The color of the ocean has changed significantly over the last 20 years, for which human-caused climate change may take the responsibility, and more than 56% of the world’s oceans have changed color to an extent that cannot be explained by natural variability, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. It also mentioned that tropical oceans close to the equator in particular have become greener, reflecting changes in their ecosystems.

The color of the ocean is from the materials found in its upper layers. For example, a deep blue sea will have very little life in it, whereas a green color means there are ecosystems there, based on phytoplankton (浮游植物), plant-like microbes which contain chlorophyll (叶绿素). The phytoplankton form the basis of a food web which supports larger organisms such as fish, seabirds and marine mammals.

It’s not clear exactly how these ecosystems are changing. Ocean ecosystems are finely balanced and any change in the phytoplankton will impact on the whole food chain. “All changes are causing an imbalance in the natural organization of ecosystems. Such imbalance will only get worse over time if our oceans keep heating,” said study co-author Stephanie Dutkiewicz. “It will affect the ocean’s ability to act as a store of carbon, because different phytoplankton absorb different amounts of carbon.”

While the researchers are still working to find out exactly what the changes mean, what is clear is that the changes are being driven by human-caused climate change. The researchers analyzed color variation data from 2002 to 2022 and then used climate change. models to simulate (模拟) what would happen to the oceans both with additional planet-heating pollution and without. The color changes matched almost exactly what Dutkiewicz predicted would happen if greenhouse gases were added to the atmosphere—that around 50% of our oceans would change color.

A small piece of fish each day may keep the heart doctor away. That's the finding of an extensive study of Dutch men in which deaths from heart disease were more than 50 percent lower among those who consumed at least an ounce of salt water fish per day than those who never ate fish.

The Dutch research is one of three human studies that give strong scientific backing to the long-held belief that eating fish can provide health benefits, particularly to the heart.

Heart disease is the number-one killer in the United States, with more than 550,000 death occurring from heart attacks each year. But researchers previously have noticed that the incidence of heart disease is lower in cultures that consume more fish than Americans do. There are fewer heart disease deaths, for example, among the Eskimos of Greenland, who consume about 14 ounces of fish a day, and among the Japanese, whose daily fish consumption averages more than 3 ounces.

For 20 years, the Dutch study, followed 852 middle-aged men, 20 percent of whom ate no fish. At the start of the study, the average fish consumption was about two-thirds of an ounce each day, with more men eating lean fish than fatty fish.

During the next two decades, 78 of the men died from heart disease. The fewest deaths were among the group who regularly ate fish, even at levels far lower than those of the Japanese or Eskimos. This relationship was true regardless of other factors such as age, high blood pressure, or blood cholesterol levels.

When some people hear self-discipline, they think that it’s boring. They equate a disciplined life to feelings of entrapment. Allow me to tell you a story.

On a hot sunny day, Bertha is buzzing by her hive with some other bees, just relaxing and having a good time. Suddenly a bear starts to approach her hive for some honey and bee eggs. To save her hive, Bertha stings the bear. But its skin is so thick that once she tries to pull her sting out she dismembers(肢解) herself and dies.

The sad part is that Bertha has no choice. Through years of evolution she has developed a biological reaction to dangers—to sting threats. If she had known she would die, she might have flown away and saved her own life.

Bees are prisoners of their own biology, but humans can override their biology through self-discipline.

Most people have long-term desires for lasting relationships, meaningful careers or healthy bodies but are constantly tempted by short term pleasures, such as junk food or video games. Deep down they really want the life that comes in the long term. Yet they keep giving in to short-term pleasures.

The only difference is self-discipline. Luckily, humans have the ability to practice self-discipline. It gives us the freedom to achieve what we truly want in life and allow us to break free of the biological or societal cages around us. But it’s not that simple.

Companies are aware of our natural, biological reactions and use this against us by using supernormal stimuli. An example is junk food. Our ancestors were wired to seek out and enjoy fat and salty food because it was so rare at the time. But now companies have genetically engineered food to include more fats and salts than ever before in order to make us desire it even more.

Social media and the Internet as a whole is another form of supernormal stimuli. Humans are biologically wired to seek out novelty. For our ancestors novelty could lead to more knowledge about the world, which could lead to more wisdom that helped us thrive as a species. It has its usefulness. However, the Internet has been designed to take advantage of this desire for novelty by showing you more novelty than you can ever dream of. Every page links out more pages. And every video to a video with even more novelty. Videogames do the same thing.

On the plus side, however, you and I are not like the bee, because we are not cased by our own biology. With self-discipline, we can live the life we truly want. We have the choice to be free.