Science talk returns to brighten your day one more time. New discoveries, new takes on old knowledge, and other bits of news are all available for the perusing in today's information world. Over the fold are selections from the past week from a few of the many excellent science news sites around the world. Today's tidbits include summer temperature variation may increase mortality for elderly with chronic disease, sunshine plus lime juice makes drinking water safer, parental exposure to air pollution linked to childhood obesity, mild winters are detrimental to butterflies, detailed maps of African groundwater show scattergun approach to borehole drilling is not likely to be successful, and a new purple crab species is found in the Phillippines.
Pull up that comfy chair and grab a spot in the sun. There is always plenty of room for everyone. Another session of Dr. Possum's science education, entertainment, and potluck discussion is set to begin.
Featured Stories
Another complication of global warming in which even small variations in temperature may affect the elderly raising their mortality rate for those with chronic disease.
The researchers used Medicare data from 1985 to 2006 to follow the long-term health of 3.7 million chronically ill people over age 65 living in 135 U.S. cities. They evaluated whether mortality among these people was related to variability in summer temperature, allowing for other things that might influence the comparison, such as individual risk factors, winter temperature variance, and ozone levels. They compiled results for individual cities, then pooled the results.
They found that, within each city, years when the summer temperature swings were larger had higher death rates than years with smaller swings. Each 1°C increase in summer temperature variability increased the death rate for elderly with chronic conditions between 2.8% and 4.0%, depending on the condition. Mortality risk increased 4.0% for those with diabetes; 3.8% for those who’d had a previous heart attack; 3.7% for those with chronic lung disease; and 2.8% for those with heart failure. Based on these increases in mortality risk, the researchers estimate that greater summer temperature variability in the U.S. could result in more than 10,000 additional deaths per year.
In addition, the researchers found the mortality risk was 1% to 2% greater for those living in poverty and for African Americans. The risk was 1% to 2% lower for people living in cities with more green space.
Mortality risk was higher in hotter regions, the researchers found. Noting that physiological studies suggest that the elderly and those with chronic conditions have a harder time than others adjusting to extreme heat, they say it’s likely these groups may also be less resilient than others to bigger-than-usual temperature swings.
In developing countries safe
potable water is sometimes difficult to obtain. The addition of lime juice and exposure to sunlight may offer an inexpensive way to make water at least more safe.
The preliminary results of this study show solar disinfection of water combined with citrus could be effective at greatly reducing E. coli levels in just 30 minutes, a treatment time on par with boiling and other household water treatment methods. In addition, the 30 milliliters of juice per 2 liters of water amounts to about one-half Persian lime per bottle, a quantity that will likely not be prohibitively expensive or create an unpleasant flavor.
Obesity and air pollution are two serious problems in the world today. Now a study shows a possible link between the two as children of parents exposed to air pollution have a higher risk of childhood obesity.
Researchers recruited 702 non-smoking pregnant women through prenatal clinics at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Harlem Hospital. The women were 18-35 years old, identified themselves as either African-American or Dominican, and lived in areas in Northern Manhattan or the South Bronx that are predominantly low income. Over the course of two days during their third trimester, they wore a small backpack equipped to continually sample the surrounding air; at night they placed it near their bed.
Children of women exposed to high levels of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) during pregnancy were nearly twice as likely (1.79 times) to be obese at age 5, and more than twice as likely (2.26 times) to be obese at age 7, compared with children of mothers with lower levels of exposure. The 7-year-olds whose mothers were in the highest exposure group had, on average, 2.4 lbs. more fat mass than children of mothers with the least exposure.
As global warming continues and mild winters become more frequent now comes evidence suggesting
butterflies suffer as a consequence of the warmer winter weather.
(Researchers) reared caterpillars in two different locations: one which often experiences more variable and warmer winter temperatures and one which generally features more stable and generally cooler winter temperatures. The caterpillars that were exposed to the warmer and more variable conditions were better able to withstand the warmer conditions, simply by being exposed to them. They did so by lowering the sensitivity of their metabolism.
However, the ability of even caterpillars accustomed to warmer, more variable winters to cope with such conditions is still limited, according to the researchers. They calculated the energy use of both groups of caterpillars and discovered that the caterpillars that lower their metabolic rates to deal with warmer winters still use significantly more energy to survive them.
In large parts of Africa a
reliable source of water is difficult to find.
The researchers, from the British Geological Survey and University College London, warn that high yielding boreholes will not be found using a scattergun approach and a more careful and exploratory approach that takes into account local groundwater conditions will be needed, which they hope their new study will encourage.
Their results show that in many populated areas in Africa, there is sufficient groundwater to supply hand pumps that communities can use for drinking water. These hand pumps can deliver around 0.1-0.3 litres per second.
Opportunities for boreholes yielding five litres per second or more – the usual amount needed for commercial irrigation – are not widespread and limited to specific areas, such as countries in the north of Africa.
In this time of species loss around the world the announcement of a
new species of purple crab in the Phillippines is noteworthy.
Four new species of freshwater crab, bright purple in colour, have been discovered in the biologically diverse but ecologically-threatened Philippines, the man who found them said Saturday.
The tiny crustaceans burrow under boulders and roots in streams, feeding on dead plants, fruits, carrion and small animals in the water at night, said Hendrik Freitag of Germany's Senckenberg Museum of Zoology.
Found only in small, lowland-forest ecosystems in the Palawan island group, most have purple shells, with claws and legs tipped red.
Knucklehead's Photo of the Week
Tomato Furniture
©Knucklehead, all rights reserved. (Click on the image to see more in the same series.)
Other Worthy Stories of the Week
Hubble captures new panorama of Tarantula Nebula
Probing hydrogen under extreme conditions
Astronomers discover sandstorms in space
No ice loss seen in major Himalayan glaciers
Egg-laying beginning of the end for dinosaurs
Cassini finds Titan lake is like a Namibia mud flat
Space mining startup set for launch in US
Polar bear ancestry traced back 600,000 years
Light bulb with 20-year life expectancy unveiled in US
Artic Ocean could be a source of greenhouse gas
Rare Egyptian scrolls found in Australian collection
Wind power with benefits
Modest alcohol consumption lowers the risk and severity of some liver diseases
For even more science news:
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Alpha-Galileo
BBC News Science and Environment
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LiveScience
New Scientist
PhysOrg.com
SciDev.net
Science/AAAS
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Scientific American
Space Daily
Blogs:
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Cantauri Dreams space exploration
Coctail Party Physics Physics with a twist.
Deep Sea News marine biology
Laelaps more vertebrate paleontology
List of Geoscience Blogs
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Space Review
Techonology Review
Tetrapod Zoologyvertebrate paleontology
Science Insider
Scientific Blogging.
Space.com
Wired News
Science RSS Feed: Medworm
The Skeptics Guide to the Universe--a combination of hard science and debunking crap
At Daily Kos:
This Week in Science by DarkSyde
Overnight News Digest:Science Saturday by Neon Vincent. OND tech Thursday by rfall.
Pique the Geek by Translator Sunday evenings about 9 Eastern time
All diaries with the DK GreenRoots Tag.
All diaries with the eKos Tag
A More Ancient World by matching mole
Astro Kos
SciTech at Dkos.
Sunday Science Videos by palantir
NASA picture of the day. For more see the NASA image gallery or the Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive
Baby Stars in Orion Nebula, NASA, public domain