Beautiful Science

Do you know where the wettest place on earth is? No, it is not the ocean, the Mariana trench or your neighbours’ pond. It is in fact a place called Mawsynram, in the region of Meghalaya, India. Here holds the record for the highest average annual rainfall at a whopping 11,871mm. To put that into comparison New York has roughly 1170mm, surprisingly more than London with approximately 560mm.So why is this area so wet? To the south of the region is the Bay of Bengal, which has heavy monsoon seasons, and during monsoon season, warm moist winds carry northwards towards Meghalaya. The moisture is then concentrated as it hits the Nearby Khasi hills. As these hills are aligned side-on to the airflow it creates a significant uplift called an Orographic lift, which means the hills push up the moist air, and as it cools rapidly, rain producing clouds form on the windward side. Mountainous areas generally receive more rainfall than flat areas for this reason. Locals wear a special hat made of bamboo and banana leaf to help when working in the rain which covers their whole body but keeps hands free.Another fact is that dead wood rots and decays quicker in these conditions, so bridges have been developed here that are made out of live tree roots, trained and entangled over many years to form a bridge capable of being walked on!Oh and if you decide to visit the area, don’t forgot your umbrella.Do you know where the wettest place on earth is? No, it is not the ocean, the Mariana trench or your neighbours’ pond. It is in fact a place called Mawsynram, in the region of Meghalaya, India.

Here holds the record for the highest average annual rainfall at a whopping 11,871mm. To put that into comparison New York has roughly 1170mm, surprisingly more than London with approximately 560mm.

So why is this area so wet? To the south of the region is the Bay of Bengal, which has heavy monsoon seasons, and during monsoon season, warm moist winds carry northwards towards Meghalaya. The moisture is then concentrated as it hits the Nearby Khasi hills. As these hills are aligned side-on to the airflow it creates a significant uplift called an Orographic lift, which means the hills push up the moist air, and as it cools rapidly, rain producing clouds form on the windward side. Mountainous areas generally receive more rainfall than flat areas for this reason.

Locals wear a special hat made of bamboo and banana leaf to help when working in the rain which covers their whole body but keeps hands free.

Another fact is that dead wood rots and decays quicker in these conditions, so bridges have been developed here that are made out of live tree roots, trained and entangled over many years to form a bridge capable of being walked on!

It is one of the top 10 causes of deaths worldwide, and the world’s deadliest infectious disease.

In the past 200 years it has killed more than one billion people. More than Malaria, HIV and Aids, influenza, cholera and the plague combined.

In Ancient Greece it was called ‘Phthisis’, ‘Tabes’ in ancient Rome and ‘Schachepeth’ in Ancient Hebrew. It was also called the ‘white plague’ and the ‘captain of all these men of death’ before being given its official name. Tuberculosis, or TB for short.

Numbers are less drastic then they used to be but still 10 million people in 2017 fell ill with it and 1.6million people died from it, including 230,000 children. That is over 4000 humans every day.

TB still exists, and drug resistance is a continued threat.

So what is it, how does it work and what is being done to combat the disease?

 -         What is it?

2 billion people or one quarter of the population of the world has TB, in latent form. This means they have been infected with it but are not ill with the disease and cannot transmit it.

A person infected with TB have a 5-15% chance of it turning active and getting ill with it in their lifetime. People have a much higher risk of getting ill if they have a compromised immune system, those with malnutrition, diabetes or HIV for example. Children, pregnant women and the elderly also are at a higher risk.

So, what is it? TB is a disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This bacterium primarily infects the lungs, but it can also spread to other organs.

A person with active TB in their lungs can spread germs through the air when they cough, sneeze or spit. Just a few germs are enough to infect a person.

If you inhaled the bacteria by another person it travels down into the lungs, where it will begin to multiply. Your body’s defence system will engage, engulf and transport the bacteria to lymph nodes and try to kill or neutralize the bacteria. Most healthy people will kill the bacteria and have no symptoms afterwards. If your defence system can’t kill the bacteria but contains it this is when it is classed as latent. If the bacteria overwhelm the defence in the lungs and is not contained this will then be classed as active, and you will become ill.          

Even in the latent state the bacteria are dormant and can activate and spread in months or even years later. Having a low immune system as mentioned before heightens the risk. This is especially true in young children who do not have a fully developed immune system or people with HIV.

The disease is most common in the lungs but can spread to other parts of the body through the body’s bloodstream or lymphatic system.

 Typical symptoms of someone infected are:

-         A persistent cough, lasting more than 3 weeks.

-         Blood when coughing

-         A high temperature

-         Night sweats

-         Weight loss

-         Loss of appetite

-         Swelling in the neck

If you or anyone you know coughs up blood or has any of these symptoms for 3 weeks or more, you should see a doctor as soon as possible.

There are areas known as the 30 high burden areas where it is most common. 87% of new cases in 2017 occurred in these countries, and 2/3 of these were from 8 countries alone. These are; India, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa. Overall 95% of cases and deaths are in developing countries.

The vast majority of TB cases can be cured when medicines are available and administered properly. Infants in Countries with high infection rates are often given the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine, or BCG, but generally because of underfunding many infants are not and many adults go undiagnosed with TB until it is too late.

Without proper treatment 45% of people who get TB will die and nearly all of those who are HIV positive will die. Smoking also significantly increases the risk of getting infected and dying from the it. 8% of cases worldwide are connected to smoking.

When diagnosed, the standard course of treatment is 6 months of 4 antimicrobial drugs, which is normally enough to cure the patient fully. From 2000 to 2017, an estimated 54million humans were diagnosed, treated and saved from TB.

Drug resistant strains of TB are rising and in 2017 approximately 558, 000 new cases with resistance to rifampicin– the most effective first-line drug. 85% of people resistant to this drug were also resistant to the common alternatives. There are limited resources to the second line of treatment, which can require 2 years of chemotherapy and medicines that are expensive, toxic and not always ready available.

Many cases have even more severe resistance to drugs, leaving them no further treatment options at all.

It is estimated that 3.5billion US dollars are needed per year to fill the resource gap for implementing even the existing TB interventions.

Research is ongoing to find new ways to treat drug resistant TB and a few promising drugs are starting to emerge, but more research and development is needed. Some Companies doing this development can be found in the description.

Volunteers are often the front line in helping and more are needed to diagnose and administer drugs that help save lives all over the world.

 Awareness is also important, the more people know of the symptoms and how to react, the higher chance of lives being saved. Watching and sharing videos like this, following and supporting charities and organisations that are on the ground helping humans overcome the deadliest infectious disease in the world and who also are trying to hold individual countries governments accountable.

If you have any thoughts on this video and the topic of TB please let us know below.

And if you appreciate videos raising awareness for human causes like this please subscribe for more.

Sources :

https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis

http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-tb-and-am-i-at-risk-of-getting-it-in-australia-75290

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/the-worlds-deadliest-infectious-disease/

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tuberculosis-tb/

https://www.lung.org/lung-health-and-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/tuberculosis/learn-about-tuberculosis.html

Insectageddon

Insects are the most abundant animals in the world, making up around 70% of all animal species, playing a vital role in the ecosystem of our planet.

The first ever global scientific review on insect’s has revealed that over 40% of species are declining and a third now classed as endangered.  This 40% could become extinct within the next few decades, with scientists warning that insects could be totally wiped out within the next century.

We are now witnessing the sixth mass extinction in the Earths history, with demises in biodiversity and ecosystems being reported on numerous fronts. Insect numbers are currently falling 8 times faster than that mammals, birds and reptiles.

If this trend carries on, it could result in a total collapse of nature on earth and even the downfall of the human race.

So why are insects important?

What is happening to them?

And how can we stop this happening?

So why are insects important?

Yes, if insects vanished it would mean no more fleas or mosquito bites. Even insect spread diseases like zika, dengue and malaria would be gone.

But Insects are the most plentiful animals in the world, with their total weight 17 times that of humans and a key functioning part to the majority of food webs. 60% of birds rely solely on insects for food. Deprived of insects these birds would die out, and any animals that feed on these birds would be starved of a vital food source too, in turn endangering them.

80% of the worlds wild plants use insects for pollination. This is not just bees, but also ants, butterflies, moths, beetles and mosquitos. Without them these plants and the vast amount of food produced from them that we eat, would be gone.

Some Insects are used to control other insects classed as pests. They also keep soil healthy, recycling nutrients back into the earth at a rate unparalleled by nature alone. Decay and rot would be rife without them.

  What is happening to the insects?

The report shows up to 80% of insect biomass has disappeared in the last 30 years, with butterflies, bees and beetles most affected. There as been a 58% drop of butterfly species in English farmlands between 2000-2009. A 98% drop of ground insects in Puerto Rico over the last 35 years, and nearly half of the 6million honeybee colonies in the US disappearing since 1947.

The main cause is being put down to habitat loss, with agricultural land usage intensifying year on year. Trees and shrubs that filled fields are now bare, having just the designated crop present when in season. This makes it impossible for some insects to live and feed in these fields.

Agricultural Land is more and more treated with synthetic fertilisers and pesticides which kill off insects. Pesticides carry through the air as pollution as well and kill further afield than intended.

Climate change is also playing a part, with insects in tropical regions suffering from having a low tolerance to heat changes. Insects are also missing important feeding cycles with certain pollinating plants. When insects would normally spawn, feed and reproduce at a certain time of year to coincide with a plants blooming, now they are out of sync with these flowers blooming earlier due to global heating. The plants do not get pollinated and the insects are starved of their intended food source.

The total mass of insects is falling by 2.5% a year, meaning they could truly be extinct within the next century.

 How can we stop this happening?

Suggested methods are a major reduction in pesticide usage, with organic farms shown to be home to much more insect life.

Over consumption and the need for industrial scale agriculture is a huge problem. Habitat restoration areas could be enforced as well as ideas like flower rich strips in farming fields.

What more can be done? please comment below with your thoughts on this.

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