Day: 12/13/2016

Echoes in gravitational waves hint at a breakdown of Einstein’s general relativity.

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The physics discovery of 2016 just got more tantalising.

In February, astronomers made a monumental discovery. Almost 100 years after Albert Einstein first predicted them, researchers detected gravitational waves – ripples in space time that had radiated out from the merging of two black holes.

It was a striking confirmation of Einstein’s general theory of relativity – but in an unexpected twist, the discovery has also provided the first tantalising evidence that his theory breaks down at the event horizon of black holes.

 Since February, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has observed three gravitational wave events in total. And now researchers have pored over this data, and claim they’ve found evidence of ‘echoes’ in the waves that defy Einstein’s predictions of black holes.

For now, the new claims have been published on ArXiv.org, where they can be examined by the rest of the physics community before being submitted for peer-review – so there’s a very real possibility that these echoes could go away with more scrutiny of the data.

And the evidence so far falls short of the crucial 5-sigma error margin, which is the gold-standard in the physics world that means there’s a one in 3.5 million chance that the result could be a fluke.

But if further research shows that these ‘echoes’ are really there, it would be a huge day for physics. It’s already thought that general relativity breaks down at the centre of black holes, but this would show that it fails at their edges, too. And that could herald the birth of new physics.

“The LIGO detections, and the prospect of many more, offer an exciting opportunity to investigate a new physical regime,” Steve Giddings, a black-hole researcher from the University of California, Santa Barbara, who wasn’t involved in the study, told Zeeya Merali at Nature. 

If the echoes disappear, general relativity would have just withstood yet another test. For decades, physicists have been attempting to poke holes in the theory, trying to find ways it could be more compatible with quantum mechanics, but so far, Einstein’s original version has held up incredibly well.

 But before we get too carried away, what are these ‘echoes’, and what do they have to do with general relativity?

It all comes down to something called the black hole information paradox.

According to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, anything that crosses a black hole’s event horizon should disappear, with no trace left behind. The traditional thinking is that not even light can escape a black hole, hence the name ‘black’.

More recently, though, researchers have questioned that idea. Because according to quantum mechanics, matter swallowed by a black hole would actually leave a trace of itself on the outside.

So how can an event horizon satisfy both general relativity (and destroy everything that passes its boundary) and quantum mechanics (leave some trace of it)?

This is one of the biggest problems in physics, and scientists still don’t have an answer.

One explanation is the firewall hypothesis, which was proposed in 2012, and suggests that there’s a ring of high-energy particles surrounding a black hole’s event horizon that burns up any matter that passes through.

Physicist Stephen Hawking has a different idea – that black holes are surrounded by soft ‘hair‘. The ‘hair’ is low-energy quantum excitations that store a signature pattern of everything that’s been sucked up by a black hole.

Regardless of which hypothesis you think is the most convincing, the overarching message is the same: instead of the clean event horizon predicted by general relativity, black holes might be ‘fluffier’ than we imagined.

The only problem is we’ve had no way to actually test any of these ideas, until LIGO detected gravitational waves earlier this year.

Now, with their latest data in hand, a team of international researchers has proposed a way to measure what’s going on around black holes.

The prediction is that, if the edges of black holes really do defy general relativity and are fuzzy, then a series of echoes should be released after an initial gravitational wave burst.

That’s because the team predicts the fuzziness surrounding a black hole will act kind of like a hall of mirrors, trapping some of the gravitational waves escaping the black hole merger and bouncing them around for a bit, so only a few escape at a time, meaning they would have hit LIGO slightly later.

According to the team’s calculations, these echoes would have been detected by LIGO at 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 seconds after the initial gravitational wave burst, and that’s exactly what the data show.

Not only after the first gravitational wave burst detected in February, but all three events seen since.

Of course, three gravitational wave bursts is still a pretty tiny sample size. And there’s a chance that these echoes are just some kind of background noise – around a 1 in 270 chance, to be precise, or 2.9 sigma – but further observations should help narrow down those odds.

“The good thing is that new LIGO data with improved sensitivity will be coming in, so we should be able to confirm this or rule it out within the next two years,” lead research Niayesh Afshordi told Nature.

Even if the echoes can be confirmed, they still don’t provide any insight into what kind of fuzzy boundary black holes might actually have, so we’ve got a long way to go before that information paradox is solved.

But one thing’s for sure: the physics discovery of the year just got even more tantalising.

Astronomers found evidence for a ‘dark’ gravitational force that might fix Einstein’s most famous theory.

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Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicts so much about the universe at large, including the existence of gravitational lenses or “Einstein rings.”

At the same time, however, Einstein’s famous equations struggle to fully explain such objects.

While general relativity says a strong source of gravity – like the sun – will warp the fabric of space, bend light coming from a distant object, and magnify it to an observer, very big objects like galaxies and galaxy clusters make gravitational lenses that are theoretically too strong (like the one above). General relativity also can’t fully explain the spinning motions of galaxies and their stars.

That’s why most physicists think as much as 80% of the mass in the universe is dark matter : an invisible source of matter, and its resulting gravitational force, that fills the gap. They think dark matter might be made of hard-to-detect particles , or perhaps an unfathomable number oftiny black holes . But we have yet to find smoking-gun evidence of either.

However, a contentious theory by Erik Verlinde at the University of Amsterdam suggests dark matter may not be matter at all. What’s more, astronomers say his idea “is remarkable” in its ability to explain the behavior of more than 33,000 galaxies that they studied.

“This does not mean we can completely exclude dark matter, because there are still many observations that Verlinde’s cannot yet explain,” study leader and physicist Margot Brouwer said in a YouTube videoabout the research. “However it is a very exciting and promising first step.”

A new theory of gravity?

universe

Called ” emergent gravity ,” or EG, Verlinde’s idea was first widely publicized by the New York Times in 2010. However, it took him 6 years to craft into a more testable (though not-yet-peer-reviewed) paperpublished on arXiv in November 2016 .

Emergent gravity borrows from the very tiny (and very weird) world of quantum mechanics to suggest that gravity is really a “dark” gravitational force, though more like a natural side effect of the fabric of space.

You might think of it as the outcome of a spacetime tug-of-war.

On the one hand, matter locally warps the fabric of space. On the other, a powerful and as-yet-unexplained force of nature, called ” dark energy ,” is speeding up the expansion of space and the edge of the universe in all directions. (But don’t worry, we may not go through a ” big rip ” until at least 2.8 billion years from now .)

Verlinde suggests the fabric of space has a kind of “elastic memory” for visible matter against expansion, “which can only relax very slowly” – a friction that, with large pockets of matter, generates a “dark” gravitational force at large distances.

Put another way, gravity may be another way that nature tries to fill a void with chaos, much like air rushing to fill a vacuum, or the heat of your body escaping into the space around you – no exotic, invisible, force-carrying particles required.

“In our view this undercuts the common assumption that the laws of gravity should stay as they are, and hence it removes the rationale of the dark matter hypothesis,” Verlinde wrote in his most recent paper. “Indeed, we have argued that the observed dark matter phenomena are a remnant, a memory effect, of the emergence of spacetime together with the ordinary matter in it.”

If you’re feeling confused by all this, you’re not alone: Dennis Overbye wrote for the New York Times in 2010 that “[s]ome of the best physicists in the world say they don’t understand Dr. Verlinde’s paper, and many are outright skeptical.”

However, a team of astronomers recently ran Verlinde’s equations through a limited test – and they appeared to check out.

Emergent gravity clears its first hurdle

gravitational lenses einstein rings nasa hubble

Brouwer and her colleagues tested emergent gravity by studying warped space around 33,613 galaxies.

Specifically, they looked at gravitational lenses caused by the galaxies, and how the background objects behind them were distorted.

“These bent images allow us to reconstruct the gravitational force around foreground galaxies up to a distance that is 100 times larger than the galaxies themselves,” Brouwer said of her team’s research, which was published December 11 in the British journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .

“Usually we explain this gravity by assuming that each galaxy has a dark matter cloud of a certain mass,” she said. “This time we also compared our data to the new theory of gravity by Erik Verlinde.”

Brouwer said Verlinde’s equations could explain gravity’s distribution “without introducing any free parameters or invisible particles.” Translation: No dark matter required.

But the 22 authors of that study (none of whom include Verlinde) are careful to point out that dark matter is far from a dead idea.

“Although [emergent gravity’s] performance is remarkable, this study is only a first step,” they wrote. “Further advancements on both the theoretical framework and observational tests of EG are needed before it can be considered a fully developed and solidly tested theory.”

Timothy Brandt , an astrophysicist at the Institute for Advanced Study who’s studied dark matter but wasn’t involved in any of the studies, told Business Insider in an email that – new evidence aside – Verlinde’s concept leaves him with more questions than answers.

Brandt wondered, for example, if emergent gravity can also explain “theLIGO results , which perfectly match [general relativity],” evidence of the “dark matter content of dwarf galaxies ,” and the leftover energy of the universe’s formation (called the cosmic background radiation ).

Given all of the evidence for general relativity, Brandt said he “would bet pretty heavily against” emergent gravity’s replacing it.

Even if Verlinde’s idea turns out to fail future tests, physics still needs to find a way to solve its biggest problem: how to unite Einstein’s general relativity (the physics of the very big) with quantum mechanics (the physics of the very small) into a so-called ” theory of everything .”

That thing the Standing Rock protesters were afraid of just happened

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176,000 gallons of oil spilling into a nearby creek.

A faulty pipeline has leaked 176,000 gallons of crude oil into a creek and the surrounding countryside 2.5 hours away from the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota.

The spill, which went undetected by the pipeline owners until a local stumbled on it, has spread almost 7 km (5.4 miles) from the site of the leak, and at this stage, it’s not clear what caused the pipe to rupture, or how long it’s been leaking.

According to CNN, an estimated 4,200 barrels of crude oil leaked from the Belle Fourche Pipeline in Billings County, 150 miles (241 km) from Cannon Ball in North Dakota, where protesters have been fighting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

For months, opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline have been expressing fears that it would affect local drinking water, because it was to be built under the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation – the primary water source of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

Last week, the US Department of the Army announced that it would not approve the crossing of the pipeline under the Missouri River.

The massive nearby spill – which was discovered on the same day that the Dakota Access Pipeline construction permit was denied – might have just proved the protesters’ point.

As Derek Hawkins reports for The Washington Post, the Belle Fourche Pipeline Co., which owns the leaky pipeline in Billings Country, estimates that 130,200 gallons of oil spilled into the Little Missouri River last week, and another 46,200 gallons leaked onto a hillside.

The North Dakota Department of Health confirmed that the spill had taken place on December 5, and then again yesterday.

“Due to potentially unstable soil conditions at the point of release, the cause of the incident is not yet known,” the Department of Health announced.

“The section of pipeline where the leak occurred has been isolated, and the spill has been contained.”

oil-standing-2North Dakota Department of Health

According to Bill Suess, an environmental scientist with the North Dakota Department of Health, 37,000 gallons of oil had been recovered as of Monday, but there’s still a whole lot more to go.

“It’s going to take some time,” Suess told the Associated Press. “Obviously there will be some component of the cleanup that will go toward spring.”

And while local drinking water will not be affected, at least two cows have been confirmed dead in the area, but a definitive connection between their deaths and the oil spill has not been made.

It’s also not clear how the pipeline ruptured in the first place, but Belle Fourche Pipeline spokesperson, Wendy Owen, told the Associated Press that it might have occurred when the hillside slumped due to increased snowfall.

“That is our number one theory, but nothing is definitive,” she said. “We have several working theories and the investigation is ongoing.”

Perhaps even more concerning than a freak accident splitting the pipe is the fact that electronic monitoring equipment failed to detect the leak – something that would have prevented the pipe from spilling so much oil out into the countryside.

While there’s no guarantee that a leak like this would happen at the Dakota Access Pipeline, this kind of thing is not exactly rare in the area.

As Hawkins reports for The Washington Post, True Companies, which owns Belle Fourche Pipeline Co, has a history of oil leaks in the region, reporting more than 30 spills totalling 320,000 gallons of oil since 2006.

“The Poplar Pipeline, operated by a True Companies subsidiary, leaked about 30,000 gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana in 2015, prompting a town to shut down its drinking water service to 6,000 residents,” he adds.

Belle Fourche Pipeline Co. has reported 10 oil spills since 2011.

So while none of that means the Dakota Access Pipeline is necessarily a risk, the Billings County leak is making the protesters’ point for them: it’s clear we need to do a better job at ensuring the structural integrity of those pipes.

The Neuroscience of Singing

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Singing Together Brings Heartbeats Into Harmony

The neuroscience of singing shows that when we sing our neurotransmitters connect in new and different ways. It fires up the right temporal lobe of our brain, releasing endorphins that make us smarter, healthier, happier and more creative. When we sing with other people this effect is amplified.

The science is in. Singing is really, really good for you and the most recent research suggests that group singing is the most exhilarating and transformative of all.

The good feelings we get from singing in a group are a kind of evolutionary reward for coming together cooperatively.

The research suggests that creating music together evolved as a tool of social living. Groups and tribes sang and danced together to build loyalty, transmit vital information and ward off enemies.

Alt text hereSinging in a group has been a part of tribal traditions for thousands of years.

Science Supports Singing

What has not been understood until recently is that singing in groups triggers the communal release of serotonin and oxytocin, the bonding hormone, and even synchronises our heart beats.

Group singing literally incentivised community over an “each cave dweller for themselves” approach. Those who sang together were strongly bonded and survived.

In her book Imperfect Harmony: Finding Happiness Singing with Others, Stacy Horn calls singing:

An infusion of the perfect tranquiliser – the kind that both soothes your nerves and elevates your spirit.

Alt text hereGroup singing not only brings happiness but deeply connects people.

Singing Makes You Happy

For a decade, science has been hard at work trying to explain why singing has such a calming yet energising effect on people. Numerous studies demonstrate that singing releases endorphins and oxytocin – which in turn relieve anxiety and stress and which are linked to feelings of trust and bonding.

Singing helps people with depression and reduces feelings of loneliness, leaving people feeling relaxed, happy and connected. What’s more, the benefits of singing regularly are cumulative. People who sing have reduced levels of cortisol, indicating lower stress.

UK singer, singing teacher and choir leader Sophia Efthimiou describes singing as a process of consciously controlling our breath and larynx to create and sustain certain pitches and we blend that with rhythm and poetry to create songs.

In a group setting, each group member feels the musical vibrations moving through their body simultaneously. Our heart beats become synchronised. Sophia explains:

We literally form one unified heart beat.

Alt text hereSinging together synchronises heartbeats so that they beat as one.

Anybody Can Sing

One of the great things about singing is that you can receive the wellbeing benefits even if you aren’t any good. One study showed that:

Group singing can produce satisfying and therapeutic sensations even when the sound produced by the vocal instrument is of mediocre quality.

Tania de Jong, singer and founder of Creativity Australia, has effectively harnessed this ability of group singing to lift every member of the group up, no matter their singing ability.

One of the great things about singing is that is connects you to the right side of your brain. This is the side responsible for intuition, imagination and all our creative functions. It connects us to a world of possibilities. In modern life we are constantly bombarded with so much information that we process and analyse. We tend to get stuck in the left, processing side of our brain. So it becomes fundamentally important to nurture the attributes of human beings that set us apart from machines. The best way to do that is singing.

Alt text hereIf you have a voice then nothing can stop you from singing your heart out.

Sing Anywhere, Anytime

These benefits are free and accessible to all. We all have a voice. We can all sing, even if we don’t think we can.

There was a time when we all used to sing. We sang at church, around camp fires, at school. While group singing is experiencing a resurgence, not so many of us sing anymore. At some stage, someone told us to be quiet or judged our imperfect singing voice. Sophia Efthimiou suggests that singing is very personal, an expression of sound coming from within us, so we cannot help but take this criticism very personally and it sticks.

Yet, people who claim they cannot sing because they are tone deaf are more likely to be very unfamiliar with finding and using their singing voice.

Tone deafness is comparatively rare and means that you would be unable to recognise a song. If you can recognise a song you are not tone deaf, you are just unpractised. Sophia clarifies:

When our voice makes the wrong note we can feel terrible as though it is a reflection of our self worth. But – if you can talk, you can sing.

Alt text hereEverybody can sing so let the songs flow out wherever you are.

Raise Your Voice

US opera singer Katie Kat wishes to encourage all of us to sing far more often regardless of our perceived skill.

Singing increases self-awareness, self-confidence and our ability to communicate with others. It decreases stress, comforts us and helps us to forge our identity and influence our world.

When you sing, musical vibration moves through you, altering your physical and emotional state. Singing is as old as the hills. It is innate, ancient and within all of us. It really is one of the most uplifting therapeutic things we can do. Katie continues:

However, society has skewed views on the value of singing. Singing has become something reserved for elite talent or highly produced stars with producers, management, concert dates – leaving the rest of us with destructive criticism of our own voices.

She claims that singing is instinctual and necessary to our existence. You do not have to be an amazing singer to benefit from the basic biological benefits and with practice the benefits increase.

Alt text hereSinging in a group brings joy to people of every age.

Singing Creates Connection

I have fond memories of hearing my grandmother singing throughout the day and of large group singing sessions with her friends.

One of my favourite memories of group singing is the old Scots tradition on New Year’s Eve of singing Auld Lang Syne. My grandmother and all her friends would stand in a big circle just before midnight.

Everyone would hold hands, and then at the beginning of the final verse we would cross our arms across our bodies so that our left hand was holding the hand of the person on our right, and the right hand holds that of the person on the left. When the song ended, everyone would rush to the middle, still holding hands. It was beautiful fun and as a young girl I felt so safe, included and loved within that singing circle.

The phrase “auld lang syne” roughly translates as “for old times’ sake”, and the song is all about preserving old friendships and looking back over the events of the year.

A tradition worth resurrecting, considering the benefits of singing in a group.

This Two Headed Shark Is Mysterious To Researchers For A Bizarre Reason

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If you are among those who have ever watched the blockbuster hit ‘Jaws’ then you might understand the terror of shark attacks. Though shark attacks are quite rare, still people lose their minds irrationally just at the thought of them. Blame it on the hit movie ‘Jaws’ or the strange look of sharks; these frightening civilians manage to be the cause of fear of being torn apart by the most vicious predator.

Well, to add more to your knowledge let me tell you that these sharks are becoming more and more worldwide than just being a rare mutant fish. The two-headed sharks are appearing at an alarming number, and the reason behind the growing rates has become a mystery to the researchers.

keep reading..https://www.wittyfeed.com/story/36981/1/two-headed-shark-is-mystery-to-researchers?i=2

50 Home Remedies For Treating Premature Graying Of Hair Naturally At Home: Gray Hair Cure And Treatment

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As a person ages, the melanin pigment of the hair decreases gradually, which causes graying of hair. Nowadays it is very common for the people under the age groups of 35 to have gray hair. The natural colour of hair is due to the cells in the hair follicles known as melanocytes which generate a pigment which gives colour to the hair. When melanocytes stop producing these pigments, due to increasing age, your hair starts to lose its natural colour which leads to graying of hair.

As a person ages, the melanin pigment of the hair decreases gradually, which causes graying of hair. Nowadays it is very common for the people under the age groups of 35 to have gray hair.
The natural colour of hair is due to the cells in the hair follicles known as melanocytes which generate a pigment which gives colour to the hair. When melanocytes stop producing these pigments, due to increasing age, your hair starts to lose its natural colour which leads to graying of hair.
Though one cannot prevent the natural cycle of whitening of hair, but you can

always  prevent your hair from premature graying.  Home remedies are very  helpful  in curing premature graying of hair  effectively. These are some home remdies for treating premature graying of hair naturally.
 

1. Boil a few amla (Indian gooseberry) pieces in coconut oil till they turn black. Apply this mixture on your hair to cure premature graying of hair naturally at home.

2. Grate the ginger, and mix it with a spoon of honey to eat this mixture everyday to treat premature graying of hair naturally.

3. Massage coconut oil, and lemon juice on your scalp to treat premature graying of hair naturally. Follow this home remedy for getting shiny ,and healthy hair naturally.

4. Massage cow’s milk butter on your scalp to treat premature graying of hair naturally at home .Follow this easy home remedy twice a week.

5. Boil curry leaves in coconut oil till the leaves become black. Apply on your scalp, and hair roots as a hair tonic for hair loss and bringing back the hair pigmentation .Curry leaves contain a natural pigment to retain the natural color of your hair. Curry leaves can be used with buttermilk, or curd to prevent your hair from becoming gray.

6. Apply the mixture of 2 spoons of henna powder, 1 spoon of yogurt, 1 spoon of fenugreek paste, 3 spoons of coffee, 2 spoons of basil leaves paste, and 3 spoons of mint juice on your hair. Shampoo after 3 hours .Use this home remedy regularly to treat premature graying of hair naturally at home.

7. Put ribbed gourd (torai) in coconut oil for 3-4 hours, and boil this mixture till it turns black. Massage your hair with this oil to cure premature graying of hair.

8. Take 1 spoon of table salt in 1 cup of strong black tea without milk .Massage your hair with this water. Wash off after 1 hour. Follow this home remedy regularly to cure premature graying of hair.

9. The juice of onion is an extremely helpful home remedy in curing premature graying of hair and giving reddish tinge to your hair .This treatment is very helpful in curing baldness, and hair loss naturally at home.

10. Always use a mild herbal shampoo to wash your hair .

11. Apply 1 gm of black pepper, and 1/2 cup of curd for treating premature graying of hair. You can add the juice of lemon in this preparation too.

12. Boil chamomile in water for 20 minutes to make a tea.Let this mixture cool down, and strain it to use this water on your hair to treat premature graying of hair naturally at home.

13. Apply amla paste or, amla oil on your hair to blacken and thicken your hair.

14. Wash your hair with lemon water to treat graying of hair .Lemon is a natural coloring agent that gives brownish tinge to your hair if applied regularly.

15. Mix rosemary, and sage tea in equal amount in 1 cup of water. Steep, and strain the liquid to use as a natural colorant for your hair. Follow this home remedy to color your gray hair naturally at home.

16. Henna mixed in coconut oil is a nice home remedy for bringing back the dark brown color in the hair.

17. Massage amla juice, almond oil, and lemon juice together for curing gray hair. Amla is the best ingredient for the renewal of pigmentation in your hair. Try this home remedy for beautiful, and shiny hair.

18. Soak up a few dried amla pieces for few hours .Use them with the tea decoction, and 1 spoon of eucalyptus oil. Let this mixture stay in an iron container overnight. Apply this mixture with curd, lemon juice, and an egg in the morning. Follow this home remedy as a cure for premature graying of hair once in 15 days.

19. Tea extract in concentration form gives dark brown, or black color.

20. Soak up 10-12 soap nut seeds, and 3 to 4 shikakai(acacia concinna) pods in 1 pint of water .Soak up 10-12 amla pieces separately in 2 cups of water. Boil soap nut seeds with shikakai ,and strain this mixture to make a shampoo at home. Strain the amla mixture separately to use as a conditioner .This home remedy is a boon to your hair whether you suffer from graying of hair, thinning of hair, dull hair, or hair fall .This treatment will cure all hair related problems naturally .

21. Take amla juice orally daily to restore your natural pigment of your hair .Amla juice will prevent premature aging too.

22. Rubbing your fingernails together increases the blood circulation in your scalp to cure gray hair and strengthen the roots to treat hair loss/baldness.

23. Guava’s leaves are very effective in curing premature graying of hair.

24. Apply the fresh juice of amaranth to retain the natural pigment of your hair and curing hair loss naturally at home. It is very helpful home remedy.

25. Apply almond oil, and lemon juice for 30-40 minutes as a home remedy to cure premature graying of hair naturally at home.

26. Apply aloe vera gel for curing premature graying of hair naturally at home.

27. Apply rosemary oil to blacken your hair.

28. Boil 250 grams of mustard oil with 60 grams of henna leaves , and apply this preparation on your hair to cure your gray hair naturally.

29. Apply ashwagandha (Indian ginseng) on our scalp to increase the melanin content of your hair. Try this treatment for treating your gray hair.

30. Apply Ligustrum on the hair as a treatment for premature graying of hair naturally at home. It is very popular chinese herb used for restoring the natural color of your hair and curing gray hair naturally.

31. Take biotin to slow down the gray hair’s progression naturally at home. Egg yolks,yeast,soyabeans,tomatoes, carrots,cow’s milk,goat’s milk,oats,walnuts,cucumbers,almonds are some good sources of biotin.

32. Try bhringraj oil (Eclipta alba) for blackening your hair .You can take bhringraj orally to get black ,thick, and shiny hair naturally at home .

33. Never use blow-dryer to dry your hair as it causes gray hair.

34. Try Motia rosha oil on your hair to cure premature graying, splits ends, hair loss and giving luster to your dull hair.Motia rosha oil stimulates the pigment cells of your hair and very helpful in treating gray hair, and insomnia.

35. Soak up henna overnight, and in the morning, apply with walnut pulp for treating premature graying of hair and giving beautiful tinge to your hair naturally at home.

36. Take copper supplement colloidal copper orally to fight premature graying of hair.

37. Apply sesame oil, or olive oil with bottle gourd juice to treat premature graying of hair. This home remedy will give you shiny, black ,and thick hair naturally .

38. Apply henna , the juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 spoon of coffee powder ,and an egg for 45 minutes. This treatment will cure your gray hair naturally at home.

39. Wash your hair with omega-3 rich shampoo, and oils like Emu oil to cure premature graying of hair .The oil containing omega -3 rejuvenates the pigment generating cells called melanocytes.Mira oil can also be tried at home.

40. Apply eugenol oil (clove oil) for treating premature graying of hair naturally .

41. You can try anti-graying tablets, and creams like Melancor, Reminex, Fo-Ti Root, Shen Min ,and Restoria discreet.

42. Steep dried sage leaves in water for 2 hours , and use this preparation for rinsing your hair .This treatment will blacken your gray hair naturally.

43. You should take foods rich in folic acid like dark green vegetables,leafy vegetables,cereals,cowpeas,braised beef’s liver,etc.

44. You can take buttermilk with 2 spoons each of yeast ,and wheat germ daily to cure your gray hair.

45. Neem oil prevents graying of hair. Try this home remedy for curing all scalp infections as well.

46. Pour the outer hulls of some black walnuts in water for making tea, and use this preparation as a natural colorant for your gray hair. Black walnut is an excellent natural hair colorant . The effect of this home remedy will last up to 6 weeks in inspite of washing the hair regularly.

47. You can use black walnuts for coloring your gray hair .Boil a few black walnuts in water for 15-20 minutes .Keep on your hair for 30 minutes to color your gray hair naturally at home. Eat 5-6 walnuts daily as they are the rich sources of copper, and zinc. Both are responsible for the formation of melanin.

48. Apply arnica oil on your hair to treat premature graying of hair. Arnica oil is made from the dried arnica flowers.These flowers’ anti-inflammatory properties treat premature graying, hair loss / baldness at home naturally.

49. Apply brahmi hair oil for curing premature graying of hair ,dandruff, and splits ends at home naturally.

50. Apply gooseberry with mango seeds on your hair to cure gray hair naturally at home.

Diet– Your diet plays very important role in retaining the natural colour of your hair .Eat foods rich in iron ,vitamin A,B, and minerals . Zinc, and copper are the factors for retaining the pigmentation of your hair. Eat dark green vegetables, yellow fruits , cauliflower ,banana ,tomato, cereals ,kidney ,liver, yogurt, yeast, wheat germ ,etc.Take iron rich foods like sunflower seeds ,red meat ,dried apricots ,wheat, parsley ,etc .Take copper rich foods like sunflower seeds ,almonds ,crab ,oyster ,whole grains , egg yolk ,etc .You must eat iodine rich foods like banana ,carrots ,fish, etc. Take foods rich in anti oxidants for destroying the free radicals which damage the hair cells .Avoid oily ,fried , fatty , and spicy foods . Eat foods rich in para -aminobenzoic acid (PABA)) like kidney,liver,yeast ,whole grains, etc. Minimize the intake of tea, coffee ,and alcohol .Take vitamin B12, and pantothenic acid( vitamin B5 )supplements in your diet. Drink a lot of water.

Other important tips– Always stay away from using harmful chemicals on your hair like hair color ,hair styling gel , etc. Wash your hair 4 times a week to maintain the hygiene of hair to have shiny hair. Use fresh water(not hot) water for washing your hair .Never let the unnecessary worries plague your head to avoid the premature graying of hair .Take care of your hair after severe illness as the condition of your hair worsens after sever illness. Exercise regularly to keep the blood well circulated .Sleep well to avoid gray hair.

The First Real Proof That Your Outlook Affects Longevity

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A new study tries to answer previously unanswerable questions

There’s plenty of data supporting the connection between a positive outlook and a healthier life — being optimistic can help you fend off stress, eat better and be more physically active, all of which can lower your risk of chronic illnesses.

But despite how often it’s repeated, doctors haven’t been able to definitively tell you that a positive attitude will help you live longer, mainly because most studies on the subject haven’t followed people over long enough periods of time. Studies to date tend to ask people about their outlook at one specific time — and the response can be affected by a number of transient events.

So researchers led by Andrew Steptoe at University College of London decided to look at a long-term study to track how people’s outlook over time affected their longevity. In a report published in BMJ, he studied nearly 10,000 men and women in the English Longitudinal Study of Aging between 2002 and 2013. During that time, the middle-aged volunteers were asked three times to assess their outlook by answering four questions that evaluated how they enjoyed the things they did: being with other people, their lives overall, and how energetic they felt.

Nearly seven years after their last answers, people who reported more enjoyment (or the highest satisfaction scores on all three occasions) were 24% less likely to have died than people who reported no enjoyment. Those who said they were happy on two of the occasions had a 17% lower mortality.

“The longer people are in a positive state, the better it probably is as far as their health is concerned,” says Steptoe. “This adds weight to the evidence that outlook might be relevant to health.”

Of course, there are many aspects of one’s outlook — mood, or how happy or sad a person feels is one, as is a broader sense of satisfaction. In past studies, says Steptoe, most researchers captured the mood element, but weren’t able to incorporate the larger sense of satisfaction or well-being. “An emotional state is distinct from finding life satisfying,” he says. “And it’s distinct from having a fulfilled life. The criticism of past studies is that it just looked at the pleasure aspect. So what we are trying to do is to use a measure that cuts across different distinctions.” The four-questions in the study, he says, were designed to do just that.

And how did the people who reported more satisfaction and enjoyment achieve that state of well-being? Previous studies have pointed to things such as good mental health and social connections. Steptoe says that keeping up friendships and maintaining social interactions can be an important part of a satisfying life, particularly for older people. “Once you enter middle and older ages, investment is social relationships is crucial,” he says. “It’s something that is quite easy to forget about. When things are going well, you don’t make so much of an effort to maintain friendships. But in many ways it’s an investment in the future as well as the present.”

How China is sending man back to the Moon to mine safe nuclear power and become the world’s energy giant

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The Night Sky in March: The lunar surface is rich in helium-3, perhaps the most valuable substances in nature, one that could provide energy for the world

China's first lunar rover after it landed on the moon back in 2013

The China space programme’s first lunar rover landed on the Moon in 2013

Can we mine the Moon? It seems imperative to do so.

The space-faring nations have ignored the 1979 outer space treaty, and last year America’s Space Act removed legal obstacles to extra terrestrial activity, and many people are gearing up to mine one of the most valuable substances that occurs in nature.

Apollo 12, November 1969: astronaut-photographer Charles "Pete" Conrad takes a self-portrait while documenting colleague Alan Bean's lunar soil collection activities on the Oceanus Procellarum

Apollo 12, November 1969: astronaut-photographer Charles “Pete” Conrad takes a self-portrait while documenting colleague Alan Bean’s lunar soil collection activities on the Oceanus Procellarum 

This extraordinary substance is the isotope helium-3, invaluable in ensuring the safety of nuclear power stations on Earth, and providing an all-powerful rocket fuel.

It is rare on Earth, being blown away by the solar wind. It is found in Troclotite, a metal of magnesium and iron, again rare but plentiful in the Moon’s crust.

Apollo 17 at Shorty Crater

Apollo 17 at Shorty Crater: astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, the last men to walk on the moon. They returned from their December 1972 mission with 110kg of rock and soil samples 

All nuclear power plants react to produce heat. This turns water into steam that drives a turbine. Current nuclear power plants have nuclear fission reactors to split uranium . This releases energy, but also radioactive nuclear waste that must be stored indefinitely. For over 40 years scientists have been trying to achieve this.

But there are around a million tons of helium-3 on the moon’s surface down to a few metres. This helium-3 could be extracted by heating the lunar dust to around 1,200 degrees F before bringing it back to the Earth to fuel a new generation of nuclear fusion power plants.

A fully-loaded spaceship’s cargo base could power a quarter of the world for a year. This means that helium-3 has a potential economic value in the order of about £1 billion a ton, making it the Moon’s most valuable commodity except perhaps for astronomy and promoting tourism.

China’s lunar exploration programme is proceeding fast, strongly attracted by the prospect of helium-3 mining. In 2013 China managed to land a lunar robot lander. The final stage of their current programme intends sending a robotic craft to the Moon that will return lunar rocks to the Earth.

‘What use are these so-called moons?’

Returning to the present, there are wonderful things to see in the winter night sky. The Milky Way itself is a marvel of strange nebulousness. No wonder some ancient Greeks thought it was milk, not a vast mass of billions of stars.

Another is the four moons of Jupiter. Look up at the striped, monstrous giant to see its four biggest moons in their extraordinary variety; Io, with its many active volcanoes; Europa, with an ocean beneath its ice, not to mention asteroid-battered Callisto and Ganymede.

Io: Jupiter moon

The volcanic moon of Io orbits the massive gas giant planet Jupiter  

Their discovery by Galileo around 1610 literally created observational astronomy, and was perhaps one of the greatest achievements in science. A tragedy that his labour produced scoffs and contempt in many quarters (“what use are these so-called moons?”) someone jeered. With his condemnation by the Inquisition, they did much to damage Italian science.

Then there are those two dazzling gems of the north, the Pleiades, with its probable unpleasant effects on Earth’s climate during the last few million years; and the Whirlpool Galaxy, first studied by the 3rd Earl of Ross in 1840 through his 36-inch telescope at Birr Castle in Ireland.

Pleiades star cluster

The Pleiades star cluster (far right) 400 light-years away and around 15 light-years across. Left: the California Nebula  

And one can hardly do a survey of this kind without mentioning the blazing stars of Orion still visible in mid-winter. It is difficult to imagine objects more awe-inspiring.

The current tremendous formation of the Sun’s planets have already been reported, and there is little I can to enhance these great impressions.

The Night Sky chart for March 2016

The Night Sky chart March 2016  

Nanoparticles Are Moving Us Toward a Cancer-Free World

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IN BRIEF
  • A new nanoparticle therapy that uses a minute gel pellet to deliver siRNA to cancer cells has reduced or eliminated carcinomas in in vivo tests in four mice.
  • The treatment is still in its very early stages, but joins a growing number of nanoparticle therapies looking to improve how we combat disease on a cellular level.

LOWERING DEFENSES

While some medical studies focus on developing completely new medicines and treatments for diseases, others attempt to improve existing options. In an attempt at the latter, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new nanoparticle-based treatment that makes chemotherapy more effective.

Their treatment targets epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs). These cell structures are found in epithelial cells, which line the body’s organs. In a healthy cell, they jumpstart a variety of typical cellular functions, but in cancer cells, they are overproduced. “The problem is that because of this overexpression, many cellular functions, including cell replication and resistance to certain chemotherapy drugs, are dramatically cranked up,” says chief researcher John McDonald.

When its DNA is damaged beyond repair, a cell’s natural defense is to kill itself, a process called apoptosis. Elevated levels of EGFR thwart this function. Therefore, chemotherapy drugs that are designed to trigger apoptosis in cancerous cells become ineffective.

The Georgia Tech researchers developed a nanoparticle therapy that uses a minute gel pellet to deliver short interfering (si) RNA to cancer cells. This siRNA is able to prevent the cell from starting the process to produce the protein for EGFR. “We’re knocking down EGFR at the RNA level,” McDonald said. “Since EGFR is multi-functional, it’s not exactly clear which malfunctions contribute to ovarian cancer growth. By completely knocking out its production in ovarian cancer cells, all EGFR functions are blocked.”

SOME TIME COMING

The researchers were able to see the efficacy of their method by using it to treat ovarian cancer in mice. By combining their siRNA with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, they were able to reduce resistance to the medication and drastically shrink carcinomas or even eliminate them altogether. The plan to use the same nanohydrogel with other kinds of RNA to treat different types cancers.

Right now, the treatment is still at its very early stages and thus far the only in vivo trials have been on four mice. The law requires many more trials that show the treatment’s efficacy on animals before the researchers can move on to preliminary human trials, so we won’t be seeing this method used on people for quite some time. For now, it joins the growing number of nanoparticle treatments that could one day deal the final blow to the big C.

18 Prescription Drugs Proven To Cause Memory Loss.

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Of all the drugs used in the world today, prescription medications are by far the worst for our health. Every prescription drug available today indeed has its side effects, but strangely enough “memory loss” seems to be a very common one.

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Each year, over 100,000 deaths are caused by the side effects attributed to taking prescription drugs, and a further 2 million cases where individuals have been hospitalized as a result of taking certain medication. Now the 4th leading cause of death here in the US, it is clear that something needs to be done, big time!

One of the major side effects that have been noticed recently is “memory loss.” There are many prescriptions that are known to cause memory loss, and they fall into 3 main categories. If you are taking prescription medication at the moment, it is extremely likely that they will fit into one of these categories, which are:

  • “Statin” Drugs – Statin drugs are generally prescribed by doctors in order to help lower cholesterol levels in the blood. They help to prevent the risk of heart attacks and strokes by around 25-30% by lowering the levels of “bad” cholesterol, however, cholesterol makes up around 1/4 of our brain and is essential for the functions of memory, decision making and learning. This is a tough one, but there are many natural remedies that can do the same job as statins, and don’t carry the nasty side effects.
  • Sleeping Tablets – Prescription sleeping pills are known for causing mild to severe memory loss over a period of time. Dubbed “the amnesia drug,” Ambien is among the worst offenders for its memory sapping side effects. Other side effects are: Night terrors, sleep paralysis, INSOMNIA, hallucinations, sleep walking and wetting the bed. There are so many natural remedies for sleep problems, sleeping pills are definitely not the answer.
  • “Anti” Medications – Antibiotics, antihistamines, anti-inflammatories, antidepressants and anti-psychotics – pretty much every drug with “anti” in front of it. These are all known to cause memory loss in children and adults. The primary neurotransmitter that is responsible for learning and forming memory is something called “acetylcholine.” Most of the “anti” drugs available today actually lower the levels of acetylcholine in your body, making learning and memory much harder whilst increasing the risk of long term dementia. Other symptoms of low acetylcholine include hallucinations, blurred vision, confusion and delirium.

Of all the pharmaceuticals that we use today, the 18 worst offenders for causing memory loss are:

  • Insulin
  • Lithium
  • High-Blood Pressure Medication
  • Naproxen
  • Sleeping Tablets – Lunesta, Ambien, Sonata and Temazepam
  • Painkillers – Codeine, Morphine and Paracetamol
  • Steroids
  • Parkinson’s Medication – Scopolamine, Glycopyrrolate and Atropine
  • Quinidine
  • Methyldopa
  • Dilantin
  • Benzodiazepines – Xanax, Valium, Dalmane and Ativan
  • Haldol
  • Chemotherapy Prescriptions
  • Nembutal
  • Antibiotics
  • Beta Blocker’s
  • Tricyclin

This list represents such a broad range of pharmaceuticals, and it seems that almost every area of the drug industry is rife with prescription medications that are causing memory loss in their patients. This is very alarming, and the only advice for now is to search for alternatives in nature. Generally if we want to find something out, the answer will be hidden in the natural world, and the chances are, somebody has already found it.