Depression affects about 100 million people globally
Depression affects about 100 million people globally, according to new research. The worrying statistic comes on the day several children were given vaccines to protect them against coronavirus, the new virus that was found in humans in Saudi Arabia.
The research, which has been published in Nature, discovered that depressed people in various countries either had less resilience or were more able to maintain good mental health even though they experienced the stress of unemployment.
“It’s not necessarily that depressive people are more resistant to stresses in life, it’s just that it’s the stressors that also burden them,” said lead researcher lead researcher Ariel Mandel at the University of Florida.
England’s boys are getting fatter at a faster rate
The numbers of overweight and obese boys are increasing at such a faster rate that they are now at a three-decade high. The study involved 4,846 pupils in the sixth form. Researchers found that by the end of 11th grade, just over one in 10 pupils in England were overweight or obese.
It’s not just boys that are getting fatter though; the problem is worse for girls because they had a higher rate of early puberty. The investigators don’t think this is because the researchers found more boys of Asian background were getting smaller.
“Most likely it’s the diets of these children in the overweight and obese category,” said co-author Dr. Susannah Bradfield, who is a researcher at the University of Birmingham in England. “They’re getting a very poor nutritional environment as a result of lifestyle choices and they’re also eating less.”
Human rubber bands are in the wild
Biologists say rubber bands – often found in everyday household products – have been drifting around the world for at least 200 million years.
They speculate it would have been common in tropical areas at the time when the forests were still developing, and are unsure how the animals in the area got in contact with them.
The rubber bands are roughly 20 microns across, about a hundred times thinner than a pin head.
They aren’t harmful to humans, but they could harm other animals that eat them.
A mutated power plant ‘bubble-wrapped’ in metal
State-of-the-art technology has been used to “bubble-wrap” a nuclear power plant and store it without using water in an effort to prevent leaks. The plant contains thousands of nuclear materials, including explosive devices for blasts.
The mixture was wrapped in steel tubing and covered with a stainless steel ring, creating a seal. The ring was fitted with magnets and heat-activated explosives. The N-Bomb-type bomb tested consisted of three kilograms of dynamite, a bolide, a triggering device, nitroglycerin, potassium nitrate, ball bearings and five boxes of steel pegs.