Toddlers harmed from too much exposure to TV
According to a study published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, the more television a toddler watches, the higher the likelihood that the toddler will do poorly in school and have poorer health.
The study consisted of 1,300 children and found that the negative effects of watching television are seen by the age of 10. Every hour a child watched television increased the negative effects in that child later on.
School performances suffered and the consumption of junk foods increased with watching television. Researchers also found a decrease in general physical activity and a higher body mass index in children.
Children are recommended to watch a maximum of two hours of television per day. However, more than 11 percent of two-year-olds and 23 percent of four-year-olds exceed this recommendation.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk
‘Green’ exercise has beneficial effects on mental health
Walking in a park may lead to better mental health, says a study published in Environmental Science and Technology.
United Kingdom researchers completed a meta analysis of 1,250 people in 10 studies and found that people had fast improvements in mood and self-esteem by exercising in a green space, such as a park.
The research looked at many different outdoor activities from walking to boating to gardening. The biggest improvement on mental health was seen within the first five minutes. Exercising for longer periods of time in nature saw the same positive effects but of a smaller amount.
The principal researcher, Jules Pretty of the University of Essex, said that those who were usually inactive, stressed or with mental illness would benefit the most from this green exercising.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk
Possible environmental explanation for multiple sclerosis, study says
A new DNA comparison study on identical twins gave no genetic explanations for one twin developing multiple sclerosis (MS) while the other did not. This leaves open the possibility of an environmental reason for MS.
Researchers looked at the complete genetic blueprints for a pair of identical twins, hoping to find the reason behind the development of MS. However, no discrepancies were found between the blueprints.
However, this recent study is small. It only examined three pairs of twins and only one immune cell. This means that there are still many other places to look in the genetic blueprint.
MS is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the myelin sheath of neurons in the brain. This myelin sheath allows for quicker electrical communication that is necessary in the brain. Damaging it results in pain and the loss of function, especially with coordination and vision.
Source: sciencenews.org
Hubble pictures show possible different theory for galaxy formation
A preliminary analysis of new pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope cameras suggest that the Milky Way may have formed differently than how scientists previously thought.
The analysis of elderly stars in the galaxy suggests that large chunks of the Milky Way formed when a single blob of gas and dust collapsed.
This contrasts completely with the leading theory about galaxy formation, which states that galaxies started small and grew by gravitationally acquiring intergalactic gas and dust.
The pictures come from a globular cluster of more than a million stars known as 47 Tucanae.
Source: sciencenews.org
