Tampilkan postingan dengan label research. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label research. Tampilkan semua postingan

Kamis, 19 Mei 2011

Dark Energy Exists

Dark energy is no longer theory it is fact. Evidence from 200,000 galaxies confirms the hypothesis that dark energy is pulling the universe apart. It is a constant in that it pushes uniformally causing steady expansion of the universe.

Einstein was correct after all. He said there was a force pushing out stopping the universe from collapsing. This was known as "Einstein's biggest blunder'. He had to enter something into an equation which stopped the universe from collapsing. Though he didn't use the term "dark energy", this was the force he was talking about. He was wrong about the universe being static but he quickly revised his ideas when Edwin Hubble found that the universe was expanding. Gravity is no longer accepted as the force driving the universe apart. Gravity cannot push and pull at the same time.

Calculations show that dark energy makes up 74 per cent of the universe. Dark energy is not he same as dark matter. There is 22 per cent of dark matter out there. This leaves 4 per cent for all the atoms making up physical things.
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Science

Kamis, 07 April 2011

Old Cars Are Healthier

It makes one wonder how much money is wasted on research into seemingly trivial and irrelevant issues. Nonetheless, some of this research does result in useful findings. Why would there be tests on old cars to find out whether they are healthier than new vehicles? Well, research has been done and older cars are healthier largely because they let more air in through seals that do not fit anymore.

Most drivers and passengers jump into the modern vehicle and turn the air conditioning on, thus locking themselves into a sealed capsule. This may be comfortable but it can cause illness. To make the air conditioner function better it is common to choose the recycle setting, so we breath stale air. This is more damaging than taking in pollutants from outside.

When you go for a drive in future you should be careful about who you are travelling with. If a passenger has the flu, everyone else will probably get it. Set the air conditioner to the ventilation setting or leave a window slightly open.
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Motoring

Sabtu, 05 Maret 2011

You Will Lose Your Mind if You Are Fat

It seems we can't win. New findings show if you are underweight or overweight dementia is on the horizon. Being skinny or fat from the age of 40 gives a high risk of dementia after the age of 60. The very high danger group are the obese.

Considering most people in the West are overweight wouldn't this finding seem logical? If arteries can become clogged with fatty cholesterol so can the blood vessels in the brain. Obviously, hardly anyone in the scientific community has made this observation. No medical literature has ever made this bold statement. "Hey stop eating that jam donut you'll lose your mind!"

Let's be rational. Medical research is good. It can highlight changes that people should make to their lives, but adding 2 and 3 to make 5 does not always show a causal relationship.
~~~~~Health~~~~~
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Senin, 31 Januari 2011

Not Being Able to Do Your Job Well Can Lead to Early Death

Not being able to do your job properly can kill you, or at least make you very ill. In Finland workers were interviewed to ascertain their perception of how well they can do their jobs.

The study began in 1981 with 5971, 44-58 years old employees being evaluated. By 2009, 1918 of them had died. It was found that perceived work ability did indeed predict health problems as workers aged.

Most troubling was the propensity for death among these subjects, particularly the blue-collar group. Indications are that such jobs have a high degree of manual labor involved. Being locked in with the danger of having to find even harder physical work with the loss of one's job inevitably led to more worry. On the other hand, not being able to do a job well could indicate underlying health problems that affected worker's abilities when they are in their forties
~~~~~Employment~~~~~
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Sabtu, 29 Januari 2011

Reduced Lung Fuction Due to Vitamin D Deficency in Dark Skinned People

No wonder West Indians had a rough time when they moved to the UK in the mid-twentieth century: with the polluted atmosphere common at that time many suffered from a vitamin D deficiency. Their children born in the UK had more problems than their parents because growing up in a sun depleted climatic environment with a dark skin led to long term lung problems.

Australian research shows the lack of vitamin D leads to altered lung structure, with the lungs partially shutting down. In adult life people of West Indian heritage have decreased lung function.

Mice were tested with some being made deficient in vitamin D while others had an adequate level. Tests with a plethysmograph showed lung obstruction was markedly greater in mice lacking vitamin D. Overall, lung volume was reduced. Lungs were also smaller than average.

It was unclear as to whether the problem was basically due to heritage, or mothers being deficient during pregnancy, because test mice had to be bred to have low sun-to-vitamin D conversion.
~~~~~Health~~~~~
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Rabu, 29 Desember 2010

Frogs Get Rid of Foreign Objects Through Their Bladder - Weird

Have you heard of the person who got part of a needle stuck in his hand and it came out 10 years later through his foot? Strange things like this do happen. It is the body's way of safely ridding the body of potentially dangerous objects. Work on Australian frogs show they deal with such things in a different way.

Tiny bead-like radio transmitters were implanted into frogs. They were put into body cavities of frogs and even toads. Oddly, the small devices disappeared. The beads moved along the body into the bladder where they were, in due course, fully expelled from the body.

This may sound like something quite obvious and unremarkable until one is informed that the beads were two centimeters long and some of the frogs were only eight centimeters long. It is no mean fete for such a small animal. It was discovered that tissue from the bladder grows out and envelopes the foreign object. The object is then drawn into the bladder.

Apparently, frogs have evolved this to rid their bodies of the sharp extremities and extrusions of insects, their main diet. Furthermore, frogs have thin skin and they hop, landing clumsily. Thus, thorns from plants can easily pierce their bodies.

Researchers had assumed that when a transmitter was no longer mobile, the host animal was dead. Now they will have to find out if the transmitter was naturally expelled.
~~~~~Australian Science~~~~~
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Sabtu, 20 November 2010

Study Shows Optimistic Cancer Sufferes Live Longer - Or Does It?

Treating the effect as the cause is waisting valuable time in finding a cure for cancer. A Study found that depressed people lived shorter lives when they had cancer. Apparently, depression per se, hope, optimism and anxiety were tested. Findings showed that those suffering from these "attributes" didn't live as long as "optimists" who were also cancer sufferers.

A great leap of faith was made to claim that mood sufferers did not seek second opinions on cancer. Note that this was not proven it was just surmised. Overall findings were that optimism did not lead to better survival in people with cancer. Well this is game. set and match. You can't have it both ways. Either being optimistic improves survival or it doesn't.

There is no doubt that psychological treatment would improves the well being of cancer patients, but let's not get ahead of ourselves and say cancer sufferers would live longer. A great deal of money is set aside for medical research. We have to be careful to ensure this money is well spent.
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Selasa, 09 November 2010

DNA Shows How Farming Reached Western Europe

Important discoveries have been made in regard to early farming in Europe. DNA evidence shows that invaders from Turkey brought farming skills to the western regions 8,000 years ago. They were not hunter gatherers from Germany as was originally believed. Hunter gatherers didn't suddenly take up farming. It was a learned skill that was passed on to the younger generation.

The research has been so informative that the route invaders took is clear. An earlier movement of eastern people has also been identified. It took place 11,000 years ago. invaders moved through south-eastern Europe via the Carpathian Basin near present day Hungary into central Europe.

The history of Man is fascinating and we do not have all the answers yet. Perhaps in the past a civilization equal to our own existed and all the knowledge they had has been lost. There are many mysterious things we do not know about the ancient Egyptians and their culture faded in only recent times.
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Rabu, 07 April 2010

Models Show Lasers Can Produce Energy Using Hydrogen-Boron as Fuel

Energy created by laser could be the way of the future. Researchers have used models and they show that lasers can produce "cold" energy by nuclear fusion. A new generation of fast, powerful lasers makes this possible. To achieve fusion a short, carefully controlled pulse is required. The pulse target is hydrogen and boron. Creating neutrons is not the objective because they cause radioactivity.

The Australian research is duplicating what is going on at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States, but they are using deuterium-tritium fuel.

A single laser pulse can generate 500 times more electricity than all the power stations in the US. At first the research team did not believe hydrogen-boron fuel would work. However, models indicated that it was only ten times more difficult than deuterium-tritium. For it to work the laser pulse must be clean, that is, lasting only a million, millionth of a second. Optical energy is then converted to mechanical energy.

It is not commonly known but coal power stations actually emit radioactivity - it is a problem in Germany where they are considering burying polluted material. Producing energy by laser pulsing hydrogen-boron creates less radioactivity than using deuterium-tritium. Coal generation is very dirty compared to hydrogen-boron. The waste product is helium gas. Hydrogen-boron is also plentiful. Team leader Professor Hora say it could be some time before the research becomes reality.
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