Latest Posts by xpandyourhorizons-blog - Page 3

The nomination of unqualified non-scientist Sam Clovis is a powerful illustration of the Trump administration’s hostility both to science and to the rule of law.

Dr. Peter G. Lurie, President of Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).  Read the release.  (via climatetruth)

‘It’s Global Warming, Stupid’: Five years after Sandy, we’ve learned nothing

Superstorm Sandy was a "wakeup call" but media, GOP, and Trump keep hitting the snooze button.

Take action: climatetruth.org

Is Poisoned Halloween Candy a Myth? 

Every year around Halloween, we hear the same concern: you gotta check the candy for poison because strangers put laxatives in Tootsie Rolls, Razor Blades in Apples and drugs in Snickers. 

Where did this fear come from?

The truth is out there.

This month, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary teamed up with partners to assess damage to the coral reef from Hurricane Irma. 

Preliminary reports from the team found extensive shifting of sand and heavy sediment accumulation, which can smother and prevent corals from getting enough sunlight, as well as some structural damage to individual corals and the reef itself. This effort is the first step in a longer recovery process. Here, a science diver notes reef conditions. 

Learn more about the assessment here and see more images here.

(Photo: Brenda Altmeier/NOAA)

Then let’s make some noise, shall we? Texas has a real problem providing women with adequate healthcare. This is bad.

L.A. Times Report: High Maternal Mortality Among African-American Texans Is a ‘Quiet Crisis’

Globally, maternal mortality rates have been declining over the past several years. In America, however, the maternal death rate more than doubled between 1987 and 2013. In fact, though the United States is one of the most developed countries in the world, it’s the second to last among 31 developed countries, ahead of only Mexico, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. And, according to a recent report in the Los Angeles Times, black women are dying at the highest rates.

More from the Los Angeles Times:

The maternal death rate in Texas after 2010 reached “levels not seen in other U.S. states,” according to a report compiled for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, based on figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Black women in Texas are dying at the highest rates of all. A 2016 joint report by the Texas Department of State Health Services’ Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force found that black mothers accounted for 11.4% of Texas births in 2011 and 2012, but 28.8% of pregnancy-related deaths.

Read the rest of the L.A. Times report here.

Also Today in Godsmack History: The Enemy

“The Enemy” is the last single from the album IV released on October 31, 2006; six years to the day after the release of their album Awake. The song landed a spot on the Mainstream Rock Tracks at number four, just like Godsmack’s previous single “Shine Down”. “The Enemy” is performed at almost every show on the band’s “IV Tour”, and was also the official theme song for WWE’s 2006 SummerSlam PPV. This song was also included on the THQ video game, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007. “The Enemy” is Jason MacDonald’s most recent entrance theme in UFC Championship.

According to lead singer Sully Erna, the song is about a guy who was his friend. When Godsmack became popular, the guy was going with Erna to clubs and parties. They quit hanging out as much but the guy continued to go out to places where people knew that he knew the band. He would hang out in the VIP rooms and tell people that Godsmack was coming. Toward the end of the night, he would make up an excuse as to why Godsmack wasn’t showing up. Sully Erna felt betrayed by somebody using his name and image to acquire their own fame.

Coptic tombstone unearthed at Sphinxes Avenue in Luxor

Egyptian archaeologists in Luxor have stumbled upon a decorative Coptic tombstone buried on the eastern side of the Sphinxes Avenue, under Al-Mathan Bridge.

The tombstone is carved of limestone and decorated with a cross and Coptic texts, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Ahram Online.

The exact date of the object has not yet been ascertained, nor the identity of the deceased. However, Mostafa Al-Saghir, director of the Sphinxes Avenue, said experts are now studying the tombstone find out.

The excavations in the Sphinxes Avenue are part of a Ministry of Antiquities programme to restore the area and transform it into an open-air museum. Read more.

Altered Tetanus Vaccine May Protect Against Allergies and Alzheimer’s

Research from the Universities of Dundee and Oxford has shown how combining the tetanus vaccine with a viral particle that normally affects cucumbers can be used to treat psoriasis and allergies, and may even protect against Alzheimer’s disease.

The research is in Nature Vaccines. (full open access)

Mallorca Nature Timelapse 1 by  Marcos Molina

BOMBTURBATION

Yes, it’s your new word for the day and a real phenomenon studied by today’s geoscientists – bombturbation.

Essentially, it reflects the change in a geomorphologic surface due to bombing. Whether by cannon balls or A-bombs, whenever the surface of the Earth is blown up, there is a tendency to create craters. Bombturbation was initially applied to the disturbance of soil due to warfare (Hupy and others 2006): a bomb or some sort of artillery explosion excavates a crater, ejecting soils out into a surrounding rim of mixed material. Bombing can have the effect of creating entirely new geomorphological environments as seen in photos of Omaha Beach (#37 at http://tinyurl.com/nyhdu8), US Civil War Battlefields (http://tinyurl.com/kamaebd), or as in the present photo, the Nevada nuclear test site.

Keep reading

Joe Cartledge invented the jockstrap (or athletic supporter) in the 1920s. He played hockey, football, and rugby so his invention may have been inspired by painful, painful memories. It was marketed as “Protex.”

How To Fall Asleep And Why We Need More 

The National Sleep Foundation recommends an average of eight hours of sleep per night for adults, but sleep scientist Matthew Walker says that too many people are falling short of the mark.

“Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent gain,” Walker says. “Many people walk through their lives in an underslept state, not realizing it.”

Walker is the director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He points out that lack of sleep — defined as six hours or fewer — can have serious consequences. Sleep deficiency is associated with problems in concentration, memory and the immune system, and may even shorten life span.

The most vegetarian countries around the world - do you agree? [1706x3898]

A paper published this week confirmed a piece of speculation going all the way back to Darwin.

I did not know that either. That is one HUGE sea turtle.

When it’s negative to be positive.