoming the fifth U.S. company to join a club which includes Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet.
“The dip isn’t going to last too long, because Tesla has had such a phenomenal record of bouncing back from these sort of sell-offs,” said David Madden, markets analyst at Equiti Capital in London.
Investors will also be watching for any response from regulators to Musk’s Twitter poll. https://mb.ntd.com/tesla-shares-fall-after-twitter-users-vote-for-musk-to-sell-stock_698871.html
Happy stories synch brain activity more than sad stories
Sharing a happy story increases feelings of closeness, synchronizes brain activity between speaker and listener https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/933765
There are two main types of melanin in our hair: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Eumelanin is also known as the brown-black pigment, whereas pheomelanin is known as the red-orange pigment. People with red hair have much more pheomelanin, people with dark hair have higher levels of eumelanin than pheomelanin, and blonde hair is due to low amounts of both pigments. https://theconversation.com/studying-the-complex-genetics-behind-hair-colour-reveals-how-melanin-affects-us-171088
Fact: Solar and wind energy are now cheaper to produce than fossil fuel energy
The burning of fossil fuels for energy is one of the key contributors to climate change. An answer to this issue is renewable energy such as wind and solar. But misinformation claiming that renewable energy is too expensive to implement continues to spread online.
"When it comes down to it, renewable energy is quickly becoming the cheaper option at the point of use," said Mark Falinski, a sustainability scientist at Finch, a sustainability tool. "When you think about the long-term economic and non-fiscal impacts to our planet and our health, renewable energy has likely been the less costly option for a very long time." https://www.cnet.com/news/5-facts-that-debunk-climate-change-misinformation/
Four of the world's biggest carmakers have failed to sign a COP 26 summit pledge to only sell zero emissions cars and vans by 2035.
Volkswagen, Toyota, Renault-Nissan and Hyundai-Kia were not among signatories to the climate summit declaration.
China and US, which are the world's biggest car markets, were also absent from the list of signatories.
Big car manufacturers that did sign up included Ford, General Motors, and Jaguar Land Rover. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59236613
“Overall, findings from the study indicate that parents of preschool-aged children used lower levels of structure and autonomy support during COVID-19,” Loth said. “Additionally, we saw that parent and child mood played an important role in observed differences. Observed differences were expected and are understandable given the immense challenges faced by families during the past 18 months.”
“It is essential that public health advocates, policy makers and primary care providers seek opportunities to support families in re-establishing healthful eating routines for their children as they emerge from this pandemic,” Loth said.
Additional research is needed to better understand the role of the emotional climate of feeding on food parenting as well as to tailor intervention strategies to help parents maintain supportive feeding practices in the face of challenging situations. Loth is working to disseminate these findings to policy makers and providers with the goal of helping parents successfully navigate out of the pandemic and work towards reestablishing healthful eating routines. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/934487
The commonness of VOCs all around us, McGraw said, highlights the importance of lessening our exposure wherever we can. "For example, to not have smokers smoke indoors. You can reduce the types of products you use in your home or improve ventilation by opening a window or turning on your bathroom fan while you're cleaning." https://www.heart.org/en/news/2021/11/10/exposure-to-some-airborne-chemicals-found-indoors-may-increase-blood-pressure
I last spoke with Dr. Merner about the status of US climate lawsuits for an October 2020 column, and since the first of this year, there have been four new lawsuits filed in state courts against fossil fuel companies. I was able to catch up with her for an update after she moderated a workshop at the Glasgow COP. https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/suing-fossil-fuel-companies/
The UN may seem like an organization that should be totally disconnected from corporate influence, and talks to save the world may seem like the last place where brands are needed, let alone wanted. But this conference has become an enormous sponsorship opportunity for big companies, allowing them to get in front of thousands of people debating the future of the planet. It didn’t always used to be like this—and the growing presence and intensity of corporate sponsorships is worrying news, even for conferences where Big Oil is technically not allowed. https://gizmodo.com/the-fight-to-save-the-world-1848014829
The study, published in JAMA Surgery, found that the differences in referral volumes and types could not be explained by patients’ choices or by characteristics of the surgeon, such as age or experience. The findings suggest that male physicians hold biases that disadvantage female surgeons, further widening the gender pay gap in medicine.
Researchers at Unity Health Toronto and ICES compared the proportion of referrals made by male and female physicians to male and female surgeons over a ten year span from 1997 to 2016. Nearly 40 million referrals were made to 5,660 surgeons. Although male surgeons accounted for 77.5 per cent of all surgeons, they received 79 per cent of referrals sent by female physicians, but 87 per cent of referrals sent by male physicians. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/934220
The team created maps of global temperature changes for every 200-year interval going back 24,000 years.
"These maps are really powerful," Osman said. "With them, it's possible for anyone to explore how temperatures have changed across Earth, on a very personal level. For me, being able to visualize the 24,000-year evolution of temperatures at the exact location I'm sitting today, or where I grew up, really helped ingrain a sense of just how severe climate change is today."
There are different methods for reconstructing past temperatures. The team combined two independent datasets—temperature data from marine sediments and computer simulations of climate—to create a more complete picture of the past. https://phys.org/news/2021-11-global-temperatures-years-today-unprecedented.html
There's a Strange Difference Between Human Brains And Those of Other Mammals https://www.sciencealert.com/we-ve-just-found-a-fascinating-difference-between-human-brains-and-those-of-other-mammals
The study shows that two hours of cognitive control training causes learning to learn in mice and that learning to learn is accompanied by improved tuning of a key brain circuit for memory," observes Fenton. "Consequently, the brain becomes persistently more effective at suppressing noisy inputs and more consistently effective at enhancing the inputs that matter." https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-11-how-do-we-learn-to.html
In this new study involving nearly 300 Korean women aged 40 to 65 years, researchers specifically investigated the association between menopause symptoms, including hot flashes, and body composition indices measured by abdominal computed tomography and the prevalence of sarcopenia.
On the basis of the results of this first-of-its-kind study, researchers concluded that hot flashes are less common in women with sarcopenia than in those without and are positively associated with paraspinal muscle mass. Further longitudinal studies should be considered to further define the relationships between hot flashes, skeletal muscle indices, fat and muscle distribution, and sarcopenia, as well as the potential underlying mechanisms. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/934268
Researchers have found a way to grow better blackcurrants using probiotics And still rich in health-promoting compounds https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2021/11/13/researchers-have-found-a-way-to-grow-better-blackcurrants-using-probiotics
Eating lots of fruits, veggies, beans and other foods with inflammation-cooling properties may lower your odds of developing dementia as you age.
But, if your diet is loaded with pro-inflammatory foods, you may be up to three times more likely to experience memory loss and issues with language, problem-solving and other thinking skills as you age, new research suggests.
"A less inflammatory diet relates to less risk for developing dementia," said study author Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, an associate professor of neurology at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece. https://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20211111/many-people-may-be-eating-their-way-to-dementia?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Banuri says the COP negotiation process that he, Huq, Zakri, Narain and others helped to create is now not much more than “institutional therapy” for the richer countries. “They are engaging in a failed process to reassure themselves that they are doing something. I am very pessimistic about the COP,” he says.
At the same time, there’s a consensus that hope must not die.Large numbers of scientists and young people from science, activism and policy are present for the COP in Glasgow. “They must continue to speak truth to power,” Narain says.
Huq, who founded the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Dhaka, says countries must continue to work through the UN, collaboratively, to get justice. “The United Nations is the closest thing the world has to a global governance body,” he says. “We have to persevere with it, even though it isn’t really delivering.” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cop-architects-furious-at-lack-of-climate-justice-at-pivotal-summit/
The gases in the fridges are part of a class of super pollutants known as hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs that are also commonly found in air conditioners. They were originally used as replacements for ozone-damaging chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs—but it turns out they come with their own huge set of problems. Now, the world is attempting to phase them out. Recent rules finalized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will ratchet down their use and replace them with more climate-friendly alternatives. https://gizmodo.com/the-climate-talks-fridges-have-a-dirty-secret-1848037832
European Cities with the Highest Mortality Due to Air Pollution. Credit: Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) https://phys.org/news/2021-11-air-quality-guidelines-european-cities.html
Volcanic eruptions contributed to collapse of China dynasties https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/934205
Stem cell clinics continue to thrive in the US and worldwide, building their business on misleading advertising and offering unapproved and unproven stem-cell-based interventions (SCBI). Research recently published in Stem Cell Reports https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/933946
Hence the flurry of climate pledges that were made over the past year. They focus on what will be done by the end of the decade, by which time global greenhouse gas emissions must be roughly half what they were in 2010 in order to have a good chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C. So far, no country is on track to do this, says Niklas Höhne of NewClimate Institute, a think-tank. Dr Höhne is part of a consortium of researchers called Climate Action Tracker, which plugs national climate policies and pledges into models in order to give an idea of how they translate into temperatures. The group’s latest results (see chart), published on November 9th, say that if all 2030 decarbonisation plans were to be carried out as advertised but no further efforts were made, there would be a 68% chance that global average temperatures in 2100 would be between 1.9°C and 3.0°C warmer than pre-industrial times, with a median estimate of 2.4°C. https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2021/11/13/are-climate-goals-set-in-2015-dead-or-alive
Up until exposure to 95 decibels of sound, the inner ear fluid level remained normal. However, researchers discovered that after exposure to 100 decibels—which is equivalent to sounds such as a power lawn mower, chain saw or motorcycle—mice developed inner ear fluid buildup within hours. A week after this exposure, the animals were found to have lost auditory nerve cells.
However, when researchers applied hypertonic saline, a salt-based solution used to treat nasal congestions in humans, into affected ears one hour after the noise exposure, both the immediate fluid buildup and the long-term nerve damage lessened, implying that the hearing loss could be at least partially prevented.
These study results have several important implications, according to Oghalai, especially as the loss of nerve cells in the inner ear is known as "hidden hearing loss" because hearing tests are unable to detect the damage. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-11-loud-noises-fluid-buildup-ear.html
Compared with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Moderna’s shot has led to only 10 additional cases of myocarditis per 100,000 inoculations among males age 12 to 29, Burton said. The occurrence of the side effect in males suggests that the hormone testosterone may be important, he said. https://www.livemint.com/science/health/moderna-defends-covid-shot-as-questions-on-heart-risks-mount-11636644443617.html
The sale comes on the heels of COP26, the United Nations climate talks in Scotland, where diplomats are on track to strike a deal that falls far short of what scientists say is necessary to avert catastrophic warming. The Department of the Interior will offer up more than 80 million acres — an area larger than the state of New Mexico — of the Gulf of Mexico for drilling. It is bigger than any lease sale conducted under President Donald Trump’s fossil-fuel-friendly administration, and Interior estimates it will lead to the production of an additional 1.1 billion barrels of oil and 4.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over several decades.
The administration argues its hands are tied, following the June decision by a Trump-appointed federal judge in Louisiana to strike down Biden’s executive order temporarily pausing new oil and gas leases across federal lands and waters.
“The administration has made clear that it disagrees with the ruling and the Department of Justice has appealed it, but the government must comply with it in the meantime,” White House spokesman Vedant Patel said in an email statement, noting that Interior previously canceled the pending lease sale.
The injunction stemmed from a lawsuit brought by 14 Republican attorneys against the administration. The judge’s opinion relied in part on a study of the leasing pause’s potential economic impacts, which an industry trade group helped shape and that multiple independent researchers dismissed. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-climate-gulf-oil-lease-sale_n_618eeb77e4b0b1aee9252872
were prescribed an intermittent fasting schedule: twice a week water-only 24-hour fasting for four weeks, then once a week water-only 24 hour-fasting for 22 weeks. Fasts could not be done on consecutive days. The remaining 31 participants made no changes to their diet or lifestyle.
After 26 weeks, researchers then measured participants’ galectin-3, and found that it was higher in the intermittent fasting group. They also found lower rates of HOMA-IR (insulin resistance) and MSS (metabolic syndrome), which researchers believe may be similar to the reported effects of SGLT-2 inhibitors, a class of drugs used to lower high glucose levels in type 2 diabetes patients.
“In finding higher levels of galectin-3 in patients who fasted, these results provide an interesting mechanism potentially involved in helping reduce the risk of heart failure and diabetes,” said Dr. Horne, who added that a few members of the trial team completed the same regime before the study started to make sure that it was doable and not overly taxing to participants.
“Unlike some IF diet plans that are incredibly restrictive and promise magic weight loss, this isn’t a drastic form of fasting. The best routine is one that patients can stick to over the long term, and this study shows that even occasional fasting can have positive health effects,” he added. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/934705
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