A Plant That Actually Eats Heavy Metal Has Recently Been Discovered In Philippine

Evolving of plants has seen them exclude any type of metal from their surroundings. The Rinorea Niccolifera however, is not like most plants. It was discovered in the Philippine jungles; this plant can amass up to 18,000 ppm of metal in its roots and leaves and not get poisoned. This is like 100 to 1000 times what normal plants take in. University of Philippines-Los, Banos researchers, in a new report said that its ability to accumulate such huge amounts of toxic metals could be the solution to most toxic waste sites found around the world. The discovery is therefore very important.

image source: www.takepart.com

The tree is small, 1.8 meters tall normally and with a stem that ranges from 3 to 13 centimeters in diameter.  The Niccolifera name refers to the species ability to hyper-accumulate nickel, a heavy metal, in its leaf tissues and stem.

This species is unfortunately endangered and its habitat has been termed as severely ‘fragmented’. Its recordings have so far been from three adjacent localities only, from its current location which is less than 500 km and declining. The study indicates that the species is open to industrialization and open pit mining.

It goes on to say that, since this plant species is a ‘hyper-accumulator’, it should be exploited for its accumulation traits like environmentally green technologies. This plant can be used to clean up metal filled soils and old mines. The leaves and roots can later be burned and the valuable metals gotten can be sold and re-purposed.

"Hyper accumulator plants have great potentials for the development of green technologies, for example, 'phytoremediation' and 'phytomining'," said Augustine Doronila, co-author of the paper on the plant species and a researcher at the University Of Melbourne, Australia.

Phytoremediation is the use of hyper accumulator plants to extract heavy metals from contaminated soils. On the other hand, Phytomining is the use of these plants to grow and harvest, so as to recover valuable commercial metals in the shoots of the plants in metal-rich sites.

The use of plants to extract metals from soil that’s contaminated is not new and has been used since the 1990’s. Countries that use this type of green technology include Thailand, India, Brazil and China.

We should try and save these kinds of species in their native habitat since they can be used to clean up after us. Maybe it’s time we worked with nature instead of the continuous destruction we have been subjecting it to.

“If we can understand the chemistry of how these plants can load themselves with so much nickel without being poisoned, it may help us make novel compounds to combat some degenerative disease,” Doronila said.  “If we are to allow mining or logging in these areas, we have to oblige the miners and the loggers to restore these habitats.”

Discoveries like this could be the solution to current problems we have today!
[Source www.takepart.com, www.pensoft.net, www.sciencedaily.com]

10 Amazing Ways Music Affects Our Brains, #5 is Intriguing

Music holds tremendous power on emotions and thoughts. It could make your somewhat ordinary day Magical or spiritual. Music can provide solace, help you purge and cleanse, create a diversion, revitalize you, entertain, and so much more. The influence of music spreads from our genetic codes, through our bodies and thoughts and out into our relationships.

Image source: www.keene-equinox.com

1. Verbal IQ improvement 

When you practice the piano, you improve not only your musical abilities but also verbal and visual skills.  A study by Forgeard et al., 2008 found that, students aged 8 to 11, who had extracurricular music classes over time developed higher visual abilities and verbal IQ when compared to those who did not get any musical training. Benefits of studying a musical instrument therefore are not only purely musical but they extend to visual perception and cognition.

2. Feeling the chills

I bet you’ve felt the chills down your spine as you listened to music. In fact, a study done by Nusbaum and Silva (2010) shows that 90% of people have. How much of the chills, however depends on personality. People high on ‘openness to experience’, one of the five personality dimensions, are likely to feel them more. The study shows that people with this dimension, (openness to experience) will most likely play a musical instrument and will more often rate music as being important to them.

3. Happiness is amplified by active listening.

To get the chills if you are not feeling them, you should try harder. This is because; a recent study shows that when you try to feel happier actively, you do feel happier.  Ferguson and Sheldon (2013) did a research that showed that, participants who tried actively to feel happier while listening to Aaron Copland’s upbeat classical compositions felt their moods being lifted more as compared to those who listened to the music passively. So, engage the music next time you are listening and you will experience that extra emotional power.

4. When we sing together we are brought together

Music is a social activity and when we sing together, we are brought together. Finnish students who took extended music classes were studied and it was found that they reported higher satisfaction while in school even in areas that were not related to music classes. (Eerola & Eerola, 2013). When people sing together, affiliations are increased and people tend to like each other more than they did before.

5. Music as a cure to heart diseases.

It does help reduce the anxiety and stress that’s associated with treating coronary heart disease. In a review of 23 studies that covered almost 1500 patients, listening to music helped reduce blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety in patients with heart disease (Bradt & Dileo, 2009).

6. Music lifts you up when sad

People love music because it helps them manage their moods. It has a cathartic effect while for some people listening to sad music, under the right circumstances, can improve their mood. A Kawakami et al. (2013) study found that people enjoy sad music because it produces a mix of emotions; some positive, some negative. As we listen to music, we recognize the negative emotions but they are not strongly felt.

7. Improves our judgment

Listening to music for just fifteen seconds could change how we judge emotions on the faces of other people. Logeswaran et al. (2009) discovered that participants in a study perceived other faces as happier when they listened to a quick gust of happy music. The same applied to sad music. They got to see the biggest effect when the participants looked at faces of people with neutral expressions. People tend to project the mood of the type of music they are listening to onto other faces.

8. Music color

People tend to think of certain colors when listening to music. In fact, different cultures relate particular colors with particular music.  Palmer et al. (2013) in a study of Mexico and US people found that they connected duller, darker colors with sad music and vivid colors with happy music. In a follow-up study found that these associations of music to color were due to the music’s emotional content.

9. Could Music bring back vision?

The brain’s visual areas are the ones affected in 60% percent of those who get strokes. Patients lose awareness of the objects on the opposite side where damage to the brain has occurred. (Visual neglect). Studies have however found that when these patients listen to music they love, some of the visual attention gets restored (Tsai et al., 2013). Music can therefore be used to rehabilitate stroke patients.

10. Music For Babies

You’ve seen how infants respond rhythmically to music, even those as young as five months. In fact, it’s more interesting to them than speech! A study by Zentner and Eerola (2010), found that babies spontaneously dance to all genres of music and smile a lot while doing so.  

Maybe we should accept the fact that music is in our genes to stay!
[Source: www.spring.org.uk]

A Powerful Radioactive Element That Could Power The World

A car powered by thorium, needs no refueling for 100 years. The chemical would last even long after the vehicle has burnt out. It would even outlive you!

For this reason, a company by the name Laser Power Systems, has come up with a car engine powered by thorium concept. Thorium is radioactive and bits of it are used by the team to build a laser beam that after heating water, produces steam used for powering an energy-producing turbine.

Thorium Concept Car - Image Courtesy www.themindunleashed.org

It’s one of the dense materials found on earth. You can get 20 million times more energy from a small sample of thorium, compared to the same size sample of coal. This therefore, makes it an ideal source of energy and 8 grams would be enough to power a vehicle for a century.

According to Laser Power Systems CEO, Dr. Charles Stevens, cars won’t have thorium engines anytime soon.

“Cars are not our primary interest,” Stevens said. ”The automakers don’t want to buy them.”

The automobile industry according to him is mostly focused on making money using gas engines. Thorium technology will take a couple of decades to be used in enough industries so that vehicle manufacturers begin to rethink their engines.

By doing this, Stevens believes they will be powering the world. With a thorium turbine that is the same size as an air conditioning unit, they could provide affordable power to hotels, restaurants, office buildings, and small towns in areas without electricity around the world. Thorium could also at some point power individual homes.

The fact that Thorium is radioactive should not worry us according to Stevens, “The radiation that we develop off of one of these things can be shielded by a single sheet off of aluminum foil,” Stevens said. ”You will get more radiation from one of those dental X-rays than this.”

Imagine all one billion and more cars traveling around the world running cleanly for more than 100 years on just 8 grams of fuel each?

[Source: http://mashable.com]

Top 6 Bizarre Courses That Really Exist In Colleges

The Twitter hashtag #Worse CollegeClasses has been catching on like wildfire, although the grammar has the most criticism. It was started as an honor to finals week and to remind students of how it could be worse. In light of this, here are some courses you should maybe steer clear off when registering for courses in college.

1. Breaking Down Breaking bad

Image source: www.realclear.com

During the spring 2014 semester, SUNY Buffalo students had the opportunity to enroll in a “Breaking Down Breaking Bad” Seminar. Listed in the UB law school, the media studies and theater department and visual studies, the course according to a news release from the school, studies an interesting program. "'Breaking Bad' goes into narrative and human and social complexity as no TV program has before.” Although it might be illegal, I wonder whether in future they could incorporate a chemistry class based on Walter White.

2. Philosophy and Star Trek

Image source: www.blogs-images.forbes.com

Georgetown University Students studying Philosophy, read works of Kant, Aristotle and others under the pretext of trying to understand Star Trek Philosophical depths. The course is an introduction to metaphysics and epistemology philosophy. It tries to dissect major philosophical questions presented by science fiction dramas.

3. Gardening and world religions

Image source: www.realclear.com

This is a course offered at Holy Cross. Students who partake this course, study the historical and cultural backgrounds of the major gardens in the world associated with religions. Field trips are made to regional gardens during the course duration and as a final project, the students have to design a small virtual contemplative garden that could be constructed at a specific campus site. The field trips do sound cool though.

4. Pet Product Design and Marketing

Image source: www.realclear.com

At Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, students can study branding, design, apparel sales, accessories and pet lifestyle products. Not a bad idea considering the many pooches sports sweaters on offer. At least they get to learn the ins and outs of cat collar designs!

5. Stupidity

Image source: www.wikimedia.org

This course is offered at Occidental college. ‘Stupidity’ is not about a quality the students’ possess but the name of the course. Works of Gilles Deleuze, Friedrich Nietzche and others are used to explain that ‘stupidity’ is neither organicity or ignorance but a result of knowing and a normalcy element. It’s a double of intelligence not it’s opposite. The course is a philosophical examination of operations and technologies we conduct so as to be rendered uncomprehending. According to the course description: “Stupidity, which has been evicted from the philosophical premises and dumbed down by psychometric psychology, has returned in the postmodern discourse against Nation, Self, and Truth and makes itself felt in political life ranging from the presidency to Beevis and Butthead. This course examines stupidity.”

6. Learning From Youtube

Image source: www.realclear.com

Considering the hashtag #WorseCollegeClasses on Twitter, Pitzer College in California takes the price. Students do meet in a classroom but they mostly work online. They view content on YouTube and post comments. Lessons are also posted on YouTube and students are encouraged to do the same. One student, for example, posted a video of himself juggling that lasts for 1:36-minutes. Apparently the professor set up the course so students could study the impact of YouTube on society.

Do you know any other #WorseCollegeClasses students wouldn’t want to take?

This Is How To get High Without Using Plants Or Drugs

Humans have enjoyed getting high since the beginning of time. From orgasm, to booze, to fasting- people love to have their consciousness altered and to get that good feeling. Alcoholics and addicts crave this more than the average person but scientists argue that this is because our brains are wired differently. Most of these big highs lead to devastating blows that make one feel worse and crave for more. Those trying to recover from these addictions however, have learned how to use natural methods without having to suffer these long term losses. Some of these natural methods include:

Image source: www.infinityenvisioned.com

1. Meditation

Image source: www.addictiontreatmentmagazine.com

You can get high through meditation. As you meditate for longer, one feels like they are getting high. This is almost the kind of feeling you get after smoking marijuana. It’s especially awesome if you’ve got insomnia and is very addictive. It gets better if you increase the meditation time.

The advantage of using meditation instead of Marijuana is that you have absolute control and you can stop whenever you want to. No side effects like an altered state of mind are experienced. You get this altered state of mind by taking caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, etc. Meditation will instead give you a bunch of health benefits. How awesome is that!

2. Ecstatic dancing 

Image source: www.consciousdancer.com

The level of consciousness you reach while dancing is dependent on the kind of music and how you dance. Endorphins are produced during dancing. If you dance consciously using a tool like hula hoops, which helps your body repeatedly intricate geometries, your body produces temporary conscious expanding moments, even though your perception state remains long term. To make this process easier, you must achieve a meditative state of mind. This puts your perception into a moldable and sensitive state. Your state of mind will create the difference between an endorphin rush (normal adrenaline) and a full temporary altered state like the one experienced on taking DMT.

For your brain to activate the pineal gland so that serotonin is synthesized to create melatonin and DMT, one has to achieve a meditative state. Start practicing yoga and you can experience this feeling.

3. Kundalini Yoga

Image source: www.static.squarespace.com

Practicing Kundalini Yoga helps you support your Divine Purpose in life- becoming an excellent human being. The practice guides you into thinking of yourself as a spiritual being that inhabits a body designed to be containing a portion of divine consciousness. It involves moving, breathing and concentrating in an exceptional specific manner that gives you the level of consciousness needed to experience your ‘Sat Nam’, your higher self and your union with the infinite.

4. Breathing consciously

Image source: www.organicauthority.com

We sometimes take breathing for granted since it happens endlessly day in day out till one dies, just like we do breathing. We only notice these things accidentally sometimes like when we move into a hot environment and breathing becomes labored. Expanded awareness however, highly depends on our ability to become aware of our breath and being able to bring its pattern under our very own conscious control. Breathing controls ‘life force’ (energy) flow in our body and the Taoist and yogi’s do understand this.

Our breath is the primary source of Chi/Prana (an energy that permeates all things then collects in sentient beings in higher amounts). They also realized that most people breathe unconsciously but by being conscious of the breath and deepening it, one achieves an expanded state of consciousness. Different techniques were tried out and a series of practices was formed that enhance awareness at will.

5. Conscious love making

Image source: www.childrenofthesun.org

Love making is the most natural way of getting high. To get the most out of it though, one has to make it as loving and pure as possible. Try having intercourse that is full of a conscious love. By doing this, we allow the sexual experience to speak to not only the lower organs but to our entire body. This leads to lots of pleasure and control over the experience. To get this sense of control, intercourse must be practiced from a fullness place rather than an achievement of orgasm.
[Source: www.thespiritscience.net]

This Algae Based Battery Charges Faster And Lasts Longer Than Normal Batteries

Several scientists have researched the possible power capabilities of algae. Prototype creator, Adam Freeman is one of them and he intends to build a new kind of battery that could even power a Tesla. He says that this battery will have 200X greater charge than current lithium-based batteries we use today. His research company aIGAS aims to prove this.

Image source: www.techcrunch.com

The algae battery according to Freeman, lasts longer and also charges faster than ion batteries we are currently using on our iPads, cell phones or even the Tesla. As he explains, algae have paper-thin fibers that provide ions with an easier surface to get through. Instead of the charge taking minutes or hours, it takes just 11 seconds. This image shows how current batteries we use charge. Numerous studies that have been done, show that the materials we mine to make the batteries today are becoming extinct and the batteries may cause cancer.

Image source: www.techcrunch.com

Previous tests have been done to prove that algae has charge and could in theory produce battery power but it's not yet known how much of it would be needed or how much charge generated by it would power a car, for example. Freeman however, believes he has the answer to this question and all he needs is funding to start mass production.

He say that to build a prototype, he needs only $1, 500 and with $5,000 the algae battery would be ready for mass production by summer.

Materials used to make ion batteries are quite hard to extract which makes them expensive. 95 percent of them are shipped from China and are used to power most of the gadgets we own like phones.

To cut cost, Tesla pledged that it would use only US materials. If Freeman is to be believed, then it means the cost needed to grow the algae powered batteries would be low and this would reduce their price. This could result in big implications if successful.

Theoretically, with this kind of battery, one could power an entire house. Pierre Calleja, a French Biochemist, did it when he designed the first algae street light. So, imagine having a breathing algae plant power up your house. It's possible!

Freeman's prototype is different from others done before since it uses a bio-safe polymer. This critical element binds the algae fibers together creating a much better interaction with the electron charge. The potential of this prototype according to Adam Freeman is huge.

"Think of driving your car on a living battery that charges in seconds with a battery that costs almost nothing and is actually good for the environment."
[Source:  www.techcrunch.com, www.web.mit.edu, www.citylab.com]

This Man Wakes Up Every Morning And Recreates His Dreams Digitally From The Previous Night. The Results Are Epic!

Do you remember your dream perfectly after waking up? Personally, it’s hard to conjure up all those images or have them make sense sometimes. This Reddit user, however, does remember his:

“I actually find that sketching out an image as soon as I wake up is really helpful. If you can utilize that brief period in the morning when you still remember something and get it out on paper then you have a pretty effective reference point to look back on. Needless to say, I've got stacks of papers next to my bed.! “ Reddit user, MemeDreams says.

He is the creator of these awesome images recreated from his dreams after he wakes up. These are some of his favorites. Enjoy!

Image credit: Imgur(MemeDreams)

Indonesian Woman Who Gave Birth To A Lizard Baffles Even Doctors

Debi Nubatonis, 31, claims to be the mother of the gecko after being pregnant for eight months. She was assisted by a midwife known as Josephine Lydia Hellen Wadu, who also confirms the story. Wadu informed the Indonesian press that while she expected to help the young lady give birth to a baby, a lizard slithered out of her birth canal coated in mucus and blood instead.

Messe Ataupa, the chief medical officer, at a press conference the day after the incident, claimed that something was amiss in the whole situation. "We are looking into whether this was intentional or not. Clearly the womb must have been empty and this is what’s known as pseudocyesis. So the gecko coming out is probably some kind of hoax. Childbirth of another species has never been reported in science.”

Image source: YouTube/ANTV

Pseudocyesis is another name for phantom or false pregnancy. In this phenomenon, a woman experiences all the symptoms of pregnancy but has no actual feotus.

According to Ataupa, women who get phantom pregnancies also experience labor. Some discharge may have been present as the lady was ‘birthing’ and this could have landed on an unsuspecting lizard, leading to all the confusion.

According to eyewitnesses from Debi’s village, she was visibly pregnant and seemed to have reached her eighth month by the time she went into labor. She called for a midwife on May 30th because the hospital was too far away. Wadu, the midwife, arrived before the birth and when she saw a gecko pop out instead of a baby, she decided to take the ‘newborn’ for a checkup at the Oenuntono Health Center. Debi and her family are now being accused of witchcraft by the locals while others claim that the whole issue is as a result of an overactive imagination.

Footage of the said lizard being weighed in a hospital is also doing rounds on the internet.


If it was a phantom pregnancy, Debi would not have had anything from her womb emerge! So is the whole issue real or did Debi give birth to a gecko? What would she gain by lying about the lizard and why is the midwife confirming the story?

Do you think it's a hoax?

[Source: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk]

Mind Blowing Facts About The FIFA World Cup, 2014

The 2014 World Cup is being held in Brazil this year. The ceremony kicked off on 12th June with a colorful ceremony before Brazil, the hosts, beat Croatia 3-1. 32 nations in total will compete in 64 games and may the best country win. As the games continue, here are 9 mind blowing facts about the 2014 World Cup that you didn’t know:

Image source: www.footyheadlines.com

1. Goal-line technology will be used for the first time in history

Image source: www.fifa.com

Due to the controversies that have sometimes surrounded world cup goals in the past years, the referee will now be able to tell if a goal is scored. 14 cameras have been set up where 7 of these focus on one goal and the other 7 on the opposite one. These are then connected to a central mainframe computer that analyses each goal. The referee feels a vibration when the match ball crosses the goal line. A visual sign ‘Goal’ appears on a special watch he will be wearing on his wrist. No more Lampard situations anymore!

2. Drones and US robots will be used

Image source: www.irobot.com

For safety purposes, Israeli drones and Robots will be used. The unmarked drones will monitor the crowds for security and defense purposes. PackBot 510 robots used in the US military will also be used to protect tourists and citizens. These can be operated remotely and will detect and examine any suspicious objects. They also explore any dangerous environments. To enhance security, they will also use facial recognition camera glasses, high tech surveillance equipment, helicopters with thermal cameras and night vision and Brazilian Armed Forces soldiers.

3. A paraplegic teenager Took The First 2014 World Cup Kick

Image credit: Miguel Nicolelis 

The paraplegic teenager had on a mind controlled exoskeleton suit. Though paralyzed from the waist down, the suit helps them feel the kick due to sensory feedback. The suit helped the kid stand up from his wheelchair, walk to the midfield and take the kick. This is a huge technological step and wheelchairs may one day cease to exist.

4.‘Darth Vadar’ police

Image source: www.latino-news.com

Brazilian police in all the 12 states that matches will be held, have masks that are inspired by the Darth Vader character in Star Wars. They protect the police from gas attacks, can withstand high temperatures, and are equipped with a visor that will not fog and a voice amplifier. They will be used in case riots break out.

5. Brazil has worn 5 world cups

Image source: www.bleacherreport.com

World Cup Tournaments have been held since 1930. 19 of them have been held but only 8 countries have ever won. They include Brazil, Italy, Spain, England, Germany, France, Argentina and Uruguay. Brazil has won five times, Italy Four times, Germany thrice, Uruguay and Argentina twice while England, Spain and France have each won once.

6. Strange demands by the teams

You think superstars have strange demands, wait till you hear what the football teams asked for during the World Cup. Some of the craziest things demanded include:

• Portugal demanded 6 security guards with two assigned to Cristiano Ronaldo.
• France demanded two types of liquid soaps: one for washing hands and the other for showering. The players’ room should also be identical even in color.
• Uruguay demanded that each room should have silent air-conditioning units.
• Algeria wanted each room to have a Quran.
• Ecuador demanded every room should have an everyday basket of Ecuadorian bananas.
• Japan wanted a Jacuzzi in each room
• Germany on the other hand didn’t like the accommodations provided and went ahead and built their own World Cup Hotel and training camp. Beat that! 

7. Bazuka ball

Image source: www.adweek.com

Adidas designed this year’s World Cup named ‘Bazuka’. ‘Bazuka’ is slang for national pride and the name was chosen by fans. The ball maintains it roundness and weight even in the thickest of weathers. It also produces faster flight speeds. The ball also has an innovative camera that uses six different lenses to capture a 360° view of the action on the field.

EDIT : The chances of the ball with the cameras to be used in the actual matches is very less. They were put in just a few of the balls to make a montage of players having a kick-about which will be released as a promotional video for the WC2014.

8. It’s the most expensive World Cup ever

Image source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Brazil was not holding back in terms of expenditure when it came to preparing for the World Cup. It’s the most expensive with over 14-16 billion dollars used. In fact, it’s more expensive than the combined cost of the last two world cup events held. Costs incurred were from transport, stadiums and security. The Brazilians were not too happy about this considering their economy and they took to the streets about the issue.

9. “All In One Rythym” is the official slogan

The 2014 World Cup slogan is “Juntos num só ritmo” in Portuguese translated as “All in One Rhythm” in English. It refers to the Brazilian culture that has rhythm everywhere.

What You See Here Are Not Photographs, But Actually 3D Renderings Of Human Beings—All Generated On A Computer.

These are not real photographs! They are a stunning collection of computer generated images created by professionals.

A reddit user(republicrats) shared these images on Imgur. He named the collection, “3D Renderings of Humans” and they elicited strong reactions from some of Reddit users. It’s hard to believe that these images are not captured by camera. The expressive eyes, textured hair, scattering light to the skin, subtly rendered makeup, realistic clothing and amazing backgrounds are astonishingly lifelike. The images look like they were taken from real life.

CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW by ZhiHeng Tang

3D rendering is the process of creating a 2D video or image from a 3D model with the help of 3D computer graphic rendering software. As technology advances, it’s getting easier to produce better 3D images using the help of programs like Sculptis and Lightwave. This in turn is opening up a load of opportunities in video games production, film creation and many more.

THE REVOLUTIONARY by Kris Kelly

THEN FLYING THE YOUTH by Shang-Peng Leng

FAR AND AWAY by Stanislav Klabik

KID by Rakesh Sandhu

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN by Khitan

HEYDAR ALIYEV by Oleg Koreyba

OLD MAN by Jin Hee Lee

SELF PORTRAIT by Marco di Lucca

THE JAVERT by Luces

JONAS by Zbynek Kysela

YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT! by Riccardo Minervino

HERE'S JOHNNY by Hossein Diba

HEATH LEDGER by Max Edwin Wahyudi

JOHNNY CASH by Bruno Jiménez

BODY BUILDER by Jian Xu

BERNADETTE by Stephen David Molyneaux

WHITE MALE PORTRAIT by Amr Helmy

ABUELACO by Alex Huguet

SMOKED by GV Prashanth

[source: www.imgur.com]