Is Daily Shower Too Much for Your Skin?

Think of the days when indoor plumbing and water heaters were not the part of American households. It was the time when frequent bathing was not the norm. If someone intended to take a bath they had to fetch the water, heated it over the fire and finally poured it into the bathtub. Generally, the same water was used by the entire family for bathing, doing laundry and other house chores.

Don’t be too surprised when you hear someone doing the same even in this era; many developing countries still go through the same inconvenient process of fetching water and heating it before taking a bath.


So who should we thank for the water heaters installed in our homes? Edwin Ruud, a Norwegian engineer was the first one to come up with the idea of water heater, in the year 1889. Whenever there was a need for hot water, a faucet was turned on which ignited a switch of the gas heater. In the same era, a variety of shower designs were introduced with different spray settings. Now you might not like this, but many of these shower designs came with a closed-system, meaning that the water that was used from the showerhead, passed through the drain back to the showerhead for reuse.

Another important invention, “the indoor plumbing” was introduced in the year 18th Century. In 1829, the Tremont hotel in Boston became the first hotel in the world to introduce indoor plumbing. It was designed and implemented by Architect Isaiah Rogers. The modern bathrooms with indoor plumbing became the part of middle-income households by the end of World War I.

By the early 19th Century, the rural Americans got familiar with the joy of showering daily.

Even showering on an ordinary day gives you a luxurious feeling. Think of the rough days when all you need is a warm shower to soothe you. Science approves of it! There are evidences that show that bathing does have a calming effect on the body and also provides relief in stress. The Japanese researchers found a significant decrease in the hormones indicating stress, after bathing.

You might think it would be a waste not to pour water on your tiered shoulder when you have indoor plumbing and showers installed in your homes. The question remained unanswered is, “How much is too much?”Can frequent washing be harmful for your skin? What should be the frequency of bathing?


How much Shower is enough for you?
So you think too much showering is good for? It will make you cleaner? Of course! There are many of us who believe that “a healthy dose of soap” and some “steaming hot water” is all we need to wash those germs away. Unfortunately, medical science tells us the opposite. Plain, fragranced soaps do not help to kill the skin-borne bacteria. Studies revealed that “It actually disturbs microcolonies of skin flora and fauna, transferring them to the surrounding environment — like your shower, for instance. For this reason, surgical teams and patients are generally restricted from showering immediately before entering an operating room.”

The outermost layer of the skin also known as stratum corneum is a protective layer made up of dead skin cells. These dead cells act like a barrier for the skin, protecting the underlying healthy layer of cells. The cells of the startum corneum are held close with the help of fatty compounds called lipids; these lipids trap moisture inside them and keep the skin moisturized.

When you take a hot shower, you use devices like soap and scrubber or a loofah, these devices undermine the integrity of the protective layer of the skin. How does it happen? The mixture of hot water and soap dissolve the lipids. What else? Scrubbing make it worst by hastening the process and exposing the delicate layer of healthy cells lying beneath. The more frequently you take a shower the more damaged this outer layer gets, and at the same time it deprives your skin of the natural oils that it can produce. So by frequently showering you get dry, cracked and irritated skin.

Another problem creating factor related to frequent showering is the use of towel. Just like scrubbers, towel also damages the skin cells. The best option is to air dry after having a shower, but if you can’t wait for that long you can pat dry yourself with a towel. Choose a soft towel for this purpose, do not rub your body with the towel.

E. coli bacteria 'can produce diesel biofuel.

A strain of bacteria has been created that can produce fuel, scientists say.

Researchers genetically modified E. coli bacteria to convert sugar into an oil that is almost identical to conventional diesel.

If the process could be scaled up, this synthetic fuel could be a viable alternative to the fossil fuel, the team said.

The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Professor John Love, a synthetic biologist from the University of Exeter, said: "Rather than making a replacement fuel like some biofuels, we have made a substitute fossil fuel.

"The idea is that car manufacturers, consumers and fuel retailers wouldn't even notice the difference - it would just become another part of the fuel production chain."

Fuel factories

There is a push to increase the use of biofuels around the world.

In the European Union, a 10% target for the use of these crop-based fuels in the transport sector has been set for 2020.

But most forms of biodiesel and bioethanol that are currently used are not fully compatible with modern engines. Fractions of the substances (between 5-10%) need to be blended with petroleum before they can be used in most engines. However, the fuel produced by the modified E. coli bacteria is different. Prof Love explained: "What we've done is produced fuels that are exactly the chain length required for the modern engine and exactly the composition that is required.

"They are bio-fossil-fuels if you like."

To create the fuel, the researchers, who were funded by the oil company Shell and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, used a strain of E. coli that usually takes in sugar and then turns it into fat.

Using synthetic biology, the team altered the bacteria's cell mechanisms so that the sugar was converted to synthetic fuel molecules instead.

By altering the bacteria's genes, they were able to transform the bugs into fuel-producing factories....

Magnetic Brain Stimulation Removes Craving For Cigarettes

Scientists at Medical University of South Carolina temporarily blunted cigarette cravings among smokers by magnetically stimulating nerve cells in their brains. The procedure, called transcranial magnetic stimulation, is already approved by the FDA to treat depression, though its efficacy is controversial (it's also been prescribed to stop people from lying and treat adult ADHD.)
In the experiment, researchers randomly assigned 16 smokers to either a 15-minute session of high-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation (in which coils placed over the forehead send magnetic pulses into the prefrontal cortex), or 15 minutes of sham treatment. The magnetic stimulation isn't painful and doesn't require sedation or anesthesia. The scientists told the volunteers not to smoke for two hours prior to the experiment.
Before the treatment, the researchers showed the smokers both neutral images (such as mountain scenes) and images intended to provoke nicotine cravings (such as a person lightning a cigarette.) Then they asked the volunteers to rate how they felt about statements like "I would do almost anything for a cigarette now" and "I am going to smoke as soon as possible." After the magnetic stimulation, the participants saw similar images and again rated how much they craved a cigarette.
The researchers found that the participants who got the real magnet treatment expressed significantly less desire to smoke at the end of the experiment compared with those who got the fake treatment. In fact, the craving reduction was positively correlated with how nicotine-depend

ent the volunteer was, meaning that those who smoked the most saw the greatest decrease in cigarette craving after the magnetic stimulation.
The authors of the study note that people trying to quit smoking would need several sessions of transcranial magnetic stimulation per day in order to see longer-lasting reductions in cravings. The paper appears in...

Glowing Plant Project Creates Bioluminescent Plants For Natural Lighting

Why use a light bulb to illuminate your home when you could just fill it with glowing plants? That’s the question asked by Antony Evans, the head of a team of bio-engineers in San Francisco, California. The team has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a project that will use the glowing genes from fireflies and bacteria to create plants that shine. By using synthetic biology and Genome Compiler software, the have already managed to modify Arabidopsis plants, and they’re working on glowing roses. To make the glowing plants, the team first uses the Genome Compiler software to identify a plant’s DNA. Cambrian Genomics then custom prints the sequence. The genes are then inserted into an Arabidopsis plant, which is closely related to mustard and cabbage. The main sequence responsible for making the plant glow is known as luciferase (it can also be found in fireflies). While this is not the first time that luciferase has been used to make a plant light up, it is the first instance where scientists have been able to get the gene to recycle itself and make the plant especially bright.

Not surprisingly, the team has already surpassed their $65,000 Kickstarter goal. Through their project, they hope to educate the public on the potential for bioluminescent lighting, and to one day help curb the energy needed to power lighting systems. Backers who pledge $40 or more will receive a packet of 50-100 seeds that will only be available through Kickstarter. A pledge of $150 or more will get you a fully grown glowing plant that is ready to brighten up your home or office. The project is a part of a growing movement to promote biological engineering for the next generation of design.

People Think Candy Bars With Green Nutrition Labels Are Healthier

No matter how smart we think we are, humanity continues to be fooled by simple marketing tricks. Various experiments have found wearing the color red is more likely to get you a date. Another new study suggests that a green hue can convince you that a candy bar isn't really that unhealthy.
As part of a study published in Health Communication, Jonathon Schuldt, an assistant communication professor at Cornell University, asked 93 college students to imagine they were in a grocery store checkout line, hungry and looking at candy bars. Then he showed them an image of a candy bar with a green or a red calorie label, and asked them how healthy they thought the candy relative to other candy bars, and whether they thought it had more or fewer calories. They thought the candy bar with the green label was a healthier option than the red one, despite the fact that had the same number of calories.
Later, Schuldt performed the experiment again online, showing candy bars with green or white calorie labels to 39 subjects. The more important healthy eating was to the participants, the more they thought of the white-labelled candy as the less healthy option.
Schuldt suggests we should probably take this into account as more regulations require companies to stamp food products with calorie counts. "As government organizations including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration consider developing a uniform front-of-package labeling system for the U.S. marketplace, these findings suggest that the design and color of the labels may deserve as much attention as the nutritional information they convey," he said in a press release.

Does this mean people pick out the green M&M's and call it dieting?