Day: 08/25/2015

Incredible first look at the largest heart humans have ever preserved .

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For over a year, the giant, 400-pound (181-kilogram) heart of a blue whale sat tucked away – frozen – in a warehouse two hours east of Toronto, Canada.

Just last month, scientists at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) removed the heart from its icy chamber so they could begin preserving it long-term. Luckily for us, they documented the whole thing.

Feast your eyes on what is likely the largest heart that humans have ever preserved:

WhaleHeart

“To our knowledge this is the first blue whale heart to be anatomically preserved for exhibit and study,” Jacqueline Miller, who is a mammalogy technician from the ROM, said in a PBS video. The video is a short clip from the new three-night television series Big Blue Live, scheduled to air on PBS August 31.

The heart weighs 400 pounds (181 kilograms), is about 5 feet (1.5 metres) long, and – when in action – pumped about 60 gallons (227 litres) of blood through the blue whale’s veins every single heart beat. It took a total of four people to push the heart through a hole they had carved into the chest cavity, Miller said.

Blue whales are thought to be the largest animal that ever lived. The heaviest on record weighed 190 metric tonnes (418,000 pounds) and was 98 feet (30 metres) long. Here’s how an average human sizes up:

whale1

Moreover, blue whales are an endangered species. No more than 12,000 of them are thought to inhabit Earth. When they die, their bodies often sink to the seafloor, providing a bona-fide feast for the animals below.

As a result, biologists rarely get a chance to study the internal anatomy of these giant mammals. When the carcass of a blue whale washed ashore in Newfoundland, Canada in May of last year, Miller and other experts saw a golden opportunity. Here they are cutting open the body:

The giant organ took five days to thaw after scientists unplugged the freezer it was being preserved in.

Miller and her colleagues then plugged up the numerous arteries and began pumped a total of about 1,000 gallons (3,785 litres) of formaldehyde throughout the heart. Formaldehyde has a nauseating scent, but it stops decomposition dead in its tracks.

Miller, for obvious reasons, is wearing a mask as she wades through the swimming pool of formaldehyde to show us the heart’s aorta:

whale2

After a week in its formaldehyde bath, the heart will be removed, dehydrated with acetone, and, lastly, slowly filled with silicone. After the silicone has hardened, the heart will be fully preserved and eventually ready for display at the ROM. Joining the heart will be the the same whale’s skeleton.

Using a cell phone for an hour a day increases cancer risk by 500%, study shows .

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Studies are increasingly showing that cellular phone use can lead to chronic health problems, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Now a new study in the journal Electromagnetic Biology & Medicine has suggested a biological mechanism that might explain how these health problems develop.

cancer

The study was conducted by researchers from Indiana University, the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Campinas in Brazil, and the Institute of Experimental Pathology, Oncology and Radiobiology in Kiev, Ukraine.

The researchers found that exposure to the radiofrequency radiation (RFR) used by cell phones and other wireless devices causes a metabolic imbalance known as oxidative stress.

“These data are a clear sign of the real risks this kind of radiation poses for human health,” co-author Igor Yakymenko said.

Enormous increases in tumor risk

Health researchers roughly classify radiation into two categories: ionizing and non-ionizing. Ionizing radiation, which includes X-rays, is a variety known to cause DNA damage and cancer. Non-ionizing radiation, including RFR, is believed to be too weak to directly damage cells. Nevertheless, evidence is emerging that RFR does indeed increase the risk of cancer.

In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer officially classified RFR as a “possible carcinogen.” This came a year after the international Interphone study found that people who used a cell phone for ten years were 40 percent more likely to develop brain tumors. The risk was 400 percent higher among those who started using phones before the age of 20. Decade-long cell phone users were also more likely to develop parotid gland tumors and 300 percent more likely to develop acoustic nerve tumors.

The industry-funded Interphone study has been openly criticized for selecting data in a way that was designed to minimize the apparent risk of cell phone use.

For the new study, the researchers reviewed prior studies into cell phone risk. They found that just an hour of cell phone use per day for four years was enough to increase the risk of certain tumors between three and five times. Even 20 minutes of daily use for five years was enough to triple the risk of a certain brain tumor.

The risk may be even higher, Yakymenko warned, because some cancers can take 30 years to develop. In addition, little research has been conducted into people who start using cell phones as children.

“[Our] data were obtained on adults who used cell phones mostly up to 10 years as adults,” he said. He added that the situation could be much different for children who use cell phones because their biology is more vulnerable to hazards and they will presumably use the devices throughout their lifetime.

Cell phones cause oxidative damage

One of the major problems in gaining widespread acceptance of these risks has been the fact that RFR simply does not cause the damage seen in cells exposed to ionizing radiation. In reviewing experimental studies on the metabolic effects of low-intensity RFR, the researchers found a surprising trend: regular cell phone, tablet or wireless internet RFR consistently causes oxidative stress in living cells.

Oxidative stress is a metabolic imbalance in which the production of free radicals exceeds the body’s ability to remove them with antioxidant activity. The excess free radicals produced in this situation are able to damage cells and DNA. Free radicals have been implicated as causes of many chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and dementia, and they are also responsible for many of the effects of aging.

It is well known that the body reacts to aggressive environments with oxidative stress. Now it has been demonstrated that “ordinary wireless radiation” can have the same effect, the researchers said. This could explain not just cancer, but many of the other long-term health effects observed with long-term cell phone use.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/050906_cell_phones_cancer_risk_tumors.html#ixzz3jwGVRw5E

Greater intake of calcium doesn’t necessarily reduce osteoporosis risk .

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Osteoporosis, health, lifestyle health, calcium, Osteoporosis calcium, vitamin D, indian express lifestyle, indian express health

Calcium sources vary widely in their bio-availability and several factors that affect absorption of calcium include vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin K, protein, sodium, dietary acidosis, and dysbiosis.

While calcium is a critical nutrient for the body, particularly known to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, high intake of the mineral doesn’t necessarily lower a person’s risk for osteoporosis. In  fact, excessive calcium may make your bones weaker.

Large Harvard studies of male health professionals and female nurses reported that individuals who drank one glass of milk (or less) per week were at no greater risk of breaking a hip or forearm than those who drank two or more glasses per week. When researchers combined the data from the Harvard studies with other large prospective studies, they still found no association between calcium intake and fracture risk. Moreover, there was some suggestion that calcium supplements taken without vitamin D might even increase the risk of hip fractures.

In traditional Asian countries where both dairy consumption and overall calcium levels in the diet are the lowest, bone fracture rates were also the lowest. The incidence of hip fracture in mainland  China and  Japan  were among the lowest in the world in 80s and 90s, but has risen markedly with urbanisation. Conversely, in countries like the  United States  where calcium consumption is among the highest in the world, so are the fracture rates among the highest. Clearly, its not only calcium in the diet, other nutrients and lifestyle factors are involved.

Osteoporosis is a complex multi-factorial disease including several factors like inadequate exercise, chronic inflammation, multiple mineral and vitamin deficiencies, nutritional imbalances and not simply lack of calcium in the diet.

Calcium sources vary widely in their bio-availability and several factors that affect absorption of calcium include vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin K, protein, sodium, dietary acidosis, and dysbiosis.

Dietary acidosis reduces calcium absorption. It is caused by excessive consumption of acid forming foods including animal protein, dairy and meat. Additionally, consumption of highly acidic substances like coffee, carbonated drinks, alcohol, sugar, over the counter and prescribed drugs, and even the metabolic byproducts of chronic stress can all put the acid-alkaline balance beyond the tipping point. On the flip-side, the under-consumption of alkalinizing fruits and vegetables can compromise bio-availability of calcium. For this reason, perhaps vegetarians who consume plenty of fruits and vegetables may need less calcium than meat eaters and many cultures manage on much lower intakes.

Other factors like dysbiosis, an over growth of unfriendly bacteria in the gut due to certain medications or faulty diets can compromise absorption of nutrients including calcum. Many common medicines including antacids, steroids, thyroxine, diuretics interfere with calcium metabolism.

Consumption of excessive calcium through diary products, supplements and imbalanced diets may be making our bones weaker. In addition excess calcium can deposit into soft tissues, leading to osteoarthritis, muscle cramping, insomnia, constipation or kidney stones. Calcium and vitamin D supplementation must be taken under medical supervision.

For optimal utilisation of calcium, it is important to take adequate levels of nutrients including vitamin D, phosphorus, zinc, manganese, magnesium, and boron, together with exercise. Vitamin D can be obtained either through exposure to sunlight, or as a supplement.  In other words there is no substitute to eating right and exercising. Calcium rich foods and supplements alone will not prevent osteoporosis.

Ways for preventing osteoporosis

* Adequate dairy and foods rich in bio-available calcium, particularly in adolescence (>3 glasses of low fat milk/dairy/day).

* Include soy and flaxseeds in your diet.

* Balanced diet rich in antioxidants, fruits and vegetables.

* Good intestinal health.

* Adequate exposure to sunlight.

* Avoid excess sodium, caffeine, phosphorus, protein, & alcohol.

* No more than three cups of coffee a day

 

Black holes are a passage to another universe, says Stephen Hawking

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New theory is an answer to a paradox that has puzzled physicists for decades

Humans could escape from black holes, rather than getting stuck in them, according to a new theory proposed by Stephen Hawking.

Unfortunate space travellers won’t be able to return to their own universe, according to Hawking. But they will be able to escape somewhere else, he has proposed at a conference in Stockholm.

Black holes in fact aren’t as “black” as people thought and could be a way of getting through to an alternative universe.

“The existence of alternative histories with black holes suggests this might be possible,” Hawking said, according to a report from Stockholm University. “The hole would need to be large and if it was rotating it might have a passage to another universe. But you couldn’t come back to our universe. So although I’m keen on space flight, I’m not going to try that.

Now Hawking has proposed that the information is stored on the boundary, at the event horizon. That means that it never makes its way into the black hole, and so never needs to make its way out again either.

“If you feel you are in a black hole, don’t give up,” he told the audience at the end of his speech. “There’s a way out.”

Hawking’s proposal is an attempt to answer a problem that has tormented physicists about what happens to things when they go beyond the event horizon, where even light can’t get back. The information about the object has to be preserved, scientists believe, even if the thing itself is swallowed up — and that paradox has puzzled scientists for decades.

Global Analysis – July 2015 | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

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July 2015 Selected Climate Anomalies and Events Map
July 2015 Selected Climate
Anomalies and Events Map

Introduction

Temperature anomalies and percentiles are shown on the gridded maps below. The anomaly map on the left is a product of a merged land surface temperature (Global Historical Climatology Network, GHCN) and sea surface temperature (ERSST.v4) anomaly analysis as described in Huang et al. (2015). Temperature anomalies for land and ocean are analyzed separately and then merged to form the global analysis. For more information, please visit NCDC’s Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page. The percentile map on the right provides additional information by placing the temperature anomaly observed for a specific place and time period into historical perspective, showing how the most current month, season or year compares with the past.

The most current data may be accessed via the Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page.

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Temperatures

In the atmosphere, 500-millibar height pressure anomalies correlate well with temperatures at the Earth’s surface. The average position of the upper-level ridges of high pressure and troughs of low pressure—depicted by positive and negative 500-millibar height anomalies on the July 2015 andMay–July 2015 maps—is generally reflected by areas of positive and negative temperature anomalies at the surface, respectively.

July
July Blended Land and Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies in degrees Celsius
July 2015 Blended Land and Sea Surface
Temperature Anomalies in degrees Celsius
July Blended Land and Sea Surface Temperature Percentiles
July 2015 Blended Land and Sea Surface
Temperature Percentiles

The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for July 2015 was the highest for July in the 136-year period of record, at 0.81°C (1.46°F) above the 20th century average of 15.8°C (60.4°F), surpassing the previous record set in 1998 by 0.08°C (0.14°F). As July is climatologically the warmest month of the year globally, this monthly global temperature of 16.61°C (61.86°F) was also the highest among all 1627 months in the record that began in January 1880. The July temperature is currently increasing at an average rate of 0.65°C (1.17°F) per century.

Separately, the July average temperature across global land surfaces was 0.96°C (1.73°F) above the 20th century average, the sixth warmest for July on record. Large regions of Earth’s land surfaces were much warmer than average, according to the Land & Ocean Temperature Percentiles map above. The average temperature for Africa was the second highest for July on record, behind only 2002, with regional record warmth across much of eastern Africa into central areas of the continent. Record warmth was also observed across much of northern South America, parts of southern Europe and central Asia, and the far western United States. A large swath stretching from eastern Scandinavia into western Siberia was cooler than average, with part of western Russia much cooler than average. Cooler than average temperatures were also observed across parts of eastern and southern Asia and scattered areas in central and northern North America.

Select national information is highlighted below. (Please note that different countries report anomalies with respect to different base periods. The information provided here is based directly upon these data):

  • Austria recorded its hottest July since national records began in 1767. The average temperature was 3.0°C (5.0°F) higher than the 1981–2010 average, beating the previous record of +2.7°C (+4.9°F) set just a few years earlier in 2006. Two major heatwaves, with temperatures reaching 38°C (100°F), contributed to this heat record. At some stations in major cities, including Innsbruck University, Linz, and Klagenfurt, it was not only the hottest July, but the hottest month ever recorded in the 249-year period of record. On July 7th, the daily temperature reached 38.2°C (100.8°F) in Innsbruck, its highest temperature in recorded history.
  • The heat waves extended to France, where the country had its third warmest July in its 116-year period of record. Overall, the temperature was 2.1°C (3.8°F) higher than the 1981–2010 average, with localized departures of more than 4°C (7°F) in the Massif Central to the North East and the Alps, according to MeteoFrance.
  • The Netherlands also experienced abnormally hot July temperatures at the beginning of the month. Under an intense heat wave that gripped much of western and central Europe, the southeastern town of Maastricht observed a temperature of 38.2°C (100.8°F) on July 2nd the highest temperature on record for that town and one of the highest for the country. The highest temperature ever recorded was 38.6°C (101.5°F) in Warnsveld in 1944. The heat did not last however. The temperature was below 0°C (32°F) at a station in Twente in the eastern part of the country on July 9th and 10th, the first time the temperature dropped below freezing in July since 1984.
  • Record-breaking heat was observed in parts of the southern United Kingdom at the beginning of July, including the highest temperature recorded in the country since August 2003. However, the heat did not last as westerly Atlantic air flowed in, bringing cooler-than-average temperatures for much of the remainder of the month. So, despite the early record heat, overall, the average July temperature for the UK was 0.7°C (1.1°F) lower than the 1981–2010 average.
  • Despite a heatwave over part of Sweden at the beginning of the month, temperatures remained cool for the reminder of July across much of the country. While temperatures across southeastern Sweden were slightly above average, other areas, particularly in the far north, were not. Pajala observed its coolest July since 1965 and Gaddede its coolest since 1951, although SMHI notes that the station has been relocated a few times over the years.
  • Norway experienced cooler-than-average temperatures for the third consecutive month. The average July temperature was 0.7°C (1.1°F) lower than the 1961–1990 average. Temperatures were as much as 3°C (5°F) below average at some stations in Finnmark.
  • A high pressure dome over the Middle East brought what may be one of the most extreme heat indices ever recorded in the world on July 31st. According to media reports, in the city of Bandar Mahshahr, the air temperature of 46°C (115°F) combined with a dew point of 32°C (90°F) for a heat index on 74°C (165°F). The highest known heat index of 81°C (178°F) occurred in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on July 8th, 2003.

For the oceans, the July global sea surface temperature was 0.75°C (1.35°F) above the 20th century average of 16.4°C (61.5°F), the highest departure not only for July, but for any month on record. The10 highest monthly departures from average for the oceans have all occurred in the past 16 months (since April 2014).

Related to the current strong El Niño conditions, sea surface temperatures during July were near 1.0°C (1.8°F) above the 1981–2010 average in the central equatorial Pacific Ocean, and more than 2.0°C (3.6°F) above average across the eastern Pacific, according to analysis by the NOAA Climate Prediction Center. Record warmth is notable across much of this area, as shown by the July Temperature Percentiles map above. The CPC estimates there is a greater than 90% chance that El Niño will continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2015/16, and around an 85% chance it will last into early spring 2016. This forecast focuses on the ocean surface temperatures between 5°N and 5°S latitude and 170°W to 120°W longitude, called the Niño 3.4 region.

Other areas across the world’s ocean surfaces also experienced record warmth or much warmer-than-average conditions, including all of the Indian Ocean, most of the eastern and equatorial Pacific, various regions of the North and South Atlantic, and the Barents Sea in the Arctic. A large patch in the Atlantic Ocean south of Greenland remained much cooler than average.

JULY ANOMALY RANK
(OUT OF 136 YEARS)		 RECORDS
°C °F YEAR(S) °C °F
Global
Land +0.96 ± 0.18 +1.73 ± 0.32 Warmest 6th 1998 +1.11 +2.00
Coolest 131st 1884 -0.68 -1.22
Ocean +0.75 ± 0.07 +1.35 ± 0.13 Warmest 1st 2015 +0.75 +1.35
Coolest 136th 1911 -0.50 -0.90
Land and Ocean +0.81 ± 0.14 +1.46 ± 0.25 Warmest 1st 2015 +0.81 +1.46
Coolest 136th 1904, 1911 -0.47 -0.85
Northern Hemisphere
Land +0.92 ± 0.15 +1.66 ± 0.27 Warmest 6th 2012 +1.24 +2.23
Coolest 131st 1884 -0.70 -1.26
Ocean +0.87 ± 0.04 +1.57 ± 0.07 Warmest 1st 2014, 2015 +0.87 +1.57
Coolest 136th 1910 -0.56 -1.01
Ties: 2014
Land and Ocean +0.89 ± 0.18 +1.60 ± 0.32 Warmest 1st 2010, 2015 +0.89 +1.60
Coolest 136th 1904 -0.56 -1.01
Ties: 2010
Southern Hemisphere
Land +1.07 ± 0.12 +1.93 ± 0.22 Warmest 1st 2015 +1.07 +1.93
Coolest 136th 1894 -0.84 -1.51
Ocean +0.67 ± 0.07 +1.21 ± 0.13 Warmest 1st 2015 +0.67 +1.21
Coolest 136th 1911 -0.45 -0.81
Land and Ocean +0.73 ± 0.09 +1.31 ± 0.16 Warmest 1st 2015 +0.73 +1.31
Coolest 136th 1911 -0.46 -0.83
July's Global Land and Ocean plot
July Global Land and Ocean plot
July's Global Hemisphere plot
July Global Hemisphere plot

The most current data July be accessed via the Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page.

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Year-to-date (January–July)
January–July Blended Land and Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies in degrees Celsius
January–July 2015 Blended Land and Sea Surface
Temperature Anomalies in degrees Celsius
January–July Blended Land and Sea Surface Temperature Percentiles
January–July 2015 Blended Land and Sea Surface
Temperature Percentiles

The first seven months of 2015 comprised the warmest such period on record across the world’s land and ocean surfaces, at 0.85°C (1.53°F) above the 20th century average, surpassing the previous record set in 2010 by 0.09°C (0.16°F). Five months this year, including the past three, have been record warm for their respective months. January was the second warmest January on record and April third warmest.

The average global sea surface temperature of +0.67°C (+1.21°F) for the year-to-date was the highest for January–July in the 136-year period of record, surpassing the previous record of 2010 by 0.06°C (0.11°F). The average land surface temperature of +1.34°C (+2.41°F) was also the highest on record, surpassing the previous record of 2007 by 0.15°C (0.27°F).

Most of the world’s land areas were much warmer than average, falling within the top 10 percent of their historical temperature range for the January–July period, as indicated by the Temperature Percentiles map above. These regions include nearly all of South America, Africa, Eurasia, and western North America, with pockets of record warmth across particularly notable across southern South America and parts of central Siberia. Overall, South America was record warm for January–July and Asia was second warmest.

The oceans were also much warmer than average across vast expanses, with much of the eastern and equatorial Pacific Ocean, the Barents Sea in the Arctic, and parts of the western North Atlantic and Indian Ocean record warm. In the North Atlantic, a large region south of Greenland was much cooler than average, with some record cold embedded in that area. Over land, only part of eastern Canada was much cooler than average during the January–July.

JANUARY–JULY ANOMALY RANK
(OUT OF 136 YEARS)		 RECORDS
°C °F YEAR(S) °C °F
Global
Land +1.34 ± 0.20 +2.41 ± 0.36 Warmest 1st 2015 +1.34 +2.41
Coolest 136th 1893 -0.80 -1.44
Ocean +0.67 ± 0.04 +1.21 ± 0.07 Warmest 1st 2015 +0.67 +1.21
Coolest 136th 1911 -0.50 -0.90
Land and Ocean +0.85 ± 0.10 +1.53 ± 0.18 Warmest 1st 2015 +0.85 +1.53
Coolest 136th 1911 -0.51 -0.92
Northern Hemisphere
Land +1.47 ± 0.25 +2.65 ± 0.45 Warmest 1st 2015 +1.47 +2.65
Coolest 136th 1893 -0.89 -1.60
Ocean +0.76 ± 0.04 +1.37 ± 0.07 Warmest 1st 2015 +0.76 +1.37
Coolest 136th 1904, 1911 -0.47 -0.85
Land and Ocean +1.03 ± 0.15 +1.85 ± 0.27 Warmest 1st 2015 +1.03 +1.85
Coolest 136th 1893 -0.56 -1.01
Southern Hemisphere
Land +0.99 ± 0.16 +1.78 ± 0.29 Warmest 3rd 2005, 2010 +1.05 +1.89
Coolest 134th 1917 -0.78 -1.40
Ties: 1998
Ocean +0.61 ± 0.04 +1.10 ± 0.07 Warmest 1st 2015 +0.61 +1.10
Coolest 136th 1911 -0.52 -0.94
Land and Ocean +0.67 ± 0.08 +1.21 ± 0.14 Warmest 1st 2010, 2015 +0.67 +1.21
Coolest 136th 1911 -0.54 -0.97
Ties: 2010
January–July Global Land and Ocean plot
January–July Global Land and Ocean plot
January–July Global Hemisphere plot
January–July Global Hemisphere plot

The most current data July be accessed via the Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page.

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Precipitation

July

The maps below represent precipitation percent of normal (left, using a base period of 1961–1990) and precipitation percentiles (right, using the period of record) based on the GHCN dataset of land surface stations. As is typical, precipitation anomalies during July 2015 varied significantly around the world.

Select national information is highlighted below. (Please note that different countries report anomalies with respect to different base periods. The information provided here is based directly upon these data):

  • The Southwest Indian monsoon season lasts from June to September. In 2015, the monsoon made its annual onset over Kerala on June 5th, just a few days later than normal. During July, monthly rainfall for all of India was 85 percent of the 1951–2000 average, with regional extremes ranging from 54 percent of average over the South Peninsula to 105 percent of average in northwest India. Cumulative rainfall for the entire monsoon period to date (June–July) was 97 percent of average.
July 2015 Land-Only Precipitation Percent of Normal
July 2015 Land-Only Precipitation
Percent of Normal
July Land-Only Precipitation Percentiles
July 2015 Land-Only Precipitation Percentiles

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References

Peterson, T.C. and R.S. Vose, 1997: An Overview of the Global Historical Climatology Network Database. Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 78, 2837-2849.

Huang, B., V.F. Banzon, E. Freeman, J. Lawrimore, W. Liu, T.C. Peterson, T.M. Smith, P.W. Thorne, S.D. Woodruff, and H-M. Zhang, 2015: Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature Version 4 (ERSST.v4). Part I: Upgrades and Intercomparisons. J. Climate, 28, 911-930.

Stephen Hawking explains how to escape a black hole

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Black hole

If you find yourself stuck inside a black hole, Stephen Hawking says not to panic.

Current science suggests that a black hole’s gravity is so strong that absolutely nothing—not even light—can escape once inside. They are cosmic vacuums of terrible, unthinkable power… and there’s about 100 million of them in our galaxy alone, including an enormous one at the center that’s billions of times bigger than the sun. Fun stuff.

But perhaps there is hope after all. Hawking, the most famous physicist in the world, has a new theory about black holes, and when Hawking theorizes, people listen. Much of what we already know about black holes is because of Hawking—in fact, there are even concepts named after him. So it’s no trivial matter when he has a new idea.

Speaking at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Hawking argued that information that is sucked into a black hole is not doomed to remain there forever. “There’s a way out,” he said.

For decades, physicists have been perplexed by the question of what happens to the information of particles passing through black holes. Science says it can’t be permanently destroyed, but where does it go? In what state does it exist? Hawking now believes that the information never really enters the black hole to begin with.

“I propose that the information is stored not in the interior of the black hole as one might expect, but on its boundary, the event horizon,” he said.

If you’ve seen Interstellar, you’re familiar with the event horizon—it’s essentially the boundary that delineates the point of no return. Once past it, the black hole has you in its nightmarish forever-embrace.

The particles’ 3D information is translated into a 2D hologram and hangs out in the event horizon. Remember that concept named after Hawking we mentioned? Hawking Radiation—or photons ejected from a black hole due to quantum fluctuations—is what then helps the information escape from the event horizon. The outgoing Hawking particles can, so to speak, pick up the information on its way out of the black hole.

Though the information might have escaped the black hole, it’s not exactly its former self. “The information about ingoing particles is returned, but in a chaotic and useless form,” Hawking said. “For all practical purposes, the information is lost.”

That said, being “lost” outside of a black hole is still probably better than being inside of one. Hawking even suggested that the information could come out in another universe. “The message of this lecture is that black holes ain’t as black as they are painted,” he said. “They are not the eternal prisons they were once thought.”

None of this is to suggest a human being could survive being consumed by a black hole (most scientists believe the intense tidal forces would snap you like a twig before you could say “McConaughey”).

But it’s comforting, perhaps, to know that if you were to get devoured by the universe’s apex predator, the particles that made you you could someday be recovered.

India’s Polio-Free Status a Cruel Joke

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India's Polio-Free Status a Cruel Joke

Photo: The Dalai Lama launching the bivalent oral polio vaccine in India, Jan 2010. Learn More.

The definition of polio has been changed repeatedly since the programme was launched, thus automatically leading to a drastic fall in the number of cases

Polio, traditionally synonymous with paralysis and disability, has been given a new name in India. It is now known as NPAFP or non polio acute flaccid paralysis. This and the fact that cases of polio caused by the oral polio vaccine (OPV) are not being reflected as polio have ensured that India is now declared “polio free” and is being showcased as a success story of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative that was launched in 1988 by the World Health Assembly.

Smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980 after a tumultuous period of denial of vaccine deaths and other controversies. According to medical researcher William Muraskin, who teaches urban epidemics at Queens College’s (City University of New York) urban history and health department, the experts involved in this debatable exercise were looking for another opportunity to flaunt their skills. When they chose polio many eyebrows were raised. Polio was not on the priority radar of the countries where this exercise was to be launched. These developing nations were struggling to provide basic health needs. India, for example, is incapable of providing clean water, sanitation, hygiene, and nutrition for a majority of its population even 66 years after Independence

Misguided approach 

Furthermore, OPV was chosen to be the only weapon to eradicate polio. T Jacob John, professor emeritus at CMC Vellore, pointed out that this vaccine, consisting of live viruses, is notorious for causing vaccine-induced polio. Because those vaccinated tend to shed the virus in their stool, it can mutate into a virulent form, causing paralytic polio in others, even leading to polio epidemics. When this phenomenon was noticed and reported by Indian doctors they were asked to increase the number of doses given to children!

Activist and physician Anant Phadke and C Sathyamala, epidemiologist who has been working on community health projects in different parts of the country for over 20 years, argued that it is not possible to eradicate polio, a disease primarily of poor sanitation and nutrition, with a vaccine. Polio-like paralysis can also be caused by other factors. DDT and other pesticides, exposure to lead and arsenic, other neurotoxins, injections, and vaccinations can trigger paralysis. Thus a holistic approach was needed to tackle the disease.

Medical textbooks reveal that exposure to polio viruses rarely results in paralysis. More than 95 per cent of those exposed will show no symptoms at all. Of the rest, many will exhibit symptoms resembling a common cold, a few will suffer temporary lameness, and less than 1 per cent will exhibit permanent paralysis. Exposure to the polio virus is actually the best immunity against viral polio. It offers permanent immunity to more than 99 per cent exposed to it. According to Yash Paul, consultant paediatrician in Jaipur, and other doctors who have spoken on the issue, why an internal virus infects the spine to cause paralysis is yet to be explained and the general conclusion is that those who become permanently paralysed may have some inherent susceptibility that should be investigated.

Phadke pointed out that smallpox and polio eradication are two entirely different things. Polio viruses can infect children without causing any external symptoms and thus remain in circulation. He alleged that it was for the benefit of the developed nations, who could stop their vaccination programmes once the wild polio virus was eradicated worldwide, and for the manufacturers, who were promoting the programme because the OPV was discontinued in the developed countries due to its risks, that the polio eradication strategy was launched. This eradication effort, costing around Rs 14,000 crore (1.568 billion US) or more, has broken the back of the Indian health system besides leaving the entire ground-based health staff exhausted and demoralised.

OPV: how harmful?  

The National Polio Surveillance Project data show that the polio eradication programme has increased paralysis among children—from 1,005 cases yearly in 1996 to 60,992 cases in 2012, most now being classified as NPAFP instead of polio. The government does not reveal how many of these cases are due to the vaccine. It was observed in 2005 that, against 66 cases of polio caused by the wild polio virus that year, 1,645 were caused by the vaccine. As the number of polio doses given to every child has increased exponentially over the years, the number of children affected by the vaccine has climbed new heights. Data reveals that those vaccinated are 6.26 times more likely to be paralysed. Doctors investigating the affected children have expressed anguish over how these children have been ignored by the government of India and have been left to fend for themselves. Deaths from the vaccine have also been reported.

Many mutated virus strains are running loose in India. In Japan, after three months of use, 16 extremely virulent strains of the vaccine viruses and 78 strains in total were found in sewage and in its rivers. India has been using the vaccine since 1978, intensively since 1997, and one cannot even imagine how many virulent strains could be circulating in this country that is devoid of basic sewerage disposal and sanitation facilities.

Why are more than 60,000 children in India becoming paralysed every year? Neetu Vashisht, paediatrician at Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, assciated with Maulana Azad Medical College, in Delhi has analysed that the cases of NPAFP in India are directly proportionate to the number of doses of OPV given, implying a relationship. Taking into consideration the normal NPAFP rate, it has been deduced that in 2011 alone, India has suffered 47,500 extra cases of paralysis. Studies have shown that death rates in children with NPAFP are twice as high as the death rate among children with polio paralysis. They have also pointed out that polio and NPAFP are clinically indistinguishable. A version of the vaccine has been illegally tested on Indian children during the eradication programme and doctors have observed and reported higher rates of paralysis due to this vaccine.

In Brazil, a study has implicated this vaccine in cases of Guillain Barré Syndrome (GBS), transverse myelitis, and facial palsy. Thus the claim of the government that these cases of paralysis have no relation to the vaccine merits extensive investigation. Medical scientists have privately expressed that the epidemics of encephalitis in children in areas where the OPV has been used excessively must also be investigated. In the USA all cases of polio are now attributed to the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) which is considered to be safer! The vaccine also causes GBS, a totally debilitating kind of paralysis.

In April 2004 a memorandum was submitted to the WHO, UNICEF and the Government of India by Debabar Bannerjee, professor emeritus at Centre of Social Health and Medicine at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and other eminent doctors pointing out that the WHO inflated 32,419 cases of polio, a maximum of 20 per cent of which were probably caused by the wild polio virus, to 350,000 to justify the programme. The definition of polio has been changed repeatedly since the programme was launched, thus automatically leading to a drastic fall in the number of cases. A significant number of children declared polio-affected by the polio virus were sufficiently vaccinated, and that children were being rendered paralytic directly due to the vaccine.

The memorandum also pointed out that polio eradication was not possible in India, as the vaccine viruses had mutated into virulent strains and were circulating. In August 2006, the Indian Medical Association reiterated the above and called for identifying the unfortunate victims and compensating them.

Later, throwing all caution to the winds, children have been given an unprecedented 30 to 50 doses of the vaccine and even those who should be medically exempt are being vaccinated. Dr Jacob Puliyel, head of paediatrics department at St Stephens Hospital in Delhi, reveals that a synthetic version of the polio virus with a formula called’CHNOPS’ makes a mockery of the eradication effort as polio can now be spread accidentally or intentionally by this virus.

Virulent strains emerge

The OPV targets only three of the many enteroviruses that are capable of causing polio. In such a scenario the other viruses often take over by becoming more virulent. Such cases are now being observed in the USA where the enterovirus 68 is now suspected to be causing polio. The enterovirus 71 has also been observed to cause polio in that country. This phenomenon may soon become global as viruses change roles in response to misguided efforts that seek to eliminate them.

Pushpa Bhargava, founder director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, points out that polio was already on the decline in India even before the eradication effort began. Polio was concentrated in a few pockets of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which accounted for 96 per cent of the cases reported. Improving sanitation and nutrition in these areas, along with routine rounds of the relatively safer IPV, would have drastically reduced polio without resorting to the chicanery that has resulted in an unprecedented toll of disability in children in all parts of the country.

Hidden in the packet inserts of the OPV is an ominous statement saying that the vaccine has not been tested for causing cancer or infertility. The presence of untested and probably carcinogenic monkey viruses, and phenol and polysorbate 80, both of which are endocrine disruptors, in the vaccine raises concerns. It is also known that the vaccine virus strains can lie latent in the body and cause polio decades after administration.

India is now preparing to permanently launch the injectable IPV all over the country, which will require money and trained manpower at a scale that it currently does not have, to counter the vaccine viruses in circulation. This vaccine has its own share of associated risks besides administration errors that can itself cause paralysis in children. The wild polio viruses, which actually conferred immunity to children, are now no longer widely prevalent, leaving future children exposed to unexpected epidemics. The so called benefits of polio eradication have eluded this indebted country and its children face an uncertain future. It is important that lessons from this misadventure be learnt to oppose future assaults on the children of our country, particularly as India gears up for the measles eradication campaign.

Case of criminal liability

It is very important to find out exactly who have benefitted from the programme and take heed of calls by ethical doctors like Phadke that those guilty must be identified and punished. He says, “It is necessary that all these children who have lost their limbs be fully rehabilitated, and their parents adequately compensated. Criminal liability should be ascertained for those officials who have suppressed this information of breakup of follow-up of AFP cases, and those officials and policymakers who are responsible for continuing this policy of Polio Eradication Initiative.”

The entire African continent has been declared free of ‘wild’ polio cases .

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that the entire African continent has been free of wild polio cases for the past year, thanks to a dedicated vaccine campaign.

This means that no one has been infected with the virus anywhere in Africa since the last reported case in central Somalia on 11 August 2014, and it suggests that public health officials have successfully treated enough people with the oral vaccine to interrupt the spread of polio in Africa once and for all.

Unfortunately the announcement doesn’t mean that Africa is free from polio altogether – there are still people infected, and the virus remains officially endemic in Nigeria.

But Nigeria hasn’t had a new case since 24 July 2015, and in a few more weeks officials are expected to announce that transmission of the virus has been interrupted in the country. If that happens, it means there’ll only be two countries left the world where polio is being transmitted – Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“If continued lab results in the coming weeks confirm no new cases in Nigeria, and if the WHO African Region then goes two more years without a case of wild polio in the face of strong surveillance, it could be certified polio-free by the Africa Regional Certification Commission,” the World Health Organisation explained in a press release.

Since smallpox was eradicated in 1977, humans have struggled to eliminate any other disease threats from the planet. We were making great strides when it came to controlling measles, until a drop in vaccination rates over the past decade saw new outbreaks pop up around the world.  But thanks to dedicated public health programs, we’re now closer than ever to wiping out several diseases, including polio and the parasitic Guinea worm.

But there’s still a lot to be done before we can relax, according to Hamid Jafari, Director of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at the WHO. “Surveillance for poliovirus has improved considerably. However, in the past we have had year-long periods when we thought the poliovirus had gone from the Horn of Africa and central Africa, only to find out that we were simply missing transmission because our surveillance systems were not strong enough to spot cases,” he said. 

And even though results in Kenya and Ethiopia, where polio used to be endemic, and now Nigeria are positive, the WHO admits that its scientists can’t rule out whether low-level transmission is occurring undetected in Somalia, as a result of insufficient monitoring.

“One year with no reported cases of polio is great news, but this progress needs to be treated with caution – a lot of very hard work is needed before we can be fully confident that polio is gone from the Horn of Africa,” added Hemant Shukla, who supports polio eradication for the Horn of Africa at the WHO.

So far though, things are looking positive. And while we can’t start writing the epitaph for polio just yet, it doesn’t hurt to celebrate the small wins when we get them – when it comes to global health threats and vaccines, they definitely don’t happen often enough.

Stephen Hawking’s New Black Hole Idea May Blow Your Mind

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How do you escape from a black hole? Stephen Hawking has an idea.

In front of a crowd of scientists and reporters at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm on Tuesday, the renowned British physicist explained his latest idea about how quantum-mechanical information can escape from being lost in a black hole.

“I propose that the information is stored not in the interior of the black hole as one might expect but on its boundary, the event horizon,” Hawking says in a video of his announcement, which can be viewed above.

The event horizon is the sphere around a black hole — so, in other words, whatever is falling into a black hole can escape because it doesn’t actually make it inside, Wired reported.

<span class='image-component__caption' itemprop="caption"><span style="color: #3d3c40; font-family: Lato, appleLogo, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; background-color: #ffffff;">An artist's drawing of the black hole named Cygnus X-1. The black hole formed when a large star caved in, and it pulls matter from a blue star beside it.</span></span>NASA/CXC/M.WEISSAn artist’s drawing of the black hole named Cygnus X-1. The black hole formed when a large star caved in, and it pulls matter from a blue star beside it.

Black holes, which are massive objects in space that have a gravitational pull so strong that even light can’t escape their clutches, have long puzzled scientists.

After all, according to the general theory of relativity, some scientists argue that physical information gobbled up by a black hole is lost forever. But other scientists say that the laws of quantum mechanics demand that the information cannot be destroyed and should be retrievable. This conundrum is dubbed the “information paradox.”

So, based on Hawking’s announcement, the information passing through the black hole’s event horizon gets translated into a kind of hologram that sits on the black hole’s boundary, New Scientist reported.

What happens from there? Research that Hawking conducted with Malcolm Perry, a physicist at the University of Cambridge, and Andrew Strominger, a physicist at Harvard University, suggests the possibility that information seemingly lost to a black hole could be retrieved in alternate universes. Yes, alternate universes.

“The hole would need to be large and if it was rotating it might have a passage to another universe. But you couldn’t come back to our universe,” Hawking said in a written press release. “The message of this lecture is that black holes ain’t as black as they are painted. They are not the eternal prisons they were once thought. Things can get out of a black hole both on the outside and possibly come out in another universe.”

The Washington Post noted that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Gerard ‘t Hooft, who attended Hawking’s announcement, has been thinking about black holes and information loss in a similar way. Even though black holes still have scientists scratching their heads, physicists are working together to gain a better understanding of the elusive objects.

Watch the video. URL: https://youtu.be/DkRDmJpthXg

Diabetes causing infertility among males.

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A recent study says nearly half of Indian men above the age of 40 years suffering from erectile dysfunction are diabetic. DH file photo. For representation purpose

Diabetes is becoming a major reason for infertility among males, doctors have said. They said that may it be Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, in both the conditions, insulin producing cells in the body get damaged and cause health complications including infertility.

“As the problems of diabetes increase, it damages the nerves of the reproductive system. Cases have proved that diabetes is causing erectile dysfunction among men. High levels of blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol, all clubbed together only aggravates the problem of getting a proper erection in men,” said Kshitiz Murdia, a fertility expert at Indira Infertility Clinic and Test Tube Baby.

He said the problem of nerve damage can also be extended to retarded ejaculation, when nerves in the penis get damaged.

“The nerve damage from diabetes can also lead to a condition where the nerves are unable to control the bladder,” said Murdia, adding that diabetes in men can lead to DNA damage in their sperm, thus seriously hampering the chances of impregnating the partner, or reducing the chances of live birth and even healthy, normal foetus.

A recent study says nearly half of Indian men above the age of 40 years suffering from erectile dysfunction are diabetic.

Talking about the treatment procedure, Arvind Vaid, a Delhi-based IVF specialist, said: “Reducing the dependence on alcohol and quitting smoking are some of the factors to reduce erectile dysfunction.”

“Retarded ejaculation is also associated with certain psychological problems. It is advisable to seek proper clinical counselling, or psychosexual therapy to reduce this burden,” said Vaid.

Sugar intake also needs to be monitored among men, if they are addicted to sweets, he said. “Proper consultations with the doctors is a must and the required test should be performed almost every two months to know, if diabetes has caused any other problems in the body,” said Vaid.