72% of Online Adults are Social Networking Site Users

The number of social networking site users continues to grow

As of May 2013, almost three quarters (72%) of online U.S. adults use social networking sites, up from 67% in late 2012. When we first started asking about social networking sites in February 2005, just 8% of online adults said they used social networking sites.

In addition to asking about general usage of social networking sites in our current survey, we included a stand-alone question about Twitter and found that 18% of online adults are now Twitter users.  This is roughly double the 8% of online adults who used Twitter in November 2010, the first time we asked about Twitter as a stand-alone platform.

Today, social networking site use is a major activity for internet users from a wide range of demographic groups. Younger adults are especially avid adopters, but social networking continues to grow in popularity for older adults as well. Six out of ten internet users ages 50-64 are social networking site users, as are 43% of those ages 65 and older.

http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/08/05/72-of-online-adults-are-social-networking-site-users/

California couple strikes gold after finding $10million of 19th century coins buried on their property

A Northern California couple out walking their dog in February 2013 on their Gold Country property stumbled across a modern-day bonanza: $10million in rare, mint-condition gold coins buried in the shadow of an old tree.

Nearly all of the 1,427 coins, dating from 1847 to 1894, are in uncirculated, mint condition, said David Hall, co-founder of Professional Coin Grading Service of Santa Ana, which recently authenticated them.

Although the face value of the gold pieces only adds up to about $27,000, some of them are so rare that coin experts say they could fetch nearly $1million apiece.

Experts say it's likely whoever owned the property 150 years ago buried the coins as a kind of California gold rush-era bank - to save as an investment and for a rainy day. The coins were then forgotten for over a century.

'I don't like to say once-in-a-lifetime for anything, but you don't get an opportunity to handle this kind of material, a treasure like this, ever,' said veteran numismatist Don Kagin, who is representing the finders. 'It's like they found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.'

Kagin, whose family has been in the rare-coin business for 81 years, would say little about the couple other than that they are husband and wife, are middle-aged and have lived for several years on the rural property where the coins were found. He first met the couple last April.

They have no idea who put the the coins there, he said.

The pair are choosing to remain anonymous, Kagin said, in part to avoid a renewed gold rush to their property by modern-day prospectors armed with metal detectors.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2567784/Calif-couple-strike-10-million-gold-coin-bonanza.html#ixzz2uSNRHuzf 

Sun emits its strongest solar flare of 2014 - releasing radiation into space at 4.4 MILLION mph

The sun's period of peak activity may be beginning to fade, but our star doesn't plan on moving out of its 'solar maximum' quietly.

At 00.49 GMT this morning, a huge sunspot released a massive X4.9-class flare - the biggest of 2014.

Because of its location on the sun's southeastern limb, the flare is not expected to impact satellites or radio communication, scientists claim.

'Radio emissions from shock waves at the leading edge of the cornoal mass ejection (CME) suggest an expansion velocity near 2000 km/s or 4.4 million mph,' said Spaceweather.com.

'If such a fast-moving cloud did strike Earth, the resulting geomagnetic storms could be severe. However, because its trajectory is so far off the sun-Earth line, the CME will deliver a glancing blow, at best.'

The flare follows a newly-released image of the strongest solar flare to be pictured by Nasa's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (Iris) since it launched in the summer of 2013.
On January 28, an M-class flare -- which is the second strongest class flare after X-class – erupted from the sun, sending light and x-rays deep into space.

Iris peers into a layer of the sun's lower atmosphere just above the surface, called the chromosphere, with unprecedented resolution.

However, the probe can't look at the entire sun at the same time, so the team have to anticipate where they will see the most solar activity.

Earlier in January, the sun unleashed a massive solar flare seven times the size of Earth from one of the largest sunspots seen on the star’s surface.

The stunning X1.2-class flare, the first major one of the year, peaked at 6:32pm GMT on January 7th and followed on the heels of a mid-level flare earlier in the day.
Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Their energy travels at the speed of light to reach Earth in just eight minutes.

At Earth, a part of the atmosphere called the ionosphere absorbs it.
Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground.

However, when intense enough, flares can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

This disrupts the radio signals for as long as the flare is on-going, anywhere from minutes to hours.

The latest flare already delayed the launch of a private cargo ship to the International Space Station which was due to lift off today.

The sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, began in 2008.

In November, the sun fired off a similarly huge solar flare causing a wide-area blackout of high frequency signal.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2567377/Sun-emits-strongest-solar-flare-2014-releasing-radiation-space-4-4-MILLION-mph-dont-worry-wont-hit-Earth.html#ixzz2uMgxrMdw 

Research: Switching to a vegetarian diet could cut blood pressure (and has the same effect on readings as losing nearly a stone)

Eating a vegetarian diet is likely to keep your blood pressure low - and switching to it could cut your readings, claim researchers.

A new study shows a vegetarian diet can lead to reductions in blood pressure similar to losing three-quarters of a stone in weight.

The diet achieves around half the drop expected from prescription drugs, according to the study from Japan.

The latest study follows previous research suggesting a vegetarian diet may reduce heart disease risk, and even lead to longer life compared with non-vegetarians.

It is thought the benefits come from lower blood pressure and improved cholesterol levels in people eating low-fat diets based on vegetables, whole grains and fruit.

An estimated three million Britons, around five per cent, are vegetarian and never eat meat or fish, including superstar musician Paul McCartney and his fashion designer daughter Stella McCartney.
Blood pressure is measured by checking two readings. Systolic is the pressure inside arteries when the heart is forcing blood through them and diastolic is the pressure when the heart relaxes.
Using a reading given in millimetres of mercury - written as mmHg - doctors can determine if it is high or low.

The latest study analysed seven clinical trials and 32 studies from 1900 to 2013, which involved people eating a vegetarian diet.

In the trials, participants eating a vegetarian diet had systolic blood pressure almost 5mmHg lower than those eating meat and fish.

The fall was almost 7mmHg lower in the studies, says a report in JAMA Internal Medicine.
For diastolic blood pressure, the differences were 2.2 mmHg in trials and almost 5mmHg in studies.
The researcher from the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, Osaka, said this was equivalent to dropping 5kg (11lbs) in weight or pursuing a low-sodium diet, and half the benefit found with modern medication.

'A reduction in systolic blood pressure of 5mmHg would be expected to result in a seven per cent, nine per cent and 14 per cent reduction in mortality due to all causes, coronary heart disease, and stroke, respectively,' says the report.

The main reason for the difference is thought to be the effect of a low-fat vegetarian diet on cholesterol and blood pressure, partly through avoidance of red meat and also from higher consumption of vegetables.

Eating more vegetables and fruit may also help through their antioxidant effects, combating harmful naturally occurring chemicals in the body.

Official advice from the Department of Health in 2010 said cutting down on red meat could reduce the risk of bowel cancer.

Findings from the largest British study of 45,000 Britons last year found vegetarians have healthier hearts than people who eat meat or fish.

They were one-third less likely to need hospital treatment for heart disease or die from it.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2566816/Switching-vegetarian-diet-cut-blood-pressure.html#ixzz2uHnKq1YT