Body Rhythms are Set by Color as well as light

Light affects us in many ways. Nordic countries have light treatment for citizens who suffer from a depressive outlook due to lack of sunshine during winter. Their circadian rhythms are disrupted. Recently evidence points to the fact that color is important as well.

A study on mice indicates that color signals reaching the eyes are "stored" in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain. It was thought only sunlight was responsible for setting the body clock. This has been brought into question, however. The research controlled the brightness of artificial sky and also added color blended into the level of brightness.

With only dawn sunlight in the test room mice seemed confused and their body temperatures lagged behind the norm by 30 minutes. When orange and blue was added to the dawn light the mice were perfectly normal in behavior and temperature.

It seems the light/color information is stored in suprachiasmic neurons in a special way. Biopsies show a time lag in the firing of these neurons which ties into low body temperatures. Mammals have evolved in tune with this planet. The animal to Earth "bonding" seems to be very close indeed.

✴ Biology by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Cats Play Music

"Two can play."

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 ✴ Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Saccharin to Treat Cancer

Are you sweet enough? Maybe you are if you use saccharin. But wait! Are there other uses that this comforter can be used for? Scientists believe that it could treat cancer. The saccharin molecule deactivates carbonic anhydrase IX, a protein in aggressive cancers.

Carbonic anydrase IX regulates PH so that cancer can more easily spread through the body. It is hoped that saccharin can change the PH level. If it is not at an optimum level the cancer can be successfully treated with radiation and chemo therapy.

Healthy tissues, except for the gastrointestinal tract, have no carbonydrase anydrose IX. Other carbonic anydrase proteins are there though. Molecules tested before blocked similar carbonic anydrase proteins which are present to make the body work. By tweaking the saccharin molecule it was discovered that it does not affect helpful anhydrase proteins.

Tests have begun on liver and breast cancer. These are currently on animals. If the research is successful work on humans will open a new road to treating aggressive cancers.

✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Diving Squirrel

"I will do a forward two and a half somersault with tuck."

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 ✴ Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Only the Christian Science Church is Exempt from Vaccination

It seems odd to me that Tony Abbott has not exempted Catholics from the new compulsory  vaccination law. The only church outside of the new regime is the Christian Science church. Scott Morrison the Social Services Minister tried to keep this a secret. He was stupid to think he could do this. Nothing is secret in politics!

Any exemption is folly. People will be queuing up to join the church but never attend services just to get their children in school. There must be a back down on this decision. Just a letter from the church exempts children of members. Court cases are expected by followers of other churches. A court will allow exemption across the board because the decision is discriminatory.

Health professionals say the new rules will not work because all children have a legal right to attend school. Can you imagine the uproar if parents just choose to take their children out of school and plant them in front of the TV?

There are only 1,400 Christian Scientists nationwide. The decision to exempt them is weird. They obviously have great influence over government. Lobbyists would like to know their secret. Considering members of this church do accept treatment from doctors and hospitals, their belief in self-healing is weak. Furthermore, followers do vaccinate in other countries with compulsory vaccination. This government is continuing not to surprise. It will do the ridiculous.

✴ Politics by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Laughing Owl

"That's a funny joke."

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 ✴ Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Objections are Strong Against Carmichael Coalmine in Queensland

Conservation has always been ideologically polarized in Australia. There are those who seem to want to stop all development to prevent any deleterious change and those who want to rape the environment in search of the holy dollar - and ne'er the twain shall meet! With the Greens now gaining a handful of seats in the Senate they have voting power beyond their number. All shades of national government will have to compromise. Even state governments are not free of the Green "scourge", as they see it.

There is an issue with a planned coalmine in Queensland, the Carmichael mine near Bowen. Former premier Campbell Newman was fully supportive of the development and showed an intention to introduce new legislation to achieve it. This has changed. Labor is not so enamored with new projects at any cost. This is the case even though the Greens do not have the balance of power in the Queensland parliament.

Like medication you get from your doctor - there are always side effects. The natural environment will certainly be damaged in some way by a new mine. Objectors say the black-throated finch which is already threatened will be wiped out. Even the Waxy Cabbage Palm could be decimated. The evergreen problem of changes in water flow means that Doongmabulla Springs will probably dry up.

Claims by the investor Adani that a 30,999ha site will be set aside for the bird are not based on solid theory. The birds have access to that area already. And land used in the development will be taken away. Black-throated finch prefer their home ground and have never been known to travel to new areas. Raving about economic benefits will not change the views of ardent greens.

✴ Economics by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Moustache Animal

"Just call me 'Mo'." 

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 ✴ Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Cancer in Clams Spread Cells Floating in the Water

Clams along the United States' eastern coastline are suffering from cancer. Like the "bug" in the Tasmanian devil it spreads from individual contact. Rogue cells jump between clams by floating in the water. The most common cancer of clams is leukemia - the sea creatures have a circulatory system.

The find happened because Carol Reinisch of Massachusetts Marine Biology Laboratory (who works on soft-shell clams) asked Stephen Goof of Columbia University to look for clams getting cancer by a  virus. He was shocked to discover a toxic cell that spreads cancer all along the eastern seaboard.

Only two other cases of the spread of cancer by cells are known. One is decimating the Tasmanian devil. The other is transmitted sexually in dogs. At present Geoff Goff's research is supposition. A lab experiment which shows cancer spreading by a cell in water has not yet been done.

Scientists will soon carry out the relevant test. Then we will know whether something dangerous has been discovered. Though people cannot get cancer by eating clams, there could be a danger of getting the same or similar cancer by swimming in water contaminated by the cells.

✴ Biology by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Dog Not So Smart

"I can do this.  How smart am I?"

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 ✴ Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Sweet Versus White Potatoes

You don't know which is better for you - standard or sweet potatoes? Well read on. While many people rant on about the benefits of sweet potatoes, ordinary potatoes are good for you too. There is a drive to reduce the consumption of starch. But be careful about this. Human beings have been eating tubers for hundreds of thousands of years. It is starch from wheat that is new to us - only ten thousand years. Our bodies have evolved to be able to digest tubers.

Processed food like flour is unnatural. Tubers have starch balanced with other elements. This slows down digestion and releases sugar very slowly into the body. Bread is digested quickly. You are hungry again in no time.

Sweet potatoes are not the best low GI (slow sugar release) in an absolute comparison of standard potatoes. Some varieties of potatoes are floury while others are waxy. They differ in GI qualities.

Cooking methods change the GI index. Boiling is best because water binds with the starch. Baking concentrates the sugar. Cutting up before cooking preserves the starch. Cooking potatoes whole raises sugariness. These methods can make sweet potatoes have a higher GI than standard boiled potatoes.

The thing about antioxidants can be ignored. In tests with mice it was found the long-living mice had more oxidants in their bodies than shorter-living ones. All vegetables are high in minerals, vitamins and trace elements. Sweet potatoes compare to Brussels sprouts and spinach, but white potatoes are sufficiently high. Note that we eat potatoes with other things. The "other things" provide missing elements that potatoes lack.

✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Giant Bear

"Look, I'm a giant!"

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 ✴ Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Swift Parrot is Endangered

✴ Conservation by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Shuffle Dog

"I'll just shuffle on out of here"

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 ✴ Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Large Asteroid Craters Found in Australia

Australia has always been seen as remote. Yet new new things are being discovered about its history. It has been identified as the "target" of one of the world's largest asteroid impacts. Two craters found by Andrew Glikson and his team are thought to have been caused by a large meteor which broke into two pieces.

Each crater is 200 kilometers in diameter. One of these craters on its own is larger than the impact in Mexico: the Central American collision wiped out the dinosaurs. It isn't the biggest, however. The Sudbury comet did a great deal of damage, but the world's widest crater is the Vredefort in South Africa.

The twin craters in Australia have been flattened out over eons of time. They were found by geothermal research. It appears that asteroid impact covers the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia, a very large area. Seismic traverses is going to be applied next. This will hopefully bring new things to light.

If the asteroid damage in Mexico caused mass extinction, the severe disruption in Australia would have destroyed life as well. Its age has not yet been determined. The question is: Did the dinosaurs survive the catastrophe or were they long gone by then?

✴ Technology by Ty Buchanan ✴

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