Growing cotton on the moon
A cotton seed flown to the moon by a Chinese spacecraft has sprouted, albeit briefly, marking the first time a plant has ever been grown on the lunar surface. The unmanned Chang’e-4 probe, which earlier this month became the first craft to land on the moon’s far side, carried with it a climatecontrolled capsule containing cotton, rapeseed, potato, and rock cress seeds, as well as yeast and fruit fly eggs. The probe started to water the seeds after touching down, and less than a week later a green cotton shoot appeared. Scientists said the potato and rapeseed had also begun to germinate. But when the moon’s surface rotated into darkness several days later and temperatures dropped as low as minus 274 degrees Fahrenheit, the plants died—as Chinese scientists had expected. Fred Watson of the Australian Astronomical Observatory tells BBC.com that the successful germination “suggests that there might not be insurmountable problems for astronauts in the future trying to grow their own crops on the moon in a controlled environment.”
ages 45 and older, who wore activity monitors for four years so scientists could track their movements. Researchers found that replacing 30 minutes of sedentary activity a day with half an hour of light physical exertion—even just a walk down the street—was linked to a 17 percent lower risk of early death. Doing moderate to vigorous exercise instead was associated with a 35 percent reduction in risk. Those health benefits were experienced only by participants who were not highly active at the start of the study period. And there were no health benefits if the total amount of sitting in a day remained the same but was simply broken up into shorter periods of inactivity. Study lead author Keith Diaz, from Columbia University, hopes the findings will encourage people to get more active. “You don’t have to take 10 minutes’ break and go run up and down the stairs,” he tells CNN.com. Simply taking a 1-minute movement break and going to the bathroom furthest from your desk rather than closest to it may be “enough to help you accrue this healthful activity.”
people who ate the most fiber were 15 to 30 percent less likely to die prematurely than those who ate the least. Those heavy fiber consumers were also 16 to 24 percent less likely to suffer a stroke or develop heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or colorectal cancer. The optimal fiber intake, researchers determined, was 25 to 29 grams a day; American adults consume an average of 15 grams.
The study is a “defining moment” in dietary fiber research, co-author John Cummings of the University of Dundee tells TheGuardian .com. “We need to get this written in stone and part of people’s lives.”