The 10 best photos from National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest

The National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest of 2014 already have winner. Is Mark Korosec who photographed a supercell over the plains in the East of the State of Colorado, in the United States. A supercell is a type of storm that is characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone (an upward air current that spins inside a cloud).

Korosec called photo the "independence day" and took it during a hunting expedition the tornadoes at Alameda dos Tornadoes in Colorado. The photo was chosen from 18,000 submissions.

The ten winning photos were revealed last week. Underwater scenery, landscapes and a variety of animals photographed in spontaneous poses are some of the photos that were submitted to contest. This year's competition categories were travel Portraits, outdoor scenes, Sense of space and Spontaneous Moments, reports the Daily Mail.

The photo was ranked second of Agnieszka Traczewska, which depicts two newlyweds in Israel.

The big winner of the contest of National Geograaphic this year will be awarded an eight-day expedition to Alaska for two people aboard the National Geographic Sea Lion or the National Geographic Sea Bird.

You can see some of the photos submitted to this contest.

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Waste House: the first British House made of trash with negative CO2 emissions

Landfills are filling up faster than ever with millions of tons of garbage every year. But if it were possible to turn this waste into building material? Waste House, in the United Kingdom, is the living example of this manufacturing capacity. It is the first permanent home was constructed almost entirely from Trash.

The project was designed by atelier BBM, in Sussex, as part of a research project alive and a design workshop for sustainable development at the University of Brighton. The House Waste, which has a negative impact on the level of carbon dioxide emissions, was built to prove that "there is no garbage, just things in the wrong places," said the Inhabitat.

Located on the campus of the University of Brighton, the House was even built with the help of students of the educational institution. The building was built with 85% of garbage, collected from construction sites in the region. The materials include plastic razors, jeans used, videotapes and 20,000 toothbrushes. Most of the garbage was inserted into the walls to isolate and various kinds of garbage will be monitored with sensors to study its insulating efficiency.

About 2,000 carpets recycled water proof lining the exterior facade, while old vinyl banners are used as internal control layers to steam. In addition, waste organic material was also used in the House. To improve energy efficiency and thermal conductivity, rammed earth walls were built of clay and lime residues.

Currently, the House Waste â€" whose construction took about a year and was inaugurated in April this year â€" serves as a research facility for students of the master of sustainable Design at the University of Brighton.

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China: exploring the capabilities of helium from the moon can help solve the energy crisis on Earth

The dust from the lunar soil brought by the first humans on the Moon contained an abundance of titanium, Platinum and other valuable minerals. But our satellite also contains a substance that can be quite useful to the human civilization and could revolutionize energy production.

This substance, the helium-3 (He-3) is deposited on the Moon in vast quantities by solar winds. Helium 3 is a non-radioactive isotope of helium. Has two protons and one neutron. His presence on Earth is rare, but is a very popular substance for use in nuclear fusion research. It is also used in MRI machines and sensors that detect smuggled plutonium.

Now, China is considering the possibility of exploiting this resource from lunar soil, bringing it back to Earth. According to some scientists, this rare isotope could have the ability to meet the future energy needs of the planet, writes the Times.

Ouyang Resources, Chief Scientist of the Chinese Lunar Exploration program, said recently that the Moon is "so rich in He-3 that this substance can solve the problem of energy demand over the next 10,000 years at least," quotes the Daily Mail.

Scientists argue that the He-3 can power nuclear plants, but cleanly, since it is a non-radioactive substance.

For example, two spaceships loaded with the substance â€" about 40 tons â€" could be sufficient to meet the energy needs of the United States for a year. This would require the exploration of areas the size of Washington, D.C.

The Ho-3 is rare on Earth due to the atmosphere and magnetic field protect us, but also prevent the He-3 from the solar wind reaches the Earth's surface. The moon doesn't have this problem because it has no atmosphere and the He-3 is absorbed by the lunar soil.

Fabrizio Bozzato, doctoral candidate at the University of Tamkan in Taiwan, recently wrote a scientific article argues that the He-3 can be extracted from lunar soil at temperatures of around 600 degrees Celsius, before being brought back to Earth. The student estimates that the gas has an economic potential of €2,24 billion per tonne, which makes it economically viable to consider exploring the moon.

According to us experts, the total required for the development of nuclear power stations and spacecraft, and to the start of the operations on the Moon is €14,9 billion over the next two decades.

Although China has already expressed interest to explore this resource is required before any concrete plans to explore the He-3 on the moon.

However, the exploration of the Moon raises controversial questions about who holds our satellite. The UN Treaty for outer space, of which China is a signatory, indicates that the Lunar features are for all humanity. But legal experts contend that the language of the Treaty is ambiguous enough to allow commercial exploitation of the moon.

Foto:  NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center / Creative Commons

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16 of the most magnificent trees on the planet

Trees are the most essential goods on the planet. Have the ability to transform carbon dioxide into oxygen, produce food, serve as shelter to many animals and beautify the landscape.

There are many species of trees, in all shapes and forms, sizes and colors. Some more majestic than others, but all equally important to the global ecosystem. We show you here some of the most beautiful specimens on the planet. Some are not true trees, as Wisteria or rhododendrons, but once they reach considerable proportions have included them in this category.

Since Wisteria and rhododendrons centenarians the great redwoods, see some of the examples here.

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What do the old pay phones?

All major cities have a network of public telephones in most streets â€" absolutely crucial to the functioning of cities a few years ago, but completely obsolete in the age of smartphones.

The United Kingdom, known for its red telephone booths has converted the spaces obsolete. Since 2009 that more than 1,500 cabins were transformed into florists, information points, small art galleries and even small libraries. British Telecom lets even the public to adopt one of these cabins for just one pound.

It seems that every major city are considering the problem of obsolete telephone booths. The South Africa will transform all of its 79,000 telegónicas cabins in wi-fi points. China is doing the same from 2011, referred to the City Lab.

In New York, there are still 9,000 payphones functional, but the contract of these paid phones ends in 2015 and the city still doesn't know what to do or cabins that new generation of payphones will come. The city is waiting to receive proposals on the new generation of payphones.

Rumor has it that Google is among the companies interested in installing the new generation of payphones in New York, but he has no intention of turning into something more cabins to distribution points of wi-fi. Also IBM, Samsung and Cisco were present at sessions of clarification on the future of payphones in New York and it may be here that come to birth a new generation of global public phones.

Foto: bubuninha / Creative Commons

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Elephant scratches in car tourists

This is the time when a male elephant in heat-when their testosterone levels can increase about 60 times â€" decided to approach a car parked in the middle of a trail of a safari.

The two occupants of the vehicle were terrified when they realized they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, because the big elephant started rubbing against the roof of the car. The episode happened at the Pilanesburg National Park, in South Africa, and was documented by Armand Grobler, Park Guide.

"I was practicing ethology (the study of animal behavior) at that moment and realized what was happening," explains Grobler at the Daily Mail. "Despite being in heat, the elephant has not shown signs of aggression or frustration and I was more into playful," he adds.

Often, the elephants using rocks and trees to scratch or to remove parasites â€" and with the car so close this elephant didn't want to miss an opportunity. "We didn't know what to do when the elephant approached the car and when the vehicle began to be destroyed we fear for the lives of the passengers, but our possibilities for action are very limited," says the Guide.

Despite the unexpected meeting, the passengers survived with no injury, just being in a State of shock. Of the car you can't say the same thing. The Windows were broken, blown tires, chassis left and the roof was completely whipped.

After scratching himself enough, the elephant went his own way, unaware of the damage he caused.

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Drink water to lose weight or fattening meal?

The proliferation of myths about feeding works the same way as urban legends: a rumor starts going by word of mouth, distorts and ultimately emerge as a fact that we take as real. In the book "eat or not eat. Traps and feeding myths ", the Spanish journalist Antonio Ortí and nutrition specialists Ana Palencia and Raquel Bernacer exploit several erroneous beliefs.

According to the portal my Well-being, the authors explain, for example, what is the function of water in our diet and why it makes no sense to move property thinning or weight gain to its ingestion. Water has zero calories whether ingested at the beginning, during or at the end of the meal, although there are theories that say the opposite.

For example, there is a popular belief that water fattening if eaten during meals, as this causes fluid retention. Apparently, this hypothesis was followed at the end of 1950, with some people who lost weight during that time to affirm that, to not drink water while eating, watered only the lips on a damp cloth to decrease the sensation of thirst. However, drinking water does not cause fluid retention, on the contrary stimulates kidney function and contributes to a good water balance.

The calls also dissociated diets, which consist in following basic premise and fundamental one â€" do not mix food groups that are incompatible in the same meal, do not allow drinking water when they ingest carbohydrates since they consider that "hinders digestion" and which leads to the potatoes, bread, rice and other foods rich in carbohydrates do pointers of the scale up. But we must insist that the water does not increase the caloric value of any food, explain the authors of the book.

However, it is known that drinking water before a meal can fool the stomach and cause the person to eat less. A clinical trial published in 2010, who broke this hypothesis presented at American Chemical Society in Boston, found that those who drink two glasses of water to 230 milliliters before a meal consumes between 75 and 90 calories less during the meal.

While some authors recommend drinking a milliliter of water for each calorie consumed, others prefer to relate the calories with the weight and point to the 45 milliliters per kilogram in the case of adults and to higher values in the case of pregnant women and children. Normally, it is necessary to take between two and three liters per day, but that doesn't mean you have to drink two liters. The ideal is to drink between one litre and a litre and a half of water and meet the remaining need with the water that foods contain.

Foto:  Boyan Photography / Creative Commons

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