Jekyll2020-10-20T13:31:02+00:00https://nitro.ekofi.science/feed.xmlEkofi Research - Science NewsBrowse the latest scientific news and learn about the most interesting and wonderful content.Ekofi Researchproxima@ekofi.scienceYour brain reaches its peak at your 35th birthday!2020-10-20T16:23:00+00:002020-10-20T16:23:00+00:00https://nitro.ekofi.science/your-brain-reaches-its-peak-at-your-35th-birthday<p><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1573511860302-28c524319d2a?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1350&q=80" alt="Your brain reaches its peak at your 35th birthday!" /></p>
<p>Your brain reaches its ‘cognitive peak’ - the time it is strongest - at age 35, according to a study, but begins to decline by the mid-40s.
Researchers from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich have studied thousands of chess games over the past 130 years to see if our brains develop with age.</p>
<p>They found a “hump-shaped curve” in the analysis chart in human cognitive performance when measured over the average lifespan - it increases sharply by age 20, peaks at 35, and then decreases gradually by age 45.</p>
<p>We’re getting smarter as a genre, according to the team that has discovered an increase in chess playing performance over the past 125 years.
Uwe Sunde and his colleagues analyzed more than 1.6 million moves in more than 24,000 professional chess games between 1890 and 2014.
The authors compared every move made by the players with the optimum move suggested by a computer-based chess engine to measure performance.</p>
<p>Over its lifetime, performance increased sharply into the early 20s, peaking in about 35 years and dropping after 45 years.
The main challenge of measuring such life cycle performance models and their dynamics over time is related to establishing a reliable measurement.
The authors said this measure should be comparable between individuals and over time and should not be affected by changes in technology or other environmental factors.</p>
<p>‘This provides a precise and comparable measurement of individual performance for the same individual at different ages over long periods of time,’ the team said.
It does so by exploiting the advantage of a strictly comparable task and a comparison with an identical performance benchmark.
‘Over the past 125 years, performance has improved, especially for individuals less than 20 years of age,’ the team wrote.</p>
<p>Performance in particular rose fastest in the 1990s when chess engines in home computers became more widely available.
Players were suddenly able to challenge themselves against a machine that knew the best possible moves in any situation and could improve by playing.</p>
<p>According to the authors, the emergence of chess engines and online gaming opportunities in recent years could help players accumulate more chess knowledge and prepare for early in life.</p>
<p>The findings were published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/10/13/2006653117">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.</p>Ekofi Researchproxima@ekofi.scienceSadly: Recycling was a lie! :(2020-10-10T20:00:00+00:002020-10-10T20:00:00+00:00https://nitro.ekofi.science/sadly-recycling-was-a-lie<p>We were ranked 75th among the top 100 science blogs on Feedspot. Thanks. If you want to take a look:</p>
<p>https://blog.feedspot.com/science_blogs/</p>
<p><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1595278069441-2cf29f8005a4?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1351&q=80" alt="Sadly: Recycling was a lie! :(" /></p>
<p>Industry experts have concocted a recycling lie to sell more plastic -yes, that’s a big lie- less than 10 percent of the plastic we use was recycled.</p>
<p>Although our landfills and oceans are filled with it, we are as addicted to plastic as ever. And since COVID-19, our dependence on plastic has grown even more.</p>
<p>Our use of single-use plastic has increased by 250 to 300 percent as people keep throwing away their personal protective equipment.</p>
<h2 id="less-than-10-of-the-plastic-we-use-is-recycled">Less than 10% of the plastic we use is recycled</h2>
<p>Although activists raised the alarm about plastic waste in the 1970s, the documentary claims that plastic production more than doubled from 1990 to 2010. We have been sorting our garbage for decades, believing that it will be recycled. But the truth is that most of the plastic we use will not transform. Less than 10 percent of plastic waste has been recycled in the last two decades.</p>
<p>Industry expert says the recycling logo is used as a green marketing tool
In the 80s, the industry was at the center of an environmental response. Fearing a total ban on plastics, manufacturers sought ways to avoid the problem. They looked at recycling as a way of improving the image of their products and began labeling plastics with the now ubiquitous symbol of chasing arrows with a number inside.</p>
<p>According to Ronald Liesemer, an industry veteran tasked with overseeing the new venture, “Making recycling work was a way to keep their products in the marketplace.”</p>
<p>Most consumers would have assumed that the symbol meant the product was recyclable. However, according to experts, there was no economically viable way to recycle most plastic, and they were eventually left in a landfill. This includes plastic films, bags, and packaging around packaged goods, as well as containers such as margarine containers.</p>
<p>“If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they’re not going to be as concerned about the environment,” says Larry Thomas, another senior industry official interviewed at Plastic Wars.</p>
<p>According to Lewis Freeman, former vice president of the Plastics Industry Association, many in the industry had doubts about recycling from the very beginning. “There was never an enthusiastic belief that recycling was ultimately going to work in a significant way,” he says.</p>
<p>Still, the plastics industry has spent millions on recycling ads to sell plastic to consumers.</p>Ekofi Researchproxima@ekofi.scienceWe were ranked 75th among the top 100 science blogs on Feedspot. Thanks. If you want to take a look:SpaceX is making ballistic missile tracking satellites for the Pentagon!2020-10-06T21:15:00+00:002020-10-06T21:15:00+00:00https://nitro.ekofi.science/spacex-making-missile-tracking-satellites<p><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1541185934-01b600ea069c?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1351&q=80" alt="SpaceX is making ballistic missile tracking satellites for the Pentagon!" /></p>
<p>The US Department of Defense Space Development Agency (SDA) awarded a $149 million contract to build four missile tracking satellites on Elon Musk’s SpaceX.</p>
<p>SpaceX will build and deliver four Starlink satellites, which the Pentagon says will comply with special sensors that allow them to track missiles, including nuclear weapons-carrying Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and hypersonic gliders.</p>
<p>SpaceX satellites will be used to clearly track threats in the sky, as part of what the Pentagon calls “Tranche 0”. According to the SDA press release, Tranche 0 will have 28 transport satellites and 8 tracking satellites.</p>
<p><img src="https://video-images.vice.com/_uncategorized/1602000659835-201005-d-zz999-003.jpeg?resize=800:*" alt="" /> <strong>PHOTO: SDA</strong></p>
<p>“We call it ‘tracking’ because it’s missile tracking—so it provides detection, tracking and fire control formation for hypersonic glide vehicles, ballistic missiles … any of those kinds of threats,” Tourner said in the press release about the satellites. Hypersonic glide devices are a new type of missile that theoretically allows missiles to maneuver at high speed around existing missile defense systems. The US and China are developing hypersonic glide missiles. Russia claims it has already deployed some of them.</p>
<p>Tracking satellites will track incoming missile threats and then communicate with transport satellites, according to the Pentagon. SpaceX is building just four of the hundreds of satellites the Pentagon plans to launch in the next few years. L3Harris Technologies has also won a contract for four tracking satellites. Transport satellites, which the Pentagon says will number between 300 and 500, have not yet been built or launched.</p>
<p>Basically, the Pentagon is building a complex satellite network that it hopes can track threats and expel them from the sky before they cause harm. SpaceX’s four tracking satellites are a small part of a larger Pentagon plan that aims to orbit hundreds of satellites over the next few years.</p>
<p><img src="https://video-images.vice.com/_uncategorized/1602000685348-201005-d-zz999-001.jpeg?resize=800:*" alt="" /> <strong>PHOTO: SDA</strong></p>
<p>According to the Pentagon, the next layer of the system is planned for 2024, and will include several hundred satellites in the transport layer and dozens more in the tracking layer. “Every two years from now on, we continually roll out and replicate more satellites with new capabilities, and essentially retire the satellites with older capabilities as we develop new slices,” says Tournear.</p>
<h2 id="what-is-sda">What is SDA?</h2>
<p>SDA is a Pentagon agency tasked with arming space for US interests and defense.</p>
<p>This is SpaceX’s first military contract, but not its first foray into the stars. As of this summer, Musk’s rocket company launched more than 700 satellites.</p>
<p>Labels: spacex space x spacex news rocket launch spacex latest news</p>Ekofi Researchproxima@ekofi.scienceSix new corona virus species discovered on bats in Myanmar2020-04-12T20:50:00+00:002020-04-12T20:50:00+00:00https://nitro.ekofi.science/six-new-corona-virus-species-discovered-on-bats-in-myanmar<p>Source: <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0230802">PLOS ONE</a></p>
<p><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1570406050006-03eaaeb8fe75?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1354&q=80" alt="New Corona virus bat" /></p>
<h2 id="new-corona-virus-types-detected">New corona virus types detected</h2>
<p>Researchers have discovered six new coronaviruses in bats in Myanmar - these viruses were first detected <strong>anywhere in the world</strong>. Future studies will assess the potential for transition between species to better understand risks in human health.</p>
<p>According to the authors, newly discovered coronaviruses are not closely related to severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS CoV-1), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), or COVID-19 <strong>coronaviruses</strong>.</p>
<p>Findings published in PLOS ONE today will help understand the diversity of coronaviruses in bats and inform global efforts <strong>to identify, prevent and respond to infectious diseases that may threaten public health, especially in the light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic</strong>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Viral pandemics remind us how closely human health is connected to the health of wildlife and the environment” - “Worldwide, humans are interacting with wildlife with increasing frequency, so the more we understand about these viruses in animals – what allows them to mutate and how they spread to other species – the better we can reduce their pandemic potential.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><cite>Lead author of the study, former vet Marc Valitutto</cite></p>
<p>Researchers have detected these new viruses as part of the PREDICT project, while doing bio-surveillance of animals and humans to better understand their disease spread.</p>
<h2 id="what-is-predict">What is PREDICT?</h2>
<p>PREDICT, an initiative funded by the U.S. International Development Agency (USAID), supports the global discovery and oversight of pathogens with the potential to spread from animals to humans.</p>
<p>The team focused their research on areas in Myanmar, where people are more likely to have close contact with local wildlife due to changes in land use and development. From May 2016 to August 2018, they collected more than 750 samples of saliva and feces from bats in these areas. Experts estimate that thousands of coronaviruses are found in bats, many of which have not yet been discovered.</p>
<p>The researchers tested the samples and compared them to known coronaviruses, and for the first time identified six new coronaviruses. The team also detected a coronavirus found elsewhere in Southeast Asia but not previously in Myanmar.</p>
<h2 id="new-type-of-corona-virus-appeared">New type of corona virus appeared</h2>
<p>Coronaviruses have caused widespread diseases in humans, including SARS CoV-1, MERS, and recently the global COVID-19 outbreak. According to the authors, the newly discovered coronaviruses are not closely related to SARS CoV-1, MERS or COVID-19. Future studies are needed to assess their potential to spread to other species to better understand the risks to human health.</p>
<p>The authors point out that these findings highlight the importance of surveillance for wildlife in zoonotic diseases. The results will guide future surveillance of bat populations to better identify potential viral threats to public health.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Many coronaviruses may not pose a risk to people, but when we identify these diseases early on in animals, at the source, we have a valuable opportunity to investigate the potential threat” “Vigilant surveillance, research and education are the best tools we have to prevent pandemics before they occur.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><cite>Smithsonian’s Global Health Program director Suzan Murray</cite></p>Ekofi Researchproxima@ekofi.scienceSource: PLOS ONEYou are being traced! Get a VPN2019-10-31T03:00:00+00:002019-10-31T03:00:00+00:00https://nitro.ekofi.science/you-are-being-traced<div class="feature__wrapper">
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</div>Ekofi Researchproxima@ekofi.scienceYour Internet service provider, websites you visit, && much more.The sea is running out of fish! - Fish prices will rise2019-10-11T00:00:00+00:002019-10-11T00:00:00+00:00https://nitro.ekofi.science/the-sea-is-running-out-of-fish<p>Source <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/10/sea-running-out-of-fish-despite-nations-pledges-to-stop/">National Geographic</a>.</p>
<p>Even the main countries that promise to reduce funding for fisheries cannot stop the rise of the seafood industry.</p>
<p>Even if the countries try to stop fish in the sea is running out. Fish prices will rise.</p>
<p><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1498654200943-1088dd4438ae?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1350&q=80" alt="Fish out of the sea" /></p>
<p>As global fish stocks are feeding hundreds of millions of people, countries are striving to conclude an international agreement that bans state subsidies that feed overfishing by the end of the year.</p>
<p>Although negotiations with the World Trade Organization continue in Geneva, Switzerland, new research shows that governments have increased financial support for fisheries practices that reduce marine life, despite the promise to reduce those declarations.</p>
<p>In a comprehensive survey of 152 countries, scientists from the University of British Columbia found that ocean breeding nations spent $ 22 billion on harmful subsidies in 2018, or 63 percent of the total amount of fisheries spent to support the global fishing industry.</p>
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<p>This is an increase of 6 percent since 2009. Harmful subsidies refers to those who support overfishing and illegal fishing, such as subsidies that reduce fuel costs that allow industrial fishing boats to sail to the farthest points on the planet. Fuel subsidies alone accounted for 22 percent of all fishing subsidies last year.</p>
<p>According to research published in Marine Policy, China, which operates the world’s largest overseas fishing fleet, has increased pest subsidies by <105> 105 percent in the last decade.</p>
<p>“It’s hard to take much positive from this study, but it can be a rallying cry for governments as the WTO is in a position to end harmful subsidies and have a huge impact on the ocean,” said Isabel Jarrett, manager of Pew Charitable Trusts. Pew Charitable Trusts also helped finance the research.</p>
<p><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1545450660-3378a7f3a364?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1350&q=80" alt="Fishing" /></p>
<h2 id="time-is-expiring">Time is expiring</h2>
<p>The findings underscore the high amounts in Geneva because it only lasts three months to reach an agreement on fishing subsidies.</p>
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<p>Marine scientists and policy experts say that a legally binding agreement is critical to ban destructive fishing subsidies because climate change is disrupting marine ecosystems. The United Nations report, a landmark in September, found that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to be reduced, the maximum catch from fishing may fall by 24.1 percent by the end of the century.</p>
<p>“After 20 years of discussions on fisheries subsidies within the WTO, the discussion on the technical aspects has been pretty much exhausted,” says Rémi Parmentier, director of Madrid-based consultancy the Varda Group and a longtime observer of the negotiations. “The key ingredient that is missing is the political will to push the negotiation to the finish line.”</p>Ekofi Researchproxima@ekofi.scienceSource National Geographic.18-year study: Vegetarians and vegans have 20% higher risk of ischemic heart disease and attacks than meat-eaters2019-09-12T00:00:00+00:002019-09-12T00:00:00+00:00https://nitro.ekofi.science/18-years-study-finds<p><img src="https://makale.ekofi.science/assets/images/vegan_diet.jpg" alt="Vegan salad bowl" /></p>
<p>Vegetarian and vegan diets have become increasingly popular in recent years, partly due to perceived health benefits as well as concerns about the environment and animal welfare.</p>
<ul>
<li>In the UK, the representative National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2008-12 and 2016 Ipsos MORI survey estimated that there were about 1.7 million vegetarians and vegan living in the country.</li>
<li>Evidence shows that vegetarians may have different disease risks than non-vegetarians.</li>
</ul>
<p>For ischemic heart disease, previous studies (but not some) have reported significant risk of death due to ischemic heart disease compared to non-vegetarians. In terms of its incidence, the only previous study (European Prospective Investigation for Cancer (EPIC) -Oxford) reported that vegetarians had a lower risk of ischemic heart disease than non-vegetarians, but the study was insufficient at the time of publication. Risks in other diet groups (fish-eating and vegans) were also examined separately.</p>
<p>For stroke, the previous report, which included EPIC-Oxford data, found no significant difference in risk of total stroke deaths between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. However, no previous study has examined the frequency of stroke or major stroke types associated with vegetarian diets.</p>
<p>Here, ischemic heart disease and people with different eating habits (ie meat eaters, fish eaters and vegetarians (including vegans)) are reported after 18 years with a separate assessment of ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes.</p>Ekofi Researchproxima@ekofi.scienceThe groundbreaking new technique can turn plastic waste into energy-dense fuel2019-02-18T00:00:00+00:002019-02-18T00:00:00+00:00https://nitro.ekofi.science/groundbreaking-new-technique-can-turn-plastic-waste-into-energy-dense-fuel<p><img src="https://icdn5.digitaltrends.com/image/0022wanglab-720x720.jpg?ver=1.jpg" alt="laboratory, substance, chemistry, invention, new, plastic" /></p>
<p class="notice--danger"><a>The world has plastic problem. According to the United Nations, <strong>more than 8 million tonnes </strong> plastic enters the oceans every year.</a></p>
<p>How to get rid of this problem has been the subject of much research. In order to help stain plastic clogged waterways from the sky, everything from reducing plastic use to packaging to using drones was emphasized. But researchers from Purdue University have a different idea: they want to turn it into fuel.</p>
<p>To achieve this, they pioneered a new process of chemical transformation, which is capable of converting more than 90 percent of the polyolefin waste, the polymer behind the widely used plastic polyethylene, to high-quality gasoline or diesel-like fuel. The results can be the rule-changer for mankind.</p>
<p>“We have developed a method to convert polyolefin waste, which include Type 2 (HDPE), Type 4 (LDPE and LLDPE), and Type 5 (PP), into various useful products,” “The conversion is achieved using subcritical or supercritical water, which can convert plastic waste into oil, fuels, or gas, depending on the processing conditions. Some impurities in the plastic waste is converted into oil or extracted into the processing water. Both conversion and extraction are achieved in the same process.” - Nien-Hwa Linda Wang, professor in Purdue University</p>
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<p>The researchers warmed the water to high temperatures of approximately 850 degrees Fahrenheit under high pressure to perform its operations. When the purified plastic waste was added to the supercritical water, it turned into oil after an hour of operation.</p>
<p>Wang said he saw no reason why this laboratory demonstration should not be transformed into an economic wide process - even if there was not a lot to do.</p>
<p>“We have [had] great success for converting polyolefin waste,” Wang said. “Further research is still needed to produce higher quality products with lower processing costs for the polyolefin waste. We have not yet had any research funding to test this technology for converting other types of plastic waste or for converting complex waste mixtures. We hope to raise funding to test this technology at a pilot scale. Successful results at pilot scale will motivate industry to commercialize this technology.”</p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZqRbc_0SaVs" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p class="notice--info"><strong>Credit: </strong><a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b03841">https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b03841</a></p>Ekofi Researchproxima@ekofi.scienceThe world has plastic problem. According to the United Nations, more than 8 million tonnes plastic enters the oceans every year.Was it useful to expose low-dose radiation from atomic bombs? Most probably2019-01-30T00:00:00+00:002019-01-30T00:00:00+00:00https://nitro.ekofi.science/was-low-dose-radiation-is-useful-for-health<p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Atomic_bombing_of_Japan.jpg/800px-Atomic_bombing_of_Japan.jpg" alt="bomb, nagazaki, hiroshima, atom, atomic bomb, atom bomb" />
<em>Wikimedia Commons, Japan</em></p>
<p>In August 1945, the US threw an atomic bomb in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Unfavorable explosions and the resulting radioactive fallout resulted in tragic deaths of about 200,000 people.</p>
<p>The high ionizing radiation generated by the explosions condemned the survivors of the first explosions to various cancers. Oddly, however, those exposed to lower doses of radiation may actually be long-lived and may have lowered cancer mortality. This is a recent article in the journal Genes and Environment.</p>
<p>The author of the article is Shizuyo Sutou, Researcher at Shujitsu Women’s University. Sutou has examined the data from the Lifelong Study, which follows that since the 1950s, 120,000 people survived the atomic bomb explosion. His analysis showed that those exposed to radiation between 0.005 and 0.5 G (just before the onset of mild radiation disease) were lower than the relative mortality rates. Control individuals not exposed to atomic bomb radiation.</p>
<p><img src="http://assets.realclear.com/images/46/468202_5_.gif" alt="radiation, cancer" />
<em>The green line in the table shows the relation of radiation with cancer risk according to hormetic theory.</em></p>
<p>Sutou’s finding is consistent with the hormonal radiation theory (hormezis) that very low levels of ionizing radiation can be useful, suggesting that it produces adaptive responses such as stimulating repair of DNA damage, removing abnormal cells through programmed cell death, and immune-mediated elimination of cancer cells.</p>
<p>The radiation hormone is supported by many studies, but is currently not accepted by the Organizations on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, which currently supports the linear threshold-free (LNT) radiation protection model of atomic radiation, such as the National Science Academy or the United Nations Scientific Committee. This model effectively indicates that any dose of ionized radiation is harmful. Scientists such as Carol Marcus, Professor of Nuclear Medicine at UCLA, think that this stance is too cautious to be dangerous. The fear of irrational radiation is inefficient, whatever the amount.</p>
<p>“Forced evacuations in Fukushima have caused some 1600 premature deaths; forced evacuees from Chernobyl have a higher death rate than the ‘babooshkas’ who returned to the area despite government policy against it,” she wrote, referencing studies suggesting that potentially unnecessary Fukushima evacuations disrupted healthcare services.</p>
<p>“Patients are refusing diagnostic nuclear medicine and radiology procedures that are needed for diagnosis and disease management. Parents are refusing to let their children undergo needed diagnostic nuclear medicine and radiology studies,” she added.</p>
<p>It is difficult to work in the Hormesis laboratory - do you think it’s ethical to adjust the dose without knowing how harmful or beneficial the radiation exposure is? Sutou’s new findings will strengthen the case of radiation hormones, but it would probably not be enough to change the current intolerant policies of radiation exposure.</p>
<p class="notice--info"><strong>Credit: </strong><a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s41021-018-0114-3">https://doi.org/10.1186/s41021-018-0114-3</a></p>Ekofi Researchproxima@ekofi.scienceWikimedia Commons, Japan