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Retiring Later Helps You Live Longer

May 4, 2016 By Cliff Jenkins Scott

Just started working for a couple of years and already dreaming of retirement

Work, even though it has always been necessary for the continued progression and survival of our species, has become quite a bother. Ever since we’ve stopped working just for survival and started having a monetary system in place, people started getting reasons to hate their jobs.

And of course, why wouldn’t they? If it’s up to someone else to compensate you for the work you do and if you consider you deserve more money, you’ve already got yourself a difference of opinion. Add to that the fact that you are constantly told what to do, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster.

Dreaming of retirement

So it’s no surprise to anybody that people can’t wait to retire. Many times, even young people that have been working their jobs just long enough for them to become tedious happen to dream of retirement, perhaps even just to fantasize about a time when they don’t have to wake up as early as they have to.

But that might not be such a good idea, apparently. According to a very long and complex study, retiring later helps you live longer, although it may not feel like such. The study was performed as part of the very long term Healthy Retirement Study, and it was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the University of Michigan.

Retirement study

For the study, the researchers followed a sample of 2,956 people for eighteen years. So as to look at how exactly early retirement affects longevity, the participants were chosen so as to have been working in the year 1992 but to have fully retired by 2010. They were also divided into two groups.

In order to make sure that the results aren’t affected by any factors, the participants were divided into two groups based on their health state when they retired – the healthy group (contained two thirds of the participants, and they all quit for reasons unrelated to their health status) and the not healthy group (one third of the participants, they quit for health reasons).

Life expectations during retirement

More than half of the subjects chose to retire before the age of 65, a third retired at the age of 66 or older, and exactly twelve percent retired at exactly 65 years old. As it turns out, even a single year spent working extra can lead to an overall lower chance of dying from any causes – what is called an “all-cause mortality risk.”

In fact, for the healthy group, each year spent working after the age of 65 decreased the all-cause mortality risk by 11 percent, while for the participants in the not healthy group that worked until they were 72 lowered their mortality by 48 percent (as compared to 56 percent for the healthy group).

Image source: Flickr

Scientists Finally Understand How Type 1 Diabetes Works

April 26, 2016 By Carol Harper

Medical researchers have been at war with a number of diseases for decades. As much as they work on them and as many resources as are allocated to the fight against them (not that many, at least in some cases), we don’t seem to be making too much progress in regards to conditions like cancer, heart disease, or diabetes.

And speaking of diabetes, scientists aren’t even sure how the entire affair works in the first place, or at least they weren’t until today. According to a study from the University of Lincoln in the UK, scientists finally understand how type 1 diabetes works. And now that they know that, they’re hoping they can come up with a cure.

Current status of diabetes

While it had been known for some time that type 1 diabetes works by having the immune system attack four molecules in the pancreas, it was suspected that there also was a fifth molecule involved in the whole affair. This is because the four molecules about which the world of medicine knew could explain the effects of the disease on their own.

Four of the autoantigens, as the molecules are called, are primarily used to produce and to regulate insulin levels, while the fifth is insulin itself. Treated with insulin injections, type 1 diabetes prevents the body from generating the substance and stops it from reaching different areas of the body. Not taking the insulin injections can lead to serious, life-long consequences.

Research on the fifth molecule

Finally understanding exactly how the disease works, the team of scientists from the UK and Italy discovered the fifth molecule affected by the condition – tetraspanin-7. Not only will the fact that the scientists know all five molecules affect detection methods for the condition, but it might also help in developing a proper treatment other than constant insulin injections.

Each of the five targeted molecules – insulin, the Glutamate decarboxylase enzyme, the two proteins IA-2 and Zinc transporter-8, and the recently discovered tetraspanin-7 – is targeted by a different antibody. Current diabetes tests are performed by testing for the antibodies that have turned on the body, and a similar procedure was used to identify the tetraspanin-7 in the first place.

The team says that they’ve been at it for quite some time, and that they even gave up at one point. As they were considering failure, because the initial tests came out negative and because so many different groups all over the world had tried the same thing fruitlessly, the team decided to try a new approach. The new approach worked flawlessly, and here they are today, ready to bring forth a new era of diabetes treatments.

Image source: Pixabay

Mice Embryos Develop in Space for the First Time

April 20, 2016 By Waleed Javed

Humanity has dreamt about colonizing space for a very long time. And even though we’re on the right path, it will still take at least a couple of decades until we can realistically achieve something like that. Still, those in charge of preparing us for that momentous event are already setting things up for when we’re ready.

Of course, everything has to go just right, so we need a lot of time preparing for the unexpected and even for the expected. Even the simplest of actions can go wrong in space if not everything is perfectly accounted for. So, performing an experiment to see how it would go, Chinese scientists had mice embryos develop in space for the first time.

China’s SJ-10 satellite

Launched into space of the 6^th of April, the SJ-100 Chinese satellite was packed full with a series of experiments. Except for the embryos about which we’re going to talk in a bit, the small bullet-shaped satellite also contained experiments related to microgravity combustion, microgravity fluid physics, space material, space biotechnology, and space radiation effects.

Aside from looking at how space radiation affects the genetic stability of rat cells and fruit flies, the Chinese team will also test how materials generally used in spacecrafts burn in space so that they can come up with better protection. Of course, the most important experiment was the one involving the mouse embryos.

The satellite will attempt landing sometime next week in a designated spot in Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia, somewhat late considering its reported 15-day life span. In case of the landing going wrong, a team will lead four helicopters to help ground vehicles search for the spacecraft after it lands.

Mammal embryos in space

Now that we have the technical specs out of the way, let’s talk about mouse embryos. About 6,000 were sent up in the satellite inside an enclosed, self-sufficient chamber the size of a microwave oven, and about 600 of them had a high-resolution camera aimed directly at them.

Of course, support systems inside were installed in order to provide the embryos with the necessary nutrients for proper development, and the cameras took footage of them every four hours. The team was impressed to see the experiment succeed, with the initial two-cell embryos developing into fully grown blastocysts over the course of eighty hours in space.

This is the first time that a mammal embryo was shown to be able to develop normally in space, making this a very significant breakthrough in the field. Of course, the embryos will be further analyzed upon their return to Earth, and if the scientists manage to get their way and the blastocysts survive the landing, they will even implant some into female rats, having them give birth to the first animals basically conceived in space.

Image source: Wikimedia

Study has found more successful rate in Couples who kick bad habits together

January 20, 2015 By Cliff Jenkins Scott

A new UK study has found that couples who commit to quit smoking or to lose weight are way ahead in success percentage than those doing it together.

Success rate of women quit smoking with their partner stopping at the same time was 50 percent, compared to only 8% whose partners still smoked. Just 17% had success kicking the habit if their partners were non-smokers.

Similarly men have the same success rate if their partner made the same change.

“Now is the time to make New Year’s resolutions to quit smoking, take exercise, or lose weight. And doing it with your partner increases your chances of success,” lead author Sarah Jackson said in a statement.

3,722 couples over age of 50 have been studied by the researchers from University College London, as part of a longitudinal study.

Volcanic eruptions are probably lagging Global warming

January 12, 2015 By Denise Ehrlich

A new study made by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers revealed that small volcanic eruptions are mitigating the effect of the greenhouse gases and curtailing the rate of Global warming by as much as half. As a matter of fact such volcanic activities may decrease the pace of warming in recent years and shorten up the predicted level of CO₂ going in the atmosphere.

Technically the vast quantity of ash and gases released high in the atmosphere by the eruptions can block the solar radiations and put the dramatic cooling effect on Earth’s climate. Scientists believe theorized that explosion of Indonesia’s Mt. Tambora in 1815, for example, probably caused a severe cold spell in 1816 which became known as “Eighteen hundred and froze-to-death,” or “the year without a summer.”

Scientists did all these observations and calculations using balloons, laser radar, and including ground-based measurements.

Researchers found that dozens of eruptions around the world over the past 15 years may have reduced the greenhouse effects by about 0.005 to 0.12 degree Celsius. Over roughly that same time period, the rate of global warming has slowed, though surface temperatures have continued to rise.

The volcanic eruptions releases sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere which forms tiny droplets of sulfuric acid also known as volcanic aerosols, which can block sunlight. While previous studies have noted that effect from small volcanoes, the new study found that the effect is bigger than previously thought.

Bowhead Whale: longest-living mammal on Earth

January 5, 2015 By Marlene R. Litten

A new study says that a bowhead whale can live more than 200 years of life cycle. Researchers hope this whale can provide insight into how humans can lead a long and healthy life.

Researchers from the University of Liverpool have arranged the genome of the whale and compared it with other short-lived mammals.

They have found some unique genetic alterations is this species that include genetic alterations related to cell division, cancer, DNA repair and aging may have helped increase its longevity and avoid contracting diseases typically associated with old age.

Senior author Dr. João Pedro de Magalhães said in apress release “Our understanding of species’ differences in longevity is very poor, and thus our findings provide novel candidate genes for future studies. My view is that species evolved different ‘tricks’ to have a longer lifespan, and by discovering the ‘tricks’ used by the bowhead we may be able to apply those findings to humans in order to fight age-related diseases.”

It should be mentioned that this whale has about 1000 times more cells than humans do. According to the Scientists this natural mechanism is responsible for the animal’s cancer resistance.

In addition to that the metabolic rate of bowhead whale is far less than that in smaller mammals and boffin have found that changes in one specific gene involved in thermoregulation (UCP1) that may be related to metabolic differences in whale cells.

Bowheads are related to right whales, and like the right whale they are slow-moving filter feeders that subsist largely on zooplankton like copepods, euphausiids and mysids, the NOAA says. And not only are they the longest living mammals at up to 200 years old, but they are also one of the heaviest, reaching 100 tons – that’s second to only the blue whale. They are typically found in icy Arctic waters, though earlier this year one was found very far from home in Cape Cod Bay. There are thought to be between 7,000 and 10,000 of these animals alive today.

Disco Clam has a strange sparkling defense mechanism

January 5, 2015 By Denise Ehrlich

Researchers found that disco clam has a flashy defence mechanism a spectacular light show to scare away potential threats.

This small 3 inched long clam has tiny silica spheres which shines can reflect. The clam has a unique ability to use this strategy both for attack and defence mechanism. It uses this flash ability to intimidate the predators and attract the light-loving prey said Study’s lead researcher Lindsey Dougherty, a doctoral candidate of marine biology at the University of California, Berkeley.

“When most people imagine clams, they imagine the things that make clam chowder,” Dougherty said. “These clams are very different. They’re reef-dwelling, they have bright-red tentacles, they have gills that stick out, they live in little crevasses [and] they are the only species of clam that flashes.”

The researcher tested this unique ability by putting disco clam in an aquarium and used Styrofoam lid to mimic a looming predator, actually “which turned [out] to be very scary” for the clams, Dougherty told Live Science.

The flashing rate of the clam almost turned twice when the lid was nearby. It actually altered its flashing from 1.5 to 2.5 flashes per second. The researchers have found another defence mechanism of this organism that is the use of sulphuric acid against its prey.

Dougherty used calcium chloride, which produces white precipitate in the presence of sulphuric acid. “I found about twice as much precipitate in the disturbed clam than in the calm clam that I just left alone,” she said.

The use of sulphuric acid is common in other marine creatures like snails some and other clams. The sulphuric acid could be a critical part of the clams’ defence strategy. “If you’re flashing and saying, ‘I’m distasteful; don’t eat me,’ that’s one thing, but you have to sort of back it up,” with something like sulphuric acid, Dougherty said.

This strategy worked as a wonder against a peacock mantis shrimp. At first, the mantis struggled to open the clam and then suddenly recoiled and left the clam alone. It usually takes a mantis shrimp about 45 minutes to crack open a clamshell, so “that is very strange behaviour [for the mantis shrimp],” Dougherty said. “They’re very aggressive critters, and to have a clam open and flashing, and the mantis shrimp not attacking, is very weird.”

According to Dougherty its likely for the clam to use sulphuric acid or any other irritating agent to protect itself.

According to the researchers the clam can flash more times in a second in real environment against its predator like plankton. So in order to look deep into it the team has future plans to travel to Indonesia this year to have a closer look on this creature.

Another test found that, although the clams have about 40 tiny eyes, their vision likely isn’t good enough to detect the flashing of other disco clams for mating purposes. Researchers think disco clams are born as males and then change into females as they age, but it’s unlikely that the clams use their flashing light show to attract mates, she said.

Jeanne Serb, an associate professor of evolutionary biology at Iowa State University who was not involved with the study said that Dougherty’s team may be the only group currently researching the disco clam.

“Nobody knew why they did it or how they did this, and that’s why Lindsey [Dougherty]’s work is so important,” Serb said.

“What Lindsey’s work is going to help with is, getting some focus on this large group of organisms that actually have lots of really strange and unusual functions and interesting traits,” Serb said. “And I think this gets back to what is going on with their DNA.”

This unpublished research was presented Jan. 4 at the 2015 annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Alcohol makes birds to slur their songs: Research says

December 29, 2014 By Cliff Jenkins Scott

According to the new study made on birds to understand Human speech reveal that alcohol makes birds to slur their songs.

The birds were given alcohol around 0.08 percent of their blood level which is enough as far as the bird’s standard is concerned.

Researchers from the Oregon Health and Science University allured zebra finches with spiked juice to study birdsongs to study more about human speech. Birds learn to sing in the same way as humans learn to talk. In fact it is easy to do the study on a caged bird as compared to a human infant.

So birds do give insight into the brain mechanism that makes the speech possible for human.

There hasn’t been much research on the vocal impairment caused by the alcohol just because of the lack of non-human labs that are capable of ‘speech’ to work on.

“At first we were thinking that they wouldn’t drink on their own because, you know, a lot of animals just won’t touch the stuff, But they seem to tolerate it pretty well and be somewhat willing to consume it.” Researcher Christopher Olson told NPR.

At once the birds hum and started to slur their songs.

Researcher mentioned in the study “The most pronounced effects were decreased amplitude and increased entropy,” which means that the songs got less organized and reticent.

Surprisingly all part of the song were not equally effected. Songs of Zebra finch is composed of specific syllables each with different acoustic nature and some are affected more than the others.

This made the researchers think that alcohol has a different effect on different part of the brain. Further studies may help explore more.

The Multi toned hot springs of Yellowstone were once Blue

December 23, 2014 By Cliff Jenkins Scott

Scientists have confirmed that the multi hued hot springs in the Yellowstone National Park were Blue once.

The change in color is associated with the trash and pollution done by the tourists. These ponds were of deep blue color back in 1872 when Yellowstone was made a National Park.

Scientists have found that the color of these springs were not as they were many years ago. Now we can see them in the combination of red, yellow, green and blue depending upon the time they are observed.

The researchers from Montana State University made a study to find the reason behind this diversity in color. The study lead by Paul W. Nugent of Montana State University has already been published in the journal Applied Optics, have reconstructed the spectral history of Yellowstone’s Morning Glory Pool, Grand Prismatic Spring and Sapphire Pool.

Researchers explained that the reason behind the orange, yellow, and bright green color in the Morning Glory Pool is actually the microbial mats or complex community of bacteria. But originally the color of the water was originally deep blue.

The change in colors are actually brought upon by human activities like throwing trash and coins into these geothermal ponds.

Report Says: Humpback Whales Stay Isolated for 70,000 Years

December 4, 2014 By Denise Ehrlich

A team of researchers discovered that the humpback whales, which generally live in the Arabian Sea are the most isolated whale population of the Earth

Generally, whales such as baleen whales are famous for their long distance migration. Every year, whales migrate from their cold water feeding grounds to the warm-water breeding grounds. They move around in the form of pods and groups in migration.

Therefore, it is definitely very groundbreaking discovery for the researchers. The recent study reveals that this whale population stayed secluded from even inter-breeding for around 10,000 years. According to the recent study, the whales of Arabian Sea remained isolated from other whales for a long time period of around 70,000 years.

Tim Collins, the co-author of the study stated that the regular migrations of humpbacks are pretty impressive. However, this small non-migratory group of humpbacks gives birth to several unanswered questions regarding their origination and behaviors in the minds of researchers. It is like a new big mystery for researchers.

Earlier, experts researched a lot on the history of humpback whales present in the Northern Hemisphere. The studies offered a large amount of significant information related to these whales. Sadly, no one paid attention on the sea mammals of the Arabian Sea.

Researchers of a few organizations such as Wildlife Conservation society, the American Museum of Natural History, the Environment Society of Oman joined together for this particular research.

Later on, they published this report in 3^rd December’s edition of Journal PlOS ONE.