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Study Shows That 7,500 People Die Daily Due To Cancer In China

February 1, 2016 By Chen Lai Leave a Comment

China is currently fighting against lung cancer.

As sad as it is, a recent study shows that there are 7,500 people dying in China due to lung cancer.

China is known for being a country with good economy and strong military capabilities. However, as per this new report, 2.8 million people died in China last year due to cancer. This terrifying number accounts for one-fifth of the global population death rate.

The above mentioned research was published in the U.S. medical journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The researchers were able to gather relevant data from hospitals, health centers and the Civil Administration Bureau.

Also, according to the study’s authors, “cancer is the leading cause” of death in the country and it’s “a major public health problem,” as the China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.

Another statement, regarding the study is that “almost 22 percent of global new cancer cases and close to 27 percent of global cancer deaths occur in China” and, more importantly, that ” the cancer profile in China is markedly different from those of developed countries.

The only difference between the cancer profiles of China and those from other developed countries all over the world is that the most common cancer cases in China are lung cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer and esophageal cancer.

Some other research proves that during the year of 2015, 4,3 million new cancer cases were found in China. The highest number of these cases corresponds to lung cancer. This reasearch was conducted by Dr. Wanqing Chen of the National Cancer Center in Beijing.

Now, what causes the lung cancer and what makes it spread among the population in such a very large number?

The answer is: air pollution and smoking. As the researchers noted, the air pollution in China is one of the worst all over the world. Smoking is, nonetheless, a very bad habit among Chinese citizens, which numbered well over a billion in 2013.

Apart from pollution and smoking, the lifestyle factors, such as alimentation, also account for many cancer cases.

Which brings us to our next point. Happily, there are some tips people can follow in order to avoid getting lung cancer. According to Mayo Clinic, some of these tips are: not smoking, avoiding second-hand smoke, diet, regular exercise, testing your home for radon levels, avoiding exposure to toxic chemicals, eating healthy.

The health crisis that is currently bringing down Chna’s natural developmental course depends merely on reducing these cases of cancer. This would be a great way to solve the crisis and prevent further tragedies among the population.

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Cats Were First Domesticated in China 5000 Years Ago

January 28, 2016 By Chen Lai Leave a Comment

The leopard cat was indigenous to the area where it is thought they were first domesticated.

The first signs of feline domestication date back from 7500 BC, and the archaeological proof was discovered in Cyprus, and cats were first domesticated in China 5000 years ago. But the remains from Cyprus are from the Felis silvestris, what is now known as the European cat, and those from China are from the Prionailurus bengalensis or the leopard cat. This means that the felines have gone through the domestication process twice.

The Prionailurus bengalensis, or the leopard cat, is a common sight in China, and it seems it has been so for 5000 years according to the latest archaeological discoveries. This only suggests that the felines, although they were part of different species, have been through the domestication process twice. These findings are important because they shed new light on the process itself and on the will of the animal that goes through with it.

A team of archaeologists unearthed a couple of bones that appeared to belong to a cat 15 years ago in Central China. The remains were then studied in order to establish the exact species of the feline that was discovered during the digs.

According to a zooarchaeologist, Dr Vigne, the remains were those of a Prionailurus bengalensis, which could only mean that leopard cats were first domesticated in China 5000 years ago. The team is certain that the specimen was domesticated because of the teeth’s wear that was excessive, clear signs of them being fed by humans. And because the archaeologists have found complete leopard cat bodies buried in the area, they reached the conclusion that the Prionailurus bengalensis weren’t hunted, or eaten.

Dr Vigne says that it is only logical that the people accepted the presence of the leopard cat and gave it special treatment because back them everybody lived on a farm and one of the biggest problems were mice or other rodents that were ruining the crops. The leopard cat, being much smaller than it’s cousin, the leopard, managed to approach the farmers and convince them of the benefits of its presence.

Fiona Marshall, zooarchaeologist at the University of Washington says that the fact that leopard cats were first domesticated in China 5000 years ago, totally independent of the domestication process that took place in Cyprus in 7500 BC, is certain proof that the felines actually domesticated themselves and humans had little involvement in the process.

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Coastal Barriers Can Clean the Ocean

January 21, 2016 By Germaine Hicks Leave a Comment

"dead bird with a stomach full of plastic"

Plastic waste greatly affects animals, especially because of its bright colors that makes it resemble small fish.

Ocean pollution is one of the main concerns of environmental activists. New ways of cleaning it up are being tested, and it seems that coastal barriers can clean the ocean better than nets designed to gather the plastic from the Great Garbage Patch of the Pacific.

According to the latest research, there are around 51 trillion particles of plastic floating around in the oceans. This means over 236,000 MT of waste that is harming or killing marine animals. The Project for Ocean Cleanup proposed the deployment of special barriers that could collect the plastic waste from the areas that are most affected.

The Great Garbage Patch of the Pacific Ocean, or the trash vortex of the Pacific, is a gyre made out of marine debris particles and it can be found in the North Pacific Ocean. The area is not only made out of stray plastic but also chemical sludge and other debris that harm the marine population. Most of the birds that fly in the area are found dead with big amounts of plastic remnants in their stomachs.

Another area of high plastic pollution are the coastal areas of China and Indonesia. The countries are developing in a very fast pace and this leads to enormous amounts of waste that are discarded in the Ocean. What oceanographers propose is to mount barriers along the coastlines to prevent the debris from floating away into the ocean, thus stopping it before it could do any real harm.

Erik van Sebille and Peter Sherman are two of the oceanographers that are suggesting the coastal barriers can clean the ocean. They have ran computer simulations based on data collected from a buoy that was satellite-tracked and concluded that such a measure would help clean almost a third of the plastic debris found in the ocean.

The solution proposed by the two scientists is logical, they are only trying to eliminate the evil by cutting its roots. Because most of the polluting material is discarded near the coasts, it’s only natural that they think of a way to stop it from reaching the outer ocean and harm many sea creatures in its way.

The bad news is coastal barriers can clean the ocean only by a third. There will be plenty of plastic left in our waters to further harm marine life. The best solution would be to mount the barriers and try to collect the plastic that is already floating freely on the ocean’s surface.

Image source: www.amazonaws.com

UN Climate Deal Tries to Crack the Wall Between Rich and Poor Nations

December 15, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

It appears like the road of Climate change agreement is full of obstructions and hurdles for countries. Currently, the major issue is to make two different climate change goals for developed countries and developing nations.

The representatives of 190 nations joined together in Lima to form the first pact of carbon emission for the entire world. The main objective of the deal is to plan what measures countries can take to lessen the proportion of carbon emission. However, the difference in the task of rich and poor nations is still undecided.

The agreement presented on the early Sunday morning shows that United Nation tried really hard to ignore this difference.

Alden Meyer, the follower of UN talks stated that the discrimination between rich and poor nations cannot vanish instantly. It is certainly a quite complex task for UN experts as there are numerous differences which cannot be easily ignored. Therefore, the envoy of all the nations intends to address every problem one by one. It is surely a wise decision instead of trying to resolve everything at once.

Thus far, experts have failed to come up with an agreement to cut the carbon emission and rest of the greenhouse gases. The Paris deal would be the first one in the history of the United Nation.

Recently, the United States and China signed an agreement to reduce the rate of carbon emissions. Everyone is aware of the fact that China is still listed as a developing nation. Hence, it is the first attempt that puts an end to the difference between rich and poor nations.

Cyber security firm identifies new malware targeting Apple

November 7, 2014 By Jason Leathers Leave a Comment

Palo Alto Networks discovered a new form of malware that may have affected hundreds of thousands of Apple mobile device users, largely in China.

The cyber security provider has named the malware WireLurker and said it monitors devices connected by a USB cable to an infected computer and installs malicious applications onto the device. The malware steals a variety of information from mobile devices, but the goal of its creator isn’t clear yet.

Palo Alto Networks said that while the malware allows an attacker to collect “significant amounts of information from a large number of Chinese iOS and Mac OS systems,” none of it points to a particular motive.

The malware is “unlike anything we’ve ever seen” in terms of malware targeting Apple’s iOS and OS X systems, said Ryan Olson, a Palo Alto Networks intelligence director.

“The techniques in use suggest that bad actors are getting more sophisticated when it comes to exploiting some of the world’s best-known desktop and mobile platforms,” Olson said in a statement from the company.

Palo Alto Networks said late Wednesday that the malware is spreading through applications downloaded from Maiyadi App Store, a third-party Mac applications store in China. A total of 467 infected applications were downloaded more than 356,000 times over the past six months.

Shares of Apple Inc. fell 45 cents to $108.41 in morning trading Thursday, while Palo Alto Networks Inc. jumped 2 percent, or $2.06, to $104.58.

Bizarre ‘Fish Lizard,’ The Oldest Of Its Kind, Unearthed by Paleontologists

November 6, 2014 By Germaine Hicks Leave a Comment

Recently, the researchers found a 248 million year old fossil of an ancient reptile in China, which is believed to be the oldest known member of a well-known group of marine reptiles, and might have lived both on land and in the sea.

The researchers revealed that the specimen is an ancient type of ichthyopterygian, a group related to ichthyosaurs, which are large marine reptiles that dominated the world’s oceans after the Permian-Triassic extinction. At that time, approximately 252 million years ago, around 96% of marine animals and 70% of land animals went extinct. Researchers said, the recently discovered fossil provides new evidence that ichthyosaurs evolved from creatures that lived on land. The study is published in the Nature journal on 5^th Nov.

The lead-author of the study and a geologist at Peking University in China, Da-yong Jiang said, “This new animal is a link between the terrestrial ancestor and the ichthyosaurs fully adapted to a life in the sea.”

Ichthyosaurs, which is a Greek name for “fish lizard,” lived from about 248 million to 95 million years ago. The group was extremely diverse, with body lengths ranging from less than 3.3 feet (1 meter) to more than 66 feet (20 m).

Jiang told Live Science in an email, “So far, all known ichthyosaur fossils came from animals that lived exclusively in the ocean, and there was a huge gap in the fossil record between them and their ancestors. Scientists didn’t know whether their ancestors were reptiles or amphibians, and if they lived on land or not.”

The recent specimen named “Cartorhynchus lenticarpus” discovered by Jiang and his team is the smallest known ichthyosaur-type creature — only about 1.3 feet (0.4 m) long. “We think the animal is fully grown, but cannot rule out the possibility that the fossil is the remains of an immature form of a larger creature,” researchers say.

In contrast to other ichthyosaurs, the new specimen has oddly large flippers that perhaps limited its ability to get around on land, making it similar to a modern seal. It also has a short muzzle and body trunk, like other land reptiles, the researchers said.

Jiang said, “The animal was probably a suction feeder on the seafloor, and may have eaten worms or eel-like creatures called conodonts. The fossil is quite complete and well-preserved; just part of the animal’s tail is missing.”

The fossil is discovered during an excavation in Chaohu, South China, in 2011. During the dig, researchers found several skeletons of ancient ichthyosaurs and extinct aquatic reptiles called sauropterygians, as well as fishes and other creatures.

Sine 2002, Jiang and his colleagues have been doing excavations in South China, looking for the first ichthyosaur that “jumped into the sea,” he said, so the new discovery “is a milestone after our hard work for more than 10 years.”

WireLuker Hitting Apple’s Mobile Users: Malware Patches Releasing

November 6, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Recently, an online security researcher has warned that a new malware targeting Apple products is mostly affecting Chinese users.

WireLurker, a new malware, which is affecting Apple’s desktop and mobile operating systems seems to have originated in China and is mostly affecting devices there, US-based Palo Alto Networks said.

The malware spreads through apps uploaded from a third-party store and can steal information.

US-based Palo Alto Networks said, more than 400 infected apps have been downloaded over 350,000 times.

Ryan Olson, the company’s intelligence director, said “WireLurker is unlike anything we have ever seen in terms of Apple iOS and OS X malware.”

“When it comes to exploiting some of the world’s best-known desktop and mobile platforms, the techniques in use suggest that bad actors are getting more sophisticated,” he added.

WireLurker has the ability to transfer from Apple’s Mac computer to mobile devices through a USB cable. The malware was capable of stealing “a variety of information” from mobile devices, it infects and regularly requested updates from the attacker’s control server, the security firm said.

“This malware is under active development and its creator’s ultimate goal is not yet clear,” the firm added.

Right after the incident, Apple has issued a brief statement, “We are aware of malicious software available from a download site aimed at users in China, and we’ve blocked the identified apps to prevent them from launching.”

“As always, we recommend that users download and install software from trusted sources,” Apple added.

Work Apps

Palo Alto Networks revealed that the WireLurker was first noticed in June when a Chinese firm Tencent’s developer realized there were apprehensive files and processes happening on his Mac and iPhone.

Further inquiries revealed a total of 467 Mac programs listed on the Maiyadi App Store had been compromised to include the malware, which in turn had been downloaded 356,104 times as of 16^th Oct.

Infected software included popular games including Angry Birds, The Sims 3, Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Once the malware was on the Mac, it communicated with a command-and-control server to check if it needed to update its code, and then waited until an iPhone, iPad or iPod was connected.

The security firm officials reveal that, when an iOS device connects with the malware, it would check if the device was jailbroken — a process used by some to remove some of Apple’s restrictions.

If it was jailbroken, WireLurker backed up the device’s apps to the Mac, where it repackaged them with malware, and then installed the infected versions back on to the iOS machine. However, if the device was not jailbroken – that is the case for most iOS devices – WireLurker took advantage of a technique created by Apple to enable businesses to install special software on their staff’s handsets and tablets.

Now the malware place infected apps on the device that had been signed with a mock “enterprise certificate” – code added to a product that is supposed to prove it comes from a trustworthy source.

Now, a permission request pops up the targeted iOS device on the user’s first attempt to run an infected app, to ensure the certificate acceptance by the device.

It simply asked for permission to run the app, but if the user clicked continue’ it installed code called a ‘provisioning profile’, which told the iOS device it could trust any other app that had the same enterprise certificate.

While this malware technique was not a new concept, it was the only known example of it being used to target non-jailbroken iOS devices in the wild, Palo Alto Networks said.

Once installed, the malware provide information about the iOS device to the hackers, including phone numbers from its Contacts app, and the user’s Apple ID.

Different versions of WireLurker also automatically installed new apps on the devices – including a video game and a comic book reader. Though, they are harmless; experts warn they could represent a test run for other more damaging software.

Prof Alan Woodward, from the University of Surrey said, “People have got very used to iOS being secure and there is a danger they may be complacent about the risk this presents.”

Under Attack

News of the attack comes after Apple’s iCloud storage service in China was attacked by hackers trying to steal user information last month.

Greatfire.org, Chinese web monitoring group said, “Hackers seized data and potentially gained access to passwords, messages, photos and contacts. They believed the Beijing government was behind the move.”

Although, the Chinese government denied the claims and was backed by China Telecom — state-owned internet provider, which said the claim was “false and baseless”.

China, which is the world’s biggest smartphone market and Apple saw its iPhone sales there jump 50% in the April to June quarter from a year earlier.

Palo Alto Networks has recommended some precautions for the users in order to minimize the risk of attack;

Do not download Mac apps from third-party stores
Do not jailbreak iOS devices
Do not connect their iOS devices to untrusted computers and accessories, either to copy information or charge the machines
Do not accept requests for a new “enterprise provisioning profile” unless it comes from an authorized party, for example the employer’s IT department

Rapid Increase in World Population – Biggest Global Issue

October 28, 2014 By Germaine Hicks Leave a Comment

The world population is increasing day by day even after the implementation of numerous significant actions.

Recently, a report revealed some really noteworthy information related to the global population.

The researchers found out that the fertility limitations and disastrous incidents failed to stop the population growth. For instance, China declared fertility restriction with a one child policy but it failed to make a large impact on the overall population of the country.

Therefore, the experts of Environmental Institute of University of Adelaide conducted this study. They stated that the current situation would certainly gain the attention of the major authorities of the world. It will compel them to make some alterations in old strategies for example, recycle campaign will definitely help a lot in tackling this issue.

Barry Brook, the co-author of this study asserted that last five years circumstances nearly killed the same amount people that died in first and Second World War. Surprisingly, even those scenarios did not affect the human population of the entire century.

In Second World War around 50 million military and 85 million civilians died. In comparison, the First World War took the lives of nearly 37 million people.

The scientist accumulated the computer model based demographic data in order to examine the possible population decline situations. Experts utilized the date of United States Census Bureau and World Health Organization.

In the end they discovered that the present stated of fertility, mother’s average age and mortality would probably increase the population up to 10.4 billion till 2100.

Moreover, the report emphasizes on the advantageous of family planning and education related to the reproduction,

Commodities Faced Worst Loss Since 2008

October 24, 2014 By Deborah Nielsen Leave a Comment

The Bloomberg commodity Index is like a scale for the product investment. Unfortunately, the commodity index of the firm tumbled 1.5 percent per day, which is the largest loss of the year.

It is the lowest commodity index of the company since last five years. The increase in the delivery of products and decline of the company in the world are the chief reasons behind it.

It appears like raw material is falling rapidly, such as corn, gold, copper and other items. Recently, corn has decreased and marked a new record in the history. Surprisingly, the corn supplies were at its peak before the start of 2014.

On the other hand, gold is at its cheapest price since the beginning of this year.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is all set to reveal its commodity index of September at 4:30 PM AEST.

Increase in dollar and low growth in China compel the commodity index of Bloomberg to its lowest. The country which is considered as the biggest buyer of energy, metals and gold displayed a slow increase of the last two decades.

On the flip side, the world wide stocks of nickel mounted up to a greater extent. However, the American is currently giving out most oil since 1986.

It seems like some of the economic force plays a role greater than the commodity prices. If they increase then everything else climbs up, if they fell other economic features decrease as we.

As per the reports, the MSCI All Country World Index of equities decreases to nearly 2.8 per cent. While the Bloomberg Dollar Spot index has ascended up to 6.7 per cent, which is the best since 2008.

Mark Zuckerberg Impresses Chinese Audience through Mandarin

October 23, 2014 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

Although China has banned Facebook but still it looks like Mark Zuckerberg has become one of the most favorite people among Chinese.

Recently, the co- founder participated in a question and answer session at the Tsinghua University. The entire audience laughed when Mark Zuckerberg greeted them in Mandrain.

Zuckerberg talked on different topics to shed some light upon the strategies behind the foundation of a new company.

Moreover, he discussed some personal matters such as favorite color, Favorite dish and much more. The 30 years old famous man also shared his experience of marrying a Chinese girl.

In that half an hour session Zuckerberg expressed that he want to learn everything related to the Chinese Culture. Therefore, he is trying to speak and understand this language. He stated that learning a new culture or language is more like a challenge.

This is not the first time when Facebook co founder appeared on these kinds of speaking sessions. Earlier, Zuckerberg talked in different tech conferences and business meetings which held in China.

Facebook is blocked in China for several years. It is not the only website that is officially banned by the Chinese authorities. The country has also blacklisted Twitter, Instagram and numerous other websites for various reasons.

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