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Love thy neighbor: It could lower your risk of stroke

By Guest PostSeptember 16, 2013Healthchristopher peterson, diabetes, eric kim, heart problems, high blood pressure, love thy neighbor, lower, nansook park, neighborhood, neighborhood social cohesion, people, psychological factors, risk of stroke, social climate, social environment, trustworthy, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR — Here’s some neighborly advice for adults over age 50: Stay friendly with your neighbors.

A new University of Michigan study shows that adults in this age bracket who live in a good neighborhood with trustworthy people lowered their risk of stroke up to 48 percent.

Feeling connected with neighbors builds what researchers describe as “neighborhood social cohesion.” The trust and connection with neighbors was associated with a reduced risk of stroke above and beyond the effects of negative psychological factors—such as depression and anxiety, said Eric Kim, a doctoral student in the U-M Department of Psychology and the study’s lead author. (more…)

The final nail in the Jurassic Park coffin

By Guest PostSeptember 16, 2013Sciencecontaminating modern molecules, copal, david penney, dna expert, dna from ambers, dna from insects, dna molecules, dna sequencing, final nail, jurassic park coffin, jurassic park scenario, pcr, polymerase chain reaction, recreating dinosaurs, sub fossilized insects, terry brown, university of manchester

It is hardly possible to talk about fossil insects in amber without the 1993 movie Jurassic Park entering the debate.

The idea of recreating dinosaurs by extracting DNA from insects in amber has held the fascination of the public for two decades. Claims for successful extraction of DNA from ambers up to 130 million-years-old by various scientists in the early 1990s were only seriously questioned when a study at the Natural History Museum, London, was unable to replicate the process. The original claims are now considered by many to be a text-book example of modern contaminant DNA in the samples. Nonetheless, some scientists hold fast to their original claims.

Research just published in the journal The Public Library of Science ONE (PLOS ONE) by a team of researchers from the Faculty of Life Sciences at The University of Manchester can now confirm that the existence of DNA in amber fossils is highly unlikely. The team led by amber expert Dr David Penney and co-ordinated by ancient DNA expert Professor Terry Brown used highly-sensitive ‘next generation’ sequencing techniques – the most advance type of DNA sequencing – on insects in copal, the sub-fossilized resin precursor of amber. (more…)

Wohnungsputz für Meise und Kleiber

By Guest PostSeptember 15, 2013Naturebrutzeit, guten stube, kleiber, meise, nabu, voegel, vogel nistkaesten, waldmaus, wohnungsputz

Der Spätsommer ist die richtige Zeit, die Vogel-Nistkästen zu reinigen

Im September hat der auch der letzte Vogelnachwuchs die Nistkästen verlassen. Nun gilt es, alte Nester mitsamt den darin lebenden Parasiten wie Vogelflöhen, Milben und Zecken aus den Kästen und Höhlen zu entfernen, damit die Vogelbrut im kommenden Jahr nicht übermäßig befallen wird.

Zum Reinigen dürfen niemals scharfe chemische Reinigungsmittel oder gar Desinfektionsmittel verwendet werden. Es reicht, wenn der Kasten gründlich ausgefegt wird. Bei starkem Parasitenbefall kann man auch mit klarem Wasser und gegebenenfalls etwas Sodalauge ausspülen. Anschließend sollte das Kasteninnere gut austrocknen können. Schließlich muss der Nistkasten nicht unsere Hygiene-Vorstellungen der eigenen “guten Stube” erfüllen. (more…)

How Yale doctors are making CT scans safer for kids

By Guest PostSeptember 15, 2013Healthct scan radiation, pediatric ct scans, pediatric imaging, pediatric radiation, radiation exposure, radiation induced cancer, yale doctors

Greater awareness and careful usage are bringing down the numbers of pediatric CT scans and cutting radiation exposure. Parents should weigh the benefits and risks.

(September 2013) If your child had a CT scan last year—perhaps to assess damage from a hockey injury or rule out appendicitis—he or she added to a huge statistic: more than 4 million pediatric CT scans were performed in the U.S in 2012. (more…)

Movement of marine life follows speed and direction of climate change

By Guest PostSeptember 15, 2013Environmentbering sea, biological data, british columbia, changes in temperature, climate change, climate data, climate velocity, daniel pauly, direction, geological features, gulf of alaska, jorge sarmiento, malin pinsky, marine life, movement, ocean temperature move, predictions, princeton university, Rutgers University, simon levin, speed, survey data, temperature change, united states, university, warmer oceans

Scientists expect climate change and warmer oceans to push the fish that people rely on for food and income into new territory. Predictions of where and when species will relocate, however, are based on broad expectations about how animals will move and have often not played out in nature. New research based at Princeton University shows that the trick to more precise forecasts is to follow local temperature changes.

The researchers report in the journal Science the first evidence that sea creatures consistently keep pace with “climate velocity,” or the speed and direction in which changes such as ocean temperature move. They compiled 43 years of data related to the movement of 128 million animals from 360 species living around North America, including commercial staples such as lobster, shrimp and cod. They found that 70 percent of shifts in animals’ depth and 74 percent of changes in latitude correlated with regional-scale fluctuations in ocean temperature. (more…)

Hurricane research

By Guest PostSeptember 15, 2013Environmentdavidson model, duration of hurricane, dynamic, engineering model, flooding maps, hurricane research, hurricane scenarios, rachel davidson, rainfall, storm progress, tricia wachtendorf, university of delaware, wind speeds change

Team studies new methods to support hurricane evacuation decision-making

Hurricanes are dynamic. Wind speeds change as the storm progresses and rainfall varies widely, creating tremendous uncertainty as the natural elements interact with man and man-made infrastructure.

Roads may close, traffic patterns may change, leading to travel delays that could impact lives and exacerbate public safety.

And yet researchers, policy makers and government officials have long relied on a static model to map hurricanes and chart evacuation zones, particularly when it comes to timing and decision-making. (more…)

Rainfall in South Pacific Was More Variable Before 20th Century

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2013Environmentanthropogenic climate change, climate variability, cycle of rainfall, rainfall variability, solar dimming

AUSTIN, Texas — A new reconstruction of climate in the South Pacific during the past 446 years shows rainfall varied much more dramatically before the start of the 20^thcentury than after. The finding, based on an analysis of a cave formation called a stalagmite from the island nation of Vanuatu, could force climate modelers to adjust their models. The models are adjusted to match the current levels of climate variability that are smaller now than they were in the recent past for this region. (more…)

Impressionen aus dem Bergnebelwald

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2013Naturearabica kaffee, bergnebelwald, bmu, iki, internationale klimaschutzinitiative, kafa biosphaerenreservat, klimaschutz, nabu, suedwesten aethiopiens, wildkaffee

Die Schönheit des Kafa-Biosphärenreservats in Äthiopien in bewegten Bildern

Im Kafa-Biosphärenreservat, inmitten der immergrünen Bergnebelwälder, wächst und gedeiht der Wildkaffee. Die Ursprungsregion des Arabica-Kaffee beherbergt eine atemberaubende Tier- und Pflanzenwelt: Flusspferde, Baumfarne, Affen, Wildkaffee, exotische Vögel und Löwen. Genießen Sie fantastische Ausblicke über die Weiten der Berge und Wälder, faszinierende Kulturen und traditionelle Kaffeezeremonien. Kommen auch Sie nach Kafa und erleben diese einzigartige Gegend, fernab ausgetretener Touristenpfade. (more…)

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