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Sexual Frustration Leads to Accelerated Aging: Sex is the Answer
Wow baby, I feel 10 years younger already! http://www.wired.com No more sexual frustration here! The University of Michigan has given the world a new reason to never be a sexual tease: causing sexual frustration is tantamount to murder! In a study involving fruit flies, scientists found that the key to a long and healthy life might be sex.
The scientists placed normal male fruit flies in a tank flooded with genetically modified male fruit flies. These particular male fruit flies were genetically altered to release a female pheromone. As far as the normal fruit flies knew they were surrounded by beautiful female fruit flies ready and rearing to aid in the compost bin colony’s plan of colonial expansion. The only problem is that they couldn’t see, hear, or feel the females. They couldn’t at all perceive the fruit fly goddesses that were surely laying all around them (which is probably for the best since fruit flies have toxic sperm). Needless to say, this situation has ‘sexual frustration’ written all over it.
Related Article: Aging Process is Similar to Replicating CDs: The Story of Telomeres
The male fruit flies, perceiving the sexual pheromone but unable to mate, experienced
more stress and rapid decreases in fat stores and resistance to starvation. The sexually frustrated flies lived shorter lives. Mating, on the other hand, partially reversed the negative effects on health and aging.
So, let’s review:
Or fruit flies surrounded by untouchable mates! http://www.someecards.com Abstinence leads to stress, a skinny frame, a short life, and possible starvation. Sex on the other hand leads to none of that and comes with a bonus pleasure surge. Tough choice.
Ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, all of us are responsible for causing as little sexual frustration as possible. I’m glad that’s settled.
Another study using fruit flies found that in many instances, due to a toxin in the pheromone, just being around the opposite sex can cause a shortened lifespan in both sexes. According to the study,
Their movements slowed, their bodies deteriorated, and their lifespans shortened by some 20 percent.
So what do sexual frustrations in fruit fly studies have to with us genetically superior humans? Surprisingly, biological discoveries made in fruit flies carry over to other mammals like rodents and humans quite often. Scientists also use fruit flies because they only live for around 60 days. Due to their short lifespans scientists can view changes over hundreds of generations in a relatively short amount of time. Using the advantage of a short lifespan, scientists have even been able to view evolution take place before their eyes.
Related Article: The Loudest Penis on Earth
Sure, sex alone couldn’t make the fruit fly an immortal animal, but if a little love has even the slightest potential for extending our lives and keep us young, I say avoid unnecessary sexual frustration and find a friend to share some joy. Just be safe!
This study adds to the growing body of information concerned with finding a way to retain our youth into old age and extend our lives. It is a major human desire, ubiquitous across centuries of our past. The key could be anything, including technological advances, low-carb diets, fasting, nuts, or the upcoming singularity. It’s time to add sex to that list and remove as much sexual frustration as possible.
I will live FOREVER!!! sciencecenter.tumblr.com Sources:
http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201311/fruitflysex
http://www.genescient.com/research/why-fruit-flies/
https://wondergressive.com/news/immortality-formula-yolf/
https://wondergressive.com/news/eat-nuts-longer-life/
https://wondergressive.com/news/safe-reversible-cheap-proven-to-work-male-birth-control/
https://wondergressive.com/news/hydra-immortality-linked-to-human-lifespan/
https://wondergressive.com/news/the-singularity-is-nigh-upon-us-2/
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Menstrual Cups: The Sustainable Period
The Diva menstrual cup The menstrual cycle is something that every woman becomes familiar with during her lifetime. How each woman deals with it is a personal choice, but not one that goes without major consequences on both her health and the environment. The common Western way to handle a period often involves tampons and pads. There is another option, however, that you may have never heard of. Something that is becoming increasingly popular due to both the health benefits and positive environmental effects is a device called a menstrual cup. The Mayo Clinic‘s Mary M. Gallenberg, M.D tells us that
A menstrual cup is a bell-shaped device worn inside the vagina during menstruation to collect menstrual fluid. Menstrual cups provide a viable alternative to pads and tampons. Menstrual cups are typically made of silicone or other nonlatex materials.
*Note: This article will specifically address why menstrual cups are a good alternative to traditional tampons and will not discuss sanitary napkins in depth as the internal use of tampons and menstrual cups makes them more comparable in manner than menstrual cups and sanitary napkins.
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Health Effects
To better understand the health benefits of menstrual cups, it’s important to understand the health effects of tampons. To fully grasp this let’s take a look at what tampons are made of, and how they’re produced. Remember that all of these items are inserted into the body and held internally for extended periods (4-8 hours) for about a week every month.
Material Production
According to Wikipedia:
The majority of tampons sold are made of rayon, or a blend of rayon and cotton. Organic cotton tampons are made from only 100% cotton.
Rayon is a semi-synthetic fiber manufactured mostly from wood pulp using a chemical process. The production process of rayon might make a person second guess the use of this fiber internally, but what’s wrong with cotton? According to the Organic Trade Association:
Cotton is considered the world’s ‘dirtiest’ crop due to its heavy use of insecticides, the most hazardous pesticide to human and animal health. Cotton covers 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world’s insecticides, more than any other single major crop (1). Aldicarb, parathion, and methamidopho, three of the most acutely hazardous insecticides to human health as determined by the World Health Organization, rank in the top ten most commonly used in cotton production. All but one of the remaining seven most commonly used are classified as moderately to highly hazardous (1). Aldicarb, cotton’s second best selling insecticide and most acutely poisonous to humans, can kill a man with just one drop absorbed through the skin, yet it is still used in 25 countries and the US.
That sounds healthy.
Chemical Processing and Dioxin
After the cotton is grown and harvested it must be bleached to make it a pleasant looking bright white. In the past this process involved a chlorine gas bleaching process which produces a poison called dioxin. Kotex addresses the issue of dioxin on their website stating that,
KOTEX® tampons are bleached using Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) processes which significantly minimize the potential for dioxin formation during bleaching. Using extremely sensitive analytical studies, independent laboratories are unable to find any dioxin created by the bleaching process in KOTEX® tampons. These tests measure amounts as low as one-half part per trillion. To put this into perspective, one part per trillion is equivalent to one drop of water in over 11 million gallons.
Menstrual cups contain no dioxin. Even though dioxin seems totally safe…
the-tap.blogspot.comThat doesn’t sound so bad, but according to the World Health Organization,
Once dioxins have entered the body, they endure a long time because of their chemical stability and their ability to be absorbed by fat tissue, where they are then stored in the body. Their half-life in the body is estimated to be seven to eleven years. Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.
not to mention that,
Due to the omnipresence of dioxins, all people have background exposure, which is not expected to affect human health. However, due to the highly toxic potential of this class of compounds, efforts need to be undertaken to reduce current background exposure.
Natracare, a producer of 100% organic cotton tampons, informs us that Elemental Chlorine Free bleaching is in fact, not free of chlorine, and therefore not free of dioxin. It is simply free of the pure element of chlorine in gas form. Natracare uses a 100% totally free from chlorine bleaching process and wins my vote for best tampon out there.
Toxic Shock Syndrome
Another health risk, and one of the largest worries of tampon users, is Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS), a type of staph infection that arises when a tampon provides a breeding ground for bacteria in the vagina during menstruation. This risk is more associated with the semi-synthetic rayon fibers than cotton, but a potential risk exists with any tampon. The Playtex website and informational insert in all Playtex packages states that,
Tampons are associated with Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS). TSS is a rare but serious disease that may cause death. The incidence of TSS is estimated to be between 1 and 17 cases of TSS per 100,000 menstruating women and girls per year.
Some might argue that this means TSS is rare, but let’s take a closer look. The US Census reports that in 2011 there were approximately 72,677,000 women between the ages of 15 and 49 alive in the United States. I will make what I believe to be a modest estimate and say that a quarter of this population uses tampons to help with her menstrual cycle, which comes to 18,169,250 women using tampons. So, if 1-17 out of every 100,000 will get TSS, my calculations conclude that between 181 and 3,088 women in the United States will get TSS every year. The CDC does not require TSS infections to be reported so the data concerning infections is not complete. Menstrual cup producer Lunette urges people to,
Keep in mind that it is scientifically proven that menstrual cups don’t change the composition of blood during the time the cup is kept inside the vagina. There are no reported cases of TSS in connection with use of menstrual cups since the cups were invented in the 1930’s. The Lunette menstrual cups hold 25 ml (size 1) or 30 ml (size 2). As a comparison, a tampon that absorbs this amount (25 to 30 grams) is dangerous and even illegal in some countries, because of the risk of TSS.
Related Article: Natural, Living Pesticides TSS is a serious disease related to tampons, but according to Natracare a Canadian study found no connection to 100% all cotton tampons and TSS. While one study isn’t conclusive it’s a good sign for all cotton, organic tampons.
Dryness and Tearing
Although TSS is the most significant health risk associated with tampon use, it’s not the only disadvantage. Tampons absorb fluid from the vagina, disrupting the delicate vaginal ecosystem. The dryness associated with tampon use causes vaginal health problems. Inserting and removing tampons with no lubrication can cause tears and rips in the vaginal wall leading to increased risks of infection and diminished health. Vaginal discharge is the body’s way of cleaning and protecting the vagina. The Mayo Clinic links “inadequate vaginal lubrication” as a cause of vaginal yeast infections. WEB MD says that:
A tampon inside a dry vagina can cause significant irritation as well as microscopic tears in the skin. The irritation and tears can later open the door to infection.
Menstrual cups leave the vaginal ecosystem intact and don’t alter the environment. Many menstrual cups are made of medical grade silicone and their role is to collect the menstrual blood, not absorb it. This difference creates a healthier environment in the vagina, allowing the vagina to continue protecting itself.
Environmental Benefits
Most commercial tampons and pads are one time purchase and use items. This means that every menstrual cycle a female has is a burden to the environment. All of the tampons and pads she uses head straight to the landfill and take years to decompose, all the while leaching dioxin and pesticides into the ground. The Chic Ecologist says thatA typical woman can use anywhere between 8,000 to 17,000 tampons in her lifetime.
That’s a lot of tampons. In the book Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation Elissa Stein and Susan Kim discuss the idea of menstrual cups. This idea is discussed enthusiastically and with the same reasoning used in this article.
Think about it… at roughly thirty bucks a pop, menstrual cups can be quite the bargain! And considering that the average woman will throw away 250 to 300 pounds of pads, plugs, and applicators in her lifetime, one would also save oneself significant guilt about dumping all that waste into our already-stressed environment.
Slate magazine states in an article about greener periods that period related waste is a small percentage of total female produced waste, but let’s consider the accumulated effect of all women of menstruating age. If we take another look at the number of women in the US between the ages of 15 and 49 (approximately menstruating age) and assume that half of them are menstruating (accounting for pregnancies and other circumstances) then that leaves 36, 338,500 women menstruating and producing 250-300 pounds of menstrual garbage each, for an accumulated total of over 9 billion pounds of trash. All produced from periods. So yes, maybe looking at the total amount of trash that we as individuals produce every year makes our menstrual waste seem small, but factor in total accumulation and all women, and the number becomes very significant. For each person using a menstrual cup instead of tampons and pads, the environment is benefited by having that much less waste in landfills. This in itself is an instantaneous reward for the new menstrual cup user, but what if using a menstrual cup could help the environment even more? Now this part has no real science behind it that I could find, but some people claim that menstrual blood is a great fertilizer. The website Holy Hormones hearkens back to the Native Americans and their practices saying that,
There are also native tribes that would return the sacred life-giving blood back to the earth. They would sit over seeds and let the sacred blood flow directly on the seeds or on newly planted seedlings.
So even if the menstrual blood collected in the menstrual cup is not used as a fertilizer the impact on the environment through lack of landfill waste is truly something amazing.
Related Article: The “Friends of the Indian” and How They Treated Their Friends
Impact on the Budget
The average American woman can spend upwards of $1900 in her lifetime (40 years) on feminine products such as tampons and pads. Comparatively, menstrual cups cost as little as $104 for a 40 year period. This is because they are a one time purchase for up to 10 years and can cost as little as $26 each. So in addition to the significant impact these products can have on the environment and women’s health, they can also ease stress off the budget. Even if you opt for the slightly higher price menstrual cups the savings over a lifetime are significant enough. The company which produces the Keeper estimates that over a 10 year period the average woman would spend $400 on pads and tampons, whereas the cost of one Keeper is $35 for the same 10 year time span.
Related Article: The 20 Biggest Wastes of Money and How to Avoid Them
Choosing and Using a Menstrual Cup
Everyone is different. Choosing the best menstrual cup is dependent upon one’s size. To help you choose which cup is best suited to your flow and size I suggest a visit to menstrualcup.co to view their comparison chart. I highly suggest watching an instructional video before using a menstrual cup as it can be difficult to use if not done properly. There are many different brands, the most popular being the Diva Cup, and the Moon Cup. If you’re American and want to support an American company the Keeper and the Moon cup are the only menstrual cups made in America, and they’re darn tootin’ proud of it. To answer some frequently asked questions about menstrual cups check out the Diva Cup’s FAQ list and the Moon cup’s Q&A page. You can of course read many, many testimonials all over the internet, but I’ll give you my own personal experience below (I sincerely hope it’s not TMI).My Personal Experience
I use a menstrual cup. I use the moon cup size B for women who haven’t given birth. I also use an IUD which makes my periods really, really heavy. Personally, I was spending $105 a year on feminine products before I switched (Did I mention I have a heavy flow?). Over a 40 year period that adds up to over $4000 I would have to pay had I stuck to traditional feminine hygiene products. Given the choice between spending $104 and $4000 on something I don’t even like, I’ll choose $104 every time, thank you.
The moon cup also holds more than any legal absorbency tampon, making my heavy flow days a lot easier, because that means less trips to the bathroom. I initially switched based entirely on the cost aspect. My decision was also influenced by a quickly approaching 10 month journey around the Eastern Hemisphere (Asia, Australia and New Zealand). I was only bringing a 30 liter backpack and didn’t want the hassle or stress of finding feminine products in Asian countries or bringing them with me in such a small bag. I ordered the moon cup and had it for two cycles before my trip. I’ll admit it was a little rough going at first, and after watching a few instructional videos and a little “at home practice” it became easier. I successfully took my menstrual cup through China, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, compost toilets in Australia, and living out of a car in New Zealand (100% public restrooms).
Despite my initial reasons for switching my favorite aspect since the switch is the environmental effect, followed closely by the health benefits. I have much less irritation surrounding my menstrual cycle and because I’m still using the same menstrual cup I haven’t had any environmental waste since I switched.
Would I recommend buying a menstrual cup? Yes!
totalwomenscycling.com Sources:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/menstrual-cup/AN01770
http://www.kotexfits.com/faqs/products/#a3
http://www.kotexfits.com/faqs/products/#a13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampon#Design_and_packaging
http://www.natracare.com/p113/en-GB/Your-Health/Chlorine-bleaching.aspx
http://www.natracare.com/en-GB/
http://www.ota.com/organic/environment/cotton_environment.html
http://www.thechicecologist.com/2010/04/the-environmental-impact-of-everyday-things/
http://women.webmd.com/features/below-belt-gynecology-secrets-you-need-know?page=3
http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/factsheets/dioxin.htm http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs225/en/
http://jezebel.com/5890058/this-is-how-much-it-costs-to-own-a-vagina-an-itemized-list
http://www.ecomenstrual.co.uk/shop/Menstruation.html
http://www.nerve.com/news/love-sex/what-your-vagina-costs-cash-money-wise
http://www.susunweed.com/An_Article_wisewoman8.htm
http://lunapads.com/blog/2011/02/ob-tampons-diva-cup/
http://menstrualcup.co/compare-cups/ http://www.mooncup.co.uk/ http://divacup.com/
http://lunapads.com/blog/2011/02/ob-tampons-diva-cup/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15572078
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs225/en/
100% cotton, 1987, absorbency, absorption, aldicar, alternative period, alternative tampon, bad tampon, best menstrual cup, best period, best tampon, bleaching process, CDC, cloth pads, cost of vagina, cotton bleaching, cotton dirty crop, cotton tampon, dioxin, diva, diva cup, dry tampon, dry vagina, dryness, ECF bleaching, effect menstrual cup, Elemental chlorine free, FDA, feminine hygeine, feminine hygiene, feminine hygiene products, fertilizer, future of period, hazardous, health, health menstrual cup, healthier alternative, irritated vagina, irritation, kotex, landfill, lunette, made of menstrual cup, made of tampon, material menstrual cup, mayo clinic, medical grade, medical grade silicone, menstrual blood fertilizer, menstrual cup, menstrual cycle, methamidopho, microtear, microtrauma, moon cup, natracare, natural, nature, O.B., organic tampons, pads, parathion, period, period waste, personal experience, playtex, protect vagina, rayon, rayon tampon, rayon TSS, rubber cup, silicone, Sports, tampon, tampon bleaching, tampon disposal, tampon insecticide, tampon pesticide, tampon toxic, tampons, TCF, The Future, the keeper, toxic shock syndrome, TSS, unhealthy tampon, vagina, vagina fluid, vaginal, vaginal ecosystem, Web MD, who, worst menstrual cup -
Private Prison Sues State for Not Having Enough Prisoners
A private prison in Arizona recently sued the state for having a lack of prisoners. For the sake of saving over $16 million in back pay, the state settled by paying the private prison $3 million. Arizona essentially payed a company $3 million because not enough people are committing crimes.
To be fair, it’s a bit more complex than that. In July, 2010 three violent inmates escaped from an Arizona private prison, which prompted officials to stop sending new inmates to the facility. I say good job to the officials for demanding better performance from Management & Training Corp., the company that runs the prison. Unfortunately, a line in the company’s contract with the state guarantees that the prison is at least 97% full at all times. They sued on grounds that the breach of contract caused a dramatic loss in revenue.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ Surprisingly, this type of contractual agreement is the norm. A review from In the Public Interest revealed that out of 60 analyzed contracts between state/local governments and private prisons, 65% contained language mentioning prisoner quotas. This means that state officials have absolutely guaranteed private prisons a profit. And who finances that guarantee? The taxpayers, of course!
The prison bed guarantees range between minimums of 70 percent occupancy in a California prison to 100 percent occupancy requirements at some Arizona prisons. Most of the contracts had language mandating that at least 90 percent of prison beds be filled.
Did you catch that? Some private prisons are guaranteed 100% occupancy, and if they don’t get 100% of the beds filled they still receive a grand payday via our collective paychecks.
Related Article: Brazilian Prisoners Read Their Way to Freedom
In an interview in 2010, former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard pointed out a crucial issue regarding private prisons, saying
I believe a big part of our problem is that the very violent inmates, like the three that escaped, ended up getting reclassified [as a lower risk] quickly and sent to private prisons that were just not up to the job.
A bit skewed, no? http://www.businessinsider.com This is incredibly irresponsible and dangerous behavior, especially since many private prisons are under-equipped and poorly run. They contain
inadequate patrols and prisoner movement, excessive false alarms, a lax culture, and inconsistencies in visitor screening procedures.
According to Michele Deitch, a senior lecturer and criminal justice expert at the University of Texas School of Public Affairs,
It’s really shortsighted public policy to do anything that ties the hands of the state. If there are these incentives to keep the private prisons full, then it is reducing the likelihood that states will adopt strategies to reduce prison costs by keeping more people out. When the beds are there, you don’t want to leave them empty.
Related Article: Write a Prisoner
In summation, we are putting unnecessary contractual agreements with a private corporation above the safety and well being of citizens. A 2011 report by the American Civil Liberties Union pointed out that
private prisons are more costly, more violent and less accountable than public prisons, and are actually a major contributor to increased mass incarceration.
This is most apparent in Louisiana, which is the prison capitol of the world and houses a large amount of its prisoners in private prisons. So, why do we have private prisons anyway?
Why Do We Use Private Prisons?
Prison is so much fun! Just like a sleepover. http://www.latimes.com/ The initial use of private prisons is directly linked to the utter failure that is the War on Drugs. In 1970 Nixon began, and all subsequent presidents continued, to became intensely serious about the war on drugs and started punishing non-violent, hard working Americans for ingesting substances responsibly and safely. From 1960 to 1980 the number of total arrests nationwide rose by 28% while the number of drug related offenses rose by more than 127%, with the number continuing to rise exponentially.
(Nearly 40% of all federal and state inmates are non-violent drug offenders. Moreover, more than half of all drug-related arrests are entirely cannabis related.)
Related Article: Another Casualty of the Paramilitary State
These dramatic rises in arrests left state and local governments scrambling. Hiring a private company to handle the hard work was the obvious answer.
With a burgeoning prison population resulting from the “war on drugs” and increased use of incarceration, prison overcrowding and rising costs became increasingly problematic for local, state, and federal governments. In response to this expanding criminal justice system, private business interests saw an opportunity for expansion, and consequently, private-sector involvement in prisons moved from the simple contracting of services to contracting for the complete management and operation of entire prisons.
The first time a private company was given the job of warden was in 1984, in Hamilton County, Tennessee.
Makes sense… predatorhaven.blogspot.com It is clear that the mere presence of private prisons has severely hampered any type of progress in reducing the amount of people behind bars. This should be a top priority for the country, since the US has the highest rate of incarceration in the entire world, with more than 1% of the entire population currently behind bars, and an additional 2% of the population on supervision, probation, or parole. That accounts for about 3% of the US population under correctional supervision.
Related Article: Cannabis Cures Cancer and More
By a large margin, the US has the largest percentage of prisoners based on population in the world. The International Centre for Prison Studies at King’s College in London lists some startling statistics:
More than 9.8 million people are held in penal institutions throughout the world, mostly as pre-trial detainees (remand prisoners) or as sentenced prisoners. Almost half of these are in the United States (2.29m), Russia (0.89m) or China (1.57m sentenced prisoners).
This level of imprisonment is a staggering waste of financial resources.
Taxpayers spent about $68.7 billion in 2008 to feed, clothe, and provide medical care to prisoners in county jails, state and federal prisons and facilities housing legal and illegal aliens facing possible deportation. From 1982 to 2002, state and federal spending on corrections, not adjusted for inflation, rose by 423%, from $40 to $209 per U.S. resident. Corrections spending, as a share of state budgets, rose faster than health care, education, and natural resources spending from 1986 to 2001. The average cost of housing a prisoner for a year was about $24,000 in 2005, though rates vary from state to state.
Related Article: War on Drugs Farce Continues Unabated
That gives us some information on the prison system as a whole, but surely private prisons are saving us money. Not at all. In fact, private prisons and jails are a total loss of revenue.
… the benefit to counties where private prisons are built and operated can be quite scant — some receive less than $2 per prisoner per day from the private prison operator…the federal government agreed to pay CCA [one of the largest private prison firms] almost $90 per day for each detained immigrant at a San Diego facility.
Today, private companies imprison roughly 130,000 prisoners and, according to one group, 16,000 civil immigration detainees in the United States at any given time. As states send more and more people to prison, they funnel ever greater amounts of taxpayer money to private prison operators. By 2010, annual revenues of the two top private prison companies alone stood at nearly $3 billion.
Private prisons are a total loss of revenue, profit from crime while encouraging higher incarceration rates, have no incentive to rehabilitate or reform prisoners, and have no responsibility to the well being of the American people. Maybe it’s time to re-think the privatization of prisons and America’s prison-industrial complex as a whole.
Yes, you are just a number, a number that begins with ‘$’. http://www.usprisonculture.com Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/private-prison-quotas_n_3953483.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/31/arizona-prison-break-murd_n_666311.html
http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/sites/default/files/Criminal%20Lockup%20Quota%20Report.pdf
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/09/20/2658701/private-prison-firms-quotas-cells-coffers/
http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/17/news/economy/private_prisons_economic_impact.fortune/
http://reason.org/files/corrections_annual_privatization_report_2010.pdf
https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/bankingonbondage_20111102.pdf
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/05/louisiana_is_the_worlds_prison.html
http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/sites/default/files/docs/pdf/jailbreaks.pdf
http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_prisonprivatization.pdf
https://wondergressive.com/news/the-history-and-legality-of-cannabis-use/
https://wondergressive.com/news/war-on-drugs-farce-continues-unabated/
100%, american civil liberties union, arizona prison, arizona prison break, arizona prison inmate escape, attorney general, back pay, bed quota, California prison, cannabis drug arrest rates, CCA, cca san diego, citizens, contract, drug arrests, false alarms, federal government, guarantee prisoners, hamilton county tennessee, healthcare, in the public interest, incarceration rates, international centre for prison studies, kings college, lack prisoners, lax culture, local government, lockup quota, london, loss of revenue, louisiana, louisiana prion capitol, management & training corp., mass incarceration, michele deitch, military industrial complex, nixon president, nixon war on drugs, overcrowded prisons, payday, prison cost taxpayers, prison industrial complex, prison industrial complex america, prison rates, prison sues state, prisoner quota, prisoners, private prison, private prison america, private prison arizona, private prison sues state, private prison tennessee hamilton county, rehab, san diego, state government, taxpayers, terry goddard, texas school of public affairs, total arrests, united states incarceration rate, united states prison, war on ddrugs, War on Drugs, why use private prisons, write a prisoner -
Creativity Slump? Exercise To Inspiration
Are you hurting from writers block? Maybe there is something you wish to start creatively and you cannot figure out where to begin? Or maybe you are a professional artist who has hit a low and cannot find the right inspiration to foster your creativity?
Researchers at Universiteit Leiden say you should exercise to get those creative juices flowing. In a series of tests and study reviews, researchers at Universiteit Leiden have found a positive link between exercising and stimulating creativity in the mind. That is, they have found that if one exercises, one can benefit from a more active and creative mind.
Related Article: Obesity has More to do with Diet than with Exercise
This bit of news pairs well with other ideas about exercise and the potential benefits to creativity and the psyche overall that they yield. In fact, it was found that children that exercise before school often improve their concentration during school. Not only do they improve their concentration, but they also potentially boost their grades! There is a possible road block to this theory however. Dr. Lorenza Colzato, from Universiteit Leiden, says:
We believe that active bodies think more deeply, but only if they are used to exercise.
Related Article: Fat and Fit don’t Mix
The idea is that if you are normally an active person then exercising will help boost your creativity and potentially help with such tragedies as writer’s block. However, if you are not an active person and you take up exercising to help with your creativity then you will most likely just tire out your body and reduce the likelihood of boosting your creativity.
This means that with regards to creativity, in most cases of inactive people it is to their benefit to be consistently inactive rather than exert themselves for inspiration once in a while. However, if one can maintain an active and healthy schedule, then one can reap the benefits of their creatively boosted mind and their healthy and strong body. So, if you are an out of shape artist planning to start a daily exercise regime make sure you stick to it, or else your precious creativity may just dry up rather than flow out like a broken dam.
Then again, being successfully creative is in the eye of the beholder, so for some this may be just a complete waste of time.
Either way, cheers to exercise!
Sources:
Universiteit of Leiden Exercise and Inspiration study
Youtube: Active Bodies Think More Deeply
USA today: Lots of Exercise may boost kids grades
AFP:Exercise before school improves concentration
Wondergressive: Obesity has more to do with diet than with exercise
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Fungus Feeds on Radioactivity: The Rise of Space Fungus
I think this fungus makes me taller… http://www.ecogeek.org Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AEC) have found fungus feeding on radioactivity within the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Scientists suspect that melanin, the same UV filter in our skin, is responsible for allowing these fungi to consume a mutant-creating-level of gamma radiation.
Microbiologist Arturo Casadevall learned years before this discovery that a robot had been sent into areas of intense radioactivity and had returned with samples of black, melanin rich fungi growing on the walls. He and his colleagues later saw reports that the cooling water in some working nuclear reactors turns black from colonies of melanin-rich fungi.
Related Article: Watching Evolution Occur
Don’t you see? A nuclear device would only make radiotrophic fungus stronger! http://www.sciencenews.org Casadevall explains that,
I found that very interesting and began discussing with colleagues whether these fungi might be using the radiation emissions as an energy source.
Despite the lethal gamma radiation lingering at the Chernobyl reactor, many microorganisms find a way to survive. Casadevall thought that maybe the radiation was aiding the fungi’s growth. According to Casadevall,
The thought was that biology never wastes any energy source.
Sure enough, Casadevall’s hypothesis was correct, and after a series of tests involving 500-times normal radiation levels, electron spin resonance, close-up melanin observation, and a melanin-less albino fungus, the radiotrophic fungus was born into the minds’ of mankind. Researchers also speculate that the fungi aren’t feeding solely on gamma rays, but X-rays, UV rays and other rays as well.
Related Article: New Ecosystem Discovered: Glacier Mice
Want to know how I know reality is batshit crazy? There is life on this planet that feeds on something we can’t even see, but will destroy us from the inside out with cancer nonetheless. There is life that feeds on death!
And these would be specimens from which planet? http://www.roxypaine.com Fungus has far more uses than you might have realized:
- A fungal suit that detoxifies and feeds on your corpse
- Fungus used as a material for building living, organic shipping containers;
- Fungal cleaning devices,
- One of the most effective tools in the field of psychotherapy
Related Article: The Evolutionary Leaps of Snails
Fungus is also cooler and better at life than you. Certain fungus species can eject their spore mass
at 35 feet per second (10.8 m per second) to a height of six feet (2 m), and lands as far away as 8 feet (2.5 m).
Fungus species pump out spores at an extremely high rate as well.
A single mushroom can launch 31,000 ballistospores per second, adding up to some 2.7 billion spores per day.
Some types of fungi can even control the air around them to create a spore-scattering breeze where there was only still air before. Check out the following videos. The first one shows a great example of spore dispersal, while the second one contains footage of a spore launch filmed with a high speed camera.
Let’s get back to the melanin study. Do you realize the study serves as a more stable foundation to support the strange, albeit utterly possible supposition that mushrooms came from outside Earth? Is it really that hard to imagine though? The notion that mushrooms came from space may be too ‘out there’ for some, but is it really that much weirder than: Lake life surviving in isolation under ice for 2800 years, the atmosphere of Titan making DNA, or sugar floating around stars? As they say, truth is stranger than fiction.
Hi, my name’s fungi, I’m a fun guy, let’s hang out in your spacecraft! http://www.nbcnews.com Related Article: Climate Change Too Fast, Evolution Can’t Keep Up
Just like fungus, life shows up in the strangest places and in the most bizarre forms. To end this article on an even more incredible note, would you believe me if I told you there are space mushrooms in the night sky peering into your soul?! How about mutated space mushrooms eating away at space stations? Yup, that’s a thing.
Space fungus has been growing on and within the Russian Mir-Space Station since the late ’80s. While the fungus and other microorganisms are normal terrestrial forms of life that were brought up from Earth with the cosmonauts, they fear potential mutations that 500-times higher gamma radiation exposure can induce in the fungi. After all, the fungi’s corrosive fluids are already eating through metal, plastic, and other essential materials on the space station. I wonder how much gamma radiation it takes to mutate space fungus into delicious truffles on my dinner plate…
Remember, depending on the observer, all of reality and life is strange and unexpected. To make life even more unpredictable your utterly limited self perceives less than one-billionth of reality, and that’s just the light spectrum. If fungus can teach us anything it is to never underestimate the strangeness of reality and the possibility that there may exist anything we can imagine and more.
Sources:
http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20070422222547data_trunc_sys.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=mushrooms-create-their-own-breeze-13-11-25
https://wondergressive.com/news/power-of-mushrooms/
https://wondergressive.com/news/2800-year-old-lake-life-survives-in-complete-isolation/
https://wondergressive.com/news/titans-atmosphere-can-make-dna/
https://wondergressive.com/news/life-its-all-over-the-place/
http://herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/funfacts/Dispersal.htm
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/mushroommagic/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11471823
http://www.howstuffworks.com/light4.htm
http://www.dailygrail.com/Fresh-Science/2013/7/Our-Tiny-Slice-Reality
albert einstein college of medicine, arturo casadevall, ballistospores, batshit crazy, benefits, chernobyl, chernobyl death, chernobyl evolution, chernobyl fungus, chernobyl life, chernobyl mutation, death, DNA, earth, fungi chernobyl, fungus, gamma ray, life, light perception, light spectrum, magic mushroom, mankind, melanin, microbiologist, mushroom, psychotherapy, radiation, radioactivity fungus, radiotrophic fungus, reality perception, Russia, scientists, sky, Snails, sore pump, space fungus, space station, spore shoot video, spores, strange, ukraine, uv filter, xray -
Epigenetics: The Key to Overcoming Genetic Predisposition
No one can tell us apart in these disguises! http://www.ifc.com/ Despite epigenetics only recently gaining public awareness, it has been prevalent in society for some time. In the 1988 Hollywood classic Twins, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito star as fraternal twins Julius and Vincent Benedict. They are the result of a secret experiment carried out at a genetics laboratory to produce the perfect child. At the time the movie premiered, the idea of twins who have drastically different appearances was farfetched and absurdist. Fast forward twenty-five years, and you will see what once was considered Hollywood fiction, is now considered a scientific reality. This reality is described through epigenetics.
Related Article: The Aging Process, Story of Telomeres
Modern science now tells us that even if you start out as a Danny DeVito, you could end up as an Arnold Schwarzenegger, which is either an upgrade or a downgrade depending on your point of view. These new findings are brought to us by the revolutionary field of science known as epigenetics. Epigenetics is defined as the study of changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA structure. In other words, it is possible that environmental factors can alter the way our genes are expressed, making even identical twins look dramatically different.
The Epigenetic Process
Genetic expression is dynamic, not set in stone.
http://www.resverlogix.com/The key to understanding the basis of epigenetics is knowing that this field of study has emerged as a logical way to bridge the gap between nature and nurture. Epigenetics allows us to understand just how closely nature and nurture are linked and how this link affects us as individuals. In his book, The Biology of Belief, and Spontaneous Evolution, cellular biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton explains how emotions can regulate genetic expression. He says that,
Each cell membrane has receptors that pick up various environmental signals such as thoughts attitudes and perceptions. Your cells can choose to read or not read specific genes depending on the signals being received from these environmental receptors.
Epigenetic science makes it possible for us to see that just because we are genetically programmed a certain way that does not mean our body will choose to run that genetic program. The environment we expose ourselves to and the lives that we lead determine gene expression and as a result, determine the people we become physically and emotionally. For example, my mom says I have her sparkling personality. I tell her that most people say I inherited her craziness. The epigenetic theory, however, says that prolonged exposure to my mom’s craziness could signal one of my genes to switch on or off, consequently altering that aspect of my personality. In addition, this “crazy trait” is now something I am more likely to pass onto my children. To my future husband: my apologies.
Related Article: Watching Evolution Occur
The Effects of Epigenetic Gene Expression
While all of us are equally susceptible to epigenetic change, twins who are not DeVito and Schwarzenegger can provide a unique perspective on physical change due to their identical DNA structure. In her essay, “Paramutation: From Maize to Mice”, Dr. Vicki Chandler explains the reason behind this saying,
Different cells in an organism express only the genes that are necessary for their own activity.
Smoking: so bad it will affect your grandkid’s DNA whether they are born or not. learn.genetics.utah.edu So if each twin expresses only the genes necessary for their own activity, than the way each twin looks isn’t just based on their DNA sequence, but it is also based on how each one lives their life. This is how epigenetics reveal their effect. If you have one twin born and raised in the Austrian countryside that lives a healthy and active life, that twin will look different than the twin who moves away to dwell in the sewers of Gotham City.
Related Article: Kids May Have Three Biological Parents in the Future
In addition to twins, another way we can observe epigenetic change is through fossils. While there has been debate in the scientific community over the historical significance of epigenetic change, new evidence suggests that this process has been affecting physical development for longer than we thought. According to Dr. Andrew Feinberg, Professor of Molecular Medicine at Johns Hopkins University,
DNA extracted from the bones of a 26,000 year old bison found in the Canadian arctic shows that the environment influenced the way the animal’s genes worked, even as far back as the ice age.
By making an organism more adaptable to environmental change, epigenetic factors play a crucial role in the process of natural selection. Since only the strong survive in the face of natural selection, we can rest assured that Arnold Schwarzenager and the fruits of his womb continue to thrive thanks to epigenetic changes in their DNA.
Related Article: Mothers Who Suffer Depression Have Shorter Kids
The field of epigenetics has the power to answer a lot of questions. It can tell us why we possess certain physical traits, certain aspects of our personality, and most importantly, how Arnold Schwarzenager was able to convincingly portray a pregnant man.
Epigenetics and Society
Perhaps more important than appearance, personality, and pregnant men, is our susceptibility to factors that impact our health and behavior. Addiction, for example, can be exacerbated by epigenetic changes. According to William Renthal and Eric Nestler in their article “Epigenetic Mechanisms in Drug Addiction” published in the Journal of Trends in Molecular Medicine,
Epigenetic modifications have been observed in the studies of alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines, and opiate use. These modifications increase the vulnerability of an individual to engage in repeated substance use. Increased substance use results in even greater epigenetic changes in the brain’s pleasure-reward areas.
You were 1 epigenetic switch away from eating at McDonalds! orbitalteapot.blogspot.com Pleasure-reward areas are part of what launch us into the vicious cycle of addiction, and what keep us addicted until we realize we need help. This information is important because epigenetic changes can be inherited. As a result, children could be more inclined to participate in the same risky behavior as their parents. It should be noted, however, that these effects are reversible. Epigenetic changes are a response to a stressful environment, and if that environmental stress is eliminated, then over time the DNA code will return to its original state. This means that even though my mom is a little crazy and getting crazier all of the time, that doesn’t mean I’m going to be crazy, too! On second thought, maybe I am overestimating the power of epigenetics.
Related Article: Tetrachromacy, Supervision Genes
The media isn’t done with epigenetics by the way. Last April, news broke that Universal Pictures is planning a sequel to the movie Twins. The sequel, which will be called Triplets, will revolve around DeVito and Schwarzenegger discovering that they have another long lost brother, who is set to be played by…Eddie Murphy. While this is a bit of a stretch in regards to how drastic of an effect environmental factors have on gene expression, it is clear that the field of epigenetics is set to have a major impact on our bodies and how we understand them.
Now that we have this information about epigenetics, I think I am going to go home and be nicer to my mom. You never know when your DNA will decide there is such a thing as Karma and bring a whole new meaning to the phrase, “like mother, like daughter!”
Sources:
https://wondergressive.com/news/epigenetics-and-altering-your-dna/
http://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/23/7/781.full
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17320501
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2753378/
andrew feinberg, arnold schwarzenegger, biology of belief, BPA, bruce lipton, danny devito, development, dna code, dna sequence, drug addiction, eddie murphy, emotional, epigenetic, epigenetic drug addiction, epigenetic process, epigenetic twins, epigenetics, eric nestler, evolution, gene therapy, genetic, genetic disorder, Hollywood, hollywood classic, Johns Hopkins University, julius, junior, junior arnold, junior baby, like mother like daughter, maize to mice, molecular medicine, Natural selection, paramutation, physical, reward area, science, spontaneous evolution, survival of the fittest, twins, twins danny arnold, twins danny devito, twins eddie murphy, twins sequal, vicki chandler, vincent benedict, william renthal -
The Mystery of America’s Stonehenge: Coral Castle
I build castles with magnets. What do you do?
spidersweb.mindseyepro.netIn the town of Homestead, Florida, there is an enormous network of megalithic structures collectively called Coral Castle. Coral Castle was once the home of Edward Leedskalnin and is comprised of 1,100 tons of limestone coral rocks in the form of walls, furniture, and art. The structures that comprise coral castle are made without mortar and are so perfectly carved that no light passes through where stones meet. If all that isn’t strange enough, Edward Leedskalnin carved and built the entire castle by himself, at night, without any heavy-duty construction tools, and very few people ever saw him do it. To this day, there is no all encompassing, plausible explanation for how Leedskalnin built Coral Castle. You have now entered the Twilight Zone.
It’s a coral wonderland! coralcastle.com Edward Leedskalnin was originally from Latvia. He began building and carving what he called Rock Gate Park in 1923, and didn’t stop until his death in 1951. Rock Gate was later renamed to Coral Castle. He built and carved at night and gave tours of his castle grounds for 10 cents per person during the day. He only used basic tools, and somehow nobody ever reported seeing any construction take place. He worked in total secrecy. When asked how he did it, his answers were always equally mysterious. According to the Coral Castle museum,
To this day, no one knows how Ed created the Coral Castle. Built under the cover of night and in secret, at a time when there were no modern construction conveniences, Ed would only say that he knew “the secret of the pyramids.” When he died, his secrets died with him, and to this day scientists and thinkers still debate Ed’s methods.
How is it possible? I know it was still the early 1900’s and the NSA wasn’t watching every move people made back then, but surely SOMEONE would have seen SOMETHING in nearly 20 years time. There are some alleged photos floating around of Edward Leedskalnin using a large tripod device, possibly to move stones around Coral Castle. The pictures still don’t clear much up though.
Honk if your mind is blown! archive.coasttocoastam.com How can one man move 100’s of tons of limestone coral all by himself, with a fourth grade education in an age when Leave No Child Left Behind was so very far away? Is Leedskalnin in fact David Blaine’s master? Or was he actually in possession of some advanced, unknown technology?
Leedskalnin was a man of many interests. Besides being exceptionally good at not being seen, and possibly exiting the womb with the innate qualities of a time traveling, master architect, Edward Leedskalnin was a private researcher. He studied offbeat, new, theoretical forms of magnetism and unified theories involving magnetism. He researched what he called “Double Helical Magnetic Interaction,” and it was through this type of magnetism that he claimed to be able to move mountains. According to the Coral Castle site,
if anyone ever questioned Ed about how he moved the blocks of coral, Ed would only reply that he understood the laws of weight and leverage well…and that he discovered “the secrets of the pyramids.”
You are a modest god Edward, modest and unnecessarily enigmatic.
As a much needed bonus, the furniture, tools, and art he carved sound extraordinarily cool. Coral Castle is a house that belongs on Cribs. The Coral Crib had:
a two-story castle tower that served as Leedskalnin’s living quarters (walls consisting of 8-foot high pieces of stone), an accurate sundial, a Polaris telescope, an obelisk, a barbecue, a water well, a fountain, celestial stars and planets, and numerous pieces of furniture. The furniture pieces include a heart-shaped table, a table in the shape of Florida, twenty-five rocking chairs, chairs resembling crescent moons, a bathtub, beds and a throne.
Genius comes in the strangest forms.
You don’t even know the secrets of the pyramids bro? That’s old knowledge! http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com Sources:
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4149
http://coralcastle.com/whos-ed/
https://wondergressive.com/news/prism/
http://antigravitypower.tripod.com/CoralCastle/photos_03.html
https://wondergressive.com/news/public-school-failure-in-america/
america stonehedge, coral castle, coral castle site, diy, dota, dota 2, double helical magnetic interaction, edward, edward final fantasy, edward leedskalnin, egypt pyramids, egyptian pyramids, enigma, latvia, leave no child left behind, limestone coral rocks, lord of the rings, lotr, magnetism, mysery, NSA, nsa watch, photo, pyramids, pyramids how build, pyramids mystery, rock gate, rock gate park, secret of pyramids, stonehedge, structure, theoretical, theory, twilight zone, voidwalker, years -
Re-think Genes: New Mechanism of Gene Expression Discovered
If I removed once cell at a time from your body, at what point would you not be you? catiestewart.com Researchers are on a seemingly endless quest to discover precisely how DNA and RNA function. A great deal remains a mystery in the field of genetics. In fact up until around one year ago, when scientists captured a photo of DNA, no one knew with absolute certainty what it looked like. The double helix idea was always just a theory.
In a recent ground breaking discovery researchers from the University of Chicago witnessed a never before scene mechanism of gene expression. The researchers found a single gene that encodes two separate proteins from the same sequence of messenger RNA. Let me explain.
Related Article: Women Who Give Birth to Men Have Male DNA in Their Brain for Life
This is from a nucleic acid photoshoot. http://www.tutorvista.com DNA and RNA are similar in that they both contain a genetic blueprint of an organism. They do however differ in several ways. First, RNA comes in three forms: messenger, transfer, and ribosomal.
mRNA (messenger)- The function of mRNA is to carry genetic information from the DNA in the nucleus to the ribosomes of a cell.
tRNA (transfer)- The function of tRNA is to bring the correct amino acid to the ribosomes in the cystosol.
rRNA (ribosomal)- The function of rRNA is to create new ribosomes.
They also differ in that they each incorporate a different sugar molecule in their structure. Also, where DNA has two strands of nucleotides, RNA has only one strand. For the sake of simplicity think of RNA as DNA’s co-conspirator in the continuation of life. In fact, some researchers speculate that life originally depended entirely on self-replicating RNA, rather than the DNA, RNA, and proteins that it depends on to proliferate today.
Related Article: Deep Storage Project
So, up until this point we thought we had a pretty decent, overall idea of how DNA and RNA functioned. This study just came out of left field and whispered into the collective ear of geneticists around the world: “You know nothing…”
This bundle of RNA and proteins is called a Ribisome.www.itsokaytobesmart.com The study is a big deal because it is the first time that scientists have ever viewed anything even remotely similar. According to Christopher Gomez, MD, PhD, professor and chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University of Chicago, who led the study,
This is the first example of a mechanism in a higher organism in which one gene creates two proteins from the same mRNA transcript, simultaneously. It represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of how genes ultimately encode proteins.
There is a special sequence in the mRNA known as an internal ribosomal entry site (IRES), a site that tells ribosomes to create a protein from the mRNA sequence. The IRES is normally found at the beginning of an RNA sequence, however, in the particular mRNA sequence that the researchers viewed the IRES was in the middle of the sequence, alerting ribosomes to initiate the creation of a second protein from the same sequence.
Related Article: Titan’s Atmosphere Can Make DNA
This is especially exciting news since it creates a beacon of hope for further applicable genetic discovery, not just DNA origami. Just think, we only recently learned in the last couple decades that genetic predisposition isn’t set in stone, and that epigenetics allow us to alter our genetic expression and the genetic expression and predisposition of our children.
You can check your ancestry, health risks, and more through a DNA check that costs $99.
Sources:
http://www.newscientist.com/special/unknown-human-genome
https://wondergressive.com/news/first-time-photo-captures-double-helix-structure-of-dna/
http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2013/20130703-bifunctional-gene.html
https://wondergressive.com/news/women-who-give-birth-to-men-have-male-dna-in-brain-for-life/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA
http://sequoyahbiology.webs.com/whatisdnaandrna.htm
https://wondergressive.com/news/deep-storage-project/
https://wondergressive.com/news/titans-atmosphere-can-make-dna/
https://wondergressive.com/news/dna-origami-the-art-of-folding-dna/
https://wondergressive.com/news/epigenetics-the-key-to-overcoming-genetic-predisposition
https://wondergressive.com/news/epigenetics-and-altering-your-dna/
amino acid, best dna, cell, chicago, christopher gomez, Crick, cystosol, department of neurology university of chicago, DNA, dna check, dna origami, dna photo, dna properties, dna rna difference, dna sequence, dna theory, dna vs rna, double helix, electromagnet, encode dna, explain dna rna, genes, genetic expression, genetic predisposition, genome, human genome, ires, mrna, mrna transcription, neurology, organism, ribosome, ribosome protien, RNA, rna type, rrna, self replicating, self replicating dna, trna, university of chicago -
Fresh Air: The Natural, Three-Plant Air Purifying System
Get fresh air from this three plant system http://greenupgrader.com/ Fresh Air
In today’s growing world clean, fresh air is getting harder to come by. Due to booming populations and rapidly advancing technologies there is a plethora of products on the market to help make fresh air. However, these products have repeatedly been found to contain chemicals linked to adverse health effects. In a TED talk from 2009, Kamal Meattle explains how this problem was approached in his native homeland of India, where air pollution is among the highest in the world.
The TED talk states that he was able to produce clean fresh air for one human for a whole day with a combination of three plant types. The three plants he mentions are the Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens) , the Mother-In-Law Tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata), and the Money plant (Epipremnum aureum).
The Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens)
This plant takes carbon dioxide and turns it back into oxygen. In addition to producing oxygen and lowering carbon dioxide levels, it also removes certain pollutants from the air helping to produce clean indoor fresh air. Meattle suggests that for one person four shoulder high plants are sufficient. The Areca palm grows well in filtered light and likes to be watered often. For more information on how to take care of the Areca Palm visit SFGate’s page on special care.
Related Article: The Ugly Face of Overpopulation
Mother-In-Law Tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata)This is a very common household plant in America. Meattle calls it “The Bedroom Plant,” because it produces oxygen at night. It’s also known as the Snake Plant. It was discovered by NASA to remove Benzene from the air and works in great combination with the other two plants mentioned in Meattle’s TED talk. The Snake plant can sit in full sun light but also does well in dim light. It doesn’t need to be watered very often since it is part of the succulent family.
This is a good plant for the first time plant owner because of its heartiness. Meattle suggests that for one person, six to eight waist high plants are sufficient. OF course just one would help if you don’t want that many. Check out Amazon for a nice selection of starter plants.
WARNING: This plant has been declared toxic to cats and dogs by the ASPCA, so if you have animals that like to eat your indoor plants, please do be careful and place this plant away from them, or find an alternative plant to help you make fresh air.
Money Plant (Epipremnum aureum)While many plants colloquially claim the name “money plant,” this one is a native to the Eastern Hemisphere. If you plan on purchasing one of these make sure to check the scientific name to be sure you’re getting the correct one. This plant has been shown by NASA (along with many others) to remove chemicals and other pollutants from the air. In the trio suggested by Meattle in his TED talk, this one does most of the pollutant removal. This plant enjoys medium, indirect sun light and regular watering. For more information about care check Princeton’s care page. This plant can be propagated from cuttings, so check with friends to see if anyone has one; but of course there’s always Amazon.
WARNING: This plant has also been declared toxic to cats, dogs and children by the ASPCA, so if you have animals or children that like to eat your indoor plants, please do be careful and place this plant away from them, or find an alternative plant to help make fresh air.
Related Article: Smelling Calmness: Aromatherapy and Essential Oils
Sources:
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/11/02/delhis-dangerous-air-pollution-problem/
The Ugly Face of Overpopulation
No More Red: Charge Your Phone With Wi-Fi
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231012002622
http://www.nrdc.org/living/healthreports/hidden-hazards-air-fresheners.asp
TED Talk: Kamal Meattle: How to Grow Fresh Air
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/india-pollution
http://www.mnn.com/health/healthy-spaces/stories/best-air-filtering-houseplants-according-to-nasa
http://www.secrets-of-longevity-in-humans.com/oxygen-producing-plants.html
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/special-care-areca-indoor-palm-trees-43127.html
http://www.ehow.com/list_6533439_highest-oxygen_producing-house-plants.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study
http://www.plant-care.com/tough-indoor-plant.html
http://www.zone10.com/nasa-study-house-plants-clean-air.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_air-filtering_plants
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/golden-pothos
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Epipremnum_aureum.html
Smelling Calmness: Aromatherapy and Essential Oils
air cleaner, air purification plants, alternative cleaning, areca palm, benzene, Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens, clean air, Epipremnum aureum, formaldehyde, healthy plants, India pollution, Kamal Meattle, money plant, mother in law’s tongue, Princeton, remove chemicals, remove formaldehyde, remove pollutants, Sansevieria trifasciata, snake plant, TED talk -
China Launches Moon Rover: Space Age Continues and Why You Should Care
Meet the Rover family. http://www.space.com Moon rovers next door On December 2nd China launched a rocket headed to the moon carrying a robotic moon rover called Yutu, or Jade Rabbit. This moon rover will carry out China’s first soft landing on the moon, a landing marked by sufficiently minor damage and exploration after landing. The moon rover will stay on the moon for a few months and keep busy collecting data.
After taking into account the Curiosity rover on mars, this will be the first time in the history of the universe that there has been a human presence on three celestial bodies at the same time!
No matter where we send the probe the data never reports any cheese. Wikimedia moon rover ahead! While China had a satellite playing an ode to Mao Zedong from space in 1970, it wasn’t until 2003 that they really got in on the space game after they put an astronaut into space. In 2009, China crashed the Chang’e 1 craft into the moon in a controlled, hard landing. This marked the first time a human object had landed on the moon since Russia launched the Luna 24 probe in 1976. This may not be too surprising since there really isn’t anything that attractive about the moon. If there was, we would have built hotels on the moon already, or had a reason to advance our need for research-and-development in particle physics and space flight so that we may embrace the whole of the cosmos in an attempt to better understand existence, make contact with other life, and discover ever greater mystery.
Sounds horrible. Instead, let’s just cut NASA’s already pathetic allotment of .5% of the national budget, down from almost 4.5% in the 1960’s.
Better late than never. rt.com The issue with space programs is that not everyone is convinced they’re worth it. It’s not easy to see the advantages of exploring infinite space at a tiny fraction of the speed of light in a dinky machine filled with limited atmosphere. The real-estate options in our solar neighborhood are pretty bleak, so why should we care about demanding a Space Age renaissance? What good is going to come of a single moon rover?
Related Article: Ancient Galaxy that Shouldn’t Exist is Found Perfectly Formed
Most Americans think NASA receives funding of around 20% of the national budget. The perceived budget is 40 times more than the actual budget. NASA’s success and failure fall under a great deal of scrutiny, but what most people are quick to forget is that although NASA hasn’t invented portal guns or teleportation technology, they have positively impacted a wide range of scientific discovery, industrial/commercial innovation, and social standards.
First off, NASA’s effect on the U.S. economy is very significant.
The economic benefits of NASA’s programs are greater than generally realized. The main beneficiaries (the American public) may not even realize the source of their good fortune. . .
The hobby of a bunch of Klingon speaking Trekkie geeks is providing the nation with billions. Nasa.gov From 1976 – 1984, 259 non-space applications of NASA technology accounted for
— $21.6 billion in sales and benefits;
— 352,000 (mostly skilled) jobs created or saved,and;
— $355 million in federal corporate income taxes
Step 1, send a moon rover to Luna. Step 2, ? Step 3, profit! http://www.thehindu.com/ In 2002 the aerospace industry was worth over $95 billion. That seems like a pretty remarkable investment for something that is given less than a single percent of the total budget. But what have we personally received from NASA besides the loss of Pluto?
Related Article: The Big Bang Wasn’t the Beginning
Since it was established in 1958, NASA has been constantly experimenting and developing new, never before possible technology. Some of the everyday items that NASA created include:
- LED Lights
- Artificial Limbs
- Anti-icing Systems
- Firefighter Gear
- Freeze Dried Food
- Solar Power
- Tang
- Refrigerated Internet-Connected Wall Ovens (what?)
- and more…
NASA’s new squad of 8 space cadets have some lofty goals to accomplish in the coming decades, with NASA planning missions to asteroids, travel across the solar system, and working with space spiders all on the same deflated budget. Sounds like NASA might be getting into the business of miracles too. It appears a space age renaissance wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all!
It is pretty remarkable that China was able to accomplish the sending of a moon rover on a budget that is 7.3% of the microscopic U.S. space budget. Then again, I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised. Have you ever seen Chinese builders build a 30 story building in 15 days? They might have strange and alien bathrooms, but do not underestimate China!
*edit: China successfully landed their moon rover!
Sources:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=virgin-galactic-space-hotels
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/02/world/asia/china-prepares-to-launch-moon-rover-mission.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/#.Up7-EcRDvgw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwiE0Ik29H0
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/09/30/china.wanhu/
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/01/content_10923205.htm
https://wondergressive.com/news/life-its-all-over-the-place/
https://wondergressive.com/news/new-plausible-theory-of-black-holes/
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/pagedetails.action?packageId=BUDGET-2013-BUD
http://www.academia.edu/179045/_Public_Opinion_Polls_and_Perceptions_of_US_Human_Spaceflight_
http://www.thinkwithportals.com/
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v355/n6356/pdf/355105a0.pdf
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40967.pdf
http://www.universetoday.com/13573/
http://www.chinese-traditions-and-culture.com/chinese-toilet.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwvmru5JmXk
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/index.html#.Up8MmMRDvgx
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nasa-established
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