Earth Day: Plastic in Our Waterways

This year, Earth Day gatherings will be bringing awareness to the dangers of plastic in our environment, especially our waterways.  

Plastic pollution is poisoning our oceans, injuring marine life, and affecting our health. 

Currently, there are five patches of floating plastic debris in the ocean. The one between California and Hawaii is the size of Texas. Animals in the ocean get ensnared or eat the plastic and die or are maimed by it. By 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

View Stock Images & Video About Plastic Pollution

Additionally, some of the plastic consumed by fish becomes part of the human food chain.

Since the invention of plastic in 1907, our lives have become more convenient. Now we're becoming aware of the damage it is doing to us, our natural ecosystems and our climate.

42% of plastic in use today is for packaging, accounting for 54% of landfills.

Chemicals that leach from plastic food and beverage containers cause health concerns such as impaired brain and neurological function, diabetes, obesity and even resistance to chemotherapy.

Earth Day is an annual event in its 48th year. Approximately 1 billion people take part in 192 countries. In its first year, it helped propel the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and laws such as the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and many more.

Learn More about Earth Day
 and How You Can Help

 

• earthday.org

The Robotic Age

Our new chrome overlords or the engines of the future? 

Robotics has fascinated human beings for centuries. Mechanical soldiers were said to guard the Buddha’s relics in ancient India and automatons were kept in Victorian homes to entertain dinner guests. 

As we enter a new technological era, robots have moved beyond the realm of fantasy into everyday life. Robots play an essential role in the automotive and tech industry, working in assembly lines to produce many of today’s cars and electronics. In the medical field, prosthetic limbs and implants are becoming more common, as they grow in efficiency and lower in price.

Gift Ideas: Robot Coffee Mugs, T-shirts, Tote Bags

As robotics makes further strides into the future, not all people are happy. Beyond sci-fi paranoia, the fear of a job market without human labor has many low-level workers worrying about their continued employment. In truth, only time will tell what the robotic age will bring.

View Robot Stock Images

 

• Robot, Wikipedia.com
• Mechanical miracles: The rise of the automaton. Christies.com

Book a Vacation to the Moon

Bored with traveling to the beach, the mountains or even a big resort? Why not book a trip to outer space? Experts say we may soon be able to enjoy a champagne lunch in orbit, spend a week lounging on the Moon or take an adventurous voyage to Mars.

Space travel is no longer the exclusive realm of big governments. In fact, companies, such as major airlines, are making strides toward space tourism.  

Gift Ideas: Space Tourism Shower Curtains, Coffee Mugs

Aside from fun and adventure, regular space travel can have many benefits for an ever more crowded planet with fewer natural resources. Once us humans get the hang of frequent space flight, we can colonize and gather much-needed resources such as gold, silver, tungsten, nickel, aluminum and even clean water from asteroids. And unlike mining on earth, we would not be harming wildlife or rainforests.

Some forward-thinking scientists have even proposed traveling to Mars and beyond aboard an asteroid colony.  We could build an entire city inside a hollowed out asteroid while using its resources.  And possibly explore outer space even further than ever before.

So, start saving now as tickets will likely start around $250,000 and go into the millions of dollars depending on which adventure you choose.

Images of Space Tourism & the Future of Space Travel

 

• Human Space Exploration,  space.com
• Future of Spaceflight, nationalgeographic.com
• Beyond Planet Earth the Future of Space Exploration, amnh.org
• Torah Kachur, Asteroid Mining,  cbc.ca
• Colonization of Asteroid, wikipedia.com
• Space Tourism, wikipedia.com

Immunotherapy: A Possible Cure for Lung Cancer?

There is very exciting news for lung cancer patients this week.  A new set of drugs that boost the immune system has shown an over 50% increase in the survival rate of patients with the most common type of lung cancer.

Lung cancer is by far the leading cause of cancer deaths around the world, with 1.7 million deaths a year and over 150,000 in the United States alone.

These new drugs are often given before surgery. Some surgeons say they can almost see the tumors melting away. 

Called checkpoint inhibitors, they unleash the patient's own immune system to fight lung cancer.  How does it work? It isn't totally clear, but chemotherapy can burst bubbles of cancer cells and these immunotherapy drugs help the body's own immune system to identify and kill off these cells. The immunotherapy drugs work best when taken in conjunction with chemotherapy. 

Dr. Roy Herbst, a lung cancer specialist at Yale Cancer Center suggests that in the future every lung cancer patient may be given the option of immunotherapy first.

Sadly, not all patients are candidates for this therapy and some suffer severe side effects. At more than $100,000 a year treatment can also be cost-prohibitive. It's recommended the immunotherapy drugs be taken for two years.

“I have never seen progress move so fast,” Herbst told NBC News.  Who knows what hope the upcoming years will hold for cancer patients. These are very exciting times in this field of medicine.

Some patients are still alive eight years later. Even though it won't be considered a cure until people have survived for at least 10 years, people are hopeful.  The next few years will tell.

Images and Video of Lung Cancer and Immunotherapy

Denise Grady,  nytimes.com
Maggie Fox,  nbcnews.com

Fractals: Neverending Geometric Shapes

Ice crystals, tie-dye swirls, and lightning bolts all play by the same rules in fractal geometry. 

Ubiquitous in nature, the fractal is a pattern or shape that repeats itself progressively at smaller and larger scales.

First observed by Leibniz in the 17th century, the concept of self-similarity evolved for generations, until Benoit Mandelbrot coined the term 'fractal' in 1975. His invention of the Mandelbrot set, one of the most recognizable fractals, drew significant parallels between mathematics and the natural world.  He discovered that fractals could be found throughout the known universe, in everything from tree canopies to heartbeats.

Fractals became a popular theme in psychedelic art, often presented as infinite spirals in the famous Mandelbrot set. Their use long predates this, however, appearing first in African design and a variety of architectural schools.

View Fractal Images & Video

Fun facts: Over 50 works by the painter Jackson Pollock are considered fractal in nature; the novel Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace is also said to have a fractal structure.

Fractal Themed Custom Gifts

• Challoner, Jack. How Mandelbrot's fractals changed the world. bbc.com
• Fractal. wikipedia.com

Marijuana in the Modern Age

Originally grown as a medicinal plant, marijuana (Cannabis sativa) has come full circle as it gains its place in the world of modern medicine for pain relief, and as an antiemetic. Patients diagnosed with cancer, HIV, glaucoma, Crohn's Disease, and a number of other conditions claim that cannabis relieves their suffering. It is also used to control nausea induced by chemotherapy treatments.

Marijuana use does have side effects. It is proven to increase heart rate, lower blood pressure, and cause dizziness. A dangerous side effect, if you are driving, is a slower reaction time. Car accidents more than double when a driver partakes of marijuana.

Marijuana has been long-feared to be a gateway drug toward the addiction of other illegal drugs, such as cocaine or opioids. Studies are now being done to see if marijuana changes the brain to make it more likely to become addicted to other substances.

No matter which side of the marijuana debate you are on, it is a fascinating and controversial topic. Scientist, educator, photographer and now author Ted Kinsman has delved deep into this topic on the microscopic and artistic level.  His images bring to colorful life the stunning beauty of this diverse plant, showcasing the unique and bizarre details of marijuana on the microscopic level. 

Science Source Images is proud to represent not only this Ted Kinsman Collection but to make available a broad range of his beautiful scientific photographic work.

Cannabis: Marijuana Under The Microscope by Ted Kinsman

Order Cannabis Tote Bags, Phone Cases, and Other Gifts 

Images & Video About Marijuana

• What is Medical Marijuana Used For, webmd.com
• Anne Harding. Medical Marijuana Uses, webmd.com
• Want to Know Some FAQs About Marijuana, drugabuse.gov
• Marijuana Gateway Drug, 2018, Feb 12, NIDA, drugabuse.gov
• Marijuana, 2018, April 9th, drugabuse.gov
• Jennifer Robinson, MD, Marijuana Use and its Effects, webmd.com

Alternative Medicine: Quackery or Cure?

Ancient remedies, herbal concoctions, and new age cures reign supreme in the world of alternative medicine.

Although there is no accepted definition, alternative medicine usually refers to remedies and techniques on the fringe of established medical practice. Some include Reiki, ozone therapy, homeopathy, acupuncture and more. 

Alternative medicine came to prominence in the west during the 1960’s and 70’s, as people began challenging traditional norms and embracing divergent opinions. Since then, a new marketplace of remedies and treatments have sprung forth, offering everything from stone massages to color therapy. Cures range from the strange to the revitalizing to the downright unscientific. (Edzard Ernst Ph.d claims that only 7.4% of alternative medicine is grounded in empirical evidence.)

Just quackery or the true cure? Whatever the case may be, alternative medicine is here to stay. See more below.

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Unmodern Medicine: Unique custom Gifts

• Alternative Medicine, wikipedia.com
• Kiefer, David MD. "What is Alternative Medicine." webmd.com

The Unbreakable Bond Between People & Bees

Over thousands of years, bees and humans have forged an unbreakable bond. We find bees and humans on Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, medieval manuscripts, traveling on the Space Shuttle and more recently trained to sniff out explosives. 

Nearly one-third of our food is pollinated by bees. Without pollination, we would no longer enjoy the bounty of apples, cherries, cucumbers and most other fruits and vegetables.  

Explore Stock Images & Video of Bees and People

Bees also make honey and people can use honey to heal wounds. Even the ancient Egyptians knew that honey could help heal cuts and burns, without understanding its antibiotic properties. Today manuka honey is used in hospitals and doctors offices to treat severe burns. And doctors are still discovering new uses, such as fighting peptic ulcers.

Unfortunately, bees face many challenges today; from Colony Collapse Disorder, pesticides, mites, and even climate change. Many people are fighting to keep bees alive by preserving their health and environment.  There's even a smartphone app that warns beekeepers of disease in their hives. 

 

Insect Selfies Custom Gifts

See the Bee Exhibition at the Bruce Museum

 

 

• wired.com/2011/07/nasa-oddities-gallery/
• pri.org/stories/2015-12-02/what-we-can-learn-ancient-egyptian-practice-beekeeping
• ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2831240/
• sustainweb.org/foodfacts/bees_are_important/
• greendustriesblog.com/greendustries/2012/04/12/bees-and-survival-of-the-human-race/
• cnn.com/2018/01/15/health/honey-health-benefits/index.html
• guides.library.harvard.edu/c.php?g=310733&p=2072758

Hanami and Sakura Matsuri

From ancient Japan to hipster Brooklyn, Hanami has captivated the minds of artists, poets and naturalists for generations.

Hanami or the Japanese tradition of flower viewing began in 9th century Japan when Emperor Saga began hosting cherry blossom festivals, attended by artists and poets of the court. Hanami became a metaphor for life – vibrant, beautiful, and ultimately fleeting.

The Shinto tradition held that Kami or spirits resided in the cherry trees, until the flowers bloomed and dispersed, heralding the beginning of spring. During the Edo period, Hanami spread beyond the court and became a nationwide event.

Today Hanami is enjoyed throughout the world, notably at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, where the festival, Sakura Matsuri is hosted yearly in March and May.

Cherry Blossom Notebooks

Cherry Blossom Tote Bags

A Tragic Family of Diseases

There is a family of diseases with two things in common – they involve the death of nerve cells over time and they have no known cure. They are called neurodegenerative diseases. 

Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and Huntington's are a few of the more universally known ones.

What they have in common is the progressive loss of structure, function or death of nerve cells - called neurons. Neurons are the building blocks of your brain and spinal cord. The body cannot replace or reproduce them, so once they are damaged, they are lost.

Drugs and treatments are available to provide palliative care. Some may slow the progression or relieve or minimize symptoms such as shaking or pain. As these diseases progress, often over the course of years, they become debilitating and lead to the eventual end of someone's life.

Sadly, at this time there is no known cure for any of the diseases in this family.

The only hope lies in fully understanding the mechanism of these diseases on the sub-cellular level and the neuron circuitry of our bodies on a system-wide level.

Celebrities have brought light to this terrible and tragic condition to help move research forward. These include Stephen Hawking, Michael J. Fox, Neil Diamond, Muhammad Ali, and Janet Reno. Many of them have used their celebrity to increase awareness and thereby encourage hope for the future.

Alzheimer Foundation of America

ALS Association

Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research

VIEW IMAGES & VIDEO

 

NEURON THEMED PRODUCTS

• Kiaei, Mahmoud. New Hopes and Challenges for Treatment. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.  2013.
• Neurodegeneration. Wikipedia.
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ALS Fact Sheet. www.ninds.nih.gov.

Stephen Hawking – A Brief History

While confined to a wheel chair for most of his life, Stephen Hawking revolutionized modern astrophysics by uncovering the mysteries of black holes – areas of space with such gravitational strength that not even light can escape them.

In his early twenties, Hawking contracted ALS (or Lou Gehrig's disease)  – an illness which would slowly paralyze him over the course of his life. Despite his condition, he rose to prominence in Cambridge as a leading theoretical physicist. Inspired by the work of Roger Penrose, he began doing research on black holes and their relationship to the structure of the universe.  He discovered that black holes emit radiation, now called Hawking Radiation, which causes them to gradually shrink, countering previous theories that they remain fixed. 

 

In 1988, Hawking published the classic "A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes," in which he outlined the history of cosmology and attempted to devise a unified theory of the universe, connecting General relativity and Quantum mechanics. The work sold over 10 million copies and became a cornerstone of modern physics and cosmology.

Stephen Hawking died on March 14th 2018 – the 139th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s birth.

Images & Videos of Black Holes

Black Hole Gifts

 

• Stephen Hawking, Wikipedia.

Step Out into the Wild!

Exposure to nature lowers stress levels and

can boost your immune system

A weekly jaunt to your local park or forest can do more than satisfy your wanderlust – science shows it can improve your health.

A 2010 study found that people who hike regularly have lower blood pressure and cortisol levels (or stress hormones.) Stepping out into nature can also protect you from seasonal colds and flus, which often circulate around offices and other communal spaces.

Joint pain and stiffness are common results of sedentary lifestyles, especially desk jobs, and weekly activity is a simple, yet effective solution. "Being outdoors is generally associated with activity, and being physically active keeps joints loose and helps with chronic pain and stiffness" says Jay Lee, M.D, of Kaiser Permancente.

On a more spiritual level, unwinding from a long work week by stepping out into the wild, can give you a greater sense of connection with nature and a broader perspective on life.

So do what the doctor and the guru order – give the monitor a rest and set off into the great outdoors.

More Wild Images

Nature has been shown to reduce stress, and boost your immune system.

So send someone you love a little touch of nature.

• How the simple act of nature helps you de-stress. nbcnews.com. Jan.07.2018

The Invention of Climate Change

One man first recognized man-made Climate Change, inspired Charles Darwin’s journey into the Galapagos and revolutionized the concept of nature while braving the wilds of 19th century Central & South America.

Alexander von Humboldt set off to survey the new world, scaling volcanoes, exploring jungles and changing scientific thought. His radical theory that nature was a complex and interconnected global force, and not merely a tool for human civilization, laid the foundation of environmentalism. 

Along with his theories, he was the first to suggest that South America was once connected to Africa and the first to propose that human activity could explain changes in the earth’s climate – which he reiterated upon in 1800 and 1831.

Charles Darwin, would site Humboldt as his primary influence for pursuing a vocation in Biology, leading to his theory of evolution. Humboldt’s influence extended across disciplines, placing him in social circles with Goethe, Schiller and Thomas Jefferson. 

Even today he is considered a major influencer in the fields of biogeography, environmentalism, ecology, evolution and many more.

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GIFTS

1.) Alexander von Humboldt. Wikipedia.