Tobacco Globally Kills 7 Million per Year

About 7 Million people die in the world every year due to the use of tobacco products.

Cigarette
Wikimedia Commons by  Lindsay Fox

A recent WHO report revealed that more than 3 Million people have become the patients of heart diseases and paralysis due to tobacco.

The report further said that the people die due to the diseases triggered by smoking. But the passive smokers also die due to tobacco smoke.

The numbers of such deaths due to passive smoking is 890,000 per year.

The WHO proposed a resolution to create awareness among people about the dangers of smoking in 2005. This resolution has been approved by 180 countries, which proposed a ban on the advertisements and sponsorships by tobacco products.

Douglas Batcher, the Director of Non- Contagious diseases in WHO said that this mission has fetched encouraging results. In 2000, about 30% of the world population used tobacco products, while this ratio has come down to 20 % in 2016.

He said that much is required to be done in this field. The problem is arising in medium and low-income group countries. Here the tobacco lobby is so powerful that they can use any means to advertise their tobacco products. The main targets of these Companies are the younger generation, for whom even the prices are brought down.

Most of the people who die every year due to tobacco are aware of the fact that tobacco is the chief cause of cancer.

The total number of the people using tobacco in the world is 110 Million. Out of these 30.7 Million are in China and 10.7 Million in India.  

ISRO to Bring Helium from Moon

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is going to find the possibilities to mine Helium-3 on the southern end of the Moon, to meet its energy requirements.

Rising Earth view by Apollo 8 astronauts from behind the Moon
Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders

Several Space Organizations of the world in private and public sector are showing mining interests on the surface of the moon. They are finding the possibilities to store Helium-3 and the water available on the Moon until a reactor is built there. The ISRO sources revealed that India is fully ready for the project and not only wants to be a part of this process but also desires to lead the mission.  

ISRO is likely to launch a Rover and Probe Mission in October 2018, to collect the samples of soil and sand on the unexplored areas of the Moon. These samples would be subjected to detailed analysis and research back home.

The present Indian Mission is much cheaper than the similar project undertaken by NASA. He total cost of the Indian Project is merely 800 Crore in Indian Rupees or approximately $ 11.5 Million.

Without any protection, the surface of the Moon is believed to be absorbing Helium for millions of years.

The experts are of the view that the present quantity of Helium-3 on the Moon is sufficient to meet the global energy needs for 250 years.

What is Helium-3

The presence of Helium-3 on the surface of the Moon was declared by the eminent geologist Harrison Shimet in 1972, after the return of Apollo 17 Mission from the Moon.

Helium-3 is a clean and precious fuel for nuclear reactions. It could not be found on earth. The sufficient amount of mining of Helium-3 from the Moon and the cheap transportation of the same to earth could be an attractive alternative for nuclear reactors. 

Discovery of Oldest Color in the World

In the available geological records so far, the scientists have discovered the oldest color in the world. This 110 Million years old bright pink color has been found in rocks of the depths of Sahara desert.     

West African Basins
Wikimedia Commons by Aymatth2

                                    
Noor Guaneli, a researcher in the National University of Australia revealed that this color was taken from the black sea rocks of the largest sedimentary Taoudeni basin of Mauritania in Western Africa. This color is 50 Million years older than the earlier discovered color in the world.                                                               
Noor told that this bright pink color is the molecular fossil of chlorophyll. This chlorophyll was produced by the photosynthetic organisms found under the sea. But this color remained there for long ages after the extinction of these organisms.      
                                  
According to the research published in a magazine, the colors in the fossils ranged from deep red to violet, and they were present in rich amounts. But a bright pink color was obtained when these colors were made thin by dissolving them in liquid.  

Noor said that the analysis of ancient color patterns confirmed that about 100 million years ago the small cyanobacteria’s in the sea were the basis of the food chain in the sea.                    
This discovery helped to know why the animals did not exist at the time.