The Dose: The Universe's Gluttonous Beasts
The ban solves nothing, the elixir of life and the universe's gluttonous beasts
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🤰The ban solves nothing. Research from around the globe has found that banning abortions does not stop abortions from happening at all. On the contrary, it results in an increase in unsafe abortions, which ends up endangering the life of the pregnant person compared to if she were to receive it by a trained professional. Women who lack access to safe and legal abortion may turn to unsafe procedures or are even forced to continue with unwanted pregnancies. They may even avoid seeking prenatal care, which can endanger the child’s health. If preventing abortions is the end goal, other means, such as increasing access to contraception and comprehensive sex education, are the way to go. Read more
❄️ Falling sick from the rain. Can we catch a cold if we went outside in the cold or with wet hair? The short answer is no. To catch a cold, you would need to be exposed to a cold-causing pathogen, such as a virus. However, cold weather is associated with certain factors that can increase your chances of catching a cold. For example, we tend to congregate with others indoors during colder months which increases our chances of exposure to pathogens! Colder temperatures also tend to be ideal conditions for cold-causing viruses to thrive. Read more
🌎 1 million deaths. Over a million Americans have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic started. These numbers translate to the loss of a parent or caregiver for 150,000 children and the loved ones of many more. And the pandemic is far from over. Although we have been experiencing a declining number of COVID-19 deaths in March, the numbers are seeing a grim increase once again at more than 1,000 deaths a day- making it a leading cause of death. Global estimates point to 15 million deaths, with the brunt of the impact disproportionately afflicting vulnerable groups. Read more
🛫 When humans meet the earth- as seen from above. We have previously spotlighted one of Tom Hegen’s pieces here at The Dose, but we think his work deserves more than a simple glimpse. Here are some snapshots of Hegen’s aerial photography. Not only does his portfolio bring us on a jaw-dropping journey of the earth like never seen before, each shot delivers thought-provoking insight into the ways our very presence has transformed our sacred, natural landscape.
🌱 Plastic greenhouses. Forming up to 50,000 football pitches in area, this 360km2 of land in southern Spain is occupied fully by greenhouses growing tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and more. Growing crops bound for export to other European countries, these greenhouses result in growing amounts of groundwater pollution and some 30,000 tons of plastic waste annually.
🧂 Harvesting salt. These strong geometric lines demarcate salt ponds - from which saltwater undergoes evaporation with the help of the sun and wind. The pink hues observed are due to thriving algae populations that grow in proportion to the water’s salinity- and when shot from the air, the views are simply stunning.
☕️ The ‘elixir of life.’ What’s your favorite kombucha flavor? This effervescent fermented tea is becoming increasingly popular, and despite the fact that most of its touted health benefits have yet to be scientifically proven, we are curious about how it is made. This video from Scientific American explains what kombucha is and how a concoction of a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY), works its magic on infused sugared tea.
💎 Seeing diamonds. An analysis of over 3,200 species of frogs and toads reveals that their pupils come in mainly seven different shapes. Can you name the seven shapes from the image below? They comprise vertical slits, horizontal slits, diamonds, circles, triangles, fans and inverted fans. Now isn’t that fascinating? However, we still don’t know how shapes affect what these animals actually see, nor what drives the evolution of such pupil shapes. Unfortunately, many toad and frog species worldwide have gone extinct, limiting the opportunities to study this very mystery.
🌌 The universe’s gluttonous beasts. Black holes have such powerful gravitational pulls that nothing- even light, heat and energy, can escape it. Finding black holes was believed to be difficult because light cannot escape them- making them invisible to the naked eye. It was not until 1971 when Cygnus X-1, the very first black hole was found - an invisible mass hungrily eating away at a giant blue star which was ‘wobbling around an incredibly massive but invisible partner.’ Enjoy NASA’s visualization of the best-studied black holes to scale (with music on).
🤰 Behind swollen legs during pregnancy. If you are pregnant, you might experience swelling or tension in the legs. What is actually happening to your body, and how might you alleviate these symptoms? We enjoyed this fascinating and intuitive chart that reveals the biological changes that occur inside a pregnant woman’s body. It turns out that these symptoms stems from having up to a 50% increase in blood volume, and where this increased volume ends up going.
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