Psychologists investigated whether happy and unhappy people differed because of the types of conversations they engaged in.
Volunteers wore an unobtrusive recording device to monitor conversations with friends and colleagues for four days.
Researchers then listened to the recordings and identified them as trivial small talk or substantive discussions.
In addition, the volunteers completed personality and wellbeing assessments.
Reporting the findings in the journal Psychological Science, the researchers said the recordings revealed some startling findings.
Greater wellbeing was related to spending less time alone and more time talking to others. The happiest participants spent 25 per cent less time alone and 70 per cent more time talking than the unhappiest.
But the researchers were surprised to discover that the type of conversations people took part in also affected their happiness levels.
The happiest participants had twice as many deep and meaningful conversations and one third as much small talk as the unhappiest.
Matthias Mehl, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, said: "These findings suggest that the happy life is social and conversationally deep rather than solitary and superficial."
The researchers conclude that profound conversations may have the potential to make people happier.
They said: "Just as self-disclosure can instill a sense of intimacy in a relationship, deep conversations may instill a sense of meaning in interaction with partners."
Showing posts with label Science Facts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science Facts. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
It’s All about the Calories!
1. Total calorie needs are determined based on a number of factors, including basal metabolic rate, gender, age, muscle mass, exercise, and voluntary movement.
- Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories that you need at rest for those functions that are not under your voluntary control. This includes your heart rate, digestion, respiration, maintenance of blood pressure, and body temperature.
- BMR is responsible in most of us for approximately 60%–75% of the calories we need per day.
- Your muscle mass determines your BMR, so men have a higher BMR than women because men have more lean muscle mass.
- Another source of calorie burning is the thermic effect of food, which means the calories it takes to digest your food. Depending on what foods you eat, this makes up about 10%–30% of your total energy expenditure.
- Exercise can augment or facilitate this dietary-induced thermogenesis.
2. How many calories do we require?
- Total energy intake is the number of calories you take in, composed of protein, fat, and carbohydrate.
- Your total energy expenditure is determined by your BMR, the thermic effect of food, and your physical activity.
- To estimate your basal energy expenditure: Calculate your ideal body weight by using the Hamwi equation; then multiply your ideal body weight by 10 to get the calories you need per day for your BMR.
- You have to add back into this the amount of calories you are burning through purposeful activity and through nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT).
3. Most people outeat their exercise.
- If you walk 3 miles, you burn around 300 calories, but if you eat a 450-calorie cookie, you outeat your exercise.
- In general, you should not account for the amount of calories you are taking in during average physical activity.
4. How do you add exercise into your caloric needs?
- Exercise and movement can be quantified by adding about 30% to your BMR if you are sedentary.
- If you are unbelievably active, you could double your BMR calories.
- If you fall in the middle, you can add about 50% to your basal energy needs.
5. The best calorie-burning activity is whatever you enjoy and will be able to sustain.
- The benefits of regular exercise far exceed controlling weight.
- The biggest benefit can come to people who are currently doing nothing; they get the greatest blood pressure lowering effect just from starting any activity.
- Keep in mind that you need to lift weights to maintain functional lean mass.
- It takes burning 3500 calories to lose 1 pound of body fat.
- To lose 1 pound of body fat, at 100 calories per mile, you have to walk 35 miles.
- The challenge is sustaining an activity, enjoying it, and making it consistent.
6. Frequently asked questions.
- Can I rev up my basal energy needs? Yes: The more functional lean mass you add, the higher your basal metabolic rate.
- The Hamwi equation is for adults, but what are standards for children? Children require more energy than adults per pound of body weight. The best advice will come from your pediatrician.
- What are the best calorie-burning exercises? Whatever you enjoy!
- What are the best activities for someone who is wheelchair bound or on crutches? They can stay fit with physical therapy.
- The challenge for all of us is always going to be staying lean and fit.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Global Priorities
Given $50 billion to spend, which would you solve first, AIDS or global warming? Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg comes up with surprising answers.
Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg heads the Copenhagen Consensus, which has prioritized the world's greatest problems -- global warming, world poverty, disease -- based on how effective our solutions might be. It's a thought-provoking, even provocative list.
About Bjorn Lamborg:
Bjorn Lomborg isn't afraid to voice an unpopular opinion. In 2007, he was named one of the 100 Most Influential People by Time magazine after the publication of his controversial book The Skeptical Environmentalist, which challenged widely held beliefs that the environment is getting worse. This year, he was named on of the "50 people who cold save the planet" by the Guardian newspaper. His newest book, Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming, further analyzes what today's science tells us about global warming and its risks.
In 2004, he convened the Copenhagen Consensus, which tries to prioritize the world's greatest challenges based on the impact we can make, a sort of bang-for-the-buck breakdown for attacking problems such as global warming, world poverty and disease.
It begins from the premise that we can't solve every problem in the world, and asks: Which ones should we fix first? The Copenhagen Consensus 2004 tapped the expertise of world-leading economists, as well as a diverse forum of young participants; collectively, they determined that control of HIV/AIDS was the best investment -- and mitigating global warming was the worst.
Lomborg summarized these findings in How to Spend $50 Billion to Make the World a Better Place. In spring of 2008, Copenhagen Consensus will convene, assembling over 55 international economists, including 4 Nobel laureates, to assess, prioritize and brainstorm solutions for the major global challenges of today.
Girl Grows New Kidneys
A girl has stunned doctors by growing two new kidneys to replace ones that had failed and left her seriously ill.
Five-year-old Angel Burton went for surgery after being beset by kidney problems since birth.
But surgeons at Sheffield Children's Hospital were astonished to find she had a pair of perfectly-formed organs sitting on top of the old ones.
Furthermore, the extra organs had taken over the work of the originals - so instead of suffering kidney failure, she could look forward to a bright, healthy future.
Angel's mum, Claire Burton, told the Daily Mail: "It's a real miracle. We're just so grateful to have Angel back to her happy, healthy self."
She said the surgeon told her he was "stunned" regular scanning over a five-year period had failed to pick up on the extra organs.
It is thought they were not detected as the new kidneys were sitting just above the originals and tests showed them as one.
Surgeons cut open girl, to fix failing kidneys only to find two new ones growing in their place
Angel, from Louth in Lincolnshire, suffers from duplex kidney, a rare condition where the organs are fused together in the middle. They either share or have their own ureters taking urine to the bladder.
In an even rarer occurrence, both of the organs were duplex, giving her four kidneys and four ureters.
Angel's health deteriorated almost as soon as she was born.
After being diagnosed with bilateral reflux - which means urine was leaking into and infecting her kidneys - a scan had revealed the organs had been badly damaged.
It was during an operation to create an artificial valve in October 2007 that doctors found the extra kidneys.
Angel is now eight and on course to make a full recovery.
Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100518/tuk-docs-astonished-as-girl-grows-new-ki-45dbed5.html
Five-year-old Angel Burton went for surgery after being beset by kidney problems since birth.
But surgeons at Sheffield Children's Hospital were astonished to find she had a pair of perfectly-formed organs sitting on top of the old ones.
Furthermore, the extra organs had taken over the work of the originals - so instead of suffering kidney failure, she could look forward to a bright, healthy future.
Angel's mum, Claire Burton, told the Daily Mail: "It's a real miracle. We're just so grateful to have Angel back to her happy, healthy self."
She said the surgeon told her he was "stunned" regular scanning over a five-year period had failed to pick up on the extra organs.
It is thought they were not detected as the new kidneys were sitting just above the originals and tests showed them as one.
Surgeons cut open girl, to fix failing kidneys only to find two new ones growing in their place
Angel, from Louth in Lincolnshire, suffers from duplex kidney, a rare condition where the organs are fused together in the middle. They either share or have their own ureters taking urine to the bladder.
In an even rarer occurrence, both of the organs were duplex, giving her four kidneys and four ureters.
Angel's health deteriorated almost as soon as she was born.
After being diagnosed with bilateral reflux - which means urine was leaking into and infecting her kidneys - a scan had revealed the organs had been badly damaged.
It was during an operation to create an artificial valve in October 2007 that doctors found the extra kidneys.
Angel is now eight and on course to make a full recovery.
Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100518/tuk-docs-astonished-as-girl-grows-new-ki-45dbed5.html
Non-african Humans May Share Dna With Neanderthals
Hey Good Lookin': Early Humans Dug Neanderthals
by JOE PALCA
Be careful whom you call a Neanderthal. You may be one yourself. Or at least you may have Neanderthal ancestors.
That's the conclusion of a study being released Thursday that examined DNA extracted from Neanderthal bones more than 35,000 years old.
More Than A Handshake?
There's little question that modern humans and Neanderthals bumped into each other once upon a time.
"The archaeological record shows they overlapped between about 30,000 and 80,000 years ago," says David Reich, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School.
There was some fossil evidence that they may have done more than shake hands in passing, but the initial genetic evidence suggested otherwise.
"And so the big open question was whether they exchanged genes during that time when they overlapped in the Middle East and in Europe," he says.
To find out whether the two human species interbred, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, launched an audacious effort to sequence all 3 billion letters of Neanderthal DNA. As hard as it may be to believe, fragments of DNA can survive in bones that are more than 30,000 years old. New techniques can sequence those fragments, and new software can line the fragments up.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neanderthals Crib Sheet
Compared with modern humans, Neanderthals were stocky and had heavy brows and protruding jaws. Also, they probably had reddish hair and pale skin.
They died out about 30,000 years ago.
They resided in Europe and Asia.
Neanderthals wore jewelry and makeup.
A caveman Chatty Kathy? Perhaps. Neanderthals may have been able to talk.
The main strategy for finding whether modern humans and Neanderthals exchanged genes was to compare the Neanderthal DNA with DNA from modern humans — some whose ancestors had remained in Africa, and others who had migrated to Europe, Asia and the New World. If the Neanderthal DNA was more similar to the non-African DNA, it would indicate that Neanderthals contributed their genes after the first modern humans migrated out of Africa.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reich says that's what they found.
"The non-African is more closely related to the Neanderthal," Reich says. "Quite definitely. Highly statistically significantly overwhelming evidence that they're more closely related on average to Neanderthals."
In other words, Reich and his Leipzig co-authors are totally sure that Neanderthal genes found their way into modern humans when the two species intersected. They report their findings in the journal Science.
"The simplest possible explanation is that it occurred once," Reich says. "But it very easily could have occurred on multiple occasions. Perhaps it's likely that it occurred on multiple occasions."
Reich says it's hard to pin down exactly how much DNA Neanderthals contributed to modern humans. "We estimate about 1 to 4 percent of the genetic ancestry of non-Africans is from Neanderthals," he says.
'Neanderthal' Is No Insult
And just to be clear: Reich says there's no stigma to have a bit of Neanderthal heritage.
"Absolutely not," he says. "In fact, people who have Neanderthal DNA have done just fine in our society."
Now that scientists have the sequence, they can start looking for regions of DNA that differ between Neanderthals and humans.
"And then, once the regions are identified, [we can] look to see what genes are here, what biological sense can we make of this," geneticist Richard Green say.
Green recently left Leipzig to join the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz. He says they've already begun to identify genes that have changed — for example, genes that control the tails on sperm, genes that are involved in wound healing, genes that affect the shape of our hair.
Learning About Ourselves
Along with the chimpanzee genome completed a few years ago, the Neanderthal genome will help scientists like Green pin down the genetic changes that made modern humans human.
"Which one of these happened very recently, since we split even from Neanderthals? And which ones of these are much older and happened in the 6 million years or so since we diverged from chimpanzees?" Green says.
Green says for the moment, the real value of the Neanderthal genome is what it tells us about how modern human evolved. John Hawks, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin, agrees.
Hawks compares this finding to the first time humans were able to look back at the Earth from beyond Earth's orbit.
"We can say, 'Here's a picture of what we are from the outside — from the distant past,' " says Hawks. "And we can use that to get a new picture of what we are. It's amazing. I can't express how I feel this morning. It's really cool."
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Staring at breasts is a workout
Ten minutes of staring at female breast equals thirthy minutes of doing pushups and lifting weights.
If you hate exercise, but still want to look good, stare at women's breasts for at least ten minutes every day. The study of German scientists shows that ten minutes of staring at female breast does the same thing for men as half an hour of pushups or weight lifting, international media reports.
The study lasted for five years and it was attended by more than 200 men. It was led by Dr. Karen Weatherby, who observed how viewing women's breasts causes faster heart rate in men, leading to increased circulation, improved blood pressure and reduced heart problems. It basically equals a 30-minute workout at the gym.
- Our research indicates that daily ‘staring’ can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes by half. We believe that consistent work can extend the life of men from four to five years - said Weatherby.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
A group of science mathematicians have discovered the largest prime number.
A group of science mathematicians at UCLA have discovered the largest prime number. The recent discovery makes them eligible for a $100,000 grand prize. It will mark the eighth Mersenne prime discovered at UCLA.
A group of science mathematicians at UCLA found the 46th known Mersenne prime last month on a network of 75 computers running Windows XP. The number was verified by a different computer system running a different algorithm.
"We're delighted," said UCLA's Edson Smith, the leader of the effort. "Now we're looking for the next one, despite the odds."
Primes are numbers like three, seven and 11 that are divisible by only two whole positive numbers: themselves and one.
Mersenne primes are expressed as 2P-1, or two to the power of "P" minus one. P is itself a prime number. For the new prime, P is 43,112,609.
Thousands of people around the world have been participating in the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, or GIMPS, a cooperative system in which underused computing power is harnessed to perform the calculations needed to find and verify Mersenne primes.
The $100,000 prize is being offered by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for finding the first Mersenne prime with more than 10 million digits. The foundation supports individual rights on the Internet and set up the prime number prize to promote cooperative computing using the Web.
A group of science mathematicians at UCLA found the 46th known Mersenne prime last month on a network of 75 computers running Windows XP. The number was verified by a different computer system running a different algorithm.
"We're delighted," said UCLA's Edson Smith, the leader of the effort. "Now we're looking for the next one, despite the odds."
Primes are numbers like three, seven and 11 that are divisible by only two whole positive numbers: themselves and one.
Mersenne primes are expressed as 2P-1, or two to the power of "P" minus one. P is itself a prime number. For the new prime, P is 43,112,609.
Thousands of people around the world have been participating in the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, or GIMPS, a cooperative system in which underused computing power is harnessed to perform the calculations needed to find and verify Mersenne primes.
The $100,000 prize is being offered by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for finding the first Mersenne prime with more than 10 million digits. The foundation supports individual rights on the Internet and set up the prime number prize to promote cooperative computing using the Web.
10 Things that were Discovered Accidentally
1. Viagra
Men being treated for erectile dysfunction should salute the working stiffs of Merthyr Tydfil, the Welsh hamlet where, in 1992 trials, the gravity-defying side effects of a new angina drug first popped up. Previously, the blue-collar town was known for producing a different kind of iron.
2. LSD
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann took the world's first acid hit in 1943, when he touched a smidge of lysergic acid diethylamide, a chemical he had researched for inducing childbirth. He later tried a bigger dose and made another discovery: the bad trip.
3. X-rays
Several 19th-century scientists toyed with the penetrating rays emitted when electrons strike a metal target. But the x-ray wasn't discovered until 1895, when German egghead Wilhelm R�ntgen tried sticking various objects in front of the radiation - and saw the bones of his hand projected on a wall.
4. Penicillin
Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming was researching the flu in 1928 when he noticed that a blue-green mold had infected one of his petri dishes - and killed the staphylococcus bacteria growing in it. All hail sloppy lab work!
5. Artificial Sweeteners
Speaking of botched lab jobs, three leading pseudo-sugars reached human lips only because scientists forgot to wash their hands. Cyclamate (1937) and aspartame (1965) are byproducts of medical research, and saccharin (1879) appeared during a project on coal tar derivatives. Yummy.
6. Microwave Ovens
Microwave emitters (or magnetrons) powered Allied radar in WWII. The leap from detecting Nazis to nuking nachos came in 1946, after a magnetron melted a candy bar in Raytheon engineer Percy Spencer's pocket.
7. Brandy
Medieval wine merchants used to boil the H20 out of wine so their delicate cargo would keep better and take up less space at sea. Before long, some intrepid soul - our money's on a sailor - decided to bypass the reconstitution stage, and brandy was born. Pass the Courvoisier!
8. Vulcanized Rubber
Rubber rots badly and smells worse, unless it's vulcanized. Ancient Mesoamericans had their own version of the process, but Charles Goodyear rediscovered it in 1839 when he unintentionally (well, at least according to most accounts) dropped a rubber-sulfur compound onto a hot stove.
9. Silly Putty
In the early 1940s, General Electric scientist James Wright was working on artificial rubber for the war effort when he mixed boric acid and silicon oil. V-J Day didn't come any sooner, but comic strip image-stretching practically became a national pastime.
10. Potato Chips
Chef George Crum concocted the perfect sandwich complement in 1853 when - to spite a customer who complained that his fries were cut too thick - he sliced a potato paper-thin and fried it to a crisp. Needless to say, the diner couldn't eat just one.
Men being treated for erectile dysfunction should salute the working stiffs of Merthyr Tydfil, the Welsh hamlet where, in 1992 trials, the gravity-defying side effects of a new angina drug first popped up. Previously, the blue-collar town was known for producing a different kind of iron.
2. LSD
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann took the world's first acid hit in 1943, when he touched a smidge of lysergic acid diethylamide, a chemical he had researched for inducing childbirth. He later tried a bigger dose and made another discovery: the bad trip.
3. X-rays
Several 19th-century scientists toyed with the penetrating rays emitted when electrons strike a metal target. But the x-ray wasn't discovered until 1895, when German egghead Wilhelm R�ntgen tried sticking various objects in front of the radiation - and saw the bones of his hand projected on a wall.
4. Penicillin
Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming was researching the flu in 1928 when he noticed that a blue-green mold had infected one of his petri dishes - and killed the staphylococcus bacteria growing in it. All hail sloppy lab work!
5. Artificial Sweeteners
Speaking of botched lab jobs, three leading pseudo-sugars reached human lips only because scientists forgot to wash their hands. Cyclamate (1937) and aspartame (1965) are byproducts of medical research, and saccharin (1879) appeared during a project on coal tar derivatives. Yummy.
6. Microwave Ovens
Microwave emitters (or magnetrons) powered Allied radar in WWII. The leap from detecting Nazis to nuking nachos came in 1946, after a magnetron melted a candy bar in Raytheon engineer Percy Spencer's pocket.
7. Brandy
Medieval wine merchants used to boil the H20 out of wine so their delicate cargo would keep better and take up less space at sea. Before long, some intrepid soul - our money's on a sailor - decided to bypass the reconstitution stage, and brandy was born. Pass the Courvoisier!
8. Vulcanized Rubber
Rubber rots badly and smells worse, unless it's vulcanized. Ancient Mesoamericans had their own version of the process, but Charles Goodyear rediscovered it in 1839 when he unintentionally (well, at least according to most accounts) dropped a rubber-sulfur compound onto a hot stove.
9. Silly Putty
In the early 1940s, General Electric scientist James Wright was working on artificial rubber for the war effort when he mixed boric acid and silicon oil. V-J Day didn't come any sooner, but comic strip image-stretching practically became a national pastime.
10. Potato Chips
Chef George Crum concocted the perfect sandwich complement in 1853 when - to spite a customer who complained that his fries were cut too thick - he sliced a potato paper-thin and fried it to a crisp. Needless to say, the diner couldn't eat just one.
Magnets used to clean up bloodstream
Sepsis, a potentially lethal disease caused by a systemic microbial infection that spreads via the bloodstream, is responsible for more than 200,000 deaths per year in the U.S. alone. Existing treatments can be ineffective but researchers in the Vascular Biology Program at Children's Hospital Boston have come up with a novel first line of defense - the use of magnetism to quickly remove pathogens from the blood. The new blood-cleansing device, developed by Chong Wing Yung and Don Ingber is described in the journal Lab on a Chip.
The system works by drawing the patient's blood and adding tiny magnetic beads (coated with antibodies) to it. The blood and bead mix is then run through a microfluidic system in which two liquid flow streams run side by side without mixing - one containing blood, the other a saline-based collection fluid. The beads bind to the pathogens and a magnet then pulls them (along with the pathogens) into the collection fluid, which is ultimately discarded, while the cleansed blood in reintroduced into the patient.
Tested with contaminated human blood, a device with four parallel collection modules achieved an impressive 80 percent clearance of the fungi Candida albicans in a single pass, at a flow rate and separation efficiency that would be viable for clinical applications. The researchers estimate that a scaled-up system with hundreds of channels could cleanse the blood of an infant within several hours.
"This blood-cleansing microdevice offers a potentially new weapon to fight pathogens in septic infants and adults, that works simply by removing the source of the infection and thereby enhancing the patient's response to existing antibiotics," noted Ingber, who says the next phase will be to test the device in animals
The system works by drawing the patient's blood and adding tiny magnetic beads (coated with antibodies) to it. The blood and bead mix is then run through a microfluidic system in which two liquid flow streams run side by side without mixing - one containing blood, the other a saline-based collection fluid. The beads bind to the pathogens and a magnet then pulls them (along with the pathogens) into the collection fluid, which is ultimately discarded, while the cleansed blood in reintroduced into the patient.
Tested with contaminated human blood, a device with four parallel collection modules achieved an impressive 80 percent clearance of the fungi Candida albicans in a single pass, at a flow rate and separation efficiency that would be viable for clinical applications. The researchers estimate that a scaled-up system with hundreds of channels could cleanse the blood of an infant within several hours.
"This blood-cleansing microdevice offers a potentially new weapon to fight pathogens in septic infants and adults, that works simply by removing the source of the infection and thereby enhancing the patient's response to existing antibiotics," noted Ingber, who says the next phase will be to test the device in animals
Climate Change And Atmospheric Circulation Will Make For Uneven Ozone Recovery
ScienceDaily (Apr. 12, 2009) — Earth's ozone layer should eventually recover from the unintended destruction brought on by the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and similar ozone-depleting chemicals in the 20th century. But new research by NASA scientists suggests the ozone layer of the future is unlikely to look much like the past because greenhouse gases are changing the dynamics of the atmosphere
Previous studies have shown that while the buildup of greenhouse gases makes it warmer in troposphere – the level of atmosphere from Earth's surface up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) altitude – it actually cools the upper stratosphere – between 30 to 50 kilometers high (18 to 31 miles). This cooling slows the chemical reactions that deplete ozone in the upper stratosphere and allows natural ozone production in that region to outpace destruction by CFCs.
But the accumulation of greenhouse gases also changes the circulation of stratospheric air masses from the tropics to the poles, NASA scientists note. In Earth's middle latitudes, that means ozone is likely to "over-recover," growing to concentrations higher than they were before the mass production of CFCs. In the tropics, stratospheric circulation changes could prevent the ozone layer from fully recovering.
"Most studies of ozone and global change have focused on cooling in the upper stratosphere," said Feng Li, an atmospheric scientist at the Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Md. and lead author of the study. "But we find circulation is just as important. It's not one process or the other, but both."
The findings are based on a detailed computer model that includes atmospheric chemical effects, wind changes, and solar radiation changes. Li's experiment is part of an ongoing international effort organized by the United Nations Environment Programme's Scientific Assessment Panel to assess the state of the ozone layer. Li and colleagues published their analysis in March in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
Working with Richard Stolarski and Paul Newman of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., Li adapted the Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry-Climate Model (GEOS-CCM) to examine how climate change will affect ozone recovery. The team inserted past measurements and future projections of ozone-depleting substances and greenhouse gases into the model. Then the model projected how ozone, the overall chemistry, and the dynamics of the stratosphere would change through the year 2100.
"In the real world, we have observed statistically significant turnaround in ozone depletion, which can be attributed to the banning of ozone-depleting substances," said Richard Stolarski, an atmospheric chemist at Goddard and a co-author of the study. "But making that connection is complicated by the response of ozone to greenhouse gases."
The researchers found that greenhouse gases alter a natural circulation pattern that influences ozone distribution. Brewer-Dobson circulation is like a pump to the stratosphere, moving ozone from the lower parts of the atmosphere, into the upper stratosphere over the tropics. Air masses then flow north or south through the stratosphere, away from the tropics toward the poles.
In Li's experiment, this circulation pump accelerated to a rate where the ozone flowing upward and outward from the tropics created a surplus at middle latitudes. Though the concentration of chlorine and other ozone-depleting substances in the stratosphere will not return to pre-1980 levels until 2060, the ozone layer over middle latitudes recovered to pre-1980 levels by 2025.
The Arctic – which is better connected to mid-latitude air masses than the Antarctic -- benefited from the surplus in the northern hemisphere and from the overall decline of ozone-depleting substances to recover by 2025. Globally averaged ozone and Antarctic concentrations catch up by 2040, as natural atmospheric production of ozone resumes.
This recovery in the middle and polar latitudes has mixed consequences, Li noted. It might have some benefits, such as lower levels of ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface and correspondingly lower rates of skin cancer. On the other hand, it could have unintended effects, such as increasing ozone levels in the troposphere, the layer of atmosphere at Earth's surface. The model also shows a continuing ozone deficit in the stratosphere over the tropics. In fact, when the model run ended at year 2100, the ozone layer over the tropics still showed no signs of recovery.
In February, researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, teamed with Stolarski and other NASA scientists on a similar paper suggesting that increasing greenhouse gases would delay or even postpone the recovery of ozone levels in the lower stratosphere over some parts of the globe. Using the same model as Li, Stolarski, and Newman, the researchers found that the lower stratosphere over tropical and mid-southern latitudes might not return to pre-1980s levels of ozone for more than a century, if ever
Previous studies have shown that while the buildup of greenhouse gases makes it warmer in troposphere – the level of atmosphere from Earth's surface up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) altitude – it actually cools the upper stratosphere – between 30 to 50 kilometers high (18 to 31 miles). This cooling slows the chemical reactions that deplete ozone in the upper stratosphere and allows natural ozone production in that region to outpace destruction by CFCs.
But the accumulation of greenhouse gases also changes the circulation of stratospheric air masses from the tropics to the poles, NASA scientists note. In Earth's middle latitudes, that means ozone is likely to "over-recover," growing to concentrations higher than they were before the mass production of CFCs. In the tropics, stratospheric circulation changes could prevent the ozone layer from fully recovering.
"Most studies of ozone and global change have focused on cooling in the upper stratosphere," said Feng Li, an atmospheric scientist at the Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Md. and lead author of the study. "But we find circulation is just as important. It's not one process or the other, but both."
The findings are based on a detailed computer model that includes atmospheric chemical effects, wind changes, and solar radiation changes. Li's experiment is part of an ongoing international effort organized by the United Nations Environment Programme's Scientific Assessment Panel to assess the state of the ozone layer. Li and colleagues published their analysis in March in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
Working with Richard Stolarski and Paul Newman of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., Li adapted the Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry-Climate Model (GEOS-CCM) to examine how climate change will affect ozone recovery. The team inserted past measurements and future projections of ozone-depleting substances and greenhouse gases into the model. Then the model projected how ozone, the overall chemistry, and the dynamics of the stratosphere would change through the year 2100.
"In the real world, we have observed statistically significant turnaround in ozone depletion, which can be attributed to the banning of ozone-depleting substances," said Richard Stolarski, an atmospheric chemist at Goddard and a co-author of the study. "But making that connection is complicated by the response of ozone to greenhouse gases."
The researchers found that greenhouse gases alter a natural circulation pattern that influences ozone distribution. Brewer-Dobson circulation is like a pump to the stratosphere, moving ozone from the lower parts of the atmosphere, into the upper stratosphere over the tropics. Air masses then flow north or south through the stratosphere, away from the tropics toward the poles.
In Li's experiment, this circulation pump accelerated to a rate where the ozone flowing upward and outward from the tropics created a surplus at middle latitudes. Though the concentration of chlorine and other ozone-depleting substances in the stratosphere will not return to pre-1980 levels until 2060, the ozone layer over middle latitudes recovered to pre-1980 levels by 2025.
The Arctic – which is better connected to mid-latitude air masses than the Antarctic -- benefited from the surplus in the northern hemisphere and from the overall decline of ozone-depleting substances to recover by 2025. Globally averaged ozone and Antarctic concentrations catch up by 2040, as natural atmospheric production of ozone resumes.
This recovery in the middle and polar latitudes has mixed consequences, Li noted. It might have some benefits, such as lower levels of ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface and correspondingly lower rates of skin cancer. On the other hand, it could have unintended effects, such as increasing ozone levels in the troposphere, the layer of atmosphere at Earth's surface. The model also shows a continuing ozone deficit in the stratosphere over the tropics. In fact, when the model run ended at year 2100, the ozone layer over the tropics still showed no signs of recovery.
In February, researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, teamed with Stolarski and other NASA scientists on a similar paper suggesting that increasing greenhouse gases would delay or even postpone the recovery of ozone levels in the lower stratosphere over some parts of the globe. Using the same model as Li, Stolarski, and Newman, the researchers found that the lower stratosphere over tropical and mid-southern latitudes might not return to pre-1980s levels of ozone for more than a century, if ever
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Interesting Facts about the Brain
# Your brain uses 20% of your body's energy, but it makes up only 2% of your body's weight.
# Your cerebral cortex is about as thick as a tongue depressor. It grows thicker as you learn and use it.
# Your brain is about 1300-1400 cubic centimeters in volume, about the size of a cantaloupe and wrinkled like a walnut.
# The brain feels like a ripe avocado and looks pink because of the blood flowing through it.
# Your brain generates 25 watts of power while you're awake---enough to illuminate a light bulb.
# A newborn baby's brain grows almost 3 times in course of first year
# Humans have the most complex brain of any animal on earth.
# Your brain is divided into two sides. The left side of your brain controls the right side of your body; and, the right side of your brain controls the left side of your body.
# Toxins in commonplace items such as carpeting and shower curtains may be contributing to memory loss over time?
# Overexposure to aluminum compounds—in foil, cookware, deodorants, antacids, toothpaste—can affect brain function
# Lavender can help you sleep
# A cooked potato can jump-start your brain when you're feeling foggy.
# The essential oil of jasmine can quickly restore mental alertness
# Eating foods rich in vitamin E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C may help lower your risk of Alzheimer's disease.
# Your cerebral cortex is about as thick as a tongue depressor. It grows thicker as you learn and use it.
# Your brain is about 1300-1400 cubic centimeters in volume, about the size of a cantaloupe and wrinkled like a walnut.
# The brain feels like a ripe avocado and looks pink because of the blood flowing through it.
# Your brain generates 25 watts of power while you're awake---enough to illuminate a light bulb.
# A newborn baby's brain grows almost 3 times in course of first year
# Humans have the most complex brain of any animal on earth.
# Your brain is divided into two sides. The left side of your brain controls the right side of your body; and, the right side of your brain controls the left side of your body.
# Toxins in commonplace items such as carpeting and shower curtains may be contributing to memory loss over time?
# Overexposure to aluminum compounds—in foil, cookware, deodorants, antacids, toothpaste—can affect brain function
# Lavender can help you sleep
# A cooked potato can jump-start your brain when you're feeling foggy.
# The essential oil of jasmine can quickly restore mental alertness
# Eating foods rich in vitamin E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C may help lower your risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Top 10 Latest Inventions of July 2009
1. Water-Efficient Washing Machine
This invention was developed by Xeros (not to be confused with Xerox). Its washing machine uses nylon beads and thus is able to save up to 90 percent of water compared to traditional washers. Thus the washing machine has two main advantages: it saves you money and is environmentally friendly.
2. Technology that Scans User's Ear to Avoid Theft
This technology can protect iPods and other mobile devices from theft. The ears of every person have individual "acoustic fingerprint". The technology analyzes the distinctive sounds of the ear chamber and then decides whether the device belongs to the owner or not. It is worth mentioning that such invention could be widely used to improve safety measures of bank accounts and passports.
3. System that Converts Boot Force into Electricity
This invention could become very popular among soldiers. It uses the energy accumulated from tramping feet to power a wide range of portable devices. With its help soldiers' backpacks would be lighter by up to 10 kilograms, because it would exclude the necessity of wearing heavy batteries. The invention could also be used in everyday life. For example when a person does jogging they can power their MP3 player
4. Portable Microscope Attached to Mobile Phone to Identify and Track Diseases
This invention could be widely used by scientists to identify dangerous diseases like malaria and tuberculosis and transmit the data to health centers for research. It could be used in Africa to track the spread of diseases, take pictures of cell samples and covey via Internet the information to European specialists for additional studies.
5. Cloak that Changes the Direction of Seismic Waves
The invention is not developed yet, but there are premises for its creation. Earthquakes produce body and surface waves. Using concentric rings the cloak will have the ability to control the dangerous surface waves and redirect them to avoid the destruction of buildings.
6. Device that Helps Dogs' Owners Understand Their Language
The name of the invention is Bowlingual. It analyzes the dog's bark and attempts to identify the pet's emotions. It features a unit with a speech synthesizer that informs the owner about what their pet wants to say. Everything is displayed on the gadget's screen.
7. Technology that Lets Users Operate Animated Characters Using Own Movements
OpenSTAGE platform is the technology that makes it possible for people to operate with virtual characters by moving own body parts. There is no need to wear any additional devices that in other inventions track the body movement - a person simply stands in front of a monitor and the technology tracks every movement and transfers the information to the computer, thus bringing an animated character to life. Such technology can be used in medicine, sports and entertainment.
8. Synthetic Tree that Captures CO2
The artificial tree is the latest invention of scientists from Columbia University. The technology allows to capture CO2 a thousands times faster compared to a real tree, which is crucial for tacking global warming. The tree gathers carbon dioxide emitted from cars and airplanes just like a sponge and then filters it. In 24 hours the tree can absorb about a ton of CO2, which is almost the amount of gas emitted by 20 cars.
9. 3D Sensors that Allow Users to Interact with Various Devices Without Touch
This invention allows users to interact with computers and other devices just like the main character in "Minority Report" did, i.e. without touch. The technology could be widely used in gaming. In addition, the 3D sensors could replace weight detectors in cars, thus be able to signal, for example, whether a child is in a seat.
10. Robot that Writes Prescriptions and Distributes Drugs to Patients
The number one robotic nation is Japan and one of its latest inventions in the field was developed by Panasonic. The company claims that its robot is able to write prescriptions and distribute drugs to patients. The robot will be able to do the job in just 2 hours in a hospital with 400 beds (twice as fast as a skilled pharmacist).
This invention was developed by Xeros (not to be confused with Xerox). Its washing machine uses nylon beads and thus is able to save up to 90 percent of water compared to traditional washers. Thus the washing machine has two main advantages: it saves you money and is environmentally friendly.
2. Technology that Scans User's Ear to Avoid Theft
This technology can protect iPods and other mobile devices from theft. The ears of every person have individual "acoustic fingerprint". The technology analyzes the distinctive sounds of the ear chamber and then decides whether the device belongs to the owner or not. It is worth mentioning that such invention could be widely used to improve safety measures of bank accounts and passports.
3. System that Converts Boot Force into Electricity
This invention could become very popular among soldiers. It uses the energy accumulated from tramping feet to power a wide range of portable devices. With its help soldiers' backpacks would be lighter by up to 10 kilograms, because it would exclude the necessity of wearing heavy batteries. The invention could also be used in everyday life. For example when a person does jogging they can power their MP3 player
4. Portable Microscope Attached to Mobile Phone to Identify and Track Diseases
This invention could be widely used by scientists to identify dangerous diseases like malaria and tuberculosis and transmit the data to health centers for research. It could be used in Africa to track the spread of diseases, take pictures of cell samples and covey via Internet the information to European specialists for additional studies.
5. Cloak that Changes the Direction of Seismic Waves
The invention is not developed yet, but there are premises for its creation. Earthquakes produce body and surface waves. Using concentric rings the cloak will have the ability to control the dangerous surface waves and redirect them to avoid the destruction of buildings.
6. Device that Helps Dogs' Owners Understand Their Language
The name of the invention is Bowlingual. It analyzes the dog's bark and attempts to identify the pet's emotions. It features a unit with a speech synthesizer that informs the owner about what their pet wants to say. Everything is displayed on the gadget's screen.
7. Technology that Lets Users Operate Animated Characters Using Own Movements
OpenSTAGE platform is the technology that makes it possible for people to operate with virtual characters by moving own body parts. There is no need to wear any additional devices that in other inventions track the body movement - a person simply stands in front of a monitor and the technology tracks every movement and transfers the information to the computer, thus bringing an animated character to life. Such technology can be used in medicine, sports and entertainment.
8. Synthetic Tree that Captures CO2
The artificial tree is the latest invention of scientists from Columbia University. The technology allows to capture CO2 a thousands times faster compared to a real tree, which is crucial for tacking global warming. The tree gathers carbon dioxide emitted from cars and airplanes just like a sponge and then filters it. In 24 hours the tree can absorb about a ton of CO2, which is almost the amount of gas emitted by 20 cars.
9. 3D Sensors that Allow Users to Interact with Various Devices Without Touch
This invention allows users to interact with computers and other devices just like the main character in "Minority Report" did, i.e. without touch. The technology could be widely used in gaming. In addition, the 3D sensors could replace weight detectors in cars, thus be able to signal, for example, whether a child is in a seat.
10. Robot that Writes Prescriptions and Distributes Drugs to Patients
The number one robotic nation is Japan and one of its latest inventions in the field was developed by Panasonic. The company claims that its robot is able to write prescriptions and distribute drugs to patients. The robot will be able to do the job in just 2 hours in a hospital with 400 beds (twice as fast as a skilled pharmacist).
Health Benefits of Ginger
Health Benefits of Ginger
In traditional Chinese medicine, ginger is used to calm upset stomachs, soothe nausea and stop diarrhea. Other traditional health practitioners also understood the health benefits of ginger ? it has been widely used in Europe to help relieve menstrual cramps, treat the symptoms of the common cold and ease headaches. One of the newest reports of the health benefits of ginger is that it may stop cancer from growing and spreading.
What Is Responsible for the Health Benefits of Ginger?
The health benefits of ginger come from chemicals called volatile oils, specifically gingerols and shogaols, that also give ginger its spicy, pungent taste. Those oils stimulate your body to produce more digestive juices and help neutralize the stomach acids that cause cramping, nausea and diarrhea. Ginger is also a natural decongestant and antihistamine, which makes it a natural treatment for head colds.
Research Supports the Health Benefits of Ginger
There are several studies that support the traditionally known health benefits of ginger. Those include:
* Two studies about the health benefits of ginger in helping pregnant women with morning sickness showed that ginger root preparations were more effective than a placebo.
* A clinical trial that proved that ginger root helped prevent seasickness better than a placebo.
* Preliminary results in animal trials show that ginger seems to prevent or slow the rate of tumor growth in cancer.
Two Bananas a Day Keep all "worries" Away ( GO Bananas)
Two Bananas a Day Keep all "worries" Away ( GO Bananas)
Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.
But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit.
Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.
PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.
Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.
Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.
Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middle@@@) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.
Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.
Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.
Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.
Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.
Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.
Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.
Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.
Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.
Smoking & Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium (K) and magnesium (Ma) found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.
Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.
Strokes: According to research in "The New England Journal of Medicine, 'eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!
Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!
So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"
PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time!
Shine your shoesJ Take the INSIDE of the banana skin, and rub directly on the shoe...polish with dry cloth.......
Shine your face J Mix banana with honey and a bit of lemon juice, make paste, apply on your face (beware of skin allergy- so make a test doze first), keep for half an hour every day before sun-rise and wash out... and Your face will shine like fresh banana....
Amazing fruit, really the banana, bringing consolation to the whole humanity.........and rather cheap.....So get going...
Wishing you sound health...
Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.
But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit.
Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.
PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.
Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.
Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.
Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middle@@@) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.
Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.
Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.
Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.
Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.
Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.
Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.
Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.
Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.
Smoking & Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium (K) and magnesium (Ma) found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.
Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.
Strokes: According to research in "The New England Journal of Medicine, 'eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!
Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!
So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"
PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time!
Shine your shoesJ Take the INSIDE of the banana skin, and rub directly on the shoe...polish with dry cloth.......
Shine your face J Mix banana with honey and a bit of lemon juice, make paste, apply on your face (beware of skin allergy- so make a test doze first), keep for half an hour every day before sun-rise and wash out... and Your face will shine like fresh banana....
Amazing fruit, really the banana, bringing consolation to the whole humanity.........and rather cheap.....So get going...
Wishing you sound health...
Interesting facts about HUMAN BODY
1 ) HEART beats 1,03,689 times.
2 ) LUNGS respire 23,045 times.
3 ) BLOOD flows 16,80,000 miles.
4 ) NAILS grow 0.00007 inches
5 ) HAIR grows 0.01715 inches
6 ) Take 2.9 pounds WATER (including all liquids)
7 ) Take of 3.25 pounds FOOD.
8 ) Breathe 438 cubic feet AIR.
9) Lose 85.60, BODY TEMPERATURE.
10 ) Produce 1.43 pints SWEAT.
11 ) Speak 4,800 WORDS.
12 ) During SLEEP move 25.4 times
When was the last time you took a moment and celebrated your body? Not because it's well built or attractive by society's standards-- but because it's an impressive piece of functional art. We've assembled some interesting facts that will help you appreciate your body and keep you motivated to take care of it.
Boost your burning power. Did you know that for every 1 lb of muscle you gain, your body burns an extra 50 calories a day? If you can turn at least 5 lbs of extra "fat" into muscle, you will automatically burn an additional 250 calories per day.
A mini-Charles Atlas. Muscles are comprised of muscle fibers. Each fiber is thinner than a human hair and can support up to 1,000 times its own weight.
Use it or lose it. By age 65, people who haven't engaged in regular exercise may incur a decrease in their muscular strength level by as much as 80%.
Make your move. A muscle moves by contracting and by its motion, you move. As a machine for moving, a muscle is pretty efficient, using about 35-50% of its potential energy.
More than a few. The human body has more than 650 muscles.
Unique in its own way. No two muscles in the body have exactly the same function. When one muscle is paralyzed, either stability of the body part is impaired or some specific movement is lost.
Watch your step. Forward locomotion such as walking or running is actually the process of losing and catching one's balance.
The cellulite myth. There is no such thing as cellulite. The skin sometimes appears lumpy in fatty areas of the body because strands of connective tissue attach the skin to underlying structures. These points of attachment may pull tight where the fat is thick, making lumps appear between them. The fat itself is not different from excess fat anywhere else in the body. So, if you reduce body fat, you will begin to lose the lumpy appearance.
Spot reducing de-bunked. Spot reducing will not reduce the fat itself in a specific area of the body. Strength training specific areas of the body will strengthen the underlying muscle, but fat reduction is only accomplished by burning more calories than you take in.
The cardiovascular chain. Your body has approximately 60,000 miles of blood vessels that not only oxygenate the tissues of the body and unburden them of wastes, but also act as stringent regulators of the body's environment.
Stressful miles. If you are 25 lbs overweight, you have nearly 5,000 extra miles of blood vessels through which your heart must pump blood.
Taking a break. Your heart rests between beats. Over a normal lifespan, your heart stands still for about 20 years.
Now that's pressure. Your blood rushes through your arteries with enough pressure to lift a column of blood five feet into the air.
Safety valves. When you stand up, if you didn't have valves in your veins, all the blood in your body would literally fall downward, filling up your feet and leg
FACTS ABOUT BRAIN:
Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than men in the United States.
The human brain has about 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) neurons.
From all the oxygen that a human breathes, twenty percent goes to the brain.
People who ride on roller coasters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in the brain.
Once a human reaches the age of 35, he/she will start losing approximately 7,000 brain cells a day. The cells will never be replaced.
It is not possible to tickle yourself. The cerebellum, a part of the brain, warns the rest of the brain that you are about to tickle yourself. Since your brain knows this, it ignores the resulting sensation.
A women from Berlin Germany has had 3,110 gallstones taken out of her gall bladder.
In America, the most common mental illness is Anxiety Disorders.
Your brain is 80% water.
Your brain is move active and thinks more at night than during the day.
TONGUE FACTS :
Close to fifty percent of the bacteria in the mouth lives on the surface of our tongue.
There are approximately 9,000 taste buds on the tongue.
Your tongue has 3,000 taste buds.
85% of the population can curl their tongue into a tube.
EYES :
We should never put anything in or near our eyes, unless we have a reason to use eye drops. We would only do that if our doctor or parent told us to use them.
Blinking helps to wash tears over our eyeballs. That keeps them clean and moist. Also, if something is about to hit our eye, we will blink automatically.
Our body has some natural protection for our eyes. Our eyelashes help to keep dirt out of our eyes. Our eyebrows are made to keep sweat from running into our eyes.
Our eyes are very important to us, and we must protect them. We don't want dirt, sand, splinters or even fingers to get in our eyes. We don't want our eyes to get scratched or poked. That could damage our sight!
The study of the iris of the eye is called iridology.
The shark cornea has been used in eye surgery, since its cornea is similar to a human cornea.
The number one cause of blindness in adults in the United States is diabetes.
The eyeball of a human weighs approximately 28 grams.
The eye of a human can distinguish 500 shades of the gray.
The cornea is the only living tissue in the human body that does not contain any blood vessels.
The conjunctiva is a membrane that covers the human eye.
Sailors once thought that wearing a gold earring would improve their eyesight.
Research has indicated that a tie that is on too tight cam increase the risk of glaucoma in men.
People generally read 25% slower from a computer screen compared to paper.
Men are able to read fine print better than women can.
Intresting facts:
In the United States, approximately 25,000 eye injuries occur that result in the person becoming totally blind.
All babies are colour blind when they are born.
A human eyeball weighs an ounce.
If the lens in our eye doesn't work quite right, we can get glasses to help us see. Glasses have lenses in them that work with our eye's own lens to help us see better.
Babies' eyes do not produce tears until the baby is approximately six to eight weeks old.
The reason why your nose gets runny when you are crying is because the tears from the eyes drain into the nose.
The most common injury caused by cosmetics is to the eye by a mascara wand.
Some people start to sneeze if they are exposed to sunlight or have a light shined into their eye.
The highest recorded speed of a sneeze is 165 km per hour.
It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
The space between your eyebrows is called the Glabella.
Inside our eye, at the back, is a part called the "retina." On the retina are cells called "rods" and "cones." These rods and cones help us to see colors and light.
Just behind the pupil is a lens. It is round and flat. It is thicker toward the middle.
Over the front of our eye is a clear covering called the "conjunctiva."
The white part of our eye is called the "sclera." At the front, the sclera becomes clear and is called the "cornea
Around the pupil is a colored muscle called the "iris." Our eyes may be BLUE, BROWN, GREEN, GRAY OR BLACK, because that is the color of the iris.
Our eyes have many parts. The black part on the front of our eye is called the "pupil." It is really a little hole that opens into the back part of our eyes.
Your eyes blinks over 10,000,000 times a year!
Strange Science Facts
1 – The speed of light is generally rounded down to 186,000 miles per second. In exact terms it is 299,792,458 m/s (equal to 186,287.49 miles per second).
2 – It takes 8 minutes 17 seconds for light to travel from the Sun’s surface to the Earth.
3 – 10 percent of all human beings ever born are alive at this very moment.
4 – The Earth spins at 1,000 mph but it travels through space at an incredible 67,000 mph.
5 – Every year, over one million earthquakes shake the Earth.
6 – When Krakatoa erupted in 1883, its force was so great it could be heard 4,800 kilometers away in Australia.
7 – Every second around 100 lightning bolts strike the Earth.
8 – Every year lightning kills 1000 people.
9 – In October 1999 an Iceberg the size of London broke free from the Antarctic ice shelf .
10 – If you could drive your car straight up you would arrive in space in just over an hour.
11 – Human tapeworms can grow up to 22.9m.
12 – The Earth is 4.56 billion years old…the same age as the Moon and the Sun.
13 – The dinosaurs became extinct before the Rockies or the Alps were formed.
14 – Female black widow spiders eat their males after mating.
15 – When a flea jumps, the rate of acceleration is 20 times that of the space shuttle during launch.
16 – If our Sun were just inch in diameter, the nearest star would be 445 miles away.
17 – Astronauts cannot belch – there is no gravity to separate liquid from gas in their stomachs.
18 – The air at the summit of Mount Everest, 29,029 feet is only a third as thick as the air at sea level.
19 – One million, million, million, million, millionth of a second after the Big Bang the Universe was the size of a …pea.
20 – DNA was first discovered in 1869 by Swiss Friedrich Mieschler.
21 – The molecular structure of DNA was first determined by Watson and Crick in 1953.
22 – The first synthetic human chromosome was constructed by US scientists in 1997.
23 – The thermometer was invented in 1607 by Galileo.
24 – Alfred Nobel invented dynamite in 1866.
25 – Wilhelm Rontgen won the first Nobel Prize for physics for discovering X-rays in 1895.
26 – The tallest tree ever was an Australian eucalyptus – In 1872 it was measured at 435 feet tall.
27 – Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant in 1967 – the patient lived for 18 days.
28 – An electric eel can produce a shock of up to 650 volts.
29 – ‘Wireless’ communications took a giant leap forward in 1962 with the launch of Telstar, the first satellite capable of relaying telephone and satellite TV signals.
30 – The Ebola virus kills 4 out of every 5 humans it infects.
31 – In 5 billion years the Sun will run out of fuel and turn into a Red Giant.
2 – It takes 8 minutes 17 seconds for light to travel from the Sun’s surface to the Earth.
3 – 10 percent of all human beings ever born are alive at this very moment.
4 – The Earth spins at 1,000 mph but it travels through space at an incredible 67,000 mph.
5 – Every year, over one million earthquakes shake the Earth.
6 – When Krakatoa erupted in 1883, its force was so great it could be heard 4,800 kilometers away in Australia.
7 – Every second around 100 lightning bolts strike the Earth.
8 – Every year lightning kills 1000 people.
9 – In October 1999 an Iceberg the size of London broke free from the Antarctic ice shelf .
10 – If you could drive your car straight up you would arrive in space in just over an hour.
11 – Human tapeworms can grow up to 22.9m.
12 – The Earth is 4.56 billion years old…the same age as the Moon and the Sun.
13 – The dinosaurs became extinct before the Rockies or the Alps were formed.
14 – Female black widow spiders eat their males after mating.
15 – When a flea jumps, the rate of acceleration is 20 times that of the space shuttle during launch.
16 – If our Sun were just inch in diameter, the nearest star would be 445 miles away.
17 – Astronauts cannot belch – there is no gravity to separate liquid from gas in their stomachs.
18 – The air at the summit of Mount Everest, 29,029 feet is only a third as thick as the air at sea level.
19 – One million, million, million, million, millionth of a second after the Big Bang the Universe was the size of a …pea.
20 – DNA was first discovered in 1869 by Swiss Friedrich Mieschler.
21 – The molecular structure of DNA was first determined by Watson and Crick in 1953.
22 – The first synthetic human chromosome was constructed by US scientists in 1997.
23 – The thermometer was invented in 1607 by Galileo.
24 – Alfred Nobel invented dynamite in 1866.
25 – Wilhelm Rontgen won the first Nobel Prize for physics for discovering X-rays in 1895.
26 – The tallest tree ever was an Australian eucalyptus – In 1872 it was measured at 435 feet tall.
27 – Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant in 1967 – the patient lived for 18 days.
28 – An electric eel can produce a shock of up to 650 volts.
29 – ‘Wireless’ communications took a giant leap forward in 1962 with the launch of Telstar, the first satellite capable of relaying telephone and satellite TV signals.
30 – The Ebola virus kills 4 out of every 5 humans it infects.
31 – In 5 billion years the Sun will run out of fuel and turn into a Red Giant.
Amazing Science Facts
Facts 1 – 5
1. There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body – laid end to end they would circle the earth 2.5 times
2. At over 2000 kilometers long The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth
3. The risk of being struck by a falling meteorite for a human is one occurrence every 9,300 years
4. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weigh over 100 million tons
5. A typical hurricane produces the energy equivalent to 8,000 one megaton bombs
Facts 6 – 10
6. Blood xxxxing hookworms inhabit 700 million people worldwide
7. The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle is 166.94 mph by Fred Rompelberg
8. We can produce laser light a million times brighter than sunshine
9. 65% of those with autism are left handed
10. The combined length of the roots of a Finnish pine tree is over 30 miles
Just paying the bills...
Facts 11 – 15
11. The oceans contain enough salt to cover all the continents to a depth of nearly 500 feet
12. The interstellar gas cloud Sagittarius B contains a billion, billion, billion liters of alcohol [JFrater is planning to move there in the near future]
13. Polar Bears can run at 25 miles an hour and jump over 6 feet in the air
14. 60-65 million years ago dolphins and humans shared a common ancestor
15. Polar Bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras, due to their transparent fur
Facts 16 – 20
16. The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of their life
17. A single rye plant can spread up to 400 miles of roots underground
18. The temperature on the surface of Mercury exceeds 430 degrees C during the day, and, at night, plummets to minus 180 degrees centigrade
19. The evaporation from a large oak or beech tree is from ten to twenty-five gallons in twenty-four hours
20. Butterflies taste with their hind feet and their taste sensation works on touch – this allows them to determine whether a leaf is edible
1. There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body – laid end to end they would circle the earth 2.5 times
2. At over 2000 kilometers long The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth
3. The risk of being struck by a falling meteorite for a human is one occurrence every 9,300 years
4. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weigh over 100 million tons
5. A typical hurricane produces the energy equivalent to 8,000 one megaton bombs
Facts 6 – 10
6. Blood xxxxing hookworms inhabit 700 million people worldwide
7. The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle is 166.94 mph by Fred Rompelberg
8. We can produce laser light a million times brighter than sunshine
9. 65% of those with autism are left handed
10. The combined length of the roots of a Finnish pine tree is over 30 miles
Just paying the bills...
Facts 11 – 15
11. The oceans contain enough salt to cover all the continents to a depth of nearly 500 feet
12. The interstellar gas cloud Sagittarius B contains a billion, billion, billion liters of alcohol [JFrater is planning to move there in the near future]
13. Polar Bears can run at 25 miles an hour and jump over 6 feet in the air
14. 60-65 million years ago dolphins and humans shared a common ancestor
15. Polar Bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras, due to their transparent fur
Facts 16 – 20
16. The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of their life
17. A single rye plant can spread up to 400 miles of roots underground
18. The temperature on the surface of Mercury exceeds 430 degrees C during the day, and, at night, plummets to minus 180 degrees centigrade
19. The evaporation from a large oak or beech tree is from ten to twenty-five gallons in twenty-four hours
20. Butterflies taste with their hind feet and their taste sensation works on touch – this allows them to determine whether a leaf is edible
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