Elvis Francois became lost at sea and survived for 24 days eating only ketchup, rainwater and seasoning.  The 47-year-old man was repairing his sailboat while off the island of St. Martin in the Netherland Antilles when currents pushed him further into the depths of the sea. The Caribbean sailor phoned his friends to let them know that he was lost but unfortunately, he was unable to receive communication from them due to loss of signal.  He waited for someone to come to his rescue but to no avail.  He discovered a passing plane and used a mirror as a distress signal while writing out the word "help" on the hull of his boat. He lost hope for a brief moment and thought that there was no way forward.   "At some point I lost hope and thought about my family, but I thank the coast guard. If it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be telling the story,” Francois said.  Francois didn’t become disheartened and instead showcased superior survival skills. Of his experience being lost at se

What Research Has Revealed about Medicinal Mushrooms Introduction The branch of medicine that involves the consumption of foods as medicine is called Functional Medicine or or the new scientific discipline of “functional food science.”  The father of medicine, Hippocrates, once said, “Let thy food be thy medicine and medicine thy food.” There are many healing and health benefits that can be achieved when consuming certain foods.  The nutritional value of mushrooms is high due to the amount of minerals, protein and vitamins like D2, C, B that they contain.   Mushrooms are antiinflueza, anti-inflammatory, anticancerous, antiinfective, antidiabetic and antimicrobial (Elkhateeb, Daba, Thomas & Wen, 2019; Ganeshpurkar, Rai & Jain, 2010; Sabaratnam et al., 2013).  If one is looking for the richest source to aid in relief of these types of conditions, they should look no further than the medicinal mushroom.  People in countries of Asia (Japan, Korea, China) and eastern Russia have wid

Mushrooms are an extremely tasty food, which boast earthy umami flavors.  They can be excellent sources of protein for those seeking healthy meat substitutes and they work so well in a variety of dishes.  There are over 140,000 mushroom species 10% of which have actually been classified.  Aside from your average mushroom, are the medicinal mushroom varieties. Medicinal mushrooms have become popular wellness ingredients and can be found in a range of items from teas to coffees to tonics to tinctures.  These medicinal mushrooms are not your average mushrooms that can be found in your local grocery store.  They’re more so “super” mushrooms! How Super Are They? Medicinal mushrooms are powerful natural sources that can help to improve vitality of the body.  Medicinal mushrooms contain bioactive compounds such as beta-glucans, polysaccharides, triterpenoids and ergosterol.   The bioactive compounds found in medicinal mushrooms have superior anti-inflammatory effects on the body and help to p

Just Stop Oil has been constantly on the go promoting environmental causes in a way that only they can.  Their most recent protests that occurred in London involved a few bottles of spray paint.  The Bank of London, Home Office, MI5 Building were all covered in bright neon orange paint with protesters giving short impassioned speeches providing reasoning for the acts.  Tez Burns, a young bicycle mechanic from Swansea had this to say after spraying the Thames MI5 building: “Our demand is simple. No new fossil fuel licenses—no new fossil fuel licenses and I won’t have to do this anymore! The government has taken our future.  I want our future back.  It’s criminal inaction—criminal inaction on the climate crisis.  The UN say you need to act.   The IPCC say you need to act.   The IMF—the World Bank all say you need to act and yet the government does nothing.  What does it do? It issues new fossil fuel licenses." "It says we need to drain every last drop of oil out of the North Se

Just Stop Oil is back at it again and this time the shenanigans included British Royal family members, King Charles, Prince William, Princess Catherine and Camilla Consort.  Yesterday, two members from the organization marched into Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum and visited the royal family section.  As the two protesters made their way to the royal wax figures, they began removing their bags and outerwear.  The bold letters of the organization’s name swiftly appeared on their white tees as people quietly walked to and fro past other wax figures.  The activist duo consisted of a woman and man.  The woman grabbed a flat looking cake out of her bag and jammed it right into the face of the figure of King Charles.   Would Prince William be next?  No! Prince William was actually spared of being a cakeface.  Perhaps Just Stop Oil is aware of William’s work with his Earthshot Prize which is an initiative being used to fund environmental solutions.   The question is, “Why Charles?” Why did Just S

A duo of climate activists threw tomato soup on Van Gogh’s iconic "Sunflowers” painting at the London National Gallery. The duo hails from the activist group, Just Stop Oil.  Sunflowers by Van Gogh is a still life painting from a series which is revered by art enthusiasts and communities.  Van Gogh created four different versions of “Sunflowers” which were meant to showcase the stages of life—from new to dying. The London National Gallery holds the fourth version, which was created in 1888. The climate activists from Just Stop oil threw two cans of tomato soup at the glass encapsulated painting and then glued themselves to the gallery wall.  Just Stop Oil is no stranger to staging protests in front of acclaimed artworks.  Activists from the organization glued themselves to the frame of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” which is displayed at London’s Royal Academy of Art.  The female protester could be heard on video with a thick British accent saying, “What is worth more? Art or life? 

Flying by airplane is not an environmentally safe way to travel.  Travelling by private jet is particularly harmful to the environment.  Individuals with the resources often choose to travel by private jet for various reasons which include their comfort and lifestyle as well as the main reason being to get from point A to point B in the quickest amount of time while avoiding airport lines and security.  It’s not often that these individuals think about the environmental impact that their choices have on the environment.   It is important to focus on collective efforts for taking of earth but when individual actions are equivalent to amount of CO2 emissions of a collective, it should be publicized.  Digital marketing company, Yard decided to do just that where private jet travel is concerned. In July, Yard, released a list of celebrities who had the highest carbon emissions by private jet.  They received raw data from Celebrity Jets and compared data to the average person’s CO2 emission