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As we all know, cars, trucks, and other motor vehicles aren’t the best friends of the environment. However, for many of us it’s simply not practical to depend strictly on mass transportation or make the switch to an all-electric vehicle. As a green-thinking member of society, where does that leave you? What should your stance be on driving with relation to sustainability?

Un estudio incluido en el Informe Científico de esta semana por investigadores de la Universidad del Estado de Michigan (MSU) y en China, viene a añadir más leña al debate ya caliente sobre si los vehículos eléctricos son más ecológicos que los vehículos convencionales destapando dos beneficios ocultos.

Ellos muestran que el factor “cool” (frío) es real, dado que los vehículos eléctricos emiten mucho menos calor. Esa diferencia podría mitigar el efecto isla de calor urbano, el fenómeno que ayuda a...

Did Mars ever support life?  This question has intrigued us for centuries!  We have had spacecraft on Mars for quite a while poking and analyzing soil and rocks and taking photos.  Now NASA has new data which help answer these questions.

A team using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite aboard NASA's Curiosity rover has made the first detection of nitrogen on the surface of Mars from release during heating of Martian sediments. 

The nitrogen was detected in the form of nitric oxide, and could be released from the breakdown of nitrates during heating. Nitrates are a class of molecules that contain nitrogen in a form that can be used by living organisms. The discovery adds to the evidence that ancient Mars was habitable for life.

Zinc is an important part of the human diet. You get it in Cashews, spinach, beef, shrimp, flax seed, Oysters, garlic, lima beans peanuts, turkey, Salmon, Pork, Brown rice and other foods. These are not listed in any particular order.

Zinc, is an important mineral in human health, that appears to affect how the immune system responds to stimulation, especially inflammation, new research from Oregon State University shows.

Zinc deficiency could play a role in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes   that involve inflammation. Such diseases often show up in older adults, who are more at risk for zinc deficiency.

“When you take away zinc, the cells that control inflammation appear to activate and respond differently; this causes the cells to promote more inflammation,” said Emily Ho, a professor and director of the Moore Family Center for Whole Grain Foods, Nutrition and Preventive Health in the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences, and lead author of the study.

Un nuevo estudio "proporciona evidencia de que las filtraciones de metano son hábitats semejantes a islas que albergan comunidades microbianas únicas diferentes de otros ecosistemas del fondo marino." Estas filtraciones juegan un papel importante en la biodiversidad microbiana del suelo marino.

Las filtraciones de metano son fugas de gas natural en el fondo del mar que descargan metano en el agua. Los microorganismos que viven en o cerca de estas filtraciones pueden utilizar el metano como fuente de alimento, evitando que el gas se acumule en la hidrosfera circundante o que migre a la atmósfera.