Back to running

October 9, 2019
Today I set out to run three or four miles in Springbrook prairie. The weather was perfect for running, sunny, cool, with a little wind. After running 2 miles I was planning to turn back. However I was trying to recite a particular poem and decided to keep running while I remembered it. After a few minutes I decided to keep running and complete the loop in the prairie, together with a bit of extra half mile running, adding up to 6 miles. It is the first time I have run that distance this year. Feel tired but good.

Running on a treadmill- not quite satisfying! More for exercise than for the joy of running.

Scientists put tiny glasses on praying mantis to test insect 3D vision - CBS News

Scientists put tiny glasses on praying mantis to test insect 3D vision - CBS News: "These might be the most stylish bugs around. Scientists made praying mantises wear tiny 3D glasses to test if the insects have strereopsis, or 3D vision. While these insects won't be watching the new "Star Wars" film in IMAX 3D anytime soon, proving that they do have 3D vision is significant because up until now, 3D vision had only been confirmed in vertebrates.

The research team from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom published their findings in the journal Scientific Results.

Back in 1980s, scientists previously used less sophisticated means to test for stereopsis in a praying mantis. They placed prisms of differing powers before the eyes of the insect, which caused the mantis to just miss out on striking an object set in front of it. This suggested that these creatures see the world similar to the way humans do, but was not necessarily a direct test for 3D vision."



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Cut Alcohol to Less Than One Drink a Day, Britons Are Warned - Bloomberg Business

Cut Alcohol to Less Than One Drink a Day, Britons Are Warned - Bloomberg Business: "Men and women should drink no more than six pints of beer or standard glasses of wine a week, according to new U.K. government guidelines that warn that any level of alcohol consumption raises the risk of cancer.
The new guidance, published in London on Friday, lowers the recommended maximum intake for men to 14 U.K. units of alcohol a week, the same as for women, from 21 units. A pint of beer with a 4 percent alcohol content or a medium-sized 175-milliliter glass of wine contains 2.3 units. People of both sexes are urged to have several alcohol-free days a week."



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Neanderthal Genes Gave Modern Humans An Immunity Boost, Allergies – Eurasia Review

Neanderthal Genes Gave Modern Humans An Immunity Boost, Allergies – Eurasia Review: "Neanderthal Genes Gave Modern Humans An Immunity Boost, Allergies"



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Soda Tax in Mexico Causes Serious Sales Dip in Sugary Drinks

Soda Tax in Mexico Causes Serious Sales Dip in Sugary Drinks: "Taxes on soda and other sugary drinks have not generally fared well. Several countries and American cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco have tried and failed, due in large part to lobbying, political contributions and protests by the soda industry. While health experts generally agree that Americans and people in many other countries consume too much sugar, much of it in the form of beverages like soft drinks, there has been little evidence to date proving that taxes on such products are effective in getting people to stop downing sugary drinks."



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Una Mullally: Embrace your Irishness and celebrate 1916

Una Mullally: Embrace your Irishness and celebrate 1916: " 
There are two types of people living in Ireland right now; those who are sick of 1916, and those who are sick of people who are sick of 1916. Get used to it, because that’s how the year is going to roll.
Pick your camp. Choose your team. This centenary is going to get divisive. Brothers will be pitted against brothers, mothers against daughters, fathers against sons. It reminds me of something… I can’t quite think of what, probably because according to the next year, Irish history begins, ends and is entirely made up of those six days in April nearly 100 years ago.
Me? I can’t get enough of 1916. For a nation of people who are constantly harping on (sorry) about national identity, we have a strange tendency to disconnect ourselves from it. Our language is ridiculed by many and bitched about as irrelevant, when it’s of essential importance. Our music falls victim to sideswipes about “diddley-eye”, even though traditional Irish music is probably the most famous world music there is."



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