I read "Can playing in the dirt make you smarter?" and was even more convinced that a daily dose of nature is important in our mental and physical well-being. It is even more important in Singapore as we live in high-rise apartments and do not come into contact with soil and gardening is not in our list of things to do everyday or even on weekends.
"The science supporting the mental health benefits of gardening and outdoor activities in general just gets stronger with each new study. We need to help our kids -- and ourselves -- recover from what author Richard Louv (Last Child in the Woods) calls "nature deficit disorder."
These studies encourage all of us to support our local communities by building a school garden at every educational institution in our area, increasing the availability of community gardens for everyone who wants a plot of soil to dig their fingers into and -- perhaps most important -- shrinking our lawns and growing some of our own food."
Hi, In 1859, a geomagnetic storm sparked by a huge solar flare swept over the Earth. Telegraph wires shorted out and set houses on fire. A brilliant aurora was seen in Hawaii—so bright that "people could read newspapers by [its] red and green glow."
Scientists predict that in May 2013, the sun's solar cycle will peak at about the same level as in 1859.
Next week, scientists will meet at the Space Weather Enterprise Forum to talk about how to monitor and predict so-called "space weather"—solar flares, interplanetary magnetic fields, etc.
They predict a marked increase in solar storms over the next few years. According to NASA scientist Richard Fisher: "The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity."
This is bad news for anyone who likes electronic things.
We're so dependent on technology hooked up to satellites, which can be disabled or destroyed by huge waves of charged particles spit out by the sun during a solar storm: GPS, cell phones—even credit card transactions use a satellite. A severe solar storm will knock out commercial satellites, blow down transformers, power lines, "leaving millions of people in northern latitudes without power."
I was very shocked by an article I read in The Economist June 5th 2010. Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite carried by cats and rats and mice. It is like Plasmodium that causes malaria in human beings. However Toxoplasma affects cats and rodents in its normal life cycle. However, if it gets into humans, it forms cysts in the brain, liver and muscles.
Its effects on the rodents is a bizarre and fatal attraction to cats! Infected rats have been shown to be attracted to the smell of cats. These rodents wander around the cat to draw attention towards them so that they will be eaten!!
In this way the parasite makes the rodent complete its life cycle.
Of course humans are not preys of cats. However when the parasites infects the brains of humans, it produces a number of strange and crazy problems.
(1)Schizophrenia is a form of severe mental problem or madness. Scientists in Johns Hopkins University proved that people who suffer from schizophrenia are 3 times more likely to be infected with toxoplasma.
(2)Scientists at Charles University in Prague proved that people involved in road accidents are 3 times more likely to be infected with toxoplasma. This is due to reduced reaction times and short attention spans of the drivers.
(3)Dopamine is a chemical molecule produced by nerve cells. It has psychotic effects. Infection with toxoplasma produces a reduction in "novelty-seeking" effect. When blood tests were conducted in different countries, the British had a infection score of only 6.6% and we all know that the Brits are calm and not easily excited (-0.8). On the other hand the French has a infection score of 45% and they are known to be outgoing and excitable.
As every science student is taught from the beginning, correlation is not causation. It could be that the symptoms are found to be more common amongst the susceptible or due to some third as yet unidentified variable.
The sun is the ultimate source of energy that powers all food chains. Sunlight energy is captured by green plants and passed on to the other organisms along the food chains. Without this original (asal) energy there will be no energy to power (sakti) ecosystems.
The painting at top shows how Man and his machines could easily destroy the delicate and beautiful balance of Nature, which we can crush as easily as soap bubbles.
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