Category: Science

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This Is Why You Should Never Buy Batteries from Dollar Stores

There are some things that you should simply never buy at dollar stores — like batteries. Batteries from the dollar store are much lower-quality, according to experts.

Walk into any dollar store, and you’ll likely find a rack of batteries sold in bulk packages for just $1 per package. At such a low price, those batteries are definitely tempting (just like everything else at the dollar store).

But before you throw these $1 packages into your cart, you should know that they may not be worth the savings.

Photo Credit: iStock

Dollar stores typically sell carbon-zinc batteries, whereas most name brand batteries (like Duracell or Energizer) are alkaline batteries. Carbon-zinc batteries carry way less energy and therefore last for less time than alkaline batteries.

For example, a AA battery from Energizer carries 10,798 joules, while a battery from Duracell from 9398 joules. A battery from Dollar General? Only 2983 joules. That’s a huge downgrade.

Dollar store batteries are also more likely to leak. Reader’s Digest reports that battery packages from brands like Sunbeam and Panasonic were stamped with warnings that they should be used only in “low-drain” devices, like clock radios.

Photo Credit: iStock

Frankly, it’s a huge pain when batteries run out over and over. It’s also impractical for emergency scenarios, when you need your battery-operated devices to work.

For those reasons, it’s best to just pay the full price for batteries that will provide more power and last longer.

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Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild

You might have already assumed that trade in wild African elephants – and endangered species in general – was illegal, even if it was a zoo that was looking to take one in.

We would have been wrong.

Though hopefully that won’t be the case for much longer.

At the 18th meeting of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, members from over 180 countries reassessed regulations on international elephant trade. A vast majority of the the representatives voted to end the capture and sale of wild African elephants for display in zoos worldwide.

The issue will go for a vote in front of the full conference, but with 46 of the 83 countries in favor, it looks to have a good chance of passing.

Iris Ho, a senior policy advisor at Humane Society International (HSI), told Bloomberg that everyone in the business of supporting endangered species sees this as a win.

“It’s a huge step forward. It’s really historic that the majority of the parties present recognized that African elephants should not be captured in the wild, sent to zoos and be kept in captivity for the rest of their lives.”

The ban would largely affect countries in southern Africa, where elephant populations are healthier and herds are regularly thinned for the purpose of selling them to zoos. Zimbabwe alone sold over 100 wild-caught baby elephants to China in the past 7 years, and the issue of separating calves from their mothers and the rest of the herd certainly has animal welfare experts concerned.

“Calves suffer psychological and physical harm when taken from their mothers,” explains elephant biologist Audrey Delsink of HSI Africa. “Zoos and other captive facilities force these calves to live in an unnatural, unhealthy environment that doesn’t meet their complex needs.”

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Did you know that African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth? They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their large ears that look like the continent of Africa. Their ears radiate heat to help keep them cool, but sometimes the African heat can be too much so they use their trunk to give themselves a shower. Elephants eat roots, grasses, fruits, and bark and they eat a lot of it. In fact, an adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds of food a day. Female elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammal (22 months) and usually give birth to one calf. In 2018, Tarangire’s famed Eloise was the oldest elephant to give birth to twin calves. Source of information: National Geographic https://www.wanderlusttours.org #wanderlust #tours #africa #tanzani #tarangirenationalpark #tarangire #elephants #africanelephants #thisisafrica #travel #concioustravel #mindfultravel

A post shared by Wanderlust Tours (@wanderlusttoursafrica) on

Elephant trade has long been a hot topic, with African nations often territorial about managing their own wildlife without outside interference. Black market demands for ivory has drastically increased elephant poaching in the last few decades, though, so organizations like CITES feel as if they have a duty to protect the endangered species as if it belongs to the world, and not only to its endemic areas in Africa.

Over a million species are listed as at risk thanks to all manner of human activity, so committees like CITES are set to have busy years as they work to revamp how different species are protected around the globe.

“Nature’s dangerous decline is unprecedented,” says CITES Secretary General Ivonne Higuero. “Business as usual is no longer an option.”

I feel like that statement applies to environmental challenges all over the globe, and I hope there are people in every nook and cranny waiting to step up to do their part to save us all.

The post Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild appeared first on UberFacts.

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Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild

You might have already assumed that trade in wild African elephants – and endangered species in general – was illegal, even if it was a zoo that was looking to take one in.

We would have been wrong.

Though hopefully that won’t be the case for much longer.

At the 18th meeting of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, members from over 180 countries reassessed regulations on international elephant trade. A vast majority of the the representatives voted to end the capture and sale of wild African elephants for display in zoos worldwide.

The issue will go for a vote in front of the full conference, but with 46 of the 83 countries in favor, it looks to have a good chance of passing.

Iris Ho, a senior policy advisor at Humane Society International (HSI), told Bloomberg that everyone in the business of supporting endangered species sees this as a win.

“It’s a huge step forward. It’s really historic that the majority of the parties present recognized that African elephants should not be captured in the wild, sent to zoos and be kept in captivity for the rest of their lives.”

The ban would largely affect countries in southern Africa, where elephant populations are healthier and herds are regularly thinned for the purpose of selling them to zoos. Zimbabwe alone sold over 100 wild-caught baby elephants to China in the past 7 years, and the issue of separating calves from their mothers and the rest of the herd certainly has animal welfare experts concerned.

“Calves suffer psychological and physical harm when taken from their mothers,” explains elephant biologist Audrey Delsink of HSI Africa. “Zoos and other captive facilities force these calves to live in an unnatural, unhealthy environment that doesn’t meet their complex needs.”

View this post on Instagram

Did you know that African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth? They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their large ears that look like the continent of Africa. Their ears radiate heat to help keep them cool, but sometimes the African heat can be too much so they use their trunk to give themselves a shower. Elephants eat roots, grasses, fruits, and bark and they eat a lot of it. In fact, an adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds of food a day. Female elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammal (22 months) and usually give birth to one calf. In 2018, Tarangire’s famed Eloise was the oldest elephant to give birth to twin calves. Source of information: National Geographic https://www.wanderlusttours.org #wanderlust #tours #africa #tanzani #tarangirenationalpark #tarangire #elephants #africanelephants #thisisafrica #travel #concioustravel #mindfultravel

A post shared by Wanderlust Tours (@wanderlusttoursafrica) on

Elephant trade has long been a hot topic, with African nations often territorial about managing their own wildlife without outside interference. Black market demands for ivory has drastically increased elephant poaching in the last few decades, though, so organizations like CITES feel as if they have a duty to protect the endangered species as if it belongs to the world, and not only to its endemic areas in Africa.

Over a million species are listed as at risk thanks to all manner of human activity, so committees like CITES are set to have busy years as they work to revamp how different species are protected around the globe.

“Nature’s dangerous decline is unprecedented,” says CITES Secretary General Ivonne Higuero. “Business as usual is no longer an option.”

I feel like that statement applies to environmental challenges all over the globe, and I hope there are people in every nook and cranny waiting to step up to do their part to save us all.

The post Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild appeared first on UberFacts.

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Here’s How Intermittent Fasting May Enhance Your Immune System

For years, it’s been argued whether intermittent fasting is good for us. Is it worth the hunger? Are there any actual health benefits from doing it?

Over the years, some people have claimed that this method has helped with rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments. Studies have also shown that intermittent fasting has improved multiple sclerosis in mice.

Well, there is more evidence that fasting may be beneficial to our health.

Photo Credit: Needpix

Three new studies explore how fasting might temporarily offer certain health benefits to humans. All three studies saw researchers give mice less food or go on a water-only diet for about a day. Each study researched a different type of immune cell and discovered that each type of cell had a unique response to the fasting.

Two of the three studies looked at the T and B cells. These cells help create immunity against past infections and identify and destroy pathogens. When the mice fasted, the T and B cells disappeared from the bloodstream and the organ tissues. The immune cells took shelter in the bone marrow to protect themselves. In other words, the cells migrated to the bone marrow, which is food rich, to survive during fasting.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The studies further showed that when the T cells did retreat to the bone marrow, they became supercharged. T cells produce molecules to kill pathogens and cancers, so this is potentially a very important find. When mice were injected with a pathogen they’d had in their bodies before, the fasting mice fought it off in only two days, as opposed to the week it took the regularly-fed mice.

Study author Dr. Yasmine Belkaid said, “It’s a striking enhancement. The goal is to [eventually] understand this magic soup in the bone marrow and extract what’s making that response. If we can train our cells to do these things, we can have an extraordinary impact on human health.”

The third study revolved around the white blood cells that attack pathogens. These are called monocytes. When you’re sick, this type of cell induces inflammation. This study showed that monocytes went down in the bloodstreams of both mice and humans when they fasted; the mice’s bone marrow was still producing monocytes, just not as many were being released into the bloodstream.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Fasting somehow creates a “roadblock” between bone marrow and blood for the monocyte cells. If fewer monocytes are moving throughout the body, overall inflammation goes down.

These studies suggest that intermittent fasting can be a good thing, and we can manipulate our immune systems based on changing how much we eat.

Something to think about…that’s for sure.

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A Huge Underwater Observatory Mysteriously Vanished from the Ocean Floor

Let’s just dive right in to this story: a large underwater observatory has mysteriously gone missing. It was on the seafloor, and now it’s not. Nobody knows why.

The Boknis Eck Observatory has been on the seafloor off the northern coast of Germany since December 2016. It’s managed by GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel and the Helmholtz Center Geesthacht.

For almost three years, the observatory collected information about water temperature, nutrients, salinity, the speed of water flow, and concentrations of chlorophyll and methane.

But on August 21, transmissions from the observatory suddenly stopped. Divers went down to the site to investigate what went wrong, and they discovered that the entire structure had disappeared except for a shredded transmission cable, Gizmodo reports.

Sure, it could be an accident. But officials think it’s more likely that someone intentionally removed the observatory, because the structure is so large and heavy that natural causes (such as a storm or animals) couldn’t possibly move it.

But who would steal an underwater observatory? And why?! For now, it remains a mystery. German police are now investigating the incident, and the scientists have asked anyone who knows anything to come forward.

“[At] first we thought of a transmission error,” Hermann Bange, project coordinator for the Boknis Eck Observatory, said in a GEOMAR statement. Then the diving mission revealed that the problem was much larger. “The devices were gone, the divers could not find them anymore. When the divers reached the bottom of the sea last week at the observatory’s location, they found only the torn off land cable. It was completely shredded,” Hermann said.

The $330,000 structure weighed about 770 pounds.

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Teen Activist Greta Thunberg Faces Cruel Jokes About Drowning as She Sails Across the Atlantic to Battle Climate Change

Is there anything worse than Grade A Internet trolls?

Greta Thunberg is 16 years old and has made it her life’s work (so far) to raise awareness for, and to do her best to combat, climate change around the world.

Apparently, this makes grown ass people with keyboards think it’s okay to joke about a teenaged girl drowning in a boating accident, because that’s the world we’re living in today.

Thunberg wanted to attend the United Nations climate change summits in the United States and Chile, but wanted to a find a responsible way to do it – air travel is the most carbon intensive form of transportation. So she landed on boat travel in order to minimize her carbon emissions.

The Malizia II, a racing yacht that employs solar panels to power her underwater turbines, offered her a ride, which she accepted. She and her father set out from Portsmouth (in the United Kingdom) on a two-week sail to the States.

Good for her, right?

You would think that most adults would feel that way, but, sadly, there are plenty who don’t.

It turns out that grown-ups who have dug into their (incorrect) positions about climate change being non-anthropological feel the need to attack a child in order to defend their own insecurities.

Like radio personality Julia Hartley-Brewer, who thinks being irresponsible is…funny?

And this totally gross comment from U.K. media personality Arron Banks.

Luckily, there are just as many people (if not more) ready to defend Greta and her actions.

As it should be.

True to form, Greta seems to be soldiering on and enjoying her trip.

And, I assume, the bleak pleasure of knowing she’s right.

The post Teen Activist Greta Thunberg Faces Cruel Jokes About Drowning as She Sails Across the Atlantic to Battle Climate Change appeared first on UberFacts.

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A Guys Tried to Dissuade a Friend from Buying a Purebred Pug by Showing Him a Skull Comparison

This is a strange story…

When NoNienNietNon‘s friend expressed a desire to own a purebred pug, he went all out in trying to convince him otherwise – by showing him the cruel differences between a pug skull and the skulls of other, less bred dogs.

fuck intentionally breeding physical deformities into animals for the sake of vanity

There are plenty of arguments against buying a purebred doing and instead opting to rescue a pup from the shelter, but when it comes to the “squashed face” breeds (like pugs), you can add “the health of the breed” to that list.

Pugs and other dogs with smashed faces (aka brachycephaly) are prone to multiple health issues that shorten their lifespan and impair their quality of life. Dr. Rowena Packer spoke with The Guardian about some of these problems.

“The breeds that are increasing in popularity unfortunately are plagued by a plethora of different health problems – we are talking about issues from head to tail. Whenever we’ve got breeds that do have health problems increasing in popularity naturally we are really concerned about that.”

Professor Paul McGreevy chimed in to talk about how the health problems impact their lifespan.

“These dogs are dying, we think, four years earlier than dogs of the same size with normal-shaped skulls. Because they have got all of the tissues in their head that a normal dog has, but they have less room, they get dental crowding and they also get the soft palette hanging down – that is what gives them the [breathing] sounds.”

The wrinkles on their faces, caused by excess skin, also lead the breeds to struggle with eczema, skin disorders, and even eye problems, and the “ideal” body shape of a head larger than the waist means more and more pug mamas require c-section births.

If that’s not a way of Mother Nature telling you that something has gone awry, I don’t know what is.

The post A Guys Tried to Dissuade a Friend from Buying a Purebred Pug by Showing Him a Skull Comparison appeared first on UberFacts.

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A Man Landed in the Hospital After Sniffing His Own Dirty Socks

If you’ve ever done the laundry of a teenaged boy, then you’re probably aware that the smell can get pretty rank, but hospitalization via stinky socks?

Read on, my friends.

A 37-year-old man from southeast China went to the hospital experiencing chest pains. There, he was admitted and given X-rays to determine the cause of his pain, as well as a cough he couldn’t seem to shake.

The diagnosis? A fungal infection deep in his lungs.

It took doctors some time to deduce the cause, and they were only able to do so after the man admitted to a habit (addiction?) of sniffing his dirty socks after they’d just come off his feet.

Feet that, it turns out, were harboring a fungus. Which they then transferred to his socks. Which he then sniffed.

A fungal infection he’d developed on his feet was transferred to his lungs when he smelled his socks, taking in some of the fungal spores (microscopic particles that allow fungi to reproduce and disperse) as he did so.

The questionable habit, combined with a weakened immune system due to life and parenting, contributed to the seriousness of the incident, according to doctors.

The patient had to spend some time in the hospital, but is expected to make a full recovery – as long as he can find a new hobby.

Like, literally anything else.

Parents of teens, be warned – maybe don’t breathe in at all while dumping that laundry in the machine. You never know what’s in there.

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You Can Make Money by Selling These 5 Body Parts

There are a whole bunch of body parts you can sell to make some cash. We’re not talking about an arm and a leg here, but instead, things that you can sell and still get on with your day (and your life).

Take a look at this list; you might be surprised.

And you might want to make a little extra money!

1. Hair

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

That’s right, you can sell your hair. In case you haven’t noticed, the industry surrounding baldness is HUGE, and people are always buying wigs that are made of real human hair.

Long hair that has not been altered by various salon processes is the most sought-after and will get you the most money.

2. Plasma

Photo Credit: US Air Force

The part of blood that carries blood cells to different parts of the body can be sold for about $30 to $40 per visit. Not the most righteous bucks in the world, but not bad if you’re in a pinch. The process of donating plasma is quite different from giving blood, so read up on it before you go if you decide to do it.

3. Sperm

Photo Credit: Pixabay

If you want to donate sperm, be prepared to go once a week for up to a year if you get approved by a sperm bank. That could mean up to $1,500 extra per month, fellas.

4. Eggs

Photo Credit: Pixnio

If a woman is willing to sell her eggs, she can make some real cash. The process is lengthy and intrusive, but depending on how you feel about injections and invasive exams, the payout could be worth it. An egg retrieval cycle can take up to 3-4 weeks and women can earn over $10,000.

5. Skin

Photo Credit: Pixabay

This is an unusual one because obviously we don’t literally mean you can remove section of your skin and sell them.

Marketing types out there are going so far as to use people’s bodies to advertise products using henna tattoos. Some athletes are being paid up to $100,000 to allow companies to advertise on their skin. Of course, henna doesn’t last forever, but there are some companies that will pay people to get their logo permanently tattooed on their body. That seems a little crazy to me…

People can also make money by selling bone marrow and breast milk as well.

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July 2019 Was the Hottest Month on Record…so Far

If you thought July was hotter than usual, you were right.

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), July was not only the hottest July of all time, but the hottest month since we began keeping such records back in 1880.

The average global temperatures were nearly a full degree Celsius over the 20th-century average.

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So I want to talk about packaging ?When I first had the idea about selling my artwork one of my biggest concerns was my packaging and how it would effect the environment! Therefore, after doing some research I found a company @ecocraft_ltd . Eco craft produce bio-degradable packaging bags made from potato/corn starch. They look and feel exactly like cellophane bags,however, are sustainable making my products have a better impact on the environment,meaning less single use plastic!! ? Therefore, all my prints will be packaged using these green bags along with all my postage envelopes that can be recycled. ??? • • #illustration #illustrationartists #climatechange #climatechangeisreal #fightforclimatechange #fightagainstplastic #thereisnoplanetb

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July 2019 came right after the hottest June ever recorded, which saw temperatures climb 2 full degrees Celsius over average for the time.

9 of the 10 hottest Julys have occurred since 2005, so despite statements from some public leaders that global warming is a hoax, the data points to the contrary. This July, as a matter of fact, was the 415th consecutive month with above-average temperatures across the globe.

Also according to NOAA, satellite data for July shows the lowest polar ice levels ever recorded – one more reason for concern, if you ask Professor of Climate Science Richard Allan.

“Just as one swallow does not make a summer, one record month does not tell us much on its own since the fickle nature of weather systems and the slow sloshing about of the ocean can sometimes temporarily warm or cool the planet. However, the clustering of recent record hot years and months, the longer-term warming trend and our understanding of the physics of the atmosphere and oceans confirms that our climate is heating up, it’s our fault, and the way to stop this is to reduce and begin removing emissions of greenhouse gases.”

Full stop.

Now, let’s agree to do something about it before it’s too late.

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