Sleep on fur to reduce asthma
Seeping on animal fur in the first three months of life might reduce the risk of asthma in later childhood a new study has found. The new research, presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress in Munich, suggests that exposure to the microbial environment in animal skin and fur could have a protective effect against asthma and allergies. Previous studies have suggested that exposure to a wider range of environments from a young age could be protective against asthma and allergies. These findings have not been confirmed conclusively in urban settings. In this new study, researchers investigated children from a city environment who had been exposed to animal skin by sleeping on the material shortly after birth.
New molecule may find alien life
Astronomers have discovered a new molecule in space, indicating the complex molecules needed for life may have their origins in interstellar space. Using the AlMA Observatory in Chile, they found the unusual carbon-based molecule — one with a branched structure — contained within a giant gas cloud in interstellar space. like finding a molecular needle in a cosmic haystack, astronomers detected radio waves emitted by the molecule called isopropyl cyanide. “This detection opens a new frontier in the complexity of molecules that can be formed in interstellar space and that might ultimately find their way to the surfaces of planets,” explained Rob Garrod, senior research associate at Cornell University’s centre for radiophysics and space research. The branched carbon structure of isopropyl cyanide is a common feature in molecules that are needed for life — such as amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Organic molecules usually found in these star-forming regions consist of a single backbone of carbon atoms arranged in a straight chain.
Sedentary part of autistic kids
Children with autism are more sedentary than their typically-developing peers, averaging 50 minutes less a day of moderate physical activity and 70 minutes more each day sitting, a study says. The findings, however, also showed that autism does not make children less fit to engage in physical activities. Children with autism perform as well as their typical peers on fitness assessments such as body mass index, aerobic fitness levels and flexibility, the findings showed. “The results were surprising but also encouraging because they show that children with autism are essentially on par with their peers when it comes to physical fitness activities,” said Megan MacDonald, assistant professor at Oregon State University in the US. Researchers tested the fitness and physical activity levels of 17 children with autism and 12 children without autism. Even though they were more sedentary, the children with autism lagged behind their peers on only one fitness measure, the strength test.
Earth's water older than the Sun
A significant fraction of our solar system's water is older than the Sun, indicating that abundant, organic-rich interstellar ices should probably be found in all young planetary systems, says pioneering research. New work from a team including Conel Alexander from Carnegie Mellon University found that much of our solar system's water likely originated as ices that formed in interstellar space. “If water in the early solar system was primarily inherited as ice from interstellar space, then it is likely that similar ices, along with the prebiotic organic matter that they contain, are abundant in most or all proto-planetary disks around forming stars,” Alexander explained. But if the early solar system's water was largely the result of local chemical processing during the Sun's birth, then it is possible that the abundance of water varies considerably in forming planetary systems, he pointed out.
Spend less time on video games
Few study suggests video game-playing for less than an hour a day is linked with better-adjusted children and teenagers. The research, carried out by Oxford University, found that young people who indulged in a little video game-playing were associated with being better adjusted than those who had never played or those who were on video games for three hours or more. The study finds no positive or negative effects for young people who played ‘moderately' between one to three hours a day. However, the study, suggests that the influence of video games on children, for good or for ill, is very small when compared with more ‘enduring' factors, such as whether the child is from a functioning family, their school relationships, and whether they are materially deprived. This is thought to be the first study to examine both the positive and negative effects of gaming using a representative sample of children and adolescents.