Analysis – Page 10

Analysis, Food, Human Behavior, Science & Technology News

There is no such thing as a sugar rush

August 1, 2019

Scientists are debunking the link to hyperactivity

Contrary to decades of popular belief (and anecdotal evidence from generations of parents), a new study has found that there is no such thing as a sugar rush. That’s right. The sugar rush is a myth. Rather than making people feel energized and hyped, the new research suggests eating sweet foods actually causes people to experience the opposite: fatigue and a lack of alertness.

The results — which were published in June in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews — come from a meta-analysis of 31 published studies involving almost 1,300 people. A team of European researchers sought to understand the effect of sugar on people’s moods, including anger, alertness, depression, and fatigue. Overall, they wanted to know how does this carbohydrate impact both the way people feel in terms of pleasure, as well as cognitive ability and sharpness.

Continue reading… “There is no such thing as a sugar rush”

Analysis, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

New analysis techniques unearth a trove of unusual minerals

August 1, 2019

Nataliyamalikite was discovered in Kamchatka’s Avacha Volcano, which emits sulfurous vapor that’s high in thallium.YURI SMITYUK/GETTY IMAGES

THE LANDSCAPE OF Kamchatka Peninsula steams with sulfurous vapor, its 29 active volcanoes forming a hazy backdrop for the region’s herds of reindeer and rivers of salmon. One of the most geologically active places in the world, Kamchatka juts out from the eastern coast of Russia to resemble a larger version of Florida. A process almost like alchemy occurs here: Like a set of roiling cauldrons, Kamchatka’s volcanoes mix unusual combinations of atomic elements to forge minerals that are unlike anything anywhere else in the world.

And in the past few years, researchers have discovered several new minerals on Kamchatka. “They pop up by accident,” says Joël Brugger, a geologist at Monash University in Australia, who helped discover a new mineral on the peninsula called nataliyamalikite in 2017. “You just have to keep your eyes open.” Researchers don’t set out to make these discoveries, usually. Instead, they stumble upon new minerals during their studies of broader geologic processes that might, for example, cause rare metals to collect in unusually large concentrations in a specific volcano.

Continue reading… “New analysis techniques unearth a trove of unusual minerals”

Analysis, Big Problems, Hot Issues, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

The writing on the wall: America’s retirement crisis by the numbers

July 26, 2019

Thousands of Americans are at risk of going broke in retirement, and it’s only going to get worse.

These days, overwhelming student loan debt and the uncertain future of Social Security’s solvency garner most of the attention, but there’s another equally severe financial crisis looming on the horizon for millions of Americans. Thousands of people retire every day, and many don’t have the savings they need to last the rest of their lives.

When that well runs dry, they’ll need to lean on their family members to support them or seek government assistance to cover their basic living expenses. It’s a fate thousands of Americans are already experiencing, and based on data from the latest Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress survey, tens of thousands more are set to join them in the coming decades.

Continue reading… “The writing on the wall: America’s retirement crisis by the numbers”

Analysis, Business, Science & Technology News, Shopping

Tata: Most valuable Indian brand in 2019

July 26, 2019

It is not unusual for the Tata group to top brand valuation charts, as it has done several years in a row. But what has come as a surprise, in the 2019 study by UK-based Brand Finance of the nation’s leading 100 brands, is the sharp jump in brand valuation achieved by the salt-to-software business house.

The 2019 list, released exclusively to Business Standard, shows a 37 per cent jump in brand value for the Tata group, to $19.55 billion for 2019, the highest in the top 25. Last year, the group had achieved a brand value of $14.23 billion, which was a jump of nearly nine per cent over the previous year.

“The Tata group’s presence across sectors makes it a pioneering force to reckon with,” says David Haigh, chief executive officer, Brand Finance, about the conglomerate’s performance this year.

Continue reading… “Tata: Most valuable Indian brand in 2019”

Analysis, Big Problems, Children, Science & Technology News

World’s population will continue to grow and will reach nearly 10 billion by 2050

July 23, 2019

There has been tremendous growth in the size of the world’s population in the last half century. Global population was around 3 billion in 1960. By 1987, in less than three decades, it had surpassed 5 billion and there were around 7.6 billion people in the world in 2018.

This growth varies greatly across regions. Since 1960, the largest relative growth has taken place in Sub-Saharan Africa where the population expanded from 227 million in 1960 to more than 1 billion in 2018—a nearly fivefold increase. The second largest growth over the period can be seen in Middle East and North Africa, where the population increased more than 4 times, from 105 million to 449 million.

Continue reading… “World’s population will continue to grow and will reach nearly 10 billion by 2050”

Analysis, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

What you need to earn to be in the to 1%

July 19, 2019

Hint: Try aiming for the top 10% instead. Or maybe move to New Mexico.

When you think of the 1%, you probably think of people banking millions of dollars per year, traveling from vacation home to vacation home on their private jets, and spending tens of thousands without thought or care. Those people certainly exist, but they don’t all earn seven-figure incomes.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) published a study that looked at income inequality based on 2017 reported wages, and the results may be surprising. While the top 1% obviously out-earn the bottom 90% by a considerable margin, you don’t need to make millions each year to join them. And if you consider yourself relatively well-to-do, you may be in the top 5% or 10% already.

Continue reading… “What you need to earn to be in the to 1%”

Analysis, Environment, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

New analysis techniques unearth a trove of unusual minerals

July 17, 2019

Nataliyamalikite was discovered in Kamchatka’s Avacha Volcano, which emits sulfurous vapor that’s high in thallium.YURI SMITYUK/GETTY IMAGES

THE LANDSCAPE OF Kamchatka Peninsula steams with sulfurous vapor, its 29 active volcanoes forming a hazy backdrop for the region’s herds of reindeer and rivers of salmon. One of the most geologically active places in the world, Kamchatka juts out from the eastern coast of Russia to resemble a larger version of Florida. A process almost like alchemy occurs here: Like a set of roiling cauldrons, Kamchatka’s volcanoes mix unusual combinations of atomic elements to forge minerals that are unlike anything anywhere else in the world.

And in the past few years, researchers have discovered several new minerals on Kamchatka. “They pop up by accident,” says Joël Brugger, a geologist at Monash University in Australia, who helped discover a new mineral on the peninsula called nataliyamalikite in 2017. “You just have to keep your eyes open.” Researchers don’t set out to make these discoveries, usually. Instead, they stumble upon new minerals during their studies of broader geologic processes that might, for example, cause rare metals to collect in unusually large concentrations in a specific volcano.

Continue reading… “New analysis techniques unearth a trove of unusual minerals”

Analysis, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Exactly how much it will cost you to retire well in every state in America

July 10, 2019

A comfortable retirement doesn’t come cheap.

While you may hear stories of people retiring on as little as $2,000 a month, the reality for most of us is likely to be much different. Indeed, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average over-65 household will spend nearly $50,000 a year. The biggest chunk of that is on housing at more than $16,000 a year, but health care is high on the list too (about $6,600), as is transportation ($7,500) and groceries ($3,815). (Of course, people who have paid off their mortgage can dramatically slash this amount, and there are other ways to save as well.)

What’s more, the annual spending for the over-65 set in some states is likely to be far higher, according to an analysis by personal finance site GoBankingRates.com. The analysis looked at consumption expenditures of Americans aged 65 and older for items like groceries, housing (includes utilities and housekeeping), transportation, health care and more; it then adjusted those figures to every state’s itemized cost of living index, and added an additional 20% savings buffer (so you can retire comfortably).

Continue reading… “Exactly how much it will cost you to retire well in every state in America”

Analysis, Children, Human Behavior, Report, Science & Technology News

World’s population is projected to nearly stop growing by the end of the century

July 8, 2019

For the first time in modern history, the world’s population is expected to virtually stop growing by the end of this century, due in large part to falling global fertility rates, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of new data from the United Nations.

By 2100, the world’s population is projected to reach approximately 10.9 billion, with annual growth of less than 0.1% – a steep decline from the current rate. Between 1950 and today, the world’s population grew between 1% and 2% each year, with the number of people rising from 2.5 billion to more than 7.7 billion.

Continue reading… “World’s population is projected to nearly stop growing by the end of the century”

Analysis, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

Wine kills germs that cause sore throats and dental plaque, says awesome study

July 4, 2019

Yet another reason to pour yourself a glass.

We already know that wine is one of the greatest things in life, but did you know that it could actually keep you from getting sick? Yup, apparently wine is a fantastic disinfectant for bad mouth germs, which is just another reason why we should all be drinking more of the good stuff.

Continue reading… “Wine kills germs that cause sore throats and dental plaque, says awesome study”

Analysis, Human Behavior, Science & Technology News

Researchers ‘Lost’ 17,000 Wallets in Hundreds of Cities to See What People Would Actually Do with Them

July 4, 2019

Researchers ‘Lost’ 17,000 Wallets in Hundreds of Cities to See What People Would Actually Return

Plenty of people around the world, it turns out, are willing to return a stranger’s lost wallet—especially if it’s filled with cash, according to a counterintuitive study.

The study, published in the journal Science on Thursday, was a meticulous social experiment that took three years and over half a million dollars to complete.

A group of 13 research assistants (11 men and 2 women) were recruited for a trip around the world. They traveled to 355 major cities across 40 countries. In each city, they visited banks, theaters, hotels, police stations, and other public spaces and turned in a “lost wallet,” which they claimed to have found on the street, to a nearby employee.

Continue reading… “Researchers ‘Lost’ 17,000 Wallets in Hundreds of Cities to See What People Would Actually Do with Them”

Analysis, Big Problems, Environment, Report, Science & Technology News

Special report: Our plastic planet

June 30, 2019

We have sipped, packaged and played our way into a global plastics crisis.

Why it matters: Activist consumer groups are pushing for less use, and to some extent, less production, while industry aims for increased recycling.

The big picture: Plastics demand is projected to only increase — and the footprint of plastic pollution with it.

Continue reading… “Special report: Our plastic planet”