It is probably unwise for human beings to be telling aliens where we are, Nobel laureate Brian P Schmidt has said.
"I think it is probably not the smartest thing to tell the aliens where we are, as any encounter with aliens may not be a happy one," Xinhua quoted Schmidt as saying at the 28th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union currently going on the Chinese capital.
Schmidt shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
"Aliens may not be something that we need to worry about. It will be so far away and it takes so long to travel from point A to point B in the universe that it won't be a problem. But it will happen when it happens," said Schmidt.
Before their discovery, it was commonly thought that the expansion of the universe was slowing down. However, their findings showed that dark energy pushes every galaxy apart and the universe will continue to expand at a quicker pace and eventually fade away.
According to Schmidt's research, it will be harder to reach another planet in an accelerating universe, meaning it is less likely to meet higher intelligent extraterrestrial life in the future.
"The future of the universe seems to be dark. Things are getting faster and faster. In terms of looking for aliens, it's gonna be quite a challenge. It may never happen. Things like us are probably very rare in the universe," he said.
In 2010, Stephen Hawking, one of the world's most famous theoretical physicists, said humans should be extremely cautious of extraterrestrial life and attempts to make contact with alien races is "a little too risky".
Schmidt said he agrees with Hawking. He said humans have more things to worry about.
"The reality is that the sun is going to give out on us in about four billion years, and is becoming very hot. So in the future about 800 million years from now we need to figure out how to deal with that first."
'Just one alcoholic drink a day may up the risk of cancer'
Binge drinkers are not the only ones who need to worry about the health implications of alcohol, even light drinking increases the cancer risk significantly, a new study has claimed.
According to the study led by researchers from the University of Milan, just one alcoholic drink a day may increase the risk of cancer, adding light drinking is estimated to be responsible for 34,000 deaths a year worldwide.
Until now, almost all the evidence has come from studies that focused on people drinking moderate or large amounts of alcohol, or binge drinkers, and not those who drink less.
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The research based on more than 150,000 men and women shows that light drinking increases the likelihood of cancer of the mouth, pharynx, oesophagus and breast.
One drink a day increased the risk of cancer of the oesophagus by almost a third, according to the study being reported in the Annals of Oncology, which analysed data from more than 200 research projects, the 'Independent' reported.
Low alcohol intake increased the risk of oral cavity and pharynx cancer by 17 per cent, and breast cancer in women by 5 per cent.
"Alcohol increases the risk of cancer even at low doses," say the researchers.
"Given the high proportion of light drinkers in the population, and the high prevalence of these tumours, especially of breast cancer, even small increases in cancer risk are of great public health relevance," they said.
Evidence suggests that drinking in moderation may decrease the risk of heart disease, type-2 diabetes and dementia, leading many to believe a glass of wine a day is good for you.
But the damaging effects of drinking are well known. An estimated 2.2 million deaths a year worldwide are linked to alcohol, according to the report, and 3.6 per cent of all cancers are attributable to drinking alcohol.
The study defined light drinking as up to one drink a day or 12.5 grams or less of ethanol.
Data on 92,000 light drinkers and 60,000 non-drinkers was used to calculate the overall cancer risk.
According to the study led by researchers from the University of Milan, just one alcoholic drink a day may increase the risk of cancer, adding light drinking is estimated to be responsible for 34,000 deaths a year worldwide.
Until now, almost all the evidence has come from studies that focused on people drinking moderate or large amounts of alcohol, or binge drinkers, and not those who drink less.
Click here for Cloud Computing
Also Read
Related Stories
News Now
- Gram panchayat polls to be held under shadow of drought
- Heavy rains disrupt normal life in Himachal
- US Granny gives birth to grandson after renting own 'womb'
- Alicia Keys to debut album title track at VMAs
The research based on more than 150,000 men and women shows that light drinking increases the likelihood of cancer of the mouth, pharynx, oesophagus and breast.
One drink a day increased the risk of cancer of the oesophagus by almost a third, according to the study being reported in the Annals of Oncology, which analysed data from more than 200 research projects, the 'Independent' reported.
Low alcohol intake increased the risk of oral cavity and pharynx cancer by 17 per cent, and breast cancer in women by 5 per cent.
"Alcohol increases the risk of cancer even at low doses," say the researchers.
"Given the high proportion of light drinkers in the population, and the high prevalence of these tumours, especially of breast cancer, even small increases in cancer risk are of great public health relevance," they said.
Evidence suggests that drinking in moderation may decrease the risk of heart disease, type-2 diabetes and dementia, leading many to believe a glass of wine a day is good for you.
But the damaging effects of drinking are well known. An estimated 2.2 million deaths a year worldwide are linked to alcohol, according to the report, and 3.6 per cent of all cancers are attributable to drinking alcohol.
The study defined light drinking as up to one drink a day or 12.5 grams or less of ethanol.
Data on 92,000 light drinkers and 60,000 non-drinkers was used to calculate the overall cancer risk.
Now, saliva, tears, urine samples can replace blood for glucose test
NEW DELHI: A drop of tear from your eyes, saliva or urine could soon substitute the drop of blood as the medium for a glucose test.
In a major breakthrough, an IIT-Delhi alumni Anurag Kumar, who is presently pursuing his Ph.D from Purdue University in the US, has created a new type of biosensor that can detect minute concentrations of glucose in saliva, tears and urine and might be manufactured at low cost because it does not require many processing steps to produce.
"It's an inherently non-invasive way to estimate glucose content in the body. Because it can detect glucose in the saliva and tears, it's a platform that might eventually help to eliminate or reduce the frequency of using pinpricks for diabetes testing. We are proving its functionality," the team said.
The joint team of researchers from Purdue and US Naval Research Laboratory published their findings this week in the journal, Advanced Functional Materials.
The technology is able to detect glucose in concentrations as low as 0.3 micromolar, far more sensitive than other electrochemical biosensors based on graphene or graphite, carbon nanotubes and metallic nanoparticles.
Speaking to TOI from the US, Kumar said, "Most sensors typically measure glucose in blood. Many in the literature aren't able to detect glucose in tears and the saliva. What's unique is that we can sense in all four different human serums: the saliva, blood, tears and urine. And that hasn't been shown before."
He added, "It is a graphene based sensor that has very low detection limit for glucose and a very wide sensing range. A human tear could contain 0.2 to 0.4 milimose glucose. Our sensor can detect 0.01 to 50 milimose of glucose. Soon, we can tell whether a patient is diabetic or not just by testing his urine, saliva or tear instead of a finger prick for blood."
Kumar, who hails from Talaiya, a small town in Jharkhand, is working towards commercializing the technology "just by changing the enzyme, we can use the same nanostructure materiel to measure concentration level of other chemicals like the one that predicts Parkinson's and Alzheimer's."
The sensor has three main parts — layers of nanosheets resembling tiny rose petals made of a material called graphene, which is a single-atom-thick film of carbon; platinum nanoparticles; and the enzyme glucose oxidase.
Each petal contains a few layers of stacked graphene. The edges of the petals have dangling, incomplete chemical bonds, defects where platinum nanoparticles can attach. Electrodes are formed by combining the nanosheet petals and platinum nanoparticles. Then the glucose oxidase attaches to the platinum nanoparticles. The enzyme converts glucose to peroxide, which generates a signal on the electrode.
"Typically, when you want to make a nanostructured biosensor you have to use a lot of processing steps before you reach the final biosensor product," Kumar said. "That involves lithography, chemical processing, etching and other steps. The good thing about these petals is that they can be grown on just about any surface, and we don't need to use any of these steps, so it could be ideal for commercialization," he added.
"Because we used the enzyme glucose oxidase in this work, it's geared for diabetes," said Jonathan Claussen, a research scientist at the US Naval Research Laboratory. "But we could just swap out that enzyme with, for example, glutemate oxidase, to measure the neurotransmitter glutamate to test for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, or ethanol oxidase to monitor alcohol levels for a breathalyzer. It's very versatile, fast and portable," he explained.
These are the first findings to report such a low sensing limit and, at the same time, such a wide sensing range. The sensor is able to distinguish between glucose and signals from other compounds that often cause interference in sensors: uric acid, ascorbic acid and acetaminophen, which are commonly found in the blood. Unlike glucose, those compounds are said to be electro-active, which means they generate an electrical signal without the presence of an enzyme.
Glucose by itself doesn't generate a signal but must first react with the enzyme glucose oxidase. Glucose oxidase is used in commercial diabetes test strips for conventional diabetes meters that measure blood sugar level with a finger pinprick.
In a major breakthrough, an IIT-Delhi alumni Anurag Kumar, who is presently pursuing his Ph.D from Purdue University in the US, has created a new type of biosensor that can detect minute concentrations of glucose in saliva, tears and urine and might be manufactured at low cost because it does not require many processing steps to produce.
"It's an inherently non-invasive way to estimate glucose content in the body. Because it can detect glucose in the saliva and tears, it's a platform that might eventually help to eliminate or reduce the frequency of using pinpricks for diabetes testing. We are proving its functionality," the team said.
The joint team of researchers from Purdue and US Naval Research Laboratory published their findings this week in the journal, Advanced Functional Materials.
The technology is able to detect glucose in concentrations as low as 0.3 micromolar, far more sensitive than other electrochemical biosensors based on graphene or graphite, carbon nanotubes and metallic nanoparticles.
Speaking to TOI from the US, Kumar said, "Most sensors typically measure glucose in blood. Many in the literature aren't able to detect glucose in tears and the saliva. What's unique is that we can sense in all four different human serums: the saliva, blood, tears and urine. And that hasn't been shown before."
He added, "It is a graphene based sensor that has very low detection limit for glucose and a very wide sensing range. A human tear could contain 0.2 to 0.4 milimose glucose. Our sensor can detect 0.01 to 50 milimose of glucose. Soon, we can tell whether a patient is diabetic or not just by testing his urine, saliva or tear instead of a finger prick for blood."
Kumar, who hails from Talaiya, a small town in Jharkhand, is working towards commercializing the technology "just by changing the enzyme, we can use the same nanostructure materiel to measure concentration level of other chemicals like the one that predicts Parkinson's and Alzheimer's."
The sensor has three main parts — layers of nanosheets resembling tiny rose petals made of a material called graphene, which is a single-atom-thick film of carbon; platinum nanoparticles; and the enzyme glucose oxidase.
Each petal contains a few layers of stacked graphene. The edges of the petals have dangling, incomplete chemical bonds, defects where platinum nanoparticles can attach. Electrodes are formed by combining the nanosheet petals and platinum nanoparticles. Then the glucose oxidase attaches to the platinum nanoparticles. The enzyme converts glucose to peroxide, which generates a signal on the electrode.
"Typically, when you want to make a nanostructured biosensor you have to use a lot of processing steps before you reach the final biosensor product," Kumar said. "That involves lithography, chemical processing, etching and other steps. The good thing about these petals is that they can be grown on just about any surface, and we don't need to use any of these steps, so it could be ideal for commercialization," he added.
"Because we used the enzyme glucose oxidase in this work, it's geared for diabetes," said Jonathan Claussen, a research scientist at the US Naval Research Laboratory. "But we could just swap out that enzyme with, for example, glutemate oxidase, to measure the neurotransmitter glutamate to test for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, or ethanol oxidase to monitor alcohol levels for a breathalyzer. It's very versatile, fast and portable," he explained.
These are the first findings to report such a low sensing limit and, at the same time, such a wide sensing range. The sensor is able to distinguish between glucose and signals from other compounds that often cause interference in sensors: uric acid, ascorbic acid and acetaminophen, which are commonly found in the blood. Unlike glucose, those compounds are said to be electro-active, which means they generate an electrical signal without the presence of an enzyme.
Glucose by itself doesn't generate a signal but must first react with the enzyme glucose oxidase. Glucose oxidase is used in commercial diabetes test strips for conventional diabetes meters that measure blood sugar level with a finger pinprick.
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