Soy-enriched protein blend lowers estrogen and raises testosterone in men

Vegan and vegetarian lifestyles may not be mainstream, other plant protein trends are slowly becoming just that. Depending on definition a majority of people qualifies as a ‘flexitarian’, opting for alternatives to animal protein on a regular basis.

Meanwhile industry is also flexing – they’re producing hybrid protein sources: not as bad, and just as good.

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Population growth: comparing Turkey to neighbour states

Today our comparing population growth series continues. This time we compare Turkey to several of its neighbouring states: Greece, Georgia, Armenia and Iran.

If ever again [1;2] you hear anyone say ‘demography is economic development,’ point to this graph:

Population growth Turkey, Iran, Greece, Georgia and Armenia

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Population growth: comparing Pakistan to Afghanistan

The world population is growing, but that growth is far from uniform. In our new series on the demographical situation in the world we zoom in on the UN World Population Prospects 2010 Revision that was published last month – and try and shine some more light on some of the most remarkable countries, per couple. Today that is Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Using gold nanoparticles to recover old fingerprints

Fingerprinting is one of the essential techniques of modern-day forensic science. Be that as it may, only a fraction of fingerprints can actually be detected using traditional powdering and cyanoacrylate fuming. But now, using gold nanoparticles, even year-old evidence can be dusted for prints.

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Houston may have a problem, other coastal cities likely do not

A new US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) urbanisation versus wind-driven pollution study does not make much sense -on a global scale- to us, mere science writers, who however by accident were raised by a couple of wild meteorologists in the deep taiga – so therefore [really] can’t help to have some intuitive understanding of high and low air pressure, and how these always tend to work towards some balance.

Infographic showing changes in diurnal cycle

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New graphene production methods open new scale-up possibilities

2004 was the birth year of the new material called graphene. Graphene can be created in various methods in the lab, but the scale-up has remained a challenge for scientists. Additionally, graphene remains suspended in solution, which further limits its use in industry. Now two new ways of graphene production are presented that mark a next step in the scale-up of graphene production. Continue reading →

Another forest study points to negative climate feedback

And this one may really present some good news for the climate, as it isn’t a Petri dish case, but very much in vivo. But don’t get overexcited.

A group of Finnish researchers studied forest sites in 68 nations and found net carbon sink increasing, without forest area expansion, they write in PLoS ONE.

Carbon sink forests increasing

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Current CO2 rise 10 times as fast as PETM climate disaster

For the layman paleoclimatology is ‘proof’ that any climate change is natural. For educated thinkers the lessons from the long ago contain the biggest warnings for the current artificially created state of our planet.

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