By Rachel Shulman •
November 21, 2009
Overeating on holidays like Thanksgiving is more than acceptable in our culture - it’s expected.
Why not binge on mashed potatoes, gravy, and pecan pie? Thanksgiving only comes once a year, after all. Sure, you might gain a few pounds over the holiday season, but you have until New Year’s to worry about those.
New research suggests that the holiday binge might have a less visible effect than the extra weight around your midsection. Switching from a healthy diet to one high in fat and sugar - even for just a day - might allow obesity-linked microbes to dominate the communities of microorganisms found in your gut.
In a possible solution to a marine chemistry mystery that has puzzled scientists for several decades, researchers have now calculated the contribution of teleost fish (bony fish) to marine carbonate (CO3) concentrations. They estimate that such fish secrete up to 15% of the ocean’s carbonate production, through their intestines, or guts (these are conservative estimates; the more liberal estimates show up to 45%).
This is important because sea water is saturated with calcium ions (Ca+2), which must be combined with carbonates to form the shells (as in bi-valves like clams and scallops) and habitat structures (as in gastropods, like conchs, and coral communities) made of Calcium carbonate (CaCO3). CaCO3 is a “neutral” (non ionic/reactive) and stable compound (within normal ocean ph ranges), and, with its plentiful constituent ions (Ca2+ and CO3-), it is an ideal material for marine creatures to utilize in constructing their shells and skeletons.
Researchers in have discovered ancient, extremophile life forms that survive with neither light nor oxygen underground in Antarctica.
From the surface, the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Eastern Antarctica appears to be one of the most desolate places on Earth. And indeed it is. Apart from a few glaciers, the land is ice-free. No animals live here, and what few plants are able to are simple planktonic forms. But recently, a team of researchers have discovered evidence of a thriving community of extremophile microbes thriving several hundred feet below the barren surface.
Overeating on holidays like Thanksgiving is more than acceptable in our culture - it’s expected.
