Blood type

Do you know your blood type? If you haven’t been in any medical situations where blood type is important, you might not.

We know that there are 8 main blood groups that make up most of the world’s population.

But it turns out that scientists still don’t know why we evolved different blood types. And that may remain a mystery for a long time. But from now, science can at least tell you about your own blood.

Knowing your Blood type

In develops parts of the world, it’s not crucial to know your blood type off the top of your head. Doctors will typically run tests before any major procedure and if there’s any doubt in a medical emergency, you’ll most likely receive O negative blood, because that’s the universal donor blood that’s save to give to any A, B, AB or O recipient.

Blood type experiments

For thousands of years nobody really understood blood. A Greek doctor Claudius Galenus from 200 CE believed that it was created food and liver, and this school of thought lived on for nearly 1500 years.

It wasn’t until in the 17th century A british doctor named William Harvey, discovered that blood actually circulated through the body. This spawned A new age of experimentation with blood.

In 1665, an English physician successfully kept one dog alive by transfusing it with a blood of another dog. Just two years later, doctors began experimenting with Xenotransfusions. That is transfusing humans with animal blood, such a sheep. And those human patients died.

It wasn’t until 1900 that we finally realised people and animals actually have different types of blood that determine whose blood can mix with whose. That’s where different letters came into play.

If you’re type A, your immune system will perceive type B blood as an intruder and trigger auto immune response that can cause

kidney failure,
extensive blood clotting, and
even shock.

The reverse is true of type B blood. The immune system will attack type A.

AB blood however, accept both A and B blood without triggering the auto immune response. These things get little bit complicated when introduced there negative and positive part of your blood type. Positive can’t accept negative, but the opposite is extremely dangerous.

Other than 8 Blood types

To further complicate things scientists have discovered dozens of more blood type, such as the Duffy blood group, which can determine your susceptibility to malaria. Or the Hh blood type, which 1 in 10,000 people in India have. But the vast majority of the humans fall into this A, B, O system.

As per why humans evolved this complicated system of blood types and compatibility, we really don’t know. The original mutations are thought to date back nearly 20 million years. But whatever the biology is behind blood typing, it’s a real practical thing that matters.

It’s just not a bad idea to know your blood type. If you’re traveling somewhere that’s rural, or doesn’t have access to advance medicine, it’s good for you and your travelling companion to know your types, just in case of an accident along the way. In big emergency closer to home, blood banks often put in calls for donors of a specific type. And remember if you’re type O Negative, you’re an extremely useful universal donor. So, knowing your type can give you a peace of mind.

Your body when you Swim

Harvard medical school published a study which looked at over 40,000 men, aged 20-90 who were either runners, walkers, swimmers, and physically in active people. With an average length of 13 years of observation and in that time

2% of swimmers passed away
8% of runners passed away
9% of walkers passed away
11% of physically inactive people passed away

This study showed that swimmers are much healthier later on in life than the rest of the population and for women swimming just 30 mins a day can decrease coronary heart disease by 30 to 40 percent.

It also helps to increase HDL aka good Colestrol. Some studies have also shown that aerobic excercise can keep the cells in the lining of your arteries more flexible and healthier. Hence there is no question that swimming is an awesome form of fitness.

Body during swimming

What do you actually feel when you go into the water? Here are some main elements of the human body that gets impacted during swimming.

1. Blood

According to the America Heart Association, swimming is considered as Aerobic activity. Aerobic excercise enlarges the heart and it increases the blood flow through the entire boby. Because swimming is an excercise, the blood has to pump all the molecules into the body.

2. Heart

Since so much of blood has to be pumped into the body, that ties into how it impacts your heart because we know that after 2 mins your body goes into aerobic respiratory because your heart has to pump all the oxygenated blood through the body. So as you swim, your heart is circulating the blood which help your body to perform and achieve the required goals.

3. Skin

You must have seen that the skin color changes of swimmers. For example, some swimmers face turns red when the swim, that happens because your blood vessels are dilating and the brings the heat to the surface into the skin then some people turn red, as a result your skin is showing the effort that you’re putting in the water.

4.Muscles

There’s a reason why swimmers are considered to have best body and physiques in the world compared to any athlete, because swimming engages every single muscles in the water when it comes to your core stability, your upper body, your biceps, your hamstrings, your calves, everything is engaged when you swim.

When you’re swimming, you are micro tearing your muscles while swinging it. And the muscles requires 24-48 hrs to recover those muscles. That’s when sometimes you might feel sore.

5. Lungs

Swimming can actually help increase your lungs volume because in swimming different than other sports, you can’t actually breath whenever you want. It’s not like running when you have full access to oxygen.

In swimming you’re engaging your muscles and you’re not allowed to breathe necessarily at the time when your body might want it. So because you have to get used to this, you actually increase your Vo to max (maximum amount of oxygen body is able to use). So basically you are making your lungs more efficient at functioning.

6. Brain

The Brain loves swimming, because of all the extra blood flow moving through these endorphins that makes you more awake, alert and focus.

But this could happen in any type of sport but swimming is something really special because you’re sort of in your own world where the medium is 800 times more dense than air, which makes you feel free and relaxed.

Hence, from physical health to mental health, swimming is an incredible benefit human body and after reading this you must be thinking of trying swimming.

Being Bilingual

People have very different opinions on what bilingualism really is. For some it means speaking two languages fluently and with little to no effort rather strongly consider a person bilingual, if it has perfect pronounciation in both languages and makes very few grammatical errors while talking.

The truth is that, even with a bad accent and making some mistake, being able to speak in two or more languages rather than one has practical benefits in an increasingly globalised world.

Multilingualism

Multilingualism has been shown to have many psychological and social advantages that can go something simply as

watching movies with no subtitles
to having less problems in traveling and
even getting a job or business opportunities specially in tourist areas.

Types of Bilingualism

It is considered to be two types of Bilingualism

1. Compound Bilingualism

Compound Bilingualism, also called addictive Bilingualism happens for example when a child is raised by bilingual parents and both languages are used in home, the child grows when both languages are used simultaneously in the same environment.

With this type of Bilingualism, the person does not see the two languages as separate it is common to hear such people speaking different languages in the same sentence or using a word of a different language from the one they’re talking to better express themselves.

2. Coordinate Bilingualism

This is the second type of Bilingualism also know as Subtractive Bilingualism. In this type, the person perceive two languages as separate because he learns them separately and in different environments in context.

I am an example of coordinate Bilingualism, most of the time i talk Hindi when I’m in my college environment or to people who talks only that language, I use the language specifically for those context but to my family members i usually talk in Bengali which is my native language, the language related to my home environment. I see these two language as separate since I learned and used them in completely different environments.

Officially Monolingual Countries

Only a few countries in the world including the U.S, England, and Australia are officially Monolingual but even in these countries only a considerable percent of people who speaking and understand more than one language.

Advantage

Researchers suggest that bilingualism can slow the advance of age-related mental issues such as Dementia and Alzheimer’s by up to 4 years.

Also in bilingual adult, brain tissue called grey matter is denser compared with Monolingual adults.

Although speaking more than one language does not necessarily make you more intelligent person, it helps stimulates and increase brain connections. Learning a new language is like an excercise to the brain that will improve your Cognitive skills and even if you grew up in a Monolingual environment, it is never too late to start learning a different language.

Importance of reading

In a world where entertainment is right in our hands,you may ask yourself, what is the point of reading? In today’s fast pace world, reading is becoming a dying habit because there are fast alternatives to consume on social media. Let’s look at some top 10 reasons on why reading is important and why you should read.

1. Reading is food for the brain.

Just like how our body needs food to sustain itself and function optimally, our brain needs to continue learn new things to function at peak performance. The best part is you can read friction and non-friction to get this benefit.

Studies have shown that that reading has the power to change your brain structure which makes you more empathetic and improves cognitive processes. By reading more, you become smarter since you’re consuming a lot of information and you keep your brain in top shape.

There’s a quote from Game of Thrones that sums up this point nicely.

My brother has his sword, King Robert has his Warhammer, I have my mind… and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep it’s edge
Tyrion Lannister

2. You become better at conversations.

Books help expand your vocabulary which you can then use to express yourself better. You speech will then be more refined and intelligent. Also since reading widen your knowledge, you are empowered to participant in an interesting conversation.

With the knowledge you gained from reading you can add a unique perspective or sustain your argument. In this case, reading non-friction can be better because you can learn about topics that show up more often in a regular conversation like technology.

But there are also instances where reading friction can be better like when there’s a new popular movie out based on a book and you read the original source material.

3. You can get mentored by a successful people for a very cheap price.

Think about how much successful person’s knowledge is worth. People are willing to pay millions to have lunch with Warren Buffett. If you’re a normal person, you don’t have that kind of money. But with books you get mentored by a successful person for less than ₹3,000.

A book is literally the exact words, ideas, advice, mindsets and even the experience of the author that puts into a collection of papers. It’s almost like if the person in right there next to you speaking to you.

75% of self made millionaires reported that they read at least 2 books a month. The knowledge you can get from reading is irreplaceable.

4. Reading improves focus and concentration.

In our fast pace world today, our attention span are really short. Reading a book can help fix this because when you read your attention is only focused on the story and you can be fully immersed. You might even achieve a flow state where you are 100% focused and forget about the world around you.

Try reading for 10-20 mins before work on your morning commute and you might find yourself more focused and productive at the office.

5. Reading opens your mind.

As a reader, you will interact with different stories from different people with different ideas and beliefs. This helps open your mind and be more accepting of others as well as improve your ability to judge other people’s character.

6. Reading helps relax you.

When you’re reading something good, your mind is more relaxed and the subject you are reading about might even bring inner peace.

If you’re reading friction, while you may not be fed the image and sound like when you are watching a movie, you can experience the images and sound with your own imagination.

The feeling you get from finishing a book can be better than the feeling of finishing a Netflix episode.

7. Reading helps improve your memory.

Whether you are following your favorite character through their journey or remembering tips on how to make more money, you will be using the memory area of your brain and keep it active. When you really need to remember something important, it will be easier.

Every new memory you make creates synapses or brain pathways and strengthens existing ones so memorizing will get easier.

8. Reading helps you make decisions better.

When you are armed with all sorts of knowledge, make decision can be easier because you see all possible options. You can make educated guesses on how each choice will play out and pick the one you like best.

9. Reading can help you sleep better.

It can be hard to sleep when there’s a lot of things going on in your mind. Reading for a short period of time can help push away what is bothering you internally.

Also, we often use electronics late at night which don’t exactly helps us sleep better because bright light signal our brain it’s time to wake up. Reading a book can help instead but make sure you put it down once it’s time to sleep.

10. You become who you are ment to be.

By reading, you can change your personality or beliefs. Books open up completely new worlds for us to grow and develop as a person.

History of Halloween

From communion with the dead to pumpkins and pranks, Halloween is a patchwork holiday, stitched together with cultural religions and occult tradition that spans centuries.

Before Halloween

It all began with the Celts; a people whose culture had spread across Europe more than 2,000 years ago. October 31st was the day they celebrated the end of the harvest season in a festival called Soin, that night also marked as Celtic New Year and was considered a time between years; a magical time when the ghost of the dead walked the earth as called as time when the veil between death and life was supposed to be at its thinnest.

At that time the villagers would gathered and lit huge bonfires to drive the dead back to the spirit world and keep them away from the living. But as the Catholic Church’s influence grew in Europe, it frowned on the pagan rituals like sawing.

The name Halloween

In the 7th century the Vatican began to merge it with a Church sanctioned holiday. So November 1st was designed All Saints day to honor martyrs and the deceased faithful. Both of these holidays had to do with the afterlife and about survival after death, it was a calculated move, on the part of the church, to bring more people into the fold.

All Saints day was known as then Hallowmas; hallow meaning holy or saintly, so the translation is roughly mass of the saints. The night before October 31st was All Hallows eve while gradually morphed into “Halloween“.

How the holiday spread

The holiday came to America with the wave of Irish immigrants during the Potato Famine of the 1840s. The brought several of their holiday customs with them including

Bobbing for apples and,
Playing tricks on neighbors like, removing gates from the front of the houses

Trick-o-treat

The young pranksters wore masks so they wouldn’t be recognised but over the years the traditional of harmless tricks grew into outright vandalism such as in 1930s, pranks during Halloween became really holiday, as there was such a hooliganism and vandalism.

Trick-o-treat was originally a extortion deal, give candies or get your house trashed. Storekeeper and neighbors began giving treats or bribes to stop the tricks and children were encouraged to travel door-to-door for treat as an alternative to trouble making. By the late 30s trick-o-treat became a holiday greeting.

Where did Necktie came from?

The neckties, also known as decorative noose are a narrow piece of fabric designed to be worn around the neck and tied at the throat. They can be made from many materials but commonly constructed from silk or cotton.

Varieties

Today there are many different kinds of neckties:-

Ascot tie
The zipper tie
Clip on tie
The tie dye tie

So when did wrapping a piece of fabric around your neck become a formal style necessity. The length of World War to blame can partially be placed on the French Military. While humans have been tying fabric around their neck since they could sew.

History

The neckties is been known as it didn’t start crowding collars until the 17th century. King Louis XIII of France had hired Croatian mercenaries to fight for him during the 30-year war and the king was impressed by the length of cloth the Croatian used to keep their jackets together.

Louis liked it so much that he required his entire royal court to wear them a tradition that his son will continue in his court. The trend soon spread across the French aristocracy and it wasn’t long before all of the Europe had converted to the curve at.

Tying a Necktie

There are four main ways to tie a neckties;

The Four-in-hand knot
The Pratt knot aka The Shelby knot
Half-windsor knot
The Windsor knot

According to researchers from Cambridge Cavendish Laboratory, there are 85 ways to tie a tie. Thomas Fink and Yong Mao actually use Mathematical modeling to figure this out and publish a book on their finding.

Towards the end of tie fashion

The necktie is losing its grip around the throat of male fashion. Tech companies such as Google, Amazon, and eBay actually encourage their employees to dress casually with some going as far as banning traditional office wear entirely and other companies are following suits.

Its fast become a power move to dress drown to the office in the 21st century as a statement of fellow workers, you can wear what ever you want.

Californian companies have led the charge in disrupting many common business practices, by rejecting aspects of corporate life that once seemed to given such as

Traditional working hours
Corporate hierarchies
Paying employees a living wage

Now politicians and even royalty are leaving tie in their dresses so it many not be long before neckties joins the history books of pointless male neck fashion.

BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER(BDD)

Body Dysmorphic disorder is a mental disorder marked by an obsessive of perceived defects or flaws in once appearance. A flaw that to others is considered minor or not observable.

People suffering from BDD

Can feel emotion such as shame and disgust concerning a part or parts of their body part and fixate on this.
The obsession is so intense that the person repeatedly checks and compares the perceived flaw seeks reassurance sometimes for several hours each day.
The person can also adopt unusual routines to avoid social contact that exposes the perceived flaw.
This pervasive thoughts about their appearance and body image interfere with their daily life via
- Educational
- Occupational dysfunction and
- Isolation

No matter how many times people assure them that there is no flaw, they cannot accept that the issue doesn’t exist.

The most common features about which people obsess includes:-

Nose
Wrinkles
Acne
Complexion
Blemishes
Hair
Skin
Vein appearance
Muscles size
Tone
Breast size
Buttocks
Genitalia

BDD is estimated to affect up to 2.4% of the population. The condition usually starts during adolescence affecting both men and women. BDD does not go away on its own if Untreated it may get worse with time leading to

severe depression
Anxiety
Substance abuse
Suicidal thoughts and behavior

Causes

The exact cause is unknown, but like every other disorder BDD may result from a combination of causes such as:-

Brain differences
Environmental factors; special if they involve negative social evaluations about the body or Self-image
Childhood trauma
Genetics; studies suggest that BDD is likely to run in family.

Certain factors that may increase the risk of developing the condition may include:-

A family history
Negative body image
Perfectionism
Negative life experiences such as bullying or teasing
Introversion
Media influence.

Symptoms

Extreme preoccupation with a perceived flaw in your physical appearance that appear minor to others for at least one hour a day. Attempting to hide perceived flaw with –

styling, makeup or clothes – to seeking plastic or cosmetic surgery,
avoiding social situations,
constantly comparing appearance with others,
always seeking assurance about appearance from others,
low self-esteem, compulsive behaviour such as skin picking and frequent clothes changing.

Extreme preoccupation with an appearance that interferes with social life work, school, or other functionality.

Diagnosis

A medical evaluation will be carried out other medical conditions after which further evaluation is carried out by a mental health professional.

Diagnosis is based on:-

A psychological evaluation; which aims at assessing risk factors and thoughts feeling as well as behavior can be associated with a negative self-image.
Personal, medical, family and social health history.

Treatment

Treatment option may include therapy and medication includes:-

Cognitive behavioral therapy; that helps you learn how to cope and behave to improve your mental health
Medications; such as SSRIs may help is control obsession and control repetitive behaviours

Psychiatric hospital may be suggested if the symptom is severe such as when you’re in immediate danger of harming yourself.

Famous personality with BDD

Here is a list of people with BDD;

Michael Jackson(singer, dancer)
Billie Elish (singer)
Robert Pattinson (from twilight)
Ileana D’Cruz (from Rustom)
Miguel Herrán (from money heist)

History of Indian Stamps

India got independence on 15th August of 1947 assured in a new era in the history of the country but philatelist had to wait another 98 days for the release of India’s most commemorate stamp on 21st of November 1947.

First stamp

The Postal Telegraph Department however came out with a large Kashi postmarked with the slogan “Jai hind” for the occasion and letters mailed that the major post offices of the country were cancelled with this post mark.

The India’s first commemorative stamp features the Lion capital of Ashoka which had one set on the top of a column of Sarnath near Varanasi. The lion capital has since been around at the state emblem of India the denomination of the stamp was one and a half annas and an inspiration of “Jai hind” in Hindi was also depicted in the stamps.

Other stamps

Actually three stamps were planned to release at the time of Independence. The rest two stamps were released in the 15th of December 1947 with the three and a half annas stamp with portray of the national flag in tricolor Saffron on the top, white in the middle and green in the bottom.

The twelve annas stamp depicts an aircraft a symbol of the modern age. These stamps also have inscription “Jai hind” in hindi, they are also known are Jai Hind stamps.

The stamps were printed offset lithography. As the three and a half annas stamp was printed in three colors in three steps because difference in inking at different stages, because specimens having the top of the flag in deep orange or pale orange and the lower part in pale green and deep green were coming across.

Petroleum Jelly is harmful to skin

You probably have a jar of Vaseline somewhere in your house. Millions of people swear by it as a remedy for clapped lips, congestions, diaper rash and dry skin. Unfortunately the popular product is more harmful than many realise.

What is Petroleum Jelly?

Petroleum jelly, commonly known by the brand name Vaseline, is a byproduct of the oil refining process. It was originally found coating the bottom of oil rigs in the mid 1800s. As a byproduct of the oil industry, it’s an unsustainable resource and far from eco-friendly.

How does it work?

Used in everything from lotions to baby products, petroleum jelly works by creating a protective barrier on the skin to hold in moisture. The waterproof barrier it created on the skin blocks pores and can lock in residue and bacteria.

When used on a burn or a sunburn area, it locks in heat and can block the body’s ability to heal. You need to stop using Vaseline for these four reasons:

It contains harmful Hydrocarbon. The skin is unable to metabolize petroleum jelly, so it sits as a barrier on the skin untill it wears off. This blocks the body from gaining any benefit from the substance. A 2011 study found strong evidence that the mineral oil hydrocarbon Vaseline contains are “the greatest contaminant of the human body”
It Promotes Collagen Breakdown. Due to the barrier that petroleum jelly creates on skin, it blocks the skin ability to breathe and absorb nutrients. This can cause the skin to pull the moisture and nutrients it needs from within, leading to collagen breakdown.
It can leads to Estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance occurs when the body has high levels of estrogen and low levels of progesterone. It has linked to infertility, menstrual problems, allergies and autoimmune problems. Petroleum jelly contains chemicals called xenoestrogens which are believed to increase estrogen problems.
It can cause pneumonia. Although rare, a condition known as lipid pneumonia can occur when small amounts of petroleum jelly is inhaled and build up in the lungs. Because the body can’t metabolize or breakdown the substance, a severe inflammation in the lungs can occur.

Natural Alternatives

There are several natural alternatives to petroleum jelly that you can use without worrying about health risks. If you’re looking for a simple alternative, try one of these options:-

Shea butter – High is vitamin A, E and F, shea butter works to nourish the skin through the beneficial fatty acids it contains. It can also help reduce inflammation and increase collagen productions.
Beeswax – a great alternative to petroleum jelly is Beeswax. It can be blended into homemade beauty products to protect the skin. Add it to a homemade lip balm and body cream.
Coconut oil – this oil loaded with health benefits. It works to nourish the skin through the fatty acids, lauric acids and anti-inflammatory compounds.
Coco butter – it contains antioxidants and benefits fatty acids. It may even reduce the signs of ageing.

Why does a student need to be industry ready & how they can be?

What do you mean by industry ready?

An industry expects their employees to have Non-technical skills and personal attributes such as team work, communication skills, integrity, reliability and self-motivation are considered more important than purely technical skills to get industry ready.

Importance

A study shows that 50% of the curriculum that are been taught in college/universities, by the time students will graduate, it will get auxiliated with new technologies in the market.

Let’s say for example, a product manager of a company who advertises the product, collects data and analysis the data to improve the marketing strategies of company. He can do it manually, but with time if an app is developed for this work, the company won’t be requiring any product manager.

Although degrees are important for future but it is also important to have a knowledge about what all techniques and skills that will be there in future and also to start developing those skills.

How can students be industry ready?

Here are some ways of getting industry ready:-

Practical Knowledge of Doing Things:- If you can demonstrate how to implement the theoretical knowledge you have then your chances of getting hired will improve significantly.
Sharpen Your Communication Skills:- If you are not able to communicate properly, your knowledge will be of little use to you.
Inculcate the Habit of Innovation:- Form a habit to think out of the box, if you can provide a company with a method to save on expenditure or increase their profit, you have better chances of getting hired.
Read Books and Newspapers Regularly:- Form a habit to read a newspaper or book at least half an hour daily, as this will improve your thinking process as well.
Build Your Profile to Show Your Accomplishments:- One needs to be presentable and be able to exhibit his or her qualifications and capabilities convincingly.
Pursue Online Courses to Hone Your Skills:- To make yourself industry ready, it is better to learn some new skills online.
Work on Your Weak Areas:- The trick here is to present your weaknesses in a way that it looks profitable to the company for whom you want to work for.
Learn to Organize and Manage Your Time:- It is about getting the maximum output in a given amount of time. Productivity matters a lot when you are working for a company.

So start investing more on prolonged and sustainable skills because knowledge and degrees are not going to be most required in future. This is the time to decide what is to be done and how should the steps be taken forward.

Will you take Chinese vaccine?

Made in China, accept it or not but for many of us this label has become synonymous with low cost and low quality. So how true is the stereotype and what has Chinese done to deserve such a bad reputation? Well the list goes long, the latest item is vaccine.

China has sold vaccines to the World which may not be working. It is currently exporting vaccine to 43 countries with:-

a total of 742 million doses that have been sold,
22 million doses have been donated,
262 million doses have been delivered.

China is exporting 3 major vaccines:-

Sinovac
CanSino BIO
Sinopharm

But do these vaccines even work? Let’s look at some of the countries those have received Chinese vaccines.

Mongolia

In Mongolia, more than half of the population is fully vaccinated but daily infection has risen by more than 70% in the last 2 weeks, and they’re using the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm. No doubt Mongolians are questioning the effectiveness of the Chinese vaccine.

Bahrain

Bahrain an Asian country is witnessing a surge. There’s a sharp rise in the number of infections and this dispite of high levels of inoculation. How will China explain this? China’s Sinopharm vaccine, accounts for 60% of the inoculation. Bahrain is now administering a Pfizer booster shot for those who have received both doses of vaccine.

Seychelles

Seychelles of East Africa, 61% of the population have been vaccinated with just 100,000 of people. This island nation has the highest vaccination cover globally. It’s daily average cases rose up to 400 with 37% of the fresh infections reported in fully vaccinated people. This is the result of the Chinese vaccine they’re using which is Sinopharm.

UAE

The United Arab Emirates has vaccinated more than 38% of the population with more than 51% have received first dose and yet daily new cases exceeded to 1700. And they are also using the vaccine Sinopharm that was received from China and UAE is also questioning the efficacy of the Chinese vaccine and also giving a Pfizer booster shot to Sinopharm recipient.

Countries who have refused

Philippines

In the month of May, the Philippines President apologized and asked China to take away Sinopharm vaccine back. He sent back the doses because Chinese cure is unproven.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has also refused to recognise certificates of Sinovac and Sinopharm. It is recommending Pfizer and AstraZeneca instead.

Do Chinese vaccines works in China

There’s a fresh out break of new infections that are been reported in the Guangdong province of China. Guangdong with its capital Guangzhou, accounting of 90% of the confirmed cases. Health authorities of the capital blames the delete variant which was first identified in India. A strict lockdown has been composed there overseas arrivals are being quarantined, million have forced to indoors.

Hence its proven that the rumours of China had conquered the pandemic was false. The virus is unpredictable, it keeps spreading. Vaccines are not full proof in preventing infections but if one vaccine has repeatedly proven ineffective then it’s time for some reflection.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Narcissistic personality disorder or NDP is a personality disorder characterized by grandiosity. You may see it in people who have an inflated ego, with little regards to others. It is important to note that NDP is a psychiatric condition, and it is more complex than simply being arrogant. It’s distressing for those who have it and for those who’re around them. Hoping to shed some light on the condition, and sign that a person should seek help. While much of T.V and movies portray narcissism as people who feel like they’re better than everyone else, it’s usually not just the case.

What is narcissism?

Narcissism is a set of traits classified and studied by psychologists. The psychological definition of narcissism is an inflated, grandiose self-image. To varying degrees, narcissists think they’re better looking, smart and more important than other people and that they deserve special treatment.

Psychologists recognize two form of narcissism as personality traits:

Grandiose
Vulnerable

What is NDP?

NPD is a personality disorder in which the person feels self-important and craves constant validation.
Their feelings of superiority often hint at a deeper problem.
As their need of validation often comes from a place of insecurity and instability rather than genuine self love which they may not be aware of.

What causes NPD?

While the cause of NPD is unknown, researchers believe that it has to do with a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
It’s believed that 6% of people have this disorder. Men have a higher chance of this disorder than women.
Some believe that NPD is developed to cope with trauma and feelings of inadequacy. Others believe it may be learned in early childhood from dealing with anything, from abuse to excessive pampering.
There is even a debate as to how much of the disorder is passed down from parents to children acquiring the disorder.

What are the signs and Symptoms?

The feeling of grandiosity where they feel that they’re superior to others and low empathy are often seen in those with NPD; they don’t care much for others expecting to receive constant validation.

People with NPD feel as though they’re entitled to whatever they want which can be dangerous as it can manifest into toxic relationships.
They may manipulate others to get what they want.
They brag and exaggerate their achievements or feel envious of anyone that outperforms them, but deep down the person with NPD may be really dealing with their own feeling of inadequacy.

How to get help?

People with NPD may not seek help for the disorder itself as they may not know that there’s an issue.
Usually, people are diagnosed because they seek treatment for other issues such as depression or addiction.

However people who feel that they may have the condition and urged to reach out for help. NPD and the underlying feelings of inadequacy can be treated. It not only benefits the individual, but also to people around them.

What treatment options are available?

People diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder will most likely work with a therapist using psychotherapy methods.

Other self-improving activities such as:-

Doing exercises and,
Hobbies may be used in conjunction with therapy.

Coming to a conclusion, we do live in a very materialistic and Consumersious society and as long as that’s the case, narcissism is going to win because it’s about putting yourself first and not caring as much about others. Not to mention people with NPD can be very generous when it’s going to get them what they need. They may buy everyone big dinners and take everyone on a big vacation so it creates this illusion that there’s lots of people all around them, because it’s all the stuff that they’re making possible for them. It’s important to know that treatment is available and that life can be made more manageable.

Story of Cellular Jail of India

You might have heard about the deadliest punishment that one could never wonder in their dreams. It is also known by the name Kala paani ki saza or by the name The black water punishment. So why is this jail different from other jails?

Emergence

During the colonial rule, Britishers got short of places where they could keep and punish the freedom fighters and political activists who were emerging against them. So they made single cellular jail punishment there they can punish the freedom fighters. In the year 1896, Britishers decided to build this jail on Andaman & Nicobar islands and in the year 1906 it was completed.

It was named as “cellular jail” because every jailer was kept in a single cell, so that the one jailer could not talk to others. As the jailers were freedom fighters so if they communicate somehow they will be able to find a way out. The cellular jail is also on an island which is surrounded by water so that the jailer won’t ran way.

The Punishment

The cellular jail wasn’t any normal jail it was like an experimental jail for the Britishers which involved torture, medical tests, forced labor and also some of these punishment which are unimaginable. The Britishers used to send freedom fighters to 1300 km across the water to the Andaman & Nicobar islands. It was so far away from India that people would die even on the boat voyage. So if the prisoners made it that far, they were kept in the cells which were designed for solitary confinement.

The cells of the jail is made up of brick and concrete where there is no toilet, the jailers were allowed to go to the toilet in the morning and at night and the rest of the time they were just locked in the cell. They prisoners were also forced to do labor like to extract 30 pounds of coconut oil and 10 pounds of mustard oil in a day. And if they don’t, then they have to face the consequences by beating up with iron rods while they are chained in iron chains.

Britishers in their own jail

In the year 1944, Japanese came to India and invaded the Islands and took over. The Japanese prisoned the Britishers in their own prison. As per Mahatma gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore’s demand the Indian prisoners were set free.

After the Japanese lost in World War II, they had to retreat, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands became India’s part when it got independent in the year 1947.

After independence the cellular jail was declared as a National Memorial which is now a tourist place for all. There is also a Museum where you can get to know about all the freedom fighters along with their stories.

Pollution causes blindness

Air pollution is a global malice. It destabilzes the climate, punishes our lungs and now according to a new study could possibly affect our eye sight or might make you blind.

The research was published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, it analysed 115,000 participants over 14 years. At the start of the study in 2006, these people have no eye problems but in the latest medical examination , 1,286 of them reported A.M.D (Age related Macular Degeneration). It is the leading cause of blindness among the people aged 50+ in rich nations. There are 200 million people living with this condition.

There appears to be a link between A.M.D and air pollution. People exposed to fine particulate matter are more vulnerable to A.M.D, nearly 8% vulnerable and this isn’t from industry level exposure. Even relatively low level of air pollution could be triggering A.M.D.

Effect on eye sight

The eyes have particularly high flow of blood. This leaves them vulnerable fine particles that flow through the body. It’s important to note that this study is observational. It cannot categorically establish a link between air pollution and A.M.D. However there has been similar study elsewhere with the same results. And the link between smoking and A.M.D has always been known.

The threat from air pollution has always been clear, but new studies are revealing more dimensions of this threat.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that air pollution contributes to 7 Million deaths annually. This leaves us with another cause of concern, toxic air could leave you blind.

History of Dentistry

From brushing and flossing to straightening and whitening, people today put a lot of work into maintaining a health and appearance to their smile. The current trend is for straight, pearly white teeth. But history of dental care stretches all the way back to the beginning of human society.

Ancient ways of cleaning teeth

Prehistoric humans who lived before the advert of oral care actually had very few dental problems. Scientists believe this is on account of their diet, which consisted of unprocessed fibrous foods that help clean their teeth while they ate. However as human evolved, so did the food on menu. Overtime, people found if they didn’t take care of their teeth, they developed dental problems.

Archaeology found evidence that early humans cleaned their teeth by picking at them with things like porcupine quills, animal bones, and tree twigs.

In earlier 3,500 BCE, Mesopotamians were using chew sticks to clean their teeth. Egyptian and Chinese have known to use them as well.

Tooth Decay

Ancient people were always aware of the tooth decay. But the first known scientific theory about its causes dates back at least 5,000 years, to Ancient Sumeria. The theory was that cavities were caused by a creature known as the tooth worm, which they believed would wore holes in teeth.

Cavities can actually resemble the kinds of holes that the worms bore through other materials, like wood. The Sumerians, Greeks, Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian people all believed in the tooth worm. Some European doctors were still warning people that worms were the cause of their tooth decay as late as the 14th century.

First Toothbrush

Though no one knows exactly when people started brushing their teeth, archeologists believed the practice originated somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 BCE. The Babylonians and the Egyptians were the first cultures we know of to fashion rudimentary toothbrushes, which were made mostly from twigs.

The first used bristle toothbrush was created in China sometime during the Tang dynasty, between the 7tg and 10th centuries. It was made from hog bristles which would have been attached to a handle carved from bone or bamboo.

Explorers eventually brought these to the West. And in the 17th century, they began to be adopted in Europe.

New trend

In modern times, the dental ideal is considered to be a bright smile with straight white teeth. People will wear braces, use whiteners, to achieve the look. But most didn’t realise, its a relatively new fashion.

The popularity of look really only goes back to the 20th century and was greatly created by Hollywood movies. The trend, arguably, began their veneers, created by cosmetic dentist named Marcus Pincus in the 1940s. It was spotted by movie stars, like Shirley Temple and Judy Garland, who became famous for perfect smiles.

While mass market teeth whitening products didn’t became a thing until the 1980s, teeth whitening itself is nothing new.

Introducing Skateboarding in Olympics

In recent history, skateboarding has become a pop culture phenomenon. We see it in everything, from T.V advertisements to fashion shows. And for the first time ever, skateboarding will be introduced in the 2020 summer Olympics. But, skateboarding hasn’t always had the mass appeal we see today.

Brief history

Sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s, skateboarding was born out of the boredom of surfers when the waves were no good. They would remove the wheels from the roller skates and attach them to a piece of wood to create a skateboard.

By the 1960s, skateboarding’s popularity has grown with rise of surf culture. Contest were held all over and the first sponsored skateboarders were beginning to emerge. However, the popularity of skating in the 60’s dropped just as fast as it rose.

The 1970’s brought along one with the most important changes to the skateboarding world, the advent of the Urethane wheel, which allows skaters to ride faster are over rougher types of ground than ever before.

In 1976, a horrible drought in southern California forced most homeowners with backyard swimming pools to drain them, giving way to birthplace of pool skating. This was the first major shift in how people rode there skateboards. No longer were they limited to the abysmal, flat grounds of parking lots and sidewalks.

The 1980s were a time of Renaissance in skateboarding. People were constantly inventing new tricks, pros were earning unheard of amounts if money, and skateboarder-own companies were thriving.

The vert

The favourable terrain for most of this era was vert. And even though there was a high level of progression occurring, to the untrained eye, skateboarding had gone stale and the popularity once again fell flat.

This lull in skateboarding led to the introduction of street skating which brings us into the 1990s. Skating during the era was at its most raw. Skaters took to the streets, to find new terrain, abandoning traditional skaters parks for something that felt more natural and could be done anywhere, by anyone.

Popularity

Skating things that occur almost anywhere, like sets of stairs, handrails, benches, curbs, and just about anywhere four wheels can roll. From there, skateboarding has been a nonstop, uphill climb to what it is today.

At its core, skateboarding has traditionally been for the underdogs, the outcasts, the misfits, and in result has been thought of negatively by a large major of its existence. But now, with generation of young adults who grew up with skateboarding and the exposure at an all-time high, the future of skateboarding is looking bright.

Mountain of light: Kohinoor

Kohinoor, which means mountain of light, is a colourless Diamond which was discovered in the mines of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh somewhere in the 13th century. It was the biggest Diamond ever known to mankind during that time.

Currently, this Diamond is embedded in the Queen’s Mother’s crown. Governments of India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan have all claimed the ownership of this Diamond, but the UK governments has denied it stating that it was obtained legally.

Journey

Kohinoor has rich history behind it, though it is generally believed that this Diamond was discovered in 13th century during the kakatiya dynasty rule. There are scholars who dispute saying that the Diamond was discovered in the 16th century in Golconda. Kohinoor was taken by Alauddin Khilji who’s army defeated the Kakatiya dynasty.

It was with the Mughals most of the time after it’s discovery. However, Mughal lost the battle against Nadirshah in 17th century. It was Nadirshah who took the diamond from the Mughals and named it Kohinoor. After Nadirshah’s death, the diamond was passed on to Ahmad Shah Durrani who was his General.

After that Kohinoor was later gifted to Ranjit Singh by the Durrani dynasty during early 18th century. However, British East India Company defeated Ranjit Singh’s army in mid 18th century and took possession of this Diamond. Kohinoor was later shipped to Britain and the diamond was gifted to Queen Victoria in 1850 and Kohinoor has been in possession of the Royal Family since then.

Cursed?

An ancient Hindu text describe this diamond as

He who owns the diamond will own The World, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God and women can wear it with impunity.

Well by the consequences that we have seen so far it is quite evident that whoever has owned this diamond we’re either defeated or died.

Kakatiya dynasty (original owner) defeated by Alauddin Khilji
Alauddin Khilji died shortly after that and the diamond was passed on to Mughals.
Mughals lost the war to Nadirshah weakening their army.
Nadirshah died while Kohinoor was in his possession.
Ahmad Shah Durrani died while Kohinoor was in possession.
Ranjit Singh had Kohinoor with him when he lost the war with British.
British Empire started losing hold on its colonies including India when they had Kohinoor

This supposedly curse of Kohinoor in Britain. Only the Queen is allowed to wear the Kohinoor diamond. Men are prohibited in using it. With such a history of blood and violence behind it, no wonder this diamond has generated more curiosity in people over a period of time. We might not know if this diamond will come back to India, but the bigger question is will this be a blessing of disguised for India.

Why India can’t have an Official Language

Our Home Minister Amit Shah mentioned about promoting one nation, one language in one of his tweets in 2019. He also added that it should not be done at the cost of other languages. Some of us might know that 14th September is celebrated as Hindi Diwas in our country. So why can’t we have Hindi as an official language?

Critics

After Amit Shah statement, critics said that if Hindi becomes the official language, then other languages like malayalam, tamil, telugu and more, will lost their importance. South Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also said “this one nation, one language will never be a reality” because it will never be easy to have a common language in India.

Also in the New Education Policy (NEP) draft in the year 2019, Hindi was asked to make mandatory in every state. This was also criticized by the South Indian governments and they refused to dilute the state’s two language formula. This resulted in changing the draft and not to have Hindi as an official language.

Steps taken

India is a big nation, so there should be a language that will represent India on world stage. Talking about Hindi, it is spoken in India, Fiji, Suriname, Mauritius, Trinidad, Tabogo and Guyana. So India is working actively to have Hindi recognised as an official language of the UN.

Advantage of having an official language

A Chinese research concluded that

When we have an official language, it can even help to eliminating poverty. As China have experience in fight poverty so we can also learn the power of having an official language.
China also mentioned that an official language also helps in having communicate without any language barrier.
Official language also help to built unity among the citizens
Also helps when people migrate from one city to another, as they can communicate in the same language.

Disadvantage of having an official language

According to the 2001 Census, 41% of India population are native speaker of Hindi dialect. But what about 59% of the population who are non – Hindi speakers? Politician Shashi Tharur said

India should not even try to add Hindi to the list of official language of UN because what if in future our PM is from South part of India and does not speak Hindi, then how will he give speech in Hindi on behalf of India.

But apart from all these we still agree that there should be an official language for a country to function.

As per as official language is concerned,

English is also been promoted in India. Promoting English can result in heavy school fees, as we’ll have to teach the whole population to speak English.
Enough English teacher will also be required and if not then it won’t be successfully become the official language.
This will also result in neglecting the weaker section of the society who won’t be able to speak English and their career opportunity will get affected.

Eventually we need to figure out to take a right decision about official language and keeping in mind of the consequences that could possibly be in long terms situations.

Banned cartoons and their reasons

You may have came across the word “ban” Or “censored’ used in movies, but do you know these terms are also used for some cartoons in some countries which are liked by other countries. Let’s have a look at some popular cartoons which are banned in some countries and their reasons.

1. SpongeBob SquarePants

This is the longest running Nickelodeon show ever. It got banned because of violence and foul language which are used in this show. Countries like Russia, America and 120 others have banned this show from watching.

2. The Simpsons

This is America’s most popular cartoon show till now. This show had scenes where public figures like Donald Trump, were insulted. This show also promoted disorderly behavior which were totally misleading for kids. After sometime, the show is now available to watch, but there has been argument going on this show as countries like US have censored this cartoon show.

3. Mickey Mouse

This is world’s first cartoon show which had voice, and the first word that Mickey Mouse said was “Hot Dogs”. This cartoon show got banned in 1930s in the Romanian region because Romania government stated that big Mouse in this cartoon will scare the kids rather than making them laugh.

4. Doremon

This is a Japanese cartoon show which is ban in more than 50 countries because of the character Nobita. The Nobita character is a lazy character who always depends upon the character Doremon for helping gadgets. An argument concluded that the Nobita character was promoting laziness, procrastinating, etc, which resulted in banning.

Cartoon shows should be developed keeping kids as their main audience. It should have the simplicity and cleanness that attract audience and also focusing on the impact and effect that it’ll leave mainly on audience. That’s why shows that promotes foul language can always make a big effect on kids. This makes banning a healthy and better option.

Organ Donation: Myths and facts

Every years, many thousands receives the gift of life, a life saving transplant of Heart, Kidney, Liver, Lungs, Pancreas and Interesting. And thousands more people receive Corneas and other tissues that restore sight and health. Organ transplantation is one of the medicals advances of our time.

How does it work?

It all starts when someone’s organ begins to fail and that person will need a transplant to survive. The steps are as folllow:-

A through evaluation is conducted at a transplant centre and the person is a good candidate for transplant, he or she will be put into the National Transplant Waiting List.
Once a person is on the waiting list, the wait for organ begins.
A national system matches people on the waiting list with donors. That factors matching donors to recipient includes
- Blood type
- Body size
- How sick the patient is
- Distance from donor
- Tissue type
- Time on list

What isn’t taken into account, organs are never matched based on

Race
Gender
Income
Celebrity
Social status

There is no telling how long the wait will take. Infact, some people don’t receive an organ in time, because the Waiting List is really long and there aren’t enough donors available. That’s why an average of 20 people on the Waiting List died each day. Imagine how many could we save if we all were donors.

Becoming a donors

Most of organs transplant comes a deceived donors. For example, a person comes to the hospital with a life threatening brain injury, such as from an accident, stroke, our lack of oxygen. The doctors work hard to save them patients life but sometimes nothing can be done. There’s a complete, irreversible loss of brain function. The patient is clinically and legally dead.

Thats when being a donor can turn a time of loss into a time of hope. Because machines have blood containing and oxygen flowing into the organs, they can be passed along. One person can give life to as many as eight people through organ donation, and enhance the lives of fifty people or more with eye and tissue donation. But now minutes matter, matches must be found and transplants must happen quickly.

Organ Procurement organization

The hospital contracts an Organ Procurement Organization (OPO), it manages the recovery process. The OPO checks the state of organ donor registry, if the person is already registered as a donor they inform the family, if not they’ll ask the family to authorise donation.

A medical examination is taken place. They check the medical and social history and the person is eligible to be an organ donor, the computer begins to search on the National Waiting List for well matched patients The best matched patients are contracted by the transplant team. This is the call that every person on the Waiting List was waiting for.

The Transplant

A surgical team recovers the organs, then Corneas and other tissues. The organs are sent to the transplant hospital where patients and transplant teams are waiting and the life saving transplant takes place. It will take health living and medication to keep the organ working well in its new home.

You too could make the decision today, sign up on your state registry as an organ, eye and tissues donor, any age is the right age, Young or old, any day is the right day to sign up as a donor. You can register through your drivers license or you can register online. Remember to tell your family so that they can support your wishes. More than 1r5 million people have already registered, and we all need to save kore lives. So let’s share the gift of life.

Why do Insectivorous plants exist?

If you find insectivorous plants strange and fascinating then this blog is for you.

What are insectivorous plants?

Insectivorous plants are those plants that derive some nutrients by trapping and consuming animals, mainly insects.

Categories of being insectivorous

There are essential two things that a plant has to do to be considered insectivorous:-

Ability to take nutrients from dead prey:- a plant should have the ability to trap the prey and absorb nutrients from it. Those prey is usually insects or small vertebrates like, salamanders. It is not enough for the plant just to have defenses that can kill an animal that’s trying to snack on it. It also has to get it’s animal’s nutrients.
At least have one adaption:- the plant need to have one adaption that actively lures in, catches, or digests it’s prey.

Doing at least one of these things and absorbing the nutrients for it’s benefit make it a insectivorous plant.

Plant traps

Over millions of years and across hundreds of species, plants have developed five different types of traps, most of them are from different times. And traps can be passive, if prey just fall into them and can’t escape, or active, if plant actually moves to catch its prey.

Pitcher plant:- pitfall traps are the standard and passive trap used by plants like pitcher plants. Prey lands on the plants slippery surface and slides down into a pool of digestive juices.
Sundews:- these are flypaper traps in which the prey become stuck in a sticky substance that is produced by the plant leaves. These traps can be passive as well as active. Sundews have sticky moving tentacles that react to contract with prey.
Venus fly trap:- these are snap traps which are active, using rapid modified leave
Bladderworts: they have bladder-suction. This creates little negative pressure vacuum inside their traps, which, when triggered by prey, pop open and suck the victim inside before snapping close.
Lobster-pot trap:- they passive traps that force prey to move towards the plant’s digestive organ by having little inward pointing hairs that keep prey from moving backward out of the trap.

All of these unrelated plants have not only developed the same kinds of traps but it looks like they have also developed that same molecular mechanism for digesting their prey.

Reason of existence

It goes back to idea of convergent evolution. All these different insectivorous plants are responding to similar environmental pressure:-

Found in open sunny places that have moist but nutrients – poor – acidic soil. Many of them live in bogs and fens.
In these kind of habitat where nitrogen and phosphorus is not present in the soil, the plant tend to developed two kinds of leaves one for normal photosynthesis and one that are modified onto their particular type of trap.
This results them to invest more in modified leaves than normal photosynthesis leaves as they have to live in a place with enough sunlight as well as to trap preys

Insectivorous plants can stop paying carnivorous temporally once they’re put in nutrients rich soil and if they don’t get enough sunlight and water.

Insectivorous plants are pretty rare and they are only found in certain kinds of habitats, they are just less likely to fossilize than other kinds of plants that are more widespread.

Sleepwalking

Did you ever Sleep walked? Here’s what I came to know that every 1 out of 3 kids aged between 4 to 8, sleep walk. And that’s a lot by the way.

Sleep walking formally known as Somnambulish is a strange phenomena where people get up and do things in their sleep, sometimes more than just walking and when they wake up they don’t have any recollection of what they were doing. Moreover, if they find way back to their bed they may not ever know that they were sleep walking.

Sleep walking is nothing about embarrassed about though or terrified for that matter, it’s relatively common. In a recent study Stanford found that 1 out of 3 people sleep walk at some point of their lives. It is specially common among children, between the age of 4 and 8. So what happened when we sleep walk.

Reasons

A leading theory about why we sleep walk is:-

In normal sleep cycle, your brains motor system continues to issue physical commands to the body.
Whereas those who sleep walks are suppressed by sleep chemical called GABA.
GABA access act as a break in your brain, it brings your mind and body down to rest by neutralizing Glutamate a chemical that causes excitement.
In sleep walkers there’s a glitch in the process that suppresses your boby from moving around namely that you don’t produce GABA.

So that’s why you are moving around when you’re still asleep. There are few causes of GABA deficient in the body:-

Genetic sleepwalking :- when sleepwalking runs in the family
Underdeveloped system:- when the boby simply hasn’t matured enough to produce the proper amount. That’s why it is more common amongst kids.
Depression:- Those who suffer from depression are three times as likely to sleep walk.

Myths

You would have probably heard about the myth that you shouldn’t wake a sleepwalker because they’re going through a psychotic rage that could even kill you. But these are myths, if you see anyone sleepwalking, you are asked to wake them up gently, especially if they are in the kitchen or holding a knife.

Recently there was a story about a lady who drove 190 miles in her sleep without hurting or killing herself or anyone. She should be definitely called lucky.

Are you a Smartphone Zombie?

Few days back i saw a question on a site asking “I want to put my phone aside and study, but i’m not able to do it? Is there any I can get rid of it?”

Well we can say that we all faced this phase where we get too much addicted to Mobile phone and couldn’t keep it aside and focus on other works. A research recently released the details of a study which told us where in the world was the biggest Smartphone penetration:-

South Korea
Australia
Israel
U.S
Spain
U.K

But this doesn’t mean that people in this countries are using mobile phones all the time. Based on a 2016 study led by Statistica, it does look like people in those countries might fall into the category of smartphone zombies. The study also said that

Brazilian spend the most hours on average connected to a smartphone as 4 hr 48 mins per day.
Chinese spend the most hours on average 3 hours 3 mins
Followed by U.S 2 hours 37 mins
Italy 2 hours 34 mins
Spain 2 hours 11 mins
South Korea 2 hours 10 mins

One thing range true for all countries in the study, and that was the fact time spent on a smartphone for the average person was up quite a lot from 2012 to 2016.

It’s not totally people’s fault that we are addicted to the smartphones. We have this exciting thing in our pocket that flashes, beeps and invites us to use it. NPR in 2018 talked about this manipulative object we carry around with us, that is just so irresistible. The story mentions Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov, and what we know as Pavlov’s dog. The psychologist one day realised that when his dog heard a bell or a buzzer, he knew it was feeding time, thereby associate with a sound to eating, which led to the dog drooling and looking excited.

Modern psychologist tells us this is what is happening to us when we hear a beep or a ding inside our pocket; we become excitable, like Pavlov’s dog. Our reward is coming, and we get a hit of dopamine and we want more. We check our phone on average every 15 mins and that make the tech use psychological tricks to keep us checking in.

All the time spent checking in may affect our sleep, our relationship, our work, or even all the creative things we might do to have a flourishing existence. Psychologist tend to agree we should be checking in less, and tech producers need to start thinking about creating less powerful digital drugs. But that isn’t easy because as most people now need those beeps and likes, and need to feel that they are not missing out on something.

Experts even states that putting your phone down, you may experience withdrawal symptoms, such as craving, restlessness, irritability or difficulty in concentrating. So from now on you might turn off notifications, have a plan for the day and stick to it, take off the apps you really don’t need as that might lead to a kind of app surfing. In general, not many people are against these technologies, but we should be focusing on what we might call device quality time, educating ourselves and being productive and creative.

Do Vampires exist?

You probably have seen in movies and shows about these supernatural creatures such as Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Wizards, etc. But did you ever thought from where did we got these idea? Do the supernatural creatures really exist. Let’s learn about vampires first.

Think about the features that a vampire have. What’s the first thing you thought? Shape teeths to suck blood may be? Glowing eyes? What if I tell you some people with these features exist.

There is a Vampire Disorder in which people suffering from this condition frequently have pointed teeth like carnivore animals. This disorders also has a difficult scientific name Hypohydrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia. Therefore, they look similar to the legendary blood feeding creatures from movies.

Symptoms

People with more prominent symptoms of this illness are

Extremely thin and pale
Eyes are outlined with dark circles
Teeths are typically pointed
Hair is absent
Also they don’t like stakes not actually the beef kind

Problems

The biggest problem for such patients is not mistaken for considered as vampire but something else.

They always have to check their temperature.
Have to stay away from the sunlight
Have to strictly avoid hot weather

They don’t have sweat glands and as you know these glands serve as a thermal regulating mechanism of our body. Imagine what could happen if it is broken. And above all this is the most typical syndrome of this disorder.

For example, Actor Michael Berryman, who suffered from this disease made a career playing horror movie characters.

So now you’ve probably figured out vampires exist or not.

Who was the First Plastic Surgeon?

Plastic surgery – the name implies an artificial substance – but it is derived from the Greek word “Plastikos” which means to mold or to give form. An important specialty has been taking shape, one that reshapes the lives of patients. So who was the first plastic surgeon?

John Staige Davis was the first plastic surgeon. He played an important role not only at his council group in Hopkins but also in the United States in the plastic surgery. He limited his practice in the field of plastic surgery in those times. He was the only plastic surgeon who was there when World War I took place.

In 1991, Dr. Davis published the first English language textbook of plastic surgery and it is still used today. He sends copies to medical school founder, doctors and at that time no one acknowledged receiving it. And though plastic surgery at Hopkins would not gain the standard they deserved until the next century, Dr. Davis was helping to build the foundation for the entire discipline of plastic surgery in America.

He used to pioneer the transferring tissue techniques known as “Z- plasty” and the use of small deep grafts to heal chronic wounds. He was the founding member of The American Board of Surgery and The American Board of Plastic surgery. Dr. Davis’s work and reputation starts Hopkins on its way to becoming a crossroad and destination for the country’s best plastic surgeons.

In 1942, John Staige Davis was part-time faculty member and was running a plastic clinic even though he was in his 70s by then and beyond his retirement age, two years from then a forth year medical student at Hopkins had the chance observe the master surgeon doing a cleft lip repair.

His successor Dr. Edgerton graduates and proceeds to work by joining the army and was serving at Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania. He was one of the few surgeon treating thousands of men coming back from combat with disfiguring wounds and burns needing plastic surgery. This horrendous war injuries united skill surgeon in their desire to heal wounded soldiers. This dynamic gave raise to a new and important speciality in medicine.

With the scientific foundation and tissue regeneration, transplantation, and stem cell biology plastic surgery is uniquely poised to make the next major advance in medicine. By regenerating or replacing missing body parts, plastic surgery can transform patients life in ways that could not have been imagined only recently.

John Staige Davis didn’t lived to see plastic surgery receive the recognition and support if required and deserved in the world. But his path-breaking work and clear vision allowed a greater dream to be realized.

Attraction

Ever thought why do we get attract to someone? Well everyone has different answer to it. For some it can be the way one look, smiled, walk or may be their was an unusual aura around that one.

What is attraction?

Attraction, especially in a romantic way, is a complex process that take place in our brains, and has had it’s roots since it’s beginning of the humankind. It’s our minds way of telling us who has the potential to be our partner, our friend, or even our soulmate, and is based on a complex blend of our interest, values, experience, and desire. Physical and romantic attraction, which are often focused on, are only small facets of a much larger equation.

Psychologist look at the ingredients of attraction is in a form of pyramid, split into 4 different sections.

The base of the pyramid is made up of health and status:-

Status – 1. internal (confidence, self set, beliefs) 2. External (person’s job, possession and appearance.

Health – Physical attributes, smell, basic level of intelligence.

If the potential partners passes these initial requirements then we move to the center of the pyramid, which are the emotional factors:- includes

trust comfort someone wants,
their emotions intelligence, and
unique characteristics.

The final portion of the pyramid is “Logic”.This is the part that differentiate us from other animals, and is the part where our brains seriously

considers whether we are totally compatible for that person.
It ensure that the other person is aligned with us in term of what they want – things such as marriage, children, even the city they want to live.

According to this model, the more alignment there is, the more attraction there is, but it doesn’t always have to follow from bottom to top – like online dating.

What makes someone Attractive?

The answer to this questions make come to our mind is physical traits. Due to the influence of media, we tend to favor women who is younger, and more feminine features, in men on the other side, qualities such as broad shoulders, a deep voice, and strong jawline are highly upon.

Scientists suggest that, these also have an evolutionary origin because these traits are associated with a higher chance of producing health offspring and passing of good genes. Also, values, culture, and the environment, that we grow in also plays an important role.

Hence, attractiveness is complex, there’s a number of different perspective to consider, and at the end of the day, there’s very little we can choosing who we are attracted to. As each person looks for unique set of traits and, while physical traits are often focused there are far more factors that come into play. A person’s upbringing, behavior and even lifestyle have major influence. The most important thing to remember is to be happy and make the most of it.

Music can change you

These days we hear music all the time, it wakes us up, motivates our workouts, keeps us company on our commutes. It doesn’t matter what kind of music it is, it itself has the ability to affect our moods and our bodies in all sorts of ways. It can give us chills even can make us cry.

Effects on Brain

Music activates every area of the brain that scientists have mapped so far. In fact, there is no area of the brain that music doesn’t touching some ways.

25 years ago there was an idea which said that language is in left side of the brain and music is in right side of the brain but now with better quality tools, higher resolution, neuroimaging and better experimental methods, it is discovered that thats not at all right so how does it effects our brain?

When music enters and then gets shuttled off to different parts of the brain:-

It stops at specialise processing units in auditory cortex, they track loudness, pitch, rhythm, etc.
The visual cortex activates when you’re reading notes as a musician or watching music.
Motor cortex activates when you move or dance or tap your feet, snap fingers, clapping your hands.
The Cerebellum activates and immediate the emotional responses.
The memory system in the Hippocampus will activate and will help you to recognise any familiar music or lines that you listen

Hence, music is going on in both halves of the brain, left and right, the front, back, the inside, and the outside.

How playing Instruments helps?

We can start learning to play instrument at any age. Picking up an instrument can provide some huge benefits for Intelligence, Physical well-being, Brain.

Playing an instrument requires:-

Auditory motor
Sensory
Visual system to work together

This inner system cooperation has some incredible outcomes that can affect many areas of life.

Different intensities of training produce different outcomes, even the most minimal practice can make a difference. Starting to play an instrument just one hour a week for few months can cause growth and increased activity in the parts of the brain responsible for memory, hearing, and motor. Researchers have found that this kind of activities can even increase IQ by 7 point or more.

Its also known that people who play musical instrument are better at other practical things too such as:-

Practical emotions
Learning new things/tasks
Creative problem solving

Musicians brain have better communication between left and right hemisphere which allows for more cooperation and out of the box thinking. Playing an instrument can also has benefits for brain and body.

boosting immune system function
Increase in resilience to hearing lose
Helps stroke patients regain motor skills

It’s been found that just listening to music can prompt the repair and regeneration of damage nerves in the brain.

Music is so much more than notes on a page, it can change the way we think, speak and feel. Music making and listen is really complex it’s not demystified till now it’s more mysterious than ever.

Decoding Indian ways of Eating

Food is a very complex subject to understand. The world is experimenting new types of food, new recipes, new combination and new styles of consuming it to make it more aesthetically beautiful. But they are breaking the age-old science of healthy eating.

How we eat is equally important to what we eat. Our ancestors have passed on to us the right recipes, the right way to eat, and the right way to make it. We should start acknowledging the science and it’s significance. Food depends many variables:-

Season
Geography
Local availability
Attitude
Body type

Right Medium of Food Consumption

1. Eating with hands

People are getting used to eating with spoons and they consider eating with hands as unhygienic and unpleasant. According to Ayurveda, eating food should involve all senses. The touch of food to your fingers and feeling the texture can really trigger the nerve endings of your fingers which are connected to your digestion. These nerves stimulations are know to activate and stimulate your digestive juices. Also according to Ayurveda the five fingers represent the five elements:-

Thumb represents Fire (agni)
Index finger represents Air (wayu)
Middle finger represents Sky (Akash)
Ring finger represents Earth (Prithvi)
Little finger represents Water (jal)

Holding food with all five finger symbolises the union of all elements, which are essential for the normal functioning of our body.

2. Sitting on the floor

In India, sitting on the floor and eating is a family activity. It involves many muscles, the sitting position presses our lower spine and relaxes the whole body. The back and forth movement while eating gives a nice compression to your abdomen. Compression is maximum in sitting position and this also stimulates the digestive juices. It also has an effect on your mind. When the individual sits on the floor, the nervous systems performances better and transmission of signals happens very effectively. As a result sitting on the floor and eating has a huge weight reduction advantage.

Sitting on chair brings more pressure on your heart. When you’re sitting on chair your heart has to pump blood from toe to upwards against gravity and that is a strain. If you sit on a chair with folded legs that will reduce the gravity force that would help your heart and general health conditions so that more blood will be facilitated for digestion.

3. Food containing vessels

Vessels have an important effect on food, it can be positive as well as negative. In Indian tradition, every vessel has its own advantage in cooking or storing food.

For example, copper as has a strong intoxication property over water. That’s why copper vessels was used to store water in India. Another example, Ghee, if stored in a bronze vessel can become toxic. That is why ghee is stored in a metal vessel like steel.

In old times, food used to be kept in the leaves covered with leaves and it always remains healthy. Stones which were used for crushing, grinding is said to be more superior than done in mixers. So make sure to put right food in the right container.

Even the healthiest of food can become toxic if not consumed in right way. The ways of eating food is always been highlighted in all the cultures because it is the cultural identity of every community. Indian have always tried to introduce every healthy aspects into the food. So let’s follow these food habits and acknowledge deep science in the ancestral way of eating. We should not forget the valuable lessons which are passed down to us and understand that food once consumed can become medicine or junk. Your way of consuming it will decide what it will turn to – healthy or junk. So eat food in a right way, the Indian way.

Countries that haven’t reported a Single case of Covid-19.

Most of the world has been struggling to contain COVID-19. The disease which was first reported in China, has become a global pandemic that many countries are still trying to get under control. But a hand full of nation have not reported a single case of COVID-19 to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Most are in southern and central area of Pacific ocean.

Federated States of Micronesia
The Marshall Islands
Naru
The Solomon Islands
Vanuatu
Tuvalu
Kiribati
Samoa
Niue
Tonga
The Cook Islands
Palau

These small islands are all technically Covid-19 free. Health experts these 12 countries escaped the pandemic because of a combination of remoteness, small number of people as their combined population adds up to just 1.6 million and because they closed borders when the Corona virus that causes Covid-19 began to spread widely. But just because they haven’t reported any Corona virus cases, does not mean these nations have entirely dodged the effect of the pandemic.

Tourism plays a major role in the economics of most of these countries. And as in many around the world, a lack of visitors has left hotels and restaurants struggling. The owner of the hotel says since March 2020 they have lost their whole business and have zero income.

Palau is one of the island nation feeling the economic pain of Covid-19. Streets that are normally bustling with visitors from abroad have been all but empty for months. With no guests, hotel in the country have also had to make serious cuts. A hotel owner says

No one in our hotel is making their full salary. Most people are 50% or below. Everybody is feeling the pain as thers is no economic opportunity left.

The Palau government recognized early on the economic toll of shutting it’s borders to foreigners. He says

Our capacity, our reality a situation here its that you’re better of with prevention than trying to do something about it later on. So, it became a question of economics or people’s lives, and the right thing to do for anybody in this world is to consider people’s lives.

The Government provided generous subsidies of up to US $10,000 for local people and a few hundred dollars for foreign workers affected by the halt in tourism. Not all Pacific countries rely on tourism as a main driver for their economies.

Countries like Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia rely on fishing and farming and financial aid from the US. But with limited health care facilities and population spread across many islands, the nation’s priority has been keeping COVID-19 from their shores and educating citizens about thorough handwashing, social distancing and other precautionary measures.

Other than Island Nations

In addition to these tiny island nations, there are other countries that haven’t reported a single case of COVID-19 to the WHO: North Korea and Turkmenistan.

North Korea closed its borders in January 2020 and it’s leader Kim Jung-un has repeatedly said the disease is a “potential” threat. He even put the town of Kaesong, which borders South Korea, under lockdown in July 2020. But many observers are are sceptical about the country’s official statistics. They say North Korea’s weak healthcare system may not be able to confirm Corona virus infections, or that the ruling party may simply not be very transparent about whether there are any cases.

Health experts are also wary of Turkmenistan’s claim to be COVID-19 free. It is among the hardest countries in the world for foreigners to enter, and it also closes its borders early on in the pandemic. The authorities government in Turkmenistan also says there are no people in the country living with HIV or Aids, a claim most scientists say is just not plausible.

Back in Paula, where people are doing their best to ride out the economic toll of the pandemic, hotel owner have a bleak prediction about the future. They’re predicting how long will they continue to lose money before suspending more operations or total operations and just wait for the whole world to settle down? Because it’s a financial question arises, we’re willing to lose money, but how much money are we willing to lose?

So while border control, good hygiene and social distancing seem to have effectively kept the disease away from these places, there is no defence against the economic devastation caused by the global pandemic.

Why schools should not be reopened?

SHOULD SCHOOLS BE REOPENED?

Some says they shouldn’t others says they should. Some states have already reopened in India this includes Punjab, Uttrakhand, Haryana, Madhya pradesh, Himachal pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat, and most of these states schools have been reopened for selective classes mostly senior classes grade 9 and above. In Himachal pradesh for example, schools have reopened for classes 10 to 12. But in most Indian states schools are still closed and they have been closed for more than 500 days now.

The Wuhan virus was declared a pandemic 17 months ago in March 2020. In March 2020 over 250 million primary school and middle school children have not stepped into their classrooms. This is a situation in India and all of these numbers are true. By these numbers they do not necessarily translate into a safety certificate for schools. They do not mean reopening schools are now safe.

Those arguing of reopening site instances of bars and shopping malls, even marriage halls, they’re all open. They’ve all opened why not schools they say. Well for one, schools are for children and children are not been vaccinated most of them are below 18 years of age. In India children are not qualified for Wuhan virus vaccination. So sending them to school unvaccinated which mean their lives exposing them to the virus. Will parents be ok with that? Won’t it be better to wait it out and make sure that their kids will be safe at school and right now they won’t be.

The pandemic has not gone away. There are cases arising in many countries and in India third wave is on the horizon.

One may say this from a privileged position as some children have access to digital learning i.e., they can afford to attend classes from home but many others can’t. Many students and teacher in India can’t afford a smartphone, a laptop or a computer. Many schools lack basic infrastructure required for conducting online classes. For example computers, the following is showing the statistical data of computer facilities present in different states of India:-

The above data shows Assam and Madhya pradesh with 13%, Bihar and West Bengal with 14 %, Tripura with 15% and Uttarpradesh with 18% of schools with computer facilities.

How are schools Managing to conduct classes in the middle of the pandemic?

Oxfam India carried out a survey in 2020 interviewing nearly 1200 parents and 500 teachers. They were all from the Indian states of Odisha, Bihar, jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and U.P.

–> 80% parents said that children have not received any education during the pandemic.

–> 4 out 5 students had not received new textbooks for the academic year.

–> Teachers fears that 30% of students might not return to schools when reopens

Therefore, there is not doubt that school closure is taking a toll on education, it is also threatening to undo the gains made in the education sector in general. The facilities deficit in government-funded schools does not help.

According to the educational Ministry,

–> At least a 113 Million students attends government schools in India.

–> 65% from 20 states are enrolled in them.

–> Only 30% of these schools have functional computers.

The Education Ministry data also says that in the run-up to the pandemic less than 12% of India’s government have internet facilities. Also only three states of India have internet facilities in majority of their school which are Kerala, Delhi, Gujarat.

It is not wrong to believe that schools should reopen that every child should be able to access learning. After all education is every child’s right and the pandemic should not be allowed to snatch away that right, so yes they should go back to school but there is a problem our children would not be safe not yet. We may convince ourselves that worth the risk but our trust with that pandemic shows us that nothing is worth risking the Wuhan virus.

The last one year has been a grand experiment, we have tried alternate day work from home, we have tried alternate seatings at restaurants, movie halls, alternate flight of escalated. We have tried all kinds of things but, we should leave children out of these grand experiment.

Knowing your Blood type

Blood type experiments

Other than 8 Blood types

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Body during swimming

1. Blood

2. Heart

3. Skin

4.Muscles

5. Lungs

6. Brain

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Multilingualism

Types of Bilingualism

1. Compound Bilingualism

2. Coordinate Bilingualism

Officially Monolingual Countries

Advantage

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1. Reading is food for the brain.

2. You become better at conversations.

3. You can get mentored by a successful people for a very cheap price.

4. Reading improves focus and concentration.

5. Reading opens your mind.

6. Reading helps relax you.

7. Reading helps improve your memory.

8. Reading helps you make decisions better.

9. Reading can help you sleep better.

10. You become who you are ment to be.

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Before Halloween

The name Halloween

How the holiday spread

Trick-o-treat

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Varieties

History

Tying a Necktie

Towards the end of tie fashion

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Causes

Symptoms

Diagnosis

Treatment

Famous personality with BDD

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First stamp

Other stamps

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What is Petroleum Jelly?

How does it work?

Natural Alternatives

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What do you mean by industry ready?

Importance

How can students be industry ready?

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Mongolia

Bahrain

Seychelles

UAE

Countries who have refused

Philippines

Saudi Arabia

Do Chinese vaccines works in China

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What is narcissism?

What is NDP?

What causes NPD?

What are the signs and Symptoms?

How to get help?

What treatment options are available?

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Emergence

The Punishment

Britishers in their own jail

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Effect on eye sight

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Ancient ways of cleaning teeth