Environmental News, Articles & Information | Global Warming News | EcoWorld

TORONTO, June 30 (UPI) — Women physically active at any age have lower risk of elderly cognitive impairment, but teen exercise appears most important, Canadian researchers found.

Laura Middleton of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto compared the physical activity of teens, age 30, age 50, and late in life against cognition of 9,344 women from Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

Of the participants, 15.5 percent reported being physically active as a teen, 29.7 percent at age 30, 28.1 percent at age 50 and 21.1 percent late in life, the study found.

“Our study shows that women who are regularly physically active at any age have lower risk of cognitive impairment than those who are inactive but that being physically active at teenage is most important in preventing cognitive impairment,” Middleton said in a statement.

However, the study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, found women who were physically inactive at teenagers but physically active at age 30 and age 50 significantly reduced odds of cognitive impairment relative to those who remained physically inactive.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., June 30 (UPI) — Public transit systems can provide a daily built-in exercise program for those who commute, reducing the risk of obesity, U.S. researchers found.

Lead investigator John M. MacDonald of the University of Pennsylvania said the researchers conducted two surveys; one collected data prior to the completion of a light-rail system in Charlotte, N.C., and the second survey was conducted after completion.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found after the light-rail system was built, people using the system reduced their weight by about 6 pounds for a person 5′ 5″ and over. In addition, the public transit users were 81 percent less likely to become obese over time.

The surveys assessed level of physical activity, body mass index, perception of the neighborhood, public transit use before and after light-rail transit construction, plans to use light-rail transit when available and actual light-rail transit usage.

“Given that perceptions of neighborhood environments are independently associated with improved health outcomes, and that individuals who choose to use light-rail transit obtain some relative weight reduction, it would be prudent to encourage public policies that improve the safety and attractiveness of pedestrian environments that link home, work and transit stops to increase use of public transit for commuting to work,” MacDonald said in a statement.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

ROME, June 30 (UPI) — Young women preparing for intense careers are more apt than others to consider freezing their eggs to reduce later infertility risk, British researchers found.

Dr. Srilatha Gorthi of the Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine in England said she surveyed 98 female medical school students and 97 students of education and sports studies.

Optimal fertility in women occurs at ages 16-30, decreased fertility occurs from 31 to 40 and end of fertility occurs at age 41. The cost of freezing eggs in England is about $3,500 per attempt and women are expected to pay for it themselves.

Gorthi said eight out of 10 of the medical school students said they would undergo egg collection and freezing, compared with four out of 10 of the education students. In addition, 85.3 percent said they were prepared to undergo up to three cycles of egg collection to bank enough eggs to give them a realistic chance of pregnancy, compared with 79 percent of the education students.

“Career considerations were given as the commonest reason to delay starting a family for the medical school students, followed by financial stability and marriage or a stable relationship,” Gorthi said in a statement. “However, for the education students, financial stability came first, followed by a stable relationship and then career reasons.”

The findings were presented at the 26th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 30 (UPI) — Smoking bans in two Minnesota cities were not linked to job losses in bars and may have increased job in restaurants, researchers say.

Lead author Elizabeth Klein of Ohio State University, and co-authors Jean Forster, Darin Erickson and Leslie Lytle of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and Barbara Schillo of ClearWay Minnesota, said the study examined employment trends before Minnesota adopted a comprehensive statewide clean indoor air policy in late 2007. A comprehensive citywide smoking ban took effect March 31, 2005, in Minneapolis and on March 31, 2006, in St. Paul.

In Minneapolis, bar jobs increased more than 5 percent after passage of the city’s smoking ban, while in St. Paul bar employment had a statistically insignificant decrease.

“These clean indoor air policies are designed to protect workers from exposure to secondhand smoke,” Klein, an assistant professor of health behavior and health promotion, said in a statement.

“We are evaluating business employment because employment is an objective measure of the overall economic health of these businesses.”

There hasn’t been a significant economic effect for bars, and in fact for restaurants, there has been some positive change in employment, Klein said.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., June 30 (UPI) — Indoor tanning is associated with a 75 percent increase in the risk of melanoma, yet nearly 30 million Americans do it every year, doctors say.

The World Health Organization has called on prohibiting minors from indoor tanning because of the danger of skin cancer. Currently, 32 U.S. states restrict access to indoor tanning beds by minors, but more states are considering legislation.

“These national and statewide efforts send a clear message to Americans, especially young people, that tanning is not safe and that a tan is not a sign of good health,” Dr. William D. James, president of the American Academy of Dermatology Association, said in a statement. “Indoor tanning is an unhealthy activity and ultraviolet radiation exposure increases one’s risk of skin cancer.”

The Legislature in Massachusetts is considering a bill that would prohibit the use of indoor tanning devices for all minors under the age of 16 and would require in-person parental consent for those ages 16-17. About 2.3 million U.S. teens use indoor tanning facilities, James said.

Texas has the most restrictive state law, prohibiting those under 16 1/2 from using tanning beds. In Georgia, a new law goes into effect Thursday that prohibits those under the age of 14 from using indoor tanning facilities and requires those ages 14-18 to have in-person parental consent before use, James added.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

ST. LOUIS, June 30 (UPI) — The world should expect more disasters like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and must face the fact that the days of “easy oil” are over, a scientist says.

There are recurring spills in virtually every oil region of the world, such as the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon and Nigeria, a Washington University in St. Louis release said Tuesday.

“BP and other oil companies have tried to portray this spill as an accident or an aberration, but in fact there are spills on off-shore and on-shore sites around the world, increasingly,” Bret Gustafson, an anthropologist at the university, says.

“In the United States,” Gustafson says, “which is more of a consumer than producer of oil, we are generally ignorant about this reality of oil until something like this comes home to roost.

“Oil has always been destructive, but it is worsening because the days of easy oil are over,” he says.

“In combination with weak regulation and intensifying competition, which explains why companies are willing to cut so many corners, oil is in more difficult places, both environmentally, politically and socially,” Gustafson says.

“The cultural addiction we have to oil contributes to both our relative ignorance about its negative effects and our relative willingness to accept these negative effects when they happen,” Gustafson says.

One benefit of the gulf spill, despite its polluting effects, may be more public discussion of these issued, he says.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

NEW YORK, June 30 (UPI) — Scientists say they’ve discovered the fossilized skull and jaw of a giant sperm whale, 12 million to 13 million years old, off the coast of Peru.

The fossil belongs to a previously unknown genus of sperm whale and has been named Leviathan melvillei in honor of Herman Melville, author of “Moby Dick,” the journal Nature reported Wednesday.

At more than 40 feet long and with a 10-foot skull, it is the largest fossil sperm whale ever found, researcher Olivier Lambert of the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris reported.

Modern sperm whales have relatively small teeth in their lower jaw only, and feed by suction. The fossil specimen had teeth as long as 14 inches in both upper and lower jaws and probably killed its prey in a manner similar to modern killer whales, Lambert said.

The fossil was found in ocean layers were fossils of giant sharks have been found, and the two predators probably preyed on large marine vertebrates like baleen whales, the Nature article said.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

ITHACA, N.Y., June 30 (UPI) — Cheaper, flexible and versatile solar cells could be made utilizing a molecule found in dyes used to color blue jeans and pen ink, U.S. researchers say.

Current heavy silicon-based panel are effective but are costly and often heavy, leading scientists to look for other alternatives, a Cornell University release said Tuesday.

Two Cornell chemists have discovered that organic dye molecules could be assembled into a structure known as a covalent organic framework to help create thin, flexible and low-cost photovoltaic devices, the release said.

William Dichtel and Eric L. Spitler used an acid catalyst and stable molecules called protected catechols to bring organic molecules together into two-dimensional sheets that were stacked together to create a lattice.

At the core of the framework are molecules called phthalocyanines, a class of common industrial dyes used in products from blue jeans to ink pens.

The structure by itself is not a solar cell, the researchers say, but once the framework is assembled, the pores between the molecular latticework could be filled with another organic material to form a light, flexible, highly efficient and easy-to-manufacture solar cell.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

WASHINGTON, June 30 (UPI) — New challenges and expanding needs mean pressure on U.S. farmers who will need new agricultural policies and research to sustain them, a report says.

Asked to produce more, pollute less, predict consumer preference and still make a living, farmers will need help from national agricultural policies that look beyond just low costs and high production, a National Research Council report released Tuesday said.

“If farmers are going to meet future demands, the U.S. agriculture system has to evolve to become sustainable and think broadly — past the bottom line of producing the most possible,” says Julia Kornegay, chairwoman of the committee that wrote the report and professor of horticultural science at North Carolina State University, Raleigh.

The report identified four goals considered necessary for sustainable agriculture: satisfying human food, fiber and feed requirements; enhancing environmental quality; maintaining the economic viability of agriculture; and improving the quality of life for farmers, farm workers and society as a whole.

Reaching those goals will mean long-term research, education, outreach and experimentation by the public and private sectors in partnership with farmers, the report said.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.

BOULDER, Colo., June 30 (UPI) — Climate systems in the arctic may be more affected by global warming than previously thought and may be nearing a climate-change tipping point, a study says.

Although the arctic region has gone through periods in the past when it was warmer than it is today, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide were only slightly higher than current figures, a University of Colorado at Boulder study released Wednesday says.

Current global warming from greenhouse gases generated by human activities could warm the arctic to levels above the melting point of ice, the study said.

Arctic temperatures have risen by about 1.8 degrees F in the past 20 years in response to greenhouse warming, a trend expected to continue in the coming centuries, the international study led by UC reported.

“As temperatures approach 0 degrees Celsius, it becomes exceedingly difficult to maintain permanent sea and glacial ice in the arctic,” the study said. “Thus current levels of CO2 in the atmosphere of approximately 390 parts per million may be approaching a tipping point for irreversible ice-free conditions in the arctic.”

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.