Pollution in People

In 2007, ten Oregon women and men volunteered to have their bodies tested in a study of chemical pollution in Oregonians. These Oregonians represent a diverse group of people from rural and urban areas throughout the state. Unfortunately, one thing they probably share with all Oregonians is the unwelcome presence of toxic chemicals in their bodies.

Oregonians are polluted with many hazardous industrial chemicals according to a new study conducted by the Oregon Environmental Council and the Oregon Collaborative for Health and the Environment (CHE-OR) - the first of its kind to examine toxic pollutants in Oregonians. The sources of toxic exposure are numerous, but even small, simple changes in lifestyle and purchasing habits can make a significant impact on the pollution level each person carries.

This week, some suggestions on how to reduce our exposure to toxic chemicals.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." - Lewis Carroll (English author & recreational mathematician, 1832 - 1898)

(scroll over or click on iPaper below to have a drop-down menu that includes a print option)

Pollution in People - Upload a doc

Read this doc on Scribd: Pollution in People

How Salt Works 2

Even if you try not to use much salt, it's almost impossible to avoid it. There are four tastes that all people are able to experience – bitter, sweet, sour and salty. We have talked before about the "fifth" taste, savoriness, also known as umami.

Only "salty" is directly related to a substance that we need to consume in order for our bodies to function correctly. Because of this need, humans and animals have a built-in taste for salt.

This week, a look at the different kinds of salt.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you." - Rita Mae Brown (US author and social activist, 1944 - )

(scroll over or click on iPaper below to have a drop-down menu that includes a print option)

How Salt Works 2

How Salt Works 1

There are lots of sayings related to the use of salt. It was often traded for slaves, which is the origin of the expression "not worth his salt." Someone who is the "salt of the earth" is a dependable, unpretentious person. "Salting the earth," on the other hand, refers to an ancient military practice of plowing fields with salt so that no crops could be grown.

No doubt about it, salt is important.

This week, a look at the history of salt and where it comes from.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "There is an evil tendency underlying all our technology - the tendency to do what is reasonable even when it isn't any good." - Robert Pirsig in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (American writer and philosopher, 1928 - )

(scroll over or click on iPaper below to have a drop-down menu that includes a print option)
How Salt Works 1

Maize as Food

Corn is prepared and consumed in a multitude of ways. Ground and pounded, the meal may be boiled, baked or fried, cooked with water to provide a thick mush or dough, or a thinner consistency to provide gruel, porridge or soup. The whole grain may be boiled or roasted and it may be fermented. Tamales are produced by steaming the dough. Cornbread is made by mixing the meal with wheat flour. Immature cobs, preferably sweet corn, are boiled and eaten as corn on the cob, or the grain may be removed and eaten as a vegetable, or it may be canned. More mature cobs are roasted.

Last week we talked about how corn or maize came to be one of the most important cereals in the world. This week, a look at the maize as food.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The summer night is like a perfection of thought." - Wallace Stevens (US poet, 1879 - 1955)

(scroll over or click on iPaper below to have a drop-down menu that includes a print option)

Maize as Food

Maize

Some facts about corn:

• An ear of corn averages 800 kernels in 16 rows.
• A pound of corn consists of approximately 1,300 kernels.
• 100 bushels of corn produces approximately 7,280,000 kernels.

This week, a look at what we call corn and what much of the world calls maize.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something." - Wilson Mizner (US screenwriter, 1876 - 1933)

(scroll over or click on iPaper below to have a drop-down menu that includes a print option)


Maize

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

What are you looking at? Scientists find out

We see with the brain, not the eyes; images that pass through our pupils go no further than the retina. From there image information travels to the rest of the brain by means of coded pulse trains, and the brain, being highly plastic, can learn to interpret them in visual terms.

Ever wonder that your brain sees? We may know sooner that later, as Japanese researchers have reproduced images of things people were looking at by analyzing brain scans.

This week a look at how the brain, well, looks at things.

TTFN, Fred.

(scroll over or click on iPaper below to have a drop-down menu that includes a print option)

Quote of the week: "Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise." - Bertrand Russell (British author, mathematician, & philosopher, 1872 - 1970)
What Are You Looking At

Building a Better Bee

Bees, like ants, are a specialized form of wasp. The ancestors of bees were wasps in the family Crabronidae, and therefore predators of other insects. The switch from insect prey to pollen may have resulted from the consumption of prey insects that were flower visitors and were partially covered with pollen when they were fed to the wasp larvae.

Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source, and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for larvae. Bees play an important role in pollinating flowering plants, and are the major type of pollinator in ecosystems that contain flowering plants.

In early 2007, abnormally high die-offs (30-70% of hives) of European honey bee colonies occurred in the US and possibly Québec; such a decline seems unprecedented in recent history. This has been dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD).

This week, we look at research from UC Davis (go Aggies!) on building a better bee that may be resistant to CCD.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer." - Corrie Ten Boom (a Dutch, Christian Holocaust survivor who helped many Jews escape the Nazis during World War II, 1892 - 1983)

(scroll over or click on iPaper below to have a drop-down menu that includes a print option)

Building a Better Bee

Read this document on Scribd: New Shades of Green