Blueberries can boost ‘good’ bacteria in gut
Blueberries have prebiotic potential and can improve gut health, scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have found. Researchers at the University of Maine in US, studied blueberry impact on gut microbial population dynamics and gastrointestinal health in Sprague Dawley rats.
For six weeks, they fed one group of rats a control diet and another group a diet enriched with lowbush wild blueberries (LWB). They found wild blueberries have prebiotic potential. A prebiotic is a plant fibre that promotes growth of good bacteria in the colon, thereby promoting digestive and health benefits. Vivian Chi-Hua Wu, an associate professor of microbiology and food safety said the “addition of LWB to diet can alter the balance of gut microbe in favour of members of the Actinobacteria phylum,” which have known impacts on human health.
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Bugs may be last surviving life on earth
London: Bugs may be among the last survivors of the end of the world, researchers say. Thermophilic or heat-loving bacteria may be amongst the last life on Earth, perhaps surviving 2.8 billion years into the future, according to a new study. In two billion years’ time, life on Earth will be confined to pockets of liquid water deep underground, according to astrobiologist Jack O’Malley James of the University of St. Andrews.
The new research also suggests that though the hardiest forms of life may have a foothold on similar worlds in orbit around other stars, evidence for it may be very subtle.
Ultimately, a combination of slow and rapid environmental changes will result in the extinction of all species on Earth, with the last inhabitants disappearing within 2.8 billion years from now. — PTI
The main driver for these changes will be the Sun. As it ages over the next few billion years, the Sun will remain stable but become steadily more luminous, warming the planet to such an extent that the oceans evaporate.
O’Malley James has created a computer model to simulate these extremely long-range temperature forecasts and has used the results to predict the time-line of future extinctions.
Within the next billion years, increased evaporation rates and chemical reactions with rainwater will draw more and more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The falling levels of CO2 will lead to the disappearance of plants and animals and our home planet will become a world of microbes. At the same time the Earth will be depleted of oxygen and will be drying out as the rising temperatures lead to the evaporation of the oceans. “The far-future Earth will be very hostile to life by this point. All living things require liquid water, so any remaining life will be restricted to pockets of liquid water, perhaps at cooler, higher altitudes or in caves or underground,” said O’Malley-James. — PTI
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