There are few things more popular than a televised royal wedding event, making it the perfect occasion for some awkward subtitles and/or human error.
Princess Eugenie’s wedding, which took place this morning, had more guests and probably cost more than Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s big day. Still, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding had much more attention than today’s wedding. It’s not Eugenie’s fault. America has been obsessed with William and Harry since they were born; add a Hollywood celebrity into the mix and it’s ratings dynamite.
Despite the “unpopularity” of this royal wedding, the event is still something that people will watch, making it very embarrassing for the BBC channel and the poor commentator when the subtitle software confused the word dress with breasts. It’s a similar word but what are the odds?
To make matters even worse, or better depending on which side of the screen you are, the commentator elaborates on how well the breasts/dress fit on princess Eugenie.
Someone on the BBC channel is having a really bad day.
Although it may sound too good to be true, the word on the street is that President Trump plans to cook up some level of federal marijuana reform following the midterm election. Just how deep could it go? According to U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher, the push to end some part of the country’s prohibition standard will most likely begin with the legalization of medical marijuana.
The House lawmaker recently told Fox News that the Trump Administration has made a “solid commitment” to bring such a plan to fruition. But it doesn’t sound like Rohrabacher received this tip from the president himself. He told the news source on Thursday that “I have been talking to people inside the White House who know and inside the president’s entourage… I have talked to them at length. I have been reassured that the president intends on keeping his campaign promise.”
During his campaign, Trump indicated that he supports medical marijuana “100 percent” and that all of this marijuana legalization business happening across the country should be left up to the states. The President vowed not to interfere with statewide reform, but he has never publicly indicated a desire to legalize marijuana for therapeutic use. Still, Rohrabacher insists that Trump has an itch to bring medical marijuana out of the underground. “I would expect after the election we will sit down and we’ll start hammering out something that is specific and real,” he said.
Earlier this year, President Trump gave some indication that he would support a bill (STATES Act) designed to give states the freedom to legalize marijuana without any threat of federal interference. He told a group of reporters that he would “probably” support the measure in ink if it crossed his desk. But so far, the STATES Act is still lingering in political purgatory. It only has 10 co-sponsors and has not yet been brought up for discussion. It is conceivable that the bill will be ignored.
Whether or not the comments coming from the California Congressman hold any weight remains to be seen. Whether his words can be trusted to paint an accurate portrait of the White House’s plan for pot is also a question.
Rohrabacher, who is up for reelection this year, has a bit of a checkered reputation on Capitol Hill. Back in the day, the lawmaker went up against scientific evidence showing that global warming was a man-made problem. Rohrabacher believes that “dinosaur flatulence” is more likely the cause. But wait, it gets better. He once dressed in drag in hopes of uncovering the real culprit behind the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and pulled similar shenanigans to interrogate Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator, Terry Nichols. He did this, according to reports, because he was convinced the attacks were made by muslims and not a couple of red-blooded, white Americans.
Still, Rohrabacher and all of his craziness says federal marijuana reform is on the horizon. “It could be as early as spring of 2019, but definitely in the next legislative session,” he said.
If asked about clones, most people think of evil sci-fi characters. However, in real life, the word “clone” often has broader, far more positive applications. Just as office workers replicate documents by using copy machines, scientists like us who study plant disease use the biological equivalent of a copier to clone genes, cells, and tissues, as well as entire organisms.
DNA cloning
The most common type of cloning done in the lab is gene replication. Each gene is a segment of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acids) that is made up of pairs of chemicals called bases. These base pairs form DNA’s iconic double helix. Depending on the species, the whole genome could have anywhere from few thousands to billions of base pairs that make up just a few to tens of thousands of genes. The human genome alone has 3 billion base pairs that make up about 30,000 genes.
Genes code for traits such as eye color and height, as well as crucial features like the development of the heart and the five senses. Some genes can even predispose people toward certain diseases or personalities.
In order to unlock the secrets of life hidden in DNA, scientists are examining how individual genes function. To do so, they first copy a section of DNA that contains the gene of interest. Copying, or cloning, is often done via a biochemical reaction called polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, that mimics natural DNA replication. Once copied, the gene of interest can also be inserted to a plasmid (a ring of DNA) which is taken up by the simple bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli).
When the E. coli replicates, the plasmids are also replicated, generating exponential copies of the gene. Gene cloning helps scientists reveal the sequence of DNA in a gene that encodes a trait. This ultimately enables them to manipulate the trait in an organism by modifying the gene – for example, changing its expression level and/or changing its sequence. Through these manipulations, scientists can figure out what the gene does and how it works. In some cases, such information can lead to earlier detection and better treatments of debilitating medical conditions and diseases.
Cloning comes in many forms. A. DNA cloning via PCR and a plasmid. B. Plant cloning. A spider plant continuously reproduces asexually, making clones of itself that hang from it searching for soil to root in. C. Animal cloning. The stages depict the introduction of diploid nucleus from a mature cell into an enucleated egg cell. This is the process that got us Dolly the sheep. | Photo by Hua Lu, CC BY-SA
Cloning cells, tissues and organisms
Similarly, scientists can clone whole cells and tissues by providing the right nutrients and environment. Done carefully, cell cloning is used to replace dead cells in hospital patients. For replacement of larger body regions, tissue cloning is vital.
Some organisms can even regrow whole parts of their bodies in response to organ loss; for example, lizards can regrow their tails and planarians (a type of flatworm) can replace their own heads. For some plants, in vitro culture has been routinely used to generate many copies of certain organs: for example, hairy roots or multiple shoots, without the presence of the whole plant body.
However, the cloning of animal organs is not so easy for human researchers to accomplish. Organ cloning is not just simply putting the correct types of cells together to make tissues and then the tissues together to make an organ. To make a functional organ, such as a heart that can beat, one needs to go back to the beginning of heart development and find a heart progenitor cell. Then this cell is somehow to be tricked to go through the steps for heart development in the absence of the context of the whole body and eventually grow to be the heart. How we can achieve this is still a mystery. Scientists are working hard, but only the future will tell if we can accomplish human organ cloning at a level that would revolutionize successful organ transplants and replacements.
All of this, however, pales in comparison to the cloning of a whole multicellular organism. Cloning an organism produces an exact genetic replica without requiring sexual reproduction. Plants are undoubtedly the champions in this respect; some plants can simply regrow from cuttings or grow a clone from parts of their bodies.
But animal cloning has encountered several obstacles. This process currently involves transferring a nucleus (DNA) from a donor adult cell to an egg cell that has had its nucleus (DNA) removed. This chimeric cell is then stimulated to become embryonic or pluripotent, meaning it can divide and differentiate into other types of cells and eventually form an embryo. Although this might appear simple, this is the most challenging step of cloning an organism.
Once the embryo is obtained, the next step is quite straightforward; the embryo is implanted into a female’s womb and the clone will continue to develop. This implantation step is commonly done in humans as part of the process of in vitro fertilization. Babies produced through in vitro fertilization carry one set of DNA from the father (sperm donor) and another set from the mother (egg donor). However, clones will have the same chromosomal DNA as the initial adult cell that donates its nucleus (DNA). Because of the difficulties associated with the cloning process, few experts in the world have successfully cloned animals. Additionally, some of the cloned animals exhibit health problems or reduced lifespans. Despite this, the list of cloned animals continues to grow, including sheep, cows, oxen, cats, dogs, deer, horses, mules, rabbits and rats.
Bernann McKinney, right, from the U.S. holds one of five cloned pit bull puppies beside a mother dog during her first meeting with them at the Seoul National University Hospital for Animals in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008. McKinney has received five baby dogs, copies of her beloved late pit bull ‘Booger,’ from a South Korean biotech firm in what it calls the world’s first commercial canine cloning service. | Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo
Supervillain clones
With cloning of whole organisms a reality (though currently not feasible for widespread use), you may wonder if one day, an evil villain would be able to make thousands of copies of him or herself. Would that evil villain then take over the world?
The answer to this question has many layers.
Let’s consider the individual clones. Since they are humans, the clones will not simply respond to commands like robots or be puppet-like extensions of the original villain. As with identical twins, the clones may share predispositions, but their personalities will not be the same. Since so much of personality and behavior is influenced by the environment, the clones may even grow to oppose the villain! And, while the villain may not care, there are ethical issues involved with human cloning. Would society accept the act of cloning? Would clones be given the full rights of natural-born humans? How would it affect families if they decided to clone deceased loved ones?
Even amid these questions, organismal cloning has tremendous applications for society. It helps us to save species around the world from endangerment and extinction, although it doesn’t generate the genetic diversity required to maintain a healthy population. It is also an important tool to study diseases and to replicate individual organisms with important or rare characteristics that could be lost through breeding, such as cows with high milk production or animals that can make valuable medicinal compounds.
Although both promising and exciting, the road of cloning entire organisms is filled with ethical pitfalls and scientific conundrums; perhaps as a society, we are not ready to deal with the evil villains and their clones just yet.
Marijuana for anxiety? That doesn’t make sense, does it? For some, the answer is absolutely.
Anxiety is a problem that affects up to a third of the population in their lifetime. It is recognized as a group of disorders including Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Social Anxiety Disorder and others. Healthcare researchers have noted that the condition goes largely underdiagnosed and untreated.
For those who do seek treatment, a variety of options are available. Psychotherapy and hypnosis help some re-examine the cause and triggers for experiencing anxiety.
The largest segment of sufferers under a doctor’s care simply medicate and there are many options available. This is no secret to anyone who watches TV with any regularity and is deluged by the parade of anti-anxiety medication commercials. Antidepressants like Zoloft, Paxil and Prozac have become part of the American vocabulary. Antihistamines, beta-blockers and benzodiazepines (“downers” like Valium and Xanax) are employed to battle anxiety as well. But prescription options are not without risks including addiction, drowsiness, restlessness, dizziness, constipation and nausea.
In a survey of 1,400 Californians conducted by HelloMD, a robust 76 percent of respondents said they use cannabis to treat anxiety.
Among the medical community, there are still big questions to be answered. A collaborative study involving Brazilian and UK researchers found that frequent cannabis users have been shown to have a higher prevalence of anxiety disorders. The study also states, “However, it is unclear if cannabis use increases the risk of developing long-lasting anxiety disorders.”
It is the classic chicken and egg argument. Causation has not been proven. While some believe that cannabis may contribute to developing these conditions, others have hypothesized that many people with anxiety self-medicate to relax their symptoms.
We do know that cannabis can cut both ways when it comes to feelings of anxiety. “Marijuana can lead to symptoms of anxiety, such as panic, in the short-term, but there is a lack of evidence pointing to marijuana as an important risk factor for chronic anxiety disorders…” as the professionals at the the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute state online.
“All other things being equal, THC appears to decrease anxiety at lower doses and increase anxiety at higher doses.”
Rodent research has shown that CBD reduced anxiety when administered in low and medium-size doses. CBD has also been shown to act as an effective prophylactic in people with social anxiety disorder, showing “significantly reduced anxiety, cognitive impairment and discomfort in speech performance.” Because CBD (or cannabidiol) causes no euphoric experience like THC, it may be a better choice for some not interested in being high.
What we know at this point should be encouraging to cannabis enthusiasts and others seeking to reduce their pharmaceutical intake. Furthermore, it’s worth noting that going cold turkey off of prescription anxiety meds can be dangerous. People with anxiety disorders should consult with a physician familiar with cannabis therapy before making dramatic changes in their medicine routines.
Matchmaking seems like a failed profession to have in this day and age; a job better suited for an algorithm or a dating app. Technology nowadays allows software to do all the heavy lifting. All you have to do is upload a picture and a short profile and you could be moments away from meeting your future spouse (or at the very least, a tragic story to tell all your friends). But there are still real life matchmakers out there, professionals employed by matchmaking firms who make a living just by giving solid dating advice.
Alessandra Conti, celebrity matchmaker from Matchmakers In The City, says that people come to matchmakers when they’re exhausted with dating apps, which is completely understandable. Dating apps are stressful. She gave some brief advice in an interview with LifeHacker. Check out some of her best tips:
According to Conti, people need to move and actively look for love. She completely disregards that old advice that says that love comes when you least expect it. Conti believes that nowadays, when everyone is so busy and tired, you have to put in the work in order to get to know people, going out on dates, and taking the whole process seriously.
Don’t get distracted by your day to day life
https://giphy.com/gifs/blind-date-oKatHj2YAQiQ0
We tend to stick to our comfort zones and schedules. Conti says that in order to meet someone worthwhile, you have to follow through on dates, even if you don’t feel like going out and engaging in awkward conversations. You have to put yourself out there and be willing to try out new experiences, visiting different bars and coffee shops, and actively engaging on dating apps.
Having a lot of options online can create the impression that there’s a perfect person out there, or that there’s something missing from the guys and girls you see. “There’s so much more I wish people would open their hearts and minds to. That happens when you meet someone in real life because you get their vibe, but swiping is a different story,” says Conti.
There’s a fine line between settling for someone who you don’t like and being picky. Learn the difference and get to know what are the real deal breakers instead of going crazy over the little things.
Matchmaking services provide guidance on being a better date, modifying your posture, the way you speak, and your behavior in order to make you seem as welcoming as possible. Since that’s not included when you download Tinder and Bumble, Conti suggests having an open disposition and being as flirty as possible. “Go into your dates with an air of fun, lightness, and pretend as though you are on vacation mode.”
It turns out, one of our worst nightmares is a reality. There really is a “dirtiest” public restroom stall, and it should be avoided at all costs, unless you really have to go.
If you see three stalls available in a public restroom, do not pick door number two. DO NOT PICK THAT DOOR! You do not want to see what’s behind it, because what’s waiting inside is pretty gross. And that’s according to science, so you know it’s true.
Statistics reveal the middle stall of any restroom is hands-down the dirtiest, because that seems to be the stall everyone else on the planet chooses. It’s a phenomenon psychologists call “centrality preference.”
While the centrality preference can apply to a range of choices, it goes for public bathrooms, too. A 1995 paper published in the journal Psychological Science examined the restroom habits of beachgoers in coastal California. After teaming up with a local custodian, psychologist Nicholas Christenfeld tracked how often the toilet paper was changed in each of four stalls for 10 weeks. His results: While 60 percent of finished rolls came from the middle stalls, only 40 percent came from those at the ends. That indicates that far more people used the stalls in the middle than random probability might anticipate.
And just when you thought using one of the end stalls was a cleaner answer, that’s not necessarily true. One of the reasons people may be avoiding those stalls is because they were dirty in the first place, or broken. Did you ever think of that? Whatever the case, the hover method is still your best friend when it comes to peeing in a public space.
According to “The Tasty Future of Cannabis Edibles” released by ArcView Market Research and in partnership with BDS Analytics, cannabis edibles spending reached $1.4 billion this year and sales are on track to bring in more than $4.1 billion by 2022. But that number could prove to be just a fraction of its potential now that major consumer packaged goods companies are entering the industry.
The packaging of edibles is particularly important. Packaging has a lot of restrictions, including that it must prevent product spoilage and not be appealing to children. Just this week, Washington state put a ban on all cannabis gummies, chocolates and candy in particular, no matter the packaging.
We asked Tom Adams, editor in chief of ArcView, what he thought the impact might be of Washington’s surprise move. “Gummies and chocolates are two of the most popular product categories in the edibles sector, so Washington state’s decision to crack down could have a short term effect on the state’s market,” he said. “Overall, Washington state is a small piece in the broad scale of the cannabis industry and this will likely have a trivial impact on a revenue that is growing at a 22 percent CAG (Compound Annual Growth).”
His answer offers little solace to processors being impacted and could mean $30 million dollars in lost sales.
The biggest projected factor will be branding. The normalization of cannabis is already here with well established brands entering the cannabis marketplace. According to the report, edibles have become the face of cannabis in dispensaries and their success has caught the attention of CPG business behemoths, as evidenced by beverage maker Constellation Brands’ nearly $4 billion investment in Canada’s Canopy Growth over the past year.
Even more recently, published reports of discussions with Aurora Cannabis prompted a statement from Coca-Cola, stating: “We are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world.” Other recent moves include Molson Coors Brewing Co. working with Canada’s Hexo’s Corp. on cannabis drinks and Lagunitas craft brand is already selling a non-alcoholic,THC-infused beverage.
Not all that enter the sector are going to be conglomerates and many cannabis-centric brands are just now becoming household names in states with some form of legalization. But still, more smart, well known brands will certainly be investing. At the rapid clip that cannabis is becoming a burgeoning industry in the U.S. and with Canada going legal in a matter of days, investing in edibles, whether drinkable or chewable, is already becoming the “it” thing.
“It has become clear that the legal cannabis market is about much more than inhaling the smoke of smoldering cannabis flower,” read the ArcView report. It stipulates that “the trending shift toward consumables will continue over the next five years, with flower’s share of total spending dropping from 50% in 2017 to just 36% in 2022. Edibles is forecasted to grow from 12% to 14% in that time frame.”
“Consumers in front-running adult-use markets within the United States have significantly shifted their spending over recent years to other categories of cannabis consumables, especially into concentrates and edibles,” said Adams. “The edibles markets’ growth provides an early opportunity for investment in a cannabis sub-sector that is quickly growing, brand-focused, and full of opportunity for new and innovative products.”
MedMen has continued to establish itself as a major player within the cannabis industry this year and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. This week, the company completed the largest cannabis acquisition to date by acquiring the medical marijuana chain PharmaCann in a $682 million all-stock deal.
“This is a transformative acquisition that will create the largest U.S. cannabis company in the world’s largest cannabis market,” MedMen CEO Adam Bierman said in a statement.
MedMen, which is based in California, currently has 14 high-end stores in California, Nevada, and New York. This deal will nearly double MedMen’s footprint, helping them enter the Midwest market and significantly expand their hold on the East Coast. The acquisition of the Illinois-based PharmaCann, which operates 10 retail stores plus three cultivation and production facilities in multiple states, could also be interpreted as MedMen ensuring a share of the Midwest market ahead of Michigan voting on adult-use cannabis legalization this November.
“This would not have been possible even two years ago and is a testament to how far both the industry and these two companies have evolved,” Biernan added.
This move also signals a change from MedMen’s initial business strategy, which focused on establishing themselves in heavy-foot traffic locations in New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles (MedMen owns the only dispensary in Manhattan’s famed Fifth Avenue). The company believes they’ve accomplished that goal and so is growing appropriately.
“We get asked that question a lot,” Head of Communication Daniel Yi said. “Our plan was to establish ourselves and create a solid position in the three key areas. Now that we’ve accomplished that, it’s time to expand.”
It’s no surprise that mental health influences your productivity and performance at work and in your everyday life. An now, a new study reinforces this, proving that a happy sex life improves your health and your moods, which seep into your mornings and make you into a much more productive employee.
Journals of Management published a study that discovered that employees were much more engaged at work if they’d had sex the night before. The study consisted of 159 married volunteers who took surveys twice a day and reported their moods and behaviors. Men and women reported feeling equally happy and more productive when they maintained a healthy sex life.
Popular Science reports that studies such as this one have been gaining traction over the years, with different towns and cities trying to incorporate the findings in order to reap some of the benefits. While it’s still pretty taboo to combine sex and work, the link between the two is becoming a little more clear. There’s even a town in Sweden that’s trying to pass a law that would allow employees to take an hour off from their workday so they can devote it to sex.
Research continues to demonstrates that when work seeps into the personal lives of employees, their mental health dips and so does their work performance. France became one of the first countries to take a stand against this, developing a law that protects their employees when they don’t want to check their emails and respond to their bosses after work hours. Although that’s pretty cool of France, it’s still a depressing situation.
You might be surprised to learn this, but cannabis activists in Texas are more confident than ever about their prospects to decriminalize, and eventually legalize, the plant. Yes, Texas. Part of this is because of signals sent from political parties this summer when Democrats officially added expansion of the state’s extremely limited medical marijuana program to their party platform.
But if you want to know why Texan cannabis advocates are confident, you have to look across the aisle at state Republicans. That group made small waves this summer when they added marijuana decriminalization to their party platform. In addition, Texas Republicans now urge the federal government to reclassify cannabis from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 2 drug.
Last year, state Rep. Joe Moody (D), who chairs the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, filed a marijuana civil penalties bill during the state’s last legislative sessions. It didn’t pass. But now Republicans have specifically stated they support “a change in the law to make it a civil, and not a criminal, offense for legal adults only to possess one ounce or less of marijuana for personal use.” Now, Moody and other cannabis activists are more confident than ever.
Texan legislators should expect that civil penalties bill to resurface once again for state approval.
“Yes, civil penalties will be the first bill I file this coming session,” Moody told The Eagle. “It’s something that’s becoming more and more likely as it becomes more and more bipartisan. From day one, I’ve said it was an issue both parties can support, and now we’re seeing that in action. I’m optimistic.”
This does not mean Moody will push for legalization, however. For now he’s strictly focused on pushing decriminalization efforts in the state, because of the potential cost it will save the government.
“Legalization isn’t something I’ve proposed—although I would probably support it—and not something I think has a chance of passing,” Moody said. “Decriminalization in lieu of a civil penalty, however, would save us over $700 million a year. While it wouldn’t impact prison populations, it would decrease local costs by freeing space in county jails.”
