Hi,
We have always been told that oily foods make us fat; carbohydrates like noodles, and rice are not that fattening as fried foods. See the graph below which shows otherwise.
Source: www.sciencenews.org
Cheers
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Growing food in your own cities or uban farming
Hi,
"By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth’s population will reside in urban centres. The human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. If we don’t learn how to [vertical farm] soon, these will become horrible places."
According the UN, the amount of arable land per person decreased from about an acre in 1970 to roughly half an acre in 2000 and is projected to decline to about a third of an acre by 2050.
There will simply not be enough farmland to feed us.
Vertical farming also uses a fraction of the water land farming does. Countries that are "water challenged" will implement this type of farming in the near future says most scientists.
Click on this to read more about The High Rise Urban Farms of the Future.
Cheers
"By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth’s population will reside in urban centres. The human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. If we don’t learn how to [vertical farm] soon, these will become horrible places."
According the UN, the amount of arable land per person decreased from about an acre in 1970 to roughly half an acre in 2000 and is projected to decline to about a third of an acre by 2050.
There will simply not be enough farmland to feed us.
Vertical farming also uses a fraction of the water land farming does. Countries that are "water challenged" will implement this type of farming in the near future says most scientists.
Click on this to read more about The High Rise Urban Farms of the Future.
Cheers
360 degree stereoscopic vision is the answer
Hi,
Why do humans, owls and tigers have forward facing eyes? Deer, cows, and antelopes have eyes on the sides of their faces?
The answer: Stereoscopic vision is important for hunters; a wide field of vision is important for herbivores to detect and escape from their predators
When both eyes face forward, the fields of vision of the two eyes will overlap. This gives rise to a sensation of depth or distance. This is important if a predator is to catch its prey. Hunters need this acute sense of distance/depth.
In the case of prey animals, their food organism does not run away. (Plants are rooted to the ground.) However herbivores have to be on the look out for the predators and hence the importance of a wide field of vision.
Then the question is why do hammer-head sharks have eyes which are so far apart that it does not seem to give them stereoscopic vision. BTW, these sharks are avid hunters that chase and catch fast swimming and agile prey such as squids and ray fish.
To find out more on this click Why the hammerhead shark got its hammer
Cheers
Why do humans, owls and tigers have forward facing eyes? Deer, cows, and antelopes have eyes on the sides of their faces?
The answer: Stereoscopic vision is important for hunters; a wide field of vision is important for herbivores to detect and escape from their predators
When both eyes face forward, the fields of vision of the two eyes will overlap. This gives rise to a sensation of depth or distance. This is important if a predator is to catch its prey. Hunters need this acute sense of distance/depth.
In the case of prey animals, their food organism does not run away. (Plants are rooted to the ground.) However herbivores have to be on the look out for the predators and hence the importance of a wide field of vision.
Then the question is why do hammer-head sharks have eyes which are so far apart that it does not seem to give them stereoscopic vision. BTW, these sharks are avid hunters that chase and catch fast swimming and agile prey such as squids and ray fish.
To find out more on this click Why the hammerhead shark got its hammer
Cheers
Labels:
eye,
predator,
prey,
shark,
stereoscopic vision
Why some of us do not get allergies or sick so often but others do.
Hi,
The latest work by Denise Kelly, a gut immunologist at the University of Aberdeen, UK supports the theory that gut microbiota influences our immune function and susceptibility to diseases and allergies.
Glenn Gibson, a food microbiologist at the University of Reading, UK, agrees that previous studies have "shown by implication" that immune responses are linked to organisms in the gut. He went further to tally the gene expression response into this theory.
Kelly argues that the similarities between the organisms found in human and pig guts and their comparable size in organs, makes pigs a good model animal to study. In future studies, she hopes to further identify the types of organisms that are associated with health.
Click here to read more on Dirty pigs are healthy pigs.
Cheers
The latest work by Denise Kelly, a gut immunologist at the University of Aberdeen, UK supports the theory that gut microbiota influences our immune function and susceptibility to diseases and allergies.
Glenn Gibson, a food microbiologist at the University of Reading, UK, agrees that previous studies have "shown by implication" that immune responses are linked to organisms in the gut. He went further to tally the gene expression response into this theory.
Kelly argues that the similarities between the organisms found in human and pig guts and their comparable size in organs, makes pigs a good model animal to study. In future studies, she hopes to further identify the types of organisms that are associated with health.
Click here to read more on Dirty pigs are healthy pigs.
Cheers
Labels:
allergy,
gene expression,
genetic diseases,
immune system
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Nikola Tesla- the inventer extraordinary
Hi,
Many of us do not know about the great dreamer and much misunderstood scientist, Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943).
One of his memorable demonstrations was in 1891 when he showed his wireless transmission of power and energy. Wireless light bulbs were lighting up powered by the electrical field surrounding them!
That is unimaginable even now, 66 years after his death.
Click here to read more about Nikola Tesla's 300 patents.
Cheers
Many of us do not know about the great dreamer and much misunderstood scientist, Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943).
One of his memorable demonstrations was in 1891 when he showed his wireless transmission of power and energy. Wireless light bulbs were lighting up powered by the electrical field surrounding them!
That is unimaginable even now, 66 years after his death.
Click here to read more about Nikola Tesla's 300 patents.
Cheers
Labels:
dreamer,
electrical field,
Nikola Tesla,
patent,
scientist,
wireless light bulb
Things you did not know about lipids or fats
Hi,
1 The root of obesity: Depending on gender and how active they are, adults should eat 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day only.
2 People who regularly eat dinner or breakfast in restaurants double their risk of becoming obese.
3 Being overweight reduces a woman’s chances of getting pregnant.
4 Each year nearly millions are spent on diet programs.
5 Biology is trying to help too. Leptin is a hunger-slaking hormone pumped into the bloodstream by fat cells. The more fat you have, the more leptin you make and the less hungry you feel.
6 Want to get your hands on some leptin? The hormone never panned out as a diet aid because most overweight people have become insensitive to it.
7 Over the course of a year, about 10 percent of an adult’s fat cells die. Alas, the body promptly replaces them.
8 The total number of fat cells in your body remains constant once you reach adulthood. Even after radical weight-loss procedures such as stomach stapling, fat cells return to their presurgery numbers within two years.
9 Try the vacuum instead. Liposuction is the only way to actually reduce the number of fat cells in your spare tire. Diet and exercise just shrink them.
10 New Zealander Pete Bethune gave a whole new meaning to biofuel when he used his liposuctioned fat to power the world’s fastest eco-boat. A way to solve the obesity epidemic and the fuel crisis?
11 It may make you prettier, but not healthier. Liposuction doesn’t remove fat from around the internal organs, so your fat-related health risks are unchanged.
12 Blame Mom and Dad. Obesity is more heritable than schizophrenia, high blood pressure, and alcoholism.
13 Cutting saturated fat intake to the recommended 10 percent of your calories will prolong your life, but only by a few months at most, researchers found.
14 The brain is about 70 percent fat.
15 Bottlenose dolphins use fatty tissue in the head, concentrated in an organ called the melon, to focus sound waves, giving them their sonar ability.
16 Think you have a spare tire? Whales are wrapped in fat—a thick layer of blubber—as vital insulation against the cold. Some whales have a blubber layer up to 20 inches thick.
17 Camels have the opposite problem: Living in hot climates, they want as little heat-trapping insulation as possible, so they concentrate their fat in their humps.
Cheers
1 The root of obesity: Depending on gender and how active they are, adults should eat 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day only.
2 People who regularly eat dinner or breakfast in restaurants double their risk of becoming obese.
3 Being overweight reduces a woman’s chances of getting pregnant.
4 Each year nearly millions are spent on diet programs.
5 Biology is trying to help too. Leptin is a hunger-slaking hormone pumped into the bloodstream by fat cells. The more fat you have, the more leptin you make and the less hungry you feel.
6 Want to get your hands on some leptin? The hormone never panned out as a diet aid because most overweight people have become insensitive to it.
7 Over the course of a year, about 10 percent of an adult’s fat cells die. Alas, the body promptly replaces them.
8 The total number of fat cells in your body remains constant once you reach adulthood. Even after radical weight-loss procedures such as stomach stapling, fat cells return to their presurgery numbers within two years.
9 Try the vacuum instead. Liposuction is the only way to actually reduce the number of fat cells in your spare tire. Diet and exercise just shrink them.
10 New Zealander Pete Bethune gave a whole new meaning to biofuel when he used his liposuctioned fat to power the world’s fastest eco-boat. A way to solve the obesity epidemic and the fuel crisis?
11 It may make you prettier, but not healthier. Liposuction doesn’t remove fat from around the internal organs, so your fat-related health risks are unchanged.
12 Blame Mom and Dad. Obesity is more heritable than schizophrenia, high blood pressure, and alcoholism.
13 Cutting saturated fat intake to the recommended 10 percent of your calories will prolong your life, but only by a few months at most, researchers found.
14 The brain is about 70 percent fat.
15 Bottlenose dolphins use fatty tissue in the head, concentrated in an organ called the melon, to focus sound waves, giving them their sonar ability.
16 Think you have a spare tire? Whales are wrapped in fat—a thick layer of blubber—as vital insulation against the cold. Some whales have a blubber layer up to 20 inches thick.
17 Camels have the opposite problem: Living in hot climates, they want as little heat-trapping insulation as possible, so they concentrate their fat in their humps.
Cheers
Labels:
brain,
camel,
fat cell,
fats,
insulation against heat loss,
leptin,
liposuction,
obesity,
stomach stapling,
stored energy,
whale
The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes
I would like to share this moving speech by Severn Suzuki. She is a member of ECO, Environmental Children's Organisation which comprises 12 and 13 year olds in Canada. She spoke at the United Nations Earth Summit when she was 12 years old.
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Cheers
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Cheers
Labels:
conservation,
environmental sustainability,
extinction,
greed
Cheeky illustrations
Is the appendix really a useless vestige?
Hi,
Scientists answer this question with an emphatic no.
The appendix, they said, is a safe haven where good bacteria could hang out until they were needed to repopulate the gut after a nasty case of diarrhoea, for example. BTW, do you know that we have about 1 kg of good bacteria in our alimentary canal, mostly in the large intestine or colon? (Herbivores such as cows and sheep depend on these bacteria to digest the cellulose cell walls of the vegetation that these animals depend on for their nutrition.)
Appendicitis, or inflammation of the appendix, is not due to a faulty appendix, but rather due to cultural changes associated with industrialized society and improved sanitation. "Those changes left our immune systems with too little work and too much time their hands – a recipe for trouble," says William Parker of Duke University.
We had no way of knowing until the mid 1980's that the function of the appendix could be rendered obsolete by cultural changes that included widespread use of sewer systems and clean drinking water.
To prevent appendicitis the answer may lie in devising ways to challenge our immune systems today in much the same manner that they were challenged back in the Stone Age. "If modern medicine could figure out a way to do that, we would see far fewer cases of allergies, autoimmune disease, and appendicitis." (Childhood asthma, lupus disease, eczema are some autoimmune diseases common in Singapore.)
William Parker of Duke University is the senior author of this study.
Cheers
Scientists answer this question with an emphatic no.
The appendix, they said, is a safe haven where good bacteria could hang out until they were needed to repopulate the gut after a nasty case of diarrhoea, for example. BTW, do you know that we have about 1 kg of good bacteria in our alimentary canal, mostly in the large intestine or colon? (Herbivores such as cows and sheep depend on these bacteria to digest the cellulose cell walls of the vegetation that these animals depend on for their nutrition.)
Appendicitis, or inflammation of the appendix, is not due to a faulty appendix, but rather due to cultural changes associated with industrialized society and improved sanitation. "Those changes left our immune systems with too little work and too much time their hands – a recipe for trouble," says William Parker of Duke University.
We had no way of knowing until the mid 1980's that the function of the appendix could be rendered obsolete by cultural changes that included widespread use of sewer systems and clean drinking water.
To prevent appendicitis the answer may lie in devising ways to challenge our immune systems today in much the same manner that they were challenged back in the Stone Age. "If modern medicine could figure out a way to do that, we would see far fewer cases of allergies, autoimmune disease, and appendicitis." (Childhood asthma, lupus disease, eczema are some autoimmune diseases common in Singapore.)
William Parker of Duke University is the senior author of this study.
Cheers
Labels:
appendicitis,
asthma,
eczema,
good bacteria,
immune system,
lupus disease
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