The researchers modelled how molecular clouds are sucked into black holes
Astronomers have shed light on how stars can form around a massive black hole, defying conventional wisdom.
Scientists have long wondered how stars develop in such extreme conditions.
Molecular clouds - the normal birth places of stars - would be ripped apart by the immense gravity, a team explains in Science magazine.
But the researchers say stars can form from elliptical discs - the relics of giant gas clouds torn apart by encounters with black holes.
They made the discovery after developing computer simulations of giant gas clouds being sucked into black holes like water spiralling down a plughole.
"These simulations show that young stars can form in the neighbourhood of supermassive black holes as long as there is a reasonable supply of massive clouds of gas from further out in the galaxy," said co-author Ian Bonnell from St Andrews University, UK.
Their findings are in accordance with actual observations in our Milky Way galaxy that indicate the presence of a massive black hole, surrounded by huge stars with eccentric orbits.
The simulations, performed on a supercomputer - and taking over a year of computing time - followed the evolution of two separate giant gas clouds up to 100,000 times the mass of the Sun, as they fell towards the supermassive black hole.
The simulations show how the clouds are pulled apart by the immense gravitational pull of the black hole.
The disrupted clouds form into spiral patterns as they orbit the black hole; the spiral patterns remove motion energy from gas that passes close to the black hole and transfers it to gas that passes further out.
This allows part of the cloud to be captured by the black hole while the rest escapes.
In these conditions, only high mass stars are able to form and these stars inherit the eccentric orbits from the elliptical disc.
These results match the two primary properties of the young stars in the centre of our galaxy: their high mass and their eccentric orbits around the supermassive black hole.
"That the stars currently present around the galaxy's supermassive black hole have relatively short lifetimes of [about] 10 million years, which suggests that this process is likely to be repetitive," Professor Bonnell explained.
"Such a steady supply of stars into the vicinity of the black hole, and a diet of gas directly accreted by the black hole, may help us understand the origin of supermassive black holes in our and other galaxies in the Universe."


Castañar de Ibor
Ctra. del camping s/n
10340 Castañar de Ibor, Cáceres (Extremadura)
The fragile and spectacular nature of the underground environment
This cave is a genuine treasure of nature and is set in one of the most outstanding landscapes in Extremadura.
It was discovered by chance by a farmer in 1969. It is formed by ancient rocks approximately 500 million years old, and has spectacular interior ornamentation. The abundance and variety of the speleothems (mineral formations) which cover the ceilings, walls and floors of the chambers and galleries, is unique. Its chambers have names like “Snow-covered”, “White”, “Red”, “Chamber of the Flags”, “the Garden”, “the Library”, “the Corals” and “the Lakes” and offer an impressive spectacle of shapes and colours, in one of the most evocative underground landscapes in natural Extremadura. The formations include aragonite flowers, needles, arborescent crystallisations, stalactites, stalagmites and columns. It was declared a Natural Monument in 1997. The cave is currently closed to the public. However, it has a visitor centre where people can learn more about the natural characteristics of the area and can also (with the help of multimedia systems) go deep down into the world of underground caves, and visit a reproduction of the Castañar cave itself.
- 建筑: Caves and tourist mines
- 从 15 六月 到 14 九月
从 周三 到 周日从 09:00 到 14:00 从 17:00 到 19:00
- 从 15 九月 到 14 六月
从 周三 到 周日从 09:00 到 14:00 从 16:00 到 18:00
The cave can not be visited, only the visitor centre.


Each Racket module typically resides in its own file. For example, suppose the file "cake.rkt" contains the following module:
Then, other modules can import "cake.rkt" to use the print-cake function, since the provide line in "cake.rkt" explicitly exports the definition print-cake. The show function is private to "cake.rkt" (i.e., it cannot be used from other modules), since show is not exported.
The following "random-cake.rkt" module imports "cake.rkt":
The relative reference "cake.rkt" in the import (require "cake.rkt") works if the "cake.rkt" and "random-cake.rkt" modules are in the same directory. Unix-style relative paths are used for relative module references on all platforms, much like relative URLs in HTML pages.
The "cake.rkt" and "random-cake.rkt" example demonstrates the most common way to organize a program into modules: put all module files in a single directory (perhaps with subdirectories), and then have the modules reference each other through relative paths. A directory of modules can act as a project, since it can be moved around on the filesystem or copied to other machines, and relative paths preserve the connections among modules.
As another example, if you are building a candy-sorting program, you might have a main "sort.rkt" module that uses other modules to access a candy database and a control sorting machine. If the candy-database module itself is organized into sub-modules that handle barcode and manufacturer information, then the database module could be "db/lookup.rkt" that uses helper modules "db/barcodes.rkt" and "db/makers.rkt". Similarly, the sorting-machine driver "machine/control.rkt" might use helper modules "machine/sensors.rkt" and "machine/actuators.rkt".
The "sort.rkt" module uses the relative paths "db/lookup.rkt" and "machine/control.rkt" to import from the database and machine-control libraries:
The "db/lookup.rkt" module similarly uses paths relative to its own source to access the "db/barcodes.rkt" and "db/makers.rkt" modules:
Ditto for "machine/control.rkt":
Racket tools all work automatically with relative paths. For example,
on the comamnd line runs the "sort.rkt" program and automatically loads and compiles required modules. With a large enough program, compilation from source can take too long, so use
raco make sort.rkt
See raco make: Compiling Source to Bytecode for more information on raco make.
to compile "sort.rkt" and all its dependencies to bytecode files. Running racket sort.rkt will automatically use bytecode files when they are present.
A collection is a hierarchical grouping of installed library modules. A module in a collection is referenced through an unquoted, suffixless path. For example, the following module refers to the "date.rkt" library that is part of the "racket" collection:
#lang racket (require racket/date) (printf "Today is ~s\n" (date->string (seconds->date (current-seconds))))
When you search the online Racket documentation, the search results indicate the module that provides each binding. Alternatively, if you reach a binding’s documentation by clicking on hyperlinks, you can hover over the binding name to find out which modules provide it.
A module reference like racket/date looks like an identifier, but it is not treated in the same way as printf or date->string. Instead, when require sees a module reference that is unquoted, it converts the reference to a collection-based module path:
Second, require implicitly adds a ".rkt" suffix to the path.
To a first approximation, a collection is implemented as a filesystem directory. For example, the "racket" collection is mostly located in a "racket" directory within the Racket installation’s "collects" directory, as reported by
#lang racket (require setup/dirs) (build-path (find-collects-dir) ; main collection directory "racket")
The Racket installation’s "collects" directory, however, is only one place that require looks for collection directories. Other places include the user-specific directory reported by (find-user-collects-dir) and directories configured through the PLTCOLLECTS search path. Finally, and most typically, collections are found through installed packages.
More precisely, racket/gui is provided by "gui-lib", parser-tools/lex is provided by "parser-tools", and the "gui" and "parser-tools" packages extend "gui-lib" and "parser-tools-lib" with documentation.
Racket programs do not refer to packages directly. Instead, programs refer to libraries via collections, and adding or removing a package changes the set of collection-based libraries that are available. A single package can supply libraries in multiple collections, and two different packages can supply libraries in the same collection (but not the same libraries, and the package manager ensures that installed packages do not conflict at that level).
For more information about packages, see Package Management in Racket.
Looking back at the candy-sorting example of Organizing Modules, suppose that modules in "db/" and "machine/" need a common set of helper functions. Helper functions could be put in a "utils/" directory, and modules in "db/" or "machine/" could access utility modules with relative paths that start "../utils/". As long as a set of modules work together in a single project, it’s best to stick with relative paths. A programmer can follow relative-path references without knowing about your Racket configuration.
Some libraries are meant to be used across multiple projects, so that keeping the library source in a directory with its uses does not make sense. In that case, the best option is add a new collection. After the library is in a collection, it can be referenced with an unquoted path, just like libraries that are included with the Racket distribution.
You could add a new collection by placing files in the Racket installation or one of the directories reported by (get-collects-search-dirs). Alternatively, you could add to the list of searched directories by setting the PLTCOLLECTS environment variable.If you set PLTCOLLECTS, include an empty path in by starting the value with a colon (Unix and Mac OS X) or semicolon (Windows) so that the original search paths are preserved. The best option, however, is to add a package.
Creating a package does not mean that you have to register with a package server or perform a bundling step that copies your source code into an archive format. Creating a package can simply mean using the package manager to make your libraries locally accessible as a collection from their current source locations.
For example, suppose you have a directory "/usr/molly/bakery" that contains the "cake.rkt" module (from the beginning of this section) and other related modules. To make the modules available as a "bakery" collection, either
Use the raco pkg command-line tool:
raco pkg install --link /usr/molly/bakery
where the --link flag is not actually needed when the provided path includes a directory separator.
Use DrRacket’s Package Manager item from the File menu. In the Do What I Mean panel, click Browse..., choose the "/usr/molly/bakery" directory, and click Install.
Afterward, (require bakery/cake) from any module will import the print-cake function from "/usr/molly/bakery/cake.rkt".
By default, the name of the directory that you install is used both as the package name and as the collection that is provided by the package. Also, the package manager normally defaults to installation only for the current user, as opposed to all users of a Racket installation. See Package Management in Racket for more information.
If you intend to distribute your libraries to others, choose collection and package names carefully. The collection namespace is hierarchical, but top-level collection names are global, and the package namespace is flat. Consider putting one-off libraries under some top-level name like "molly" that identifies the producer. Use a collection name like "bakery" when producing the definitive collection of baked-goods libraries.
After your libraries are put in a collection you can still use raco make to compile the library sources, but it’s better and more convenient to use raco setup. The raco setup command takes a collection name (as opposed to a file name) and compiles all libraries within the collection. In addition, raco setup can build documentation for the collection and add it to the documentation index, as specified by a "info.rkt" module in the collection. See raco setup: Installation Management for more information on raco setup.


Dante created contrapasso – the idea that divine punishment of the damned in Hell would mirror the sin being punished.
Dante Alighieri was born in approximately 1265 in Florence to poor but noble parents. He became involved in Florentine politics, was a delegate to Pope Boniface VIII, was sent into exile when his political enemies (and possibly eventually his allies too) took exception to him, and died in 1321 in Ravenna at the approximate age of 56. He was married into a politically powerful family and fathered several children, but he fell in platonic love with Bice Portinari, ostensibly at first sight at the age of nine. Dante fought several battles over the years, mostly over which faction ruled Florence, but was not a remarkable soldier.
In most respects Dante was an unremarkable man. Yet that one way – his poetry, and especially The Divine Comedy – has had an unusually large influence on not just Italy and the Italian language, but also western civilization and Christianity in general.
Before Dante, Hell was where sinners suffered generally due to their inability to feel God’s love. But Dante invented the concept of contrapasso, the idea that sinners should be punished in a way that mirrors or resembles the sin. And so it has been, to a greater or lesser extent, ever since Dante imagined his Inferno.
The geography of the Inferno
Dante divided Hell up into three major subdivisions according to the type of sin, but with two areas that sit apart from the sinful. Outside of Hell proper is the Vestibule, where the cowardly souls who refused to commit to either virtue or vice are punished. The First Circle is where those virtuous pagan souls who died unbaptized or who died prior to the coming of Christ reside. They can’t be saved, but neither are they truly punished in the same tortuous ways that Dante will describe for those deeper into Hell.
Sins of incontinence (ie sins resulting from the inability to control one’s base desires) are punished in Circles Two through Five. According to Dante the Poet (as opposed to Dante the Pilgrim, the main character in The Divine Comedy) those sins are lust, gluttony, hoarding or squandering money, and the mirrored sins of anger and sloth.
The sins of violence are punished in the next two circles, but they’re grouped somewhat oddly. The heretics of the Sixth Circle form something of a bridge between the “passive” sins of incontinence and the “active” sins of violence, fraud, malice, and treachery. The heretics are punished above a tall cliff that leads to the sins of violence, but are walled off from the rest of the sins of incontinence by a wall that is patrolled by Furies. At the base of the cliff is the Seventh Circle where the sins of violence are punished. Dante breaks these sins up into three groups and so splits the Circle into three concentric rings, one each for those violent toward others, toward the self or one’s property, or toward nature. Dante’s view of “nature” is quite different than the modern understanding, including such things as blasphemy, “unnatural” sex acts, and usury (think loan-sharking).
Below the Great Barrier (a massive cliff that Dante the Pilgrim and his guide Virgil can only descend with the help of a flying demon) are the Eighth and Ninth circles. The sins of fraud and/or malice are punished in the Eighth Circle, but there are so many types that Dante divided them up into ten circular “Malebolgia.” And below yet another cliff lies the sinners punished for their treachery.
Contrapasso in the Inferno
Nearly every punishment described in Inferno is intended to represent a contrapasso, a reflection of the sin being punished. Dante first introduces the reader to the idea in the Vestibule, where the uncommitted are punished. Because they were uncommitted in life, they are forced to forever chase, but never catch, a pennant while being tormented by stinging insects. In addition, since they never did great deeds for good or ill, their identities are impossible to discern. Dante the Poet considers them to have never truly been alive, and thus now they can never truly die either.
Limbo is the only place within Hell that contrapasso doesn’t apply. After all, the only “sin” the virtuous pagan committed was something they ultimately had no control over – being born before Christ and/or dying without having been baptized. According to the Christian Church of Dante’s time, such souls could not be saved (although Dante writes that several were saved by the personal intervention of Jesus, who led them out of Hell following his crucifixion), but Dante felt that such souls would be condemned least of all, suffering no physical tortures, only the mental anguish of knowing that they could not know God’s love. Dante’s guide through Hell and later Purgatory is one of these virtuous pagans – the poet Virgil, who wrote the Aeneid.
The contrapasso in the Second Circle isn’t obvious as it is in many other circles, but the translation notes of my Penguin Classics version (translated by Mark Musa) indicate that tossing sinners around forever in a dark storm is supposed to reflect how the Lustful allowed their reason to be ruled by their passions. It’s Dante’s description of the Lustful that contains one of my favorite descriptions in Inferno:
and as the wings of starlings in the winter
bear them along in wide-spread, crowded flocks,
so does that wind propel the evil spirits:
now here, then there, and up and down, it drives them
with never any hope to comfort them –
hope not of rest but even of suffering less.
While I’m not sure how Dante meant the mud and battering rain and hail to be contrapasso with respect to the Gluttons in the Third Circle, being attacked forever by a three-headed dog is pretty obvious. In this case, the sin of eating too excess is punished by having a ravenous monster tear at and devour parts of the souls, which, being eternal, eventually heal only to be attacked and devoured yet again.
While the contrapasso in the Fourth Circle is unclear to me, it’s quite obvious in the Fifth. Here is a marsh created by the river Styx. In the marsh the wrathful are forever condemned to fight each and “tore each other limb from limb” without rest or reason. The slovenly, representing what Dante considers to be the opposite sin from wrath, are submerged below the marsh’s surface, prevented from moving at all.
The Sixth Circle is also the City of Dis, and it’s where the heretics are punished. The “city” is mostly a massive circular plain of sepulchers and sarcophagi that are heated with fires so that the heretics within them are punished by the heat. In addition, in the case of heretics who led sects of non-Christian religions, all the heretical followers are also jammed into the same burning sepulcher with the heretical leader.I don’t personally see this as contrapasso either, but rather eternal “purification” of heresy by flame.
The outer ring of the Seventh Circle, where the violent are punished, is a river of boiling blood. Sinners who were violent toward others are punished by varying levels of submersion – true tyrants are completely submerged in it while those who were less violent toward others may only be forced to stand or sit in it. This is another obvious example of contrapasso – those who spilled blood are punished by blood forever.
In my opinion, Dante’s description of the middle ring – the Wood of the Suicides – is one of the most striking in the entire Inferno. Unlike all other sinners, who are judged and placed precisely where they belong within their Circle, the souls of the suicides are tossed randomly into the Wood, where they grow into trees and bushes that can only cry out in pain when their branches are broken by ravenous dogs or by the harpies who nest in them:
Like a green log burning at one end only,
sputtering at the other, oozing sap,
and hissing with the air it forces out,
so from that splintered trunk a mixture poured
of words and blood.
And after the Second Coming, when the souls of the dead are reunited with their bodies for eternity, the suicides will be forced to wear their bodies upon their branches, unable to inhabit a body that, in Dante’s view, they once tossed aside:
Like the rest, we shall return to claim our bodies,
but never again to wear them – wrong it is
for a man to have again what he once cast off.
We shall drag them here and, all along the mournful
forest, our bodies shall hang forever more,
each one on a thorn of its own alien shade.
The inner ring of the Seventh Circle is an expanse of sand drenched in a rain of fire. Here are those who were violent against nature in some way. The blasphemers are forced to lie upon the sand, the usurers (more or less loan sharks) crouch on the sand with heavy bags of money around their necks, and the sodomites (those who have “unnatural” sex, not necessarily just homosexual acts) wander through the storm in groups. As vivid as the images are, again I’m not sure how these torments qualify as contrapasso to Dante, and Musa’s translation notes in my version don’t provide any answers.
The sinners guilty of fraud and malice are punished in ten Malabolgia of the Eighth Circle, but not all have good examples of contrapasso. Rather than describe each punishment, I’ll instead focus on the sins that best illustrate Dante’s concept of contrapasso.
Flatterers are punished for speaking bullshit in life by being stuck forever in raw sewage. The soothsayers, who sought to see the future in life, are punished by being forced to walk with their heads twisted around to look over their back, never again to see where they’re going. Thieves alternate between human and serpent form and the serpents can only become human shaped again by biting (and thus stealing) the form of another sinner who is presently human. Creators of scandal and schism are punished by being cut asunder by a demon with a great sword, only to heal as they walk around in a great circle and be cut apart again when they next encounter the demon.
The Ninth and final Circle of Hell is the frozen lake of Cocytus and it houses those committed treachery by murdering kin, turning against their country, killing their guests, or killing their lords. And again, while the descriptions of individual sinners illustrate some contrapasso, I don’t understand why treachery would necessarily be deserving of being frozen in place like an ice sculpture or embedded in ice up to one’s neck or forced to look up so that one’s tears freeze in place or even being entombed entirely below the surface. Of course, the punishments are certainly unpleasant, but more unpleasant than being burned by sand and a rain of fire?
Where would your sins place you?
I’ve read Inferno at least five times. After the second or third reading I sat down to figure out where in Dante’s Hell would I be consigned for all eternity. While I’m a neo-pagan, I’m also baptized, so I couldn’t be so lucky as to spend eternity in Limbo. Over the years I’ve been lustful, a glutton, a spendthrift, even a profligate (those sinners who, by doing violence to their own property, are chased by ravenous dogs through the Wood of the Suicides). I’m certainly a heretic (earning me a spot in the City of Dis) and could certainly qualify as a blasphemer (prostrate upon the burning sands under a rain of fire). I’ve also used Tarot cards to seemingly foretell the future and, as with every person I’ve ever met, I’ve both lied and been a hypocrite. But where I think I would find myself is in the 9th Bolgia of the 8th Circle – in with the sowers of discord.
Initially, my main reason for reaching this conclusion was my personal faith. After all, I’m not just a Christian apostate, I’m also someone who created his own spirituality from bits and pieces of others, and as such I might be fairly considered a religious schismatic. However, I can hardly compare to Mohammad, whom Dante also places in the 9th Bolgia for his “sin” of splitting Islam away from Christianity and Judaism. On the other hand, over the last few years I’ve spent a great deal of time writing about how I think the Christian god cannot logically exist, how the zygote personhood movement is essentially trying to enslave women into being baby factories, and similar disruptive ideas, especially with respect to religion. If that’s not creating schisms, I don’t know what is. This is why I think that, if Dante’s Inferno were real, I would find myself having my entrails spilled and my limbs chopped off by sadistic devil with a nasty sword for all eternity.
When I asked my fellow Scrogues if they would be interested in placing themselves somewhere in the Pit, one of them was good enough to dig up a quick online quiz that placed you in your specific circle based on your answers. When I took the quiz, it placed me in the 6th Circle along with the heretics – also a fair place given my views on the sins of Christianity. Here’s how some some of my fellow Scrogues fared:
- Sam Smith found himself in the 2nd Circle with the lustful.
- Cat found herself in the 3rd Circle with the gluttons.
- Frank (Ars Skeptica) found himself in the 5th Circle with the wrathful
- Dr. Denny found himself down in the 6th circle with the heretics.
Let us know where you’d end up in the comments.


What Should My Macros Be?
Tracking your diet isn’t only interesting, but a great way to find out about the foods that you’re eating. Many of us don’t know the amount of calories, fat, carbohydrates, and protein in our meals or the importance of them. Even just tracking your diet for a few weeks will give you a lot of information about how your body responds to different foods. Calories and macros are more than just for body composition, they affect your energy levels, your mood, and your digestive process among a variety of other things.
Today, we’re going to look at why you should track your food and what your macros should be to help you lose weight and build muscle more effectively and efficiently.
First of all, if you haven’t already guest, the term ‘macros’ is a shortened version of macronutrients. Macronutrients are simply nutrients we eat a comparatively high amount of compared to micronutrients. The three main macronutrients are fat, carbohydrates and protein. Each ‘macro’ has its own caloric value which is how the total amount of calories in a food or meal is worked out.
- Fat = 9 calories per gram
- Carbohydrate = 4 calories per gram
- Protein = 4 calories per gram
So, let’s say you have a granola bar which contains 10 grams of fat, 25 grams of carbohydrates and 5 grams of protein. The 10 grams of fat would contribute 90 calories, the 25 grams of carbohydrate would contribute 100 calories, and the 5 grams of protein would contribute 20 calories making for a total caloric value of 210 calories. Usually supplies are allowed a +/- 10% leeway on their products which is why the total calories and macronutrient value on the packet might not always add up.
Both fat and carbohydrate usually come with sub categories, too. For instance, on a nutritional label you’ll see total fat listed and then saturated fat underneath it usually written as ‘of which saturates’. Carbohydrates are similar in that the total carbohydrates will be listed with ‘of which sugars’ underneath it.
Weight Loss, Weight Gain, Meal Timing and the Best Diet
The amount of weight you lose and gain is dependent on a process often shortened to ‘CICO’ or ‘Calories In Calories Out’. Energy balance (the amount of calories we expend versus the amount of calories we consume) is the overruling factor of all body composition changes. If you take in more calories than your body expends, then you’re going to gain weight. If you take in less calories than your body expends, then you’re going to lose weight.
An extremely comprehensive study looking at the effects of different diets on body composition found there to be no benefit to any once total calories and protein were matched. Meaning that higher fat or higher carbohydrate diets work dependent on preference opposed to specific physiological processes in all of us. Vegan, atkins, paleo, fruitarian, IIFYM, zone, and all of the other diets are correct for the people who can stick with them for the longest time. When choosing to follow any diet, make sure it’s something that makes you happy, works with your lifestyle and is sustainable for the long-term. The best diet really is the one you can keep up.
You’ll also hear people say “you need to eat constantly throughout the day to stoke your metabolism” and this is true to a degree. When you eat, your metabolism does increase, therefore burning more energy. Many people forget that digesting does actually require energy and calories. However, recent research has found that the amount to which your metabolism increases is dependent on the caloric value of the meal. So, if you’re eating 2000 calories a day, it doesn’t matter whether you eat that in one go or in six 330 calorie meals spread evenly over the course of the day, your metabolism will use the same amount of energy in total. Meal timing isn’t something that many people need to worry about, so just do what works for you.
Now, the amount of calories you need for your goal might be different to someone else’s. If anyone tells you to eat a certain amount of calories without knowing any personal information, then the chances are that they’re wrong. We all have different activity levels and different metabolism speeds, meaning that one person might have to diet on 1500 calories whilst another can get away with 2000 calories. This is why tracking can be so important as it can let you know so much more about your body than you currently do.
As a good starting point, multiply your weight in pounds by 14 to find out the amount of calories you need to lose weight. For instance, an 150lb individual would need to eat around 2100 calories. If you want to gain weight, then multiply your weight in pounds by 18. So, an 150lb person would need 2700 calories a day.
When you track your calories, you also need to weigh yourself. Many people weigh themselves every day, but because weight can fluctuate so much, then 2 times a week should do it. This will give you an idea of how your body’s responding to your diet. As well as this, taking progress photos every couple of weeks will let you know where the weight is coming from. Weight can refer to so many different things such as muscle, water, fat and bone to name just a few, but we want to make sure the weight we’re losing and gaining is coming from the right place. Anyone can lose weight by eating 600 calories a day, but a lot of this weight will come from quality lean tissue i.e. muscle. You’ll also see people bulking on 4000 calories when they really don’t need it. Sure, they end up putting on a substantial amount of size to their frame, but a lot of it is fat which means they have to end up cutting for a ridiculously long amount of time to see the muscle they’ve added. Progress pictures tell you exactly where that weight change from the scale is coming from.
- Fat loss: – 1-2lbs per week
- Muscle gain: +0.5-1lb per week
If you’re weigh is straying in the wrong direction, then you know you need to alter your total calories in accordance to the change. For instance, trying to lose fat but staying at the same weight? Try taking off 200 calories from your total and see if that helps or introduce some extra activity to your week such as a brisk walk to burn those calories off. Want to gain muscle but the scale won’t budge? Add on 200 calories. It’s really that simple. These calories should come from fat and carbohydrates with your protein staying the same. 200 calories equals around 10 grams of fat and 25 grams of carbohydrates, but you can split it however works for you.
We’ll start by working out the total amount of protein you need for your goal. Contrary to popular belief, you should actually eat more protein when you’re cutting compared to when you’re bulking due to the satiating effects. Protein helps to keep us full and maintain lean tissue, perfect for when we’re in a caloric deficit and trying to lose fat. Yet, when we’re bulking you want to keep your hunger levels up so you can eat more calories.
- Fat loss: 1-1.2 grams per lb of bodyweight
- Muscle gain: 0.7-0.8 grams per lb of bodyweight
With these levels, our 150lb individual would need 150-180 grams of protein per day when cutting and 105-120 grams per day when bulking.
Now, we need to take into account our caloric values from earlier. Protein has four calories per gram, so let’s say the individual wants to eat 150 grams when cutting and 105 grams when bulking. This works out to 600 calories and 420 calories from protein respectively. All we do then is take this number away from our total caloric goal.
- Fat loss: 2100 calories (150 x 14) – 600 calories (150 x 4) = 1500 calories left
- Muscle gain: 2800 calories (150 x 18) – 420 calories (105 x 4) = 2380 calories left
Hopefully, you’ve managed to keep up with all of that. So, we did our weight in pounds multiplied by either 14 or 18 dependent on whether you’re cutting or bulking, then took away the amount of calories from protein so we can work out how much fat and carbohydrates we need. As protein is 4 calories per gram, we multiplied the amount of grams by 4 to get our total amount of calories from protein which for the example 150lb individual was 600 when cutting and 420 when bulking.
Fat & Carbohydrates
Moving on to the ‘energy’ macros as that’s they’re main responsibility, you’ve most likely heard at some point that one of these is bad for you. Yet, you’ll be pleased to hear that’s not the case. In reality, as long as you keep your calories the same, then you can eat the ratio of carbohydrates to fat that suits you.
Many people lose a substantial amount of weight by cutting out all carbs, but this doesn’t make them evil. This type of diet is called ‘keto’ and puts us in a state of ‘ketogenic’. We can enter this state either through fasting or limiting the amount of carbohydrates we ingest per day to under 50 grams. It is true that when you’re in a ketogenic you burn more fat. However, that’s because you’re ingesting more fat. If you eat more carbs, then you’re going to burn more carbs. Yet, studies have shown that when calories and protein are equated, ketogenic diets have no beneficial effects on fat loss over and above that of any other diet.
There are however, essential fats which is why there’s a minimum requirement for fat intake per day. The reason you can eliminate all carbohydrates with no serious repercussions is because there are no essential carbohydrates. Yet, carbohydrates have been shown time and time again to be beneficial for athletic performance. This means that if you care about your performance in the gym, then having at least a moderate intake of carbohydrates will be the best approach.
Once again, it’s important to stress the effectiveness of individuality. Just because something works for one of your friends doesn’t mean it will work for you. You might thrive on a ketogenic diet or you might find limiting your fats to be the best approach. Track your diet, work out what’s best for you and take it from there.
So, we’re currently left with 1500 calories for our cutting person and 2380 calories for our bulking person. As a starting point let’s do a 60/40 split of carbohydrates and fats.
- Fat loss: 60% of 1500 is 900. 900 divided by 4 (as carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram) equals 225. This means we’d need 225 grams of carbohydrates. 40% of 1500 is 600. 600 divided by 9 (as fat has 9 calories per gram) equals 67. So, we would need 67 grams of fat.
- Muscle gain: 60% of 2380 equals 1428. 1428 divided by 4 (as carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram) equals 357 grams. 40% of 2380 equals 952. 952 divided by 9 (as fat has 9 calories per gram) equals 106. This means we’d need 106 grams of fat.
In total this means our 150lbs individual would need:
- Fat loss
- 150 grams of protein
- 225 grams of carbohydrates
- 67 grams of fat
This makes for a total of 2,103 calories.
- Muscle gain
- 105 grams of protein
- 357 grams of carbohydrates
- 106 grams of fat
This makes for a total of 2802 calories.
Start with these calorie and macronutrient goals based upon your own bodyweight and see how they affect you. If you’re not losing weight but don’t want to eat less, try increasing your activity or swapping some of the carbohydrate and fat calories for protein. If you’re training your butt off but can’t seem to build muscle, then all you have to do is eat more. It really is as simple as that.
Many of you won’t want to track your calories day in and day out, and that’s perfectly fine. Instead set aside two days for tracking each week and don’t consciously change your diet. This will give you a good view of the foods you’re eating and a rough estimate of the total calories you’re getting in each day.
Finally, just enjoy the process. Changing your body in any respect is never quick, so you need to find a way to fall in love with the process. Try new things, experiment a little, Soon enough you’ll get into an easy groove and everything with fall into place.


Missionary work is a cornerstone of the Mormon Church. Mormons have been taught through the scriptures that it is their role to “teach all nations” the truthfulness of Jesus Christ’s message. According to Mormon Newsroom,
More than 85,000 [full-time] missionaries are serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at any one time. Most are young people under the age of 25, serving in more than 400 missions throughout the world.
Missionaries can be single men between the ages of 18 and 25, single women over the age of 19 or retired couples. Missionaries work with a companion of the same gender during their mission, with the exception of couples, who work with their spouse. Single men serve missions for two years and single women serve missions for 18 months.
Missionaries receive their assignment from Church headquarters and are sent only to countries where governments allow the Church to operate. Missionaries do not request their area of assignment and do not know beforehand whether they will be required to learn a language.
For the first time, young women amount for slightly over half of new missionary applications. Over 1,000,000 Latter-day Saints have served missions since the Church was founded. The success of Mormon missionaries and the missionary program is evident through the number of people converting to the Mormon faith each year.
During missionary service, Mormon missionaries suspend their usual activity in educational, vocational, and family pursuits in order to serve. Missionaries pay for their own monthly expenses while in the mission field, though the Church pays for transportation costs to and from the field of service. In 2015 the monthly cost for young people serving a mission was $400. Senior missionaries, however, pay monthly expenses demanded by the areas where they serve. In 2015 the cheapest missions were in South America, India, and the Philippines, while the most expensive missions were in Europe.
In addition to teaching the gospel of, missionaries provide valuable community service. Indeed, some missions are service, rather than proselyting missions. An example would be Humanitarian Aid missionaries.
Senior missionaries serve for 6 months to two years, and may give very specialized service based on their former vocational experience and hobbies. Some senior missionaries who perform “service missions” are able to live at home while serving in some capacity. This enables seniors with financial or health problems to be able to serve. At the end of 2014, there were 30,404 Service Missionaries.
Mission presidents serve for three years and are supported financially by the Church during their term of service.
Young people with disabilities are increasingly able to serve, as the Mormon Church takes the gospel online. Online missions have been very successful. Most contacts come through Mormon.org, which gives basic information about the Church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. People who go to the site can chat with a missionary at their leisure. This relaxed method of communication enables the curious to ask any sort of question or even chat at times when they have special needs.
There are also very short, very specialized missions, such as those for youth for the summer, who act and perform in Nauvoo.
Missionaries don’t “sell” the gospel, but present the tenets of the Church, ask investigators to read the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, and then to pray for a witness from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true, and the Church is true. A spiritual experience in response to prayer helps converts anchor themselves in their personal relationship with Christ and not the likable missionaries. Missionaries are also transferred often to new locations, so converts don’t get too attached to them.
Training Mormon Missionaries
Mormon missionaries receive training before they go out into the “mission field.” Training is longer for those who must master a foreign language in order to teach the gospel. Training takes place in Missionary Training Centers (MTCs) located around the world, with the largest in Provo, Utah. In 2015 there were 15 MTCs. In addition to Provo, centers are located in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, England, Ghana, Guatemala, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa and Spain.
Even a few weeks of intensive training at an MTC, however, is not enough for a missionary to be able to serve well. Their schedules are rigorous, and living conditions can be entirely different than they are used to. Homesickness and culture shock must be faced and overcome. Especially since Mormon missionaries are being sent out a a younger age than they once were (until 2012 young men served at 19 and young women at 21), much training must occur in the home. A knowledge of scripture and responsibility in church and the community, even scouting, help prepare youth for the responsibility of missionary service.
All Mormon missionaries have made higher covenants in Mormon temples, so they are exemplars of committed Latter-day Saints living by the high standards demanded for temple attendance. All male missionaries hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, or higher priesthood of the Church.
Missionaries are called into one of over 400 missions worldwide. A “mission” is an area of administration with a “mission president” who oversees the missionary work in the area. Some missions are geographically small, and others are very large, depending on the Mormon presence in the area and local interest. For instance, the city of […]
All missionaries serving for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon missionaries, have one common goal in mind. That goal is to bring souls unto Christ. Missionaries throughout the world teach the same message of Jesus Christ and the blessings that can come from accepting Him into one’s life. Put simply, Mormon missionaries are sent to […]
People of different ages, backgrounds, genders, and skill levels are serving as Mormon missionaries throughout the world today. The basic prerequisites for serving as a Mormon missionary are faith in Jesus Christ, personal worthiness, and belief founded in the doctrines of the Mormon Church. To be a Mormon missionary, one must be a baptized, confirmed member of […]


Every time NASA lands a rover on Mars--or even makes the attempt--it is cause for celebration. On August 5th, the heavens themselves are aligning to mark the event.
Only a few hours before the Mars Science Lab spacecraft reaches the red planet and drops Curiosity on a hair-raising descent mission planners have dubbed the "seven minutes of terror," Mars itself will be put on a special show in the sunset skies of Earth: Together with Saturn and Spica (a blue giant star in the constellation Virgo), the Red Planet will form a "Martian Triangle" visible from almost all parts of our planet.
Go outside after sunset on August 5th and look west where the setting sun has just disappeared. As soon as the sky fades to black, a triangle of first-magnitude lights will pop out of the twilight. The vertices are Mars, Saturn, and Spica. Together, they form an equilateral triangle about 5 degrees on each side. This means you could hide the Martian Triangle behind your outstretched palm. It would also fit comfortably inside the bowl of the Big Dipper. The tightness of the triangle makes it extra eye-catching.
The three objects are very different: Mars is a small rocky planet relatively close to Earth; Saturn is a ringed gas giant halfway across the solar system; Spica is a massive binary star on the other side of our galactic spiral arm. Nevertheless, they shine with the same intensity as seen from Earth. On the scale of astronomical brightness, all three are ranked first magnitude. This makes them easy to see with the unaided eye.
Not long after the Martian Triangle follows the sun below the horizon, the real action begins:
At approximately 10:30 pm PDT, Curiosity's entry capsule will slam into the upper atmosphere of Mars raising temperatures around the heat shield to 2100 C--more than twice as hot as basaltic lava.
What happens next seems almost unbelievable. Because Curiosity is so much bigger and heavier than any previous rover, old ways of landing, such as air bags, wouldn't work. Mission planners had to come up with something new and unorthodox. Reporter Scott Gold of the LA Times described it this way:
"In the time it takes to drive to the grocery store, the spacecraft will change shape like a toy Transformer six times, slowing from 13,000 mph to 1.7 mph while using 76 pyrotechnic devices, ropes, knives and the largest supersonic parachute ever built."
At the end of the maneuver, a "Sky Crane" gently lowers the rover onto the floor of Gale Crater.
If the rover survives the hair-raising descent and lands intact as planned, it will mark the beginning of an extraordinary mission of discovery. Bristling with the most advanced sensors ever sent to Mars, the one-ton rover will spend the next two years (at least) finding out whether one of the most intriguing places in the solar system ever offered an environment favorable for microscopic life.
Let's just say, it's a good reason to go stand outside under the stars.
After the Martian Triangle sets, go inside and turn on NASA TV for the Mars landing itself. The real show is about to begin.


This housing report looks at housing typologies in Nepal, with a focus on traditional oval-shaped rural stone houses. This is a typical rural construction concentrated in the central mid-mountain region, particularly in the Kaski, Syangja, Parbat, and Baglung districts. (The country is divided into 75 administrative districts.) These primarily residential buildings are basically loose-fitting, load-bearing structures, constructed of uncoursed rubble stone masonry walls and a timber structure for the floor and roof. Village artisans play a pivotal role in these owner-builtbuildings. Because of the loss of integrity during an event, they are expected to be extremely vulnerable from the effects of an earthquake.


This is because older people tend to suffer from a combination of ailments brought on by aging, said the study, which was conducted by scientists from the University of Southern California, Harvard University, Columbia University, the University of Illinois at Chicago and other institutions.
“When we treat someone with cancer, or heart disease, or stroke, we are treating a manifestation or byproduct of biological aging -- the underlying process marches on unaltered by this approach to disease,” said Jay Olshansky, a professor at the University of Illinois School of Public Health in Chicago and a co-author of the study.
“This means that even if we succeed for a time in extending life by treating disease, either that disease or another will emerge with time….Slowing aging alters the risk of all diseases simultaneously by attacking the origins of all of the things that go wrong with us as we grow older.”
The study cited research into the genetics of centenarians and animal studies of caloric restriction, as well as hormone manipulation, altering insulin-signaling pathways, and removal of senescent cells as showing potential for delaying the aging process.
The study coincides with Google’s September announcement that its next startup, Calico, will focus on delaying aging and extending the human lifespan. Another California-based company, SENS research foundation, also seeks to repair the damage done in the aging process.
Currently, a long life does not necessarily mean a healthy life; disability rates have increased along with life expectancy, the study said. The current population of young Americans is expected to have higher incidences of health problems like obesity and diabetes than their older counterparts, according to projections using federal data.
The number of Americans over 65, now around 43 million, is expected to more than double in the next fifty years, to 106 million. Around 28 percent are currently disabled, and the decades-long gains in the functional status of older Americans ended in 2002, the study said.
Even modest scientific advancements in delayed aging would result in an additional 11.7 million healthy people over 65 by 2060, according to the study. It would also raise life expectancy by around 2.2 years.
Delaying aging would be costly because of longer entitlement outlays, but the study said that the costs could be offset by raising the age for official Social Security retirement and Medicare eligibility to 68. It also predicted that delaying aging could save $7.1 trillion in the next fifty years, as people stay in the workforce longer and live without having major medical expenses associate with aging.


“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
The quote has been ascribed to a lot of different people, including Peter Drucker and computer scientist Alan Kay. But according to the Quote Investigator,
“The earliest evidence appeared in 1963 in the book “Inventing the Future” written by Dennis Gabor who was later awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in holography:
“We are still the masters of our fate. Rational thinking, even assisted by any conceivable electronic computers, cannot predict the future. All it can do is to map out the probability space as it appears at the present and which will be different tomorrow when one of the infinity of possible states will have materialized. Technological and social inventions are broadening this probability space all the time; it is now incomparably larger than it was before the industrial revolution—for good or for evil.
“The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented. It was man’s ability to invent which has made human society what it is. The mental processes of inventions are still mysterious. They are rational but not logical, that is to say, not deductive.”
I.e., we can speculate — as we’ve been doing in this series — about where present trends might take us, but it’s useful to remember that “we are still the masters of our fate.” We can shape where those trends take us by engaging with them, and thus we can invent the future — the future we want, not just the one that will happen to us.
As Dr. Gabor points out, the process by which we do that is “rational but not logical.” We looked at the mindfulness trend earlier In this series. In that spirit, how about we might try a mindfulness approach to creating the future for ourselves? If you’re game, here’s a simple exercise in four steps:
- Pick one of the predictions I’ve made. Go ahead, we’ll wait. Is there one in particular that has a lot of energy for you, so that when you read it you say, “Oh yeah!” Or if there are several, is there a theme that runs across them? Don’t over-think – just go where you feel a tug – the stronger the better.
- Express it as a goal or intention — something you are committed to making happen. Complete this sentence, filling in the blank: “My response to this prediction is to create ________________.” Maybe it’s a career or practice shift, or something personal. It doesn’t matter what your goal is. What matters is your commitment to it.
- Beatify it. Yes, you read that right. No, we’re not making anyone a saint here, we’re using “beatify” in the sense of “extreme blissful happiness.” Yes, you read that right, too. What we’re after here is to take your goal/intention and take it to an extreme level of emotional reward/satisfaction. What would creating it give you that you don’t have now and would really like to have? How would it revolutionize you, your career?
- Watch where your thoughts go with this. What ideas and feelings come up?. Be prepared to write fast and take good notes — the energy of the idea that grabbed you plus your commitment to it will pop the cork on your creativity.
That’s it. Have fun with it. Use it for as many predictions as you like. And then…
Welcome to the future — the one you’re creating.


October 23-31st is National Red Ribbon Week. It’s an awareness, education, and advocacy effort by the National Family Partnership (formerly the National Federation for Drug Free Youth). They invite us to take the following pledge:
As parents and citizens, we will talk to our children and the children in our lives about the dangers of drug abuse.
- We will set clear rules for our children about not using drugs.
- We will set a good example for our children by not using illegal drugs or medicine without a prescription.
- We will monitor our children’s behavior and enforce appropriate consequences, so that our rules are respected.
- We will encourage family and friends to follow the same guidelines to keep children safe from substance abuse.
The Family Partnership’s research shows that kids whose parents talk to them regularly about the dangers of drug use are 42% less likely to use drugs, yet only about 25% of kids surveyed identify having those discussions with their families.
I know the feel good efforts of these folks are well intended. The best investment we can make in overcoming our addiction epidemic is prevention. It’s just nowhere near enough. I note that this organization formed in 1980 (the “Just Say No!” era). The pledge above is easy to make at face value until you consider it carefully:
“…our children and the children in our lives.”
What’s our comfort level talking to kids who aren’t ours about life choices? How readily do we show concern for their home lives? Too many of us are overly cautious about connecting to other people’s kids. I have a hundred kids. They’re mine because they’re nobody’s.
“We will set clear rules about not using drugs.”
Right, that’ll work. I agree that it’s better than not addressing it at all but I have yet to meet a kid who declined drugs because “Mom told me not to.” That leads us to…
“We will set a good example by not using illegal drugs…”
Ok, sure – and how about legal drugs like alcohol (conspicuously absent from the plege)? What else goes into that example? Kids whose needs aren’t met are at exponentially higher risk for drug use. Kids who lack love and acceptance are at greater risk. Where do we take the pledge to be men and women who model compassion, empathy, kindness and being part of a community?
“We will monitor our children’s behavior…”
Is that the same as being involved in their daily lives? I raised two teenagers. I know it’s hard to maintain those connections when they seem to be pushing us away at every turn. I also know that monitoring alone is authoritative and I have yet to meet an at risk adolescent that doesn’t have huge issues with authority.
Better to build them up. Better to follow the simple brilliance of Frederick Douglass:
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men (and women).”
Meeting the needs of our children is a community responsibility. If you want to help curb addiction, invest in every child you meet. Feeling valued and a part of is the best defense against developing substance use and addiction. Show up. Volunteer. Mentor. Coach. Teach by example and help us save lives.


Telling the patient and the family the bad news -- it's a daunting first-time experience for physicians and a staple of television medical dramas frequently portrayed as "There's a first time for everything. Just get out there and do it." But in real life, how do medical/health professionals learn to communicate a less than positive diagnosis or prognosis of an illness or -- even worse -- the death of a loved one?
Two papers published in the August issue of Simulation in Healthcare: the Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, explore recent studies in "real life" teaching approaches that seek to improve the necessary communications skills in breaking bad news.
In "Evaluation of the Impact of a Simulation-Enhanced Breaking Bad News Workshop in Pediatrics," medical educators report on a simulation-based training that, according to the ratings of participating pediatric residents, produced a 100% improvement in their communication skills. Most importantly, when evaluating the residents' post-workshop skills, parents who had previously received "bad news" and experts [a physician and bereavement social worker] reported improvement in 14 of 17 of the communications skills measured. Authors Kathleen Tobler, M.D., Estee Grant, M.D., and Cecile Marczinkski, PhD of Alberta Children's Hospital in Alberta, Canada, developed their simulation-based workshop -- which featured teaching scenarios with actors, observations, and debriefings -- because "the way news is communicated is highly memorable and has a significant impact on a family's coping and experience going forward." They also observed that "physicians consistently identify a desire and need for further education" in developing these communications skills.
The second article, "Teaching Communications Skills -- Using Action Methods to Enhance Role-Play in Problem-Based Learning," illustrates the use of structured techniques, including "action methods" brought from psychodrama and sociodrama. Authors Walter Baile, M.D. and Adam Blatner, M.D. at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, found such methods, including role-creation, doubling, role-reversal, group-processing, and role-training, can substantially enhance the effectiveness of role-play to teach communication skills for challenging conversations. A particularly effective method in creating empathy and group involvement is "doubling," where participants watching a role-play are invited to stand behind the chair occupied by the learner playing a character, imagine what the learner might be feeling or thinking, and speak their thoughts in the first person as if they were a voice-over or the learner's "alter-ego." The authors found this technique and the others they used can also reveal important unspoken thoughts and emotions. Attending to hidden feelings and thoughts and using self-reflection to anchor new learning can, for example, "raise awareness of how a doctor's own anxiety can lead them to avoid end-of-life discussions with patients and families or to be overly optimistic about available treatments."
The journal's founding and current editor-in-chief, David Gaba, M.D. of Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans' Administration Palo Alto Health Care System, notes that "people often think about simulation in terms of teaching the clinical and technical skills in healthcare, but it is increasingly being used to teach a variety of non-technical skills." He added that "these papers delve into the important skills of communication, whether with patients, families, or co-workers. I chose the first paper on bad news disclosure in pediatrics because it provides actual data on the impact of such training, and in a particularly challenging task; the second because it introduces "action methods" -- from psychodrama and socoiodrama -- that are new to the simulation community. While many of us use role-play in our simulation teaching, the additional techniques presented in these papers may greatly enhance our work."
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The lake that time forgot
After 20 million years below the Antarctic ice, Lake Vostok will finally reveal its secrets
At the bottom of the Earth, two miles below Antarctica’s ice sheet, scientists have broken a 20-million-year silence. A Russian team has drilled 3,770 metres (2.3 miles) through the polar ice to a vast freshwater lake, called Lake Vostok. It has lain undisturbed for four times as long as human beings have been separate from apes.
It has taken the team 22 years to drill through, and the day after they achieved their goal they had to leave, before the brief Antarctic summer came to an end and the air became too cold for aeroplanes to fly. So it will not be until December that any frozen samples can be retrieved, and not until the end of next year that liquid water from the vast lake, as large as Lake Ontario, will be examined.
As well as the physical peril for the researchers, there is the risk of contaminating this most untouched of wildernesses – so the team are going to extraordinary lengths to avoid bringing the germs and chemicals of the outside world into Vostok’s black depths.
When they do bring samples to the surface, what do they hope to find? Dr Lewis Dartnell, an astrobiologist at University College London, says that for the study of life, both on Earth and elsewhere in the universe, it could be a breakthrough. “It’s a pristine environment,” he says. “It’s like discovering a lost world – we have no idea what’s in there, after 20 million years sealed off from the rest of the biosphere. Even if it’s only microbial life we find, it’s a completely new habitat.”
Its self-contained nature will also help us. Fully understanding the carbon and nitrogen cycles, and the behaviour of other nutrients and elements, should give a clue to how they work on Earth as a whole. Yet it is as a mirror of other worlds that Vostok is most exciting. There are a few places on Earth – the Atacama Desert in Chile, or the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica – that are analogues of Mars: cold, dry and harsh. Lake Vostok and the other sub-surface lakes of Antarctica are analogues for Europa, Jupiter’s ice-moon, which is considered the most likely place in the solar system for life to be found.
“The Europan ocean is also miles deep below solid ice and doesn’t have any sunlight,” says Dr Dartnell. “So life in Lake Vostok would be in a very similar environment. You don’t get to rely on plants, or the oxygen or food they produce.” Instead, life would be geothermal, relying on the heat of the planet, or chemo-autotrophic, relying on energy from inorganic ions.
This world will be one of utter dark, incredible cold, and crushing pressure: more than two and a half tons per square inch. But, weirdly, it’s not impossible that there will be complex life down there. “The pressure isn’t a problem, because you find animal life at very high pressures at the bottom of the ocean,” says Dr Dartnell. Crabs and fish live in the Challenger Deep, seven miles below the surface of the Pacific, at pressures of well over 10 tons per square inch. Similarly, the cold isn’t a problem: there are insect-like creatures called ice crawlers that live on frozen mountaintops at -20C (-4F), with natural antifreeze in their bodies.
What may limit the size and complexity of the life that exists in Vostok’s pressure-freezer is the amount of energy and oxygen. “There probably isn’t enough energy in the system for animal life,” says Dr Dartnell. “And Vostok is almost certainly anoxic – there’s no oxygen dissolved there. Until a year or so ago, there was not a single example of an animal that could spend its life cycle without oxygen.”
The discovery of an anaerobic animal, in the sediment at the bottom of the Mediterranean last year, overturned a lot of what was thought to be known about animal life, but the odds against it happening again are high. But as Dr Dartnell says, whatever we find, “it’s going to be special stuff, unique stuff, lifeforms we’ve never enountered before”. And it will shed new light on distant worlds.
If nothing else, surely the Indyref will teach us all to stop paying attention to outlier polls
September 19th, 2014 4:20
Good night to bury bad news? As Scottish count continues, Lib Dems quietly announce that Mike Hancock has quit
September 19th, 2014 0:28
Without exit polls, what is the BBC meant to talk about for the next four hours?
September 18th, 2014 23:33
Be grateful for the Met Office. It basically gets stuff right
September 15th, 2014 13:03
Why diamonds will always be everyone’s best friend
September 11th, 2014 7:52


Talking from 9 to 5: Chapter 2
Unnecessary apologies in social settings are conversational rituals intended to solve misunderstandings. However, needlessly admitting a fault in which the blame is not equally shared can place one party in a subordinate position. The intent of ritual apologies is for both parties to accept responsibility and likewise, save face together.
When an individual habitually apologizes in conversations, it creates a negative impression upon others. The speaker appears to be insecure and lack confidence. Similarly, ritual thanks are often expressed and require mutuality to maintain an equal balance between speakers. Tannen evaluates:
“All these rituals depend on mutuality. If one person apologizes and the other simply accepts the apology, or if one person is doing all the thanking, then the result is an imbalance—and a loss of face” (57).
Typically, women have incorporated these conversational rituals as habits in attempt to appear congenial and considerate. Conversely, men favor ritual opposition and initiate arguments with opponents to determine logical flaws. Women may perceive these challenges as personal attacks, especially if they are unaccustomed to more aggressive environments.
Furthermore, women tend to solicit the opinions of others before executing a decision. Once again, this gives an impression of uncertainty. Tannen claims:
“Everything you say becomes evidence of your competence, or lack of it. Most jobs, especially high-level ones, involve the need to make decisions. Someone who appears to need help making decisions can easily be judged negatively” (62-63).
Additionally, women are more prone to complimenting others in the workplace, even if they think of criticisms. Meanwhile, men are less involved in asserting praise and tend to approach subordinates only if problems arise. As a result, women place themselves in an inferior position if their compliments are not returned and may think their male superiors are dissatisfied with their work.
Women gravitate toward these rituals because interactions with other women have trained them to not assume a one-up position. In fact, women’s conversational rituals often include self-deprecating speech but other women reciprocate the ritual, maintaining equality.
Tannen concludes that both conversational rituals are conventional, however, each works best when both parties share the same ritual. Misunderstandings are frequently avoided if the conversational styles are the same.
1) Which conversational rituals do you use on a regular basis?
2) Are there ways you will reevaluate your speech patterns after reading this chapter?
3) Why do you think women tend to apologize and thank others more than men?


Friday, December 1st marks the 30th World AIDS Day.
One aim of the event is to show support for people living with HIV, the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. Another aim is to remember the people who have died from conditions related to AIDS.
Since 1984, about 35 million people have died from HIV and AIDS-related diseases. This number makes "it one of the most destructive pandemics in history," according to the World AIDS Day website.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, or UNAIDS, released a report before the World Day observances on Friday.
The report noted progress in containing HIV. It said 21 million people who have the virus are getting treatment. That number is more than half of all people living with HIV.
The UN's goal is to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030.
American Anthony Fauci has been working in the fight against AIDS since the 1980's. At that time, an HIV infection was considered a death sentence. Now people with the virus can expect to have a normal life if they get treatment.
Fauci heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the United States government’s National Institutes of Health. He says that we have "the ability to end the pandemic as we know it."
"What I mean is that we have extraordinarily effective drugs. But recently those drugs have been shown – over the past few years – not only to save lives of the people who take the drugs, but also to bring the level of virus in an infected person so low, below detectable level, that it makes it virtually impossible for that person to transmit the virus to someone else."
However, people taking medications face the same problems as anyone else who takes medicines on a daily basis.
Not everyone remembers to take their medications, and doctors’ prescriptions often need to be renewed.
Sixteen million people infected with HIV are not getting treatment. Many in this group do not know they have the disease, so they continue to spread the virus. Some of them are lacking in healthcare, so they don't get tested.
UNAIDS reports that some 1.8 million people became infected with HIV in 2016. That estimate is 39 percent lower than the number of newly-infected people in the late 1990s.
In African countries south of the Sahara Desert, new HIV infections have fallen by 48 percent since 2000.
However, the report notes that new HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have risen by 60 percent since 2010. In addition, AIDS-related deaths have increased by 27 percent.
Even with the tools we have, Fauci does not see an end to the AIDS pandemic without an HIV vaccine.
Several years ago, researchers tested an experimental AIDS vaccine in Thailand. That vaccine was 31 percent effective.
By comparison, the measles vaccine protects up to 99 percent of those who get vaccinated.
Fauci told VOA he is not sure if scientists can develop an AIDS vaccine that would be as effective. But he adds that even a vaccine with 50 or 60 percent effectiveness combined with other measures "could turn around the trajectory of the epidemic and essentially end it as we know it."
Another vaccine trial is taking place in South Africa. The results will not be available until 2019 at the earliest, and there is no way of telling if that vaccine will be good enough to help end AIDS.
For now, testing, anti-AIDS drugs, and changes in behavior are three tools to limit the spread of AIDS, according to UNAIDS.
Behavioral change includes limiting the number of sexual partners, using clean needles and syringes, and using condoms during sexual activity.
Both Fauci and UNAIDS say ending AIDS is up to the world community – and how much effort and money it is willing to use toward the goal.
I'm John Russell.
Carol Pearson reported on this story for VOANews.com. John Russell adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.
Words in This Story
pandemic – n. a situation in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people over a wide area
according – adv. as stated by or in
detectable – adj. capable of being discovered or noticed
transmit – v. to cause (a virus or disease) to be given to others
medication – n. a substance used in treating disease or easing pain
prescription – n. written directions for use of a medicine
trajectory – n. the curved path along which something (such as a rocket) moves through the air or through space -- often used figuratively to describe a process of change or development that leads toward a particular result
needle – n. a very thin, pointed steel tube that is pushed through the skin so that something (such as a drug) can be put into your body or so that blood or other fluids can be taken from it
condom – n. a thin rubber covering that a man wears during sex to prevent a woman from becoming pregnant or to prevent the spread of diseases


An influential movement in literary criticism in the mid 20th century, which stressed the importance of focusing on the text itself rather than being concerned with external biographical or social considerations. Associated with the movement were John Crowe Ransom, who first used the term in 1941, I. A. Richards, and Cleanth Brooks.
Definition of New Criticism in:
- The US English dictionary


Black and White in Indiana
Indiana Business Research Center, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
Statistics and emotions do not generally coincide, but the innocuous looking documents titled working papers numbers 56 and 76 from the U.S. Census Bureau contain a chilling reminder of the early decades in our national and state history. The plain blue covers and inexpensive binding display lengthy titles generally reflective of research tomes, Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals by Race, 1790 to 1990, and by Hispanic Origin, 1790 to 1990.
The working papers, written and compiled by one of the Census Bureau’s talented and knowledgeable statisticians, Campbell Gibson, provide us with two important historical documents.(1,2) These documents comprise a numerical history lesson, documenting the changing structure of race in our states and larger cities since the first census of the United States was conducted, as constitutionally mandated, in 1790.
A Compelling Reminder of American History
In 21st century America, we are far removed from the ways of life of the founding Americans. But one look at a simple table reveals how people living in the United States of America were counted by federal officials. It also serves as an uncomforting reminder of the ways we were then able to define human beings as being free or slave and in later decades, attempting to numerically define how black a person was if their lineage was of mixed races. While Indiana has offered hope to African Americans, some believe that the latest census in 2000 harkened back to those times by including the new option for checking all races that apply, again bringing up the question of how much of a race someone is with a numbing array of 164 racial combinations being possible.
As we can see in Table 1, the black or African American population prior to the Civil War was counted specifically by census takers in three ways. First, it was determined if the persons were black (or negro in the terminology of the times). Then, those persons were determined to be either free or slave. It is important to note here that such questions were not asked of the individuals and this is true even today. Rather, the question was posed to the head of the household. The head of the household told the census taker how many people were part of his household (since generally it was a male to whom the census taker turned for responses) and to indicate what their status was—wife, child, other relation, or slave. In the case of so-termed free blacks, the head of their household was interviewed by the census taker, unless they were workers living on a householder’s land.
Black Population Prior to the Civil War, as Counted by the Census
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The American decennial census has long been a mirror of the society it counts and since race questions have changed with almost every census during our history, we can see the way America continues to grapple with the issue of race.
In the early censuses of 1790 to 1840, the term negro was the only racial identifier for blacks, with the concept of being free or slave as an additional characteristic. However, in later censuses, as Gibson writes, “enumerators were instructed to identify Mulattoes (and Quadroons and Octoroons in 1890) among the Black population.” Since, as the author further notes, such delineations were of dubious accuracy, they were not included in the reports cited here. Indeed, over much of this country’s history of defining race, the issue of who is black became a mathematical formula, once based on the notion that each person consists of 128 parts and the combination of white and black in those parts would determine how much a negro someone was and ergo, such terminology as mulatto or quadroon.
Black and White Population Trends in Indiana
While Indiana has been home to African Americans since the time of the Indiana territory (which under the 1787 Northwest Territory Ordinance was free), the state had few blacks who were counted as slaves; by 1830 and 1840, only three such individuals were counted in the entire state. Indiana historians indicate that many black pioneers settling in Indiana were farmers from Virginia and North Carolina, likely fleeing subjugation in those states.(3) By the time of the Civil War, no slaves were enumerated in the Hoosier State. The same cannot be said for the United States as a whole, in which the vast majority of blacks were slaves—nearly four million were counted just prior to the war. Between 1800 and 1860, a majority of blacks were also enslaved in the Midwestern states (see Figure 1).
Slave Population as a Percent of the Total Black Population Prior to the
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However, lest we believe Indiana was immune to these issues, the Indiana Constitution of 1851 had an exclusionary clause (Article 13) that restricted blacks from settling in Indiana (invalidated in 1866).(4) We see direct evidence of this in the census counts. The black population in Indiana was more than doubling each decade between 1820 and 1850 by the addition of at least 2,000 persons. Suddenly, between 1850 and 1860, there was growth of only 200 black persons.
Post-Civil War Trends
Indiana’s black population growth was slow but steady during the decades after the war. African Americans continued to settle in Indiana throughout the 1900s, with growth rates in percentage terms consistently higher than those of whites (see Figure 2). The exception was the time period between 1900 and 1910, when the growth in population was 7.4 percent for whites and only 4.9 percent for blacks.
Percent Change in Black and White Populations in Indiana, 1900 to 2000
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By 1930, the count of African Americans moved past the 100,000 person mark, and by 1960, there were 269,000 counted as residents. This 1960 count nearly doubled by Census 2000, to more than 500,000 blacks (see Figure 3).
Indiana’s Black Population, 1800 to 2000
While early African American settlers were predominantly farmers, the greatest population growth of this group over time was in the urban areas of the state. Between censuses, the percentage growth of seven of Indiana’s largest cities and towns (as included in the Census Bureau publication cited) was often considerable.
Some examples include the 1,402 percent increase in the black population of Evansville between 1860 and 1870 and a 1,284 percent increase in the black population of the new city of Gary between 1910 and 1920, driven largely by the new steel mills in that part of the state (see Table 2). New Albany, on the other hand, was the only one of these seven large cities to lose black population prior to the 1990 Census. Between 1910 and 1940, a period of significant migration of blacks to more northern industrial areas, New Albany lost hundreds of blacks each year, although its African American population has been relatively consistent with between 1,200 and 2,200 people. Indianapolis has the largest African American population in the state, with more than 200,000 counted in Census 2000.
Percent Change in Black Population, Early 1800s to 1990
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Census data help us to quantify our population and are reflective of societal trends in our country, states, and communities. However, while the numbers provide us with indications of the effects of our customs and laws as enforced at the time, we must explore further into our own experiences and the research of historians to gain deeper insights.
- Campbell Gibson and Kay Jung, Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals by Race, 1790 to 1990, and by Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, for Large Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States, Working Paper No. 76, prepared by the Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau (Washington, D.C., February 2005). Available at www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html.
- Campbell Gibson and Kay Jung, Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals by Race, 1790 to 1990, and by Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, for the United States, Regions, Divisions, and States, Working Paper No. 56, prepared by the Population Division, U. S. Census Bureau (Washington, D.C., September 2002).
- Indiana Historical Bureau, Black Settlers in Indiana (1993). Available at http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/publications/7015.pdf
- The Constitution of 1851 (original). Available at www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/resources/constarticle13.html.


This commentary was published in CALmatters on February 10, 2020.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has put forward a framework for managing water and habitat in the Delta and its watershed. As far as we can tell, no one is very happy with the framework—and that may be a good sign.
The framework is the product of years of effort to negotiate an agreement among water users, other stakeholders, and regulatory agencies. Details are yet to be worked out, including firm commitments for water and funding, along with critical negotiations with the federal government on how to cooperatively manage upstream dams and the Delta pumps. Ultimately, the package has to be acceptable to state and federal regulators.
The scope of this effort is vast.
Over the next 15 years, the proposal is to spend more than $5 billion on new river and floodplain habitat to benefit salmon and other native fish species.
This funding will also pay for a mix of new water projects, water purchases, and fallowing of farmland will provide additional water for the environment. Additionally, new governance and science programs will manage the water and habitat in the Delta, as well as the rivers that flow into it.
For many years and in multiple publications by the Public Policy Institute of California, we have been calling for a negotiated agreement in the Delta and its watershed. This agreement needs robust management that includes shared governance, reliable funding, strong science support, and regulatory backstops if parties fail to live up to their obligations.
These must-haves are outlined in our recent report: A Path Forward for California’s Freshwater Ecosystems.
It is also time to shift away from the traditional approach to addressing environmental concerns in the Delta, which has overemphasized a handful of endangered fishes and a single management tool: the volume of water dedicated to these fishes.
Success will require a broad portfolio of actions to manage the connections between water, land, and the many species—including humans—who rely on healthy ecosystems. The proposed framework makes an earnest attempt to take this broader approach.
A negotiated agreement will, by necessity, be imperfect and controversial. That’s because it is just not possible to satisfy all interests in the Delta. The trade-offs are real, sometimes painful, and can only be resolved through compromise.
Many Delta combatants are dug in, committed to fighting the same battles with the same arguments that they have been using for decades.
We can appreciate why many parties would want to hold out for a better deal, and absent that, turn to the courts in the hopes of getting their way. But as seasoned veterans of the Delta know well, the delay-and-litigate strategy has inherent risks because the outcomes are hard to predict.
In the meantime, the Delta and its watershed are changing rapidly—faster than science and management can keep up.
Many factors are to blame, including current and historic land and water management, the introduction of innumerable non-native species, declining water quality, the inexorable rise of sea level, and the changing climate.
This important ecosystem needs attention now, before conditions deteriorate further.
An agreement, with all its imperfections, provides some measure of certainty to water users and the environment alike.
If a coalition of interests sign on, even if reluctantly, the likelihood of success goes up, because all parties will have an interest in making the agreement work.
Perhaps most importantly, an agreement is the only way to comprehensively address the Delta’s problems. Drawn-out legal battles over how much water is allocated to the environment ignore all the other factors that affect ecosystem health.
We are not endorsing the specific contents of the Newsom Administration’s proposed framework. But we believe it has the “bones” of an eventual agreement that can be durable and binding, avoiding lengthy delays in addressing the Delta’s many problems.
The many Delta interests should persevere and try to make this agreement happen. This is an opportunity—the kind that comes along rarely—to shift from fighting about the Delta’s future to actually shaping it.


St. James’s Park, is the oldest castle garden owned by the British monarchy. The park is located in City of Westminster, Central London with an area of 23 hectares. St. James’s Park is surrounded by three palaces namely Buckingham Palace in the west, St James’s Palace in the north and the Palace of Westminster or now known as the House of Parliament in the south. In the middle of the park there is a lake there are two islands, the West Island and Duck Island.
St. James’s Park in antiquity is a forest with vast expanse of grassland with many swamps. This area was then used as agricultural land and livestock. In the 13th century, established a special hospital for leprosy patients, namely St. James’s Hospital. Since then, the area around the hospital named St. James’s area.
Most areas of St. James’s this form of swamps because it is one place that is often impassable by the flood of the river Tyburn prior to the River Thames. A forest area accompanied by the swamp to make this place as an ideal place for hunting, one of the predilection of the king of England at that time, King Henry VIII. He then bought most of this area and make it as a place to hunt deer. In addition, he also established a castle in the area, known as the St. James’s Palace.
At that time, the official residence of the king was the Palace of Westminster. In the reign of King James I, precisely in 1603, this area, then dried and made into a park. A park with several ponds, lakes and even an island where they’re king put some pet animals such as camels, crocodiles or elephants. The park is known as the St. James’s Park.
At the time of King Charles II seized the throne, he ordered St. James’s Park was redesigned. He uses the services of the French landscaper namely Andre Dr Molet to change the appearance of the park. In the middle of the park created a small river along 2560 feet to the width is 126 feet, with a wide variety of trees planted by its side. In the reign of King Charles II is St. James’s Park opened to the public.
Some changes to the St James’s Park occurred in the 19th century to become a park with a more natural style. Small river in the middle of the park there is then converted into a lake there are two islands. Besides St. James’s Park, some of the surrounding areas were also built like Buckingham Palace, Regent’s Park and Regent’s Street.
The renovation was done under the direction of architect John Nash and the last big change until today. One of the main attractions of St. James’s Park is a lake located in the middle of the park. In the middle of the lake there are two small islands, namely West Island and Duck Island. A duck Island name given because of the many kinds of ducks and birds that live around the island and the lake. One duck species most widely viewed around the lake is Mallard, wild duck with green head, brown body, yellow beak with some sort of white lines on his neck.
In addition, there are also other types of ducks that are Tufted Duck who are migrants from Iceland and Northern Europe in winter. Tufted Duck is smaller than a mallard with most color is black with shades of white on the side. The uniqueness of the Tufted Duck is they have some sort of crest on the back of the head. Other types of British fowls that are around the lake are Shelduck, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Pintail, Shoveler, Goldeneye and Black Swan.
But of the many types of fowls, one of the most fowls that becomes an attraction in St. James’s Park is a Pelican bird. The Pelican bird first became residents of the park since 1664 as a gift from the Russian ambassador. Park visitors will be able to see this Pelican bird sunbathing or eating fresh fish in their favorite rock at 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. daily.
In addition to the lake with various types of poultry, St. James’s Park also has another beauty of the trees of various species of birds and mammals that live in old trees such as squirrels and bats. A flower garden with a semi-circular design with planted a variety of flowers that match the flower garden at Buckingham Palace. The flower garden is named Memorial Gardens, built in 1901 by Sir Aston Webb in memory of Queen Victoria.
In the area of St. James’s Park there are also several pieces of the facilities that can be used by visitors to rest. One of them is the Inn the Park restaurant is open throughout the season and offers a variety of delicious menus. The restaurant is open from 8:00 to 18:00, while on weekends open starting at 9:00. There is also a children’s playground. St. James’s Park is the oldest palace gardens and situated in the central London.


Cats possess the righting reflex which allows them to always land on their feet after a fall, even if they are dropped with their back towards the ground. At first, this ability may seem like it violates the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum; the cat starts with zero angular momentum and no external force acts on it, so it must turn its self over while maintaining zero angular momentum. To achieve this, a cat will bend its back, creating two different axes of rotation on its body, one on its front half and one on its back half. Next, the cat will tuck its front legs towards itself, lowering the moment of inertia of the front half, and rotate so its front half is facing the ground. Simultaneously, the cat will stretch its hind legs out, increasing the moment of inertia of its back half while it rotates in the opposite direction as the front half did to maintain zero angular momentum. Due to the back half's large inertia, the angular velocity of the back half will not be as big as the front half's and it will not rotate as much. Once the front half of the cat is facing the ground, the cat will rotate its hind legs to face the ground. To do this, the cat will straighten the front legs, increasing the moment of inertia and lowering the angular velocity. The hind legs are brought into the body, lowering the moment of inertia and increasing angular velocity. As a result, the rear end of body rotates to face the ground while the front half barely rotates due to its large inertia.


Sea cucumbers are marine invertebrates that live on the seafloor. They're named for their unusual oblong shape that resembles a fat cucumber. Although people occasionally eat sea cucumbers, these chubby, worm-like sea creatures aren't related to their namesake fruit (and they wouldn't make a very appetizing salad topping if you were expecting a crunchy, refreshing bite).
There are about 1,250 species of sea cucumber, all of which belong to the taxonomic class Holothuroidea. This class falls under the Echinodermata phylum, which also includes many other well-known marine invertebrates, such as sea stars, sea urchins and sand dollars, according to National Geographic.
Sea cucumbers range in size from about three-quarters of an inch (1.9 centimeters) to more than 6 feet long (1.8 meters) and live throughout the world's oceans, from nearshore shallow waters to the ocean's deepest trenches, according to the National Wildlife Federation. No matter the depth, their main residence is on the ocean floor, often partially buried in sand.
Related: 7 Bizarre Facts About the Ocean
Sea cucumbers, like all other echinoderms, exhibit radial symmetry, according to the University of California, Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology (UCMP). But instead of having five arms arranged in a circle like sea stars or sand dollars, sea cucumbers have five rows of tiny feet that run lengthwise down their bodies, from mouth to anus. Their tube-shaped feet serve mainly to anchor the limbless creatures to the seafloor, according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Sea cucumbers move across the seafloor by changing the water pressure in their feet; they increase the amount of water in their feet to stretch them out and release the water to contract them.
What do sea cucumbers eat?
As the creatures slowly meander about, they use the extra 20 to 30 little tube feet around their mouths to shovel everything in, including sand. They feed primarily on tiny pieces of algae and marine creatures, which get broken down into smaller and smaller pieces, similar to how earthworms break down organic matter in gardens, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).The sand that the sea cucumbers ingest passes straight through their system and comes out the other end in the form of a sandy poop log.
Along with the sand, sea cucumbers excrete byproducts that benefit ocean ecosystems, particularly coral reefs. A 2011 study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research found that sea cucumbers' natural digestion process gives their waste products a relatively high (or basic) pH, which means the water surrounding sea cucumber habitats is somewhat protected from ocean acidification. Sea cucumbers also excrete calcium carbonate, which is a primary ingredient in coral formation, and ammonia, which acts as a fertilizer and promotes coral growth.
Anatomy and reproduction
Sea cucumbers have a relatively simple internal anatomy, consisting of three main sections: digestive, respiratory and reproductive, according to the book "Marine Benthic Fauna of Chilean Patagonia" (Nature in Focus, 2010).
Although sea cucumbers don't have bones, many species of the animal have a rudimentary skeleton made of microscopic plates of calcium carbonate that lie loosely scattered underneath the skin, according to UCMP. Some species can align their skeletal plates when threatened so that their bodies become rigid, according to the University of Alaska Southeast.
The digestive tract consists of a long intestine coiled between the mouth and the anus that's approximately two to three times the length of the sea cucumber. Occasionally, if disturbed or stressed, sea cucumbers will expel their entire digestive system, but they can grow a replacement in just a few weeks, according to WHOI.
A sea cucumber's respiratory system is made up of two respiratory trees on either side of the digestive tract, according to the University of Alaska Southeast. Water flows into the body through the base of the two Y-shaped trees at the anus, and oxygen is transferred across a thin membrane into the body cavity.
Most species of sea cucumbers reproduce sexually via external fertilization, according to National Geographic. This means that the males release their sperm into the water and females release their eggs into the water, and hopefully a few egg and sperm run into each other. The animals must release hundreds of thousands of sperm and egg cells to increase the chances of fertilization occurring.
The sea cucumber larvae drift with the currents until they grow large enough to latch onto the ocean floor.
Scientists have identified at least 16 species of sea cucumber that can also reproduce asexually, by splitting in two, according to a 2017 article published in the journal Ecology and Evolution. Each half of the split sea cucumber regenerates the organs it's missing and essentially becomes a clone of the original animal.
People eat lots of sea cucumbers
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) categorizes a few species of sea cucumber (such as the brown sea cucumber, Isostichopus fuscus) as vulnerable or endangered. But most species are considered a species of least concern, or there are not enough data to make an accurate assessment of the species' population.
With the exception of some populations in temperate waters in the Northern Hemisphere, sea cucumbers are heavily fished, according to a 2010 report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Most of the animals that are harvested are exported to Asian markets, where sea cucumbers are considered a delicacy.
In some areas, such as Papua New Guinea, overfishing of sea cucumbers has completely decimated the local population, Cool Green Science reported. Much of the sea cucumber trade occurs on the black market, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The FAO has released guidelines for the sustainable harvesting of sea cucumbers around the world. These guidelines have become laws in some countries, but many places don't have the resources to enforce the regulations. As scientists continue to learn more about sea cucumbers, the FAO has revised its guidelines accordingly.
- Have you seen a sea cucumber recently? Figure out which species of sea cucumber you encountered with the Marine Species Identification Portal.
- Learn more about sea cucumbers in this video from the XL Catlin Seaview Survey.
- Watch another weird and rare video of sea cucumbers swimming, from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.