For a long time scientists have believed that eating saturated fat was a leading cause for heart attack, cancer, or other diseases. However, new research have shown that there is no connection between how much saturated fat you eat and heart diseases. This is still a controversial question.
Things like butter, coconut, lard and meat have lots of saturated fat.
Saturated means that it holds all the hydrogen atoms that it can, meaning that all of the carbon (c) atoms have two hydrogen (H) atoms attached to it.
Mackinac Bridge
The Mackinac Bridge is a 5-mile-long (8-km.-long) bridge that carries a four-lane interstate highway, Interstate 75. It was built by the U.S. state of Michigan and connects that state's Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula together.
The Mackinac Bridge passes over a strait of water that connects two Great Lakes, Lake Michigan (to the west of the bridge) and Lake Huron (to the east).
At the center of the Mackinac Bridge is a long suspension span, in which the bridge, made of steel and concrete, hangs from wires that run down from two huge, curved cables.
The government agency that runs the Mackinac Bridge charges motor vehicles a toll to drive over it. In 2020, the toll was $4.00 for a passenger car.
The government hangs colored lights from the big cable, and turns them on at night so that the bridge can be seen from many miles away.
The Mackinac Bridge was opened in 1957, and this started a major economic boom in northern Michigan as tourists drove from all over North America to see the bridge, the Great Lakes, and the northern forests.
Unsaturated fat
Unsaturated fat is a kind of fat. It is different from saturated fat in that it is liquid at room temperature while saturated fat is more solid. Its molecules contains double bonds whose carbon atoms that are not fully saturated with hydrogen. There are two types:
In cellular metabolism, an unsaturated fat molecule contains somewhat less energy (that is fewer calories) than the saturated fat molecule of the same length.
Examples of unsaturated fats are palmitoleic acid, oleic acid, myristoleic acid, linoleic acid, and arachidonic acid. Foods containing unsaturated fats include avocado, nuts, and vegetable oils such as canola and olive oils. Meat products contain both saturated and unsaturated fats.
Unsaturated fat is better for people than saturated fat. Some testing has shown that it can raise a person's HDL ("good" cholesterol) levels.
Unsaturated fat is also very important for a healthy brain.
People think that unsaturated fats are 'healthier' than saturated fats. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that the amount of unsaturated fat consumed should not exceed 30% of one's daily caloric intake (or 67 grams given a 2000 Calorie diet). The new dietary guidelines have eliminated this recommendation at the request of the meat and dairy industries.
Most foods contain both unsaturated and saturated fats. Food packages promote only one or the other, depending on which is the largest share in the product. So, various unsaturated fat vegetable oils, such as olive oils, also contain saturated fat.
Cold fusion
Cold fusion is nuclear fusion at room temperature and normal pressure. Nuclear fusion is the process by which many nuclei, the center of an atom, containing protons and neutrons, are forced to join together to form a heavier nucleus (singular of nuclei) and during that process, energy is released. Some scientists hope that this may be Earth's future energy source, but most scientists do not agree.
For nuclear fusion to take place, a large amount of energy is needed. With this energy, the atoms are pushed together, which are repelled by the electrostatic force (a force between protons which are particles in the nucleus of the atom and have a positive electrical charge). But once this force is overcome and the nuclei are pushed close enough together, another much more powerful force will take over: the strong nuclear force. It only operates at short distances, so when the nuclei are close enough, they attract each other because of the strong nuclear force which is stronger than the electrostatic force. It is hoped that the energy released by cold fusion is much greater than the energy used to push the atoms together.
In 1989 two scientists, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, published a paper in "Nature", an important science journal, claiming to have created cold fusion. This was a very important story at the time. Other scientists were not able to repeat their experiments. This is why cold fusion is not generally accepted by scientists at the moment. Several dozen scientists are still working on cold fusion research. They publish in peer-reviewed journals and other academic sources regularly, but most are not convinced.
Cusco
Cusco is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Huatanay Valley (Sacred Valley) in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of Cusco Region. The city has a population of about 300 000, triple the population it contained just 20 years ago. Alternate spellings include Qusqu (in old Quechua), Cusco, (after the Spanish arrived), and current Quechua. Cusco is the preferred way to spell it in Spanish.
Cusco was the capital of Tahuantinsuyu (or Inca Empire). The city was planned to be shaped like a puma. The city had two areas: the "hurin" and "hanan", which were further divided to each be part of two of the four provinces of the Inca Empire: Chinchasuyu (NW), Antisuyu (NE), Cuntisuyu (SW), and Collasuyu (SE).
A road led from each of these quarters to the corresponding quarter of the empire. Each local leader was required to build a house in the city and live part of the year in Cusco, but only in the quarter of Cusco that corresponded to the quarter of the empire he had territory in.
According to Inca legend, the city was built by Sapa Inca Pachacuti, the man who transformed the Kingdom of Cusco from a sleepy city-state into the vast empire of Tahuantinsuyu. But archaeological evidence points to a slower, more organic growth of the city beginning before Pachacutieven though he did initiate growth in the city after defeating the Chancas as a monument to Incan glory. There was however a city plan, and two rivers were changed to flow around the city.
The first Spanish soldiers arrived in the city on November 15, 1533. Spanish "conquistador", or "conqueror", Francisco Pizarro, however, officially refounded Cusco on March 23, 1534, naming it the "Very noble and great city of Cusco". The many buildings constructed after the Spanish conquest have Spanish influence with a mix of Inca architecture. The Spanish made a new city on the foundations of the old Inca city, replacing Incan temples with churches and palaces for the Spanish. In the colony, the city of Cusco was very rich, thanks to the agriculture, cattle raising, mining and trade with Spain. Many churches and convents were built, and even a Cathedral, and the Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad del Cusco.
The major earthquake that hit Cusco in 1950 badly destroyed the Dominican Priory and Church of Santo Domingo, which were built on top of the impressive Koricancha (Temple of the Sun). The city's Inca architecture, however, survived the earthquake. Many of the old Inca walls were thought to have been lost after the earthquake, but the granite walls of the Koricancha were exposed, as well as many walls throughout the city. While some wanted to restore the buildings to their colonial splendor, some of Cusco citizens urged city officials to retain the exposed walls. Eventually they won out and now tourists from around the world enjoy looking at these ruins within the living city. The 1950 earthquake was the second time that the Dominican Priory had been destroyed, the first being in 1650 when another major earthquake struck Cusco.