From the first step on the moon, the space race has come a very long way. Now, we are even considering sending individuals to Mars. There are many worries about various things which may happen to the volunteers for the mission, and among them is the danger to the human body during the indefinite stay in space.
Living in this micro-gravity environment causes the human body to change because it isn't working against the force of gravity. According to Phil Carvil, a researcher on the topic of human bodies in space, "Your muscles have evolved to cope day to day with gravity on Earth, but in space you don't use them as much, so your body is thinking ‘why do I need this?’ and your muscles will deteriorate. Without the stresses and impact forces needed to maintain muscle and bone, you lose up to 20% of muscle mass each month, especially in the lower muscles – the back of the legs, the calves, and the spinal muscles." Bones lose about 1% of tissue each month in space because of the smaller loads placed on them. The spine also responds to not being constantly pushed down by gravity, and the body can extend up to 70mm. This can be good if you always wanted to be taller, but can cause back pain. Looking for a solution to these problems, astronauts try to mitigate these negative effects on the ISS by exercising. "Physical training is something astronauts do on a daily basis in space for two hours a day. It's a mixture of cardiovascular and resistance exercises, and that helps to maintain fitness and stimulus on the heart, muscles and bones," Phil says. Currently, new ideas are also being tested, including a skinsuit which uses stretchy material to compresses the body in a similar way to Earth's gravity. In the end, for a mission to Mars, you need to be able to function once you get there. "The gravity on Mars is one third of the gravity on Earth,” says Stefan Schneider, from the Institute of Movement and Neuroscience at the German Sport University, Cologne, who has been looking at the impacts of simulated space isolation. “It’s not so much about muscles and good bones – your weight is a third of what it would be on Earth. This is something we need to prepare for using specific entrance training programs to keep people fit and able to perform their tasks on Mars."
A candle is a system for making hydrocarbon molecules react with oxygen to produce heat and light, carbon dioxide and water.
Howard Ross stated, "There are literally thousands of reactions that go on from the moment the fuel vapor is produced and leaves the wick to the time it actually burns and produces CO2 and water."
As melted wax rises through the wick, its long hydrocarbon molecules are vaporized and cracked apart by heat emanating from the flame.
Some of the fragments migrate outward. Some are transformed into ring-shaped molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; those clump together, forming large particles of soot, which drift upward and are burned, or escape from the top of the flame as smoke.
Most of the heat but not the light is released at the surface of the flame, where fuel vapor diffusing out from the wick meets oxygen diffusing in from the surrounding air.
The various carbon compounds and the oxygen molecule O2 have weaker bonds but more potential energy than do CO2 and H2O.
When the carbon and oxygen combine to form CO2 and water, some of the energy difference is released as heat.
The visible light of a candle flame is caused by two different processes
incandescence
chemiluminescence.
The bright yellow light in the tongue of the flame comes from incandescent soot particles.
The faint blue light around the bottom comes from furiously vibrating CH and C2, still on their way to being burned.
An ordinary fire doesn't sit passively waiting for oxygen to diffuse toward it.
As air heated by the flame rises, cool oxygen air flows in at the bottom.
It is said that a forest fire can generate winds of more than 100 miles per hour.
A well made candle usually doesn't flicker unless it's buffeted by external air currents.
If the fuel is distributed in a regular way, the burning pool will pulse as regularly as a clock.
Thuillard Experiment
A small, round, shallow dish of ethanol on the floor of flameproof lab, which is a mostly empty concrete cube 30 feet high and 30 feet across.
A colleague of Thuillard holds a lighter to the ethanol and ignites it.
What's happening in that flickering flame is cool air rushing over the flame is creating a wave on it.
The flame wave travels from the edge of the pool toward the center, where it becomes a flame mushroom that billows upward and outward.
When there are gusty winds fanning the fire, or when it's a heap of burning logs in your fireplace instead of a pool of ethanol, the flicker becomes irregular.
But Thuillard has found that, either way, flames still contain hidden mathematical regularities that make it possible to distinguish them from any other light source, such as sunlight that flickers on a wall because it is irregularly blocked by blowing foliage outside.
Recently scientist have come up with a law that can portray how a black hole would act. I’ve never heard of a law in science that can do this. For this law there is no friction and superfluid helium. While there is not a lot of information on black holes, this new law could help us understand space more. It could be the answer scientists have been waiting for to solve the quantum theory of gravity. This is a huge problem that no one in the theoretical field has been able to answer yet. Physicist Adrian Del Maestro says that this law can point to a deeper understanding of reality. A team of Physicists came up with a simulation to determine how fast a black holes surface area can grow. They learned that the atoms in superfluid helium become quantum entangled and share existence with each other.
This discovery is important because now we have an easier way of studying things that we cannot obtain. It is safer and is easier to study.
This overused pun may or may not make you giggle but your reaction is indeed due to the ambiguity of the joke. Have you ever thought about why we laugh at such simple jokes? Well researchers recently published and article in Frontiers in physics suggesting a novel approach to the complexity of humor; quantum theory.
The real question is; what kind of formal theory is needed to model the cognitive representation of a joke. Researchers are developing a mathematical model that can help decode the complexity of humor. This article outlines a quantum inspired model of humor. Researcher are hoping that this new approach may "succeed at a more nuanced modeling of the cognition of humor than previous attempts and lead to the development of a full-fledged, formal quantum theory model of humor." This model has been tested in a study that had participate rating the funniness of verbal puns, as well as the funniness of variants of these jokes. Researchers came to the conclusion that apart from the delivery of the information,something else is happening inside our brains, on a cognitive level, making jokes funny. Whereas its deconstructed components are not, researchers have concluded that the quantum approach appropriate to stud this phenomenon.
For years and years people have tried to come to the conclusion of why jokes are funny. Today researchers from all different fields are working together to explain this phenomenon. To explain the complexity of humor, researchers said;
"Previous computational models of humour have suggested that the funny element of a joke may be explained by a word's ability to hold two different meanings (bisociation), and the existence of multiple, but incompatible, ways of interpreting a statement or situation (incongruity)."
During the build-up of the joke, we interpret the situation one way, and once the punch line comes, there is a shift in our understanding of the situation, which gives it a new meaning and creates the comical effect.
Researchers have concluded that it is not the shift of meaning in a joke but it is instead the ability to perceive both meanings simultaneously, that makes a pun funny. This is where the theory of quantum physics comes in, the approach might be able to account for the complexity of humor in a way that earlier models can not.
"Quantum formalisms are highly useful for describing cognitive states that entail this form of ambiguity," said Liane Gabora from the University of British Columbia.
"Funniness is not a pre-existing 'element of reality' that can be measured; it emerges from an interaction between the underlying nature of the joke, the cognitive state of the listener, and other social and environmental factors," said Gabora.
The phenomenon of lightning seems simple, but yet intriguing. Lightning is the transfer of positive energy from the clouds to the ground. This might seem pretty simple, but it can get a little more complexe. Even scientist aren't quite sure how lightning works. One thing they now for sure perhaps is that their has to be a separation between the positive and the negative particles in the clouds. Ice also has to be formed in order to have lightning. Since similar charges repeal each other, the negative negative charges then begin to spread out near the base of the cloud. At the same time, positive charges start to build underneath the storm. This region of positive charges travels underneath the cloud, almost like a shadow.
In a cloud-to-ground lightning Strike, the negative charges makes it path towards the ground. This occurrence is known as a stepped leader. The stepped leader continues towards the ground in a series of steps that are each about 50 to 100 metres in length. This stepped leader can branch out in many directions. In response to the negative charges, currents of positive charges start moving upwards from the ground. This is called the upward leader. When the stepped leader and the upward leader meet, usually between 30 to 100 metres above the ground, the negative charges begin to flow downward. Almost instantaneously, a much larger and luminous electric current shoots up to the cloud, following the path taken by the stepped leader. This is known as the return stroke, and it is also what we see in the sky that is known as lightning. This whole phenomenon occurs in less than a second which makes it look like lighting travels from the cloud to the ground when it is actually the other way around.
The question "are we alone" has been a controversial and unanswered question ever since man was on earth. We have strived to find the answers of creation through science and we look to the universe as a big unknown. The exploration of space has been mankind's mission every since we were first able to successfully send someone into orbit. Since then, we have been taking steps to acquire more knowledge about space and the universe, since so little is actually known about it. We have also been searching for other solar systems in hopes of finding a planet similar to earth.
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered seven planets circling a single parent star. According to the initial findings and data, three of these seven planets are in the habitable zone and may resemble an atmosphere simpler to the one on earth. It is also possible that these planets have liquid water, which is key for life forms to survive. This discovery is a great advancement for our exploration of space because it is the largest tuber of habitable planets found around a single star. It is even possible that all seven could contain water and similar atmospheric conditions.
This system of planets is about 40 light years away. Meaning, if we could travel at the speed of light, which we have not figured out how to do yet, it would take 40 years to do so. Although this may seem far at first, it is actually relatively close to our solar system and actually lie just outside it. This system of planets as a whole is called TRAPPIST-1 (The Transiting Planet and Planetesimals Small Telescope).
The Spitzer telescope was able to collect data from these seven planets so that their sizes and density could be measured and estimated. Based on the collected data and measurements, it appears that the conditions are most likely rocky and possibly have water, but that cannot be confirmed. The farthest of the seven planets is predicted to have more ice, but, again, these are just conclusions based no the limited data given. Further investigation by the Hubble team further strengthened the assumption that the conditions of the two innermost planets are rocky since there was no found evidence of hydrogen-dominated atmospheres.
According to the data, the planet star in which the seven planets are circling is very different from our sun star. In fact, the planet star is much cooler and it is predicted that planets that are close in proximity could be able to sustain liquid water. It is also revealed that unlike the planets in our solar system, these seven planets are extremely close together. Meaning, if you were to stand on one planet, the geological features of another close planet could be visible. Also, the planets could have different weather patterns due to the location of the planet in reference to the star.
Overall, this discovery offers many opportunities for further research and advancements. The TRAPPIST-1 system is still being studied and data is still being collected and analyzed. The confirmation of the existence of this system in itself is a huge advancement in science and space exploration and will hopefully allow us to further progress.
Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have created a new form of matter. They call this new form of matter "Time Crystals."
Crystals are molecules that have their atoms arranged in a 3-D shape with a repeating pattern. Therefore, salt, snow, and diamonds are all crystals. So what makes this new "Time Crystal" different? Well this time crystal never settles down into what's known as thermal equilibrium, a state in which they all have the same amount of heat. This is a groundbreaking discovery and creation. This was done by Andrew Potter and his team of researchers. Potter is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Potter and his team were able to apply just the right electrical field. Then, he and his researchers levitated 10 of these crystal ions above a surface. Next, they used a laser pulse to cause the atoms to flip around. Then they lasered them a multitude of times in a regular rhythm. That set up a pattern of flips that repeated in time.
This is an important discovery because if these can be created efficiently, they will help to make enormous strides in quantum physics as well as computers, as noted by Potter. "This opens the door to a whole new world of nonequilibrium phases. We've taken these theoretical ideas that we've been poking around for the last couple of years and actually built it in the laboratory. Hopefully, this is just the first example of these, with many more to come." (Potter)
The basic principle behind hot air balloon physics is the use of hot air to create buoyancy, which generates lift. A hot air balloon consists of a large bag, called an envelope, with a gondola or wicker basket suspended underneath. A burner (with power typically of several megawatts) sits in the basket and is used to heat the air inside the envelope through an opening. This heated air generates lift by way of a buoyant force.
The hot air inside the envelope is less dense than the surrounding (cooler) air. This difference in density causes the hot air balloon to be lifted off the ground due to the buoyant force created by the surrounding air. The principle behind this lift is called Archimedes' principle, which states that any object suspended in a fluid, is acted upon by an upward buoyant force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. So an object floating in water stays buoyant using the same principle as a hot air balloon. The figure below illustrates Archimedes' principle for an object completely submerged in a fluid (such as water, or air).
As shown above, the center of buoyancy acts through point C, which is the centroid of the volume V of the object. This volume is equal to the displaced volume of the fluid. The upward buoyant force FB is equal to the weight of the displaced volume of fluid V.
For a hot air balloon, the upward buoyant force acting on it is equal to the weight of the cooler surrounding air displaced by the hot air balloon. Since the air inside the envelope is heated it is less dense than the surrounding air, which means that the buoyant force due to the cooler surrounding air is greater than the weight of the heated air inside the envelope. And for lift to be generated, this buoyant force must exceed the weight of the heated air, plus the weight of the envelope, plus the weight of the gondola, plus the weight of passengers and equipment on board. As a result, the hot air balloon will experience sufficient buoyant force to completely lift off the ground.
As shown above, the weight of the hot air balloon is more concentrated near the bottom of the balloon (at the location of passengers and equipment), so the center of mass G of the hot air balloon is always below the center of buoyancy C. Therefore, the balloon is always stable during flight.
Physics of Balloon: Operation
To maintain a steady altitude, the balloon operator intermittently fires and turns off the burner once he reaches the approximate altitude he wants. This causes the balloon to ascend and descend (respectively). This is the only way he can maintain an approximately constant altitude, since maintaining a strictly constant altitude by way of maintaining a net zero buoyant force (on the balloon) is practically impossible.
The balloon stays inflated because the heated air inside the envelope creates a pressure greater than the surrounding air. However, since the envelope has an opening at the bottom (above the location of the burner), the expanding hot air is allowed to escape, preventing a large pressure differential from developing. This means that the pressure of the heated air inside the balloon ends up being only slightly greater than the cooler surrounding air pressure.
An efficient hot air balloon is one that minimizes the weight of the balloon components, such as the envelope, and on board equipment (such as the burner and propane fuel tanks). This in turn minimizes the required temperature of the air inside the envelope needed to generate sufficient buoyant force to generate lift. Minimizing the required air temperature means that you minimize the burner energy needed, thereby reducing fuel use.
Physics of Balloon: Analysis
The heated air inside the envelope is at roughly the same pressure as the outside air. With this in mind we can calculate the density of the heated air at a given temperature, using the Ideal gas law, as follows:
P = ρRT
Where:
P is the absolute pressure of the gas, in Pa
ρ is the density of the gas, in kg/m3
R is the gas constant, in Joules/kg.K
T is the absolute temperature of the gas, in Kelvins (K)
The New Record Breaking Rollercoaster Located in Cedar Point
The video below is a POV ride on a the Valravn, anew Rollercoaster from Cedar Point.
(The Article was posted in May of 2016 so the records may not still be standing:
http://scienceworld.scholastic.com/Physics-News/2016/05/Hair-Raising-Ride and https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/shriek-science-simple-physics-powers-extreme-roller-coasters/)
Cedar Point, which is located in Sandusky Ohio, has always been famous for is extreme rollercoasters. This rollercoaster in one of the longest, fastest, and highest rollercoasters in existence. The track reaches a high point of 20 stories and plunges at a speed of 75 miles per hour into a giant loop. The rider drop 20 stories down at a 90 degree angle. The ride has more than just one drop. It also has several smaller drops, two inversions, and another big drop from approximately 13 stories high. The full duration of the ride last a little less then 3 minutes.The giant drop from a high of approximately 20 stories high is essential to create the the potential gravitational energy so the cart can make it though the entire track. The potential energy is quickly transformed into kinetic energy as it plunges into motion. The height and angle of decent for a rollercoaster is very important for the rest of the ride. The initial drop is a huge determinate in the speed speed of the coaster, the longer the drop, the more acceleration due to gravity. Kevin Hickerson, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology, was quoted from an article saying “All the energy a rollercoaster gets comes from the initial point it’s cranked up to, and from there it just gains more and more kinetic energy.”.
Today, there are other ways to intensify speed without gigantic drops. Once popular way is by electromagnetic propulsion, catapulted, from its starting point. Cars on these launched coasters have the potential to go from zero to nearly 130 kilometers per hour in about two seconds. Another big advancement in rollercoaster was the steel-frame. Steel-framer rollercoaster, first created in 1959, has made it much easier to increase the height of rollercoasters. Steel-framers are much lighter and easier to build up, making the rollercoasters of today much more thrilling. These are much easier to build because they require less dense support beams. Another reason steel coaster are often enjoyed by more people is they lose much less energy due to friction, this is why steel coaster are faster and much less bumpy then there wooden counterparts.
Many engineers agree that rollercoaster have not been built to their full potential. Planes, trains, subways, etc reach much higher speeds. From a physics standpoint, the rollercoaster's cars would be able to reach their peak speeds in seconds, but reaching speeds this high can be deadly. This is why rollercoaster have and will probably not reach extreme g-force levels. Leland Stone, a scientist with NASA’s Human Systems Integration Division said “With no training, one can typically tolerate two to three g’s [in this direction] for many seconds without any consequence.”. However if a coaster's acceleration becomes too great, it may stop the blood flow to the eyes and head. Engineers need to use this information to determine how to build each rollercoaster. Riders on some of the most extreme coasters can experience up to 6.5 g’s, which is more than astronauts experience on liftoff and more than NASCAR drivers feel while tearing around the track. However, this does not mean that people who often ride rollercoaster have experienced more g's then an astronaut. While rollercoasters may have a high of 6.5 g this does not happen for a long time. For a comparison a person on a rollercoaster will experience this for about a second, astronauts will experience it for a duration of minutes.
After watching the POV video you may notice that this coaster may seem longer, fastest, and higher than most rollercoaster that you have been on. This is because this rollercoaster has shattered may coaster records. The roller coast has a high point of 223 feet, making it the highest dive coaster in the world. It is also the fastest dive coaster, the longest dive coaster, and the dive coaster with the most inversions.
At the University of Warwick, new research has led scientist, Dr. James Sprittles, to create a new theory explaining what happens when a drop of water comes in contact to another surface causing a splash.
When a drop of water falls, it appears to splash, where some water also comes back up towards the opposite direction that it traveled from. The drop does not evenly spread out smoothly across the surface due to a microscopically thin layer of air that the drop is unable to push aside. These air molecules cause some of the liquid to fly outward and up and do not dry up upon contact, hence causing the splash.
Below is an animated illustration of the process in which a liquid drop undergoes upon impact.
Credit: University of Warwick
Scientists have found that a layer of air 1 micron in size can obstruct a 1mm drop of water, 1000 times lager than the layer of air itself. To compare the two, it is as if a 1cm layer of air stopped a tsunami wave spreading across a beach.
Dr. Sprittles' theory has established what happens to the microscopic layer of air during the process of the impact, including the dynamics that nature incorporates, predicting whether splashes will take place.
The lower the air pressure, the easier it is for hair to escape from the squashed layer, thus causing a lower resistance to the water drop and enabling the suppression of splashes. Simply, splashes are smaller when air pressure is lower. Higher air pressure causes the molecules to react slightly slower, trapping more air molecules under the drop and sending more liquid back up.
Dr. Sprittles states:
"You would never expect a seemingly everyday event to exhibit such complexity. The air layer's width is so small that it is similar to the distance air molecules travel between collisions, so that traditntal models are inaccurate and a microscopic theory is required.
Most promisingly, the new theory should have application to a wide range of related phenomena, such as in climate science - to understand how water drops collide during the formation of clouds or to estimate the quality of has being dragged into our oceans by rainfall."
This new theory has many practical uses, such as the stated above, climate science application, as well as in crime scenes with drops of blood. Dr. Sprittles' theory also can be used in 3D printing and product design.
Recently Astronomers, lead by Michael Gillon, have made a breakthrough discovery in space and in the world of Astronomy. They discovered at least seven Earth-sized planets orbiting around the same star which is 40 light-years away. These findings were announced at NASA Headquarters. These planets were discovered outside our solar system suggesting a new solar system. Based on the research the planets are all relatively the same size as Earth and are temperate which means they could have water and resources that could potentially support life. The seven planets were apparently all found in close proximity and in the same formation around an “ultracool dward star” called, TRAPPIST-1. Astronomers have estimated their masses and from this information they can tell that the environment of these planets are rocky planets, not gaseous like Jupiter.
Three of these seven planets are in the zone of the star known as the “habitable zone” known as TRAPPIST-1e, f and g. Further research have even indicated the possibility of these three planets having oceans on their surfaces. Out of the seven stars Astronomers think that the planet, TRAPIST-1f could be the best possible candidate for support life. Although its temperature is a bit cooler than Earth’s, Astronomers think it could be suitable with the right atmosphere and enough greenhouse gases.
However even though all of these discoveries sound good, Astronomers still have to wait and see which gases are emitted on each planets because with this information the gases could indicate life which is key. Not only has this risen curiosity but the question of “are we alone” and “could there be other “beings out there is now a real possibility. This is a huge breakthrough because it is the first time so many planets of a similar kind are found around the same star. Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of technology, said that this discovery is very pivotal and if they’ve learned anything while studying space and planets its that, “where there is one, there are more”, suggesting that there are other solar systems and planets like the ones recently discovered.
So far Astronomers know that the planets are very closer to each other and the star they are orbiting around. The seven planets are within a space five time smaller than the distance from Mercury to our sun. This distance and proximity between the actually allows researchers to study the planets in depth which will provide insight and information about planetary systems other than our own. Each planet has their own respective orbits from “one and a half to nearly 13 Earth days”. Although the planets are closer to the sun you would receive 200 times less light but you would still recieve enough energy since the star is so close. The planets are so close to each other that if you were to stand on one planet you would be able to see the other planets like you would be able to see the moon. The star, being so close, would appear three times as big as the sun in Earth’s sky. Also because of the red nature of the star, the light would be an interesting salmon color hue. The evolution of the planets is believed to be that the planets former together farther away from the sun and eventually moved into the present order. Astronomers also predict that the plants closets to the star are “tidally locked” meaning that the planets alway face one way to the star; one side of the planet is aways night while the other is always day. From preliminary climate modeling, researchers predict that the three planets closest to the star may be too warm to support liquid water while the outermost planet, TRAPPIST- 1h, is too distant and cold to support water on the surface.
How They were Discovered:
The star which these planets are orbiting, TRAPPIST-1, hardly classifies as a star since it has half the temperature and a tenth of the mass in comparison to the sun. The star is red and only a bit bigger then Jupiter. These “ultracool dwarf” stars were originally overlooked by astronomers until Gillon decided to study the space around them. To do this, Astronomers used a telescope called, TRAPPIST, which stands for TRAnsiitng Planets and Planetslmals Small Telescope, to observe the stars starlight and changes in brightness. The researchers saw shadows periodically interrupting the steady pattern of starlight. This interruption is called “transiting”. These shadows indicated planets. With further research the team of Astronomers were able to discover, by observing starlight through the planets atmosphere, that two of the closets planets to the stars had compact atmospheres in comparison to those of Earth, Venus, and Mars. Further research led them to the discovery of the orbit periods, distances from their stars, radius and masses of the planets.
The researchers are now looking to define the atmosphere of each planet and to determine whether there is liquid water on the surface and or signs of life.
Eliza Mahoney
Mr. Gray
Honors Physics Per. G
19 March 2017
Blog Post #5
Until now, researchers have not been able to find a model to accurately represent humor, its complexity and why humans find jokes funny. But, a recent research article published in Frontiers in Physics suggests that quantum theory could be the answer.
Researchers hope that a quantum inspired model of humor may create a more nuanced modeling of the cognition of humor than previous attempts. They also are hopeful that it will lead to the development of a full, formal quantum theory model of humor.
The model was initially tested in a study in which people rated the funniness of a verbal pun, then variants of the same pun (just the punchline, just the set-up). The results indicated that besides the delivery of the information, something else is happening on a cognitive level that makes the joke funny but its deconstructed parts not funny. This is what makes a quantum approach a good way to study this phenomenon.
Previously, researchers believed that the reason a joke is funny could be explained by a word's ability to hold two different meanings, bisociation, and the existence of multiple, contrasting interpretations of a situation, incongruity. The shift of understanding in our minds was believed to come when the punch line is delivered, and this was why it was funny.
But now, the researchers believe that it is not the shift in understanding but our ability to understand two meanings at once that makes a joke funny. This is precisely where quantum theory comes in to account for this complexity in a way that earlier models could not.
"Quantum formalisms are highly useful for describing cognitive states that entail this form of ambiguity. Funniness is not a pre-existing 'element of reality' that can be measured; it emerges from an interaction between the underlying nature of the joke, the cognitive state of the listener, and other social and environmental factors. This makes the quantum formalism an excellent candidate for modeling humor."
-Dr. Liane Gabora from the University of British Columbia, corresponding author of the paper
Although much work remains, this first step and first set of results are exciting and suggest a more comprehensive theory of humor to come in the future.
Lily Poor Mr. Gray Physics .1, Period: G March 19, 2017
Climate Change Could Worsen the Nutrition of Food:
Selenium, one of the most vital nutrients needed for humans, is becoming sparse in soil due to climate change. Selenium helps our bones develop, helps our immune systems stay strong, and helps us with various other forms of our vital health. Without this nutrient humans across the country could be in danger of weak bone development and weak immune systems making them more prone to illness. With climate change, this nutrient is becoming sparse in soils across the world. Zinc and Iron are unfortunately also becoming harder and harder to retrieve due to climate change. These nutrient deficiency problems are largely due to climate change.
Scientists at Harvard have been working together to try their best to find the amount of selenium found throughout our world and see which places had higher concentrations of the nutrient and which places had lower. After extensive research these Harvard colleagues found that places where climate change has made the air dry and land arid are found to have much lower amounts of selenium, however in places that are rich with high organic carbon such as a leafy area, or an area with an abundance of clay, tend to have substantial and significant amounts of selenium. They also found that not only does the climate affect the population of selenium in the area but it also affects the soil in the area and how well it can obtain the nutrients. It is predicted that by the end of this century 2/3's of heavily cultivated agriculture land will loose selenium and other vital nutrients such as zinc and iron due to climate change.
Above is the map of selenium concentrate throughout the world found by Harvard Scientists
This map shows worrisome affects of climate change on selenium. Meyers and other scientists gathered information of selenium concentrations from 1980 to our current day and found that they are dropping rapidly. These scientists believes this is due to the 2.2 degree celsius increase in temperature each year. These theories all make sense because they know that selenium concentrations are much higher in wetter, damper, and heavily carbon dioxide concentrated conditions, therefore temperature increases and increases in drier land will cause selenium concentrations to go down. A plant physiologist, Philip White of the James Hutton Institute in Invergowrie, Scotland, took a look at this study and agreed that these prediction are worrisome. White also brought up the fact that selenium has a thin line between enough and too much. An excess of selenium can be a dangerous thing for humans health, however, too little can also be extremely danger for humans. Therefore scientists decided to look further into how plant species vary in building up selenium in their tissues. They found that some plants, like the Brazilian nut, produce so much selenium that it their high concentration is actually dangerous for health. However other crops do not produce enough selenium. This complicates the process of controlling these shortages without creating an excess of selenium. To test if they could control the selenium concentrations of plants by changing their carbon dioxide intake, these scientist conducted an expensive experiment. They took common and largely grown and produced crops such as, wheat, rice, field peas, soybeans, maize and sorghum, and tested them in the "FACE" experiment. FACE means that they will enrich these crops by putting them in an area where CO2 will be freely put into the air.
Above is am image of the Free-Air CO2 enriched habitats where plants are being grown to test selenium concentrations!
As seen in the image above they are using a system of skinny ducts that emit carbon dioxide upon these crops. Scientists said that the typical carbon dioxide emissions being produced by these ducts where 363 to 386 ppm, however they pushed for the pipes to produce 546 to 586 ppm. The results of this experiments gave scientists an idea as to where these crops should be grown and how carbon dioxide rich environments could benefit several crops.
Above is the results from the FACE experiment on each of the crops tested.
As seen in the chart above, several crops benefitted from the exposure to a carbon dioxide rich environment. This chart does not show the selenium concentration however it shows other vital nutrients and how they increased due to the carbon dioxide air emissions.
This research greatly helped these scientists see how they can prevent nutrient deficiencies in our world's future. With this research Scientists will now consider where the best places to grow these crops will be. They can use this information to see if grasslands or drylands would be the best place to produce particular crops so that their nutrients can fulfill their highest potential. Overall, this experiment and research will greatly benefit our health's future. This research can change how future generations get their nutrients and maintain a healthy balance of nutrient's in their bodies. This research will reduce the future amount of nutrient deficiencies. The experiments and research conducted by these scientists will benefit this world's future!
Living in this micro-gravity environment causes the human body to change because it isn't working against the force of gravity. According to Phil Carvil, a researcher on the topic of human bodies in space, "Your muscles have evolved to cope day to day with gravity on Earth, but in space you don't use them as much, so your body is thinking ‘why do I need this?’ and your muscles will deteriorate. Without the stresses and impact forces needed to maintain muscle and bone, you lose up to 20% of muscle mass each month, especially in the lower muscles – the back of the legs, the calves, and the spinal muscles."
