Once again I return with news that was not a big deal in the past week…my weekly news dump.
Today is Vietnam Veterans Remembrance Day…..celebrate if the mood strikes you.
Locally–Weather has been pleasant….warm day and cool night….it is a joy for a change. Sad news I lost my tangerine tree because of the extreme cold last month….my best producer.
Personal–I am dealing with grief and it is getting a bit easier but still feel my loss…my treatments continue and still taking a bit of a toll physically.
Let’s get to the real important stuff, at least for today.
I use honey as a sweetener and for the past decade bees have been losing ground and the news is still not good.
It’s not easy being a bee, especially in 2025. Honeybee colonies typically decline 40% to 50% annually, but this year colonies could decline up to 70% owing to a host of problems, including nutrition deficiencies, mite infestations, viral diseases, and potential pesticide exposure, according to entomologists at Washington State University. “I don’t want to be a fearmonger, but this level of national loss could mean increased bankruptcies [among] beekeepers,” says WSU professor of pollinator ecology Brandon Hopkins, per NBC News. In fact, we may be on track for the “biggest loss of honeybee colonies in US history,” says Cornell University assistant professor of pollinator health Scott McArt, per the Guardian.
An ongoing survey of more than 1 million honeybee colonies has found recent colony losses around 60% or above, with some areas reporting losses above 70%, per KLTV. That’s up from 10% to 20% before 2005, after which colony collapse disorder began to be widely reported. This is a major concern for crop growers. About 50% of US crops and about 35% of the global food supply requires pollinators, per the Guardian and NBC. You can slash a colony in half “and make up those winter losses and those summer losses,” honeybee specialist Garett Slater tells KLTV. “But if you have [70%] to 80%, it gets even more and more difficult and more of a financial burden to make up those colony losses.”
“We have been seeing high losses year after year, but if anything it is getting worse, which is troubling,” McArt tells the Guardian. He describes “a shortfall in pollination in some almond orchards this year,” noting other crops could also be affected. Slater says varroa mites are a big part of the problem, as they carry viruses that are fatal to bees. They’re usually combated with the insecticide Amitraz but have recently developed a resistance, allowing them to infect bees more frequently. McArt says Cornell scientists are currently examining the most important stressors for honeybees, but that it will be a month before the main drivers are identified
Not encouraging news at all.
More sad news on the environment….
A new study suggests that the amount of water stored on land around the world—in soil, lakes, rivers, snow, etc.—has dropped by such steep levels that it may be irreversible, reports the Washington Post. “At first we thought, ‘That’s an error in the model,'” University of Melbourne hydrology professor Dongryeol RyuRyu tells the AP. But the new study in Science lays out the numbers: Earth’s land lost about 2,614 gigatons of water from 2000 to 2016, with the loss most pronounced from 2000 to 2002 at 1,614 gigatons, per Australia’s ABC News. To the researchers’ surprise, that outpaces the amount lost by Greenland’s melting glaciers.
“The rate of water dumping into the oceans was bigger from terrestrial water storage than from what we normally think of as the biggest source, which was the melting of Greenland,” says co-author Clark Wilson of the University of Texas at Austin. That suggests the evaporation of moisture from soil is a bigger factor in rising sea levels than previously thought. One problem is that groundwater isn’t recovering amid rising temperatures, with the frequency of severe droughts around the world accelerating. Even headline-making catastrophic floods don’t seem to help. “It seems that lands lost their elasticity to recover the previous level,” says Ryu. The researchers warn that fundamental changes in regard to water use, particularly in agriculture, are needed.
“There are long-term climate changes that have happened in the past and presumably could occur in the future that could reverse the trend described, but probably not in our lifetimes,” says environmental science professor Katharine Jacobs of the University of Arizona, who was not involved in the study. “Because greenhouse gases will continue to cause global warming well into the future, the rate of evaporation and transpiration is not likely to reduce any time soon.”
More of the food thingy…..the fad of plant-based diet….
Researchers define “healthy aging” as making it to age 70 without major chronic disease. Believe it or not, this is not entirely out of your hands. A new 30-year study tracking the eating habits of 105,015 middle-aged health professionals in the US finds diets high in plant-based foods with low to moderate amounts of animal-based foods and minimal ultra-processed foods had a higher likelihood of healthy aging independent of body mass index, physical activity, and smoking habits. “This suggests what you eat in midlife can play a big role in how well you age,” University of Montreal nutrition researcher Anne-Julie Tessier, lead author of the study published Monday in Nature Medicine, tells the Washington Post.
Most older adults have at least one chronic health condition, such as diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. Just 9,771 study participants (9.3%) reached the age of 70 without one. Their self-reported diets tended to highly adhere to one of eight healthy diets—the Mediterranean diet, the Planetary Health Diet Index, and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) among them, per the BBC. These emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, unsaturated fats, and nuts and legumes, with low amounts of processed meat, sugars, and trans fat. Participants who scored the highest on the AHEI, specifically developed to prevent chronic disease, had an 86% greater likelihood of healthy aging compared with participants with the lowest scores, NBC News reports.
Diets higher in red and processed meat, trans fats, sodium, and sugary beverages were linked to a lower likelihood of healthy aging. Participants who consumed the most ultra-processed foods were 32% less likely to achieve healthy aging, per the Post. “Our findings suggest that dietary patterns rich in plant-based foods, with moderate inclusion of healthy animal-based foods, may enhance overall healthy aging, guiding future dietary guidelines,” reads the observational study. This may be of interest to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s linked rising rates of chronic disease with processed food, per NBC.
Because of my treatments I am supposed to eat a lot protein….veggies are secondary concern.
Then there is the problems with baby food…..
Nutritious food is always important, whether for an infant or a senior, but it’s especially critical for newborn babies. The global baby food market is rapidly growing, with the United States being the second biggest market.
The global baby food market is projected to grow from 71 billion U.S. dollars in 2023 to about 100 billion U.S. dollars by 2029. In the United States, this market is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A new study found that 60% of the baby foods in the United States don’t meet the nutritional guidelines set by the World Health Organization. This is eye-opening and concerning, considering proper nutrition is crucial for a child’s health, development, and overall well-being.
Findings from this new study and similar research show that the baby food market is filled with nutritional shortcomings. Professionals who have pursued an accelerated BSN online, family nurse practitioner degrees, or related qualifications can help empower parents to learn more about food labels, the importance of nutrition, and dietary requirements.
Did you succumb to the hype from 23andme? If so your information may be a risk.
In 2006, 23andMe invited people to spit in a tube and discover themselves.
It was a simple promise: for $99, your DNA would reveal your ancestry, some genetic traits, even your health risks. The company became a Silicon Valley darling, once valued at $6 billion. Millions mailed in their saliva and waited anxiously for answers about their heritage.
But on Sunday, that once-rising biotech star has filed for bankruptcy.
As the company seeks a buyer under Chapter 11 protections, privacy experts and former customers are asking the same urgent question: what happens to 23andMe’s most valuable asset—your DNA?
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/23andme-bankrupt-dna-at-risk/
Finally a story that is as they ‘out there’…..did you see the film Matrix?
In the early 4th century BCE, the legendary ancient Greek philosopher Plato put forth a simple thought experiment. Known as the Allegory of the Cave, the idea suggests that what we believe to be “reality” could be little more than shadows dancing upon a cave wall. Fast forward to the 21st century, and scientists are pondering the same question albeit in a more technological context.
In 2003, University of Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom put forward the idea that it was probably likely that what humans perceived as reality was actually a hyper-advanced simulation created by beings with almost infinite technological capability. In the decades since this famous formulation, scientists have pondered exactly how we could discover some evidence of this simulation—or even escaping the simulation altogether.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a64300338/source-code-simulation/
There you have all the news that did not make the evening news….enjoy.
Go out and have a lovely Saturday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”