Himalayan forests are quietly vanishing

THE Himalayas may never be the same again. The forests growing on the roof of the world are disappearing, and the rate of deforestation is so rapid that a quarter of animal and plant species native to this biodiversity hotspot, including tigers and leopards, could be gone by the end of the century.

Worse, the Indian government is oblivious to the problem because official figures erroneously suggest that forest cover will rise rather than fall. This mistake has led to the approval of new schemes, such as hydroelectric dams, that will exacerbate the devastation.

www.newscientist.com

New Scientific Review Shows Vegetarian Diets Cause Major Weight Loss Without Exercise or Calorie Counting

Controlled Research Trials Prove Diet's Efficacy

WASHINGTON—A scientific review in April’s Nutrition Reviews shows that a vegetarian diet is highly effective for weight loss. Vegetarian populations tend to be slimmer than meat-eaters, and they experience lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other life-threatening conditions linked to overweight and obesity. The new review, compiling data from 87 previous studies, shows the weight-loss effect does not depend on exercise or calorie-counting, and it occurs at a rate of approximately 1 pound per week.

Rates of obesity in the general population are skyrocketing, while in vegetarians, obesity prevalence ranges from 0 percent to 6 percent, note study authors Susan E. Berkow, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Neal D. Barnard, M.D., of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).

www.pcrm.org

Gaming fanatics show hallmarks of drug addiction

Excessive computer gaming has the hallmarks of addiction, suggests new experiments on 'drug memory'. The researchers argue it should be classified as such, enabling “addicts” to start seeking help.

“We have the patients and we have the parents and family members calling us for help,” says Sabine Grüsser of the Charité University Medicine Berlin, in Germany.

New Scientist Breaking News

Success sucks? Yoga is the remedy- The Economic Times

Recent surveys have shown that yoga is not only a major trend, the world over, but has also become a commercially viable industry. With a lot of money flowing in this direction, the puritanical approach towards the science of yoga is fast diminishing. There are quite a few sincere teachers and institutions which have sincerely dedicated themselves to its cause.

economictimes.indiatimes.com

Study Links 8 Hours' Sleep to Shorter Life Span

"There's an old idea that people should sleep eight hours a night, which has no more scientific basis than the gold at the end of the rainbow," said Daniel Kripke, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Diego who led the study, published in today's Archives of General Psychiatry. "That's an old wives' tale."

The study was not designed to answer why sleeping longer may be deleterious or whether people could extend their life spans by sleeping less. But Kripke said it is possible that people who sleep longer tend to suffer from sleep apnea, a condition in which impaired breathing puts stress on the heart and brain. He also speculated that the need for sleep is akin to the need for food, in that getting less than people want may be better for them.

www.juiceguy.com

Increased Death Rate Associated with Sleeping 8 Hours or More

Although it’s a common belief that 8 hours of sleep is required for optimal health, a six-year study of more than one million adults ages 30 to 102 has shown that people who get only 6 to 7 hours a night have a lower death rate. Individuals who sleep 8 hours or more, or less than 4 hours a night, were shown to have a significantly increased death rate compared to those who averaged 6 to 7 hours.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and the American Cancer Society collaborated on the study, which appeared in the February 15, 2002 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, a journal of the American Medical Association.

health.ucsd.edu

Soft drinks: Unsafe beverages

Amazingly, Americans (and people in other countries) actually drink a product that can rightfully be called Osteoporosis In a Can. And, it gets worse from there. Read on.

This poison goes by many brand names, such as Coca Cola and Pepsi. Generically, this poison is on the market in formulations known as soda, pop, and soft drinks. It includes all carbonated beverages--even carbonated plain water. The various substances in sodas compound the problem, especially the typical formulations with their carbonic acid or phosphoric acid.

The carbonation in all soft drinks causes calcium loss in the bones through a three-stage process:

1. The carbonation irritates the stomach.
2. The stomach "cures" the irritation the only way it knows how. It adds the only antacid at its disposal: calcium. It gets this from the blood.
3. The blood, now low on calcium, replenishes its supply from the bones. If it did not do this, muscular and brain function would be severely impaired.

Mind connection

Plastics link to 'macho' female mice

WHEN does a female mouse behave like a male? When you give it small doses of bisphenol A, a chemical that mimics the hormone oestrogen. The "gender bender", which masculinises the brains of female mice, is the base chemical for making polycarbonate plastics, often used in bottles and food containers.

When Ana Soto and colleagues at Tufts University in Boston constantly infused bisphenol A into the tissue of pregnant and breastfeeding mice, the female pups displayed the masculinised effects. The doses were equivalent to concentrations found by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in samples of human urine. "We're talking about environmentally relevant levels of exposure," says Soto.

New Scientist News

Sugary drinks leave US schools

At last, the US is taking steps to wean its schoolchildren off the sugary drinks normally peddled from school vending machines.

On 3 May, major US soft drinks companies including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Cadbury Schweppes, along with the American Beverage Association, volunteered to phase out drinks containing more than 100 calories per can from school vending machines by 2010. Instead, 35 million children across the US will be offered more alternatives, including bottled water and fruit and vegetable juices.

"This really is a ground-breaking agreement," says Robert Eckel, president of the American Heart Association, which joined forces with the William J. Clinton Foundation to broker the voluntary deal.

New Scientist News

Heavy metals may be implicated in autism

URINE samples from hundreds of French children have yielded evidence for a link between autism and exposure to heavy metals. If validated, the findings might mean some cases of autism could be treated with drugs that purge the body of heavy metals.

Samples from children with autism contained abnormally high levels of a family of proteins called porphyrins, which are precursors in the production of haem, the oxygen-carrying component in haemoglobin. Heavy metals block haem production, causing porphyrins to accumulate in urine. Concentrations of one molecule, coproporphyrin, were 2.6 times as high in urine from children with autism as in controls.

New Scientist News

Phones with the highest radiation levels revelead

There are some lists manufacturers love to be on, like the most popular or best selling. But a list of phones with the highest levels of radiation emissions is probably not going to make them smile. Regardless, consumers need to know, so here is the data.

Here are the top phones, followed by the SAR:

1) Motorola Slvr L6 – 1.58
2) Motorola V120c – 1.55
2) Motorola V265 – 1.55
4) Motorola V70 – 1.54
5) Motorola C290 – 1.53
5) Motorola P8767 – 1.53
5) Motorola ST7868 – 1.53
5) Motorola ST7868W – 1.53
9) Motorola A845 – 1.51
9) Palm Treo 650 GSM – 1.51
9) Panasonic Allure – 1.51

Mobile Magazine

Dolphins, like humans, recognize names

Bottlenose dolphins can call each other by name when they whistle, making them the only animals besides humans known to recognize such identity information, scientists reported on Monday.

Scientists have long known that dolphins' whistling calls include repeated information thought to be their names, but a new study indicates dolphins recognize these names even when voice cues are removed from the sound.

For example, a dolphin might be expected to recognize its name if called by its mother, but the new study found most dolphins recognized names -- their signature whistles -- even when emitted without inflection or other vocal cues.

Reuters.com

Cancer concern over shop snacks

Chocolates and bagged snacks are being taken off shop shelves after the discovery of potentially cancer-causing toxins in a batch of rice flour.

Three brands of products are being recalled because aflatoxin B1 was found at levels above the legal limit.

Aflatoxin B1 occurs naturally in mould but is linked to cancer in animals.

news.bbc.co.uk

Scientists discover 500 BC sky map

Hyderabad: When the carving of the Great Bear constellation on a stone, made around 500 BC at Mudumala village in Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh were discovered, scientists were suitably astounded.

They began to wonder how ancient Indian astrologers could tell exactly how stars and constellations were grouped without the help of modern devices such as the telescope.

The mystery was unravelled when scientists discovered an ancient sky map in Hyderabad.

The sky map, which is probably the oldest in Asia, was carved out by megalithic Indians with astounding accuracy.

www.ibnlive.com

Caffeine Withdrawal Disorder

Caffeine is the world's most commonly used stimulant, and it's cheap and readily available so people can maintain their use of caffeine quite easily," says Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins. "The latest research demonstrates, however, that when people don't get their usual dose they can suffer a range of withdrawal symptoms, including headache, fatigue, difficulty concentrating. They may even feel like they have the flu with nausea and muscle pain.

hopkinsnet.jhu.edu

Children ‘should sleep with parents until they’re five

ONE of Britain’s leading experts on children’s mental health has advised parents to reject years of convention and allow children to sleep in bed with them until the age of five.

Margot Sunderland, director of education at the Centre for Child Mental Health in London, says the practice, known as “co-sleeping”, makes children more likely to grow up as calm, healthy adults.

www.timesonline.co.uk

Working Moms Healthier than Full-Time Homemakers

Married mothers who also hold jobs, despite having to juggle career and home, enjoy better health than their underemployed or childless peers. Data from a long-term study launched in the U.K. in 1946 shows that such working moms are the least likely to be obese by middle age and the most likely to report generally good health. And this result cannot be explained simply because the healthiest women take on the most.

www.sciam.com

Meditation Found To Increase Brain Size

BrainPeople who meditate grow bigger brains than those who don't. Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found the first evidence that meditation can alter the physical structure of our brains. Brain scans they conducted reveal that experienced meditators boasted increased thickness in parts of the brain that deal with attention and processing sensory input.

www.sciencenewsden.com