Salt water is famed for its abundance, but also for being bad to drink or use on your crops. After all, haven’t we all heard the term “to salt the Earth” being used to mean decimating it? Researchers from the Netherlands proved that this
Humans, much like all primates, are hardwired to be able to feel empathy for fellow living creatures. We are built to be kind. Through mirror neurons, your pain and your suffering can become mine. Even among chimpanzees, the mark of success is not to
In 2012, Colorado and Washington state legalized the recreational use of marijuana, much to the dismay of anti-legalization advocates. They frequently claimed that it would make it easier for children to acquire, that more people would use it, that there would be more people driving while
In an unprecedented decision, an Argentine court has ruled that the Sumatran orangutan ‘Sandra’, who has spent 20 years at the zoo in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires, should be recognized as a person with a right to freedom. The ruling, signed by the judges
While, technically, these images are safe for work, they’ll still probably make you feel kind of dirty. That’s because these images reflect some of the dirtiest things about our society. Spanish artist Luis Quiles produces images are so powerful because they evoke deep emotional reactions: for better
Poorly done acupuncture studies are published every week, so I can’t write about every one that comes out. I probably would have passed this one by, except for the New York Times article using it to tout the effectiveness of acupuncture. The headline reads:
Almost all of us go our entire lives without ever standing trial for crimes against humanity. Then again, most of us aren’t notorious hatemongerer Pastor Scott Lively, whose life work seems to be to ask the question: “How can I make gay people miserable across the world?”
A rookie NYPD officer “accidentally” shot and killed an unarmed African-American man in a staircase in a New York apartment block. It happened as Ferguson is tensely waiting for a grand jury decision on a police officer who shot Michael Brown. Akai Gurley, 28,
Cannabis has long been acclaimed as containing chemicals that might work against cancer cells. A recent study suggested that two chemicals found in cannabis, the cannabinoids CBD and THC, could act on an aggressive brain tumour called glioma, where only 10% of people live for five
Smoking has been one of humanity’s unhealthy fixations for at least 5000 years; since South American shamen inhaled the smoke from smouldering leaves of the tobacco plant burnt in huge piles, to bring them closer to the spirit world. Arriving in the ‘new world’ in
