|
|
|
| SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY |
|
|
|
Fewer birds means big loss to the world
You don’t like red wine?
Trends
Prof Yash
Pal PROF YASH PAL As you know, hydrogen is highly inflammable and oxygen is a supporter in combustion, then why does the combination of these two i.e. water, not catch fire? The reason is simple. You will understand it immediately if you realise that water is nothing but the ashes that are produced when hydrogen catches fire. How can ashes burn again? Another way of looking at the problem is to realise that when hydrogen and oxygen are in a tight embrace we call it water. If you spend energy to separate the two gases, a fire would result, if and when, they get together again. |
|
|
Fewer birds means big loss to the world
Rising human populations and clearance of forests for farming or biofuels were wrecking natural habitats, according to the study by Birdlife International, which groups experts in more than 100 conservation bodies worldwide. Even common birds, such as doves or skylarks in Europe, were becoming scarcer in a worrying sign of wider upsets to nature. Birds are among the best researched of all wildlife and are a barometer of the environment. “Bird species are slipping faster than ever towards extinction,” according to Birdlife’s “State of the World’s Birds” report issued at an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) congress in Barcelona. In May, Birdlife International data for an IUCN “Red List” of endangered species showed that one in eight, or 1,226 of almost 10,000 bird species, were at risk of extinction with new threats including climate change. Birds’ decline showed governments were failing to live up to a commitment made at the U.N. Earth Summit in 2002 to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of loss of diversity of animals and plants by 2010, the report said. “With two years to go, birds are showing that we are falling far short of the target, and that, far from slowing down, the rate of biodiversity loss is still accelerating,” it said. Alison Stattersfield, head of science for Birdlife and lead author of the report, told Reuters: “Birds are a good indicator for the wider environment because we have such long records. “People notice that there aren’t so many birds around, even ones that are common.” she said. Millions of amateur birdwatchers have helped ensure longer and better records than for other creatures such as amphibians or insects. Stattersfield said birds had been tracked by the “Red List” since 1988, the longest of any type of creature. Since then, 225 species have been listed as under greater threat, compared with just 17 whose status has improved. Since 2000, three species were feared to have become extinct — Spix’s macaw in Brazil, the Hawaiian crow and the poo-uli, also in Hawaii, according to the report (www.birdlife.org/sowb). Among bird families, 82 percent of albatrosses were threatened, 60 percent of cranes, 27 percent of parrots, 23 percent of pheasants and 20 percent of pigeons. Big birds that produce few eggs seemed most at risk. Humans use about half of all species of birds, mainly as pets or as food. Among other uses, birds help keep insect pests in check in farmland and forests. |
|
You don’t like red wine? Resveratrol, an anti-oxidant and red wine compound that protects the liver from fat accumulation caused by excessive drinking, is also present in dark chocolate and cocoa, according to a recent study.
The study “shows that the levels of resveratrol found in cocoa and chocolate products forms yet another important link between the antioxidants found in cocoa and dark chocolate to other foods,” said David Stuart, director of Natural Product Science at The Hershey Company. “Resveratrol gained widespread attention in the early 1990s when it was identified in relatively high amounts in red wine, which is associated with the French Paradox,” said Debra Miller, director of nutrition at Hershey. “Despite eating a diet equally high in saturated fat as the typical American diet, the French were shown to have about one-third the level of cardiovascular disease,” Miller added. “Continued research indicates that moderate consumption of red wine, along with fruits, vegetables, nuts and lower amounts of red meat, may contribute to this lower risk of heart of disease,” she said. Top selling retail products from six categories were tested for the level of resveratrol and its sister compound, piceid. The six product categories included cocoa powder, baking chocolate, dark chocolate, semi-sweet baking chips, milk chocolate and chocolate syrup, according to a Hershey Company press release. Gram for gram, cocoa powder had the highest average amount of resveratrol and piceid, followed by baking chocolates, dark chocolates, semi-sweet chips, milk chocolate and then chocolate syrup. In the products studied, the level of piceid was three to six times the level of resveratrol. When the cocoa and chocolate levels were compared to published values for a serving of red wine, roasted peanuts and peanut butter, resveratrol levels of cocoa powders, baking chocolates and dark chocolate all exceeded the levels for roasted peanuts and peanut butter per serving, but were less than California red wine. According to an article this month’s in Nutrition Reviews, resveratrol was shown to improve insulin sensitivity, blood cholesterol levels and have neuroprotective actions in animal studies. Further, the article states, studies in mice indicate that diets high in resveratrol were associated with increased longevity.. “For years, flavanols, a different class of compounds in chocolate, received most of the attention, but these are quite different than resveratrol. It is exciting to see additional antioxidants identified in cocoa and chocolate.” explained Jeff Hurst, the lead project chemist. These finding were published in the Sep 24 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. —Indo-Asian News Service |
|
Trends
CHICAGO: U.S. researchers have developed ultrathin films that when sandwiched together form a superconductor, an advance that could lead to a new class of fast, power-saving electronics. The films can be used at relatively high temperatures for superconductors, making them easier to handle and produce, they said on Wednesday.
Genomes of two malaria parasites mapped WASHINGTON: Scientists have mapped the genomes of the parasite that causes most cases of malaria outside Africa and a monkey parasite that is emerging as an important cause of malaria in people in Southeast Asia. This information should help guide efforts to develop new drugs and vaccines to fight the mosquito-borne disease, two teams of researchers wrote in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
Scientists find key protein helps people hear LONDON: A protein in the inner ear helps people differentiate between sounds and understand speech, French researchers reported on Wednesday in a finding that could help treat the hard of hearing. The study also helps explain why some people have difficulty hearing in crowded restaurants or other noisy places, said Paul Avan, a researcher at the University of Auvergne in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Mice overcome fear, depression WASHINGTON: The brain can produce antidepressants with the right signal, a finding that suggests that meditating, or going to your “happy place,” truly works, scientists reported on Wednesday. Mice forced to swim endlessly until they surrendered and just floated, waiting to drown, could be conditioned to regain their will to live when a tone they associated with safety was played. Green jellyfish protein STOCKHOLM: Two Americans and a Japanese researcher won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for the discovery of a glowing jellyfish protein that makes cells, tissues and even organs light up—a tool used by thousands of researchers around the world. The 10 million Swedish crown ($1.4 million) prize recognizes Japanese-born Osamu Shimomura, now of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Martin Chalfie of Columbia University in New York and Roger Tsien of the University of California, San Diego, for their discoveries with green fluorescent protein.
—Reuters |
|
THIS UNIVERSE
As you know, hydrogen is highly inflammable and oxygen is a The reason is simple. You will understand it immediately if you realise that water is nothing but the ashes that are produced when hydrogen catches fire. How can ashes burn again? Another way of looking at the problem is to realise that when hydrogen and oxygen are in a tight embrace we call it water. If you spend energy to separate the two gases, a fire would result, if and when, they get together again. Why different objects have
different static electricity charges? Different substances have orbital electrons with varying strengths of binding with their atoms. So when you rub them together the atoms with less binding of their outer electrons would lose them to those which hold their electrons more tightly and even have the capability to attach an extra electron round their atoms. Incidentally, this can happen only with materials that are insulators. The material that loses electrons becomes positively charged and the recipient becomes negatively charged. Rubbing is required only to bring the two materials close together — you are not scraping electrons from one to the other. Is it true that gravitation force is the only attraction force? If so, considering the Earth as an object and the Moon as another object, why don’t the two The Earth and the Moon do attract each other, but they do not collide with each other because of their motion with respect to each other. You know that the Moon goes around the Earth. This motion produces an outward force which balances the attraction. The same argument can be given to explain why the Earth does not fall into the Sun; this is because the earth is going around the Sun. Another way of understanding this is to say that the Moon is continuously falling towards the earth but because of its circular motion it keeps on missing it!
Readers wanting to ask Prof Yash Pal a question can e-mail him at
palyash.pal@gmail.com |
Dwindling numbers of birds worldwide are a sign that governments are failing to keep promises to slow damage to nature by 2010, an international report said on recently.