We're only human right? Yes, but being human means so much more than what we are taught. We must know ourselves, our bodies, and our impact- or the consequences of our actions on the planet we're made of. Being human is being love. It's about doing onto others what we would have done unto us. It's about oneness and equality.
Current water-filtering technology is costly, but MIT scientists are testing a simpler and cheaper method that uses wood from white pine trees.
Removing all the dangerous bacteria from drinking water would have enormous health benefits for people around the world.
The technologies exist for doing that, but there's a problem: cost.
Now a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology thinks he's on to a much less expensive way to clean up water.
MIT's Rohit Karnik is a mechanical engineer who works on water technologies. He says it's relatively easy to make membranes that can filter the bacteria out of water. But making membranes cheaply, he says, is not so easy.
One day a few years ago, he was at a meeting on plants and water flow when a light bulb went off in his head. Why not, he thought, use the xylem tissue in plants for water filtration?
Now if you remember your high school biology, you'll know that xylem is the stuff in plants that transports water in the form of sap from the roots to the leaves.
"And the way the water is moved is by evaporation from the leaves," says Karnik.
It's somewhat like what happens when you put a straw into a glass of liquid. Evaporation from the leaves has the same effect as sucking on the straw.
Pulling water up to the leaves this way creates a problem for the plant, but also an opportunity for an inventor.
The plant's problem is something called cavitation, or the growth of air bubbles, which makes it harder for water to reach the leaves. But Karnik says xylem has a way of getting rid of these bubbles.
"The xylem has membranes with pores and other mechanisms by which bubbles are prevented from easily spreading and flowing in the xylem tissue," he says.
And it turns out these same pores that are so good at filtering out air bubbles are just the right size for filtering out nasty bacteria.
To prove it worked, he created a simple setup in his lab. He peeled the bark off a pine branch and took the sapwood underneath containing the xylem into a tube. He then sent a stream of water containing tiny particles through the tube and showed that the wood filter removed them.
"We also flowed in bacteria and showed we could filter out bacteria using the xylem," he says. Karnik estimates the xylem removed 99.9 percent of the bacteria.
The results were published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.
Karnik says what makes wood such an attractive material for water filtration is that it's cheap. So he thinks it's worth trying to work out the technical hurdles to scaling up his system.
But Robert Jackson, an environmental expert at Stanford University, points out that at least as it stands now, the system doesn't do a good enough job at filtering out bacteria. He wrote in an email that filtering out almost all of the nasty bacteria is certainly helpful, "but when you can have hundreds of thousands, even millions, of them in a drop of water, you don't want to rely on something with 99 percent efficiency."
"In a survival or short-term situation this could work," he wrote. "As a longer-term or global solution to the billion people on Earth without access to clean water, call me skeptical."
Did you know that there is a high chance you will be eating crushed beetles and duck feathers with your fast food burger?
Here are some of the most disgusting additives you are ingesting when you eat out at McDonald's.
1.) Ammonium Sulfate – Used to mass-produce bread, it is also used as a insecticide, fertilizer, and in household cleaning products. Unbelievably, the FDA has deemed it safe at the low levels which are found in food products, but the issue has been raised as to effects on people who eat bread daily. Ammonium sulphate has been linked with irritation to the gastrointestinal tract causing diarrhea and nausea.
2. Silicone Oil – Chicken McNuggets are full of dimethylpolysiloxane, a silicone oil that is often used to make contact lenses and other medical items. Dimethylpolysiloxane is also an anti-foaming agent.
3. TBHQ – You can find this additive in 18 McDonald’s menu items. TBHQ, is ususally listed as an “antioxidant,” what it doesn’t state is that it is a SYNTHETIC chemical with antioxidant properties and NOT a natural antioxidant. The chemical stops oxidation of fats and oils which helps to prolong the shelf life of processed foods. It is used in processed foods of all kinds, but it is also found in varnishes, lacquers and pesticide products. It is also used in cosmetics and perfumes to reduce the evaporation rate and improve stability. It is a chemical preservative so deadly that just five grams can kill you, but don’t panic, the FDA says it’s generally regarded as safe (GRAS).
4. Cysteine-L – Fast food restaurants use Cysteine-L, it is an amino acid derived from human hair, duck feathers and hog hair and is used to flavor their meat and soften their breads and pastries. This is an amino acid which also shortens the baking time of mass produced bread. This is mostly produced in China by dissolving the hair or down in acid and sent around the world as a bread softener.
5. Prescription Drugs – Researchers from Johns Hopkins University tested feathers from farmed raised chickens and found some interesting facts. Anti-depressants as well as other prescription drugs are added to chicken feed for fast food “poultry”. Basically, the chickens are raised on a steady diet of prescription, over-the-counter and banned drugs.
6. Propylene Glycol – Propylene glycol is a chemical compound that can be found in anti-freeze, e-cigarettes, and fast food.
7. Carminic Acid – derived from Cochineal beetles, carminic acid is used to dye foods, especially meats, red.
8. Dimethylpolysiloxane – This is found in almost all fried fast food menus and it can be also found in contact lenses, silly putty, cosmetics, shampoo and conditioners, polishes, and heat resistant tiles- to name a few!
9. Silicon Dioxide – This is usually added to processed beef and chicken to prevent clumping and is listed ingredient for chili from Wendy’s and Taco Bell. Experts suggest that it isn’t harmful for consumption, but it’s interesting to know that the ingredient keeping chili meat nice and non-caking is also the primary component of diatomaceous earth, commonly used as a natural insecticide.
9. Cellulose – This is processed wood pulp and is found in nearly every fast food menu item. It is used in practically everything ranging from cheese to salad dressing, from muffins to strawberry syrup. Food processors use it to thicken and stabilize foods, replace fat and increase fiber content. It also lowers the cost due to minimizing on ingredients such as oil or flour. Powdered cellulose is produced by cooking virgin wood pulp in chemicals to separate the cellulose which is then purified. Modified versions require extra processing, such as exposure to acid to break down the fiber further. Here are just a few of the fast food restaurants that include cellulose in their foods: McDonald’s, Arby’s, Jack in the Box, KFC, Pizza Hut, Sonic, Taco Bell and Wendy’s.
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Science Babe: Kate Tietje wants four-thousand of your children to die painfully this year.
Translation: Get your pitchforks ready y'all!
SB: I have an anti-vaxxer problem.
SB: Mainly, that there are anti-vaxxers, and I’m tired of the problems they cause.
People that choose not to vaccinate because of the reasons I will list below, are not the cause of disease breakouts. The people that make the diseases through virus manufacturing and spread them around deliberately to kill and debilitate however, are.
SB: Today I saw this article from Modern Alternative Mama, entitled “Enough is Enough with Blaming Anti-Vaxxers.” Because apparently after their lunacy and horrific unscientifically grounded opinions caused a massive outbreak of the Measles in my hometown of Anaheim, CA, they think it’s appropriate to shirk responsibility for this.
This is discrimination against people who don't want to inject foreign and poisonous materials into their bodies. You're a scientist and you still don't know that Mercury is poisonous?
SB: So let’s start at the beginning of this insidious blog of hers:
“In the last few days, there have been *dozens* of articles coming out in major media outlets that are absolutely filled with hate and anger towards families that don’t vaccinate. “
As there should be. Because people went to Disney and, instead of mouse ears, they came home with an infectious disease that they thought was wiped out over thirty years ago. More from MAM:
“In the Disneyland situation:
There are around 70 confirmed cases currently
5 of them were fully vaccinated
37 were not vaccinated
There are no records available for at least 30 cases (so we don’t know their vaccination status)”
We don’t know the vaccination status of “patient zero” (the first person to have measles in this outbreak)
We can’t make the leap, from what we do know, that this was “caused by unvaccinated people.” We simply can’t. That is just an easy scapegoat. If fits their agenda — to stir up hate and anger towards people who make alternative vaccination decisions, in order to try to strip exemptions and peoples’ rights. (No, nobody has the right to force medical care of any sort on anyone else. Period.)
Added from MAM
Statistically, these people for whom we don’t have the vaccination records? They probably aren’t vaccinated either. It is incredibly virulent and nine out of ten without immunity who are exposed will get the measles. And now onto Kate’s version of facts:
“In the 1950s, there were not “thousands of deaths per year from measles” — it was between 350 and 600, averaging around 500 annually
In the 50s, there were between 300K and 800K reported cases per year (mumps and rubella were so mild they didn’t even keep records until the mid-60s)
It was “assumed” since most children got measles and it usually was not serious that there were closer to 2 million cases annually in the 50s (minor cases were not reported)
The death rate from measles is about 1 in 1000 for more serious cases; about 1 in 5000 for total cases”
During the pre-vaccine era, there were thousands of deaths worldwide. She does keep moving around the numbers as she sees fit based on speculation. We will be using peer reviewed numbers for the death rate of one death per thousand cases.Given that death rate, looking at her estimate that there would be four million cases annually in a world without vaccines now, Kate Tietje is fine with four million children suffering, a high percentage suffering complications including blindness, deafness, and four thousand of your children dying of the measles.
This is not true, there is no evidence that vaccines have ever prevented the measles in the first place.
I’m just making sure we’re on the same page here, Kate.
You know what prevents all of these? Not getting the measles.
In 2012, there were about 50. In 2013, just under 200. In 2014, almost 650.
Again, vaccine preventable.
“In the 2013 – 2014 school year, 94.7% of kindergarteners nationwide had 2 doses of the MMR. (vaccine rates remain high overall)”
Now hold on right there, you said preventing the measles means not getting the measles, that doesn't necessarily mean you have to take a vaccine to not get the measles- I'll explain that below.
The problem isn’t the rate. The problem is the clustering. In certain parts of the country, we have really high rates of people claiming exemptions. I happen to live in one of those areas: Orange County, CA. Unlike Disney World which is more of a vacation destination, Disneyland has a much higher percentage of local annual pass holders on any given day. Given the local low rate of immunization it’s not a surprise that so many got sick. In this outbreak, we had a few people who were too young to vaccinate fall ill. This was a failure of herd immunity.
So tell me, you'd like to vaccinate babies, too? Just had to fit that in did'ya?
Then again, Kate doesn’t believe in herd immunity. And as I’ve mentioned before, belief doesn’t have a place in science; evidence does. I say this not to poke at religious beliefs, but really, if you heard the CEO of Merck say “I believe in this drug” with no evidence versus “I have evidence that this drug works,” which would you prefer?
I don't care what the CEO of Merck has to say, I care about the quality and results of scientific studies.
“According to a meta-analysis, the MMR has an efficacy rate of 69 to 95%(depending on strain, number of doses, age at first dose, etc.) and isn’t sufficiently tested for safety”
“Isn’t tested for safety” is anti-vaxxer code for “I don’t like this so I’m going to say something completely full of shit to scare you.” There is a ton of safety testing and, as vaccines have been under fire by pseudoscientific “activists,” there has been a lot of research into them since they’ve hit the market.
Repetition is what marketers use to $ell, $ell, $ell- to get it through your THICK SKULL.
“The measles is just not a serious illness for most people. “
Wrong. Beyond the fact that the measles alone is quite miserable, one out of every twenty people who gets the measles gets pneumonia. This is a common complication that can lead to death. As someone who’s had pneumonia before, I don’t find pneumonia to be anything less than “serious.” One in ten gets an ear infection that can lead to deafness.
Not serious, huh?
This is what "not-serious for most people" means SB, although I do agree actually getting the measles and pneumonia is serious.
“We also know far, far more about it now than we did 60 years ago, and medical science has advanced quite a lot as well. ”
Yes Kate. Medical science gave us vaccines. The cognitive dissonance is amazing.
“We know how to prevent the most serious complications now in most cases. If we stopped vaccinating, more kids would get measles, and the vast majority with no issues. We would not see rampant blindness (since vitamin A supplementation is easy to get and inexpensive).”
If it were true that we knew how to prevent these serious complications, we wouldn’t have had deaths from the measles in the US as recently as 2005.Though it’s true that supplementing with vitamin Acan help prevent blindness from the measles (one of few things she gets right), the study she cites is wrought with inaccuracies, as are many that you find on that MAM.
I don't know why 2005 was used as a reference point, since there were recorded measles deaths in 2014! And we do know how to prevent these 'serious complications' from happening, get rid of people 'of your ilk', as you like to hiss, who promote vaccines that cause the diseases (viruses manufactured by Merck) to infect and spread!'
To start with, she’s already said it’s not a very serious disease. I consider any disease that can cause blindness to be fairly serious. Furthermore, the study she chose to cite on this states that in the developing world, measles hits “30 million children a year and causes up to one million deaths annually. Measles blindness is the single leading cause of blindness among children in low income countries, accounting for an estimated 15,000 to 60,000 cases of blindness per year.”
But what about these serious diseases CAUSED by vaccines?
These statistics don’t match her own for death rates. A one in thirty death rate? Whereas real science corroborates data, bullshit doesn’t have to keep a story straight. Also, though vitamin A deficiency is known to cause blindness; vitamin A deficiency is not why people go blind with the measles. The measles is why people go blind with the measles.
That's because her death rates were for the US only.
“We would not see rampant death or encephalitis (these are very rare anyway). If the death rate was really 1 in 5000 (and it’s hard to say, with the advanced medical care, if it would be that high), and everyone got measles — we could assume about 4 million cases per year — that would be 800 deaths annually. Just to compare, there are around 35,000 deaths from car accidents annually, while preventable medical errors kill around 400,000 people annually. We might see a reduction in autoimmunity and other lifelong health complications as well…but that hasn’t been thoroughly studied.”
She keeps changing the numbers, wasn’t it one in one thousand a few paragraphs ago?As for her argument about autoimmunity, the anti-vax movement tends to blame vaccines for everything that happens in the immune system.Lupus? It was the vaccines. Rheumatoid arthritis? It was the vaccines. Diabetes?Of course it was the vaccines.
It was 1 in 5,000 total cases, 1 in 1,000 serious cases.
Again, there's no data supporting these types of autoimmunity related issues. On extremely rare occasions, the risk of Guillain-Barre Syndrome can be increased due to vaccines, but don’t let one increased link turn into the reverse panacea they make vaccines out to be. She is subsequently arguing for … more preventable deaths for your kids. Because she’s morally bankrupt.Additionally, arguing that you shouldn’t worry about disease because car accidents happen is like saying… not to worry about disease because car accidents happen.
She's not morally bankrupt... YOU ARE!
You are arguing for more vaccinations and thus, Deaths!
“Are complications possible? Yes, of course. But I, personally, look at the whole picture and not at worst-case scenarios. We don’t have adequate safety testing on the MMR.”
What’s adequate safety testing to these people? We have a half century of data showing nothing except kids having immunity from the target diseases.
” It doesn’t provide lifelong immunity, and it requires at least two doses (and they’re considering adding a third) — each dose comes with its own set of risks, doubling (or tripling) your overall risk.”
Wait, you’re saying you’ll need… a few completely safe injections? I got mine (on the same date as my TDap booster, no less) and it was fine. A little swelling maybe. Call VAERS!
Round, bouncy witchcraft.
This girl looks like Britney Spears in trailer trash mode. If you can't believe she was bought out by Bill Gates or someone of the sort, you're fooling yourself. All she is doing is acting like a whore and spreading misinformation. 'She' kinda looks like a man in this picture, though.
I also do think it's witchcraft, if you could call it that.
"In conclusion, vaccines are a perfect manifestation of everything that is satanic. They represent an adulterous and arrogant tampering with divine creation, based on the intellectual conceit of "perfecting" creation. They are poisonous, containing derivatives from metals such as mercury and aluminum, and from formaldehyde. They are made from the cell lines and viruses of biblically unclean animals such as monkeys, cats, etc. Worst of all, they are made from the cell lines of premeditatedly murdered children. When such abortion-derived vaccines are injected into other living human beings, a subtle form of cannibalism has occurred, a satanic sacrament has been partaken of, straight from the "table of demons" (1 Cor. 10:21)." - Bob Sperlazzo
“I’m not going to tell you what you should decide here. “
Funny, because with endless blog posts saying that vaccines aren’t safe, calling pro-vaxxers hate groups, and that the vaccine preventable diseases are completely harmless? That’s exactly what you did.
She means to say she's not trying to be a dictator. She's just highly encouraging people to not poison themselves or their children...
“I’m trying to cut through the nonsense and share a more accurate, scientific picture of what’s going on right now, instead of wild suppositions about all those “anti-vaxxers.” (By the way, I love science. Accurate science. Appropriately applied science. I’m not such a fan of “my science is better than yours,” which a few trolls seriously said to me.)”
So, thanks Science Cunt- for bashing everything Modern Alternative Mama had to say. All she was doing was trying to spread some truth. Just because people aren't perfect doesn't mean they have ill-intentions. It's more often that perfectionists are the psychopaths, always trying to convince others of something, to accomplish a goal.
Let’s get one thing straight; if a blogger with zero medical credentials tries to claim that they have more accurate science than the vast majority of the scientific and medical establishment, they are, on every level, wrong. I promise you, somebody who got their degree at Google University and has a waiver on their website that says “my advice isn’t designed to treat anything” has nothing to lose by giving you terrible advice. A real doctor’s advice doesn’t come with an asterisk. They will give you advice that’s grounded in real science.
It's not medical knowledge we're discussing, it's vaccinations, which are a product. Sick people pay medical doctors for medical help and medicines/vaccinations. It's a business.
“If people are being rude, call them out. Be respectful, but say something. “We all make different medical decisions for our children. The evidence is not clear cut. Being rude isn’t going to change anyone’s mind, and I’m asking you to stop talking to others like this.” I suggest deleting and banning anyone who can’t remain civil.”
First she says to be respectful, but then..
“…Report hate pages. There are a number of different ones on Facebook. “Anti-Vax Wall of Shame.” “Things Anti-Vaxxers Say.” “Banned by Modern Alternative Mama.” There are many others. Report them for hate speech. Their entire purpose is to take screenshots from groups where they troll and mock the people — some of you may recognize your own comments being mocked on those pages!”
Kate, I don’t think you understand it. I’ve never put anything on the internet that I wasn’t prepared to defend because I back up everything I post with peer reviewed research. You and your ilk defend diseases over vaccines and ask for natural remedies after you’ve allowed your children to get preventable diseases, and then you want sympathy or to call us hate groups? You’re monsters.
We're Monsters, eh?
Now she's saying that children who don't get vaccinated are responsible for outbreaks, when the opposite is true.
Additionally, calling us hate groups is funny. Kate’s husband goes by the name “The Happy Factory” on facebook. He regularly makes fun of mentally handicapped people. They claim to be a Christian family. Charming.
"Are you as tired of the bullying over medical decisions as I am?"
Kate, I’m tired of telling friends who are immunocompromised not to come visit until the measles outbreak is over in Southern California. I’m tired of your same debunked arguments. I’m tired of hearing about infants who were too young to get the vaccine getting the measles because of an outbreak that almost certainly wouldn’t have started if it wasn’t for the atrocious actions of you and your morally bankrupt movement.
I’m tired of the anti-vaxxers.
I’m tired of you.
Enough is enough.
-Science Babe
I hope I don't wear you out SB.
How to protect against viruses infecting your cells, making you sick:
No, germs do not cause disease. They can, at worst, complicate them secondarily. Bacteria are our symbiotic partners in life. Partners accommodate each other for mutual benefit. Viruses as an entitative existence are a medical myth. If diseases are caused by uneliminated metabolic debris, which is what so-called viruses are, then the medics have a point. But we Hygienists call that metabolic debris retained wastes, not viruses. “Viruses” are nothing more than the proteinacious debris of spent cells. Their accumulation can precipitate a healing crisis in the body. When this occurs, the body is likely to transport bacteria to the scene to aid it in cleaning up the mess, but the bacteria did not cause the problem. The habits and practices of the sufferer must be looked to as the real culprits. Once these deleterious habits and practices are discontinued, there will be no further toxic accumulations and thus the need for disease or healing crises will cease to exist. Sickness-free health will exist thereafter.
A growing body of research indicates that Roundup herbicide and its metabolite, AMPA, are vastly more toxic than the public is being told. Activist sentiment aside, the scientific research itself increasingly points to banning this herbicide as the only logical solution.
A concerning new study published in Chemosphere shows that the classical toxicology model, based on the testing of individual molecules, is incapable of accurately estimating the global environmental and health risks of mixtures of agrochemicals like glyphosate (aka Roundup) and its degradation byproduct AMPA, which are now ubiquitous environmental and food contaminants and much more harmful than previously believed.
Following closely on the heels of a study showing that Roundup herbicide is 125 times more toxic than its active ingredient glyphosate studied in isolation, the new study adds to an increasingly damning body of evidence that reveals agrochemicals used in GMO food production are vastly more harmful than their manufacturers, regulators and proponents will admit.
Glyphosate (aka Roundup) is the world's most popular pesticide, used primarily in GMO farming as a systemic herbicide. When glyphosate is metabolized within plants or within the liver of animals, it produces AMPA, a substance that while classified as inert and/or harmless by regulators, has been known for some time to be at least as toxic as glyphosate, the latter of which has been linked to over 30 adverse health effects.[1] Atrazine is used to control weeds in crops such as corn and surgarcane, and is used widely in residential lawns and golf courses. It was identified as the most commonly detected pesticide contaminating drinking water in the United States,[2] and is believed to a potent endocrine disrupter affecting animal hormonal systems.[3]-[4]
Herbicide Mixtures And/Or Metabolites 20-1,000 Times More Toxic Than Regulators Believe
The new study demonstrated that the cell-damaging (cytogenetic) potentials of pesticides greatly depended on their physicochemical environment. Also, it was found that the mixture made with the four pesticides was not only 20-fold more toxic to tested cells than those of the most active compound AMPA, but that the toxicity increased 100-fold after light-irradiation, which would be a common reaction given that these chemicals persist and accumulate in the environment.
Additionally, researchers discovered that, "AMPA displayed a direct cytogenetic toxicity which was 1000 fold higher than that of its parent compound [glyphosate]." Since AMPA – the breakdown product of glyphosate -- is a ubiquitous toxicant, found in all glyphosate exposed plant food, and is known to persist for prolonged durations in the environment (76–240 days in soil), and is even produced in the mammalian liver following consumption of glyphosate contaminated food, the significance of this finding can not be underestimated.
When you consider that glyphosate is presently allowed in human food at levels up to six orders of magnitude higher than research has revealed may be harmful to the human body,[5] AMPA's potential for being 1,000 times more toxic than glyphosate implies that present day 'acceptable levels' may be up to 9 orders of magnitude -- 1,000,000,000 times -- too lax than required to protect exposed populations from significant bodily harm.
Given the growing body of evidence suggesting that glyphosate and its metabolite, AMPA, are extremely toxic, the precautionary principle should be implemented and unnecessary exposure should be avoided. If Roundup herbicide use is not restricted or banned until undergoing review, at the very least, consumers deserve the right of informed consent. The choice to avoid non-GMO and non-Roundup laden foods must be made available through truthful labeling of food products. Failing to make this choice possible, or worse, levying massive financial and political resources against such a right through industry front groups like the Grocery Manufacturers Association, amounts to forced chemical poisoning, an egregious crime against humanity.
[4] Hayes, Tyrone B.; Anderson, Lloyd L.; Beasley, Val R.; de Solla, Shane R.; Iguchi, Taisen; et al. (2011). "Demasculinization and feminization of male gonads by atrazine: Consistent effects across vertebrate classes". The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 127 (1–2): 64–73. doi:10.1016/j.jsbmb.2011.03.015. PMID 21419222.
