| January 31st 2009 Crystal Skulls Update - The Truth? In his lastest summer blockbuster, Indiana Jones tangled with an eerie artifact called the crystal skull. But the truth behind these bizarre relics is wilder than any Hollywood action fantasy! Legend has it 13 crystal skulls were handed from the Olmecs, an ancient Central American tribe, to the Mayans, who then hid them when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the 1500s. But since the 1800s, several have come to light. The most famous is known as the Mitchell-Hedges Skull, named for its discoverer, Frederick Albert "Mike" Mitchell-Hedges, the British explorer who was the real life inspiration for Indiana Jones. In 1924, while inspecting the lost city of Lubaantun in what is now Belize, Mitchell-Hedges and his daughter, Anna, spotted something glittering in a half-buried temple chamber. It took days to clear the entrance just enough for Anna to slip into the room and remove a life-sized skull made of quartz. Mitchell-Hedges later described legends of the Mayan High Priest performing "esoteric rites" with the skull: "It is said that, when he (the priest) willed death with the help of the skull, death invariably followed. "It has been described as the embodiment of all evil." A 30-pound skull resides at the Smithsonian Institute. It arrived in the mail with an anonymous letter claiming that it was once owned by Porfirio Diaz, who was president of Mexico in the late 19th century. Another skull, carved from a single piece of Brazilian quartz, was bought by the British Museum in the 1890s from a French antiquities dealer named Eugene Boban, who acquired several similar skulls in Mexico. Three of Boban's finds are on display at the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris. X-ray scans have shown them to be carved by advanced jewelry-making tools, despite their ancient origins. And a skull with an unusual pointed cranium is called the "E.T. skull." Its owner, Joke van Dieten, holds public exhibitions to demonstrate its peculiar healing powers. Scientists have studied several of the skulls and found inexplicable properties. In 1970, computer firm Hewlett Packard exhaustively analyzed the Mitchell-Hedges skull. Technicians supervised by art restorer Frank Dorland concluded that it must have taken at least 300 man-years of effort to polish the skull into shape. They also found no marks left by jewelers' tools, leaving its method of construction a mystery. But Dorland's most remarkable discovery was the eerie mental phenomena that happened whenever someone stared into the skull's crystal depths. It would produce a visible aura or hazy visions of faraway places, and make strange tinkling noises. Dorland explains: "I would say that the skull - the mass of crystal - in some way triggered certain reflexes of the brain to make you think that you were tasting things, hearing things or seeing things." |
| January 30th 2009 Groundbreaking Donkey Surgery! Surgeons have made medical history by fixing a tiny donkey's twisted limbs. Lonegan is one of only four sets of miniature donkey twins in the world. Normally, when a miniature donkey is pregnant with twins, one or both of the babies aborts or dies at birth. Amazingly, Lonegan and his twin brother Donegan both survived. Donegan was perfectly healthy, but Lonegan had experienced such pressure in the womb, his legs were practically twisted back to front. "I was so sad to see him trying to stand, let alone walk," says breeder Barbara Bracken, of the Willowdale Donkey Stud in Western Australia. "When he was able to stand, he was walking on the sides of his legs instead of his little hooves." "It was so difficult for him to move, but one thing about him stood out - his great courage." Bracken knew this level of corrective surgery had never been done on a donkey before, but she owed it to the plucky little survivor to try. After searching high and low, she located Murdoch University equine specialist Dr. David Murphy, who offered to perform the painstaking procedure. He started by X-raying Lonegan's front legs, then encasing them in plaster casts to help pull his bones straighter. Months later, the casts were replaced by splints which will be changed daily for the next three years as his legs continue to grow. At the same time, he'll be undergoing more operations, inserting pins to make his knees stronger. "When he's fully grown, he'll be only about 3 feet tall, which is normal," explains Bracken. "I can't wait for the day I see him trotting around happily with his brother." |
| January 29th 2009 Cloning Vikings? Gene scientists are preparing to reenact the cloning thriller of Jurrassic Park using ancient human beings - with a bold plan to clone a party of Vikings! Over the protests of ethical authorities, a team of medical researchers announced their intentions to recreate the fearsome warriors from strands of 1,000-year-old DNA retrieved from a Viking graveyard on the Danish island of Funen. "We have so much to learn about ourselves from studying our ancestors," explains research leader Dr. Helmut Hohner. "The Vikings were one of the most successful societies in European history. "They built settlements from Greenland to Moscow, learned dozens of langauages and created complex trade networks among the nations they conquered. "They were unusually healthy, strong people - and this vigor may well have had a genetic component." "If we can isolate the genes responsible for their amazing strength and intelligence, this could bring about a medical revolution and provide dozens of cures for the ailments of modern man." The project was inspired by the recent discovery of well-preserved skeletons buried in 1000 A.D. at a Danish cemetery called Galgedil. Jorgen Dissing, of the University of Copenhagen, led a team of researchers clad in high-tech protective suits as they excavated the ancient graves. The scientists carefully removed teeth from the Viking skulls and took every possible precaution to keep the specimens free of contamination from modern DNA. The teeth were rushed to a laboratory, where experts were able to draw out genetic material trapped inside them for centuries. Testing showed that the DNA was still viable. In lab conditions, the genes were still able to replicate themselves, opening the door to the creation of clones, or exact genetic duplicates, of the bygone Vikings. Dissing, who's interested in Viking family relationships found that they weren't as "pure" an ethnic group as many people thought. "Because Vikings were dedicated travelers, they tended not to find mates so close to home, which was a healthy source of diversity," explains Hohner. "And fortunately, they settled in areas with cold ground and icy winters, ideal for preserving their bodies through the ages." If Hohner's team succeeds in creating embryos with Viking DNA, they will become the first researchers to clone human beings. The proposal has ignited a global controversy. "This project is an affront to the dignity of human life and should not be allowed to go forward," fumes Father Bertram de Chouxville, a Vatican bio-ethicist. "The age of the subjects is beside the point." "The Vikings were every bit as human as you and I, and any product of their DNA would have all the rights of any human being - including the right to a natural conception and full, normal, human existence." "By creating new human life from old genetic material, the scientists has put himself in the role of God." Other researchers point out potential dangers of the project. "Authentic Vikings are not like any humans currently living on Earth," explains anatomist Thys Brunkhorst, of Nijmegen, Holland. "They present a terrible security risk." "Researchers would either have to keep the clones cooped up like guinea pigs for the rest of their lives - a situation the Vikings would never tolerate - or the test subjects would be allowed to mix with the normal population. They'd be raised by foster families, attend school and eventually find wives and husbands among modern humans." "They could potentially harbor genetic tendencies to diseases we haven't faced in centuries, making them vectors for deadly epidemics." "Or, conversely, they could repeat their long history of conquest and dominance over lesser nations." "There is no guarantee that these new Vikings would not be just as capable of conquering us as their ancestors were of defeating the mighty empires of Rome, Russia and the Middle East." |
| January 28th 2009 Senior Swordsmen With Walkers! A daring group of seniors is following the lead of sword-wielding hero Zorro with an exciting new activity - fencing! The Monday morning class is the brainchild of Joseph D'Onofrio, a volunteer instructor at the Catholic Homes Corpus Christi nursing facility in Melbourne, Australia. Most of the residents are retired nuns and priests who were a bit hesitant to try their hand at sword play for fear of injury. "They said, 'You want us to learn fencing?'" recalls Patricia Boyd, lifestyle coordinator at Corpus Christi. "They thought it was quite strange." "Then Joseph spoke to them and explained how it's very spiritual." After D'Onofrio, 73, demonstrated the basic moves of dueling. The 16 students, most of whom are over 80 years old, soon left their worries behind and became enthusiastic participants. Now, it's nine months later and the feisty bunch - some with a walker or cane in one hand and a foil in the other - can parry, thrust and lunge with amazing skill. 'They just went from strength and they've become very good at it," Boyd says. Adds Sister Delores Kirby, 93: "It's very unusual at our age. It's a real challenge." |
| January 27th 2009 No Shoes No Pain Our footwear is a shoe-in for man's worst invention ever! New research comparing modern human feet to 2,000-year-old skeletons proves we're ruining our tootsies with every step we take. "Podiatrists should actively encourage outdoor barefoot walking for healthy people," declares Dr. Bernhard Zipfel, of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. The destructiveness of shoes is evident by age 40, when 80 percent of the population has some foot or ankle problems. By age 50 to 55, the number jumps to 95 percent! But you can do something to fight the discomfort. Wear flat sneakers as the best alternative to bare and steer clear of foot-killers like stilettos, boots and platforms. |
| January 26th 2009 Flush Like A King Some call it the "little room" or even the "water closet" - but if a man's home is his castle, then why settle for anything less than the Throne Room! Upscale bathroom designers are creating toilets fit for a king, transforming the humblest room of the house into a miniature luxury spa. Some ultra-modern toilets feature digital brains that do everything - including cleaning and deodorizing - automatically. But others bring a stately sense of opulent grace to any bathroom. Dagobert by Herbeau - Named for a seventh-century French king, this wooden commode with built-in music box is modeled after an actual medieval throne. The $14,000-plus price tag reportedly didn't keep Beatle George Harrison or singer Tina Turner from buying one. Kohler Hatbox - Sleek. Minimal. Stylish. "A lot of people have commented that it's more like a work of art," explains Kohler senior project manager Paul Nick. The functional fashion statement with the hidden water tank costs $3,200. Neo-Metro Leather Accents - Flashy stainless steel makes this bowl practically idestructible, and your choice of seven colors for the leather-clad tank males it a gorgeous centerpiece of any bathroom - for a little less than $4,000! |
| January 25th 2009 Beetle Helps Build New Computer Engineers are glad to have this bug in their new computers - a beetle whose flashy, iridescent scales are the key ingredient for lightning-fast machines that run on light! The green, inch-long weevil from Brazil, named Lamprocyphus augustus, has a body that's covered in crystals perfectlu shaped for building computers. "Nature has simple ways of making structures and materials that are still unobtainable with our million-dollar instruments and engineering strategies," explains Michael Bartl, of the University of Utah. His team is now trying to create synthetic, long-lasting copies of the beetle's crystals. |
| January 24th 2009 Transplants For Dogs Without dogs, medical researchers could never have pioneered the bone marrow transplants that save thousands of human lives every year. And now, humans are ready to return the favor, with the first large-scale transplant program designed to treat our four-legged friends suffering from cancer. "They helped us figure out how to save ourselves, so this represents a big give back to the canine species," declares veterinary oncologist Jeffrey Bryan, of Washington State University. The new program should make bone marrow transplants a routine treatment for furry lymphoma patients. "There are tens of thousands of dogs diagnosed with lymphoma every year," explains Bryan. The procedure will cost between $15,000 and $20,000 per pooch - a steep price , but not too much for their devoted owners. Dogs were the ideal test subjects for the first marrow transplants in the 1960s because, unlike monkeys or mice, they suffer many of the same diseases as humans and have a simiarly diverse gene pool. Doctors couldn't have learned to match transplant donors to recipients without the help of man's best friend. |
| January 23rd 2009 In College At 10-Years-Old A real-life whiz kid is taking the academic world by storm - even though he's only 10 years old! Mishe Kai Cavalin is holding down a A-plus grade point avergae at East Los Angeles University in California, with a full course load of advanced mathematics, statistics, Mandarin Chinese, martial arts and music. Next year, he plans to transfer to a more advanced institution to study astrophysics. He's especially interested in wormholes, the strange warped areas theorized by Einstein that someday could help space travelers cover vast distances in the blink of an eye. "Just like black holes, they suck in particulate objects and also like black holes, they travel at escape velocity, which means the speed to get out of there is faster than the speed of light," Cavalin says. "I'd like to prove that wormholes are really there and prove all the theories are correct." But he'll still be living with his parents - father Yosef Cavalin and mother Shu Chen Chien. They've tried to keep their son's life as normal as possible. He collects toy cars, plays soccer and watches Jackie Chan movies, just like any other 10-year-old. When he was 6, they tried putting him in a private elementary school. "They didn't want to accept me because I knew more than the teacher there and they said I looked too bored," Cavalin explains. Instead, his mom and dad homeschooled him for two years before enrolling him in college. His first year, he took two classes - phys ed and intermediate algebra. "I told his parents he should take a higher-level course, but his parents didn't want to push him," says algebra professor Guajao Liao. By the end of the semester, the brainy little boy was tutoring his 20-year-old classmates. |
| January 20th 2009 Heart Health: Best And Worst Cities In America Women living in Minneapolis, Washington, D.C. or San Francisco suffer less from heart disease than anywhere else in America. But females in Nashville, St. Louis and Detroit are likely to be victims of heart disease - the leading killer of American women. "It's fair to say that if you live in the least heart-healthy cities, there's a chance that you'll have a high likelihood of heart disease and stroke and may have a shortened lifespan," says Dr. Jennifer Mieres, of the American Heart Association. Lifestyles dominated by smoking, obesity, lack of exercise and consuming fast foods were at the root of the high number of heart attack and strokes in the South and Midwest. But you don't have to move to improve your chances of a long, healthy life. All it takes is these positive lifestyle changes: eat healthy, exercise and keep your blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and weight levels in a healthy range. |
| January 19th 2009 Eggcident! Controversial artist Hank Hofstra has created his most eggs-tra-ordinary project ever - a series of 90-foot-wide, over-easy fried eggs on exhibit in Wilhelmina Square, Leeuwarden, Hollad. The massive work, called Art Eggcident, was an instant hit with the public. Children climbed on top of the yolks and adults made jokes about the bizarre display that will remain in place for the next six months. "I love it!" declared one onlooker. "But it does need bacon, toast and coffee." http://www.woostercollective.com/2008/05/henk_hofstras_arteggcident_in_leeuwarden.html |
| January 18th 2009 Don't Scratch Your Back With A Gun - Really Don't! A drunk driven crazy by an itchy back used a gun to scratch the spot and promptly shot himself! The 44-year-old man, of Fort Worth, Texas, had been drinking beer and playing poker for hours when the 3 a.m. accident occurred. "He told officers he had an itch on his back and grabbed the first thing he could get a hold of, which was a revolver," says police Lt. Kenneth Dean. "The gun went off." The victim's pals at the poker table initially ignored his wound and went about their card game. "They didn't believe him unil they saw the blood coming down his back," Dean says. They rushed the genius to the hospital where he was treated and released. |
| January 17th 2009 Mosquito Invasion The U.S. is on the brink of an invasion by a deadly Asian horde set to spread lethal diseases in a nonstop aerial attack. The name of this new, fearsome foe: the Asian tiger mosquito! Scientists warn that these flying parasites do more than just leave huge, itching welts on those they've bitten. They carry a host of exotic diseases, including malaria, dengue fever, West Nile virus and chikungunya fever. And they've already established a foothold in port cities across the South. "They're spread rapidly, thanks to tires carried on the decks of container ships," explains epidemiologist Brett Foster, Ph.D. "Enough rainwate collects in the tires for the insects to breed." "One egg-laying female can fly onto a freighter in Singapore and in just a quarter-inch of water, she can lay between 100 and 300 eggs." Experts say children and pets are at especially high risk because unlike other varieties, the heavier tiger mosquitoes stay close to the ground. They've been spotted in Corpus Christi, Texas; Biloxi, Mississippi and Tampa, Florida - and public health officials are on the lookout for symptoms of potentially deadly illnesses. "In Northern Italy, dozens of people fell victim to chikungunya fever, which causes weeks of severe joint pain, headaches and insomnia, before they even realized what they were facing," Foster explains. "Dengue fever is even worse - so painful, it's also called 'break-bone fever' and claims hundreds of lives every year." If you spot a large, dusky mosquito with bright white stripes, contact your local public health center. |
| January 16th 2009 New Words Listen to your kids and you can learn a whole new language! Author Paul Dickson shares this unique vocabulary in his book Family Words: A Dictionary of the Secret Language of Families (Marion Street Press). His tongue-twisting discoveries include: Barkative: Said of dogs that bark and bark. Dofer: Describes something not exactly right, but it'll "do for" now. Flabble: A jiggly desposit of fat. Lurkin: An only sock, because its mate is "lurkin" somewhere. Poofit: Asked by a child presented with an especially hot plate of food: "Did you poofit?" Sibble: What brothers and sisters do when they argue with on another. |
| January 15th 2009 Bike That Listens To Your Body The motorbike of the future has emerged from the brain of an 18-year-old inventor, and it's a pretty weird-looking gizmo. But appearances can deceive. First of all, the Uno - as Ben Gulak calls his bike - has two wheels side by side. It relies on gyroscopic technology to stay right side up. The driver steers by leaning his or her body in the desired direction. The more pronounced the lean, the faster the speed - up to a maximum of 25 miles per hour for the prototype Gulak has built. A second intriguing feature of the Uno is that it uses absolutely no gasoline. It's powered soley by electricity and can zip along for two and a half hours after being fully charged from an ordinary household outlet. Gulak is looking for investors to get the novel bike into full-scaled production. |
| January 14th 2009 Morph Phones On the off chance you've been dreaming about wearing your cell phone as a bracelet, there's good news for you. Using the latest in nanotechnology and space-age plastics, Nokia has designed a phone that can do just that and a lot more. Engineers at the Swedish company have come up with what they call the Morph phone. It can be bent, twisted, rolled up or crumpled - without doing it a bit of harm. You can wrap it around your wrist to turn it into a fashion accessory or you can fold it and stuff it into the smallest compartment in your purse. The flexible materials are based on the principle behind spider silk - bendable yet tough as nails. The new design, which is expected to be on the market in the next few years, also allows for transparent electronics and solar charging. Some models will even clean themselves. |
| January 13th 2009 See Millions Of New Colors... With Your Tongue! Scientists are on the verge of understanding exactly how the brain creates perceptions from stimuli provided by your five senses - sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. With that knowledge comes some pretty off-the-wall possibilities. For one, futurologist William Holmes, in his book, Expanding the Human Mind: The Future of the Brain, predicts that neurologists will be able to fiddle with the visual cortex in your noggin so you'll be able to see a kaleidoscope of millions of dazzling colors rather than just mixtures of the four primary colors now available to us. Cool, huh? But you ain't heard nothing yet! Other neuroscientists are working on rewiring the brain so you'll be able to see those colors through your tongue rather than your eyes. Imagine being able to hear with your nose, smell with your finger tips and sense textures through your ears! With the right tweaking, when you eat a hamburger, you'll see bright red; when you listen to the Rolling Stones, you'll feel as though you were stroking a dog and when you sniff a rose, you'll hear the sound of a rushing waterfall. |
| January 12th 2009 CAR-AZY?!?! A death-defying daredevil brings new meaning to the phrase "scenic drive" with his jaw-dropping jaunt 150 feet above a raging river. Liu Suozhu, known as the Car King of China, edged his vehicle along two 750-foot-long steel cables as 30,000 spectators looked on in awe. He says the last few minutes of his 30-minute stunt were the most difficult because the steep angle blocked his rear view - but after stopping to stabilize the car, he made it in one piece! |
| January 11th 2009 The Return Of South Carolina's Lizard Man!!! An eerie creature known as The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp has returned exactly 20 years after inflicting a reign of terror on a remote Southern region. On June 29, 1988, residents of Lee County, South Carolina, began reporting frightening run-ins with a green, 7-foot-tall, human-shaped creature. The bizarre beast had reptilian skin, glowing red eyes and long, black claws on its three-fingered hands and three-toed feet. Weeks later, it vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. But now, people around the town of Bishopville, South Carolina, say it's back. "The whole front half of our van is chewed up," explains Dixie Rawland. "There are bite marks right through the front grill." "Both sides of the van above the wheel wells were bitten and the metal is bent like a piece of paper." Blood smears found near the puncture marks tested positive for dog DNA, but experts say the bites were too large and the damage was too extensive for even the strongest of wolves to have been responsible. Local authorties, fearing the creature may have claimed a victim before mauling the van, are now looking for reports of missing dogs in the area. "Going back to before the time of the first white settlers around Scape Ore Swamp, there have been stories about strange, human-like vreatures who come out of the wilderness to cause trouble every so often," explains historian Doug Pritchard. "Some things around here just can't be explained." |
| January 10th 2009 Easy Earth-Friendlization Of Your Vehicle You don't have to rush out and buy an electric or hybrid vehicle in order to jump on the "green" bandwagon. Here are a few simple procedures that'll help your current ride become a better friend to Mother Earth by using less gasoline. ~Maintain proper tire pressure. The engine has to work harder, burning more fuel, to power a car with under-inflated tires. ~Get regular maintenance service. This includes tune-ups, changing air filters, oil and oil filters. These procedures all help your car run more efficiently, using less gas and preventing oil burn-off. ~Drive gently. Accelerate slowly, don't speed, decelerate gradually to avoid slamming on the brakes and coast whenever possible. Don't tailgate - to avoid hitting the car in front of you, you'll end up in a vicious cycle of slowing down and speeding up, which will make your car guzzle gas. ~Remove all excess clutter from the trunk and back seat. The more weight the vehicle carries, the more gas it uses. ~Lose the roof rack. Store it somewhere until you need it. Those contraptions can worsen gas mileage by up to 3 percent! |
| SPECIAL THEPAPNEWS TIP: To make better pancakes add two tablespoons of your favorite jam to the mix! |
| January 9th 2009 A Ghost Of A Crazy Clown Terrorizes Tourists! Yeah, No Really! A visit to a circus museum ended in horror for a couple attacked by the spirit of a demented clown! "I've read the stories describing ghostly encounters by other THEPAPNEWS readers, but I never expected I'd be in one," declares Derrick Buffer, of Cleveland, Ohio. The 59-year-old construction foreman and his wife Kelly were vacationing in Sarasota, Florida, and took a tour of the Ringling Brothers' museum. "As we walked along the side of the building to our car, the clown's face popped up in front of us," Kelly recalls. "A cold wind sprang up as his scary face hovered above the sidewalk, and I screamed bloody murder!" But her quick-thinking huby kept his wits about him. "I pushed Kelly behind me with one hand while grabbing my camera with the other and taking his picture," Derrick recalls. "The ghost reacted to the flash by immediately disappearing. I wasn't to sure if I gotten the shot or not, so I wasn't let down that I didn't." Kelly has a completely different take on the terrifying encounter. "I think that awful spirit followed us home because I've had terrible nightmares in which the clown ghost doesn't just scare us - it kills us," says the 57-year-old grandmother. "I wake up in cold sweat with my heart pounding and it's tough getting back to sleep." While Derrick is sympathetic, he doesn't share his wife's fear that the malevolent ghost is haunting their home. "That thing scared the devil out of me at the time, but Kelly is more sensitive than I am," he says. "After the initial shock, I could letit go. Unfortunately, she can't." |
| January 8th 2009 Harvard University: Food Nutrition Gets A Bost By Microwave Ovens Vegetables are the mainstay of any healthy diet. They're loaded with anti-oxidants and other nutrients that will keep your cells young and ward off a host of diseases. But all the vegetables in the world won't do you much good if you cook all the nutrition out of them. Almost every vegetable loses nutritive value in the cooking process. Therefore, ideally, the less time they spend on the stove, the better they are for you. Microwaves provide an advantage because they achieve the desired degree of doneness in less time than conventional stovetop cooking. In addition, microwaving requires less water, which also helps preserve nutrients in the vegetables. |
| January 7th 2009 THEPAPNEWS Recipe Of Chicken Pepper Bomb Unlike traditional Tex-Mex cooking, which uses lots of artery-clogging lard, THEPAPNEWS recipe vault contains only heart-healthy and taste bud blasting goodness. "It's like getting kicked in the face by a mule without the coma!," screams Lornta Diaz-Lopez, of Mexico City, California. For sending us his/her recipe Lornta will receive $2,500 from THEPAPNEWS. 2 tbspsoons Canola Oil 1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast strips 3 tspoons fajita seasoning 1/6 tspoon salt 1/2 bag (16 oz.) frozen pepper stir-fry 1 cup corn 1 tbspoon fresh cilantro, chopped In large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken strips, fajita seasoning and salt; cook, stirring occasionally, 5-6 minutes till chicken is no longer pink. Stir in pepper stir-fry and corn. Cook, stirring until veggies are tender and chicken is golden brown. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve. Wrap in torillas, if you feel like it. EAT! |
| January 6th 2009 THEPAPNEWS Awesome Home Remedies That Will Really Work! Tried and true home cures can save you a fortune - you'll spend less on doctor visits, medical tests and prescription drugs. The problem is knowing which of these remedies really do work and which are old-wives' tales. Many of these so-called "folk" treatments have stood up to rigorous scientific testing. Here are some of the best - they'll keepy you and your family in the pink. A 2007 study showed that coughs due to upper respiratory infections can be treated more effectively with honey than with over-the-counter medications. Two or three teaspoons a couple of times a day is the recommended dose. Onions sauteed with curry powder will clear up chest congestion. The active ingredients are the quercetin and sulfur in the onions and the spices in the curry powder. Dried figs are even better than prunes when it comes to getting rid of constipation. Five figs contain 20 percent of your daily fiber requirement. The beneficial bacteria in yogurt will banish tummy upset in a flash. Make sure the yogurt contains "active bacterial cultures." Eat as much as you like until the problem vanishes. Almond oil or grapeseed oil are ideal solutions for dry, flaky skin. thet're absorded faster than commercial moisturizers and they're a lot cheaper. Relieve the agony of a headache by rubbing peppermint oil into your temples. A study found that this inexpensive treatment works as well as 1,000 milligrams (mgs.) of aspirin - an extremely large dose that could cause stomach problems. Chicken soup will put cold symptoms on the run. It'll free up clogged nasal passages and it has a mild anti-inflammatory effect. Apple cider vinegar will get rid of dandruff. Massage it into your hair after you've shampooed, leave it on for a few minutes and then rinse it off. |
| January 5th 2009 Stressed Out? 10 Tips For You Stress and depression go hand in hand - and they've reached epidemic proportions in today's fast-paced America. With rising prices, financial insecurity and a host of other problems that are beyond our control, the walls seem to be closing in on many people. Stress leads to depression, depression leads to a weakened immune system, a weakened immune system leads to health problems and health problems lead to more stress. You can break out of this destructive cycle today - and you can do it without spending a penny on costly anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs. Help is no farther away than your kitchen. The following 10 foods are scientifically proven to fight stress and depression. They work fast, they have no side effects and they won't damage your already-battered bank account. 1. Spinach is a top source of iron and folate, both of which relieve stress and banish blue moods. Eat it raw, cooked or substitute it for lettuce in a sandwich. 2. A bowl of oatmeal for breakfast will start you on the road to a stress-free day. The healthy carbohydrates it contains prompt your body to send an amino acid called tryptophan to the brain, where it triggers the production of serotonin, a chemical in the body that causes you to feel tranquil and equips you to cope with the ups and downs of life. The effects will last all day long. 3. Coffee consumption actually has a calming effect on those who drink it regularly. If your body is used to caffeine, a jolt of joe will lower your blood pressure temporarily and help you get through stressful moments. Limit yourself to a cup or two a day - more will have the reverse effect and make you feel jittery. 4. Mushrooms are instant mood boosters. In a study, people who ate lots of mushrooms were found to be almost 100 percent happier than those who shunned the 'shroom. 5. Sip a glass of warm milk just before bedtime to get a stress-busting good night's sleep. It'll provide you with calcium, which has been proven to relax muscles and lower blood pressure. 6. Fatigue is one of the leading causes of both stress and depression. When you're tired, everything you do takes more effort - and that produces anxiety. Lean meat will energize your muscles and take this factor out of play. Fish and lean poultry will also do the trick. 7. Wine is a nervous-system depressant. Consumed in moderation, it will banish anxiety and stress. Don't overdo it, though. Drinking too much may worsen depression. 8. Chocolate is one of the best mood-boosters around. It contains a healthy fat called phenylethylamine, which stimulates the brain to release endorphin, rightfully called the "feel-good" hormone. 9. If you're feeling stressed or lapse into a blue mood, eat a handful of walnuts. They're full of omega-3 acids and uridine, which combine to facilitate communication between cells in the part of the brain responsible for emotional responses. 10. Chewing gum induces the brain to generate alpha waves, the kind of electrical activity associated with clamness and serenity. |
| January 4th 2009 Beware Of Doctor Samples! Pharmaceutical companies load doctors up with free samples of their newest products in the expectation that the physicians will dispense them to their patients. Don't be deceived into thinking that drug companies are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. It's a narketing strategy designed to get you used to recently approved medicines that'll cost you an arm and a leg when the free sample runs out. If you accept such a "handout," thank your doctor kindly, but also ask if there's a cheaper, generic drug available that will do the job when the time comes to fill a prescription. |
| January 3rd 2009 Face Of Courage When Christian Constantine was born, his doctors had never seen a face so severely deformed. But after 36 grueling operations, the 23-year-old has been rebuilt. Constantine's condition is so rare, it has no name. He's believed to be only one of four people in the world with his particular combination of serious defects. "It took three days for doctors to pluck up the courage to take me to my mom," Constantine explains. "The nurses showed her a Polaroid of me first to soften the reality." "But by then, my dad had already held me, and he told Mom that my eyes were incredibly alert and he was sure I had no brain damage." "It must have been a terrible shock, and the older I get, the more I appreciate that. They've been brilliant, loving parents." At birth, he had a cleft running from his upper lip to his forehead, as well as a condition called hypertiliorism, which left his eyes abnormally far apart and his hairline unusually high. His nose was barely formed and the roof of his mouth showed where his upper lip should have been. "He had his first operation at six weeks, to repair his cleft lip," explains mom Mina, 52. "But nobody had any idea that we'd still be operating nearly 24 years later." In 1993, at age 9, surgeon Paul Tessier began the epic work of reconstructing Constantine's face with a 14-hour operation to bring his eyes closer together. " I can still remember the huge smile on my uncle's face when he saw me," Constantine recalls. "I knew then that things had gone well." Over the next two years, the brave little boy under went 14 more operations. Surgeons extended his upper lip and inserted grommets in bones that were blocking his hearing. At age 17, he began another round of procedures, including bone grafts in his mouth to support dental implants and rebuilt eyelids. School was difficult - not only from emotional toll of being different, but also because he was off sick so often. In college, things got so bad, he even considered suicide. But seeing a photograph of his family brought him back to his senses, he says. He plans to graduate this year and is considering moving from London to New York - to start a new life as a whole new man. |