The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 2

HEALTH SCIENCE. TI IK YANCOLAT SL'N. WKDNHSIUY. JANUARY 11 2008 A5c Humans have pushed planet into a new geological era, experts say Another battle is being waged over when, exactly, the Tertiary gave way to the Quaternary about 1.9 million years ago. Those battles, though, are confined to the rocks-and-minerals crowd.

A declaration that the Holocene is over and the Anthropocene has begun would send a powerful message to all of humanity that people and their machines more than climate patterns or seismic activity or ocean currents or other non-human forces are now the prime actors in changing the face of the Earth. "It's an interesting idea," said James Ogg, a Purdue University geologist and an executive member of the ICS. "It's very important in that it does bring out that we have become a major geological agent." Ogg said he is "doubtful" the proposal for a separate epoch would be ratified by the world body, but he suggests that formally declaring the Anthropocene a distinctive "phase" of the Holocene is a possibility. "When I look out the window, what I see is all man-made material." Canwest News Service BY RANDY BOSWELL The world of geology is about to be rocked by a controversial bid to reclassify the present era in planetary history as one in which human activities not natural processes are the definitive force shaping the top layer of Earth. It will come as a surprise to most non-experts, but just as we are living in the 21st century according to the calendar, we are creatures of what's called the Holocene in geological time.

And it's been that way, according to scientists, for about 11,700 years a discernible boundary in Earth's history that is marked, among other ways, by evidence of meltwater lakes and gravel ridges left across the Canadian landscape when the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age. All of recorded human history has taken place within the Holocene. But now, a distinguished group of British geologists has provocatively proposed that the Holocene is over and that we have entered a new geological era the Anthropocene in which humans have left such a distinctive footprint on the Earth's surface through carbon pollution, nuclear fallout, urbanization and other traces of our immense technological power that it should be officially recognized by international scientific bodies as "a formal epoch." "Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, Earth has endured changes sufficient to leave a global stratigraphic signature distinct from that of the Holocene encompassing novel biotic, sedimentary and geochemical change," the scientists state in February's cover story of GSA Today, a publication of the Geological Society of America. "These changes, although likely only in their initial phases, are sufficiently distinct and robustly established for suggestions of a Holocene-Anthropocene boundary in the recent historical past to be geologically reasonable." The scientists say proof of humanity's impact on the environment is now so great that in keeping with scholarly tradition the International Commission on Stratigraphy and its parent agency, the International Union of Geological Sciences, should declare a new boundary between the Holocene and the Anthropocene. "We are now living in a new time period when the human modification of the system is so great, we need some way of recognizing that," Mark Williams, a University of Leicester paleobi-ologist and co-author of the article, told Canwest News Service on Tuesday.

He said the Anthropocene could be pegged as beginning with the Industrial Revolution some 200 years ago, "when human industrial processes started to transform the planet on a colossal scale." He said distinctive increases in carbon dioxide deposits in Arctic and Antarctic ice cores or traces of radioactivity from nuclear weapons tests beginning in the mid-20th century and which can be found all over the world could be used to peg the beginning of the Anthropocene. Altering official categories of Earth history is no small matter. Debates are still raging in geological circles over when, precisely, the Holocene began and the Pleistocene (popularly known as the Stone Age) ended. i' -J- iWi- jhtti, L-m iHr-n ED RHODESCNS Scientists say humans have left such a footprint on the earth that we have left the Holocene era and entered the Anthropocene. Vitamin may lower stroke risk Newly adjusted pricing that helps you take advantage of the strong Canadian Dollar PLUS We pay the freight up to FOR A total allowance of up to NEW YORK A person's level of vit amin may predict his or her likelihood of having a stroke, according to a long- term study of some 20,000 middle-aged and older residents of Norfolk in the United Kingdom.

During an average follow-up of 9.5 years, 448 strokes occurred in the study population. Researchers found that per pie with the highest vitamin concen tration at the start of the study had a 42- per-cent lower risk of stroke over 10 years compared to those with the lowest levels of vitamin C. The protective effect of vitamin against stroke remained after accounting for factors that could affect the risk, such as age, sex, smoking, alcohol intake, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol physical activity, diabetes, prior heart THE CHRYSLER, JEEP AND DODGE DIFFERENCE COME AND SEE WHY WE HAVE ACHIEVED 17 CONSECUTIVE MONTHS OF INCREASED SALES attack, supplement use, and social class. Dr. Phyo K.

Myint from the University of Cambridge and colleagues report the study results in the American Journal of Nutrition. ALL NEW 2008 DODGE GRAND CARAVAN Myint noted that the level of vitamin in the blood is a "good biomarker of fruit and vegetable consumption, which have many nutrients that may be biologically active and protective for stroke; this study supports the existing body of evi dence that indicates the high fruit and vegetable consumption is protective for stroke. In a related commentary, Drs. Sebast 3.3L V6 Engine with 4-Speed Automatic Transmission ESP with Brake Assist and Traction Control ABS Speed Control Side-Curtain Air Bags Tire Pressure Monitoring System Remote Keyless Entry AMFMCD MP3 Radio 3rd Row Stow 'n Go Seat with Tailgate Purchase for ian J. Padayatty and Mark Levine of the National Institutes of Health in Bethes da, Maryland, emphasize that fruits and vegetables are associated with many health benefits, including a reduction in n- HHOMaMMMliftMiiNttil strokes.

"Because we do not know why or how the benefit occurs or what fruits and veg i Fuel consumption rating: City: 12.61100 km (22 mpg)4 Hwy: 84L100 km (34 mpg)A NHTSA 5 Star Front and Side Impact' etables are effective, it is prudent to con Lease APR sume a wide variety, they add. "The optimum intake for reduction of Lease for mi per month for 27 months with 2,670 down payment DODGE GRAND CARAVAN SPECIAL EDITION Htl PteJSFl IRFl stroke and cardiovascular disease is unknown," they point out, "but an intake of five-nine servings daily is associated with benefit and the public should aim toward the higher intakes." Reuters txmcmsz 0 Receive the same great features as the Canadian Value Package 2nd Row Fold-ln-Floor Bucket Seats Easy Clean Floor Mats Floor Console Speed Control Yes Essentials Seat Fabric Air Conditioning with 3 Zone Temp Controls ALL NEW 2008 CHRYSLER TOWN COUNTRY 3.8L V6 Engine with 6-Speed Automatic Transmission Power Sliding Doors 2nd 3rd Row Stow 'n Go with Tailgate Feature Side-Curtain Air Bags 1 Yes Essentials Seat Fabric Air Conditioning with 3 Zone Temp Controls 1 Ambient Surround Lighting Power Second Row Windows Vitamin helps elderly stay active WASHINGTON Vitamin may help elderly people keep their vim and vigour, researchers said Tuesday. The researchers measured levels of certain vitamins in the blood of 698 people ages 65 and up in Italy, and then used three tests a short walk, balance and standing up from a seated position to gauge their physical functioning. They found volunteers with lower levels of vitamin performed worse on these physical tests than those with higher levels of the vitamin. Levels of the other vitamins folate, B-6, B-12 and did not seem to affect the tests, the researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"We consistently found that a low concentration of vitamin was associated with subsequent decline in physical function," researchers led by Benedetta Bar-tali of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, wrote. Starting from KIT" $33,995 Fuel consumption rating: City: 13.3L100 km (21 mpg)A Hwy: 8.7L100 km (32mpg) NHTSA 5 Star Front and Side Impact IHBi efe ss Wise customers read the fine print: 0, t. ft We Pay the Freight otter only applies to vehicles purchased or leased through Chrysler Financial on approved credit These limited mm? niters tu deiivwius for putvml use only on wicvM new (J08 modnis frum ret.An umtnbiy At pddn huikj Poor nutrition may play a role in leading elderly people to become physically disabled, but there had been little strong evidence hacking up this notion, the researchers said. Vitamin i is an antioxidant, meaning it can protect tissue from damage caused by unstable substances called free radicals that can harm cells, tissues and organs. It is also involved in the formation of red blood cells.

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