Today in Focus: What are ultra-processed foods doing to our bodies?

"Numbers of younger people getting bowel and colon cancers are rising. Devi Sridhar explains why their diets could be to blame."

Science Weekly: The real science of weight loss with the US's leading nutritional scientist

"Kevin Hall spent 21 years at the US National Institutes of Health and became known globally for his pioneering work on ultra-processed foods.

In April he unexpectedly took early retirement, citing censorship under the Trump administration.

Now he has co-authored a book with the journalist Julia Belluz that aims to bust myths and challenge wellness orthodoxy on everything from weight loss and metabolism to supplements and wearables.

Hall tells lan Sample what he wants us all to understand about diet, exercise and weight loss, and what led to his departure from the job he loved."

If I Speak: Is jealousy the spice of life?

"Prompted by Elena Ferrante's novel My Brilliant Friend, Ash wonders what makes Moya jealous.

science says that this is not the case, those activities actually fuel your anger by keeping you stuck in a state of physical arousal

and when you're running or breaking stuff you're also not acting in any way on the cause of your anger, so it's pointless on all fronts

that first podcast reminded me of this second one below from CrowdScience, which asks why we cry

that same notions of venting and catharsis come up in relation to crying

in this case science's answer is more nuanced: crying can lower our cortisol levels and bring relief, but it comes down to three factors

depression: depressed people tend to cry more often but hardly ever report feeling better after crying

control: you're more likely to feel relief if you cry about controllable situations, not so much about uncontrollable ones

other people: you'll feel better if the people around you respond well to your tears

much to think about

Science Weekly: Can science crack the mystery of ME?

"Scientists have found the first robust evidence that people's genes affect their chances of developing myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a mysterious and debilitating illness that has been neglected and dismissed for decades by many in the medical community.

To find out more, Madeleine Finlay speaks to science editor lan Sample and to Nicky Proctor, who has ME and took part in the research.

She also hears from Beth Pollack, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies ME/CFS and related conditions, about how scientific understanding of the illness has improved and how scientists are transforming this knowledge into ideas about future treatments."

Un tema Al Día: Licencia marital: la España de antes de ayer [R]

"Hoy recuperamos el episodio que le dedicamos a lo que se llamaba Licencia marital: un conjunto de artículos en las leyes que durante la dictadura franquista mutiló derechos básicos de las mujeres casadas, consideradas por el sistema como menores de edad y obligadas a depender de la voluntad de su cónyuge.

Lo hacemos con los testimonios de Encarna, Ofa, Isabel y Elisa, mujeres que vivieron esa época; y con Altamira Gonzalo, abogada, referente por su trayectoria con enfoque de género."

de Volkskrant Elke Dag: Femicide volgt een vast patroon: deze signalen moeten de alarmbellen doen rinkelen

"Het gebeurde deze zomer in Vlijmen, Gouda, Schiedam, Veldhoven en Almere: een vrouw werd gedood en in alle gevallen is haar partner of ex-partner de hoofdverdachte.

En bij deze zaken blijft het niet: elke acht tot negen dagen wordt er in Nederland een vrouw vermoord.

Vaak wordt gedacht dat zulk fataal geweld in een opwelling plaatsvindt, maar dat beeld klopt niet, blijkt uit onderzoek.

Dr Hannah Fry on the Science Weekly Podcast

While I admit that my mathematical ability is unfortunately lacking thanks in part to the poor academic environment where I grew up, I’m still fascinated by the power of numbers. Even if I don’t always understand the underlying mechanics, I still walk away impressed by math’s ability to describe how life, the universe, and, well, pretty much everything in-between, works.

Among my favorite popular…

¿Existe el tiempo?, ¿es una ilusión de nuestra percepción?

La pregunta por el tiempo es probablemente una extraordinariamente antigua. Aunque forma parte de la experiencia cotidiana y consensuada de todos los seres humanos, lo escurridizo de su definición siempre ha despertado sospechas respecto de si se tratará de un artefacto perceptual, de una experiencia completamente individual, o si en efecto hay allá afuera de nosotros una magnitud física llamada “tiempo”, que transcurre independiente de si hay alguien para observarla.

La periodista de The Guardian Nicola Davis fue a hacer preguntas sobre el tiempo a destacados físicos británicos: Bill Spence, Lee Smolin y Julian Barbour, quienes tienen visiones discordantes. Mientras para alguno el tiempo es la primera y más relevante de todas las magnitudes físicas, a partir de la cual se deducen las demás, incluidas el espacio y la gravedad. Otros matizan reconociendo que estamos en medio de un cambio de paradigma: el tiempo como una variable relativa, la idea de dimensión unificada espacio-tiempo y la gravedad (y otras fuerzas) como perturbaciones de la homogeneidad del espacio-tiempo. En el límite, Julian Barbour, un escéptico acerca del tiempo, cree que debemos comprenderlo de forma completamente distinta. Que acaso el tiempo sea la experiencia unificada de muchos universos estáticos a través de los cuales nuestra percepción se desplaza, creando la ilusión de un flujo que no existe por si mismo.

En el link del encabezado encontrarás la conversación completa: Treinta minutos de intenso cuestionamiento a uno de los conceptos más familiares de nuestra vida corriente, traídos por la serie Big Unknowns, del podcast The Guardian Science Weekly.

I like learning new things. Of course the PCT teaches me many things about my body and my endurance and skills of camping etc. But I’m entertained by learning new things just like your stereotypical liberal arts grad, so I listen to podcasts and audiobooks while I hike. I normally reflect on things I learn about art and science on this blog, so I will now reflect on some really cool things I learned. First, I was so enrapt in this podcast that I took a wrong turn and followed a dirt road for ¾ mile before I realized it. Luckily at that point the trail intersected this road again and I basically did 1 for 1 mile. Ok what was so fascinating? I was listening to the Guardian’s “Science weekly” podcast. This one was probably 3 months old, but it was a discussion between 2 Americans and a British scientist about the future of human evolution. The Americans, Juan Enriquez and Steve Gullans, had recently published a book Evolving Ourselves - How Unnatural Selection is Changing Life on Earth about how new genetic medicine techniques were making for a human evolution that was “unnatural selection” and “intelligent design” of genetic material was possible in the near and present future. The British evolutionary biologist was not comfortable with their terminology; he defined evolution including the design and science of human culture, just as it includes ant or chimp culture. I found the terminology debate reminded me of how I perceive European vs American science. As I researched in the Czech Republic in 2013, I found that science was defined far more strictly to suggest that studying and researching science was much less about innovation at least in the feeling of new frontiers and new definitions of research.

Check out this cool episode: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/science-weekly/id136697669?mt=2&i=358352055

The Day in Science: 4th April

Daily compilations of the latest scientific research! 1. Chemists' work with small peptide chains may revolutionize study of enzymes and diseases Chemists in The College of Arts and Sciences have, for the first time, created enzyme-like activity   using peptides that are only seven amino acids long. http://goo.gl/xV0qEk 2. Bacteria Could Grow Futuristic 'Self-Healing' Materials Living materials produced by bacteria could lead to interactive structures programmed to self-  assemble into specific patterns, such as those used on solar cells and diagnostic sensors, and even    self-healing materials that could sense damage and repair it. http://goo.gl/4Zm9Zl    3. Wanna Build a Rocket? NASA is About to Give Away a Mountain of Its Code Next Thursday, NASA will release a master list of software projects it's cooked up over the years. This is more than just stuff than runs on a personal computer. Think robots and cryogenic systems and climate simulators. There's even code for running rocket guidance systems. http://goo.gl/f2lvMo 4. Underground Ocean Makes This Saturn Moon a Top Bet for Extraterrestrial Life Scientists have determined that a hidden ocean of liquid water likely lies beneath the frozen crust of Saturnís moon Enceladus. Because the tiny moon freely sends samples of this water into space via spectacular geysers, the finding could rocket Enceladus to the forefront of searches for life beyond our planet. http://goo.gl/trLVUo 5. This patch can tell if you'll get sick soon The future of health monitoring is a tiny electronic patch that sticks to the skin and records your every move. http://goo.gl/Tt4DMX 6. Flipping the switch on scleroderma Scleroderma is a rare and often fatal disease, causing the thickening of tissue, that currently lacks a cure and any effective treatments. A group of researchers is looking to change that. The group has identified the core signaling pathway that activates the disease and the chemical compounds that can turn it off. http://goo.gl/VqI2gj 7. Vegetarians are less healthy and have a lower quality of life than meat-eaters, scientists say Vegetarians are less healthy than meat-eaters, a controversial study has concluded, despite drinking   less, smoking less and being more physically active than their carnivorous counterparts. http://goo.gl/h9dHGG 8. The Way You're Born Can Mess With the Microbes You Need to Survive In our first three years of life, a great diversity of microbes self-organizes into a life-support   system. This critical period lays the foundation for all the biological processes that unfold in our   childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old ageóunless something comes along to disrupt it. Today it   is in peril. http://goo.gl/PvN610 You can also find all the #TheDayinScience  posts atwww.thedayinscience.com

From this week's Science Weekly with Alok Jha: