BAMBOO PLANTS AND US

Hi guys! I am here with more interesting facts to share with you readers as always. Today, I will be blogging on something that is famously known for their height and girth. They are something that have been with humankind since the beginning of time. They are alive. Many people have been depending on it for a very long time. Do you know what it is?
PLANTS.

Everyone have seen as least a plant in their life time. Plants are basically everywhere, it surrounds our country, our town and us. But let me ask you this. How often do you stop by a plant and really appreciate them? Not so often at all. That is exactly what this blog will be about. For you to acknowledge plants and realize that they are pretty amazing.

In this blog, I will be focusing on a fact that I've recently acquired, I was flabbergasted.
Did you know that bamboo plants are known to be the fastest growing plants on earth? That is not enough, currently the fastest growth rate is 100 in a DAY! Rhizomes, or horizontal stems extend under ground from the domain plant and it increases the rate of nutrient and water absorption. Since they have the highest rate of photosynthesis, it releases 35% more than other plants and they also absorb up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide from the environment per hectare! Bamboo plants only flower once in their life time which can vary from 60-120 years. They are also the strongest growing woody-plant on earth.

What led me to this topic was our good friend Google. I am currently studying plants in my biology class and I have realized that plants actually hold many amazing characteristics themselves. I was looking around and came across a statement that says that bamboo plants hold the record of plants with highest growth rate on earth and I was stunned. I decided to do further research and came upon myriad of interesting facts.

It raised many questions in my mind as well:
1) What is it that makes bamboo plants photosynthesize so rapidly other than the rhizomes?
2)  Is there a reason to why bamboo plants only flower once in their life time?
3) What restricts bamboo plants' height?
4) If the rhizomes contribute to the high rate of photosynthesis in bamboo plants, then would planting bamboo in a pot slows down the rate?

Sources:
1) http://www.slideshare.net/greenlivelihoods/bamboo-facts
2) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieKxwOUqtRQmUk99ocb-GcBsvDehztP2w3jL4fDFMpyNQ8Tq2qu8lO-x8AT4t0G9jQgNWm8Y9fpnaJKtl6UBwZmxH0dwqKFWLGvS4eo7FTtYsxcvB4lhfu9zpAr1tRr6m_edwg3ac4sxKl/s400/bamboo-forest.jpg (image)

Thanks for reading! I hope you learned more about bamboo plants and their mind-blowing features!

HARMFUL LIGHTS AT NIGHT

Hello guys, this blog that you are about to read talks about an article that I have recently came across. It caught my attention the moment i scanned the headline,

 "Exposure to Light at Night May Cause Depression, Learning Issues, Mouse Study Suggests"

This article talks about how too much exposure to lights in a regular basis may cause depression and learning issues. The experiment was tested on experimental mice, different mouse would receive different amount of light, one longer than the other. A biology professor in John Hopkins University, Samer Hattar constructed this investigation and found out that mouse exposed to longer duration of light exposure shows signs of depression. You might ask: How do you know if a mouse is depressed or not? Well, Hattar observed their behavior and noticed that the mouse became less active, they lacked the interest in sugar or hunting for one and they also learned task a lot less quick.

I read the article and asked myself, why use a MOUSE? How can a mouse be hold accountable for these things? They aren't human, how is it that we can claim that human would portray the same effect?

Turns out mice and human are very much alike, one is that they both contain ipRGCs in their eyes affecting them and us in the same way. ipRGCs (intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells) are cells in the eyes that become activated by bright lights and they would have an effect on the brain's center for learning, memory and mood.

These lights that are proven to effect human ranges from light bulbs in houses, lamps, mobile, computers and even iPads.

After reading the whole article, quite a few questions still rose into my mind.
1) So exposure to light during night time will affect us or the extended time we are exposed to lights?
2) Is there a proper duration to how long human should be exposed to lights?
3) Irregular exposure or simply lights at night?
4) How would our body know 'night lights'? Biological clock?
5) What if the exposure to light human receive (from iPad and computers) also provide human with entertainment and happiness? Would that work against the depression that may buildup?
6) Does this mean that we should be exposed to light as little as possible to save ourselves from depression?

This article summary may be somewhat confusing to some of you readers, I am also quite confused myself  of this experiment but nonetheless it was very interesting. You can read the actual article in the link down below!!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121114133921.htm

Thank you guys for reading this blog, more to come on other cool interesting science news!