#Science

Why Is The Dead Sea Called The Dead Sea?

Filling a sunken land at the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea in the Middle East is one of the world’s most fascinating places. It’s an incredible salty lake—one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water, in fact. As a giant solution in which 45 billion tons of salts has been dissolved, it’s about 10 times saltier than ocean water. This is not the kind of salt used to season meals. Although there is some sodium chloride in the mix, most of the salts are mineral deposits ranging from sulfur to bromine and potassium. The lake is so saline, no macroorganisms can live in it—hence its name.

Salt of the Earth
The landlocked body of water, bordering modern-day Israel, Jordan and the West Bank, was called the Eastern Sea before the Romans renamed it ‘Mare Mortuum,’ or Dead Sea. The Greeks called the sea ‘Lake Asphaltites,’ after the mysterious plumes of asphalt that spew up from the lake floor. Today, the Israelis simply call it the Sea of Salt, which is more to the point. Located in the depths of the Great Rift Valley, the Dead Sea is the planet’s lowest-lying land, with a shoreline 1,300 feet below sea level, about a quarter of a mile. It’s another quarter-mile down at its deepest point, making it the world’s deepest hypersaline lake. This prime location and unusual depth give the lake its unique salty composition. The water has absorbed the properties of the deep valley crust in which it lies.

Life-Giving Properties of the Dead Sea
Ironically, the reason it is called the Dead Sea is the same reason it can support human health and longevity. The mineral composition of the Sea has proven healing properties, thanks to high concentrations of essential mineral salts like magnesium, potassium and calcium. Its elemental waters are known to assuage diseases of inflammation, skin disease, arthritis, rheumatism, asthma, psoriasis and cystic fibrosis. Humans have sought the balneotherapeutic salve of its waters for thousands of years. According to legend, it was once a beauty retreat for Cleopatra. Today, the Dead Sea is a global hub for tourism, health research and commercial mineral extraction. The northern shores of the ‘world’s largest natural spa’ are lined with resorts, hot springs and health research facilities, all trying to get a piece of this wonder of nature.

Death of the Dead Sea
The Dead Sea might finally live up to its name by 2050, scientists say. Four decades ago, the water level was 80 feet higher than it is today. Now it’s losing a meter of depth with each passing year.
At current rates of exploitation, we can expect its holy waters to dry up in a few decades. Because the landlocked Dead Sea is a terminal body of water, the only way that water can escape is by evaporation. As water evaporates from its surface, the lake is naturally resupplied by the Jordan River. But with 90 percent of those headwaters now being diverted to sustain large human populations, the lake is evaporating faster than it can be replenished.

Bonus Facts To Arouse Your Curiosity
Swimming in the Dead Sea is quite difficult because the water is so full of salt, it’s denser than the human body. As a result, most visitors just float on their backs. The waters provide a feeling of weightlessness, so you don’t have to work very hard to stay above water.

It is a popular yet dangerous myth that you cannot drown in the Dead Sea. You definitely can, and many people have, despite the natural buoyancy effects. Actually, if you do accidentally swallow the water, its salinity will quickly defeat the body’s internal balance of electrolytes, causing it to shut down quicker than expected. The Dead Sea is considered the second most dangerous body of water in Israel.

At the Dead Sea, the weather is always warm and balmy, yet the waters are strikingly empty. No one fishes here, and there are no coral reefs, nor sharks cruising for prey. But the Dead Sea is not really dead. It is rather the exclusive home of a host of unique, largely invisible microorganisms. Many types of thermophilic bacteria and fungi thrive here.

Published by WorldWideFacts – Talel Juventino – 4th December 2015.

Sex with more than 21 women will reduce chances of prostate cancer, academics find!!!

Sleeping with more than 20 women reduces risk of prostate cancer by nearly one third

The University of Montreal has found that men who had sex with more than 20 women lower their prostate cancer risk

Sleeping with more than 20 women protects men against prostate cancer, a study has suggested.

Men who had slept with more than 20 women lowered their risk of developing cancer by almost one third, and were 19 per cent less likely to develop the most aggressive form.

In contrast, men who slept with 20 men doubled their risk of developing prostate cancer compared with men who have never had sex with another man.

Researchers at the University of Montreal believe that intercourse protects men, and men who are more promiscuous have more sex than those in monogamous relationships.

However, for homosexual men the benefit is lost because of the increased risk of picking up a sexually transmitted disease, and the damage to their bodies from intercourse. However gay men with just one partner are at no greater risk.

“It is possible that having many female sexual partners results in a higher frequency of ejaculations, whose protective effect against prostate cancer has been previously observed in cohort studies,” said lead researcher Dr Marie-Elise Parent.

But when asked whether public health authorities should recommend men to sleep with many women in their lives Dr Parent added: “We’re not there yet.”

The study looked at more than 3,200 men over a four year period between 2005 and 2009.

Overall, men with prostate cancer were twice as likely to have a relative with cancer. However, the researchers were surprised to find that the number of sexual partners also affected the development of their cancer.

Men who said they had never had sexual intercourse were almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as those who said they had.

When a man has slept with more than 20 women during his lifetime there was a 28 per cent reduction in the risk of having prostate cancer, and a 19 per cent reduction for aggressive types of cancer.

On the other hand, those who have slept with more than 20 men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer of all types compared to those who have never slept with a man.

And their risk of having a less aggressive prostate cancer increases by 500 per cent compared to those who have had only one male partner.

Dr Parent said that she could only formulate “highly speculative” hypotheses to explain the association.

“It could come from greater exposure to STIs, or it could be that anal intercourse produces physical trauma to the prostate,” she said.

Previous studies have found that sexual intercourse may have a protective effect against prostate cancer because it reduces the concentration of carcinogenic crystal-like substances in the fluid of the prostate.

The study, published in the Journal Cancer Epidemiology is the first to find a link between the number of sexual partners and the risk of developing cancer.

“We were fortunate to have participants from Montreal who were comfortable talking about their sexuality, no matter what sexual experiences they have had, and this openness would probably not have been the same 20 or 30 years ago,” said lead researcher Dr Marie-Elise Parent.

“Indeed, thanks to them, we now know that the number and type of partners must be taken into account to better understand the causes of prostate cancer.”

By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
11:41AM GMT 28 Oct 2014
Published in The Telegraph.

Posted by Damian @8WDee.com.