Mar 25 2011

Spring has Sprung: New from BBC Earth!

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"If I ruled the world, every day would be the first day of spring" (from the musical Pickwick, by Leslie Bricusse/Cyril Ornadel) The time has come! As the earth turns and the sun shines it's life giving light directly on the equator, something very special happens. It's called the Vernal Equinox, or the first day of spring! (At least for those in the North Temperate Zone!) This astronomical event that happens twice a year, marks the point at which the length of day and night are almost equal in all parts of the world. Note the use of almost because for places farther from the equator, days are naturally longer and the sun takes longer to rise and set. Making their day lengths almost, but not absolutely, equal. In any case, the March equinox is celebrated across many cultures as a time of rebirth, renewal and a time to rejoice! A number of religious holidays and festivals take place around this time of year, and in some parts of the world it even marks the coming of an entirely New Year; such as the astronomical Persian calendar in Tehran.
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Mar 25 2011

Does Religion Make People Gain Weight?

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People can pray to lose weight, but it turns out that more devout religious people often have a higher chance of gaining weight. According to a new study from Northwestern University, young adults who participate in religious activities are fifty percent more likely to become obese by middle age, compared to those with no religious involvement.
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Mar 25 2011

“Use 60 minutes of darkness to help the world see the light,” urges Ban Ki-moon

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New York: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon leads a host of world and civic leaders supporting Earth Hour 2011 as a powerful symbol of a shared wish for a sustainable and secure future. "All over the world individuals, communities, businesses and governments are creating new examples for our common future – new visions for sustainable living and new technologies to realize it," Ban Ki-moon said. "Tomorrow, let us join together to celebrate this shared quest to protect the planet and ensure human well-being. Let us use 60 minutes of darkness to help the world see the light."
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Mar 25 2011

That Euphoric Feeling

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For most people not sleeping well leads to being the person most likely to be avoided the next morning. A lesser known side effect of sleep deprivation is short-term euphoria, which can potentially lead to poor judgment and addictive behavior, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. Researchers at UC Berkeley and Harvard Medical School studied the brains of healthy young adults and found that their pleasure circuitry got a big boost after a missed night’s sleep. But that same neural pathway that stimulates feelings of euphoria, reward and motivation after a sleepless night may also lead to risky behavior, their study suggests.
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Mar 25 2011

Hilton Hotel Brands Will Turn Off Lights for Earth Hour

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March 23. 2011 - Hilton Worldwide announced that it intends to turn off the lights at thousands of the hotels on Saturday to recognize Earth Hour. From 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time, hotels in the company's 10 distinct brands will switch off main building exterior lighting and rooftop signage, shut down business center equipment and dim interior lights.
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Mar 25 2011

Arctic sea ice ties for smallest ever

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Even at its biggest, Arctic sea ice extent this winter was among the smallest ever seen, apparently tying with 2006 for the least amount of ice covering the region around the North Pole, U.S. researchers reported. Sea ice on the Arctic Ocean usually starts growing in September and hits its maximum area in February or March; this year, the maximum appeared to occur on March 7, when ice stretched over 5.65 million square miles (14.64 million square km), according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. That area of ice-covered water is 471,000 square miles (1.2 million square km) below the average maximum ice extent observed by satellites from 1979 to 2000, the center said in a statement.
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Mar 24 2011

A Battery That Charges in Seconds

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Imagine being able to charge your cell phone in a matter of seconds or your laptop in a few minutes. That might soon be possible, thanks to a new kind of nanostructured battery electrode developed by scientists at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The researchers found that their electrode can charge and discharge up to 100 times faster than existing devices while holding the same amount of energy.
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Mar 24 2011

Google HQ Installs First Wireless Electric Car Charger

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Google is famous for giving the digital generation what it wants, so it only makes sense that the search giant would branch out into other technologies it feels are worth of its attention. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that they would already be dabbling in smart grid technologies, and positioning themselves to be a leader in the future of both energy creation and distribution.
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Mar 24 2011

Are Desalination Technologies the Answer to the World Water Crisis?

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Investors and policy makers are increasingly advocating desalination technologies that use seawater to make freshwater. As reviewed in an EcoSeed Special Report, the interest in desalination technologies is growing due to the fact that there is insufficient fresh water to meet the daily drinking and sanitation needs of all those inhabiting the planet.
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Mar 24 2011

Obesity Control

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A magic pill for controlling obesity is a dream that many have. Researchers exploring human metabolism at the University of California, San Francisco, have uncovered a handful of chemical compounds that regulate fat storage in worms, offering a new tool for understanding obesity and finding future treatments for diseases associated with obesity. Such compounds may allow chemical control of obesity. As described in a paper published this month in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, the team took armies of microscopic worms called C. elegans and exposed them to thousands of different chemical compounds. Giving these compounds to the worms, they discovered, basically made them skinnier or fatter without affecting how they eat, grow, or reproduce.
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