Kris Bosen, a 21-year old man from Bakersfield, California, underwent a landmark stem cell therapy procedure which is allowing him to heal from a state of paralysis that he feared would be with him for his entire life. When Bosen was younger, he was in a severe car accident that left him permanently paralyzed from the neck down.

Charles Liu, director of the USC Neurorestoration Center, lead surgeon of the team did the transplant, said that this was a very experimental procedure, and referred to it as a “study.” Bosen was injected with an experimental dose of 10 million AST-OPC1 cells at the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, California. The dose was shot directly into Boesen’s cervical spinal cord.



“Typically, spinal cord injury patients undergo surgery that stabilizes the spine but generally does very little to restore motor or sensory function. With this study, we are testing a procedure that may improve neurological function, which could mean the difference between being permanently paralyzed and being able to use one’s arms and hands. Restoring that level of function could significantly improve the daily lives of patients with severe spinal injuries,” Liu explained.


It has been nearly three years since Bosen received the treatment in April of 2016, and he has shown incredible progress during rehabilitation. It took only two weeks for Bosen to regain control and sensation in his arms and hands.

“As of 90 days post-treatment, Kris has gained significant improvement in his motor function, up to two spinal cord levels. In Kris’ case, two spinal cord levels mean the difference between using your hands to brush your teeth, operate a computer or do other things you wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, so having this level of functional independence cannot be overstated,” Liu told USC news.

Bosen hopes that this same treatment can help him walk someday as well.

“All I’ve wanted from the beginning was a fighting chance…But if there’s an opportunity for me to walk again, then heck yeah! I want to do anything possible to do that,” Bosen says.


These types of stem cell treatments are offering new hope to people in similar positions, as more facilities are comfortable with attempting the procedure after seeing Bosen’s success. Last year, the Mayo Clinic opened up stem cell therapy trials for ten people suffering from traumatic spinal cord injuries.




One of the Mayo Clinic’s stem cell patients, Geoffrey Craigie of Grand Rapids, Michigan, just received his first stem cell treatment last month.

“I can feel to like the middle of my chest. So far so good, it’s pretty exciting,” Craigie told WZZM.

“You know, when I got hurt, I was in a pretty dark place, depressed, thinking this is the end of the world type of thing. It really isn’t, there’s a lot of support out there for people like me,” he added.

According to a study conducted this year at the University of Minnesota Medical School, spinal cord stimulation using stem cells does, in fact, help to heal paralysis in many circumstances.

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Photographer Franco Banfi and his fellow divers were following this pod of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) when the giants suddenly seemed to fall into a vertical slumber. This phenomenon was first studied in 2008 when a team of biologists from the UK and Japan inadvertently drifted into a group of non-responsive sperm whales floating just below the surface.

Baffled by the behavior, the scientists analyzed data from tagged whales and discovered that these massive marine mammals spend about 7 percent of their time taking short (6- to 24-minute) rests in this shallow vertical position. Scientists think these brief naps may, in fact, be the only time the whales sleep.

Photo by Franco Banfi, a finalist in the 2017 Big Picture Competition.

You can see more of the Switzerland-based photographer’s underwater photography on his website and Instagram.


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Opossums attract and then kill thousands of ticks per acre, per week, making them one of our best allies in stopping the spread of Lyme disease, researchers say.


A study compared squirrels, mice and opossums, which all eat ticks, and found opossums were the most effective exterminators.

Ticks favor opossums twice as much as the other rodents, the researchers, from Syracuse University, found.

Fortunately, for humans, possums are also the most effective at killing the disease-carrying pests.

Opossums kill almost every tick that occupies them, the study found. A single opossum kills over 5500 ticks per week.

“Opossums are extraordinarily good groomers it turns out – we never would have thought that ahead of time – but they kill the vast majority – more than 95% percent of the ticks that try to feed on them,” disease ecologist Rick Ostfeld explained.

“So these opossums are walking around the forest floor, hoovering up ticks right and left, killing over 90% of these things, and so they are really protecting our health.”

Worldwide, more than 1.3 million people die each year of infectious diseases transmitted by a vector, such as a mosquito, sand fly or tick, according to the World Health Organization.

Vector-borne diseases also inflict heavy tolls on crops, livestock and wildlife, the study’s authors wrote.

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Teenager wins Google Science award for genius invention that could cheaply remove most microplastics from the ocean


Because microplastics are so small — some as tiny as grains of sand — scientists have had a hard time figuring out to remove them from the soil and the sea.

Now, an Irish teenager has come up with a promising solution for this seemingly impossible task — a magnetic liquid that attracts microplastics to itself.

18-year-old Fionn Ferreira was kayaking one day when he spotted a rock covered in oil from a recent spill. Clinging to the oil were a bunch of tiny pieces of plastic.

“It got me thinking,” Ferreira told Business Insider. “In chemistry, like attracts like.”

Plastic and oil are nonpolar, making them likely to stick together in nature

Ferreira wondered if the effect could be recreated using ferrofluid, a magnetic, oil-based liquid invented by NASA in 1963 to keep rocket fuel moving in zero gravity.

Today ferrofluid is used to control vibrations in speakers and to seal off electronics to keep debris out.

Ferreira makes a more environmentally friendly version of the liquid than the kind used in rocket fuel, using recycled vegetable oil and magnetite powder, a mineral found naturally on Earth’s surface.

When he first drops the liquid into a container of water contaminated with microplastics, it disperses and turns the water black.

Then he dips a magnet in the water, which pulls out all the ferrofluid, plastic and all, leaving clear water behind.

The method removed 88% of the micrplastics in his test samples.

The most difficult type of microplastic to remove was polypropylene, used to make all sorts of plastic packaging. Still, the ferrofluid removes 80% of polypropylene.

The easiest microplastics to remove were microfibers from plastic clothing such polyester, spandex and Lycra.

Washers and dryers are currently not equipped to filter these microfibers, which are a major source of ocean plastic pollution, so this is great news for that application.

Additionally, Ferreira‘s invention can be used at wastewater treatment plants as a sort of catch-all for microplastic pollution before it enters rivers, lakes and oceans.




Ferreira has won the Google Science award, $50,000 and educational funding for his invention.

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Superhuman feats of strength had attracted the stone age people to one another. In our times, while the meaning of strength, fitness, and exercises has changed, it's still human nature to gasp at feats of strength and endurance. Some are genuinely awe-inspiring, and here we bring you one such paradigm.


An average human can hold a plank for five minutes at a stretch, after which their core would be on fire. Well, fitness blogger, Dana Glowacka went through a plank for over four hours. Now, that's some core. Right?

By planking for four hours and 20 minutes, she was able to smash the Women's International Planking Record. The previous record holder was Maria Kalimera from Cyprus that managed to hold a plank for three hours and 31 minutes.

At the First International Plank Training Conference, the woman from Montreal showed everybody what real strength was. To elaborate on how tremendous her record is, before her, the record was held by a person who planked for three hours and 30 minutes, while Dana’s was four hours and twenty minutes. Therefore, not only did she smash through the old record, but she also did it by approximately an hour.

In a display of sibling support and affection amidst such an adrenaline-fuelled environment, this fitness enthusiast’s brother came after a 24-hour trip to be with her. He stood by to watch her as she broke the record.

This new bill passed by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) specifies that: Abusers are sent off to prison for 5 years maximum if found guilty. The bill was announced right after the cabinet’s approval on June 26, 2019. But to get here it wasn’t easy.

After years of campaigning by the RSPCA with other animal welfare charities, this bill was passed to increase the prison years.

However, this sentence is only for the harshest form of cruelty. This includes dog fighting, puppies and kittens abuse, or foul neglect of farm animals.
Animal cruelty is skyrocketing in England and Wales because of which this decision was mandatory to take.


Chris Sherwood, chief executive RSPCA, said:

“This reform is long overdue. Those responsible for extreme cruelty towards animals or those criminal gangs involved in organized animal crime, such as dog fighting or badger baiting, will now face the strict justice they deserve.
The current maximum sentence of six months neither reflects the severity of some of the cruelty we witness nor does it act as a deterrent. Even if magistrates and judges impose the maximum sentence – six months in prison – offenders will often serve just a few weeks before being released. As a nation that prides itself on its love of animals, this is simply not acceptable.

If courts had more flexibility and the ability to impose sentences of up to five years, then this would be a much fairer reflection of the severity of some of the cases our officers bring to court.”

Last week, three men from Wales were jailed for 22 weeks, 20 weeks and 18 weeks respectively for their involvement in organized badger digging (outlawed in 1973) in a case described by the judge as ‘medieval barbarity.’


Just the last week, three men were prisoned for 22 weeks, 20 weeks and 18 weeks correspondingly from Wales. As described by judges: they were involved in organized badger digging also known as ‘medieval barbarity”. This practice was outlawed in 1973.
There were numerous videos and images found on their mobile phone depicting hunting and animal cruelty offenses. Many wildlife were killed in the video, and also dog being a bait to Laure, these animals. In one footage, dogs attacked a baby badger after being pulled out of the underground. It was skinned alive. And just as they knew it was alive, they hit it’s head by shovel and killed.

As the main investigator and prosecutor of animal cruelty offences, @RSPCA_official is thrilled that the worst animal abusers will soon face five years in prison instead of six months! #AnimalsDeserveJustice https://t.co/l7C7smeHe4 pic.twitter.com/lzQkRQJHOG

— Amy De-Keyzer (@RSPCA_Amy) June 26, 2019

On June 24, Monday, Chris Sherwood with 10 animal charity leaders, hosted a discussion with a government minister. This discussion was for the UK government to fulfill the promise of extending the sentence for more than 18 months.

Hope this new bill would really give justice to these fur babies and more. We animals page team hope to feature less animal cruelty news on our page and more happy and cute babies.

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As an animal lover I need to say I totally disagree with the zoos and the circuses. Still, this circus in Germany managed to really impress me. After all, it looks like the zoos all over the world are trying to change the concepts on which they are based. Those days when wild animals were kept always locked in cages are long gone.

Most of the time, the things were worse at circuses, then in zoos. However, the new tendency shows that circuses are walking a path in the opposite direction, sometimes even in a radical way and, for this, they are resorting to the latest available technologies, the Science News Reporter reports.


It is the case of Circus Roncalli, in Germany. On their shows, they allow visitors to enjoy the sight of animals in full action, just they are not actually animals. In order to stop the animal mistreatment, the circus found the perfect scenario. They replaced the animals with realistic holograms, being the first circus in the world with this brilliant idea.

According to the Science News Reporter, the animations made by computer are projected to real size and shown in a spectacular way. And the technology allows to animals as elephants, wild horses or monkeys to do acrobatics on the stage.


The Circus Roncalli has a few decades history, but now they decided to replace wild animals with projectors, lasers and lenses . Let’s hope other circuses will fallow their example!



Thanks to technology, many animals get rid of being locked up living in captivity, while humans can enjoy their virtual presence in this incredible way.

Check out the holograms in action below:



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Image Credit


The anger has been present in the public for a long time now. There’s a global trend taking place all over the world that is trying to end cosmetic cruelty. Even the public of Australia was against it. It was time for the government to step in, lend its voice in communion with the public, and see that cosmetic cruelty is brought to an end. And it finally did. Hannah Stuart, the campaign manager of HSI (Humane Society International) fighting for #BeCrueltyFree Australia claims that they are grateful that the government supported them and now, they will make sure that the ban is successfully implemented.

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Good news from down under! 😃 We're delighted that the Australian Senate has passed measures banning new animal testing data for chemicals used as ingredients in cosmetics. 💄 The move is part of a package of bills on industrial chemicals. It had been postponed as campaigners tried to make the law stronger and more in step with the clear wishes of Australians, 85% of whom say they are against the use of animals in the development of cosmetics. Agreement was reached when the Government committed to reinforcing measures to ‘explore’ and ‘subsequently incorporate’ further restrictions on new animal test data for the use of chemical ingredients in cosmetics in Australia. The measures will also help reduce reliance on animal testing and encourage the development of non-animal methods. Cruelty Free International’s Director of Public Affairs Kerry Postlewhite said: “We congratulate the Australian Government, parliamentarians from across the country’s political parties, citizens and consumers who have campaigned hard and the animal protection organisations that worked tirelessly to achieve this result. This is great news for animals, great news for Australia and great news for moves to bring this cruel, outdated and unnecessary practice to an end globally, everywhere and forever.” #CrueltyFreeCosmetics #CrueltyFree #Australia

A post shared by Cruelty Free International (@crueltyfreeintl) on Feb 18, 2019 at 9:00am PST

The government has made its commitment towards eleven reinforcing measures to make sure that all kinds of cosmetic ingredients are captured due to the ban. It has also promised to fund and support any new developments of non-animal testing modern methods. So, the Government is really committed to making this a complete ban and not just a partial one. Stuart claims that it took about 3 years for the senate to actually pass the bill, but then again, it’s better late than never. The commitment of the government to the cause gives them hope. Stuart also mentions that part of the success of the bill is because of the public. There was overwhelming support from the public towards bringing about this national ban. HSI has named Steve Irons and Coalition MPs Jason Wood and the motion co-sponsors Centre Alliance Senator Stirling Griff, Senator Tim Storer, and Senator Derryn Hinch as major supporters of the Bill.

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💥 BREAKING NEWS! The Australian Senate has just passed the bill to ban cosmetic animal testing! 🐹🐰🎉 A huge #BeCrueltyFree victory! Click on the link in our bio to learn more!

A post shared by Humane Society International (@hsiglobal) on Feb 15, 2019 at 8:19am PST

Stuart says that all that is left for now is some formalities. Once those are over, the Bill can become a Law. The Bill is set to become active from July 2020 – a small-time given for industries to come to terms with the new rules. However, for Stuart, the one-year gap for the industries to transition seems too much. The ban had been announced about 3 years ago and that is enough time for industries to buckle up.
HSI is ready to move the date forward but the government may not agree to it. At least, the positive thing is that the bill has been finally passed. 2020 will be the year when it will be exercised. And there will be an end to cosmetics cruelty.
Let’s hope that other nations will follow this example. Let’s create a #BeCrueltyFree World. We are the power – let’s exercise it well.

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BioCarbon Engineering is a company located in UK. The company has been developing a high-tech system that uses drones to replant deforested areas — even in areas where planting wouldn’t be feasible using older methods.

Their system utilizes drones for two separate stages of the process. First, they’re sent into the target area to create a detailed, three-dimensional map. Once they’ve completed that step, the planting drones return to the site to do their thing.

They move with GPS-guided precision and they’re incredibly efficient. BioCarbon says that its drones can plant a tree in less than a second, or upwards of 100,000 trees in a single day. How? By firing a sort of agri-bullet into the ground.


Each drone can carry a load of biodegradable seed pods. Because diversity is key to a sustainable, healthy forest, BioCarbon’s drones can plant multiple species at the same time. They can also plant them in a highly-optimized arrangement, thanks to the advanced scouting work by the mapping drones.



Ultimately, BioCarbon Engineering wants to have 150 fleets of 6 drones each up and running. With a fleet that size, they say they’d be capable of planting tens of billions of trees per year… and they’ll do it at a fraction of the cost of traditional planting.

CEO Dr. Lauren Fletcher has set a lofty goal for his company. He wants to plant half a trillion trees in the next three decades. You’ve got to like his odds when BioCarbon Engineering drones can do the job ten times faster than people, for 85% less money, and in places where it wouldn’t even have been practical to send people in the first place.

Right now, they’re working to restore 10,000 hectares of mangrove forest in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar.

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The success of the traditional food movement boosted the popularity of fermented foods, and we finally realized the wisdom of our ancestors. People have consumed fermented foods for centuries, due to the numerous health benefits they offer.

According to Jillian Levy, CHHC:

“Sauerkraut, a form of fermented cabbage, has been popular throughout Central Europe for hundreds of years. Sauerkraut combines one of the healthiest foods there is (cabbage) with one of the most beneficial and time-honored food preparation methods ever used (fermentation).

According to the Institute for Integrative Medicine at the University of Witten in Germany, sauerkraut is one of the most common and oldest forms of preserving cabbage and can be traced back as an important food source to the fourth century B.C.

Fermentation simply refers to an ancient technique and perseveration method that naturally alters the chemistry of foods. Similar to cultured dairy products like yogurt and kefir, sauerkraut’s fermentation process produces beneficial probiotics that are now linked to improvements in immune, cognitive, digestive and endocrine function.”

Sauerkraut is made by pickling cabbage in a process called lacto-fermentation. It is a rich source of enzymes that support digestion and help the absorption of nutrients in the body.

However, the store-bought sauerkraut is pasteurized and treated with numerous chemicals, so it no longer offers the same benefits.



Here is how to make your homemade sauerkraut and boost the intake of probiotics:

Homemade sauerkraut recipe

Ingredients:

• 6 pounds cabbage
• 3 tablespoons sea salt

Instructions:

1. Remove the large outer leaves of the cabbage, and shred the rest of it. In a bowl, mix it with the salt, and in order to stimulate the release of its juices, massage it with your hands for about 15 minutes.
2. Then, transfer the mixture to a larger fermentation container, pound it down for the juice to come up to the surface, and cover it with a plate. You should leave about 2 inches of space at the top.
3. Place a heavy glass jar with water over the plate to press it down and force the water out of it.
4. Keep the container at room temperature, in a cool, dark place, covered with a towel.

The fermentation process will take about a month. Afterward, store the sauerkraut in the fridge, and enjoy its benefits on a daily basis!

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A recent study has found that people aged over 40 perform the best when they work only three days a week.

The researchers concluded that the cognitive performance of the middle-aged people improving as the wee increased to 25 hours a week. On the flip side, the performance decreased when the week went over 25 hours, due to the effects of fatigue and stress.

This study, which was published in the Melbourne Institute Worker Paper series, involved a series of cognitive tests. It included 3,000 Australian men and 3,500 Australian women, whose work habits were analyzed. It tested the participants` ability to read words aloud and recite lists of numbers. The testing reading measured their “knowing” part of ability while the latter measured the “thinking” part of ability, including executive reasoning, abstract reasoning, and memory.

It was concluded that the participants working 25 hours a week performed best while the results of those working 55 hours were even worse than unemployed participants.
As noted by Professor Colin McKenzie from Keio University, one of the three authors, “Many countries are going to raise their retirement ages by delaying the age at which people are eligible to start receiving pension benefits. This means that more people continue to work in the later stages of their life.

“The degree of intellectual stimulation may depend on working hours. Work can be a double-edged sword, in that it can stimulate brain activity, but at the same time long working hours can cause fatigue and stress, which potentially damage cognitive functions.

“We point out that differences in working hours are important for maintaining cognitive functioning in middle-aged and elderly adults. This means that, in middle and older age, working part-time could be effective in maintaining cognitive ability.”

The reason that working more than 30 hours a week is detrimental for your brain while working fewer hours is good is not clear yet. McKenzie describes work as a double-edged sword. “While work can stimulate brain activity, long working hours can cause fatigue and stress, which potentially damage cognitive functions. Full-time work (40 hours a week) is still better than no work in terms of maintaining cognitive functioning, but it is not maximising the positive effects of work,” he notes.
It is worth noting that the results are likely to vary between countries, depending on the days of people take annually. It is very difficult to control all the factors which contribute to the final results of a study of this kind (including choices around the hours worked and the type of work), but this certainly makes the idea of working full-time until the age of 67 unappealing.

The bottom line is that working full-time is highly detrimental for the brain of those aged over 40, so the government should take this into consideration and hopefully review the pension age. At this point, the state pension for a person born in 1989 begins at the age of 68, which is detrimental for the employee and unproductive for the employer.

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Researchers from Michigan State University developed completely transparent solar panels, which can have numerous applications in architecture, and other fields like mobile electronics or the automotive industry.

Researchers have tried to create such a device before as well, but the final results were never satisfying.

The team focused on the see-through factor, so they developed a transparent luminescent solar concentrator, or TLSC, which can be placed over a clear surface like a window. It can harvest solar energy without affecting the transmittance of light.

The technology uses organic molecules which absorb light wavelengths which are not visible to the human eye, such as infrared and ultraviolet light. Richard Lunt, assistant professor of chemical engineering and materials science at MSU’s College of Engineering, says:

“We can tune these materials to pick up just the ultraviolet and the near infrared wavelengths that then ‘glow’ at another wavelength in the infrared. The captured light is transported to the contour of the panel, where it is converted to electricity with the help of thin strips of photovoltaic solar cells.”


Since the vertical footprint is bigger than the rooftop one, especially in glass towers, these devices could make the most out of the buildings’ facades. They would not affect the architectural design but will represent a far more efficient technology. Yet, they can also be integrated into old buildings as well.

According to the New York Times:

“If the cells can be made long-lasting, they could be integrated into windows relatively cheaply, as much of the cost of conventional photovoltaics is not from the solar cell itself, but the materials it is mounted on, like aluminum and glass. Coating existing structures with solar cells would eliminate some of this material cost.

If the transparent cells ultimately prove commercially viable, the power they generate could significantly offset the energy use of large buildings, said Dr. Lunt, who will begin teaching at Michigan State University this fall.

“We’re not saying we could power the whole building, but we are talking about a significant amount of energy, enough for things like lighting and powering everyday electronics,” he said.”


Further research has been funded by the Center for Excitonics, an Energy Frontier Research Center financed by the Department of Energy.

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According to scientists and conservationists, our planet is currently undergoing the sixth mass extinction of plants and animals and species going extinct at up to 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate.

Yet, even though they are in grave danger, we choose to believe that maybe it is not too late for everyone.

The recent spotting of the Formosan clouded leopard, a rare species of large cat, in Taiwan, was more than great news for all, as it hadn’t been officially sighted since 1983, and in 2013, it was declared extinct.

Historical records of this leopard date back to around the 13th century, when indigenous people brought its pelts to trade at the busy markets of port cities like Tainan. It is believed that the only non-indigenous person to have ever seen such a leopard was the Japanese anthropologist Torii Ryūzō, in 1900.

However, it has been seen in the wilderness by many people across the archipelago’s southeast, and it had been spotted prowling in the countryside near Taitung County’s Daren Township.

The Paiwan tribal authorities had formed indigenous ranger groups which are supposed to patrol the area and guard sensitive areas. They saw the leopard, known as Li’uljaw, which also holds a sacred status for locals when it suddenly climbed a tree before scrambling up a cliff to hunt for goats.

The Asian cat was again seen by another group when it darted past a scooter before quickly climbing a tree and disappearing from sight. This find is of extremely important significance for the local people in the area, and they are now holding tribal meetings to determine their next steps.
Tribal members believe they could stop the hunting by outsiders, and the elders of the village urge authorities to end logging and other activities that harm the land. National Taitung University’s Department of Life Science, professor Liu Chiung-hsi says:

“I believe this animal still does exist.”

According to Taiwan News:

“Pan Chih-hua (潘志華), head of the Alangyi’s tribal conference, confirmed to CNA on Saturday that the men from his village did indeed spot the Formosan clouded leopard in the wild, but were reluctant to disclose the time and location of their sightings.

Liu said it was no surprise that the animal has not been seen by a human being in more than two decades because it is vigilant and cannot be trapped or easily caught by hunters in the wild.”

Professor Liu also noted that he has met hunters from the indigenous Bunun people who admitted capturing the animal several times in the late 1990s but burnt the bodies in order to protect them from any consequences due to violating Taiwan’s Wildlife Conservation Act.

A team of Taiwanese and U.S. zoologists surveyed the region during the period from 2001 and 2013 and did not see any of these leopards, so they eventually declared that the Formosan clouded leopard had officially gone extinct.

🔥 This is a Formosan clouded leopard from Taiwan, it was thought to be extinct until it was spotted this week. The last time it was seen was 1983 pic.twitter.com/ijme0W7VvQ

— Nature, You Lit! (@NatureSuperLit) March 1, 2019

However, according to IFL Science:

“In January of this year, Taiwan’s Forestry Bureau released its latest Schedule of Protected Wildlife and the Formosan clouded leopard is still listed as category I. Chao Ren-fang, a professor at the Institute of Biology at I-Shou University, who was involved in the conservation listing review, told the Central News Agency: “It would be a big event to remove the Formosa clouded leopard from the list.” It would require taking into consideration societal perceptions as there could be a backlash from the indigenous community, he added.”

Additionally,

“Although this situation has drawn comparisons with the Tasmanian tiger (thylacine), the Australian marsupial constantly spotted by surprised Aussies despite being declared extinct in 1936, it’s not impossible for an animal to remain hidden for years and then nonchalantly pop up again – it happened only last week when a giant tortoise last seen in 1906, and thought eaten to extinction, appeared on an island in the Galápagos. “

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Have you transitioned to a plant-based diet? Do you make an effort to reduce the amount of animal products you are consuming on a regular basis? If so, it is thanks to you that 500 million lives have been spared this year, and with continued awareness, that number continues to rise.

It has become clear that everyone is not going to stop eating meat anytime soon, but as more and more awareness has been made towards the treatment of animals, and about the health effects of a conventional diet and environmental factors that come from eating too much meat, more people are starting to at least consider the option of consuming much less meat. Although, many vegans would argue that it’s all or nothing and that the only way to make an impact is to give up meat entirely. We can clearly see the difference that has come from people simply being more conscious about their meat consumption.

Personally, I don’t eat meat or animal products for the most part, but I also don’t consider myself a vegan, mainly because I don’t feel the need for a label or to define myself in this way — anymore. In the past I was a vegan, a strict one at that, and I realized that putting labels on yourself and preaching your beliefs isn’t necessarily an effective way to create change. Now, educating people on the ethical, environmental, and health concerns that go hand in hand with a traditional diet, and how much being more mindful about the amount of meat and animal products you are consuming and encouraging the idea of consuming less of these products and avoiding products coming from factory farms, now that was a more effective way to go about it. Telling someone that they are wrong and you are right usually doesn’t go over so well, in my experience anyways.

We Are Consuming Less Meat
Meat consumption has been steadily on the decline since 2007. In fact, it has dropped 10% per capita in the United States according to statistics from The Humane Society of the United States. That year, the U.S. raised and slaughtered around 9.5 billion land animals for food. As of 2014 that number fell by 400 million. This is according to Paul Shapiro, Vice President, Farm Animal Protection for The Humane Society of the United States.

“What that means is that compared to 2007, last year almost half a billion fewer animals were subjected to the torment of factory farming and industrial slaughter plants and that’s despite the increase in the U.S. population.”

Ready For More Great News?
That number continues to drop, and really 500 million lives spared in a matter of only 10 years is actually quite impressive. If the number of animals being mass-produced and slaughtered for consumption continued to drop by half a billion every 10 years then it wouldn’t take long before no animal would have to suffer any longer; animals who would be used for food could be treated with respect and raised ethically and have an actual life before their eventual slaughter, which is still by no means humane.

Is It Because People Are Moving Towards A Plant-Based Diet?
Not necessarily. As more and more people are becoming aware of the benefits of a plant-based diet, they are making more ethical and conscious decisions about what they are consuming. This doesn’t automatically mean going vegan, but people are choosing to eat less meat. This is certainly becoming obvious by the increasing number of vegetarian and vegan restaurants that seem to be opening up everywhere all the time. In the past decade, we have also seen a large variety of plant-based alternatives to meat products that put the traditional veggie burger to shame. There are many realistic, and surprisingly tasty alternatives, and people seem to be more open-minded to giving these a chance. Perhaps because subconsciously they know that it might be time to make a shift. Many athletes are going vegan and swear by this type of lifestyle for achieving optimal results. We are even seeing many doctors adopting this type of lifestyle as well.

Times Are Changing
This serves as a powerful reminder that with enough awareness, and especially with the help of the Internet, things can and will change. If someone is choosing to remain ignorant, they won’t change, but the Internet has made this a difficult thing to do. Nobody wants to see animals suffer and I’m sure that most sane people on the planet would prefer if no animal ever had to suffer again. When we realize how much of an impact we ourselves can make, it helps us to make more ethical decisions. Never forget that “small acts of kindness, multiplied by millions will transform the world.” I believe that this is what has caused this drastic decline in the amount of animals that were slaughtered for food. We can all do our part to actively create the type of the world we want to live in and truly understand that if we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem. What can you do to reduce your impact?

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Morgan Freeman is one of those famous people that is adored by both the young and the old. He is an actor, filmmaker, as well as director and he, is known for a lot of different roles that he played during his long Hollywood career, so it is difficult to keep track, but his newest role may prove to be his most important one.


Now, he is celebrated for his participation in helping, as well as investing to revive the bee population. According to statistics, one in three bites of food that you put into your mouth today is the result of the hard-working, yet humble honeybee. The sad thing is that bees are dying off at a rather alarming rate.

People around the world have done what they can, from planting flowers which bees like to visit, petitioning their governments to stop the use of pesticides which kill bees, and even keeping bees themselves. Morgan Freeman is no different. His concern about the bees led him to convert his 124-acre ranch in Mississippi into a sanctuary for wild bees with bee-friendly plants such as fruit trees and clover, magnolia trees and lavender, all spanning over many acres.




His effort was to help support population growth for the little pollinators. Back in 2014, he talked to Jimmy Fallon about his new hobby during an appearance on “The Tonight Show.” As he took beekeeping just two weeks before the interview, the actor described how well he and his bees get along. He told Fallon that he does not even need to wear a protective beekeeper’s suit or veil when tending to his precious pollinators, suggesting that he has reached a level of skill, as well as ease akin to his on-screen performances.

He explained:

There is a concerted effort for bringing bees back onto the planet…We do not realize that they are the foundation, I think, of the growth of the planet, the vegetation…I have a lot of flowering things, and I have a gardener too. As she takes care of the bees too, all she does is figure out, ‘OK, what would they like to have?’, so we have got acres and acres of clover, and we have some planting stuff like lavender, I have got like, maybe 140 magnolia trees, big blossoms.


Freeman said that he did not start keeping bees as of the sweet tooth, but it was a direct response to the mass bee die-offs which was threatening the survival of wild bees for the past several years. The actor also recognized the chances of making a difference through personal action, so he imported 26 hives full of bees from Arkansas and started feeding them sugar water.

It is quite difficult to measure what kind of an effect the efforts of Freeman will have on the larger bee populations in North America, but his hobby is an inspiring gesture of goodwill toward those tiny living creatures which are usually taken for granted.



He said:

I have not ever used the beekeeping hat with my bees. They haven’t stung me yet, as right now I am not trying to harvest honey or anything, but I just feed them…I also think that they understand, ‘Hey, don’t bother this guy, he’s got sugar water here.


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Cetaceans have always been at the top of the human hit-list until very recently. Every part of a whale’s body is usable and dolphins made easy and nutritious prey for mariners. (Refer to the great American novel, Moby Dick, to know more.)

Only recently has whale hunting been banned in most nations of the world, but given a large number of cetaceans man has already eliminated from the world’s oceans, the damage will probably be irreversible. By scientific estimates, at the current rate, whale populations wouldn’t even reach half their pre-whaling numbers by 2100.

Well, all is not lost, I guess.

Canada, that beacon for hope in many cases has come up and actually passed a bill that bans one of the last reasons people had to capture, retain, and breed dolphins: scientific observation.

http://savedolphins.eii.org/donate/fwd-donate
Canada has passed what it calls bill S-203, which bans the capture of cetaceans for display and observation in and by aquariums. This process was kick-started back in 2015 itself, after the Trudeau government came to power, and has finally been passed, three years later, after debates and gruelling amendments.

Another bill, S-238, will also cover the importation and exportation of shark fins, which is extracted mostly by Chinese fishermen in one of the cruellest of ways. The sharks, mostly juvenile are lifted onto the boat, have their fins removed, and then dumped back into the ocean alive and in extreme pain. And sharks, unlike other fish must keep swimming or they will drown. So, do the math.

The bill sponsored by Sen. Michael MacDonald will ban aquariums and observatories like ‘Marineland’ from capturing more of these wonderful animals from the wild on the pretext of display or observation. The bill, however, will allow the park to retain the ones it already has in its possession, but it will be forbidden from breeding another generation. This is because captive-bred animals, more often than not, are never totally equipped for a life in the wild, which kind of forecloses the possibility of later rehabilitation into the wild.
Given the release of much-needed documentary Black Fish, protesters, however, are still lobbying for the release of the 55 remaining cetaceans into open-water sanctuaries.

The fact that a unanimously approved bill has been passed in order to care for the protection of the whales and dolphins is a big step in a world where most animal/environment-related movements are still at the individual level. And I use the adjective ‘unanimous’ very cautiously, because the bill S-238 has indeed been approved by all political parties, which means that concern for the gentle giants and the environment transcends political affiliations, at least in Canada.

Whales, after humans, are the only animals who can actively alter the environment of the Earth. These bulky animals dive and come back up, bringing with them nutrients from the depths which makes plant plankton thrive on the ocean surface, making the air chock-full of oxygen. They also weed out excess shrimp numbers, making the ocean better for algae and plankton. And it doesn’t end there; whale skeletons are full of carbon locked down in the form of calcium carbonate-like compounds. And when they die, they take such huge quantities of carbon down with them to the bottom of the sea floor.

And they are just majestic animals; intelligent, empathetic, and social. Not to mention, dolphins are almost human-like in intelligence.

Let’s hope that this bill works wonders, and along with the other bill, helps the cetaceans thrive again.

After all, these giants are crucial to our prolonged survival on this blue marble in space we call home.

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Keanu Reeves may be one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. Unlike most stars who have “made it,” Reeves continues to treat every individual he meets as an equal. Furthermore, he consistently goes out of his way to make a positive difference in the lives of others. For example, former co-workers claim he often brought them free breakfast during a movie shoot. And recently, it was revealed that Reeves has been silently funding a children’s hospital for years.

Reeves, who is best known for his roles in The Matrix, Bell and Ted, and Point Break, has had anything but an easy life. When he was just 3-years-old, his father abandoned the family. Growing up, the actor attended four different high schools. His dyslexia made school a constant struggle. For this reason, he dropped out of high school. Despite the setback, he is now a voracious reader.

When Reeves was 23-years-old, his closest friend, River Phoenix, died of a drug overdose. Not long after, he met Jennifer Syme. The two fell in love and in 1999, Jennifer found out she was pregnant. But in her eighth month of pregnancy, the child was born stillborn. The couple was devastated by her death, eventually dissolving their relationship. Unfortunately, 18 months later, Syme was killed in a car accident.

Following Syme’s death, Reeves became the primary caregiver of Kim, his younger sister. She was diagnosed with leukemia in the 1990s and battled the illness for a decade before entering remission. It was during this time period that Reeves generously gave to numerous cancer charities. He also set up his own foundation in her honor without attaching his name to it. The private foundation exists to fund cancer research and support both kids’ hospitals and children’s wards.



Reeves revealed the foundation in 2009, during an interview with the Ladies’ Home Journal. He said, “I have a private foundation that’s been running for five or six years, and it helps aid a couple of children’s hospitals and cancer research. I don’t like to attach my name to it, I just let the foundation do what it does.”

Reeves had every reason to become a bitter and reclusive man in his earlier years. But, he chose to persevere and is an inspiring individual today as a result. Keanu went on to star in a variety of blockbuster films. As a result, he became a very wealthy man. But, he has never been driven by money. That’s why he gives so much of his wealth away.

In 2003, he told Hello! Magazine: “Money is the last thing I think about. I could live on what I have already made for the next few centuries.”

Reeves is so unimpressed by money, he gave $80 million of his $114 million earnings to the special effects and makeup staff of The Matrix film series. According to Higher Perspective, Reeves also took pay cuts on the films The Replacements and The Devil’s Advocates to allow for a larger, well-paid cast within the determined budget.


That’s not all… According to Reddit User Kahi, Reeves once gave a generous donation to a family friend when they desperately needed it. They wrote:

“A family friend builds movie sets, doesn’t design, is one of the poor dudes that just builds. Anyways he worked on the set for the Matrix and Keanu heard about family trouble he was having and gave him a $20,000 Christmas bonus to help him out.”

“He also was one of the only people on the set that genuinely wanted to know people’s names, would say hello and mean it, and would talk to people as if they were his peers and not below him just because they were practically making nothing to build a set,” they concluded. “I’ve never heard anyone say Keanu is a douche, seems like the nicest person in Hollywood from a second hand experience.”
Reportedly, Keanu also manned the phones at a Stand Up to Cancer telethon in 2008. He also volunteered to be the goalkeeper during a charity ice hockey match for Score (Spinal Cord Opportunities for Rehabilitation Endowment). The event was founded in support of players with spinal injuries.

Though there are many more examples proving Keanu’s generosity, we’ll stop the list right here. Research the actor’s charitable contributions for yourself and be inspired by his uplifting example. One thing is for sure, the world could use more people like Keanu Reeves.

Do you agree or disagree? Comment your thoughts below
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It’s a known fact that humans outlive most animals. But tortoises are definitely an exception, and one of them was actually able to reach the ripe age of 187.