A grizzly bear can smell a human from 18 miles away. Jumping spiders can see colors beyond normal range that humans do. And some birds can fly across world using earth’s magnetic fields as a guide. But what about humans?
Some Of The World’s Smartest People Don’t Eat
Phil Libin hasn’t eaten in days, but he says he feels euphoric and full of energy. Libin is one of many Silicon Valley executives who swear that regular fasting is changing their lives. He even claims that forgoing food has made him a better CEO.
Did Plant Poisoning Lead to Famous Witch Hunt?
The date is September 22nd. The year is 1692. On Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts, a mob gathers. They are there to witness eight of their friends and families sentenced to death. The crime? Witchcraft! The bloodthirsty crowd is immune to the tears of the condemned. In their eyes, they have committed the most unforgivable of sins. They have sold their souls to Satan and must pay the price.
Vegetarians Love Cattle Ranchers
Keri Brandt was a vegetarian, and David Off was a rancher. Some might say he made his living raising cattle, but many of Keri’s vegan friends probably would say he made his living killing cattle. On their first date, he took her on a cattle drive. She wondered what she was doing with a man whose values, identity and way of life were so different from her own. David was a cattle rancher whose family had been raising cattle for nearly 150 years, and he wasn’t going to change. Something had to give for their relationship to survive.
Sloppy Scientist Saves A Hundred Million Lives
Mold is all around us. In the air and on our food, it can make us sick and gross us out, but not all molds are bad. Some can make delicious food and others can save lives. One famous mold, discovered by accident by a sloppy scientist, became the first antibiotic medicine: penicillin.
Scientists Gave Their Lives Protecting Seeds
“All human life, all life, depends on plants,” says Jonathan Drori in his TED talk about the Millenium Seed Bank. This project involves collecting seeds in an underground storage facility strong enough to withstand a nuclear attack. It holds over 2 billion seeds, which represent over 10% of the world’s variety of plants.
Coffee Culture And Creativity
Coffee and the caffeine inside it is one of the world’s most popular drugs. The scientific opinion about whether it is healthy or not is always changing. Some researchers say that coffee creates inflammation in your body and can cause high blood pressure as well as other problems. Other researchers say coffee can lower your risk for some types of cancer and other diseases.
Time Traveling Seeds And Satellites
There are more than 200,000 species of plant life on planet earth, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. The history of land plants is 420 million years old, and no one can say how many species have lived and died off over the years. While many of these species are gone for good, there is hope that we can bring at least some of these plants back to life. In 2008, scientists in Israel did exactly that. They found 2,000-year-old seeds from a species of date tree that had become extinct. After planting the seeds, amazingly, one of them grew.
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