Once in a Blue Moon

This New Year's eve will be extra bright, as it falls on a blue moon, the second full moon in a month. The expression goes "only once in a blue moon" but surprisingly, blue moon are not that rare. They occur about once every 2 1/2 years. But the last time New Years coincided with a blue moon was nearly 20 years ago, in 1990. It will be interesting to see when it will next occur.

A new epidemic... sort of

picture from http://punditkitchen.com/page/3/

Santa threatened by H1N1

This year, with the swine flu still going around, one job is at more risk from the virus than others. The shopping mall Santa, who takes thousands of kids onto his knee for photo opps each day is getting a little worried. There was even a nation wide movement to classify Santas as high risk, so that they would have priority over vaccines, but it was unsuccessful. Many malls plan to have their Santa's use copious amounts of hand sanitizers, but I would be surprised if there wasn't already a strain of H1N1 that is resistant to hand sanitizer. Over use of hand sanitizer could prove disastrous. The best solution still is to wash your hands, and possibly, not to go to close to santa.

Aspen growth affected by elavated CO2 levels

A study done at the University of Minnesota at Morris has found that in the past 50 years, higher CO2 levels have boosted quaking aspen growth rates by 50%. At first, you may think that is not actually bad, bigger trees are usually better. But Aspen are considered foundation species, which means they have a strong influence in their environment. Their accelerated growth could cause other plants who are more slow growing to not do as well. And since they cover about 42 million acres in Canada, whatever changes they cause will be felt. Oddly enough, this growth spurt has not been seen in other plant species, notably the oak. The trees are also expected to max out in a couple of decades, the consequences of which we can only begin to imagine.

Stem cells now funded by government!!

As promised by Obama in March, the U.S Government has approved the first thirteen batches of human embryonic stem cells. This has enabled the researchers at Harvard who made them to receive millions of dollars in federal funding. Obama was able to do this by lifting restrictions set by the bush administration, but he could not remove the restriction set by congress that restricts federal funding to be used to make stem cells, which supposedly causes destruction of the human embryo. But the funding makes it possible for researchers to use the stem cells that others have made. This funding opens the door for so many cures. Stem cells are extremely versatile, and can be used to make any body part. Now there is hope for people who need a kidney, or burn victims who need skin grafts, and countless other afflictions.

Yoga is good for the heart

A study done at the Indian Institute of Technology has shown that people who regularly do yoga, have a higher heart rate variability which is a sign of a healthy heart. It means that the heart rate is steady, but ready to respond when necessary. The study was done with 84 volunteers, 42 regular practitioners, and 42 who did not do yoga. There was an improvement in parasympathetic control (the nervous system that slows heart rate) seen in those who picked up yoga. Maybe Yoga classes should be covered by health insurance.

National debt is due to be demolished

With our government trillions in debt to countries like China, author Robert H. Frank points out that we are "bankrupting our grandchildren". We will be paying for the last administrations bad choices far into the future, and counting on the countries we borrowed from not to raise our interest rates too high. The out look seems rather bleak, but there is a possible solution. A CO2 tax. Companies that put out sulfur dioxide are already being taxed, a CO2 tax wouldn't be that different, except it would be more geared towards consumers (rather than manufacturers) who drive. Bigger cars put out more CO2, and as Frank points out, increase the risk of others dying in accidents. Taxing CO2 may not completely eliminate national debt, but it may help a fair amount.

Hemopurifier

A new invention called the Hemopurifier has the ability to cleanse blood, much like dialysis machine. It requires the drawing of blood from an artery which is then sent through a tube into the machine, where antibodies on spaghetti like fibers capture and remove viruses before cells and organs can be infected. It takes about 8 minutes for your entire circulation to flow through it, making it possibly useful for emergency situations, but it the article doesn't say if it only takes one circulation for the blood to be completely free of any viruses. The article also doesn't say if it could only be useful immediately after the person is infected, or if it could do some good for people who have already suffered damage due to a virus. It does say that the hemopurifier does work on filtering out the HIV virus, which is a major break through. It also says that it can be used on many different viruses, including the flu, (the cartridge can be programed to selectivly capture viruses) which may eventually lead to overuse. No side-effects were mentioned.
image from http://www.acc-tv.com/images/wjla/news/vidcap_hemopurifier0314.jpg

Not always about diet

A recent study has shown that done at Cambridge has shown that obesity may not all be environmental factors (for some). Scientists there discovered that if parts of chromosome 16 is deleted, the child will be severely obese at an extremely young age. With this knowledge, people who are prone to obesity and wanting to have a child will be able to check through genetic testing (in the future) to see if their child will have this problem, and be able to take measures to control their child's weight better. This study has also helped with children who have been put on Social Services because it was assumed that their parents were overfeeding them as a form of abuse. Some have even been taken off social services now. Finally, a step forward towards ending the obesity epidemic.

Change, but will it be enough...

This year, Obama is scheduled to attend the U.N. Climate summit, but the United States is only planning to cut emissions by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. With global warming progressing at such a fast rate, I don't think that slight improvement will really be enough to actually make any difference. Hopefully the world, especially the united states will come to it's senses and make drastic changes, before it is too late.