bananas
bananas's JournalOrganic Food Is Healthier Confirms New Analysis
Source: Eco Watch
More nutritional antioxidants, far fewer toxic pesticides; those are the results of a comprehensive meta-analysis on organic foods published yesterday in the British Journal of Nutrition. Led by Carlo Leifort, PhD, at England’s Newcastle University, the analysis is a scientific rebuttal to a previous Stanford University review published in 2012, which found that there was little difference between the nutritional content of organic food over conventionally grown produce. Both studies found there to be fewer pesticides in organic products.
While Stanford University’s review only looked at 200 studies, Dr. Leifert and his team of researchers expanded the scope of their meta-analysis to 343 studies, and also employed more robust analytic tools by analyzing the standardized mean differences of the data from the various studies. “It shows very clearly how you grow your food has an impact,” said Dr. Leifert to The New York Times. “If you buy organic fruits and vegetables, you can be sure you have, on average, a higher amount of antioxidants at the same calorie level.” Antioxidants, compounds such as phenolic acids, flavanones, stilbenes, flavones, flavonols and anthocyanin, have been linked to lower risks of cancer and other diseases.
For many, news of higher nutritional content in organic foods is simply another benefit of buying into a system that eschews toxic pesticides, treats animals with care and protects farmworkers and the surrounding environment. Both the Stanford and Newcastle studies found pesticide residues four times more frequently on conventional crops than on organic produce.
Pesticide exposure, even at low level residues like those found on food, has been linked to a wide range of adverse impacts wildlife and humans, particularly children. In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement advising parents to choose organic in order to avoid pesticide exposure. Also in 2012, a report published by a team of 12 scientists found strong evidence that low doses of endocrine disrupting chemicals influence human diseases, including links to infertility, cardiovascular disease, obesity, cancer and other disorders. “Whether low doses of endocrine-disrupting compounds influence human disorders is no longer conjecture, as epidemiological studies show that environmental exposures are associated with human diseases and disabilities,” the report stated. Research from Tyrone Hayes, PhD, at University of California Berkeley found that a minute dose of the herbicide atrazine (as small as .1 parts per billion) turns tadpoles into hermaphrodites. In 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged that low dose responses to chemicals “do occur in biological systems,” yet has still not begun regulating endocrine disrupters through a finalized Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, as mandated by Congress in 1996.
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Read more: http://ecowatch.com/2014/07/15/organic-food-is-healthier-confirms-new-analysis/
Leading Space Experts to Discuss the Search for Life Beyond Earth
Source: NASA
NASA Television will air a panel discussion of leading science and engineering experts on Monday, July 14, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. EDT, who will describe the scientific and technological roadmap that will lead to the discovery of potentially habitable worlds among the stars.
The public is invited to attend or view the event, which will take place in the Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW in Washington.
Space and ground observatories are cataloging and characterizing hundreds and what is expected to eventually be thousands of potentially habitable worlds in our galaxy. NASA space-based observatories are making unprecedented new discoveries. The agency's next step, the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb telescope), will continue to help scientists rewrite scientific textbooks after its scheduled launch in 2018.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will provide opening comments.
Panel participants include:
-- Ellen Stofan, NASA's chief scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington
-- John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator, NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington
-- John Mather, Nobel Laureate and Senior Project Scientist for the Webb telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
-- Sara Seager, MacArthur Fellow and Professor of Planetary Science and Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
-- Dave Gallagher, director for Astronomy and Physics, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
-- Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and Telescope Scientist for the Webb telescope
Questions can be asked during the event by attendees or via Twitter using the hashtag #AskNASA.
For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
For more information about NASA's role in the search for life, visit: http://www.nasa.gov
Read more: http://astrobiology.com/2014/07/leading-space-experts-to-discuss-the-search-for-life-beyond-earth.html
Vegetarian diets produce fewer greenhouse gases and increase longevity, say new studies
Vegetarian diets produce fewer greenhouse gases and increase longevity, say new studies
Date: June 25, 2014
Source: Loma Linda University Medical Center
Summary:
Consuming a plant-based diet results in a more sustainable environment and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, while improving longevity, according to new research. Based on findings that identified food systems as a significant contributor to global warming, the study focuses on the dietary patterns of vegetarians, semi-vegetarians and non-vegetarians to quantify and compare greenhouse gas emissions, as well as assess total mortality.
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The mortality rate for non-vegetarians was almost 20 percent higher than that for vegetarians and semi-vegetarians. On top of lower mortality rates, switching from non-vegetarian diets to vegetarian diets or even semi-vegetarian diets also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The vegetarian diets resulted in almost a third less emissions compared to the non-vegetarian diets. Modifying the consumption of animal-based foods can therefore be a feasible and effective tool for climate change mitigation and public health improvements, the study concluded.
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"The study sample is heterogeneous and our data is rich. We analyzed more than 73,000 participants. The level of detail we have on food consumption and health outcomes at the individual level makes these findings unprecedented," Soret said.
The analysis is the first of its kind to use a large, living population, since previous studies relating dietary patterns to greenhouse gas emissions and health effects relied on simulated data or relatively small populations to find similar conclusions.
"To our knowledge no studies have yet used a single non-simulated data set to independently assess the climate change mitigation potential and actual health outcomes for the same dietary patterns," said Joan Sabate, MD, DrPH, nutrition professor at Loma Linda University School of Public Health and co-author of the studies.
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Journal References:
1. S. Soret, A. Mejia, M. Batech, K. Jaceldo-Siegl, H. Harwatt, J. Sabate. Climate change mitigation and health effects of varied dietary patterns in real-life settings throughout North America. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2014; 100 (Supplement_1): 490S DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.113.071589
2. J. Sabate, S. Soret. Sustainability of plant-based diets: back to the future. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2014; 100 (Supplement_1): 476S DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.113.071522
The Fire Next Time (1993)
US official: Iran nuclear talks positions 'inadequate and unworkable'
Source: Guardian
• Anonymous official: US and Iran 'very far apart on some issues'
• Kerry due at Vienna talks but Russia and China are absent
Iran has stuck to "inadequate and unworkable" positions in nuclear talks with six world powers despite a looming deadline for a deal to end sanctions against Tehran in exchange for curbs on its atomic programme, a US official said on Saturday.
"We are very far apart on some issues,” including on uranium enrichment, the senior administration official told reporters, on condition of anonymity.
Another senior US official added that it was difficult to consider extending the negotiations with Iran beyond the 20 July deadline, without first seeing "significant progress on key issues" in negotiations between Iran and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.
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Iran's deputy foreign minister spoke on Saturday of "huge and deep" differences between the two sides. But Abbas Araghchi also told Iranian TV that "if no breakthrough is achieved, it doesn't mean that [the] talks have failed”.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/12/us-united-nuclear-china-russia
Let's face it, it's the conservative hard-liners in Iran who are causing the problems.
Just like they cause problems in every country, including the U.S.
"Instead of enhancing Iran's energy security, the nuclear program has diminished the country's ability to diversify and achieve real energy independence."
- Federation of American Scientists and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014442782
Associated Press
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI January 13, 2014 3:19 PM
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's reformers and moderate conservatives welcomed an agreement Monday between Iran and six world powers on how to implement a nuclear deal struck in November, saying it will shore up Iran's sanctions-hit economy. Hard-liners however inside the Islamic Republic remain opposed.
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https://news.yahoo.com/iranians-welcome-nuclear-deal-hardliners-oppose-164236072.html
Forget Metadata, 80% of Calls Stored by NSA, Whistleblower Says
Forget Metadata, 80% of Calls Stored by NSA, Whistleblower Says
by Karl Bode 12:05PM Friday Jul 11 2014
During the Snowden leaks the discussion has been preoccupied with the collection of "metadata" (time, participants, length of calls), even though AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein proved back in 2007 a bigger issue is telecom companies giving intelligence agencies the unfettered ability to monitor every shred of data that goes over a network (pdf) in real time, often without meaningful oversight or transparency.
That point was driven home again recently when Vodafone proclaimed in a report that governments routinely incercept and record voice and data streams in real time without a warrant. Before Snowden or even Mark Klein there was NSA whistleblower William Binney, who last week again stated that most data is not just collected in real time, but increasingly stored:
“At least 80% of fibre-optic cables globally go via the US”, Binney said. “This is no accident and allows the US to view all communication coming in. At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US. The NSA lies about what it stores.”
The NSA will soon be able to collect 966 exabytes a year, the total of internet traffic annually. Former Google head Eric Schmidt once argued that the entire amount of knowledge from the beginning of humankind until 2003 amount to only five exabytes.
To hear Binney tell it, the end goal of the NSA is "population control," though he proclaims he's "optimistic" about some recent Supreme Court decisions, including their ruling that warrants are needed to search cell phones. Again, while many people seem preoccupied with the NSA's collection of metadata, Binney is one of many whistleblowers making it very clear we're still talking about data intercepted and stored in real time.
World Council Of Churches Divests From Fossil Fuels
Source: Huffington Post
The World Council of Churches, which represents over 500 million Christians in more than 110 countries, has decided to divest from fossil fuels, reports The Guardian.
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Guillermo Kerber, the WCC programme executive on Care for Creation and Climate Justice, explained, "The general ethical guidelines for investment already included the concern for a sustainable environment, for future generations and CO2 footprint. Adding fossil fuels to the list of sectors where the WCC does not invest in serves to strengthen the governing body’s commitment on climate change as expressed in various sessions of the Central Committee.”
The fossil fuel divestment movement is ramping up worldwide, faster than any previous divestment campaign, and this decision by the WCC may resonate with other religious institutions. In May, United Nations climate head Christiana Figueres called on religious leaders to take a strong stance on climate change, calling it "one of the great humanitarian issues of our time."
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The WCC follows other noteworthy religious institutions who have decided to divest from fossil fuels. New York City's Union Theological Seminary voted unanimously in June to stop investing in fossil fuels. The Unitarian Universalist Association joined the divestment movement in June as well, and the United Church of Christ passed a fossil fuel divestment strategy in July of 2013.
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Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/11/world-council-of-churches-divests-fossil-fuels_n_5579085.html
CDC: 41% of U.S. Homes Now Wireless Only
It's an epidemic!
41% of U.S. Homes Now Wireless Only
by Karl Bode 08:53AM Thursday Jul 10 2014
The Center for Disease Control has long been an excellent source of statistics on cell phone and POTS usage, since they collect that data to maintain accurate polling statistical information (in large part because those with no landlines trend younger). The latest data from the CDC indicates that 41 percent of U.S. households now rely solely on a wireless phone. That number is up from 38.2% during the second half of 2012, 34% in the second half of 2011 and 29.7% in the second half of 2010. Not surprisingly younger folks lead the way, with nearly two-thirds (65.7%) of 25- to 29-year-olds wireless only.
ISEE-3 Reboot Project Seeks Your Help To Solve a Technical Problem
ISEE-3 Reboot Project Seeks Your Help To Solve a Technical Problem
By Keith Cowing on July 10, 2014 1:12 PM
We have a crowdsourced research project for our ISEE-3 Reboot fans. One of our volunteers, Karl-Max Wagner from Germany has an interesting idea. Did the Nitrogen pressurizing gas dissolve in the Hydrazine in the tanks?
This is something that we would like to research and for efficiencies sake and to get the job done quicker, we would like our project fans out there to help us in this research. I am reading an old USAF document on this now and it may be nothing, but it also may be something. We need to research the following:
- What is the solubility of Nitrogen in Hydrazine?
- What is the temperature dependence?
- Most important, what is the time required to dissolve 1 kg of Nitrogen in 15 kg of Hydrazine? This is an approximation for both tank systems of course.
This is important. Don't just throw stuff on the wall, help us research this.
Thanks!
Dennis Wingo
Via http://nasawatch.com/archives/2014/07/isee-3-reboot-p-10.html
Why Is Flying Safer Than Health Care? Developing a Safety Culture
Why Is Flying Safer Than Health Care? Developing a Safety Culture
July 5, 2014
Airplane crashes are extremely rare, because the airline industry figured out a few decades ago how to encourage a culture of safety in which anyone on the team is encouraged to speak up if they notice something amiss. Yet, some people are still nervous about getting on a plane.
Health care has never gotten the media attention that accompanies a plane crash. Perhaps because of that, hospitals fly under the radar. Firm figures are hard to come by, but the best estimates place deaths due to health care harm around 500,000 a year in the US--equivalent to 1,000 jets dropping out of the sky. What could health care learn from aviation safety?
Guests: Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, is a national consultant and speaker on patient safety. Her books include Speak Your Truth; Ending Nurse-to-Nurse Hostility: Why Nurses Eat Their Young and Each Other; and Charting the Course: Launching Patient-Centric Healthcare, co-authored with her husband John Nance. Her website is http://www.kathleenbartholomew.com/
John Nance, JD, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force and a pilot in commercial aviation. He is an internationally recognized broadcast analyst and advocate for both aviation and health care safety. His books include Blind Trust; Why Hospitals Should Fly: The Ultimate Flight Plan to Patient Safety and Quality Care; and Charting the Course: Launching Patient-Centric Healthcare, co-authored with his wife Kathleen Bartholomew.
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