Earth has lost half its trees because of humans

There is good news and bad news regarding the number of trees on our planet. The good news is that there are seven times more trees on Earth than we thought. Until a few years ago, scientists estimated that the world had around 400 billion trees. However, a new study from Yale University estimates that there are around three trillion trees. That's a three followed by 12 zeroes. That means there are more than 420 trees for every person alive today. Lead researcher Dr Thomas Crowther told the BBC that the new estimate will not change anything. He said: "It's not like we've discovered a load of new trees. It's not good news for the world or bad news that we've produced this new number."

The bad news is that thousands of years ago, the earth had around six trillion trees. Human activity has cut in half the number of trees on the planet. A good example of this is the fact that Europe used to be one giant forest. Now much of it is farmland, fields, cities and towns. Dr Crowther said people are responsible for the loss of three trillion trees over the past several thousand years. Humans are destroying around 15 billion more trees every year because of deforestation and the demand for farmland. The scientists said this figure is "considerably higher" than just a century ago. Dr Crowther warned that: "This study highlights how much more effort is needed if we are to restore healthy forests worldwide." (Breaking News)

 

Smaller plates help reduce obesity

New research suggests there is a simple and easy way that helps people to stop over-eating. Researchers say there is an alternative to fancy diets. They say that using smaller plates, knives, forks, glasses and other tableware could reduce the amount of food we eat. Many of us tend to use the size of the plate as a measure of how much we can eat. If we use a large plate, we fill the plate with food, which often means we eat too much. Research from Cambridge University in the U.K. suggests that smaller plates could lower the amount of food we eat. British people could reduce their calorie intake by up to 16 per cent, while Americans could see a reduction of up to 29 per cent in calories.

The research team looked at data from 6,711 people who took part in the eating trials. Dr Gareth Hollands, one of the leaders of the research, said that many people think it is, "obvious that the larger the portion size, the more people eat," but said that until now, there was little research on this. He added that it was wrong to think people ate too much because of a lack of self-control. He said: "Helping people to avoid 'over-serving' themselves or others with larger portions of food or drink by reducing their size, availability and appeal in shops, restaurants and in the home, is likely to be a good way of helping lots of people to reduce their risk of overeating." (Breaking News)