Childhood Obesity is a real Bummer!

I love listening to NPR in the car but I actually found this article on their health blog. Childhood obesity has been a growing problem through out the years-especially in the United States. This program called the Packard Pediatric Weight Control Program and it helps families deal with what types of foods are healthy for kids to consume on a daily basis. Not only does this program help kids make the right choice about what they should be eating, but it reminds them that daily exercise and staying active is essential to live a healthy life. These parents signed their kids up for this six month program because they're in the highest percentile for BMI. It's awesome that there are programs like this to help kids but also a little scary because of how bad obesity within children has been getting! According to the CDC, childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years! That is absolutely insane!!! To find out more about childhood obesity and how to help prevent it, here are a few factual websites!
http://www.cdc.gov/

http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/obesity-prevention?gclid=CN_SuKOw36wCFQnf4Aod4D1omw

Genetic Study Confirms First Dogs Came From East Asia

Man's best friend is always there for us but did you ever wonder where he came from? In this article it explains that researchers at Sweden's KTH Royal Institute of Technology say they found proof that dogs (ancestor of the wolf) have been traced back to Southern East Asia. According to the article it says " Our analysis of Y- chromosomal DNA now confirms that wolves were first domesticated in Asia south of Yangtze River we call it the ASY region in southern China or Southeast Asia." Peter Savolainen and Mattias Oskarsson were working with Chinese colleagues and analyzed the DNA from all male dogs all across the world. According to the results half of the gene pool was said to be universally shared everywhere in the world but the ASY region had the entire range of genetic diversity. What all this means basically is that it shows us that all the gene pools out there basically originate from the ASY region. So with the information given it is a safe bet to assume that this was in fact the origin of the domestication. It's amazing to think how we can come up with unbelievable information like this just by looking into DNA and genetics. We have some brilliant minds working out there.

New compound defeats drug-resistant bacteria

After reading this article all you can do is just be amazed of the intelligence of these chemists who came up with this. According to the article a number of chemists at at Brown University synthesized this new compound that can make drug resistant bacteria susceptible again to antibiotics. As we all know all species big and small have evolved and have made adaptations over time. Bacteria like all living things have adapted as well and medication that once killed the bacteria can now sometimes prove to do nothing because of the evolution the bacteria has made to become immune to it. What these chemists have done is amazing. They have created this new compound which means that now old antibiotics that use to be unsuccessful can now once again prove to effect the bacteria once again. Thanks to these chemists at Brown university and found a way to defeat the drug-resistant bacteria we now dont have to do the more expensive option which would of been to make a new and more costly antibiotic. So our advancement in medicine continues and proves to continue to do so as our race goes on.

Russia's Soyuz capsule lands in Kazakhstan

This article is about a Russian spacecraft that landed safety in Kazakhstan, bring back astronauts from the International Space Station. Soyuz is a series of spacecraft design by the Soviet Space Program in the 1960s and is still used today. It is the main transportation to the International Space Station.

The spacecraft was carrying US astronaut Mike Fossum, Japan's Satoshi Furukawa, and Russia's Sergei Volkov. They spent 165 days in space. Their replacement, two Russian and one American, will arrive at the International Space Station on Wednesday. The Spacecraft landed at 8:47 am on Monday the 21st.

This voyage was the first manned voyage since August. When a cargo rocket crashed shortly after launching.

How Flies Fly

Flies have to flap their wings very fast in order to move, but muscles control all body movements, including wing oscillations. Flight movement is different and unique to flies. Their contractions are regulated by nerve impluses, and uniquely controlled by tension. There are 2 categories of flight muscles which enables wing oscillations. One type moves the wings down and at the same time stretches the wing, which includes contraction. The wing is then pulled up and stablizes flight. Also unique to a fruit fly is is a protein in their genetic information called "spalt." Spalt is what makes a fly fly. With out spalt a fly can still survive but they are flighless. An average fruit fly moves at a frequency of 200 hertz time per second. No wonder why these pesky little flies always get away when you want to swat them away.

16-Foot-Python Killed In Florida; Deer Found In Stomachach

In this article you'll find a mind blowing story along with photos of a 15.65 Foot Python that was shot and killed in the Everglades! They cut the stomach open of this Burmese Python that had a small deer inside of it, and it was still fully intact! The deer weighed in at 76 pounds and the snake at 215.4 with the deer, 139.1 without the deer. Though it is illegal to kill an animal like this, officials used a shot gun to kill the python for they feared the species reproducing and moving further north and becoming a threat to people and properties. Officials say people get these snakes as pets often times and with how rapidly they grow over a year span they let them loose in fear of them growing out of their tanks or cages. When they let them free in the wilderness is when they become dangerous like this one. In 2009 a couple in south florida was found guilty for the death of a 2 year old toddler who was strangled by their pet snake who got loose one day. Though they make good pets, you need to beware of how dangerous a Python can be!

Cleaning Up Pollution: Bad For Our Health?

I found this article to be not only interesting but a little bit confusing! This article talks about how we could actually be making global warming worse because we're trying to clean up the air. A new study shows that aerosols, which are pollutants that go up smokestacks, influence how much carbon dioxide gets taken out of the air by plants and in the ocean. Climate researcher, Natalie Mahowald, says that these aerosols can add nutrients to the air but while in the air, they could change the climate. To me, it's confusing that while we're trying to clean up pollution, in the long run it may not be good for the planet. How do we determine what is best for our society at this present time then?? Confusing!! If you're interested in learning more about global warming, check out this website. The National Wildlife Federation talks about the facts of global warming on different species of animals. It's pretty cool. Also, there is this website that talks about how to make your "carbon footprint" smaller.

Biggest Model of E. Coli Ever!

Birmingham, Alabama now holds the largest model of E. Coli ever! Its not the real, thing but it's a giant scale that is over 5 meters long and 2 meters wide. This model is magnified ocer 2 million times. This can be seen at Aston University, right outside of the city. It was designed by microbiologist, Dr. Henry Tribe. It displays protein and DNA, as well as other molecules of E. Coli that humans can't normally see. Dr. Henr Tribe believes that it is a great way for the public to see and understand what E. Coli is. It has capabilities that include creating 1850 different proterins in a half hour and it is capable of "swimming" at 1000 revolutions per minute.
I found this article pretty cool. I think that it is important for people to see what E. Coli is considering it is a harmul bacteria that is mostly found in our food. Considering that E. Coli outbreaks in the news happen frequently, it should be important for people to understand the full model of E. Coli.

Medicinal tree used in chemotherapy drug faces extinction

This article is about a species of Himalayan yew tree being at the brink of extinction because of over-harvesting. The tree that is found in India, Afghanistan, and Nepal, has been being used to produce Taxol which is a chemotherapy drug.

Taxol was discovered by US National Cancer Institute in the 1960's. Taxol is isolated in the bark of the Pacific yew tree. All 11 species of yew tree has Taxol in it. "The harvesting of the barks kills the tree, but it is possible to extract Taxol from clipping, so harvesting, if properly controlled, can be less detrimental to the plant." said Craig Hilton-Taylor, IUCN red list unit manager. He also suggested that the plant should be grown in cultivation to reduced the harvesting of the wild population.

IUCN red list is the most detailed and authoritative survey of the planet's species. IUCN red list is drawn from the work of thousands of scientists around the globe. There are 61,000 species on the list. The newest list includes 801 species that are extinct, 9,568 are endangered and 10.002 species are vulnerable, with the main threats being overused, pollution, habitat loss, and degradation.

Brain Parasite That Directly Alters Brain Chemistry

After reading a multitude of articles I found this one to be the most intriguing because the brain is the most important part of the human body and I found any and all information on it to just be simply amazing. According to the article it explains how there is a parasite that has been find in mammals that can affect the dopamine levels. So far the work has only been done and tested on rodents it is believed by Dr. Glenn McConkey that these findings can inevitably help by shedding new light onto treating human neurological disorders that are considered to be dopamine related. An example of which commonly known is schizophrenia. The research is hopeful to figure out how and why these parasites can manipulate the brain. For more information on dopamine click here. Hopefully researchers can discover more about this parasite and figure out how to treat the dopamine related disorders that correlate with it.

Pluto Has a Twin Sister

This article is about Pluto's twin sister Eris. Eris was discovered by Caltech astronomer,Mike Brown. For years Brown has been finding similar objects in the Kuiper Belt, the massive band of comet in the solar system. But those object were smaller than 2,320km across, the modest dimensions of Pluto.

A group of astronomer has been trying to get the precise measurement of Eris, but no such luck. Measuring something 15 billion miles way is challenging. Even with the Hubble Telescope, Eris look like a featureless pinpoint. The only way to get Eris' size accurately is to wait for it to pass in front of a distant star, which is known as an occultation. In occultation you measure the amount of time it takes the star to reappear on the other side and you can calculate the size of the object. Two astronomers in Chile saw the occultation.They were able to answer the question of the size of Eris. They got that Eris is 2,326 km, with the uncertainly percentage of a half. Eris does have a larger mass than Pluto.

Eris is very bright. Scientist believes this is because Eris comes closer to the Sun in it's elongate orbit, surface ice warms up to form a temporary atmosphere. When the ice freezes up it becomes a milometer thicker. But scientist have to wait 250 years to test this theory.

There is still many things to discover about our solar system. Brown stated the "There are surely even larger dwarf planets out there. It only a matter of time before both Pluto and Eris are supplanted."

Molecular Motor Revealed

An international team of chemists at Oxford Universty revealed the structure of the "molecular motor." They used highly sensitive mass-spectrometry to put the pieces together to get this model. This is the model of ATP that interacts with the fatty acids that form the membranes around our cells. ATP is found in every cell of our body and it helps generate our energy to keep out body working. The team that created this model believe that their work will help future studies. Publishers say they put a story about this week's Science magazine.

I found this to be interesting because we just learned about ATP and its functions to cells. It looks like a really cool structure and I am sure it took alot for the team to come up with the model. While reading the article on this, they said that this model can also help future scientists with diseases and medical conditions.

New Flu Test From UGA

Scientists from the University of Georgia developed a new flu test that is fast an accurate. The test first coats gold nanoparticles with antibodies. These bind to certain strains of the flu virus. Then, it measures how the nanoparticles scatter laser light. This allows the test to find influenza quickly.
The scientists came up with this test by knowing that antibodies can capture viruses and that nanoparticles have different traits based on their size. They combined these two to make a test that is sensitive and fast. An engineer in the UGA Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center linked antibodies and immune system proteins with gold nano particles. These bond with any flu virus by measuring the intensity with which light is scattered by the solutio.
This is an inexpensive teset because the amount of gold used per test is just 100th of a cent. These scientists are also working on ways poultry producers can use this type of test to detect salmonella. They don't wanna stop just at influenza because the test offers great advantages.
http://athens.patch.com/articles/new-flu-test-from-uga

Sea Level To Go Up

Researchers of the Neils Bohr Institute have been calculating the long-term outlook of the sea levels rising. They discovered changes in sea level 500 years from now. Aslak Grinstead, a researcher at the Center for Ice and Climate at the Neils Bohr Institute, has been teaming up with reasearchers from England and China. They are focusing on the emission of gases and aerosols of greenhouses and the pollution in the atmosphere. The research group says that as the emissions increase, so will the sea level. One researcher says that sea levels will go up to 1.1 meters by the year 2100 and 5.5 meters by 2500. Another says that by 2100, the sea levels will rise by 60 cm, and by 2500 they will rise by 1.8 meters. A more realistic researcher says that they will rise about 75 cm and get up to 2 meters in the year 2500. On average, sea level rises 2mm per year but gets faster with each year.
http://www.macroevolution.net/biology-current-events.html