TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

[Sue]

Let's not forget that all cell membranes contain lipids and these are essential to transport substances in to and out of cells. Some vitamins are lipid soluble like A D E and K and the body needs lipids to transport them. Many hormones need fatty acids for their production and myelinated nerves ie neves to our skeletal muscles) have a protective fatty sheath that insulates one nerve from another. When this breaks down nerve transport gets confused. MS is an example of this. It's a bit like a nerve short circuit.

[Tizer]

Adding to what Sue says...the most often quoted research papers on human brain lipids are those of O'Brien et al from the 1960s. They show brain myelin as having 78–81% lipid (dry weight basis), white matter (49–66%) and gray matter (36–40%). Omega-3 fatty acids represented 8% of the brain’s weight.

[Stanley]

I watched the Horizon programme last night which is the first in a mini-series that is investigating the role of genes, psychology and other factors in weight gain. Some fascinating results....

[Stanley]

See THIS for the results of a huge survey of the benefits of a brisk twenty minutes walk each day. Good news for us dog-walkers! Margaret told me a while ago that in Oz 'sitting in the chair' was seen as the new health threat, even more important than obesity. This report bears this out, inactivity is a killer! I should be OK because aprt from the walking I have the shed as well....

[Stanley]

Not sure where this fits but if you have any interest in the history of tools, have a look at THIS and the subsequent articles.

[Tizer]

`Entrepreneurs succeed in transforming used PET into mineral paper'
15 January 2015, Investigación y Desarrollo
In order to cut down fewer trees and avoid wasting water, a group of young Mexicans designed a system that converts used PET bottles into mineral paper or peta paper, which is biodegradable and meets quality standards required to print books, boxes general stationery. "We manufacture ecological paper created with recycled plastic bottles, calcium carbonate and stone. We don’t use water or chemicals, such as chlorine. The mineral paper is stronger than the standard, you can not break it with your hands, is waterproof, has the quality of being photodegradable and only absorbs the necessary amount of ink when printing," said Ever Adrian Nava, cofounder of the “Cronology” company, located in Ecatepec, a municipality in Mexico State, just north from Mexico City.

Powered by “Cronology” technology, making one ton of paper saves up to 20 trees and 56,000 liters of water. Besides, its production process is 15 percent cheaper because it requires no chemicals like chlorine. Another benefit of this system is that with 235 kilograms of pellets (beads of PET) a ton of mineral paper is made, also in just eight hours 24,000 kilograms of plastic can be obtained. Before converting the PET into paper, it is necessary to first convert the recycled plastic bottles into pellets (plastic beads) by crushing them with various pieces of calcium carbon, to create a mixture which is subjected to a casting process with over a hundred degrees Celsius, to form sheets of large paper that are rolled and form sheets.

The original idea of this type of paper is to reduce production costs and avoid deforestation, since the country currently produces 700,000 tons of paper per year to meet the needs of the local market which translates in 10, 000, 300 million dollars. About 33 percent of paper produced in Mexico is for books and notebooks, 25 percent for wrapping, and the rest for toilet paper and wrapped foods, the product of the Mexican company intends to replace them.

The machine that created by Ever Nava with his team mate Erick Zamudio, is similar to the one for tortilla manufacture, since the peta paper is made from a "paste" that results in a waterproof paper with a similar texture to baking vouchers and it is friendly to the environment because it degrades in just six months. The only downside is that in the mineral part it can not be written with ink gel because it contains alcohol and the product does not support it. "By not cutting trees, nor using water we reduce costs and help the planet. To produce one ton of traditional paper a deterioration of 100 years is caused to the environment, with peta paper we eliminate that, "says Ever Nava. Although in Spain and Taiwan companies manufacturing peta paper with similar processes already exist, the Cronology system is four times cheaper. However, to consolidate the project, the founders participated in a contest for emerging green companies that has been organized for the last five years in Mexico, in order to get financing for their company.

[chinatyke]

... since the country currently produces 700,000 tons of paper per year ...

... To produce one ton of traditional paper a deterioration of 100 years is caused to the environment...

So producing 700,000 tonnes causes a deterioration of 70 millions years to the atmosphere? What does that mean?

[Stanley]

It means that the forest requires 100 years to recover from the felling of enough trees to manufacture the paper? So no matter how many trees, it still takes 100 years....

[Tizer]

I think Stanley's right, the 100 year figure is simply the time it takes for a tree to reach maturity. The press release is either poorly written or poorly translated from Spanish. But the product is an interesting idea.

[chinatyke]

In Guangxi trees are grown for pulping and paper. They are eucalyptus. They grow quick, they grow straight, and they are harvested and replanted every few years, with typical rotation length of 7.2 to 9.6 years. You don't need 100 years to grow trees for pulping but perhaps it is necessary in cooler climates with slow growing pine species which are used for sawn timber. The forests are also used for grazing when firmly established. A very sustainable industry.

[Tizer]

China, here in sleepy, temperate Somerset the willows will match the growth speed of eucalyptus, you can get about 30 to 40 foot height in 10 years if there's plenty of water in the soil. We've had two eucalyptus in our garden and they managed the same rate and had to be felled after 10 years. Eucalyptus would probably outrun willow in a hotter climate.

Here's some interesting news...light going `slower than the speed of light'!
`Scientists slow the speed of light', BBC News web site, 23 Jan 2015
"A team of Scottish scientists has made light travel slower than the speed of light. They sent photons - individual particles of light - through a special mask. It changed the photons' shape - and slowed them to less than light speed. The photons remained travelling at the lower speed even when they returned to free space. The experiment is likely to alter how science looks at light."
More here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-g ... t-30944584

[Stanley]

Hazel ans ash coppicing in the Lake District kept the bobbin turners going. They reckoned to harvest the poles every 16 years on average. A very efficient way of managing woodland as the fresh growth came from the old root stools.
See THIS for news about an attempt to eradicate sip borne rats on South Georgia. It's estimated that they have killed 90% of the indigenous sea birds.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the findings of a survey which suggests that many common over the counter medications may have a bearing on the onset of dementia if taken regularly and in high doses especially in later life. As a confirmed anti pill-taking person the report has a ring of truth in it for me. There is still so much we don't understand about the micro biology of the human body. It is suspected that very low intakes of nutrients and minerals (many of which would be poisons in larger quantity) are beneficial to us. It follows that other micro nutrients could have an opposite effect. I probably take this to extremes because having read the evidence of very low levels of harmful chemicals given off by some modern materials I avoid things like air fresheners and am very careful about ventilation. It would not surprise me if some elements of these powerful modern medicines had harmful effects. Bottom line is best to avoid them if you can and if you do need them, don't let them become a habit....

[Tizer]

At least the Alzheimer's Society has pointed out that the research doesn't show that the drugs cause Alzheimer's or dementia, only that a correlation between the two can be detected. If they'd asked the people if they read the Daily Express or drank coffee or watched The Simpsons on TV you might have got just as strong a correlation.

What concerns me more is all the detergents, surfactants and similar organic man-made chemicals that we spread on our skin in shower gels, shampoos, cosmetics etc and which are left coated on our crockery after washing (if not rinsed in clean water). We know these chemicals have undesirable effects on aquatic organisms at very low concentrations so it wouldn't be too surprising if life-long exposure of humans also results in problems.

[Stanley]

Dead right Tiz. People laugh at me for using old fashioned bar soap but it's about the simplest soap you can buy and leaves your hands lovely and soft. As for air fresheners.... I'll bet Poofume is bad for you as well! (LINK)

[Stanley]

See THIS paper which suggests that the Ebola virus is mutating and this might affect the efficacy of the new drugs being developed to fight it. Tricky little beggars aren't they!

[Cathy]

I was interested to hear today that if possible it is important for young children to eat honey sourced from their local area because it contains local pollens and helps the children to not become allergic to those pollens.

[Stanley]

Cathy, I would guess that it is correct. The concept of 'Terroir', the term used by French wine growers to describe the unique properties conferred by the local soil micro-nutrients and minerals is well known. Scientist increasingly suspect that these properties are important to humans as well. I'd definitely go for it, after all, it can't possibly be harmful.... (Unless you were in Chernobyl of course!)
Later THIS caught my attention. Incredible that these whales dive to depths of about a kilometre for 30 minutes at a time! How anyone can kill magnificent creatures like these for profit baffles me....

[Tripps]

I've heard on the media today that billions of years ago a very dense (!) object about the size of a marble went bang, and in a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second, expanded, faster than the speed of light, to the size of the present universe, and led to the existence all the matter we can see today - galaxies etc. All from one marble! Everyone seems very impressed with this research, and there is talk of a Nobel Prize. All the commentators received the news with awe and respect. I doubt any understood what was being said.

Sorry for being flippant - I can't help it - but I don't believe a word of it.

Looks like I was right to be so sceptical.

Big Bang

[Tizer]

That's astrophysicists for you, they're almost as over-excitable as archaeologists! Science proceeds by one study debunking the previous one but there's too much pressure these days from university PR staff, journal editors and the news media to `get it out there fast` whenever there's some exciting results. 99% of science proceeds much more slowly, with time for checks and more checks.

[Tripps]

I was wondering what happened to the Newcastle hot water mining project of a couple of years ago. It looked exciting - geothermal

Sadly they were not successful. Geothermal Outcome

Very disappointing.

[Stanley]

Every fule know that God did it in six days then had a day off.....
See THIS for a fascinating bit of research about Ibis flying in 'V' formation and how they swap the task of being point bird. Lovely and I shall remember it every time I see a skein of Canada Geese flying over Barlick!

[plaques]

Sadly they were not successful.

There are enough examples to show that the power consumption used in pumping water up and down a bore hall often exceeds the amount of heat gained by getting hot water. I know the parameters involved are a little more complex than a simple power comparison but it looks like someone has got their sums wrong.

[Whyperion]

Sadly they were not successful.

There are enough examples to show that the power consumption used in pumping water up and down a bore hall often exceeds the amount of heat gained by getting hot water. I know the parameters involved are a little more complex than a simple power comparison but it looks like someone has got their sums wrong.

If the power source is something like hydro-electric that could long term make an affordable case ( are there any places where spare hydro capacity could pump geo-thermal ).
Argueably somewhere like the London Underground where there is too much heat at times an money is expended on cooling plant , could give a couple of economic locations , at least if you want warm water - rather than boiling hot.

[Tizer]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. It had to be tried or we'd never have known whether it would work for that site. It's provided a lot of new information and experience and the borehole will be used, even if not for the original purpose.