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The Secrets of Longevity: Exploring Okinawa, Japan
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Have you ever wondered where people live the longest and healthiest lives on Earth? Look no further than the enchanting islands of Okinawa, Japan. Nestled in the East China Sea, Okinawa has gained international recognition for its high number of centenarians and remarkable longevity. Currently, there are 457 people in Okinawa aged 100 or over, an average of 35 for each 100,000 inhabitants. While Japanese people generally live longer than any other nation, the Okinawa inhabitants reach ages that take by surprise even the other Japanese: an average of 86 for women and 78 for men. One of the key factors contributing to the longevity of Okinawa's residents is their traditional diet. The Okinawan diet is rich in plant-based foods such as sweet po ...
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1443 |
bio_man |
A year ago |
China's very own Paris
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Tianducheng is a housing estate in China that's designed to evoke classical European charm. The suburb, located in the Zhejiang Province is also called the "Paris of the East", partially because it is home to the second largest replica of the Eiffel Tower in the world. Can you tell the difference between the two? Construction at Tianducheng began around 2007. As mentioned, its central feature is 108-metre-tall (354-foot) replica of the Eiffel Tower of Parisian style architecture, fountains and landscaping (right). It opened in 2007, and can accommodate more than 10,000 residents, although only 2000 residents inhabit the small town. ...
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3222 |
bio_man |
5 years ago |
Flu no more
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A promising new drug called baloxavir marboxil (Xofluza) developed in Japan has been shown to stop the flu virus from spreading 24 hours after intake. The drug interferes with influenza A and influenza B's main replication process instead of inhibiting the neuraminidase enzyme, as accomplished by previous drugs such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). As shown in the illustration, viral neuraminidase sits on the surface of influenza viruses and enables it to be released once reproduced within the infected host cell. Xofluza accomplishes its mode of action by inhibiting the cap-dependent endonuclease activity of the viral polymerase. It achieves this by inhibiting the process known as cap snatching, which is a mechanism expl ...
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2092 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
One of the world's largest insects
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If you're not an insect lover, this is your final chance to turn your head!The giant Malaysian katydid ( Macrolyristes corporalis) is one of the largest insects in the world, with their bodies growing to 15 cm (6 inches) long with a 25 cm (10 inch) long wingspan. Though the last thing you want to hear is that this giant insect is carnivorous, they pose absolutely no threat to humans (aside from haunting your dreams, of course). Relatively speaking, the males of this species have the largest testes of any known animal at 14% of their body weight. If humans had the same ratio, a 91 kg (200 lb) man would have testes that weighed nearly 13 kg (28 pounds)! ...
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1193 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
The Philippine eagle
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The Philippine eagle ( Pithecophaga jefferyi), also known as the monkey-eating eagle, is found exclusively in the forests of the Philippines. It has brown- and white-coloured plumage, and a shaggy crest, and generally measures 86 to 102 cm (2.82 to 3.35 ft) in length, weighs 4.7 to 8.0 kg (10.4 to 17.6 lb), and has a 2 meter wingspan. It is considered the largest of the extant eagles in the world in terms of length and wing surface. Among the rarest and most powerful birds in the world, it has been declared the Philippine national bird. Unfortunately, however, it is critically endangered, mainly due to massive loss of habitat resulting from deforestation in most of its range. Killing a Philippine eagle is punishable under Philippine law by 1 ...
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1219 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
The year summer was erased
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The eruption of Mount Tambora was so massive, it erased summer that year.The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora was one of the most powerful eruptions in recorded history. The eruption of the volcano, on the island of Sumbawa in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), reached a climax on 10 April 1815 and was followed by between six months and three years of increased steaming and small phreatic eruptions. The ash from the eruption column dispersed around the world and lowered global temperatures, leading to worldwide harvest failures in an event sometimes known as the Year Without a Summer in 1816. The eruption resulted in a brief period of significant climate change that led to various cases of extreme weather. Several climate forcings ...
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4205 |
bio_man |
7 years ago |
An ancient status symbol in China
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Started in Imperial China in the 10 th or 11 th century, upper-class court dancers would wrap their feet to make them permanently smaller. Although this made it difficult for a woman to walk, small feet indicated that a woman’s husband did not need his wife’s labor. To make the feet even smaller, sometimes the baby’s feet were broken and wrapped tightly. Some baby’s toes were cut off! Footbinding was banned by the Chinese government in 1911, but continued to be practiced in some places for several decades, as shown in the picture above. ...
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5230 |
bio_man |
7 years ago |
A Chinese mystery, can you guess what these are?
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The photo shown below was taken at a market in Shanghai, China. Can you guess what they are?If you guessed, water caltrop 菱, you're right! Water caltrops ( Trapa natans) are the seeds of a floating annual aquatic plant that's native to warm temperate parts of Eurasia and Africa. The plant grows in slow-moving water up to 5 m deep, and bear an ornately shaped fruit that resembles the head of a bull or the silhouette of a flying bat. Each fruit contains a single very large, starchy seed. T. natans and T. bicornis have been cultivated in China and the Indian subcontinent for at least 3,000 years for the edible seeds that are used in pastries, served steamed or boiled from street vendors, and even as a remedy for inebriation. ...
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15240 |
bio_man |
7 years ago |
This plant has the largest genome of all living organisms
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When it comes to genome size, a rare Japanese flower, called Paris japonica, is the current heavyweight champ, with 50 times more DNA than humans. It is a slow growing perennial that sports a rare, showy white star-like flower above a single whorl of about eight stem leaves. The exceptionally large genome of P. japonica is due to the fact that it's an octoploid, meaning it has four sets of chromosomes - on the contrary, humans are diploid (two sets). Its 40 chromosomes consist of 150 billion base pairs of DNA per cell, therefore making its genome the largest known genome of any living organism. In fact, the DNA from a single cell could theoretically stretch out to be longer than 300 feet (91 m). ...
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6478 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
This dish will probably turn your stomach
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Fruit bat soup is a popular dish in Palau, Micronesia - the bat is served whole! For those that eat fruit bats, their flavor is similar to that of chicken, and that they are clean animals living exclusively on fruit. Bats have a low fat content and are high in protein. Even more interesting, during cooking, bats may emit strong odors reminiscent of urine, because bats spend a significant amount of time in an upside-down position, in which urine and fecal matter may be on their bodies. ...
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4151 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Mad honey
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Mad honey is a rare hallucinogenic honey that is made by the Giant Bee of Himalayas ( Apis dorsata laboriosa) in Nepal. The bee lives and nests at altitudes between 2 500 and 3 000 meters, where it builds very large nests under overhangs on the south-western faces of vertical cliffs. The honey possesses hallucinogenic properties because it contains an ingredient from rhododendron nectar called grayanotoxin - a natural neurotoxin that, even in small quantities, brings on light-headedness and hallucinations. Since it is difficult to harvest and has special properties, this kind of honey is expensive and sells for about five times the price of normal honey in the foreign market. So, the honey hunters take absurd risks to get the honey from over ...
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7866 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
This Chinese ghost town became one with nature
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An old fishing village on the island of Shengshan on the Yangtze River was abandoned for economic reasons, only to become one with nature. The island, a few hours east of Hangzhou Bay, is a stark contrast to the vibrant metropolitan skyline of nearby Shanghai - an image conjured up in many westerners' minds when imagining populous China. Some of the islands at the mouth of the Yangtze river are popular tourist destinations and have been described as a paradise for seafood lover, while others are inhabitable. The stunning scenery on Shengshan Island is the result of the houses and outbuildings being slowly consumed by nature. The seaside village now lies empty because it was more economical for the fishermen to move and work on the mainland ...
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2672 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
An alien-looking dolphin species
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Meet the Irrawaddy dolphin ( Orcaella brevirostris), a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in discontinuous subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. Genetically, the Irrawaddy dolphin is closely related to the killer whale (orca). As evident in the collage, its forehead is high and rounded, and unlike most dolphins, the beak is lacking, giving it a you know what appearance - don't get any funny ideas now! ...
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5824 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
What's it like to float on thin air?
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Apparently, walking across this glass pedestrian bridge in Zhangjiajie’s Grand Canyon, China is meant to make you feel like you're floating in thin air. The bridge seems to float 1,300 feet above the ground, almost as though it were part of the clouds. The bridge will be open later on this year!
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2820 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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1687 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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