Another Summer Saturday and another ‘Dump’ to entertain those willing to show up on this day….and thank you for doing so.
Locally….It’s Hot!
Let’s begin today’s “Dump’ with health news….
My state of Mississippi leads the nation in new cases of various STDs….now there is a breakthrough on one of the more lasting ones….
With syphilis cases surging in the US, the FDA has approved what it sees as a potential tool to help keep the numbers in check—the first at-home test. The kit made by NowDiagnostics allows people to test themselves for the STD using a drop of blood from their finger with results ready in about 15 minutes, reports the Washington Post. However, the FDA cautions that a positive test “should be followed by additional laboratory testing through a health care provider to confirm a diagnosis,” in a release. The $30 tests are expected to be widely available in pharmacies and elsewhere in September.
The idea is to get far more people screened for the bacterial infection, including those who might be leery of seeing their own doctor about it, says the FDA’s Michelle Tarver, per Reuters. Syphilis can be cured with antibiotics if caught early, but it can be fatal if left untreated. The number of cases in the US surged by about 80% from 2018 to 2022, with more than 200,000 cases reported in the latter year, according to the CDC. The increase (183%) is even larger for congenital cases, meaning infections passed from pregnant mothers to their newborns.
We have heard the stories of the microplastics and our bodies, right? Well there is more info….
Tiny plastic fragments have been found in human brains, lungs, livers, kidneys, placentas, testicles, knee and elbow joints, and even blood vessels and bone marrow, highlighting the huge problem of plastic pollution. Now, a new study has some microplastics researchers demanding “a global emergency” be declared in response. The research posted online by the National Institutes of Health looked at livers, kidneys, and brains collected from bodies autopsied in 2016 and 2024. Microplastics or smaller fragments known as nanoplastics were found in every single organ. But the study describes the brain as “one of the most plastic-polluted tissues yet sampled,” per the Guardian.
“The 91 brain samples contained on average about 10 to 20 times more than the other organs,” according to the outlet. “All organs exhibited significant increases from 2016 to 2024,” per the pre-print study now undergoing peer review. And it notes the two dozen brain samples collected in 2024 contained 0.5% plastic by weight. “It’s pretty alarming,” says lead author Matthew Campen, a toxicologist at the University of New Mexico. “There’s much more plastic in our brains than I ever would have imagined or been comfortable with.” Sedat Gündogdu, a microplastics researcher at Turkey’s Cukurova University, says the results show “it is now imperative to declare a global emergency” to deal with plastic pollution.
Dr. Marcus Garcia, a microplastics researcher at the University of New Mexico, says “humans consume about five grams of microplastics per week, the equivalent of a credit card,” per the Toronto Star. With “almost everything that we consume, there’s some type of microplastics present.” Animal studies have linked microplastics to cancers, immune system disruptions, impaired learning and memory, and fertility problems. Researchers are just beginning to explore how microplastics affect the human body, but early research suggests increased risks of cardiovascular disease. As more plastic is produced and more breaks down in landfills, researchers say the problem will get worse without intervention.
Now for my favorite subject….FOOD!
Do you like bananas?
The bright bananas dotting your fruit bowl are in some serious trouble. A popular type of banana is facing extinction from a fungal pathogen. The disease Fusarium wilt of banana (FWB) blocks the flow of nutrients to the fruit and makes it wilt. During the 1950s, the pathogen wiped out commercial banana crops and made one species–Gros Michel bananas–functionally extinct.
The crop failures are due to a fungal pathogen with a very long name–Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. Cubense (Foc) tropical race 4 (TR4). Abbreviated as Foc TR4, this fungus decimated several banana crops in the 1950s and wiped out one entire species, but bananas aren’t the only plants at risk.
“As a species complex, Fusarium oxysporum can infect over 100 different plant hosts,” study co-author and University of Massachusetts Amherst molecular biologist Li-Jun Ma tells Popular Science.”
https://www.popsci.com/environment/bananas-extinction/
Damn! There goes my banana pudding.
Which is healthier salad or sandwich?
When it comes to healthy eating choices, many Americans instinctively turn to a salad, believing this to be a superior pick over a sandwich.
That might not be the case, say food experts.
“When asked whether a sandwich or a salad is a healthier choice, most people will no doubt answer with salad,” said Vanessa Imus, MS, RDN, a food expert with Integrated Nutrition for Weight Loss in Bothell, Washington.
“In reality, both can be healthy or unhealthy depending on the ingredients,” she said.
“You’ll want to make sure your sandwich includes veggies, high-fiber bread, healthy fats and high fiber whole grain bread,” Imus told Fox News Digital.
“Try to avoid sandwiches that contain high-fat processed meats and excessive cheese or heavy creamy sauces.”
Here’s more about why salads aren’t always the better option, how sandwiches can sometimes be healthier — and how to make informed choices for a balanced diet.
https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/salad-always-better-choice-sandwich-think-twice
Just in case you were having a hard time deciding on your next lunch.
Ever hear the term ‘nightsoil’?
No?
Would you eat potatoes grown in human poo? And how would you feel if the marigolds in your local park sprouted from human manure? In the midst of climate crisis, human manure offers significant environmental benefits. But can we overcome the “yuck factor” to embrace this sustainable solution?
The climate crisis has us rethinking everything, including how we grow our food and maintain our parks. Traditional fertilizers, both animal-based and synthetic, have hefty environmental costs.
Nitrate pollution from animal manure can have various consequences, from excessive growth of algae to a condition called blue baby syndrome. The manufacture of synthetic fertilizers is so energy-intensive that their production accounts for up to 2% of global energy consumption and about 1.4% of global CO₂ emissions.
These fertilizers are also becoming increasingly expensive, meaning there’s even more incentive to find alternatives.
So, what if there was a way to turn one of our biggest waste products—human excreta—into a sustainable, low-impact fertilizer?
It’s not as outlandish as it sounds. For centuries, societies across the world relied on human waste, often referred to as “nightsoil,” to fertilize their crops. With the advent of modern sanitation systems, that idea has been flushed away.
https://phys.org/news/2024-08-human-manure-nightsoil-great-crop.html
Now I know someone has got something to say about this!
The US has the lowest life expectation of its peers….what to do?
The US has the lowest life expectancy of high-income English-speaking nations, while Australia continues to lead the pack with the highest. Poverty and poor health are big influences on the differing outcomes, but a major factor is also the number of young Americans dying from drug abuse, car accidents, and guns, researchers say.
Researchers from the University of Southern California and Pennsylvania State University compared life expectancy in six Anglophone countries – the US, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand – between 1990 and 2019.
They broke down the data by sex, age, and 18 causes of death categories, including a range of diseases plus “preventable deaths” like accidents and overdoses.
Australia has led the English-speaking world in life expectancy for the last three decades and these findings suggest they’re still top of the class. As per the recent findings, life expectancy for men in Australia, the best-performing country, was 4.75 years higher than in the US, the worst-performing country.
A new frontier for the greedy…..and the possibility of the making of a new race for space.
Asteroid-mining startup AstroForge plans to make history next year.
The California company announced Tuesday (Aug. 20) that it aims to launch its third mission in 2025, as a ridealong on Houston company Intuitive Machines‘ IM-3 moon mission. That launch will send AstroForge’s 440-pound (200 kilograms) Vestri probe to dock with a metallic near-Earth asteroid — an unprecedented leap for a commercial spacecraft.
“If successful, this mission will be the first private mission to land on another body outside of our Earth-moon system and will move us closer to realizing our mission of making off-world resources accessible to all humankind,” AstroForge wrote in an update Tuesday.
That same update revealed that AstroForge has raised $40 million more from investors, bringing its total funding haul to date to $55 million.
https://www.space.com/asteroid-mining-astroforge-docking-mission-2025
Hurry get in on the ground floor.
That is about as much as anyone can take….so I shall wish everyone a great Saturday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
They have used human waste as fertilizer here for many years, and even have a name for it, ‘Humanure’. I think the ship has sailed on microplastics, as we are already too far down the road of biological contamination, and not appearing to learn from that fact. I cannot even imagine the cost of products dependent on minerals mined from an asteroid in outer space. And if they start messing with asteroids, chances are one will veer off course and hit Earth.
Best wishes, Pete.
Should make for healthy and productive plants…..yeah a little late on the microplastics thing….greed will carry the day on the mining…..then there will be a oops and someone will pay a meager finme. chuq
STD’s is God’s way of punishing you for your impure thoughts and lust for the flesh. Damn you. Damn us all. I rather like that scene from “Planet of the Apes” where Heston sees the Statue of Liberty and realizes… “GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!”
Hey, anyone here ever watched “Debbie Does Dallas” or “Deep Throat”?
“Behind The Green Door” was my favorite. chuq
That film was good also.
Yes it was chuq
Don’t worry about plastic. Our civilization will collapse in a few decades either from climate change or from running out of fossil fuels. No more plastic will be made. Survivors will be farmers, fisherman, herders, of hunter gatherers living in small groups. We will back to the past in a big way.
I am already there…..chuq
Asteroid mining is probably one of the more stupid ideas people have come up with in the last 100 years. First of all, what, exactly, are they going to mine? The vast majority of asteroids are what are called “rubble pile” bodies, almost literally nothing more than a pile of common rocks and gravel held together by weak gravity, with absolutely nothing of value in them. Metallic asteroids are A) rare, and B) very, very far out. And whether or not they have anything worth mining in the first place has yet to be proven. Even if you found an asteroid of solid platinum the cost of getting there, actually mining the stuff, and shipping it back to Earth would be so incredibly costly that it wouldn’t be worth the effort. The lowest cost to boost even a relatively small satellite into low Earth orbit is around $70 million dollars right now. The cost to get a mining operation first into orbit, then out to an asteroid, put in a robotic mining operation, then returning the material to Earth? That would be enough to bankrupt most countries.
greed will find a way….it always does. chuq