Month: October 2019

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After Almost Losing His Mother, This Teen Invented a Bra That Can Detect Breast Cancer Early

I bet we’ll be hearing from this young man for many years.

After Julián Ríos Cantú watched his mother endure two bouts with breast cancer, the 18-year-old from Mexico decided he wanted to help out other women who might not have access to affordable healthcare.

Posted by Julián Ríos Cantú on Monday, November 20, 2017

Cantú’s mother ended up having a mastectomy. Standard screenings missed the lumps in his mother’s breasts because her high breast density obscured the growths. Cantú said, “At that moment, I realized that if that was the case for a woman with private insurance and a prevention mindset, then for most women in developing countries, like Mexico where we’re from, the outcome could’ve not been a mastectomy but death.”

Cantú took matters into his own hands, inventing Eva, a “bio-sensing bra insert” that uses thermal sensing and artificial intelligence to create a thermal map of women’s breasts. Abnormal temperatures and tumor growth are related, and an Eva insert can help women detect cancerous growths. It also helps with the self-examination process.

As things stand today, patients don’t have a lot of options for early detection of breast cancer. If you’re under 45, you can’t receive mammograms due to concerns about exposure to radiation. Even if you’re over that age, mammograms can be very expensive.

The Eva technology does not emit any radiation, and women of all ages can wear the insert.

The company has performed clinical trials on more than 2,000 women in Mexico. Eva’s website says,

“Eva’s technology is approved by the FDA as an adjunct method for breast cancer detection in section 884.2980 Teletermographic Systems. Similarly, Eva Clinic operates under the highest ethical standards, strictly following the Official Mexican Standard NOM-041-SSA2-2011, for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, control, and surveillance of breast cancer.”

The product is now available for use at certified Eva clinics, but who knows? Maybe someday it’ll be in our houses, helping women detect breast cancer even earlier.

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Scientists Say That North America Has Lost 3 Billion Birds in the Last 50 Years

We’ve heard all about the plight of the bees that are disappearing at an alarming rate across the world, but the situation with birds doesn’t look too great, either.

A new article in the journal Science estimates that North America has lost a quarter of its bird population – roughly 3 billion birds – in the past 50 years. The researchers looked at populations of 529 different bird species since 1970 to reach their conclusion. They collected data from surveys with the help of volunteer bird spotters and combined that with ten years worth of data on flocks of migrating birds detected by 143 different weather radar installations.

Ken Rosenberg of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology said, “We saw this tremendous net loss across the entire bird community. By our estimates, it’s a 30% loss in the total number of breeding birds. But we also knew that other bird populations were increasing. And what we didn’t know is whether there was a net change.”

The data showed that more than 90% of the losses came from only a dozen bird families, including warblers, blackbirds, finches, and sparrows. Meadowlarks and red-winged blackbirds are two examples of common birds that have seen their numbers decrease.

The news isn’t entirely bad, though; some bird populations have increased, such as raptors (influding bald eagles), and waterfowl. Rosenberg continued, “The numbers of ducks and geese are larger than they’ve ever been, and that’s not an accident. It’s because hunters who primarily want to see healthy waterfowl populations for recreational hunting have raised their voices.”

Mike Parr, another one of the study’s authors, said, “We’re making the wrong moves now to sustain nature for the future, and this is an indication that nature is unraveling and that ecosystems are highly stressed. Our generation is going survive it, and probably the next generation will, but who knows where the tipping point is.”

The researchers say that climate change played only a small role in the overall loss of the birds so far, but it is likely to become more of a threat in the future because of rising seas, draughts and wildfires.

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Try These 10 Microhabits That Might Help Improve Your Life in a Year

All of us want to be better versions of ourselves. To be more productive, more positive, just better overall.

Instead of trying for that one, big breakthrough that might never come, you should instead try to focus on microhabits to change your life.

Here are 10 to work on. Remember, start small and these changes will add up and you’ll start seeing changes. Good luck!

1. Rejection is good.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Try to be rejected more often. Reach out to one or two people each day you’d like to work with, even if you don’t think they’ll respond. Someone will respond at some point, and that minimal effort will be worth it.

What do you have to lose?

2. Write a paragraph.

The hardest part of writing is actually sitting down and doing it. You can make up a million excuses about why you shouldn’t write, or you can make the choice to just do it, even if it’s only a paragraph.

Whether you want to eventually write a book, an article, a business plan, or even a love letter, the more you do it, the easier it will become.

3. Think about comfort…in the future.

Photo Credit: Max Pixel

You should choose comfort for yourself in the future instead of comfort right now in the present. Start making choices that will be beneficial for your future self. Always thinking about the present moment and not looking ahead is a recipe for disaster.

4. Get it done.

If you get a text, answer it quickly. If you get an email, respond ASAP. If you have this mindset, you won’t end up with a never-ending backlog of messages to respond to.

5. Your base needs are important.

Photo Credit: pxhere

It’s important to take care of yourself. If you’re hungry, eat. If you’re tired, get some sleep. Don’t burn yourself out and make yourself sick just because you think you have to be busy and working all the time.

6. Reading is good.

Read more. It’s pretty simple. You don’t have to always finish the book you start, but read some articles and expand your knowledge about the world. Reading is crucial for self-growth.

7. Put it down.

Photo Credit: Pexels

Learn to scroll less. Most of us have made scrolling through social media an everyday habit, but you should really work to limit the time you spend doing this. As you probably know, it’s never very productive.

8. NOPE

Learn to say “no” to people. Our time and energy are both limited, so it’s important that you don’t let others suck up all your resources. In other words, you do you.

9. Just one less.

Photo Credit: Pexels

Eat one less unhealthy snack each day. Don’t focus on completely changing your diet overnight. Once you get into this habit, you’ll see changes and you can further tweak your diet.

10. The question.

Begin each day by asking yourself this question: “How can I change my life today?” Stop thinking you have to survive each day and change your mindset to believe that each day is full of potential and you can achieve whatever you put your mind to. You must be willing to see things in your life differently to make some changes.

You can do it!

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The Nearly Extinct Northern White Rhino Might Live on Thanks to Lab-Created Embryos

Finally, some good news!

For all the destruction and mayhem that humans have caused around the planet, sometimes we actually do some good things, too. Things like preventing (hopefully) the complete extinction of the northern white rhino.

The last male northern white rhino died in 2018, and only two females, Fatu and Najin, remain of the species. Neither of them are capable of bearing a child. It was believed that once the two females passed away, that would be the end of the northern white rhino.

But scientists recently announced they were able to extract immature eggs from the two remaining females, and the eggs were flown to a laboratory in Italy.

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BREAKING NEWS – WE NOW HAVE TWO NORTHERN WHITE RHINO EMBRYOS! We are happy to announce that two northern white rhino embryos have been successfully matured and fertilised. This development marks a turning point in the race to save the northern white rhino from near extinction. The two embryos were created using eggs collected from Fatu, the youngest of the two northern white rhinos and frozen sperm from Suni a deceased northern white rhino male. The embryos are now stored in liquid nitrogen and will be transferred into a surrogate southern white rhino female in the near future. To make this procedure a reality, Fatu’s eggs were injected with Suni’s sperm while Najin’s eggs were injected with Saut’s sperm. Saut’s semen was of really poor quality and scientists had to thaw additional samples to find viable sperms for the procedure. Unfortunately, Najin’s eggs did not make it to a viable embryo despite the fact that one egg initiated segmentation. This landmark effort was achieved at Avantea Laboratories in Cremona, Italy thanks to Prof. Cesare Galli and his team. We have only gotten this far because of your unending support. To be part of the journey towards making a northern white rhino, go to donate.olpejetaconservancy.org/projects/sudan ? ? Jan Zwilling, Ami Vitale, Cesare Galli @kenyawildlifeservice @tourism_wildlifeke @leibnizizw @biorescue_project @bmbf.bund @leibnizgemeinschaft @safariparkdvurkralove #OlPejeta #NorthernWhiteRhino #OvumPickUp #NorthernWhiteRhinoRecovery #NajinandFatu

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The eggs were then injected with sperm from two dead male northern white rhinos. Only two of the eggs from one of the rhinos developed into viable embryos, and they were immediately frozen. Because Fatu and Najin can’t carry a pregnancy, the embryos will be transferred to a surrogate mother—a southern white rhinoceros.

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With Najin and Fatu, the last two northern white rhinos, unable to carry a pregnancy, the future of the northern white rhino species solely depends on artificial reproduction. ? Over the past few years, scientists have been working very hard on perfecting a procedure for both harvesting and fertilisation in vitro. ? The successful harvest of 10 eggs from the northern white rhinos yesterday (August 22nd, 2019) means that scientists are now closer to saving the species from complete extinction. ? @amivitale ——————————————————————— @kenyawildlifeservice @tourism_wildlifeke @leibnizizw @biorescue_project @bmbf.bund @leibnizgemeinschaft @safariparkdvurkralove ? #OlPejeta #NorthernWhiteRhino #OvumPickUp #NorthernWhiteRhinoRecovery #NajinandFatu #SaveOurRhinos #OnlyTwoLeft #EndExtinction

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Jan Stejskal, Director of Communication and International Projects at the zoo in the Czech Republic where Najin and Fatu were born, said:

“Five years ago it seemed like the production of a northern white rhino embryo was [an] almost unachievable goal — and today we have them. The technique for collection of eggs was developed in cooperation with many European zoos and we are happy that this unique cooperation can continue even with attempts at successful embryo transfer.”

Scientists must now transfer the embryos to a surrogate mother and track the embryos’ development into fetuses. From there, scientists still face an enormous uphill climb—the species lacks genetic diversity, and there are very few ways to get it back once there are so few individuals left. Plus, rhinos are slow developing creatures, so to rebuild the population in any meaningful way will take decades.

Sadly, the northern white rhino reached this point mainly due to poaching—they were targeted for their horns, which, though they have no medicinal properties of any sort, are highly prized in traditional Chinese medicine.

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An Airline Now Features a Booking System That Shows Where All Babies Are Seated on Its Flights

I don’t get super frustrated and freak out when a baby by me is crying hysterically on a plane. That’s why you always bring earplugs AND headphones when you travel, so you don’t really have to hear anything at all except the music you’re listening to. (Pro tip: this means you also don’t have to talk to anyone, which is always nice).

But let’s get to the point of the story. Some people really do get upset about screaming, fussy kids on their flights. So leave it to the innovative Japanese to come up with this idea.

Japan Airlines unveiled a booking system that allows customers to see exactly where babies are seated on flights. Genius!

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Spot the difference on this particular seating chart. @japanairlines_jal and Korean Air are now showing where infants are sitting so you can choose your seat accordingly ?. . . Whats your take on this, is this a helpful perk, parent shamer? Or do you think they’re going to charge more for seats in the long run.. “bidding for seats, far away from babies” . . —- #fatmentravelling #bigandtallfashion #plussizemenswear #instago #instavacation #menofsize #passportready #travelblogger #fatgirlstraveling #travelblog #babyonboard #babyonflight #travelhustler #travelisthenewclub #flyfluffyandfabolous #bearsofinstagram #cubsofinstagram #pointsandmiles #travelholic #bigguys #fatgirlstraveling #bodyposivity #plussizetravel #fatgirlstraveltoo #instatravel @british_airways @lufthansa @virginatlantic @easyjet @ryanair @thomascookairlinesuk #travelnoire #effyourbeautystandards #baby #iamsizesexy #travelgoals2018 @bbc_travel @theellenshow @travelnoire @holidaypirates @travel_con @blacktraveljourney @travelandleisure @travelchannel

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Once you’ve booked a flight on Japan Airlines and it’s time to check in, you’ll see a seating chart of the plane with baby icons showing where little ones are seated on that particular flight. The airline’s website says: “Passengers traveling with children between eight days and two years old who select their seats on the JAL website will have a child icon displayed on their seats on the seat selection screen. This lets other passengers know a child may be sitting there.”

That means you need to select your seats as early as possible to avoid sitting next to screaming, puking children, if that kind of thing bothers you.

One other thing to keep in mind: sometimes the baby icon might not appear on seating charts. Examples include if a block of seats is booked for a tour or with award tickets, if tickets were selected in places other than the Japan Airlines website, or if for some reason the aircraft was changed at the last minute.

Still, that’s progress, right?

I have a feeling this feature will become very popular and other airlines will start doing this and they’ll make it even more streamlined. Hooray for innovation!

And remember: don’t forget your earplugs and headphones.

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Baileys Cold Brew Is Now Here to Get You Moving in the Morning

Mornings just got a whole lot better.

I love me some Baileys Irish Cream and coffee for a little boozy pick-me-up, and now the company has new (non-alcoholic) cold brew products for the morning to get you going and out the door with some pep in your step.

Baileys’ new cold brew flavors are Irish Cream (of course) and Salted Caramel, and they’re available in stores and on Amazon. The cold brews are made with 100% Arabica coffee, skim milk, sugar, and cream, and by all accounts they are pretty delicious. The company recommends that you chill these babies in the fridge or pour over ice before consuming.

It is cold brew, after all.

The official description is as follows: “This robust and delightfully drinkable cold brew coffee can be enjoyed in the morning or on-the-go as a booster to conquer your packed day.”

I, for one, am very excited to add these new products to my morning routine. Frankly, I’ve gotten a little bored with the coffee I’ve been drinking lately.

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#review — Bailey’s Irish Cream Cold Brew Coffees // I’m going to keep this short. It’s easy to imagine what this would taste like if you’ve ever put Baileys in your coffee or even either of the wonderful Baileys coffee creamers that is out there. It has all the taste of great Bailey’s Irish Cream without any of the alcohol. I know, it takes most of the fun out of it. But you have to admit, it’s a great flavor. The salted caramel is my go-to mainly cuz of the less calories but also cuz I’m a sweets person. The classic Irish Cream one is really good too but I’m a sucker for caramel. Overall, salted caramel gets a 9/10 and traditional gets a 8.5/10. Great stuff here. . . #spotted at @meijerstores . . #coffee #coffeelife #coffeeislife #baileys #baileyscoldbrewcoffee #coldbrew #coldbrewcoffee #mmm #caramel #irishcream #new #limited #newcoffee #newcoldbrew #parentlife #dadbod #dadbodsnacks #☕ #yasss #nonalcoholic #drink #thirsty #caffiene #caffeine

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In even more good news, it was recently announced that Kraft Heinz has partnered with Baileys to release Baileys Keurig K-Cup coffee machine pods and bags of Baileys roast and ground coffee. I guess they’re entering to coffee game hard.

And I’m ok with that!

I know I said that the two new Baileys cold brews are non-alcoholic, but guess what? If you need to add a little something to your drink when you get to the office (or if you work from home), I’m not gonna say anything…my lips are sealed, friend.

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The ‘OK’ Hand Sign Is Now Considered a Symbol of Hate

In this age of social media, you never know what’s gonna happen. Things are weird. Perhaps an everyday symbol will be co-opted by nefarious groups and turned into an emblem of hate? Does that seem far-fetched?

Well it shouldn’t because that’s exactly what happened with the ‘OK’ hand sign that we’ve all used countless times.

This is actually a problem for me – I use it a lot…

It seems like a harmless gesture, right? Well it was, but it’s not anymore. The Anti-Defamation League recently added the ‘OK’ hand gesture to its Hate Symbols Database. The hand sign has become associated with far-right and white supremacist groups on the Internet, causing its new classification.

Oren Segal of the Anti-Defamation League said, “Context is always key. More people than not will use the OK symbol as just ‘OK.’ But in those cases where there’s more underlining meaning, I think it’s important for people to understand that it could be used, and is being used, for hate as well.”

The ‘OK’ gesture has been pushed as a uniting symbol by far-right commentators and personalities in public and on message boards online. It originally started as a prank by users on the 4chan message board to flood social media outlets linking the hand sign to the white power movement, but it has since caught on and become a legitimate hate symbol.

Oren Segal said, “Over the past couple years, we’ve seen that the hoax was essentially successful in being applied by actual white supremacists. In many ways, they took what was a trolling effort and added it to their list of symbols.”

As ridiculous as it might sound, it’s important to keep up to date on these kinds of developments when they are brought to light. With hate groups and hate crimes on the rise, we should all know the symbols of the far-right so we can be informed and aware at all times.

If you’re curious about what else is out there, take a look at ADL’s Hate Symbols Database to keep up to date.

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Mattel Has Launched a Gender-Neutral Doll Collection

Long gone are the days when a child’s only options were the standard Barbie and Ken. And dolls got even more inclusive recently when Mattel, the company that makes Barbies, launched a gender-neutral doll collection.

This new line of toys from Mattel is meant to erase existing preconceived notions about what gender means and how it is ingrained into us from a very young age. Kim Culmone, the Senior Vice President of Mattel Fashion Doll Design said, “Toys are a reflection of culture and as the world continues to celebrate the positive impact of inclusivity, we felt it was time to create a doll line free of labels.” The line is called Creatable World.

Creatable World

In our world, dolls are as limitless as the kids who play with them. Introducing #CreatableWorld, a doll line designed to keep labels out and invite everyone in. #AllWelcomeShop now: http://bit.ly/CWMattel

Posted by Mattel on Tuesday, September 24, 2019

First off, the dolls come in a variety of skin colors. They can be styled with a variety of hairstyles, different clothes, and accessories such as sunglasses. TIME magazine noted that the “lips are not too full, the eyelashes not too long and fluttery, the jaw not too wide. There are no Barbie-like breasts or broad, Ken-like shoulders.”

In recent years, millennial parents have voiced their grievances about gender stereotypes in toys, and it seems like big companies such as Mattel are listening. The new, gender-neutral dolls are 11″ tall and they sell for $29.99 each. The official slogan for the new product is “A doll line designed to keep labels out and invite everyone in.”

It will be interesting to see how these products are received by the public and if other companies will follow Mattel’s lead. Stay tuned.

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