Eye on Faith

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Chocolate's bittersweet prognosis

Divine Cacao (Public Domain)

Let’s face it: Theobroma cacao (“food of the gods”) may soon be running in short supply.

Is it that the Mayan deities wish to keep it all for themselves? Or is there an all-too-human reason for its possible disappearance?

Today’s cacao mainly grows in West Africa. Global warming could mean that the current rainforest habitat will no longer sustain such crops. “Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have [therefore] predicted that cacao plants are likely to go extinct as early as 2050…”

A world without chocolate? Unthinkable! Mars to the rescue: not the planet, but the corporation. This candy-dandy company has teamed up with the University of California Berkeley in order “to modify the DNA of cacao plants.”

Will the gods co-opt said GMO chocolate? Probably not. They will allow humans to munch on these inferior creations to their hearts’ discontent.

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/restaurantsandnews/scientists-expect-chocolate-to-go-extinct-by-2050/ar-BBHMHSQ?ocid=BHEA000

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Triple-receptor brain gain

Blausen.com staff (2014)

Researchers at Lancaster University in England might be onto something big.

While experimenting with mice, they found that a triple-receptor drug for diabetes had unexpected side effects: it improved the rodents’ recall abilities.

The triple-receptor combines “three biological molecules known as ‘growth factors.’” Since insulin is also a growth factor, this drug is expected to improve the health of diabetics. The bonus was that it also promotes brain growth.

Because “the growth factors in this drug specifically affected growth in the animals’ brains,” it also improved their memories. Hopefully, it would have the same effect on humans who are suffering with impaired growth of their own cognitive cells.

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/this-may-the-1st-new-alzheimers-drug-in-years/ar-BBHLu81?OCID=ansmsnnews11

Monday, January 1, 2018

Is it a bird, a plane, a Heavenly Palace?

Art by Alex Ross (Fair Use)

Not everything dubbed “Heavenly” is necessarily so.

In just a few short months, chunks of China’s “Heavenly Palace” will rain (not quite “reign”) down on Earth. These chunks could total thousands of pounds, and might contain deadly chemicals such as hydrazine. Yes, this is rocket science, and it has gone terribly wrong.

And where’s it supposed to land? Your guess is likely as good as theirs. Even a dime-store GPS can better predict location. All that China’s saying is that it will crash down somewhere “between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south.”

But surely the lucky recipients will have plenty of time to evacuate… All of two weeks, if that. Then they might return to fuel-soaked terrain. Got a match?

Not since Superman died…

Resources

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-tiangong-1-space-station-control-soon-fall-150501891.html