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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 10, 2015 at 5:24am

Did you think CNG is safe? Then think again says CSIR chief.

Exhaust from CNG vehicles contains nano carbon particles, needs to be studied seriously: CSIR chief

The natural gas (CNG)-run buses are harmful for humans as they emit 'nano carbon' particles which can cause cancer, according to a study conducted by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Though the study was conducted on a very limited sample size in Delhi, CSIR took the findings seriously owing to the health hazard it poses to humans and alerted the Central government for further follow up, CSIR's Director General Dr M O Garg said on 7th Aug., 2015.

A study conducted by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) claims buses that run on compressed natural gas (CNG) emit 'nanocarbon' particles that can cause cancer. While the study was conducted on a limited sample size in Delhi, CSIR alerted the central government due to the severity of the threat it poses to the health of the residents.

The study was conducted along with a professor from Alberta University, who has developed a device to measure and analyze particles emitted by vehicles. This machine was installed on the exhaust of a natural gas-run DTC bus in Delhi.

The study can change the perception that natural gas is a clean fuel as it does not emit any visible smoke, which is in contrast to smoke emitted by diesel-run vehicles and perceived as harmful for humans.

He explained, "Natural gas is supposed to be a clean fuel when used in internal combustion engines, right? But, I don't think people realize that what you see (smoke) is perhaps better than what you don't see (no smoke from CNG vehicles). Can you imagine that we found nanocarbon particles coming out of from natural gas combustion. These particles are moving around in the atmosphere and going straight into your lungs through your nose. It then enters into your blood through membranes."

Dr Garg said these nanocarbon particles are carcinogenic, and the government has been alerted about its effects.

Warning : But this is not a published work. Just a speculation. And my instincts tell something is wrong here and it could be an erroneous  representation of facts - Krishna.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 8, 2015 at 8:44am

Top 10 Science Moments on The Daily Show [Video]
(Jon Stewart's)

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/jon-stewart-s-top-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 8, 2015 at 8:30am

Scientists reveal their most embarrassing mistakes in the field
https://twitter.com/hashtag/fieldworkfail?vertical=default
Twitter hashtag #fieldworkfail.

Caused two fire accidents while using inflammable chemicals. Made all my colleagues run away #fieldworkfail

#FieldWorkFail proves science is a horrifyingly messy process

Being a scientist isn't always such a glamorous job. This new hasht...

The best thing on Twitter right now: #fieldworkfail recounts brilliant stories of science gone wrong.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 7, 2015 at 6:45am

Here we eat lots of spices. And it seems that is good for living a long time!

Consumption of spicy foods and total and cause specific mortality: population based cohort study

http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h3942

Spicy food in the diet seems to contribute to longevity, a study of thousands of people in a Chinese registry finds.

Men who ate spicy food at least once a week were 10 percent less likely to die during the seven-year study period than were those with a more bland diet. Women had a mortality decrease of 12 to 22 percent during the study period with regular spicy food consumption, and eating it three or more times a week was associated with the biggest decrease.

These observational data don’t establish that spicy foods reduces mortality. But the findings suggest that men who ate spicy food three or more times a week had fewer fatal respiratory diseases.  For women, the strongest associations were seen in respiratory and cardiac diseases and infections.

The scientists speculate that capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers, might underlie the benefits.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 30, 2015 at 9:26am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 28, 2015 at 9:24am

Cooking rice by repeatedly flushing it through with fresh hot water can remove much of the grain’s stored arsenic, researchers have found—a tip that could lessen levels of the toxic substance in one of the world’s most popular foods.
Rice takes up more arsenic (which occurs naturally in water and soil as part of an inorganic compound) than do other grains. High levels of arsenic in food have been linked to different types of cancer, and other health problems.
The findings are reported in PLoS ONE.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 25, 2015 at 11:35am

''Inferior frontal gyrus''. What is it? A brain area. Why is it important?
Because it makes us what we are, yes, human beings!
Neuroscientists recently have identified an area of the brain that might give the human mind its unique abilities, including language. The area lit up in human, but not monkey, brains when they were presented with different types of abstract information.
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2815%290072...

Wang, L., Uhrig, L., Jarraya, B. & Dehaene, S. Curr. Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.06.035 (2015).

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 24, 2015 at 8:37am

Some interesting news that says to get better research results more than 50 scientists have created a website to help biologists avoid poor-quality chemical reagents that undermine experiments in molecular biology and drug discovery.
http://www.chemicalprobes.org/
Chemical probes are small molecules designed to bind to a specific protein and disrupt its function. They are valuable tools for biologists trying to find out what a particular protein does in a cell, or for drug-discoverers gauging whether interfering with a function could form the basis of a therapy. But probes often interfere with unintended proteins, and their reliability can vary by cell type and by species. That can lead scientists who rely on such probes to make—and publish—unwarranted conclusions.
Unreliable probes have earlier led to thousands of papers with uninterpretable results as well as a failed clinical trials.
The new portal will recommend probes for use with particular proteins as well as specify recommended experimental systems and concentrations at which to use the reagents.
http://www.nature.com/news/scientists-unite-to-warn-against-flawed-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 24, 2015 at 8:09am

Genes influence academic ability across all subjects
Scientists have shown that the genes influencing numerical skills are the same ones that determine abilities in reading, arts and humanities.

A recent study suggests that if you have an academic Achilles heel, environmental factors such as a teaching are more likely to be to blame.

The findings add to growing evidence that school performance has a large heritable component, with around 60% of the differences in pupil’s GCSE results being explained by genetic factors.
Although scientists are yet to pinpoint specific genes, the latest work, published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggests that the same ones are involved across subjects.

''Pleiotropy across academic subjects at the end of compulsory education''
http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150723/srep11713/full/srep11713.html

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 23, 2015 at 7:32am

This is another magic of science: Removing cataracts without surgery! The “fog” often seen by patients who have cataracts is a glob of broken proteins, stuck together in a malfunctioning clump. When healthy, these proteins, called crystallins, help the eye’s lens keep its structure and transparency. But as humans and animals alike get older, these crystallin proteins start to come unglued and lose their ability to function. Then they clump together and form a sheathlike obstruction in the lens, causing the signature “steamy glass” vision that accompanies cataracts. Currently, the only treatment for cataracts is surgery—lasers or scalpels cut away the molecular grout that builds in the eye as cataracts develop, and surgeons sometimes replace the lens. But now, a team of scientists and ophthalmologists has tested a solution in dogs that may be able to dissolve the cataract right out of the eye’s lens. And the solution is itself a solution: a steroid-based eye drop.
A research team led by University of California (UC), San Diego, molecular biologist Ling Zhao came up with the eye drop idea after finding that children with a genetically inherited form of cataracts shared a mutation that stopped the production of lanosterol, an important steroid in the body. When their parents did not have the same mutation, the adults produced lanosterol and had no cataracts.

So the researchers wondered: What if lanosterol helped prevent or reduce cataracts? The team tested a lanosterol-laden solution in three separate experiments. First, they used human lens cells to test how effectively lanosterol shrank lab models of cataracts. They saw a significant decrease. Then, they progressed to rabbits suffering from cataracts. At the end of the 6-day experiment, 11 of 13 rabbits had gone from having severe or significant cataracts to mild cataracts or no cataracts at all. Finally, the team moved on to dogs, using a group of seven, including black Labs, Queensland Heelers, and Miniature Pinschers with naturally occurring cataracts. The dogs responded just as the researchers hoped to the lanosterol solution, which was given in the form of both eye injections and eye drops. The dogs’ lenses showed the same type of dissolving pattern as the human and rabbit lens cells.
The improvement was remarkable—researchers could tell just by looking at the dogs’ eyes that the cataracts had decreased. But the exact mechanism of how lanosterol manages to disperse the mass of proteins remains unknown.
http://news.sciencemag.org/health/2015/07/eye-drops-could-dissolve-...

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