Another Way that Brains (and IQs) Are Degrading From Climate Change

I've already noted that one way human brains stand to degrade from global warming is the proliferation of worm parasites, such as tapeworm larvae and river flukes, which will spread and infest a majority of the populace - especially in impoverished regions.

See e.g. my earlier post on the horrors to emerge from global warming here:.

  http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/08/biological-nightmares-of-climate-change.html


 In the case of Taenia solium, or the tapeworm,  before the worms become adults they spend time as larvae in large cysts, which may find their way into the brain (see image) and cause a condition known as neurocysticercosis. Lowball estimates suggest 5 million cases of epilepsy arising from this condition, worldwide. The numbers are increasing as the worm -cyst invasion of the human body is increasing. (See the excellent monograph, Parasite Rex).  Most of the cases, understandably, are in the less developed world, but that is changing as hotter temperatures become the norm in the developed nations.

Now a new threat to brains has been noted (Earth & Space Science News, November, p. 6). in the form of reduced availability of the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)..  Humans get their dietary dose of DHA from eating fish and shellfish. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recommends that infants consume 100 milligrams per day, and studies advise that adults consume between 50 and 500 milligrams per day (adult dosage is an active area of research). DHA helps with signal transduction in the brain; past research suggests that it aids learning in toddlers, and it may be linked with lower rates of Alzheimer’s.

The problem?  Changing ocean/ river conditions associated with climate change may reduce the amount of  omega-  3 available for human consumption. A new global tally of the  omega-  3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) found that it will drop in availability by 10%–  58% depending on how aggressively humans curb greenhouse gas emissions over the next century.

High-latitude countries like Norway, Greenland, and Chile are projected to sustain enough fish yields to remain above the daily recommended dose of DHA in 2100. But the new model predicts that countries such as China, Japan, and Indonesia that currently produce enough DHA for their populations will have insufficient stores by the end of the century.

The article notes that countries in Africa that rely on inland fisheries will be hit the hardest. Lake and river waters are warming faster than the ocean, and countries that aren’t affluent may not have access to trade or new technologies. Many African countries will produce less than 25 milligrams per person per day by 2100, far below the recommended intake for both infants and adults. Technologies to combat a reduced amount of DHA are still in their early stages. Early trials on genetically modifying the oilseed in canola oil to include DHA are awaiting approval by U.S. regulatory bodies.

Humans can’t create their own omega-3 fatty acids but need it in the cell membranes of our neural tissues to facilitate signal transfer among cells. The projected decline in DHA availability “will thus have detrimental effects for human  well-  being and perhaps even for human evolution,” according to Martin Kainz, an Austrian ecotoxicologist  based at WasserCluster Lunz.

Irina Guschina, a research fellow in the School of Biosciences at Cardiff University in Wales who did not participate in the new study, said that the research raises awareness of an “underappreciated risk of global warming.” She cautioned that the recommended dosage of DHA for adults is still being debated, however, and that other fatty acids like  omega-  6 are also important for human health.

As this research progresses people are best advised to eat at least 300 g of omega -3 source foods, such as salmon, at least several times a week.  The takeaway, get your salmon burgers while the DHA content is still high.

Even Pastor Rick Joyner Ought To Take Note of New Climate Change Report

Rick Joyner is high-powered Pastor (a real one) who operates a Mega-Church from Asheville, NC. He was featured in one of the key segments in the "Ice and Brimstone" episode of "Years of Living Dangerously", shown Sunday night on Showtime. Most of the semi-episode dealing with Joyner had his daughter (an environmental sciences grad from University of North Carolina) trying to "convert" her pop to accepting the scientific evidence for human-caused climate change. At every turn - and no matter who she brought forth (including a fellow Evangelical scientist), Joyner fobbed them off with the same recycled codswallop that "there's no hard evidence" and he has "problems with the math". This even after a former denier (Richard Muller) showed him a graph similar to the Keeling curve (above) and how temperatures have inexorably increased from the Industrial  Revolution.

But for Pastor Joyner and other hardheads the time for denial and refusal has really run out after the release of the report yesterday from the National Climate Assessment Panel - which featured inputs from over 250 climate scientists (not mock climate scientists) as well as oil companies. Their findings, following four years of exhaustive study, ought to make every American -denier or not - sit up and take note. (As noted on the news this morning, only 24% of Americans assign climate change top priority. Would they do the same if a planet killer asteroid was about to strike Earth? Well, climate change is analogous to a slowly moving planet killer (ok, "human inhabitants- of- the -planet",  killer).

The report removes all the "maybes" and "ifs" and asserts ravaging climate change is happening in the here and now costing us hundreds of billions in precious treasury money every year.  Torrential rains, flooding, heat waves, drought and wildfires- they're all getting worse, year by year. The time when Americans could look at the tube and pity people in Arkansas, or NJ or Colorado over a climate-related catastrophe - whether F5 tornado, super storm with massive floods, or wildfires - is over. Everyone's turn will now be coming, and if your burg isn't featured on the nightly news this week, it might be next year.

The report notes that average temperatures already have increased 1.5 degrees in the northeast, the southwest and the great plains. This may not sound significant but it's already adversely affecting the maple syrup industry in Vermont, since the trees are not yielding their treasure at the right times, and the quality is down. In the southwest, drought and high temperatures have allowed the spread of the mountain pine beetle which has turned millions of acres of trees into tinder for wildfires. The same has happened in the great plains.

Meanwhile, the average temperature increase overall in the U.S. has been 1.9 degrees F since 1894. The effects this ongoing increase portends are remarkable, and include:

- Most of the northeast  could see two additional months of 90+ temperatures.

-The southeast will have significantly more 95F weather days and rising sea level

- More heat related deaths will occur in the Midwest with many more days hitting 100F or over

- Warmer water will threaten aquatic life in the Great Lakes. The only fish people are likely to see may be Asian Carp. Lake Huron's temperature alone rose 5 F between 1898 and 2002.

- The southwest has had its hottest decade on record with no sign of easing, which has triggered drought, insect infestation and wildfires.

- Alaska has warmed twice as rapidly as the rest of the country over the past 60 years. This has meant widespread glacier retreat.

Sea levels are projected to rise by 1- 4 feet by 2100, which means Miami Beach will be under water unless pumps or dykes are used to stop the inexorable local effects.

The report also warned on the impacts to human health, including our water supply, our crops and livestock. In the case of water, a number of communities, e.g. in Texas, are already having to recycle sewer water because reservoirs are so low. Meanwhile, with increased heat more communities face risks from cryptosporidium as well as possibly amoebic dysentery (in the more distant future). Already in Florida lakes, a form of antibiotic- resistant bacteria thrives which - if you happen to dive into one with a cut - may be the end of you.  And in earlier blogs, I already wrote of the increase in worm infestations, especially of the human brain, e.g.

I noted that the worms (mainly Taenia solium)  spend time as larvae in large cysts, which find their way into the brain and cause a condition known as neurocysticercosis. Lowball estimates suggest 5 million cases of epilepsy arising from this condition, worldwide. The numbers seem to be increasing as temperatures increase accompanied by worm -cyst invasion of the human body in many different locales. And we won't even get into the threat from tropical diseases such as dengue fever spreading northwards.


Of course the Right Wing still expressed doubts, but that is their shtick. They are more invested in ensuring their prime donors - like the Koch brothers and other oil magnates- can run rough shod over the planet, fracking and drilling, never mind leaving a wasted planet for future generations. Thus, you could find a fool and congenital asshole such as Mitch McConnell bloviating:

"This debate shouldn't be about alleviating the guilt complexes of liberal elites."

No, but it ought to be about leaving a hothouse world (with no more seasons)  to your grandchildren, who now will face parasitic infections each time they take a drink of water, as well as possibly having their brains colonized by worm cysts. Not to mention, living without a/c - since all the power girds will have collapsed after 85 straight days of 95+ temperatures. That what you want, Mitch? Really?

Then there was the fake atheist S.E. Cupp on CNN, trying her best to outwit Bill Nye and demanding:

"I want you to look me in the eye and tell me in good conscience, that climate change is our most urgent, number one priority right now."

Of course, Nye, familiar with the data as most perceptive science oriented people are, called the idiot's bluff:

"Climate change is our most urgent, number one priority right now."

The fact 1 in 4 Americans don't agree merely shows they're not paying attention. Or, perhaps a local climate catastrophe (flood, wildfire, tornado) hasn't hit them yet. Give it time! 

Physicist Michio Kaku, this morning on CBS, giving his input on the climate report stated:

"This report is dramatically different from all previous reports on climate change. Previous reports talked of climate change being in the future, maybe decades into the future. This report says, uh-uh, it's here and happening right now. We're talking about a sea change. Also, this is a home grown American study not one done by the UN."

(Kaku's obvious emphasis addressed the fact that many Right wing nuts believe the whole climate issue is based on a UN conspiracy)

The economic impact in 2012  (the warmest year on record, and 15th driest) was $100 billion alone, from droughts, super storms, and wild fires which burned 9+ million acres.. This number will only increase, and more and more homes will be threatened - whether from wild fires, floods, or storms.

Of course, Repukes dismiss the report as an "election year ploy" designed to instill fear with the upcoming elections. This is what we expect knuckle-draggers to say, and that likely includes Pastor Rick Joyner who already demonstrated his personal beliefs trumps scientific evidence.  Thus, each time his daughter presented him with a sober voice on climate issues, Joyner went on a Google binge to seek out only those sites that confirmed his existing bias.  This isn't the behavior of an inquiring mind, but rather the modus operandi of a believer, impervious to new information or evidence.

Had Joyner accompanied Leslie Stahl (in the same episode) to Greenland to actually see the ice sheets and glacier walls collapsing in real time, he might have finally seen the evidence he professed to desire so much.

Well, ok, maybe only if he was actually standing under a falling -collapsing ice mass.

For the rest of us, it's time to pay much more attention and try to do something, anything to reduce the CO2 injected into the atmosphere.

See also:
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/05/greenland-arctic-ice-acceleratingso-why.html

Worms in Human Brains: Why The Epidemic?

In parts of the West Indies, it's often seen with people that babble on street corners, or act aberrantly in other ways, stumbling, slurred speech and behavior otherwise mistaken for that of an excess rum drinker. In extreme cases, victims experience violent seizures, become partially blind or lapse into comas. When they arrive at a hospital, if they can, shunts often need to be implanted to relieve cranial pressure - because worm cysts have unleashed so much fluid in the brain.

Parasitic worms, especially which burrow into brains, aren't everyone's cup of tea - but on account of global warming or for whatever reason, they seem to be proliferating and causing an epidemic. Mainly one species, identified as Taenia solium, or the tapeworm. Best known for inhabiting the human intestine, where they can reach a length of 21 feet - and make the victims feel as if they're constantly hungry. Hence, they may consume gargantuan amounts but only to feed the worm or worms.

Less well known is that before the worms become adults they spend time as larvae in large cysts, which may find their way into the brain (see image) and cause a condition known as neurocysticercosis. Lowball estimates suggest 5 million cases of epilepsy arising from this condition, worldwide. The numbers seem to be increasing as the worm -cyst invasion of the human body is increasing. Most of the cases, understandably, are in the less developed world.

The spectrum of possible damage is mind blowing. For example, once having migrated to a brain, the cysts can thrive there for years feeding off the nutrients in the environs. As the cysts grow they can push relentlessly against critical regions of the brain causing a spate of symptoms. Some doctors in the Caribbean believe a number of cases where islanders have run amuck with machetes arose from cyst pressure on the amygdala - the "fear center" of the brain.

In other instances, a cyst can get stuck in a passage way, blocking the flow of cerebro-spinal fluid and lead to a condition called hydrocephalus or water on the brain, along with a dangerously high pressure. The resulting brain hernia can lead to stupor, coma or death.

Even when the body's immune system works to confront the invader cysts the way it should events may not unfold well. The immune system's attack on the resident cysts may then cause the surrounding brain tissue to swell, with inflammation. Worse, a calcified cyst can keep triggering such immune reactions for years.

One forecast by some biologists, is that as global warming ramps up so will the invasion of a host of pests, including parasitic worms, including fluke worms. See, e.g. http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2011/08/biological-nightmares-of-climate-change.html

We have already beheld the spread of West Nile virus, but dengue fever isn't far behind. The several thousand new cases of worm infestation in U.S. brains now documented may well be the leading edge of a stronger invasion. Who knows how many will end up with cysts in their brains, say after another 1 degree Celsius of warming, virtually fueling a tape worm explosion - mainly in the South.

It is well to be aware of these pests, and also to be alert for the signs of possible quirky behavior in others, who may already have cysts in their brains such as those shown.