Is grip strength important? Is there a connection between grip strength and 
health? In business, a strong handshake will generally make a good first impression. However, the strength of your handshake may be an indication of overall health and longevity. Researchers are connecting grip strength to overall muscle strength, heart health, and doing simple tasks as people age (carrying objects, preventing falls etc.). Grip strength is measured in 3 ways. “Crushing Strength” refers to how strongly you can grip using all your fingers as well as the palm of your hand. “Supporting Strength” indicates how you can hold onto something or hang from something. “Pinching Strength” is how firmly you can pinch an object between your fingers using your thumb. If you are into weight training, grip strength will enable you to increase weight load. If your aim is to increase grip strength, walking carrying heavy bags, wrist curls, or just hanging from a bar are some simple ways to accomplish this. More research needs to be done so that the connection between grip strength and health can be better understood. Education focusing on increasing grip strength can influence the outcome of a person’s health.
Category: Science
Butterfly Farming…
Drones, satellite imagery and artificial intelligence are now being used in what is 
known as precision farming. It is a way of growing food by improving yield, saving money and reducing harm to the environment. Sandborn farms of Portland Michigan go even further by using precision conservation. Certain fields in the Midwest produce very little yields. This results in over fertilizing these fields with nitrogen a main source of growth in plants. However, if this does not increase growth, nitrogen will be released into the environment and increase greenhouse gas, or leach into the water supply and kill aquatic life. Satellite imagery can reveal which areas are green and thriving as opposed to those more yellowing and therefore struggling to survive. Our butterfly population has decreased 22% in the last 20 years. Butterflies are vital to pollinating our crops. By taking these areas of farms that are not as productive and giving them over to wildflowers and clover, these areas can encourage natural crop growth and save money. At present 10 large farms in Michigan are part of the endeavor and have set aside 450 acres to encourage wild floral growth. The other 23,000 acres will be fertilized in the usual manner. These unfertilized acres will reduce carbon dioxide release into the environment by some 4,000 tons a year and encourage more butterflies to make children happy.
https://afbeducation.org/michigan-native-butterfly-farm-conservation/
Dogs Hunting Out Bacterial Threats…
Dogs are now trained to sniff out a deadly bacterial disease which is affecting honeybee hives. American Foulbrood (AFB) can destroy honeybee larvae which in turn will have a devastating effect on our food crop production. Pollination of everything from fruits and nuts to vegetables is done by bees. AFB was first detected in the 1930’s and has been spread by beekeepers who transport hives, and by robber bees and wasps that invade hives. In a similar manner in which dogs are trained to sniff out drugs and explosives, they are trained to sniff out the distinct odor of this deadly bacteria. Dogs have 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses as opposed to 6 million which we possess. This enables them to screen large colonies quickly to determine if they are infected. The dogs are fitted with a dog-specific suit and boots for protection. When a dog detects an infected hive, it notifies the handler by pointing its nose in a specific direction. This allows beekeepers to treat the hive with FDA approved antibiotics which are mixed with sugar, fed on by bees and in turn passed on to the larvae. This is just another way in which dogs are showing how they are “man’s best friend”.
https://beeaware.org.au/archive-pest/american-foulbrood/#ad-image-0
Serenading the Coral Reefs…
It is often overlooked how important the health of the coral reefs is to the health of human beings. Scientists are 
predicting that as much as 90% of the reefs will be decimated by 2050 if preventive measures are not taken. Climate change, over fishing and disease are the major causes for the decreasing number. Coral reefs contain micro-organisms that are the important components for new medications used in the treatment of cancer, arthritis and bacterial infections. Coral reefs provide a water filtration system by trapping and consuming bacteria and decaying matter. In this way the reefs play a major role in providing healthy seafood consumed by billions around the world. How can we possibly change the health of these reefs? Scientists working in the Virgin Islands found that coral larvae were more likely to settle and begin the growth process on damaged reefs by playing sounds that resembled those made by a healthy reef. This was accomplished by placing underwater speakers that would broadcast replicating sounds of snaps, groans, grunts and scratches, the sounds made by a healthy reef. Most of the work is being done at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and results were published in The Royal Society Open Science Journal. Hope is that combining this technique with more resistant nursery raised corals will encourage both fish and coral larvae to inhabit these dying reefs.