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El próximo sábado en una conferencia en Quebec, Canadá un equipo internacional de investigación presentará el primer portal de datos en línea sobre el permafrost mundial. En la Red Global Terrestre para permafrost, los investigadores primero recogerán toda la temperatura del permafrost existente con datos de la capa activa del Ártico, la Antártida y las regiones de permafrost de montaña, y luego lo pondrán disponible al público en general para su descarga. Este nuevo portal puede servir como un sistema de alerta temprana para los investigadores y tomadores de decisiones de todo el mundo. Una descripción detallada de la colección de datos se publica en un artículo de acceso abierto en el portal de Earth System Science Data, el pasado 14 de Septiembre.

Scientists have evidence that Popeye was right: Spinach makes you stronger. But it’s the high nitrate content in the leafy greens — not the iron — that creates the effect. 

Building on a growing body of work that suggests dietary nitrate improves muscle performance in many elite athletes, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that drinking concentrated beet juice — also high in nitrates — increases muscle power in patients with heart failure.

“It’s a small study, but we see robust changes in muscle power about two hours after patients drink the beet juice,” said senior author Linda R. Peterson, MD, associate professor of medicine. “A lot of the activities of daily living are power-based — getting out of a chair, lifting groceries, climbing stairs. And they have a major impact on quality of life. We want to help make people more powerful because power is such an important predictor of how well people do, whether they have heart failure, cancer or other conditions. In general, physically more powerful people live longer.”

A veces es bueno hacer un balance, tomarse un tiempo y echar un vistazo a la imagen más amplia del mercado de automóviles eléctricos. Cada día parece traer una nueva serie de críticas, preocupaciones y golpes bajos en una industria que ha venido avanzando a pasos agigantados en la última década. Si bien donde estamos ahora sin duda está un poco alejado de la línea de meta, no hay duda de que se han hecho progresos increíbles con las decisiones de Tesla empujando a la industria a nuevas alturas.

Although most of the world’s species diversity is found in tropical areas, there are very few studies that have examined whether tropical mountain species are affected by climate change to the same extent as temperate species. A new study has now determined that major changes have taken place during the last two centuries.

By comparing the migration of plant communities on the Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador with historical data from 1802, Aarhus University researchers found an average upslope shift of more than 500 metres. The entire vegetation boundary has moved upwards from 4,600 metres to almost 5,200 metres. The main explanation for this dramatic shift is climate change over the last 210 years.

Many of its brands — and commercials — may be iconic, from Meow Mix to Alpo, but the fact is that the pet food industry is a relatively new business. For millennia, cats and dogs were simply fed unwanted table scraps. Go to a timeless fish market like the Besiktas in Istanbul, and the chances are high that visitors will see a fishmonger feeding a feline the day’s scraps. Wander through the timeless Central Market in Athens and observers will watch the same thing, only with tidbits of beef and lamb.

Fast forward to the post-World War II era, however, and it was then that many food companies saw the benefits of marketing formulated pet foods to dog and cat owners. Growing affluence and the demand for convenience together inspired companies including General Foods, Nabisco and Purina (now owned by Nestlé) to enter the pet food sector. The profit margins were huge, as food waste that previously would have been discarded was recycled into what quickly became a lucrative new business.