Washington State Is Giving Away an 86-Year-Old Bridge

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Shopping for a fan of historic infrastructure this holiday season? The Washington State Department of Transportation has an offer for you: The State Route 508 South Fork Newaukum River Bridge is in need of a new home, and the rusty trusses can be yours free of charge. All WSDOT asks is that you move it on your own dime, which could end up costing tens of thousands of dollars, KGW.com reports.

The bridge was constructed in 1930, and sits about 75 miles south of Seattle. After supporting cars and trucks crossing the South Fork Newaukum River for decades, the rusted-through structure was deemed unfit for traffic in 2015. But the Washington government wants to avoid demolishing this piece of history if possible. It’s one of just 13 pony truss bridges left on public roads in the state, and it’s eligible for historic listing under the National Historic Preservation Act. That means whoever snatches it up will be required to reuse the trusses “in a way that preserves historic relevance.”

The deal doesn’t include the entirety of the bridge—just the 90-foot steel trusses without the deck or substructure. Even so, WSDOT believes someone out there can get some good use out of them. “We’re hoping someone can repurpose it at [sic] a golf course, on a hiking trail, or even see its beauty as garden art,” they write on the WSDOT blog.

Whether or not they find someone to take the historic hunk of infrastructure, a new bridge is planned to take its place in 2018. If you’re interested in saving the bridge from becoming scrap metal, you can contact WSDOT here.

[h/t KGW Portland]


November 30, 2016 – 12:30pm

Sip Smarter with This Bargain $12 Stainless Steel Tumbler

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amazon / istock

Stainless steel tumblers are all the rage for keeping cold drinks frosty and hot ones toasty. The only catch is that they can be pricey, with the 30-ounce version of Yeti’s wildly popular Rambler tumbler retailing for $39.99. Forty bucks is a lot to pay for a tumbler, especially when buying the lid separately will set you back another five dollars or so. 

Luckily, there’s a better option out there for the budget-conscious. RTIC’s super popular 30 oz. Tumbler offers similar stainless steel, double-wall construction, and it promises to keep ice cold for up to 24 hours or hot drinks warm for six hours. Better yet, it’s just $11.99 on Amazon. While the RTIC 30 oz. Tumbler is easier on the wallet than its Yeti counterpart, it doesn’t sacrifice performance. The tumblers have racked up a 4.6-star rating across 6,700 Amazon reviews, so if you’re looking for that perfect stocking stuffer for the beverage-enjoyer in your life. And if you want to sweeten the deal with some easy sipping, you can pick up a set of four stainless-steel straws with a cleaning brush for just seven dollars more. 

Buy at Amazon: RTIC 30 oz. Tumbler for $11.99 (list price $59.95)

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November 30, 2016 – 1:18pm

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B019D9HESO

10 Tips for Recovering From Illnesses From Hippocrates

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REBECCA O’CONNELL // WELLCOME IMAGES (HIPPOCRATES), ISTOCK (BACKGROUND)

Now known as the father of medicine, Hippocrates is credited with writing many manuals advising readers on how to deal with a variety of illnesses and ailments. One of his texts, On Regimen In Acute Diseases (400 BCE), contains a plethora of medical recommendations. The next time you’re battling dysentery, fighting pneumonia, or simply trying to get rid of a headache, consider these time-honored tips.

1. MAKE SURE YOU SEE A REAL DOCTOR.

According to Hippocrates, to get the best diagnosis and treatment plan you need to find a real doctor whose practice is rooted in science and the observations of anatomy. Avoid posers who have simply memorized the names of common treatments and try to pass themselves off as true, knowledgeable physicians. But note that even real doctors might not agree on how to treat acute diseases, which include pneumonia, fever, lethargy, and inflammation of the lungs and brain.

“Persons who are not physicians pass for physicians owing most especially to these [acute] diseases, for it is an easy matter to learn the names of those things which are applicable to persons laboring under such complaints … in acute diseases, practitioners differ so much among themselves, that those things which one administers as thinking it the best that can be given, another holds to be bad.”

2. FILL YOUR MEDICINE CABINET WITH FOOD.

You probably have prescription drugs, pain relievers, and ointments in your medicine cabinet, but what about food? Hippocrates recommends that you keep raisins, grapes, saffron, and pomegranates on hand. You can put these ingredients in healing drinks, and even press fig juice on a vein to stop bleeding. Roasted cumin, white sesame seeds, and almonds with honey can also help patients with lung infections. But be aware that although food can be curative, it can also cause health problems. Hippocrates warns that garlic and cheese, for example, can cause flatulence, nausea, and constipation.

“With respect to all the others, such as barley-water, the drinks made from green shoots, those from raisins, and the skins of grapes and wheat, and bastard saffron, and myrtles, pomegranates, and the others, when the proper time for using them is come, they will be treated of along with the disease in question, in like manner as the other compound medicines.”

3. PICK THE RIGHT WINE.

Different types of wines abound, so you have to pick the right one to treat your particular symptoms. Consult your doctor to choose wisely between sweet, strong, dark, light, and diluted versus undiluted wines. Be aware that drinking the wrong wine can cause long-term flatulence, artery throbbing, thirst, heaviness of the head, and spleen swelling. Even the right wine for your affliction can have some negative effects on your health, so keep in mind that no wine will be perfect.

“One must determine by such marks as these, when sweet, strong, and dark wine, hydromel, water and oxymel, should be given in acute diseases. Wherefore the sweet affects the head less than the strong, attacks the brain less, evacuates the bowels more than the other, but induces swelling of the spleen and liver; it does not agree with bilious persons, for it causes them to thirst; it creates flatulence in the upper part of the intestinal canal, but does not disagree with the lower part, as far as regards flatulence; and yet flatulence engendered by sweet wine is not of a transient nature.”

4. DON’T BE AFRAID OF SOAP.

Today, we think of washing our hands with soap as a preventative method to remove germs and prevent colds. But Hippocrates recommends soap as a treatment. He notes that when bathing, you should ideally be gentle on your skin, but if you must scrub yourself, use hot soap. Keep in mind that you should use more soap than you normally would, and pour lots of water over yourself to wash the soap off.

“It is better that no friction should be applied, but if so, a hot soap must be used in greater abundance than is common, and an affusion of a considerable quantity of water is to be made at the same time and afterwards repeated.”

5. REMEMBER THAT WATER IS OVERRATED.

It’s healthy to stay hydrated, but Hippocrates urges readers not to bother with drinking water. Although he admits that drinking a small quantity of water (in between other drinks of honey and vinegar) can help you cough up phlegm, water can do a lot more harm than good. It can create bile, increase the swelling of the spleen and liver, and produce unpleasant stomach gurgling. And if you have cold feet, definitely stay away from water:

“[Water] neither soothes the cough in pneumonia, nor promotes expectoration … it creates bile in a bilious temperament, and is injurious to the hypochondrium; and it does the most harm, engenders most bile, and does the least good when the bowels are empty; and it increases the swelling of the spleen and liver when they are in an inflamed state; it produces a gurgling noise in the intestines and swims on the stomach…and, if it be drunk while the feet are cold, its injurious effects will be greatly aggravated.”

6. LET OTHER PEOPLE BATHE YOU.

Are you a lazy bather? According to Hippocrates, that’s ok. Taking a bath can be useful in many diseases such as pneumonia and back pain, and sick bathers should treat their bath as a relaxing experience. Just don’t get in a bath if you have loose bowels or are vomiting. As you soak, do nothing for yourself, letting other people pour water on you, rub your body, and sponge you off.

“But the person who takes the bath should be orderly and reserved in his manner, should do nothing for himself, but others should pour the water upon him and rub him, and plenty of waters, of various temperatures, should be in readiness for the douche, and the affusions quickly made; and sponges should be used instead of the comb, and the body should be anointed when not quite dry.”

7. DON’T MAKE SUDDEN LIFESTYLE CHANGES.

Hippocrates would not be a fan of The Biggest Loser and other TV shows that encourage people to quickly and drastically change their diet and exercise routines. According to the ancient Greek physician, it’s actually better to continue a faulty diet rather than suddenly change it. So if you’re used to eating two meals a day, don’t abruptly cut down to one, or you risk becoming weak, suffering from heartburn, and having diarrhea. Not to mention potentially developing hot green urine and throbbing temples:

“But it is well ascertained that even a faulty diet of food and drink steadily persevered in, is safer in the main as regards health than if one suddenly change it to another … And, moreover, those who have been in the habit of eating twice a day, if they omit dinner, become feeble and powerless, averse to all work, and have heartburn; their bowels seem, as it were, to hang loose, their urine is hot and green, and the excrement is parched; in some the mouth is bitter, the eyes are hollow, the temples throb, and the extremities are cold.”

8. DRINK YOUR BARLEY WATER WITH FOOD.

Hippocrates loves ptisan, a boiled drink made from barley and water. Ptisan is better than other medicinal drinks made from alternate grains, and it nourishes the body and tastes pleasant, he says. Consult your doctor to determine whether you should drink unstrained ptisan or just the juice. If you’re used to eating two meals a day, drink ptisan twice with your food, and make sure to never run out of it!

“Ptisan, then, appears to me to be justly preferred before all the other preparations from grain in these diseases, and I commend those who made this choice, for the mucilage of it is smooth, consistent, pleasant, lubricant, moderately diluent, quenches thirst if this be required, and has no astringency; gives no trouble nor swells up in the bowels … Those, then, who make use of ptisan in such diseases, should never for a day allow their vessels to be empty of it, if I may say so, but should use it and not intermit, unless it be necessary to stop for a time, in order to administer medicine or a clyster.”

9. TREAT PAIN WITH HEAT.

Heating pads may be easy to find in drugstores today, but people in the ancient world had to make their own. Hippocrates explains that hot applications can dissolve pain, making you feel better. The father of medicine advises putting hot water in a bottle, bladder, or vessel, but making sure to put a soft barrier between your skin and the hot water so you don’t get burned (still good advice).

“When pain seizes the side, either at the commencement or at a later stage, it will not be improper to try to dissolve the pain by hot applications. Of hot applications the most powerful is hot water in a bottle, or bladder, or in a brazen vessel, or in an earthen one; but one must first apply something soft to the side, to prevent pain. A soft large sponge, squeezed out of hot water and applied, forms a good application; but it should be covered up above, for thus the heat will remain the longer, and at the same time the vapor will be prevented from being carried up to the patient’s breath, unless when this is thought of use, for sometimes it is the case.”

10. TRY DRINKING HONEY AND VINEGAR TO BREATHE BETTER.

Hippocrates discusses the many uses of oxymel, a mixture of honey and vinegar, as well as hydromel, a mixture of honey and water. Drink oxymel to breathe better, cough up phlegm, and clear your windpipe. But keep in mind that in some patients, oxymel can have nasty side effects such as flatulent and watery discharges from the bowels. Also, women should be cautious when drinking too much vinegar, for it can cause uterus pain.

“[Oxymel] promotes expectoration and freedom of breathing … It also promotes flatulent discharges from the bowels, and is diuretic, but it occasions watery discharges and those resembling scrapings, from the lower part of the intestine, which is sometimes a bad thing in acute diseases, more especially when the flatulence cannot be passed, but rolls backwards; and otherwise it diminishes the strength and makes the extremities cold.”

All photos via iStock unless otherwise noted.


November 30, 2016 – 12:00pm

The Devious Strategy of the Mind-Controlling Cat-Poop Parasite

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Masum Ibn Musa via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0

Toxoplasma gondii, a parasitic protozoan, infects more than 50 percent of people on Earth and millions of cats and other animals, yet the secrets to its success have largely remained a mystery—until now. A new study published in the journal Structure concludes that the parasite can hack into and rewire its host’s immune system to suit its own purposes.

You may not recognize this parasite by name, but you’ve probably heard it mentioned. T. gondii infection, better known as toxoplasmosis, has the power to produce strange changes in its hosts. The parasite can only reproduce within a cat’s body, and scientists believe that it can manipulate other animals to make that happen. Mice with toxoplasmosis lose their healthy fear of cats and will stroll right up to their predators, essentially delivering their parasitic passengers directly into the mouth of the beast.

Some scientists believe that toxoplasmosis can also influence human behavior, and studies have linked infection to symptoms of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and intermittent explosive disorder. Other researchers say these findings are overhyped, overblown, and impossible to reproduce.

Whether or not T. gondii can change our minds, it’s definitely changing our bodies. Toxoplasmosis can be dangerous for pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems, but most people never even know they’re sick—which is not how our bodies are supposed to work. Our immune systems are supposed to protect us from parasites like T. gondii, or, if they can’t, at least alert us by getting riled up and inflamed.

But somehow, this intruder found a way to override our personal security systems. The first clue to its strategy came last year, when scientists at the Institute for Advanced Biosciences discovered that T. gondii makes a protein called GRA24 that in turn convinces the body to make an inflammatory protein called p38α.

This raised a new question, one which became the focus of the new study: Why would a parasite ever want to trigger inflammation?

The researchers cultured human cells in the laboratory, then gave them toxoplasmosis and monitored the molecular-level interactions between the two proteins. They discovered that GRA24 can essentially hot-wire the security system and bypass multiple steps of the immune response process. By making its own p38α, T. gondii can control the flow and extent of inflammation. It doesn’t shut down the immune system; doing so could make its host sick and jeopardize the parasite’s new, cushy existence. Instead, it muffles the system just enough to keep itself safe and undetectable.

Watch your back, T. gondii. We’re on to you.


November 30, 2016 – 11:30am

Newsletter Item for (89217): 4 Ideas From Linguistics to Help You Appreciate ‘Arrival’

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4 Ideas From Linguistics to Help You Appreciate Arrival

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Denis Villeneuve’s new sci-fi space-encounter movie Arrival is, at its core, a story about the importance of language. These four important concepts from linguistics help Dr. Banks—played by Amy Adams—do the job she needs to do in Arrival. (And they might just help you appreciate the movie even more.)

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Language
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4 Ideas From Linguistics to Help You Appreciate 'Arrival'