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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 19, 2014 at 5:46am

Few consumers realise that many cosmetic products, such as facial scrubs, toothpastes and shower gels, now contain many thousands of microplastic beads which have been deliberately added by the manufacturers of more than 100 consumer products over the past two decades.

Plastic microbeads, which are typically less than a millimetre wide and are too small to be filtered by sewage-treatment plants, are able to carry deadly toxins into the animals that ingest them, including those in the human food chain such as fish, mussels and crabs, scientists said.

While many people have assiduously tried to recycle their plastic waste, cosmetics companies have at the same time been quietly adding hundreds of cubic metres of plastics such as polyethylene to products that are deliberately designed to be washed into waste-water systems – one estimate suggests that, in the US alone, up to 1,200 cubic metres of microplastic beads are washed down the drains each year.

Scientists and environmentalists have started lobbying the industry to stop using plastic microbeads in exfoliant skin creams and washes, but with limited success – a relatively small number of firms have publicly agreed to phase them out, and even then have given themselves several years to do so.
These can persist in the environment for more than 100 years, and have been found to contaminate a wide variety of freshwater and marine wildlife.
Originally, the cosmetics industry used natural ingredients such as ground-up apricot kernels, crushed walnut shells and dried coconut as skin exfoliants – gentle abrasives that can remove dirt and dead layers of cells.

However, at some point in the late 1990s some companies quietly switched to plastic microbeads and the practice quickly spread to other firms and now includes most skin scrubs, polishes and soaps, even when they are not sold as skin exfoliants,

Microbeads, which are often labelled simply as "PE", "PP" or "PMMA" in the product ingredients, are now found in more than 100 toiletries and cosmetics. They are made by companies ranging from the big chemicals giants such as Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Unilever, and supermarket chains such as Sainsbury's, Tesco and Marks and Spencer, to high-end cosmetics firms such as Clarins and L'Oréal.

Richard Thompson, professor of marine biology at Plymouth University, said that plastic microbeads washed into waste water are a needless source of contamination given that there are viable alternatives which have already been used to do much the same job in terms of skin exfoliation.
Microplastic beads may also lead to the transfer of chemical contaminants into the animals that ingest the plastic. This is in addition to the physical damage done by the plastic itself. sometimes it's difficult to predict their effect until it begins to happen.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/exclusive-tiny-plastic-ti...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2014 at 8:27am

Water extraction for human use boosts California quakes

Extracting water for human activities is increasing the number of small earthquakes being triggered in California.

A new study suggests that the heavy use of ground water for pumping and irrigation is causing mountains to lift and valleys to subside.

The scientists say this depletion of the water is increasing seismic activity along the San Andreas fault.

They worry that over time this will hasten the occurrence of large quakes.

The report has been published in the journal Nature.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2014 at 8:09am

Scientists have discovered that children who are given antibiotics before their first birthday have an increased risk of developing asthma.

UK researchers examined data from the Manchester Asthma and Allergy Study (MAAS) which has followed over 1000 children from birth to 11 years.

Antibiotics are routinely given to children to treat respiratory infections, ear infections, and bronchitis.

The study's findings are believed to be the first to show that children with wheezing who were treated with an antibiotic in the first year of life were more than twice as likely as untreated children to experience severe wheeze or asthma exacerbations and be hospitalized for asthma.

Of particular interest was that these children also showed significantly lower induction of cytokines which are the bodies' key defence against virus infections such as the common cold. The researchers also identified two genes in the 17q21 region that were associated with an increased risk of early life antibiotic prescription.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2014 at 8:05am

Tiny earthquakes may follow groundwater loss
Tiny earthquakes may follow groundwater loss because of over use
As humans drain aquifers in the state’s Central Valley, the land — free of water weight — flexes upward, lifting the surrounding mountain ranges and possibly triggering tiny earthquakes, researchers suggest May 14 in Nature.

It’s the first time scientists have linked the region’s extensive groundwater pumping to mountain uplift and seismic activity, says geophysicist Kristy Tiampo of the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada.
and people say men are not responsible for all this mess:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tiny-earthquakes-may-follow-gro...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2014 at 7:18am

Environmental conditions may impact bird migration
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2014/05/14/environmental.condition...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2014 at 7:16am

Assemblage Time Series Reveal Biodiversity Change but Not Systematic Loss
The extent to which biodiversity change in local assemblages contributes to global biodiversity loss is poorly understood. We analyzed 100 time series from biomes across Earth to ask how diversity within assemblages is changing through time. We quantified patterns of temporal α diversity, measured as change in local diversity, and temporal β diversity, measured as change in community composition. Contrary to our expectations, we did not detect systematic loss of α diversity. However, community composition changed systematically through time, in excess of predictions from null models. Heterogeneous rates of environmental change, species range shifts associated with climate change, and biotic homogenization may explain the different patterns of temporal α and β diversity. Monitoring and understanding change in species composition should be a conservation priority.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6181/296.abstract

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 15, 2014 at 5:44am

What Makes Congress’s Latest Effort to Curb Science Funding So Dangerous?
A bill making its way through the House Science, Space and Technology Committee would set the country’s science agenda by favoring certain disciplines
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-makes-congress-s-lat...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 14, 2014 at 9:09am

Increasing CO2 threatens human nutrition
Researchers have found that the elevated carbon dioxide levels of 2050 could lead to lower levels of micronutrients and protein in staple crops.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13179...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 14, 2014 at 9:06am

Controlled dreams:
Scientists led by psychologist Ursula Voss of J.W. Goethe-University in Frankfurt, Germany, built on lab studies in which research volunteers in the REM (rapid-eye movement) stage of sleep experienced a lucid dream, as they reported when they awoke. Electroencephalograms showed that those dreams were accompanied by telltale electrical activity called gamma waves.

Those brain-waves are related to executive functions such as higher-order thinking, as well as awareness of one's mental state. But they are almost unheard of in REM sleep.

Voss and her colleagues therefore asked, if gamma waves occur naturally during lucid dreaming, what would happen if they induced a current with the same frequency as gamma waves in dreaming brains?

When they did, via electrodes on the scalp in a technique called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), the 27 volunteers reported that they were aware that they were dreaming. The volunteers were also able to control the dream plot by, say, throwing some clothes on their dream self before going to work. They also felt as if their dream self was a third party whom they were merely observing.

Voss does not foresee a commercial market in lucid-dreaming machines. Devices currently sold "do not work well," she said in an interview, and those that deliver electrical stimulation to the brain, like the one in her study, "should always be monitored by a physician."

But if the results hold up, the technique might help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, who often have terrifying dreams in which they re-play the traumatic experience. If they can dream lucidly, they might be able to bring about a different outcome, such as turning down a different street than the one with the roadside bomb or ducking into a restaurant before the rapist attacks them.

"By learning how to control the dream and distance oneself from the dream," Voss said, PTSD patients could reduce the emotional impact and begin to recover.
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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 14, 2014 at 7:25am

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