Newspaper Blog

Balanced News

Fossil Treasure Trove In Australia

By

king skink.jpg

We have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge about everything. This includes a desire to solve the many mysteries of the past and reweave some of the lost tapestries of history. So a find like the caves in the southern Nullarbor plains of Australia is treasure indeed.

The caves contained fossils, complete skeletons of animals that are no longer found today. Most of these creatures are found to be from the middle pleistocene era. The bones have been dated to confirm that these are from creatures living 800,000 to 200,000 years ago. Some of these species did not make it past the ice-age.

With the use of the fossils, 8 new species of kangaroo have been completely identified. Two of the species are of tree dwelling kangaroos, kangaroos that adapted to living in the branches of trees. There were also fossils of various species wallaby, various species of large lizards among them one of the King’s skink (a large lizard), mulgara and a pair of parrots.

Cigarettes: More Addictive than Ever

By

cigarette-nicotine-addiction4.JPGHarvard University conducted a study that has the tobacco companies on the defensive. The results of the study show that the tobacco companies have been manufacturing cigarettes that have higher nicotine content. This means that people become more addicted and it will be harder for them to quit should they want to.

The study was conducted using data that these companies provided themselves, from the period of 1997 to 2005. They provided their filter designs as well as their measurement of nicotine per stick of cigarette and how many puffs it would take to finish a stick. The nicotine levels rose in all brands, in all categories irregardless of whether it was regular, menthol, light or ultra light. The increase was as much as 10% says Greg Connolly, one of the authors of the study and former director of the Tobacco Control Program of the state health agency.

Major tobacco manufacturer, Philip Morris, is challenging the findings of this study. They insist that while the nicotine levels may have fluctuated a little per batch, the 1997 and 2006 batch have identical nicotine levels.

No Tsunami This Time

By

pic tsunami.jpgAn 8.2 magnitude earthquake in the Pacific triggered fears of another tsunami. Japan, the Philippines, Guam, Indonesia, Russia and Taiwan were all on alert and preparing to evacuate. The epicenter of the quake was located in the Northern Pacific ocean about 1,700 km off Japan’s shores.

Thankfully no tidal waves have resulted from the quake. The largest wave came in 3 hours after the quake. It was a mere 40 cms. This wave hit the island of Chichi-jima and caused no damage. In fact the quake was not felt by most of the people, but only by the sensitive equipment built to track the earth’s movements. This is good since no one wants the people to panic.

Things are pretty much back to normal all over the pacific basin. The scientists remain vigilant. No one wants a repeat of the tsunami disasters two years ago. All is once again normal.

Adults With Kids Pack on More Pounds

By

Fat_parents.jpgDid you know that adults with children in the house pack on more pounds than adults without kids? A medical study has found that parents who have their children living with them – no matter what the age, generally eat more saturated fat, too much of which can make one a candidate for heart disease.

How much saturated fat? It will seem like a tiny amount – 2 grams of saturated fat but that’s actually the equivalent of a weekly dose of one whole pepperoni pizza. The problem is that even tiny amounts become big over time. They get piled up and the end result, parents are fatter than they planned on.

Dr. Helena Laroche says that it is not the fault of the children. Rather it is a combination of factors such as high stress lifestyles and eating convenience foods. These processed foods may be quick to serve but in the long run, they add unwanted pounds and inches on the body.

These parents also often have less free time than adults without kids. So far the study show that the food choices made are often poor because of lack of time or because they are swayed by the preferences of the children such as the kids love for greasy food like hamburger and pizza.

The results of the study will be published next week.

Categories

Featured

Recent Posts