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Added Sugar Is Looking Less Sweet

Added Sugar Is Looking Less Sweet

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Added sugar during processing or preparing of foods remain at unhealthy levels, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine.

What exactly are healthy levels? Well, there is no clear answer. Recommendations for added sugar consumption vary and there is no universally accepted threshold for unhealthy levels. For example, the Institute of Medicine recommends that added sugar make up less than 25 percent of total calories while the World Health Organization recommends less than 10 percent and the American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugars to less than 100 calories daily for women and 150 calories daily for men.
Tropical Tropopause Layer: Nature Will Selectively Buffer Human-Caused Global Warming

Tropical Tropopause Layer: Nature Will Selectively Buffer Human-Caused Global Warming

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Don't count nature out yet.

Some aspects of climate change are natural. And some mitigation will be also, according to researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Johns Hopkins University in the US and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. As the globe warms, ocean temperatures rise, leading to increased water vapor escaping into the atmosphere. Water vapor is really the most important greenhouse gas and its impact on climate is amplified in the stratosphere.
Passing The Carnot Limit: Prototyping Of A Single Ion Heat Engine

Passing The Carnot Limit: Prototyping Of A Single Ion Heat Engine

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Heat engines transform heat into mechanical energy with the corresponding efficiency of an Otto engine amounting to only about 25 percent, which is what your automobile gets.

The efficiency of heat engines powered by thermal heat reservoirs is determined by the second law of thermodynamics, one of the fundamental concepts in physics. It was as far back as 1824 that Frenchman Nicolas Carnot calculated the maximum possible efficiency limit of such engines, now known as the Carnot limit.
Finnish Agriculture Embraces More Capitalism

Finnish Agriculture Embraces More Capitalism

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Agriculture in Finland is becoming more market driven.

What will that mean? Fluctuation in prices, more so than with current EU and Finland subsidies and quotas, but better efficiency. Competition will mean fewer farms.  The reason for the changes is because profitability continues to be poor despite strong spending by the government. The return on investment for taxpayer spending has been negative on average for the last 10 years. In 2011 in Finland, it was the third weakest in the EU, at -1.1 per cent.  The brunt of that inefficiency is small farms kept going only because of subsidies. Half of the farms in Finland produce only 5 percent of the food.
Cassini Captures A Massive Storm On Saturn

Cassini Captures A Massive Storm On Saturn

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

It looks more like a painting than a real-life event but this image from the Cassini orbiter shows the progress of a massive storm on Saturn. 

The head of the storm is towards the left of the image, where the most turbulent activity is shown in white, but towards the center you can also see the trace of a spinning vortex in the wake of the storm.

The image is centered at about 0º longitude and 35º N latitude and has had its colors enhanced to help reveal the complex processes in Saturn’s weather. The white corresponds to the highest cloud tops, but to the human eye the storm would appear more as a bright area against a yellow background.
Double Standard - Why An Environmental Activist Changed His Mind About GMOs

Double Standard - Why An Environmental Activist Changed His Mind About GMOs

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Modern environmentalism is more about promoting distrust and fear than it is protecting the environment. Even when it comes to something basic like Golden Rice, activist groups take the demonize and ban approach. They hate science more than they love children.

In the apolitical segment of science media - yes, it exists, albeit smaller than its corporate face leads people to believe - the running joke is that the only science environmentalists accept is climate change, and only then because it feeds into their Doomsday narrative and says that humanity stinks.
Steroid Use Among Gay, Bisexual Teen Males Over 5X Higher Than Straight

Steroid Use Among Gay, Bisexual Teen Males Over 5X Higher Than Straight

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Survey results analyzed by psychologists at The Fenway Institute, an advocacy group for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, found that gay and bisexual boys use anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) at rates much higher than their straight counterparts - almost 6X higher.
Mercury Vapor In Lamps: How Safe Is It?

Mercury Vapor In Lamps: How Safe Is It?

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Compact fluorescent bulbs save energy but they also contain mercury, a toxic metal.

While environmentalists have promoted them as safe, and the US government has given them a de factor mandate and subsidy by banning incandescent bulbs, there are still concerns among the public about the risks of having hazardous materials in their homes.

Mercury lamps, on the other hand, have been around since 1860. They were rarely used in the home, they are a big part of the reason why incandescent bulbs were invented in the first place, because they made human skin look 'green' and the risks in an enclosed space were too high but are more common in street lamps, because they have long life.
Home Birth Linked To 4X Higher Baby Mortality Rates

Home Birth Linked To 4X Higher Baby Mortality Rates

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Babies delivered at home by midwives had a roughly four times higher risk of neonatal deaths than babies delivered in hospitals, also by midwives. 

The paper is not out to indict the midwife delivery fad but suggests they aren't going to be qualified to deal with problems the way a hospital setting and doctors would be.
The authors link the increased neonatal mortality risk with the location of a planned birth, rather than the credentials of the person delivering the baby. 

Genetically Modified Maize Does Not Reduce Biodiversity

Genetically Modified Maize Does Not Reduce Biodiversity

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Though you may have read otherwise, numerous studies from China, Spain and the United States have have found that the biodiversity of insects and related arthropods is not reduced by genetically modified (GM) rice, cotton, or maize fields.

A new study from South Africa published in Environmental Entomology shows similar results, that biodiversity is the same as that among conventional crops.

A total of 8,771 arthropod individuals, comprising 288 morphospecies, were collected from 480 plants sampled from Bt maize and non-Bt maize fields over a two-year period. The researchers found no significant differences in abundance or diversity in detritivores, herbivores, predators, or parasitoids.

The “Meta” Itch

The “Meta” Itch

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

I used to have the “meta” itch, but I learned to live with it and stop scratching it. It only irritates anyway, without doing much good work.

Let me explain.

If you are a regular (or even occasional) reader of Rationally Speaking you know that we often publish essays that have to do with ethics and moral philosophy. That's because ethics is one of those things that always lurks in the background (and sometimes the foreground) of our lives, whether we reflect on it or not. And I of course think it is better to reflect on it, at least from time to time.
Low T? Welcome To Their World, Brother!

Low T? Welcome To Their World, Brother!

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Middle-aged women the world over are now...chuckling.

At least I imagine they are, given the news this week that testosterone supplementation may increase the risk of heart disease.

If you already have heart disease.

Or if you’re over 65.
No Nano-dust Danger From Facade Paint

No Nano-dust Danger From Facade Paint

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Five Empa laboratories were involved in the EU «NanoHouse» project, along with four other European research institutes and four industrial partners. The aim of the project was to investigate the opportunities and risks presented by the nanomaterials used in the surface coatings applied to building façades. For the first time not only were freshly manufactured products studied to see if they set free nanoparticles, but also aged samples.

Autism Spectrum Disorder Guide For Physicians

Autism Spectrum Disorder Guide For Physicians

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

Increased awareness and a much broader range of conditions being part of the autism 'spectrum' has been good for therapists but is placing huge demands on health care systems and health care professionals.

A review published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) seeks to help physicians provide appropriate medical support to families of children who may have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), everything from detection to treatment.

ASD includes a wide variety of traits that range from mild to severe and is estimated to affect about 1% of the population.

Multiple Myeloma Study Uncovers Genetic Diversity Within Tumors

Multiple Myeloma Study Uncovers Genetic Diversity Within Tumors

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

The most comprehensive genetic study to date of the blood cancer multiple myeloma has revealed that the genetic landscape of the disease may be more complicated than previously thought. Through results published in Cancer Cell today, a team of Broad researchers has shown that an individual patient's tumor can harbor populations of cancer cells equipped with different mutations. These findings could have therapeutic implications for patients in the future.

Keeping Stem Cells Pluripotent

Keeping Stem Cells Pluripotent

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

While the ability of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to become any type of mature cell, from neuron to heart to skin and bone, is indisputably crucial to human development, no less important is the mechanism needed to maintain hESCs in their pluripotent state until such change is required.

In a paper published in this week's Online Early Edition of PNAS, researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine identify a key gene receptor and signaling pathway essential to doing just that – maintaining hESCs in an undifferentiated state.

How Fruit Flies Detect Sweet Foods

How Fruit Flies Detect Sweet Foods

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Insects represent remarkable diversity and have adapted to all sorts of ecological nooks and crannies. For example, they have taste receptors — novel proteins — with which they taste chemicals and make important choices about not only foods but also mates and where to deposit their eggs. These receptors are widely seen as being at the leading edge of behavioral adaptations.

Now, using the common fruit fly, researchers at the University of California, Riverside have performed a study that describes just how the fly's taste receptors detect sweet compounds.

Weighing Particles At The Attogram Scale

Weighing Particles At The Attogram Scale

Feb 03 2014 | comment(s)

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT engineers have devised a way to measure the mass of particles with a resolution better than an attogram — one millionth of a trillionth of a gram. Weighing these tiny particles, including both synthetic nanoparticles and biological components of cells, could help researchers better understand their composition and function.

The system builds on a technology previously developed by Scott Manalis, an MIT professor of biological and mechanical engineering, to weigh larger particles, such as cells. This system, known as a suspended microchannel resonator (SMR), measures the particles' mass as they flow through a narrow channel.

Euthanasia: Families Support Terminal Sedation For Relatives In A Permanent Vegetative State

Euthanasia: Families Support Terminal Sedation For Relatives In A Permanent Vegetative State

Feb 02 2014 | comment(s)

The families of some very severely brain injured patients believe that once all treatment options are exhausted, allowing their relatives to die with the help of terminal sedation would be a humane and compassionate option.

The authors interviewed the families of patients in a vegetative or minimally conscious state, found some relatives believed euthanasia by sedation would be preferable to withholding or withdrawing treatment. Currently, the withdrawal of treatment such as artificial nutrition and hydration is the only legal method guaranteed to allow death in patients in a vegetative state.

MACRO Test Detects Genetic Modification In Food

MACRO Test Detects Genetic Modification In Food

Feb 02 2014 | comment(s)

As food science continues to advance, so do calls to label and ban foods that have been modified using modern techniques.

In GMOs, the genes of some plants used for food are tweaked to make them more healthful (Golden Rice) or pest-resistant (lots of others). By the end of 2012, farmers were growing GM crops on more than 420 million acres of land across 28 countries without any environmental or health issues but a well-funded campaign against these modifications has made some consumers leery of it. It was only a matter of time before someone created a comprehensive test for people concerned about GMOs and a group writing in Analytical Chemistry say they have done just that.