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Tuesday, March 2, 2021
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Archer Fish Are Able to Recognize Human Faces

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Archerfish swimming

Archerfish can remember your face.

(Mirror Daily, United States) – It seems like not all fish species have a three-second memory. The latest research has shown that archer fish have the ability to remember and distinguish human faces despite the fact that they do not have a visual cortex.

Scientists from the University of Queensland and University Oxford engaged in a study to establish how archerfish would react after seeing many human faces. The experiment involved four archerfish. This species is a few inches long and has a prominent jaw which makes it capable of launching sharp blows of water, similar to bullets to hunt its prey consisting of insects.

Furthermore, the water shot is ten times stronger than the insects’ adhesion to the branch. Therefore, the perfect aim is the key. Scientists established the fish remembering ability by training them to spit jets of water at some faces they recognized. After reaching an impressive number of over 44 new faces, the fish could still distinguish the familiar ones, performing with an accuracy of 81 percent.

In the second experiment, researchers used four other fish and made it more complicated by adjusting color, head shape and brightness to look the same. However, the four specimens proved to have a spectacular accuracy of 86 percent by remembering the faces even better.

In addition to this, fish can do that without having a neocortex like us. According to Cait Newport, lead author from the Oxford’s department of zoology, the neocortex is the outer layer of the brain responsible for higher-order mental functioning. However, even if they have a simpler brain, these specimens surprised every scientist with their outstanding visual memory.

Even more interesting it’s that these fish could also distinguish faces that were in black and white with the standard head shape. Plus, experts have not identified yet how these fish were able to remember so many faces with such high accuracy. Higher-order visual recognition has only been demonstrated in birds until recently. Nevertheless, birds have neocortex structures as many domesticated pigeons proved during several studies.

Another question that raised the interest of experts is whether a complex brain is needed for face recognition ability. All in all, it is paradoxical that a small marine creature, such as a species of fish provided scientists with so much information.

Image Source:Wikipedia

Sustainable Practices Could Save Our Fish Supply

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"Traditional fish boats"

Sustainable fishing would benefit the fishermen, the fisheries, the fish and the consumers.

(Mirror Daily, United States) – The Fund for Environmental Defense thinks that sustainable practices could save our fish supply. According to them, we could replenish the supply of seafood in less than 35 years if we adopt management strategies that are more sustainable.

The Fund for National Defense teamed up with Santa Barbara, California and Washington Universities and came up with a plan for saving Earth’s fisheries from becoming extinct. And it seems that they concluded that sustainable practices could save our fish supply by 2050. According to them, if people working in the fish industry would adapt their management strategies, the fish reserve would double.

Presently the researchers discovered that approximately 85 percent of all the fisheries in the world are either overexploited or fully exploited. And taking into consideration previous studies that showed that Earth’s fisheries are heading towards an imminent collapse, the team concluded that management strategies must be implemented urgently.

In order to reach their conclusions, the team of scientists analyzed 4713 fisheries, which would account for roughly 78 percent of the annual worldwide catch. Upon close examination they found that just a third of the fisheries were in a decent shape, biologically speaking.

Amanda Leland, the co-author of the article and senior oceans vice president at the Fund for Environmental Defense, declared that there is no other environmental challenge that has such an easy solution.

According to the data provided by the study, more than 3 billion people rely on seafood as their primary source of protein. That means that if the management strategies are used correctly, the amount of seafood available on the market will increase significantly.

The sustainable reforms that Leland and her team are suggesting will lead to an increase in seafood production of more than 16 million metric tons and a spike of %53 billion per year in profits.

This means that in just ten years, the fisheries considered healthy from a biological point of view would amount to 77 percent out of the total number. Furthermore, it seems that the reforms proposed by the team would bring an increase in fisherman profits of 204 percent.

Chris Costello, a professor of resource and environmental economics at Santa Barbara University and the lead author of the study said that their proposal would only bring more seafood on the plates, more money in the fisherman’s pocket and more fish in the fisheries.

Sustainable practices could save our fish supply, and they could do it pretty quick.

Image source: Wikimedia

Healthiest Food for the Heart

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"Cheese, olives and sun-dried tomatoes plate"

Who said a nice Parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes caprese salad is not healthy for the heart?

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Cardiovascular diseases are among the main factors that lead to US hospitalizations. But the good news is that the majority of this kind of problems are preventable if patients follow a simple set of guidelines. They just have to exercise regularly and know what the healthiest food for the heart is.

While one cannot fight with a genetic predisposition or a serious congenital defect, there are several heart-related problems that can be avoided by eating the healthiest food for the heart and exercising regularly.

When it comes to cardiovascular issues it is better to prevent than to treat. And the prevention measures have a very nice “side effect”. They keep people healthy, energetic and ready to take on the world.

But doctors are always advising patients to eat healthy without actually providing them with many examples of the healthiest food for the heart. But fear not, because we comprised a long list of groceries that will help you and your family enjoy a heart-friendly meal any time of the day.

Here is a list of the healthiest food for your heart.

Fish

Who doesn’t remember the dreadful moments in their childhood when they had to take fish oil supplements? And before the jelly tablets, there were the big bottles filled with gooey oil that children were forced to swallow.

Fish is rich in vitamins, minerals, Omega 3, Selenium and other heart-friendly substances. But not all of them. The doctors recommend the consumption of sockeye salmon (which is a bit lighter than the usual salmon found on the market), Pacific halibut, Atlantic cod, blue mussels, European anchovies, and yellowfin tuna.

Grains

Quinoa, for example, is a great source of Magnesium and Selenium. It’s also really tasty when it’s boiled with a few cloves and a half of lemon.

Another heart-healthy grain is semolina flour. The B3 and Selenium rich flour are usually used in the making of pasta, puddings, couscous and breakfast cereal.

Seeds

Of course, a salad is healthy no matter what because it contains chlorophyll and fibers, and very tasty olive oil. But you can transform a regular salad into one of the healthiest food of the heart by adding some seeds to it.

Sunflower seeds, for example, have an index of heart healthy of 76.7 because they are highly rich in selenium and magnesium. Also, they add a really nice crunchy texture when they are added to a salad or a yogurt.

Other healthy seeds are sesame which has a really big calcium and magnesium concentration, chia seeds, linseeds and poppy seeds.

Even though it’s actually a spice we are going to also include cinnamon in this category because it is absolutely wonderful, especially combined with a cup of dark roasted coffee or some dark hot chocolate. Cinnamon contains a ton of calcium and a whole teaspoon features only 6 calories.

Others

The “others” category feature tofu which has a concentration of 213.4 percent of calcium, 77.6 percent selenium and index of 88.7 when it comes to heart health.

You might also want to include more egg whites in your diet along Parmesan cheese, soybeans, liverwurst, brown rice, sundried tomatoes, Swiss cheese, shiitake mushrooms, ginger and agar seaweed.

Most of the healthiest food for the heart is also the tastiest food on the table. So you won’t have to make compromises taste-wise when you will start your heart-friendly diet.

Image source: www.pixabay.com

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