Influenza Virus Summary

Influenza, also known as the flu, is an infection affecting the nose, throat, and lungs. It can also cause stomach flu which causes digestive issues. Flu viruses spread during flu seasons in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, occurring between October and May in North America. Flu symptoms like sore throat and congestion are similar to a cold, but a flu is sudden within days of exposure, resulting in a worse illness than a cold. Some other symptoms are fever, cough, headache, muscle ache, feeling very tired, sweating, and chills.U.S. public health officials and media annually promote flu vaccines to the entire population. Studies reveal that influenza vaccination often fails to prevent the illness leading to doubts about its benefits. Various factors, including recipient characteristics and vaccine quality, can reduce vaccine effectiveness. Continual flu vaccination might even lower protection levels and increase openness to different influenza strains and severe respiratory infections.  The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is promoting flu vaccinations as a matter of life and death. However, flu vaccination rates are low in the U.S. due to questions about effectiveness. Many peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown that the flu vaccine is not effective at reducing the flu or reducing flu-related deaths.

Cocoa Fermentation Process

1. Harvesting: They first remove the pods very carefully to avoid damaging the flower cushion. After, they start to inspect the cocoa bean to make sure it isn’t damaged and is ready to be cleaned. 

2. Fermentation: Chocolate flavor development has two stages: proper fermentation of wet cocoa beans on the farm by the grower, followed by roasting by the processor in the factory. Both stages are needed for creating high-quality chocolate flavor. In this process the pulp drains away between 36 and 72 hours.

3. Drying: After the cocoa beans are fermented, they are reduced between 5.5% to 7.5% moisture, and dried on bamboo mats or concrete platforms. The drying process is different depending on weather conditions.

4. Roasting: Roasting cocoa beans is also different by company and country, with flavor influencing bean type, blend, and equipment. It is very important you get the correct roast level.

5. Winnowing: The process of winnowing, cracking, fanning, and hulling involves the clean separation of the shell and meat of a bean. The clean separation process is driven by economics and government law

6.  Nibs Grinding: Nibs grinding has advanced in the later 20th century including using liquor mills. Before, nibs were mixed with sugar and processed in a melangeur. The material produced rangers to a paste to a fluid.

7. Alkalization: The optional alkalizing process, also known as the Dutch processing, changes the flavor and color of chocolate liquor and cocoa powders. Cocoa material is mixed with alkaline compounds like potassium carbonate or calcium carbonate at high temperatures and pressures, which make the different colors.

8. Liquor Pressing: Hot cocoa liquor is pressed at high temperatures in a hydraulic press to form cocoa cake, which is processed for specific particle sizes.Cocoa butter is an expensive ingredient in chocolate recipes extracted from cocoa liquor. Dark brown color can mean issues like poor handling during processing and storage, requiring more testing.

9. Cocoa Grinding:Before cocoa cake grinding can start, it goes through cooling steps. The industry uses hammer and disc mills with a classifier to improve grinding efficiency. Cocoa powder also requires a controlled cooling process where it’s held at specific temperatures to allow cocoa butter to form stable crystals. Storing the powder correctly is crucial for keeping its color, softness, and flowability.

1. Cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, and sugar are key ingredients for making different types of chocolate. Chocolate manufacturing involves four main stages: batching, particle reduction, conching, and standardization. Batching is combining ingredients according to a recipe. Particle reduction creates a smooth texture. Conching is the process to understand flavor changes. Standardization adjusts chocolate with fats and emulsifiers, and includes adding volatile flavorings.

Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate

Consuming unsweetened chocolate can support heart health, improve cognitive function, promote healthy skin, and even aid in weight management. Cocoa lowers the chance of heart disease and death. Cocoa might have this effect by lowering blood pressure and improving blood vessel function, which is beneficial for treating people with high blood pressure. Other health benefits are reducing free radicals, lowering bad cholesterol, reducing inflammation, reducing insulin resistance, improving the brain’s ability to make new connections between neurons, and increasing microbiome diversity. 100% dark chocolate is a powerhouse of nutrients, packed with antioxidants, minerals, and beneficial plant compounds.

Supervolcanoes

Supervolcanoes occur when magma in the mantle rises into the crust but is unable to break through it. Pressure builds in a large and growing magma pool until the crust is unable to contain the pressure and bursts. A volcano is categorized as a supervolcano if it can produce a magnitude-eight eruption on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, discharging more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of material. A supervolcanic eruption occurs somewhere in the world approximately every 50,000 years. There are about 40 known supervolcanoes around the world, most of which are extinct. If a supervolcano erupts it would have regional effects such as falling ash and short- term changes to global climate.

My Rock Report (Obsidian)

Obsidian is an igneous rock formed by the rapid cooling of lava from volcanoes. Its formula is SiO₂ + MgO, Fe₃O₄. Its colors can be mahogany, red, flame, midnight lace, jet black, pumpkin orange, brown, rainbow, gold sheen, silver sheen, green, lizard skin, snowflake and more. There is a very rare occurrence of obsidian being the color blue, orange, red, or yellow. The appearance of these colors is because of the presence of different trace elements in obsidian rocks. It is in the volcanic glass category. Obsidian is relatively soft with a hardness of 5 to 5.5 on the mineral hardness scale and its specific gravity is about 2.4.. Obsidian is found in many volcanic regions such as, Mountain West, Southwest, California, Oregon, and Washington State. In ancient times, obsidian was used for cutting tools and weapons, like blades and arrowheads. Well-crafted obsidian blades were the strongest blades in the world. Today, obsidian is used as a gem or an ornament stone. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava and lighter elements such as silicon, oxygen, aluminium, sodium, and potassium. Obsidian cools very quickly. Obsidian was first discovered 9,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. The word obsidian essentially means “Stone of Obsius”. Obsius was the guy who first found this type of stone in Ethiopia.

Quartz, Gold, and Magnetite

Three minerals I learned and they were gold, magnetite, and quartz. First is quartz and its silicon oxygen formula known as SiO2. Quartz comes in all sorts of colors such as being clear, purple, rose, red, black, yellow, brown, green, blue, orange, and so many more. Quartz hardness scale is around 7 to 7.5. Quartz has a specific gravity of about 2.65 to 2.66. Specific gravity is the ratio of the weight of a rock to the mass of water. Quartz crystal system is the trigonal system. 

The second mineral I learned about was gold. Its astronomical unit formula is Au on the periodic table. The colors can be yellow, yellow silver, or blue green. Its lustre is metallic. Lustre is a word that refers to a glow of reflected light, specifically the appearance of the surface of a mineral. Its hardness is 2 ½–3. Its specific gravity is around 15  to 19.3. Its crystal system is the isometric system. Gold is a member of the copper group. 

Finally, I learned about magnetite and its magnetic oxide formula is Fe3O4. Its color ranges from a grayish black to iron black. Its lustre is metallic or sub metallic. Its hardness is 5 ½ to 6 ½. Its specific gravity is 5.175. Like gold, its crystal system is also an isometric system. Magnetite is a member of the oxyspinel group.