Women tend to outlive men and stay mentally sharp longer, and a new study out Monday could explain why: female brains appear on average about three years younger.
The study enrolled 121 women and 84 men, who underwent PET scans to measure brain metabolism, or the flow of oxygen and glucose in their brains.
Like other organs in the body, the brain uses sugar as fuel. But just how it metabolizes glucose can reveal a lot about the brain's metabolic age.
Subjects ranged from their 20s to 80s, and across those age spans, women's brains appeared metabolically younger than men's, said the findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal.
A machine-learned algorithm showed that women's brains were on average about 3.8 years younger than their chronological ages.
And when compared to men, male brains were about 2.4 years older than their true ages.
"It's not that men's brains age faster," said senior author Manu Goyal, assistant professor of radiology at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.
"They start adulthood about three years older than women, and that persists throughout life," said Goyal.
But why?
One theory is that hormones might begin shaping brain metabolism at a young age, setting females on a pattern that is more youthful throughout their lives, compared to men.
Scientists hope to find out if metabolic differences in the brain may play a protective role for women, who tend to score better than men on cognitive tests of reason, memory and problem solving in old age.
It "could mean that the reason women don't experience as much cognitive decline in later years is because their brains are effectively younger," said Goyal.
More work is underway to confirm and better understand the implications of the research.
Reddit, the vast online forum and link aggregator, is a digital haven for advice, self-help, and general discussion; for almost any subculture or topic you want to discuss, you can find a Reddit community. Now, as the anti-vaccination movement has driven more parents to exempt their children from vaccines, some teenagers are turning to online forums like Reddit to find advice on how to get vaccinated, against their parents’ wishes.
Laura C., an 18-year-old from Colorado who has posted on Reddit about her situation, told Salon over email she has not been vaccinated since she was two. She said her mom calls herself an anti-vaxxer.
“I haven't had my boosters,” she said. “My mom always talked about how I was ‘too special’ for shots because of my autism,” adding that she “stopped with the first MMR.”
MMR refers to a vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella, a standard-issue vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children should get two doses of the vaccine; the first between 12 and 15 months of age, and the second between four and six years of age.
The normalization of the anti-vaccination movement is relatively recent, and has been wreaking havoc on public health. The CDC found that the number of two-year-olds who had not received vaccinations grew to 1.3 percent for those born in 2015; comparatively, for those who were born in 2011, the percentage was at 0.9. Though that gap seems small, the relationship between unvaccinated people and disease is not linear; rather, there is a tipping point that confers "herd immunity," meaning that enough people are vaccinated that the disease will not spread, despite the few unvaccinated.
The World Health Organization named “vaccine hesitancy” one of the top threats to public health to prioritize in 2019. Until about twenty years ago, just about everyone in the United States was automatically vaccinated from youth, by virtue of state laws mandating it. However, American children in all 50 states are allowed a medical exemption if the child has a specific medical condition, and all but three states in the U.S. offer non-medical exemptions for religious reasons. Eighteen states allow philosophical exemptions for those who object to immunizations due to personal or moral beliefs — and it is these exemptions that have been the root of a loophole allowing parents who don’t believe in vaccinations to keep their children from getting them.
Laura, who did not want her full name to be published, said she felt “left out” when she read other students’ transcripts for school, and that she still needs a variety of shots before she can attend college, which has led her to seek out her own options.
“I plan to get Hepatitis A and B, MMR, the flu, HPV, TDaP [tetanus, diptheria and pertussis] , and many other immunizations that I was ‘exempt’ from,” she said, noting the rise in measles has made her “seriously anxious.”
In 2000, 37 years after measles vaccination programs began, national health experts declared that the disease had been eliminated in the United States. Yet in 2018, the second-greatest number of annual cases were reported since the disease was declared "eliminated" 18 years earlier. Many public health experts have attributed that rise to the increasing popularity of the anti-vaccination movement. A county near Portland, Oregon, is the latest to experience an outbreak, and it is likely not a coincidence that this occurred in a county that has seen a decrease in child vaccination rates. From 2014 to 2015, a measles outbreak in California spread throughout eight states. Of the California residents who had measles, 45 percent were unvaccinated.
A 23-year-old in Canada, who also requested to remain anonymous, told Salon via email she never got vaccinations as a child.
“I was a home birth and my mom took me to homeopathic and naturopathic doctors who she knew,” the 23-year-old told Salon. “I found out [I wasn’t vaccinated] when it was time to get our shots at school, they sent us home forms for our parents to fill out and my mom said that I had an exception and told me not to get any shots.”
Around the age of 13, the Canadian started scouring the internet to figure out how to get vaccinated herself. Eventually, she found a youth clinic that provided free sexual health services to youth.
“I talked to one of the doctors there about lots of different things and vaccines came up,” the 23-year-old explained. “We started talking and she pointed me towards Wikipedia and WebMD and encouraged me to look into it myself and see what I thought about vaccines. I had also never been allowed to take antibiotics, and at the time I had strep throat so I looked those up on Wikipedia as well.”
After this research, the 23-year-old came to believe that misinformation has driven the mother’s decision. Eventually, she went to a vaccine clinic.
“I asked for everything I could get and then was given a booster appointment card. Since then, I've gotten all my boosters and get a yearly flu shot,” she explained. “I do wish my parents has gotten me vaccinated, and I'm glad I was able to get myself vaccinated.”
Here’s a tip for President Trump: You may want to make sure the government is still shut down next time you fire off an inaccurate tweet about climate change. Or even better, give the pseudoscience a break and tweet about your own administration’s climate report instead!
Just days after striking a deal with Democrats to halt the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Trump fell victim to the classic folly of mistaking weather for climate: “In the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded,” he tweeted. Even though local weather events can vary wildly, that doesn’t change the fact that global temperatures are rising — since 2001, we’ve seen 17 of the 18 hottest years on record, according to NASA.
But science be damned. “What the hell is going on with Global Waming?” Trump continued. “Please come back fast, we need you!” (Yep, that tweet is so bad that we almost missed the fact that Trump spelled warming with no R.)
Thankfully, with the National Weather Service back in business, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was here to tweet out a satisfyingly scientific explanation for winter storms in an, ahem, “waming” world. (The article is five years old, but I guess it’s new information for Trump.)
“Are record snowstorms proof that global warming isn’t happening?” the article’s headline asked. The first line (Italian chef kiss): “No.”
Climate change doesn’t eliminate random variability, so we’ll still get weather that doesn’t fit the general trend — 35 percent of historical snow seasons with extreme snow events were actually warmer than average, NOAA explained.
And — oops! — researchers expect that climate change could even contribute to brutal snowstorms like the one Trump tweeted about.
“Not only are severe snowstorms possible in a warming climate, they may even be more likely,” wrote Caitlyn Kennedy in the NOAA article. That could be because higher ocean temperatures bring with them warmer, wetter air — the perfect storm for heavy snow.
Climate science can be complicated. We’re glad the U.S. government’s actual experts are back on the scene.
Almost half of Americans have heart disease, a significant increase over prior years largely because of a newly expanded definition of high blood pressure, the American Heart Association said Thursday.
The report in the journal Circulation found that 121.5 million adults in the United States in 2016 "have some type of cardiovascular disease."
By definition, cardiovascular disease includes coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke and high blood pressure.
In 2017, the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology updated the definition of high blood pressure as a reading of 130/80 mm Hg. Before, it was 140/90 mm Hg.
If high blood pressure were excluded from the new statistics, just nine percent of US adults (24.3 million in 2016) would be classified as heaving cardiovascular disease.
"As one of the most common and dangerous risk factors for heart disease and stroke, this overwhelming presence of high blood pressure can't be dismissed from the equation in our fight against cardiovascular disease," said Ivor Benjamin, volunteer president of the American Heart Association and director of the Cardiovascular Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
"Research has shown that eliminating high blood pressure could have a larger impact on cardiovascular disease deaths than the elimination of all other risk factors among women and all except smoking among men."
Heart disease is the world's leading killer, taking 17.6 million lives in 2016.
The global toll was down slightly from 2015, when 17.9 million lives were lost from heart disease.
In the United States, the numbers are moving in the opposite direction.
"After decades of a steady decline in the US, cardiovascular disease deaths are on the rise (840,678 deaths in 2016 up from 836,546 in 2015)," said the report.
About 80 percent of cardiovascular diseases can be prevented, through healthy lifestyle choices like diet, exercise, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking; and by controlling high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol, the AHA said.
The authority that oversees Australia's largest river system was accused of "maladministration", "gross negligence" and ignoring climate science Thursday, as its waterways were carpeted with hundreds of thousands of dead fish.
A Royal Commission report into the Murray-Darling Basin Authority -- which happened to coincide with a series of mass fish kills -- was scathing in its assessment, accusing the body of illegality.
The Murray-Darling Basin is a river network sprawling for one million square kilometres (400,000 square miles), about twice the size of Spain.
It affects the livelihood of millions of people, but it had been over-exploited for years and seriously depleted by drought.
A South Australian inquest said the authority acted unlawfully in setting water levels while it "completely ignored" climate change projections.
"Politics rather than science ultimately drove the setting" of limits on the amount of water that could be taken out of the river, the report said.
The commission charged that the authority failed to be guided by "environmental priorities", as required by law. "It is an unlawful approach. It is maladministration."
An investigation by the national broadcaster the ABC in 2017 found billions of litres slated for environmental flows was being used to irrigate farmland in New South Wales.
A review of water management compliance in 2017 found inconsistent and poor enforcement in some states.
The report comes as debate rages over a series of mass fish kills over the past few weeks in rivers connected to the Murray-Darling.
Up to a million were killed last month -- with scientists pointing to low water and oxygen levels as well as possibly toxic algae -- in drought battered eastern Australia.
The royal commission recommended a complete overhaul of the water river management plan, with revised levels based on "the best available scientific knowledge".
Meteorologist Al Roker on Wednesday lashed out at Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) for refusing to cancel school to protect children from a so-called polar vortex that's sweeping most of the nation.
During a radio interview on Tuesday, Bevin complained that children have become "soft" because school is cancelled too often for bad weather conditions.
"There's no ice going with it or any snow," Bevin said. "What happens to America. We're getting soft, Terry, we're getting soft."
On Wednesday, Roker explained the risks of frostbite and hypothermia. And then the famous weatherman tore into Bevin.
"This nitwit governor in Kentucky, saying, 'Oh, we're weak,'" Roker complained on MSNBC. "These are kids who are going to be subzero windchills!"
"No, cancel school!" he added. "Stop it. You know, adults, if they want to be out there -- these are our children. I'm glad you're not a teacher."
Cannabidiol, or CBD, has become a household name. On many social media sites, people suggest “but have you tried CBD oil?” on posts pertaining to any health-related issue.
CBD, a minor constituent of marijuana, is widely touted as nature’s miracle by CBD enthusiasts. It does not get people high, unlike marijuana’s main constituent, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). However, given the recent surge in its popularity, you’d think the molecule is magic.
We are behavioral pharmacology scientists, and we study how drugs act on the body. Specifically, we have an interest in developing new drugs for the treatment of pain that possess lessened drug abuse potential, and therapeutic interventions for drug abuse. Although there is scientific interest in the use of CBD for both pain and drug addiction, as well as many other medical indications, there is a lot that we still do not know about CBD.
CBD and THC: How do they work?
Drugs affect the body by binding and acting at various protein molecules, usually on the surface of the cells in the body, called receptors. These receptors then send signals that can impact bodily functions.
Marijuana has an effect on the body because many animals have receptors termed “cannabinoid receptors.” There are two known cannabinoid receptors that are responsible for the effects of marijuana. Only one of them, the cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1R), is responsible for the high from marijuana. These cannabinoid receptors are predominately found on nerve cells located throughout the body, including the brain.
Studies indicate that CBD does, however, act on several other types of receptors. These include the serotonin 5-HT1A receptor, which can help regulate sleep, mood, anxiety and pain. CBD may also indirectly alter the body’s own cannabinoid receptor activity.
However, scientists do not yet understand the exact manner in which CBD acts on the body. Likewise, many health-related anecdotal claims pertaining to CBD are not founded on solid scientific evidence, and may be due to well-documented placebo effects.
There is strong evidence, however, that CBD has enduring health benefits in the treatment of intractable epilepsy.
Charlotte’s Web
It has been nearly six years since the story of the Charlotte’s Web strain of marijuana broke into national and international media. This strain of marijuana was named after Charlotte Figi, who struggled with intractable pediatric epilepsy until she was given oil extracted from the strain, which contains a higher CBD-to-THC content.
Charlotte’s father saw an online video of a child from California with seizures who was being treated successfully with marijuana. As it turns out, the active compound that was helping Charlotte was not THC but CBD.
Based upon clinical evidence, GW Therapeutics developed and licensed its own CBD extract, a drug now called Epidiolex. Clinical trials with Epidiolex for the indications of Dravet syndrome and Lennox Gastaut syndrome, two forms of pediatric epilepsy, were resoundingly positive.
In June 2018, the Food and Drug Administration approved Epidiolex for treatment of these two forms of epilepsy in children that have not responded to other treatments.
Meanwhile, as the clinical trials for Epidiolex were underway, a landmark study from Indiana University demonstrated a possible mechanism for CBD’s astounding effects on Dravet and Lennox Gastaut syndromes. These two syndromes are associated with genetic mutations in two genes that are important in the regulation of sodium ions.
A specific understanding
Nerve cells regulate the way they send signals by how ions, or molecules with either an overall positive or negative electric charge, flow in and out of their cells. The most common ions that regulate nerve cell signaling are sodium, potassium, calcium and chloride. These ions move in and out of the cell via pores known as ion channels.
In many forms of epilepsy, however, the movement of ions is not properly controlled. This leads to aberrant firing of the brain’s nerve cells and seizure activity.
In both forms of the epilepsy for which CBD is effective, there are alterations in the channels that control the flow of sodium in and out of nerve cells, or what is called a “sodium channelopathy.”
The study from Indiana University found that CBD can directly inhibit the aberrant flow of sodium ions in nerve cells that have sodium channelopathies. Importantly, CBD does not seem to impact the flow of sodium in healthy nerve cells.
Although CBD has marked effects on these sodium channelopathies, this does not mean that CBD will produce meaningful benefits to other forms of epilepsy.
Other forms of epilepsy are linked to regulation problems related to the flow of potassium ions in cells. This type of pediatric epilepsy is resistant to all known therapeutics, including CBD.
A potential pain therapeutic?
There are also claims that CBD can be used to address pain. And indeed, mounting evidence in pre-clinical laboratory studies show that CBD may be of use for the treatment and prevention of neuropathic pain, or an amplified response that may be due to nerve cell damage. In a mouse model of this type of pain, CBD injections prevented and reversed the development of one hallmark sign of neuropathic pain, called mechanical allodynia. This is the sensation of pain due to a non-noxious stimulus, such as the feeling of clothing on an area of skin that has a sunburn. A new study from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, shows that oral administration of CBD produces these same effects in rats with a similar type of pain.
In both of these studies, the scientists discovered that these effects are likely due to actions at serotonin receptors. A study from scientists at the University of Kentucky suggested that CBD applied to the skin, or transdermal CBD, may reduce inflammation in a rat model of arthritis.
An important caveat to these findings is that not all compounds that produce effects in rodent pain studies will work in humans. Further, most of these studies examined the effects of injected CBD. So far, there is little evidence showing therapeutic effects of either edible or transmucosal, the administration of a drug across a mucous membrane, CBD for pain. There is only limited evidence for the use of transdermal CBD. Thus, until more scientific studies are conducted, the hype that CBD can successfully treat various forms of pain in humans is premature.
CBD: Beyond the laboratory
A sign outside a market in Atlanta on Jan. 18, 2019 advertising the availability of CBD.
Still curious about all the hype? Before running to the local supermarket health food isle to purchase CBD to conduct your own at-home trial, there are a few more points to consider.
Most CBD products sold in grocery stores are touted as “hemp-derived.” That is, they come from a cannabis plant that has a purportedly extremely low amount of THC. Typically, hemp-derived products are made from the stalks and roots of the plant. This is in contrast to marijuana, which can contain varying amounts of THC and comes from the flowers of the cannabis plant. Recently, hemp-derived products were removed from the Controlled Substances Act.
However, it remains unclear if hemp-derived CBD works in the same exact manner as marijuana-derived CBD. Further, the FDA does not approve of CBD products as dietary supplements, or the marketing of any health-related claims. Also, the agency prohibits the addition of either THC or CBD to food products sold in interstate commerce for human or animal consumption.
As long as there are no associated medical claims, the FDA allows the use of hemp oil and seeds in cosmetics. However, the usefulness of hemp products in cosmetics also remains to be determined.
Scientists have long known that some beaked whales beach themselves and die in agony after exposure to naval sonar, and now they know why: the giant sea mammals suffer decompression sickness, just like scuba divers.
At first blush, the explanation laid out Wednesday by 21 experts in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B seems implausible.
Millions of years of evolution have turned whales into perfectly calibrated diving machines that plunge kilometres (miles) below the surface for hours at a stretch, foraging for food in the inky depths.
The heart rate slows, blood flow is restricted, oxygen is conserved.
So how could the ocean's most accomplished deep-sea diver wind up with nitrogen bubbles poisoning its veins, like a scuba novice rising too quickly to the surface?
Short answer: beaked whales -- especially one species known as Cuvier's -- get really, really scared.
AFP /Factfile on Cuvier's beaked whale, repeatedly stranded in the Mediterranean because of man-made sonar, according to a new theory
"In the presence of sonar they are stressed and swim vigorously away from the sound source, changing their diving pattern," lead author Yara Bernaldo de Quiros, a researcher at the Institute of Animal Health at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, told AFP.
"The stress response, in other words, overrides the diving response, which makes the animals accumulate nitrogen," she added. "It's like an adrenalin shot."
One type of sonar in particular throws these whales off balance.
- 'Atypical' mass strandings -
Developed in the 1950s to detect submarines, mid-frequency active sonar (MFAS) is used today in naval patrols and exercises, especially by the United States and its NATO allies.
Starting around 1960, ships began emitting underwater signals in a range of about 5 kilohertz (kHz).
That is when the mass beaching of beaked whales, especially in the Mediterranean, began.
Between 1960 and 2004, 121 of these so-called "atypical" mass strandings took place, with at least 40 closely linked in time and place with naval activities.
Fuerteventura Government/AFP/File / Handout Starting around 1960, ships began emitting underwater signals in a range of about 5 kilohertz (kHz) which is when the mass beaching of beaked whales began
These were not individual strandings of old or sick animals, nor en masse strandings such the one last November in New Zealand, when more than 200 pilot whales beached themselves together.
Rather, a handful or more beaked whales would wash ashore within a day or two, and no more than few dozen kilometres apart.
The most deadly episode, in 2002, saw 14 stranded over a 36-hour period in the Canary Islands during a NATO naval exercise.
"Within a few hours of the sonar being deployed, the animals started showing up on the beach," Bernaldo de Quiros said.
Outwardly, the whales showed no signs of disease or damage: they had normal body weight, and no skin lesions or infections.
Internally, it was another story. Nitrogen gas bubbles filled the veins, and their brains were ravaged by haemorrhaging.
Autopsies also revealed damage to other organs, as well as to the spinal cord and central nervous system.
- Canary Island moratorium -
As with altitude sickness, reactions -- in humans, and probably in whales -- to nitrogen bubbles in the blood vary in type and intensity.
A 2003 study in Nature on the possible link between sonar and whale deaths led to Spain banning such naval exercises around the Canary Islands in 2004.
"Up until then, the Canaries were a hotspot for this kind of 'atypical' strandings," said Bernaldo de Quiros. "Since the moratorium, none have occurred."
The authors called for similar bans to be extended to other regions where at-risk whales are known to congregate.
The Cuvier's grows up to seven metres (23 feet) and dines mainly on deep-water squid and fish. Its upwardly turned mouth gives the impression of a permanent smile.
The whale is listed as "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List of endangered species, and is thought to have a global population of 5,000 to 7,000.
Other threats include ship strikes, ocean pollution and shifting habitats caused by climate change.
Meteorologists have blamed a phenomenon called the polar vortex for the bitter cold that has descended on much of the central and eastern United States this week, forcing residents to huddle indoors, closing schools and businesses and canceling flights.
The cold front was forecast to hit the Midwest especially hard, with wind chill expected to plummet to minus 50F (minus 46C) in Chicago by Tuesday evening and two feet (60cm) of snow predicted for Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service.
As ominous as the term polar vortex sounds, meteorologists say the phenomenon is not new, nor despite its sound does it refer to a cyclone of cold or a freakishly dangerous storm.
“The term ‘polar vortex’ has become more commonly used in the past couple of years but the phenomenon has been around forever,” National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Chenard told Reuters in an interview.
There is some debate among scientists about whether polar vortexes have become more frequent and, if so, what effect climate change might be having on them.
Chenard said a polar vortex refers to the upper level jet stream that typically circulates around both the North and South Poles, keeping the coldest air there.
When that jet stream occasionally weakens and buckles, he said, it disrupts weather patterns - bumping warmer air into Alaska and pushing cold winds down into the U.S. Midwest and East Coast, Chenard said.
“This (winter) happens to be a pretty extreme example of some of that cold arctic air making it down to us,” he said.
GLOBAL WARMING
Though the potentially record-shatteringly low temperatures descending on a large swath of the country may touch off a political debate over global warming, Chenard said, the phenomenon is not related to climate change.
President Donald Trump, noting wind chill temperatures in the “beautiful Midwest” are setting records, said in a tweet Monday evening: “What the hell is going on with Global Warming? Please come back fast, we need you!”
Jennifer Francis, senior scientist and Arctic expert at the Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Mass, said that while the latest move in the polar vortex “may unleash claims that global warming is a hoax”, the mass of frigid air over North America is far outweighed by areas elsewhere that are warmer than usual.
Francis said modeling studies offer evidence the stratosphere over the Arctic is changing and so disruptions to polar vortexes are increasing.
“We are seeing this more often and there are a few studies suggesting that the melting and warming of the Arctic make these (stratospheric) disruptions more likely than they used to be,” she said in a telephone interview.
Scientists say higher temperatures in the Arctic have led to historically low levels of ice there. That, in turn, has led changes in the jet stream, causing the polar vortex to buckle.
“What we think is going on - and this is a hot topic and by no means settled science - we think there is one area where ice is being lost more than anywhere else in the Barents Sea in Northwest Russia,” Francis said.
“For whatever reason, the ice is disappearing there very fast.”
Reporting by Dan Whitcomb and Bill Tarrant; Editing by James Dalgleish
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday tore into President Donald Trump for refusing to believe a climate change report produced by his own government.
Speaking at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, Bloomberg called out Trump after he said that he did not believe the Fourth National Climate Assessment, which projects economic losses to "reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century."
"Unfortunately, we don't have a president that sees it that way," Bloomberg said on Tuesday. "He failed at business and now I think it's fair to say he's failing at government."
"His own administration produced a damaging report saying we face substantial damage to the U.S. economy, environment and human health from climate change, you know what the president said in response? 'I don't believe it,' he said," the former New York mayor continued. "How can you possibly not believe it. I hate to break this to you, Mr. President, but if you don't believe in science, don't go to the doctor, don't get on an airplane, don't talk on the phone and don't even think about tweeting."
A federal judge overseeing lawsuits alleging Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer causes cancer on Monday tentatively allowed pieces of controversial evidence that the company had hoped to exclude from upcoming trials.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria during a hearing in San Francisco federal court called his decision “probably most disappointing for Monsanto,” the Bayer unit that manufactures the world’s most widely used herbicide.
The company denies allegations that glyphosate causes cancer and says decades of independent studies have shown the chemical to be safe for human use.
Chhabria on Monday said plaintiffs could introduce some evidence of Monsanto’s alleged attempts to ghostwrite studies and influence the findings of scientists and regulators during the first phase of upcoming trials. He said documents which showed the company taking a position on the science or a study introduced during the first phase were “super relevant.”
The company had hoped the judge would take a harder line on such evidence following a Jan. 3 order by Chhabria restricting evidence of corporate misconduct. At the time, that decision lifted Bayer’s shares nearly 7 percent.
Monsanto had argued much of this evidence was a “sideshow” that would only distract jurors from the scientific evidence.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers contended some evidence of corporate misconduct was inextricably linked to their scientific claims.
The judge appeared to agree with them, saying it was difficult to draw the line between scientific evidence and allegations of corporate misconduct, and questioned whether it would be fair for the jury to not hear about the company’s alleged attempts to influence scientists.
The parties did agree that other internal documents, including emails of Monsanto employees discussing lobbying efforts, do not belong in the initial trial phase.
Under Chhabria’s order, that evidence would be allowed only if glyphosate was found to have caused plaintiff Edwin Hardeman’s cancer and the trial proceeded to a second phase to determine Bayer’s liability.
The order applies to Hardeman’s case, which is scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 25, and two other upcoming cases. There are some 620 Roundup cases before Chhabria, out of more than 9,300 nationwide.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers believe corporate misconduct evidence was critical to a California state court jury’s August decision to award $289 million in a similar case. The verdict sent Bayer shares tumbling at the time, though the award was later reduced to $78 million and is under appeal.
Reporting by Tina Bellon in New York; Editing by Anthony Lin and Bill Berkrot
By all accounts, Dasan and Illika should have died of poisoning.
But they are back on their feet, poking their beaks through the bars of their cages, impatient to return to the skies over Colombia, which have been transformed into hostile territory for the so-called king of the Andes -- the condor.
Dasan, a five-year-old male, fell victim first. Locals found him in November -- weak and strangely docile -- in Cerrito, located about 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of the capital Bogota.
Then Illika, an older female, was found just 200 meters (650 feet) from that spot, showing the same symptoms of poisoning -- which may have been intentional.
According to the Neotropical Foundation, the incident marks at least the fifth time that ranchers have used poisoned carrion to eliminate the birds of prey, which they see as dangerous to their herds of cattle, sheep and goats.
AFP / Raul ARBOLEDA A view of Cerrito, in Colombia, where the wounded Andean condors were found
In the Andes, the paramo ecosystem -- at an altitude of about 4,000 meters -- is a tropical mountainous area with hardy vegetation, prone to retaining moisture and resisting temperature changes.
It is not conducive to serving as a grazing pasture for livestock. But with development and the gradual disappearance of native wildlife, the Andean condor's habitat has been forever changed.
- The paramos: Andean reservoirs -
AFP / Raul ARBOLEDA Sheep are herded in Cerrito by Eduin and Gilberto Conde -- they are fans of the condor, but some farmers and ranchers say the birds of prey are dangerous to their livestock
"In Andean nations, the paramos serve as our reservoirs. Without this tropical heathland, we would literally be parched and dead," Sebastian Kohn, director of the Andean Condor Foundation in Ecuador, told AFP.
"The livestock is having a negative impact, but if we pull them all out in one fell swoop, the condor will have nothing to feed itself," he added, highlighting the complexity of the problem.
The Andean condor, one of the biggest birds in the world with a wingspan of up to 3.2 meters and a weight of 9-15 kilograms (20-33 pounds), is considered to be in critical danger of extinction in Colombia, a nation that has adopted the predator as its national symbol.
But the bird is not at risk on a global scale, even if its numbers are dwindling, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Experts say there are only about 150 Andean condors left in all of Colombia, where there is no official count of the birds.
Condors typically only feed on dead animals, but it appears that some have taken to attacking live prey, according to residents of Cerrito.
"If the condors see an animal move, they hit it with their wings, two or three times. When they see it's no longer moving, they start eating it," explained Eduin Conde, a 38-year-old sheep farmer.
In all, 80 percent of Cerrito's total surface area is made up of wet heathland. Many rivers begin there, including the Arauca, which provides part of Venezuela with its water.
- Poisoning suspected -
AFP / Raul ARBOLEDA Dasan and Illika, the sick condors, were cared for for months before being released back into the wild, with new tags for tracking and monitoring
At least 30 condors soar over the Cerrito area, according to Fausto Saenz, scientific director for the Neotropical Foundation.
The foundation worked with the Andean Condor Foundation in Ecuador, the US non-governmental organization The Peregrine Fund and the Jaime Duque zoo outside Bogota to rehabilitate and release Dasan and Illika back into the wild.
Researchers, firefighters and police officers took care of the birds at first. Then a helicopter airlifted them to the veterinary clinic at the Jaime Duque zoo.
"They were not reacting to any stimuli," recalls Saenz. The two birds also had the exact same symptoms -- an indication that "they had both eaten from the same poisoned source."
Cerrito's mayor, Carlos Romero, told AFP that an investigation was ongoing to determine whether the birds were intentionally poisoned.
Dasan and Illika remained in isolation for two months, with only minimal human contact and regular tests to monitor the toxicity in their systems. Slowly, they regained their strength.
During their convalescence, a contest was launched on social media to choose their names.
AFP / Raul ARBOLEDA In the Andes, the paramo ecosystem -- at an altitude of about 4,000 meters (13,120 feet) -- is a tropical mountainous area with hardy vegetation, prone to retaining moisture and resisting temperature changes
"Dasan means 'head of the birds,' while Illika means 'lucky one' in the Uwa dialect," Saenz said, referring to an indigenous group native to northeastern Colombia.
Poisoning is the top threat to condors in Colombia. The species is present throughout the Andes, from Venezuela to Argentina and Chile. Experts say there are about 6,700 left in the wild.
But the bird, which only lays an egg every two years, also faces risks from hunting and electrocution on power cables.
Andean bears and jaguars, whose natural habitats have been encroached upon by the expansion of farming and ranching, encounter the same risks.
- Free again, but monitored -
About 100 people showed up at the spot where Dasan and Illika were found ill to watch the two majestic birds return to the wild.
AFP / Raul ARBOLEDA Environmentalists carry the two injured Andean condors to the spot in Cerrito where they were found, to be released back into the wild
They took flight before their admirers -- with newly fitted tags so they can be tracked and monitored for research purposes.
Eduin Conde and his family were among those who defended the birds, which they say are useful for clearing the area of carrion -- and thereby removing possible sources of infection for their herds.
Gilberto, Eduin's brother, is lobbying other locals against buying into stereotypical misconceptions about the king of the Andes.
"I tell them that we must protect the condor... as it's an emblematic, sublime bird that is on the road to extinction," he said, watching the skies with his binoculars.
Behind him, a fresco adorns the wall of the hotel that he runs in the mountains at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters.
It depicts a condor and bears the message: "The paramo lives on" -- a warm welcome to those courageous enough to climb this far.
Temperatures in southern Australia topped 49 degrees on Thursday, shattering previous records as sizzling citizens received free beer and heat-stressed bats fell from trees.
The Bureau of Meteorology reported temperatures of 49.5 Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) north of Adelaide, while inside the city temperatures reached 47.7 Celsius, breaking a record that had stood since 1939.
Adelaide residents are used to sweltering days during the southern hemisphere summer, but even they struggled with the oppressive temperatures.
More than 13 towns across South Australia have smashed their own heat records.
The state's health authorities early Thursday reported that 44 people had received emergency treatment for heat-related illnesses in the past 24 hours.
"Remember to check on elderly friends, relatives and neighbours, and those who are unwell," the state emergency services tweeted.
Health authorities were also forced to issue a public warning to avoid contact with hundreds of heat-stressed bats falling from trees in parkland areas.
Authorities in central Australia said they had to cull more than 50 feral horses, after they found 90 dead or dying wild brumbies near a dried-up water hole.
Shocking images of dozens of dead horses strewn across the dry ground began to circulate on social media this week.
"With climate change well and truly upon us, we expect these emergencies to occur with increasing frequency and nobody is truly prepared and resourced to respond to them," David Ross, director of indigenous representative body the Central Land Council, said in a statement.
- Bushfire threat -
While thousands of people have flocked to beaches to cool off in the surf, hundreds have taken to shopping centres to stay out of the heat.
At the Red Lion Hotel in South Australia, publicans gave a free beer to each of their patrons while the temperature remained above 45 degrees.
Around one hundred people lined up for their free drink for over one hour.
ADELAIDE ZOO/AFP / HandoutAt Adelaide Zoo animals have been getting hosed down with cool water
At Adelaide Zoo tortoises have been getting cool water wipedowns, rock wallabies have been given ice to lick and hyenas have taken refreshing dips.
But the temperatures are also testing municipal services, with SunCity buses forced to cut their services, leaving commuters searching for trams or trains to get home.
Emergency services are on the alert as more than 13 districts are under threat of possible bushfires.
Meanwhile, a total fire ban was issued further south in the island state of Tasmania, where authorities continued to battle blazes.
Parts of the southeastern state of Victoria were also sweltering through temperatures above 40 degrees.
The soaring temperatures follow a heatwave last week that saw Australian towns among the hottest places on Earth.
As many as a million fish were discovered dead last week along the banks of a major river system in drought-battered eastern Australia, with thousands more found killed some 900 kilometres (560 miles) away in the north of New South Wales on Monday.
The government has launched a review into the mass fish kill.
National Broadcaster ABC reported that farmers in Western Australia have been forced to cull at least 2,500 feral camels gathering in "plague proportions" in the past month.
Regarded as pests, the ABC said many have wondered onto properties where temperatures had reached 50 Celsius this summer, where they ar
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