Oceans losing oxygen, can damage marine life: study

Oceans losing oxygen, can damage marine life: study
As Earth is warming up, the ocean is losing its breath and can cause serious damage to marine life, affect livelihoods of millions and trigger release of dangerous greenhouse gases, says study
As Earth is warming up, the ocean is losing its breath and can cause serious damage to marine life, affect livelihoods of millions of people and trigger the release of dangerous greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide, said a latest study published on Thursday in noted international journal Science.

The study said that in the past 50 years, the amount of water in the open ocean with zero oxygen has gone up more than fourfold and in coastal water bodies, including estuaries and seas, low-oxygen sites have increased more than 10-fold since 1950.

Scientists expect oxygen to continue dropping even outside these zones as Earth warms up. The study said in order to halt the decline, the world needs to rein in both climate change and nutrient pollution.

“Oxygen is fundamental to life in the oceans. The decline in ocean oxygen ranks among the most serious effects of human activities on the Earth’s environment,” said Denise Breitburg, lead author of study and a marine ecologist with US-based Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

“It’s a tremendous loss to all the support services that rely on recreation and tourism, hotels and restaurants and taxi drivers and everything else. The reverberations of unhealthy ecosystems in the ocean can be extensive,” said Lisa Levin, a biological oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, US.

The study was done by a team of scientists from GO2NE (Global Ocean Oxygen Network), a new working group created in 2016 by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.

It is a first such study that takes a sweeping look at the causes, consequences and solutions to low oxygen worldwide, in both open ocean and coastal waters. It highlighted the biggest dangers to the ocean and society, and what it will take to keep Earth’s waters healthy and productive.

Explaining the importance of oxygen in oceans, Vladimir Ryabinin, executive secretary of the International Oceanographic Commission, which formed the GO2NE group, said, “Approximately half of the oxygen on Earth comes from the ocean.”

“However, combined effects of nutrient loading and climate change are greatly increasing the number and size of ‘dead zones’ in the open ocean and coastal waters, where oxygen is too low to support most marine life,” Ryabinin added.

The authors point out that in areas traditionally called “dead zones”, like those in Chesapeake Bay (in the US) and the Gulf of Mexico, oxygen plummets to levels so low many animals suffocate and die. As fish avoid these zones, their habitats shrink and they become more vulnerable to predators or fishing. But the problem goes far beyond dead zones, the authors explained in an official statement.

The danger due to low oxygen in oceans is manifold. For instance, as per the study, even small oxygen declines can stunt growth in animals, hinder reproduction and lead to disease or even death.

“It also can trigger the release of dangerous chemicals such as nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas up to 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, and toxic hydrogen sulfide. While some animals can thrive in dead zones, overall biodiversity falls,” the study warns.

To keep low oxygen in check, the scientists said the world needs to take on the issue from three angles—address the causes, nutrient pollution and climate change. “This is a problem we can solve. Halting climate change requires a global effort, but even local actions can help with nutrient-driven oxygen decline,” said Breitburg.

Eating food that is good for the brain

Eating food that is good for the brain
The brain uses up 25% of the energy we consume. Focusing more research on how to feed it seems like a no-brainer
Afew weeks ago, a scientific claim linking canola oil to Alzheimer’s disease risk raised an intriguing question: When it comes to healthy eating, do we have to choose between the head and the heart? In other words, is it possible that foods promoted as good for cardiovascular health, such as canola oil, are bad for the brain? There’s surprisingly little information out there on what to eat for brain health. The vast majority of nutrition research is aimed at the heart. Why wouldn’t scientists want to focus on maintaining the seat of consciousness, memory, creativity, love, learning and joy, as opposed to a glorified pump?

Sure, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US. But disorders of the brain may cause more suffering, and the numbers are growing. According to a new report, more than six million Americans currently live with Alzheimer’s disease, and by 2060, that will rise to 15 million.

Since many of us are starved for information on brain health, it’s not surprising that news outlets played up the scare factor on the canola oil study, even though the deleterious effect was found in mice and therefore may not apply to humans. The researchers, from Temple University in Philadelphia, conducted two studies, the first using olive oil and the second, canola, which is found in many processed and pre-prepared foods. They used special mice with a genetic predisposition to develop Alzheimer’s disease, and gave one group a few drops of olive oil each day. The mice given olive oil did slightly better on memory tests, and, upon dissection, had fewer plaques in their brains than did those fed a standard mouse diet. When they tried the same experiment with canola oil, they found the mice getting the extra oil did worse on memory tests and had built up more brain plaques. The results may not be sufficient to make anyone give up canola oil, but they do make an important point—food affects the brain.

Some media critics, such as Mary Chris Jaklevic at Health News Review, chastised reporters for not putting this single study into context. But what context? Not that many scientists specialize in diet and the brain, and when I sought them out, people kept pointing me back toward someone I’d interviewed in 2011—Joseph Hibbeln, a biochemist and psychiatrist working at the National Institutes of Health. His research has focused on a potential positive influence of one kind of fat—omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in seafood and some plants. He’s led studies that suggested a connection between low intake of omega-3s and a host of ills, such as suicide, violence and obesity. Drew Ramsey, a clinical psychiatrist specializing in nutrition, also notes that some controlled clinical trials have suggested omega-3 fatty acids improve symptoms of depression.

That’s the uncontroversial part, since omega-3 fatty acids are approved by the American Heart Association as part of the family known as polyunsaturated fats. Where it gets tricky is in the biochemistry, because, as Hibbeln explains, there’s a chemical competition between omega-3s and another kind of allegedly heart-healthy polyunsaturated fat: omega-6, which is found in cottonseed, sunflower, safflower and corn oils, as well as corn- and soy-fed factory-farmed poultry (canola and olive oil are in a different category called monounsaturated fats).

The problem with omega-6 fatty acids, Hibbeln says, is that the more you eat, the lower the level of omega-3 fats in your bloodstream given the same omega-3 intake. This happens because both kinds of fat compete for an enzyme that converts them to a form the body can use. So if you care about eating to keep your brain healthy, evidence would suggest keeping your omega-3 levels high, and that would mean not foiling your effort by ingesting omega-6 fats.

The ratio of omega-6 fats to omega-3s has changed drastically over the last 75 years, as omega-6 fats went from about 1% to 10% of the human diet, and blood levels of omega-3 have plummeted. In the story I wrote in 2011 about Hibbeln’s work, he called it “the greatest dietary transformation in the history of Homo sapiens”.

Whether omega-6 fats are heart-healthy depends on who you talk to. The American Heart Association’s recommendations continue to promote all polyunsaturated fats as healthy, and to demonize saturated fats—the kind found in butter and other full-fat dairy products. There was one very large, controlled clinical trial comparing the effects of a typical diet to one in which most of the saturated fat was switched out for omega-6 rich corn oil. A re-analysis published last year concluded that people getting the corn oil had lower cholesterol numbers but were more likely to die.

Saturated fat is neutral in the tug of war between the omega-6 and omega-3 fats. There’s a body of studies suggesting that saturated fats are bad for the heart—but much of this was done in rabbits. The human studies—both observational and clinical—have recently been called into question and continue to generate controversy.

What’s a health-conscious person to eat when the science is in such a state of disarray? The only fats that seem to be uncontroversial are omega-3 fats and olive oil. Canola oil is chemically similar to olive oil, but these new studies suggest they’re not interchangeable. As Hibbeln told me, the brain makes up 2% of the body by weight and uses up 25% of the energy we consume. Focusing more research on how to feed it seems like a no-brainer

Window for saving world’s coral reefs rapidly closing, says study

Window for saving world’s coral reefs rapidly closing, says study
There’s a ‘dramatic shortening of the gap between pairs of coral bleaching events, threatening the future existence of these iconic ecosystems’, says Science journal study
The window for saving the world’s coral reefs that are under siege from global warming is rapidly closing, said a latest study published on Thursday in noted international journal Science.

For the study, an international team of researchers measured the “escalating rate of coral bleaching at locations throughout the tropics over the past four decades”.

The study documents a “dramatic shortening of the gap between pairs of bleaching events, threatening the future existence of these iconic ecosystems and the livelihoods of many millions of people”.

Due to rising global temperatures, oceans are getting warmer, which can result in coral bleaching. When water is too warm, corals expel algae living in them causing the corals to turn completely white, and this phenomenon is called coral bleaching.

“The time between bleaching events at each location has diminished five-fold in the past 3-4 decades, from once every 25-30 years in the early 1980s to an average of just once every six years since 2010,” says study’s lead author Terry Hughes, director of ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) in Australia.

“Before the 1980s, mass bleaching of corals was unheard of, even during strong El Niño conditions, but now repeated bouts of regional-scale bleaching and mass mortality of corals has become the new normal around the world as temperatures continue to rise,” Hughes added.

The study’s co-author Andrew Baird of Coral CoE said, “Coral bleaching is a stress response caused by exposure of coral reefs to elevated ocean temperatures.”

“When bleaching is severe and prolonged, many of the corals die. It takes at least a decade to replace even the fastest-growing species,” he added.

Dr C. Mark Eakin of US’s National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration said, “Reefs have entered a distinctive human-dominated era—the Anthropocene.”

“The climate has warmed rapidly in the past 50 years, first making El Niños dangerous for corals, and now we’re seeing the emergence of bleaching in every hot summer,” Eakin added.

Explaining further, Hughes said, “For example, the Great Barrier Reef has now bleached four times since 1998, including for the first time during back-to-back events in 2016 and 2017, causing unprecedented damage. Yet the Australia government continues to support fossil fuels.”

“We hope our stark results will help spur on the stronger action needed to reduce greenhouse gases in Australia, the United States and elsewhere,” added Hughes.

uttarakhand current affairs jan 2018

UPSC IAS 2018 PRELIMS TEST SERIES

UPSC IAS 2018 PRELIMS TEST SERIES
#QUALITY QUESTION
#QUESTIONS FROM IMPORTANT AREAS
#QUESTIONS TO REMOVE #CONFUSION
#FEEDBACK AND #GUIDANCE

Gujarat tops new logistics index that flags inefficiency of states

Gujarat tops new logistics index that flags inefficiency of states
Gujarat topped the Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) index, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh took the second and third positions, respectively
The logistics performance of Indian states and Union territories is “sub-par” owing to a host of inefficiencies, according to a study which also suggests measures for improvement.

The Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) index, a composite indicator to assess international trade logistics across states and Union territories, is based on a stakeholders’ survey conducted by Deloitte for the ministry of commerce and industry. While Gujarat topped the first-of-its-kind index, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh took the second and third positions, respectively.

Logistics, or the management of the flow of resources such as cargo, documents, information and funds through a range of activities and services between points of origin and destination, is a key parameter in deciding the trade competitiveness of a state or country.

In a major push to developing an integrated logistics framework in the country, including industrial parks, cold chains and warehousing facilities, the government in November granted infrastructure status to the logistics sector, enabling the industry to access cheaper finances. The government also created the position of a special secretary in the commerce ministry to exclusively handle logistics and appointed former director general of the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals, Binoy Kumar, to the post.

LEADS is loosely based on the World Bank’s biannual Logistics Performance Index (LPI), on which India was ranked 35 among 160 countries in 2016, up from 54 in 2014. LEADS is based on eight parameters such as infrastructure, services, timeliness, track and trace, competitiveness of pricing, safety of cargo, operating environment and regulatory process. The study is based on a perception-based survey of 2,885 respondents across the country over a six-week period.

The study found that supply chain efficiencies and economies of scale are yet to be unlocked, mostly due to suboptimal investment in building scale in infrastructure, automation, human capital and technology. It highlighted problems such as inadequate terminal capacity, poor last-mile terminal connectivity and issues in regulatory services provided by government agencies, among others. It also underlined issues specific to certain states. For example, respondents reported that labour unions created impediments for trade efficiency in states like West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh.

The study identified indicative focus areas such as enhancing capacity, developing integrated and balanced multimodal logistics and transport infrastructure, focussing on standardization, developing regulatory infrastructure, modernizing logistics infrastructure and transport fleet,

Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu said Indian logistics costs are said to be among the highest in the world—in the vicinity of 13% of gross domestic product (GDP). “Germany’s costs in comparison average just above 8% of its GDP, providing its industry a huge competitive edge in the global market,” he added.

After the third meeting of the Council for Trade Development and Promotion on Monday that includes state industry ministers, Prabhu said his ministry will develop a strategy with the policy think tank NITI Aayog for supporting states that encourage exports. India’s merchandise exports increased 13% to $271 billion during the January-November 2017 period while its services exports rose 4% to $135 billion during the same period.

The managing director of a logistics firm, who did not wish to be named, said the study should be used by states to put their house in order. The point-based index clearly shows the areas that states need to work upon, he said. Performance improvements by states on the logistics index would help them attract industries, the person said

207 people reached

गूगल के डूडल में डॉ. हरगोविंद खुराना

गूगल के डूडल में डॉ. हरगोविंद खुराना
हमारे डीएनए के आवश्यक कार्य और प्रथम सिंथेटिक जीन के निर्माण में अहम भूमिका निभाने वाले भारतीय-अमेरिकी वैज्ञानिक डॉ. हरगोविंद खुराना को गूगल ने डूडल बनाकर सम्मान दिया है

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,डॉ. हरगोविंद खुराना को उनके शोध और कार्यों के लिए अनेकों पुरस्कार और सम्मान दिए गए। इन सब में नोबेल पुरस्कार सर्वोपरि है।

सन 1968 में चिकित्सा विज्ञान का नोबेल पुरस्कार मिला
सन 1958 में उन्हें कनाडा का मर्क मैडल प्रदान किया गया
सन 1960 में कैनेडियन पब्लिक सर्विस ने उन्हें स्‍वर्ण पदक दिया
सन 1967 में डैनी हैनमैन पुरस्‍कार मिला
सन 1968 में लॉस्‍कर फेडरेशन पुरस्‍कार और लूसिया ग्रास हारी विट्ज पुरस्‍कार से सम्मानित किये गए सन 1969 में भारत सरकार ने डॉ. खुराना को पद्म भूषण से अलंकृत किया
पंजाब यूनिवर्सिटी, चंडीगढ़ ने डी.एस-सी. की मानद उपाधि दी

डॉ. हरगोविंद जीवकोशिकाओं के नाभिकों की रासायनिक संरचना के बारे में अध्ययन कर रहे थे। नाभिकों के नाभिकीय अम्लों के संबंध में खोज काफी लंबे समय से चल रही है। डॉ. खुराना के अध्ययन का विषय न्यूक्लिऔटिड नामक उपसमुच्चयों की अत्यंत जटिल, मूल, रासायनिक संरचनाएं थीं। डॉ. खुराना इन समुच्चयों का योग करके महत्वपूर्ण दो वर्गों के न्यूक्लिप्रोटिड इन्जाइम नामक यौगिकों को बनाने में सफल हुए थे। डॉ. हरगोविंद खुराना ने साल 1970 में आनुवंशिकी के क्षेत्र में एक और योगदान दिया, जब वह और उनका अनुसंधान दल एक खमीर जीन की पहली कृत्रिम प्रतिलिपि संश्लेषित करने में सफल रहे। 09 नवंबर 2011 को इस महान वैज्ञानिक ने अमेरिका के मैसचूसट्स में अंतिम सांस ली। उनके पीछे परिवार में पुत्री जूलिया और पुत्र डेव हैं।
,,,,,,,,,,हरगोविंद खुराना का जन्म अविभाजित भारत के रायपुर (जिला मुल्तान, पंजाब) नामक स्थान पर 9 जनवरी 1922 में हुआ था। उनके पिता एक पटवारी थे। अपने माता-पिता के चार पुत्रों में हरगोविंद सबसे छोटे थे। गरीबी के बावजूद हरगोविंद के पिता ने अपने बच्चों की पढ़ाई पर ध्यान दिया जिसके कारण खुराना ने अपना पूरा ध्यान पढ़ाई पर लगा दिया। वह जब मात्र 12 साल के थे, तभी उनके पिता का निधन हो गया और ऐसी परिस्थिति में उनके बड़े भाई नंदलाल ने उनकी पढ़ाई-लिखाई का जिम्मा संभाला। उनकी प्रारंभिक शिक्षा स्थानिय स्कूल में ही हुई।

उन्होंने पंजाब विश्वविद्यालय से सन् 1943 में बी.एस-सी. (आनर्स) तथा सन् 1945 में एम.एस-सी. (ऑनर्स) की डिग्री प्राप्त की। पंजाब विश्वविद्यालय में महान सिंह उनके निरीक्षक थे। इसके पश्चात भारत सरकार की छात्रवृत्ति पाकर उच्च शिक्षा के लिए इंग्लैंड चले गए। इंग्लैंड में उन्होंने लिवरपूल विश्वविद्यालय में प्रफेसर रॉजर जे.एस. बियर के देख-रेख में अनुसंधान किया और डाक्टरेट की उपाधि अर्जित की। इसके उपरांत उन्हें एक बार फिर भारत सरकार से शोधवृत्ति मिलीं जिसके बाद वे जूरिख (स्विट्सरलैंड) के फेडरल इंस्टिटयूट ऑफ टेक्नॉलजी में प्रफेसर वी. प्रेलॉग के साथ शोध कार्य में लगे।
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,1952 में उन्हें वैंकोवर (कैनाडा) की कोलम्बिया विश्‍वविद्यालय से बुलावा आया जिसके बाद वह वहां चले गए और जैव रसायन विभाग के अध्‍यक्ष बना दिए गए। इस संस्थान में रहकर उन्‍होंने आनुवांशिकी के क्षेत्र में शोध कार्य प्रारंभ किया और धीरे-धीरे उनके शोधपत्र अंतरराष्‍ट्रीय पत्र-पत्रिकाओं और शोध जर्नलों में प्रकाशित होने लगे। इसके फलस्वरूप वे काफी चर्चित हो गए और उन्‍हें अनेक सम्मान और पुरस्‍कार भी प्राप्‍त हुए।

सन 1960 में उन्हें ‘प्रफेसर इंस्टीट्युट ऑफ पब्लिक सर्विस’ कनाडा में स्वर्ण पदक से सम्मानित किया गया और उन्हें ‘मर्क एवार्ड’ से भी सम्मानित किया गया। इसके पश्चात सन् 1960 में डॉ. खुराना अमेरिका के विस्कान्सिन विश्वविद्यालय के इंस्टिट्यूट ऑफ एन्ज़ाइम रिसर्च में प्रफेसर पद पर नियुक्त हुए। सन 1966 में उन्होंने अमेरिकी नागरिकता ग्रहण कर ली।

सन 1970 में डॉ. खुराना मैसचुसट्स इंस्टिट्यूट ऑफ टेक्नॉलजी (एम.आई.टी.) में रसायन और जीव विज्ञान के अल्फ्रेड स्लोअन प्रोफेसर नियुक्त हुए। तब से लेकर सन 2007 वे इस संस्थान से जुड़े रहे और बहुत ख्याति अर्जित की।
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,डॉ. खुराना ने जीन इंजिनियरिंग (बायॉ टेक्नॉलजी) विषय की बुनियाद रखने में महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाई। जेनेटिक कोड की भाषा समझने और उसकी प्रोटीन संश्लेषण में भूमिका प्रतिपादित करने के लिए सन 1968 में डॉ. खुराना को चिकित्सा विज्ञान का नोबल पुरस्कार प्रदान किया गया। डॉ. हरगोविंद खुराना नोबेल पुरस्कार पाने वाले भारतीय मूल के तीसरे व्यक्ति थे। यह पुरस्कार उन्हें दो और अमेरिकी वैज्ञानिकों डॉ. राबर्ट होले और डॉ. मार्शल निरेनबर्ग के साथ सम्मिलित रूप से प्रदान किया गया था। इन तीनों ने डी.एन.ए. अणु की संरचना को स्पष्ट किया था और यह भी बताया था कि डी.एन.ए. प्रोटीन्स का संश्लेषण किस प्रकार करता है।

नोबेल पुरस्कार के बाद अमेरिका ने उन्हें ‘नैशनल अकेडमी ऑफ साइंस’ की सदस्यता प्रदान की (यह सम्मान केवल विशिष्ट अमेरिका वैज्ञानिकों को ही दिया जाता है)।