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BPA a chemical of concern Fish are fond of gardening too! Prof Yash
Pal THIS UNIVERSE
Trends
Frescoes are seen inside the catacomb of Saint Tecla in downtown Rome. Archaeologists and art restorers using new laser technology have
discovered what they believe are the oldest paintings of the faces of Jesus Christ's apostles. — Reuters photograph |
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BPA a chemical of concern A group of 60 scientists backed by environmental, health and women’s organisations from around the world have called for action to reduce exposure to a chemical in plastics found in everyday products. In a letter to a European food watchdog, which is currently reviewing the safety of bisphenol A (BPA), the group says that “many scientific studies are now calling into question the safety of BPA” and that only a minority of controversial academic papers have backed its safety. BPA is a mass-produced chemical used to make plastic harder. It is found in baby bottles, most food and drink cans—including tins of infant formula milk—plastic food containers, and the casings of mobile phones, and other electronic goods. The Independent disclosed in April that retailers such as Mothercare were continuing to stock polycarbonate baby bottles containing BPA even after most manufacturers had phased it out. While there is no consensus among scientists about its impact on human health, dozens of independent scientists around the world are convinced that there is a strong case for limiting human exposure. In January, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reversed years of opposition to action, saying that it had “some concern” on the basis of results from studies using novel approaches about BPA’s effects on the brain, behaviour, and prostate gland in unborn children, infants, and young children. Following the FDA’s move, France, Germany, Denmark and Sweden have taken precautionary action to limit the use of BPA. However, some academics such as Richard Sharpe, an expert in reproduction at the Medical Research Council, believe that the concern is unfounded and is diverting millions of pounds of funding from more deserving areas of research. The UK Food Standards Agency also believes that BPA is safe, but is awaiting the results of expert opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) next month. Its publication has been repeatedly pushed back, giving hope to campaigners who had originally feared, on the basis of Efsa’s criteria for selecting academic papers, that it would back industry-funded studies declaring the chemical safe. The new letter, co-ordinated by the charity Breast Cancer UK, is signed by 40 organisations and 19 academics, including 14 professors. They include two US academics who have led the research effort—Professor Frederick vom Saal of Missouri-Columbia University and Professor Ana Soto of Tufts medical school in Chicago. The letter welcomed Efsa’s decision to review “hundreds of studies in its analysis of the most recent scientific literature”, pointing out that its previous risk assessments in 2006 and 2008 had given extra weight to industry-funded studies at the expense of Government and independently-funded papers. Efsa, they complained, had “only relied on a small number of studies rather than the much larger number that the Food and Drug Administration recently recognised as valid and of high utility in its risk assessment of BPA, and which led the FDA to express concern about the health hazards posed by BPA.” New research, such as that conducted by Yale University into breast cancer, indicated that BPA was a real and present danger to health, they said. They added: “It is therefore our opinion that any objective and comprehensive review of the scientific literature will lead to the conclusion that action is necessary to reduce the levels of BPA exposure, particularly in groups at highest risk, namely young infants and pregnant mothers.” Andrew Watterson, professor of environmental health at the University of Stirling and a signatory to the letter, said: “It’s worrying, considering the weight of the scientific evidence, that strong action to reduce human exposure is yet to be taken. Hundreds of academic studies have explicitly raised the risks of developmental harm to foetuses and young children from exposure to BPA and this should dictate a strong precautionary policy response from European regulators.” — By arrangement with
The Independent |
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Fish are fond of gardening too! Damselfish maintain algae gardens and they weed, harvest and defend them, a new study reveals. It also found that this arrangement benefits both damselfish and the algae. According to lead author Hiroki Hata, a researcher in the Graduate School of Science and Engineering at Ehime University, damselfishes defended territories where certain algae grew by chasing off sea urchins and other fish. “Additionally, an intensive farmer, Stegastes nigricans does weeding on less digestible algae, and it results in a monoculture of a specific algal species,” Discovery News quoted Hata, as saying. Hata and colleagues Katsutoshi Watanabe and Makoto Kato watched with amazement as the damselfish picked up this unwanted algae and dumped it outside of their farm-like gardens. The researchers also conducted an experiment to see how the fish-preferred algae would grow without the arduous maintenance. They found that the “weeds” would quickly overcome the other algae.
— ANI |
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THIS UNIVERSE The reversal of Earth’s magnetic field is expected in future. It is believed that the magnetic field could drop to zero. We also produce and use electricity mainly based on this field. If the magnetic field drops to zero, will there be a blackout on the Earth? If the magnetic field of the earth disappears for a few thousand years, that will be catastrophe enough. We will not be around to worry about the workings of technology. But we are talking of hypotheses. We have to recognise that the existence of electromagnetism is independent of the earth's magnetic field. If there are some creatures around, they could still create electric grids and motors and light bulbs. Though the reversals of the magnetic fields might happen some thousands or millions years apart, none is likely to happen in the lifetime of our civilisation. If the speed of light is more than sound, then why at sometime while switching on TV we hear sound first? Please explain. The video and the sound signal travel to your TV at the same speed, viz., the speed of light. This might look surprising till you realise that all information, picture and sound both are converted into electrical format before transmission. But sometimes sound seems to come first. This is due to the fact that for generating a picture, we normally use a picture tube which is very much like a cathode ray tube. It has a filament like element which has to be heated to generate beams of electrons. The picture is generated by the movement of these beams on the fluorescent screen of the picture tube. Heating of the filament and subsidiary power supplies take more time than the components that generate sound. That is why the sound appears to come before the picture. However, this observation may not occur in some of the modern TVs with CCD screens. |
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Trends ROME: Archaeologists and art restorers using new laser technology have discovered what they believe are the oldest paintings of the faces of Jesus Christ's apostles. The images in a branch of the catacombs of St Tecla near St Paul's Basilica, just outside the walls of ancient Rome, were painted at the end of the 4th century or the start of the 5th century.
Japan science research output flat as China soars
HONG KONG: The output of scientific papers from Japanese researchers has stayed largely flat over the past decade while output from China has risen fourfold, according to a report released by Thomson Reuters. The report points out how the share of mature economies like Japan, the US and Britain in the world's scientific literature is falling while developing states like China are muscling onto the scene.
Researchers see chimps waging ‘war’
WASHINGTON: Chimpanzees wage war, mercilessly killing members of neighbouring groups to expand their own territory, researchers reported. While biologists had long suspected that chimp violence could be more than random, the study in Current Biology provides the first clear evidence of this.
Now, scientists read your mind better than you can
WASHINGTON: Brain scans may be able to predict what you will do better than you can yourself, and might offer a powerful tool for advertisers or health officials seeking to motivate consumers, researchers said. They found a way to interpret "real time" brain images to show whether people who viewed messages about using sunscreen would actually use sunscreen during the following week.
Yellow sub finds clues to Antarctic glacier’s thaw
ATHENS: A yellow submarine has helped to solve a puzzle about one of Antarctica's fastest-melting glaciers, adding to concerns about how climate change may push up world sea levels, scientists said. The robot submarine, deployed under the ice shelf floating on the sea at the end of the Pine Island Glacier, found that the ice was no longer resting on a subsea ridge that had slowed the glacier's slide until the early 1970s.
Large study finds no cell phone mast link to cancer
LONDON: British scientists who conducted the largest study yet into cell phone masts and childhood cancers say that living close to a mast does not increase the risk of a pregnant woman's baby developing cancer. In a study looking at almost 7,000 children and patterns of early childhood cancers across Britain, the researchers found that those who developed cancer before the age of five were no more likely to have been born close to a mast than their peers.
— Reuters |
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A group of 60 scientists backed by environmental, health and women’s organisations from around the world have called for action to reduce exposure to a chemical in plastics found in everyday products.
In a letter to a European food watchdog, which is currently reviewing the safety of bisphenol A
(BPA), the group says that “many scientific studies are now calling into question the safety of BPA” and that only a minority of controversial academic papers have backed its safety.
ROME: Archaeologists and art restorers using new laser technology have discovered what they believe are the oldest paintings of the faces of Jesus Christ's apostles. The images in a branch of the catacombs of St Tecla near St Paul's Basilica, just outside the walls of ancient Rome, were painted at the end of the 4th century or the start of the 5th century.
