Whether you worked hard today or can’t seem to find work, let’s take a break from the stress. It’s cold and ugly outside in some places, so think about sea arches like a mysterious portal to another world of sunshine and warm tropical water. If you love beaches or cliffs, you should be awed by these natural rock formations while enjoying your virtual travel to the sea. Hey, it’s a free trip, let’s find the right mood. Forget about the ups and downs of life. You can feel the warm wind blowing a salty ocean spray on your skin as well as feel the warm sand under your feet. You can hear the roar swish of waves crashing. Exhale out the negative energy, as the tension slowly seeps out of your body, and you get ready to take off for your journey to see 32 stunning and spectacular sea arches.

Let’s Go Play

(image credits: Cyril BRETON, Stefan Mendelsohn, thefatcat44)

Let’s go play. You will travel first to France. Étretat is best known for its cliffs, including a famous natural arch pictured on the top left. To the left of that arch, erosion collapsed another arch which is now only a sea stack. Next, you’ll hop virtually to Spain to take in another lovely hole in a rock. The top right sea arch is at Cala Santanyí, Majorca, Balearic Islands. Are you ready to get in the ocean? From there, you’ll travel to Dorset, England, to take in a twilight stroll on the water’s edge near the famous Dorsel Door.

France, Italy, Mexico

(image credits: Erroba, nespyxel, Wonderlane)

Because the view is so awe inspiring, you’ll go back to Étretat, Normandy for a picnic on the cliff. Gaze where the waves have sliced through the cliff for the opposite view of that grand natural arch. From there, you’ll fly to Ponza, Italy, where you can get in a boat like the one that can be seen sailing through the window in the rocks. In the bottom image, you see waves and a very low arch near Mazatlan, Mexico. The undertow is strong and the rocks are sharp so be careful but have fun.

Hawaii, Spain, Greece

(image credits: j o s h, siskud, episa)

For more warm tropical water, let’s head to Hawaii and Volcanoes National Park where many sea caves or lava tubes have collapsed, leaving majestic sea arches behind. These natural arches will continue to erode, lasting but a short span of time and perhaps centuries only. Many sea caves erode down to sea arches such as in the top right, near Costa Blanca, Spain, where the waves are crashing against the caves to form more sea arches. On the bottom, you can dive into the gorgeous turquoise waters surrounding Arch Rock, along the northern coast of Crete Island, Greece.

Corona del Mar CA and Island of Gozo, Malta

(image credits: UCI Sociology Department, Vin60)

It’s time for you to have some fun in the water and out. First, at Corona del Mar, California, you can see this marvelous sea arch at low tide and with breaking waves. It is a four mile round trip hike to Crystal Cove. Snorkeling is good beneath the cliffs of Corona beach. The park features three miles of Pacific coastline, plus open bluffs, wooded canyons, and an offshore underwater park. Then take another virtual hop across the world to land in the Mediterranean. In the bottom image, the natural bridge continues to be cut away by crashing waves off the coast of Sicily. Malto, Gozo offers great snorkeling, bright orange-red sands, and some of the oldest religious structures and temples in the world.

Yesnaby Scotland to Berry Head England

(image credits: windywolf,>> Hal <<)

Now you’re off the Yesnaby, Scotland, an area renowned for its Devonian geology, geos, crumbly rocks, sea stacks, blowholes, boiling seas and towering cliffs. If you feel a bit energized, perhaps you’d like an adventure here? This is a very popular spot for climbers due to Yesnaby Castle, a two legged sea stack. Then you zoom to Berry Head, England, and this natural bridge, or dark sea arch. Berry Head offers plenty of caves and threatened wildlife.

From Kap Dyrholaey to Normandy

(image credits: Kenny Muir, gilgpictures)

Wow, now you are in southern Iceland at Kap Dyrholaey where the energy created by the wind and huge waves as they crash against the sea arch cleanses your mind of the rest of your stress. The vibrant colors of the rainbow flow around you, bringing a smile to your face as you feel alive and happy. Then like a flash, you are back in France to enjoy the peace and privacy on the beach where this sea arch reflects in the still water, doubling your pleasure.

Durdle Door

(image credits: Wiffsmiff23, Rob Funffinger)

You blinked, didn’t you? Now you are in Dorset, England, in the late afternoon as a storm blows in next to Durdle Door. The sand and pebbles are warm under your feet, as you take in a deep breath and taste the salty tang of sea air. The ocean spray in the wind cools you as you harness the positive energy of the ocean, the crashing waves, and the approaching storm. You can have all of nature’s awesomeness while you absorb the beauty of this stunning sea arch.

Take it in — London “Bridge” Arch and La Jolla

(image credits: sorgun68, AMagill)

London Arch was once called London Bridge, but erosion caused the natural bridge to collapse, leaving behind this sea arch in Port Campbell National Park, Australia. Here the sun is warming and smiling, kissing your skin. But what you really want is to get out there in the ocean, right? Go ahead, take a deep breath in and dive under the water. Take in the beautiful colored fish before you kick and glide to the surface. Take in a deep breath as you bob up down on the waves, now in La Jolla, California. Go ahead, take in the beauty around you.

Mermaids and Adventurers

(image credits: djgr, cláudia gabriela marques vieira, acampm1)

Calling mermaids and adventurers, welcome to Mermaids Inlet at Currarong, Australia. The natural  rock phenomenon is still more of a sea cave in the left image, providing safe passage for only mermaids or daredevils. The water swells, cutting the cave even more until eventually erosion will slice it down to a sea arch. Now virtually hop back to England like in the top right, at Lulworth Cove. The area surrounding that natural arch is called Jurassic Coast because it’s a geological goldmine. Yet in a heartbeat you are in Algarve, Portugal. Here the ocean is as warm and as inviting as the sandy beach. The seagulls cry overhead, calling to the adventurer in you to cut loose and have fun.

Sea Windows

(image credits: vgm8383, Dat The Man, little_frank, Patrick Smith)

Welcome back to Cali, near Pfeiffer Beach and Big Sur. The top and bottom images are the same large arch just a few feet off the beach. These awesome sea windows call to you to kick back in nature and enjoy. Swim, dive, have a picnic, but enjoy the stunning sea arch. If you would rather, you can head out to Sunset Cliff in San Diego, California, at the middle left. Not enough of a virtual jump for you? How about on the middle right, to Dyrhólaey, Iceland? The window looking out at the ocean is huge, but if you plan to swim then you’d better like cold water or have a wetsuit.

Mouth and Heart of the Sea

(image credits: Andrea Cucconi, little_frank)

Then you are off to Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain. The island has much to offer you, but the lava caves are her heart. Lanzarote has many water sports such as scuba diving, snorkeling, surfing, windsurfing, fishing and sailing. The lava cave in the top photo will continue to erode until only a sea arch remains. From warm breezy seashores to the chilly climate of west Iceland to see the Mouth of Gatklettur. This is a peculiar yet spectacular area of cliffs and sea arches. The bottom image is the circular arch rock, the open mouth of the chilly sea.

Warm Water for Sea Arch Connoisseurs

(image credits: Len Borden, Retinol)

That last one was cold, right? How about a quick dip in the deep blue water right off Great Ocean Road in Australia? Feel better, relaxed again and no longer shivering? How about a hike now in California? At sunset, connoisseurs of this sea arch come out in droves to soak in the beauty and capture this natural arch with their cameras.

Island Archway, Australia – Hvítserkur, Iceland

(image credits: sachman75, sigfus.sigmundsson)

Australia is a land of awe-inspiring beauty, so you travel there one last time for diving and exploring in the waves. Part of Port Campbell National Park includes the Island Archway and spectacular limestone formations. Just a short trip up Great Ocean Road and you can see The Twelve Apostles which are another awesome type of natural rock phenomenon. You travel one last place, Hvítserkur, Iceland. Hvítserkur is the last remains of a central volcano. Local legend, however, has it that a troll turned into stone when he was surprised by the sun. Sea erosion carved holes through the rock, a bizarre sea arch in the shape of a petrified monster. Although virtual travel, hopefully you enjoyed your free vacation and are now more relaxed and smiling.

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In the past few years, we’ve seen some interesting shifts take place between urban and suburban dwellers. Gas prices have risen and the life of the commuter has gotten to be too expensive for many; massive foreclosures have prompted countless former homeowners to downsize to urban apartments; and a move toward a greener lifestyle has driven a growing segment to move to the inner cities where owning a car isn’t a necessity. So for the first time since their inception, we’re seeing the suburbs becoming the less desirable place to live. But the homes, supermarkets and big box stores are all still out there, languishing in the urban sprawl. What can we do about it? Short of demolishing entire neighborhoods and wasting the space, we can haul out the repair kit and start fixing the suburbs.

Reburbia was an inspiring design competition run by Dwell Magazine and Inhabitat. It called for planners, urban designers, architects and engineers to come up with a way to re-use suburban space in a positive way. All of those wasted areas with nothing in them (many part of the original suburban design), all of those big box stores with their massive parking lots, and all of those McMansions with their ridiculous array of way-too-many bathrooms and wasted yard space would be repurposed into something useful and beautiful – something that would serve future generations of Earthlings. These are the four winners of the Reburbia competition.

First prize went to designer Calvin Chiu for his project Frog’s Dream. He envisioned turning abandoned suburban neighborhoods into wetlands and natural water processing centers for nearby urban centers. A natural population of plants, algae and bacteria would purify the water that would then be transported to the closest city. While it may not be the most immediately do-able idea, it does demonstrate just one of the many ways that we can start transforming deserted suburbia into part of a new and improved urban support system.

Entrepreneurbia, the entry from Urban Nature, F&S Design Studio, Silverlion Design, took second place in the competition. It’s less a model than it is a simple, common-sense suggestion: change rigid suburban zoning laws to allow for more constructive use of the space. The entry suggests that when living, eating, shopping and working spaces are no longer segregated, these formerly suburban areas become self-sustaining communities. Residents wouldn’t need cars because everything is within walking distance, but public transportation would exist to carry them into urban centers when needed. Forward-thinking business owners would be drawn to these promising new areas. Overall, suburbs that used to be sterile and boring would become vibrant, independent cultural centers.

Forrest Fulton took third place with his proposal, Big Box Agriculture: A Productive Suburb. The idea is a somewhat radical one: take supermarkets away from being resellers of food to being producers of food. According to the designer, as suburban businesses close their doors for good there will be a growing number of empty buildings, lots and parking areas going unused. Fulton suggests that we reuse those areas to grow sustainable crops: container farms can be built right on top of the asphalt, the interior of the stores can double as restaurants and greenhouses, and customers can pick their own produce. Customers would even have the option to bring their harvest right into the store to an on-site chef and enjoy one of the freshest meals they’ve ever had. Putting the food production in suburbia reuses the land wisely, drastically cuts down on food transportation costs, and as a result of both lowers the cost of food.

The Urban Sprawl Repair Kit from Galina Tahchieva took the special People’s Choice Award, and for good reason. Her thoughtful, practical suggestions are by no means out of reach for today or the future. She suggests making use of the typically wasted wide open spaces that define suburbia, putting homes and office buildings into the vast unused street setbacks and parking areas. She also suggests building onto existing buildings to make the formerly monofunctional space into a multifunctional one, cutting down on the long drives to get anywhere that mar suburban life currently. Even the foreclosed McMansions can be revamped into senior centers and community centers without demolishing any existing buildings or erecting any new ones.

The other entries, though they didn’t take a prize, were all thought-provoking and brilliantly conceived. While they may not all be suitable for immediate (or even eventual) implementation, they do deserve a real, honest look. Projects like the above from Ha Young Ihn and The Miller | Hull Partnership encourage us to think about all of the ways existing buildings and infrastructures can be re-used in a positive way. By turning dead shopping malls and empty big box stores into green markets, community centers, and even suburban farms, we can revitalize faltering areas without making the economic and environmental impact that comes with new construction.

Some of the entries focused less on living and working spaces, and more on energy generation. Proposals from Alan Berger & Case Brown and Joseph De Le Ree showed us that we can exploit existing structures and highways to generate cleaner energy for everyone. By reusing abandoned big box stores as biofuel generators or putting massive wind turbines over heavily-used freeways, we would be giving something back to the environment and to the citizens of the area.

The entries that dealt with housing were perhaps the most inspiring: both where to house people in suburban-turned-urban environments, and what to do with the abandoned foreclosed McMansions that dot the suburban landscape. The two above were incredibly creative in their visions: LivaBlox from Evan Collins proposes re-using existing big box stores (and their cargo containers) as residences, then using the tops of the buildings for urban farms and solar power collection. T-Tree, by Adil Azhiyev & Ivan Kudryavtsev, proposes social housing built on currently unused suburban land. The solution would cut down on energy and living costs; wind mills on the top of each structure would further reduce utility costs.

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They eat human brains and eyeballs, turn snails into pulsating zombies, grow up to 25 feet long in people’s intestines and eat the tongues of fish. Symbiotic relationships may be common in nature, but that doesn’t mean that all parasites are beneficial – many are downright horrifying. These 13 disgusting parasites will have you immediately jumping in the shower to quell that itchy paranoid feeling.

Tongue-Eating Cymothoa exigua

(images via: Treehugger)

It’s like something out of a bad horror movie: a disgusting little critter that invades a fish’s body, eats its tongue and proceeds to live in its mouth. The fish is able to survive just fine with its new ugly parasitical tongue, and while this creature will give you the creeps, it isn’t a threat to us. A fisherman who found a live one, describing it as “a bit of a nasty beast” said, “It doesn’t affect humans other than if you do actually come across a live one and try and pick it up – they are quite vicious, they will deliver a good nip.”

Human Botfly

(images via: Science Blogs, Discovery, afpmb.org)

There are all kinds of botflies – from the Horse Stomach Botfly to the Sheep Nose Botfly and indeed, the Human Botfly. It’s not hard to guess why they’re given such names. The adult female human botfly captures a mosquito and attaches its eggs to the mosquito’s body, so that they drop off into the wound created when the mosquito feeds. The larvae develop inside the human body for about eight weeks before dropping out to pupate. The wounds swell to outrageous proportions in the meantime, and the larvae can move throughout the body and even cross the blood-brain barrier.

Crab Hitchhiker: Sacculina Carcini

(image via: Wikipedia)

Once a crab picks up a freeloading Sacculina carcini, which starts its life as a tiny slug, it’s over. The crab has now been doomed to a lifetime of watching helplessly as the slug forces itself into the crab’s body armor, taking over its body and extending its root-like extensions into the crab’s organs, nervous system, gonads and appendages. The crab can’t molt or reproduce on its own – its body is basically serving as a shell for the Sacculina carcini, which eventually pops its ‘head’ out of the crab’s shell to better attract mates. It then forces the crab to do a kind of parody of its own reproduction habits, only with the hitchhiker’s eggs.

Tick

(images via: Biology-blog.com, BorisLavdopudja.net)

There are few things more revolting than the sight of a tick engorged with another creature’s blood. These little arachnids are external parasites that lurk in tall grasses, just waiting for a potential host to pass by, whether it’s a mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian. They carry a number of diseases including Lyme disease, Q fever, Colorado tick fever and several more.

Filarial Worm

(image via: Wikipedia)

Filariasis is one of the nastiest parasites you can imagine, with effects that are absolutely devastating. Elephantiasis – a disfiguring disease characterized by the thickening of the skin and underlying tissues – is a classic sign of late-stage infection with these microscopic, thread-like worms, which live in the human lymphatic system and prevent normal function. Filariasis is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito.

Screwworms

(images via: Impact Lab)

The screwworm larvae eat the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, burrowing into the surrounding flesh as they feed. Is the most nightmarish thing about this parasite the fact that it can enter animals through their navels and nostrils, or that they ‘screw’ deeper into the flesh if you disturb them?

Half a century ago, these nasty little maggots were a serious threat – especially to pets and livestock, though they were known to invade the wounds of humans as well. They were eradicated in the U.S. through the farming and release of sterile adult screwworm flies in the 1960s, but are still a problem in many parts of the world.

Candiru, the Urethra-Invading Fish

(image via: Wikipedia)

Tales have been told so many times of humans being invaded by tiny fish that swim up through their urine streams and into their urethras when they urinate into certain bodies of water, it’s hard not to believe it. While some are skeptical, there’s a recent documented case – photos and all – of a small fish removed from a man’s scrotum after it entered through the urethra and bit its way through the scrotal wall. Though the species wasn’t positively identified, it seems likely that it was the Candiru, which is certainly capable of the feat.

Sushi Worms: Anisakis

(image via: Wikipedia)

There’s a reason that raw fish is supposed to be frozen before humans consume it, whether in the form of sushi, sashimi, fermented herrings, cod livers or ceviche. That reason is the Anisakis, a genus of parasitic nematodes that often infect fish. The life cycle of Anisakis involves being eaten first by a crustacean, then a fish, and is complete when consumed by a mammal – and that mammal might just be you.

And, don’t worry, you’ll know if you do become infected – because you’ll be doubled over in violent abdominal pain almost immediately.

Tapeworm

(image via: Wikimedia Commons)

Even if you manage to escape Anisakis, there are always tapeworms to contend with – and they’re no picnic, either. One Chicago man told ABC about the time he went to the hospital with a 9-foot worm – and he didn’t find it in his garden. Getting a tapeworm from raw or undercooked fish, beef or pork may be rare, but it happens.  Food blogger Helen Rennie says, “Chefs sometimes joke if the worms are moving then the fish is fresh.”

Tapeworms can reach up to 25 feet, and it can take months or years for them to reach full size. Symptoms are generally mild, so you might not even realize you have one.

Insane Snail Parasite

(images via: people.SMU.edu)

A poor little snail is gliding along, minding its own business, when it accidentally infects itself with Leucochloridium paradoxum by eating the parasite’s eggs in bird excrement. In the snail’s digestive gland, these parasites hatch and produce sporocystes, long green-banded tubes that stretch into the snail’s tentacles and begin to pulsate. Those little worms are intentionally trying to attract the attention of birds, so they’ll get eaten and end up back in the birds’ bodies to complete their life cycle.

Guinea Worm

(image via: Berkeley.edu)

This worm is called Dracunculiasis, or “affliction with little dragons”, because sufferers say it feels like they’ve got fiery serpents under their skin. Europeans gave it the name “Guinea worm” because they first saw it on the Guinea coast of Africa in the 17th century. It’s contracted when a person drinks stagnant water contaminated with the worm’s larvae, or when they walk unprotected in infected waterways.

Once inside the body, the larvae find their way into a body cavity and breed. Then, the male is absorbed into the body and the female, full of eggs, burrows into connective tissues or long bones. About a year after infection, the worm attempts to leave its human host’s body by creating a blister on the skin of the person’s leg or foot.

Cat Parasite Turns Humans into Zombies

(image via: gsbs.utmb.edu)

Ever wonder what compels crazy cat people to collect so many animals? As out-there as it sounds, their brains might just be acting on the orders of a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, which is commonly found in cat feces. Experts say infection by a Toxoplasma gondii can make some people more prone to some forms of neuroticism, and may cause them to slide in their hygiene and housekeeping habits – thus, allowing the parasite to spread and flourish. Some 60 million people are estimated to be infected in the United States alone.

Eyeball Eater: Acanthamoeba

(image via: CDC)

Washing your contact lenses doesn’t just remove irritants – it prevents little parasites from hitching a ride into your delicious eyeball, where they’ll not only feed on bacteria present in the eye, but on your corneas themselves. Luckily, only about one out of a million contact lens wearers are susceptible to infection by the Acanthamoeba parasite, but this free-living amoeba can also get into your eye when you swim in pools or lakes. Early diagnosis is essential for treatment, or victims will eventually go blind.

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(Images via: Science Blogs, Channel 4, Travel Pod, Neat-O-Rama)

A recent study detailed that nearly 50 percent of dogs and almost 60 percent of cats are overweight or obese due to high-calorie diets and insufficient exercise, sparking questions in this author’s mind about the eating habits of animals in the wild. From bonobos maintaining a unique food rating system to rats falling in love with junk food to apes knowing when wild fruit is perfectly ripe to lizards literally basking in the sun for Vitamin-D, animal consumption is a wide spectrum of cool, absurd, weird, disgusting and critical stories. Bon appetite.

Nature’s Food Critics: The Bonobos

(Images via: Rubicon Exotic, Lolaya Bonobo, Flickr, Harvard, Huffington Post)

Apparently if bonobos could talk, they would tell you that their top 5 favorite foods are as follows: figs, raisins, grapes, bananas and popcorn. That’s not bad in terms of healthy foods. According to recent research, bonobos preferred these foods during a study that examined their eating behavior and ultimately learned that these animals maintain a unique vocalization system to express their like or dislike for certain types of foods. More specifically, bonobos made a barking sound when presented with their favorite foods and grunted like a little piggy when presented with unfavorable foods. Foods that were in-between in terms of bonobo likes and dislikes were greeted with peeps, peep-yelps and yelps. Yams and peppers were least liked by the bonobos, which researchers believe use this vocalization system in the wild to communicate with other bonobos about the presence of certain types of foods.

Nature’s Junk Food Lovers: The Rats

(Images via: Elated, My Lovely Rats, Morning Star, Sky, Ekawaaz)

Just when the bonobos get us off to a good start about eating healthy, leave it to the rats to come in and screw everything up. Actually, recent research showing how rats get hooked on junk food could have larger implications for understanding why people may become addicted to food and drugs. More specifically, pleasure centers in the brains of rats become less responsive once rats become addicted to junk food, a similar effect seen in previous studies in which rats became addicted to heroine. In the food study, a group of rats was given junk food like Ho Hos, sausage, pound cake, bacon and cheesecake. These rats soon became so addicted to these less-than-healthy foods that they became less active and continued to eat them despite knowing that they would receive a mild, electrical shock. According to researchers, the rats needed more and more of the junk food to receive pleasure once they got hooked on these fatty substances, just as rats on heroine needed more and more of the drug once they became addicted. Even more interesting, the addicted rats refused to eat any other food for two weeks once the junk food was taken away from them, choosing to starve rather than subsist on healthier grub.

Nature’s Man-Eaters: The Tsavo Lions

(Images via: Squidoo, Blue Lion, Wild Dream Liners)

What happens when grazing animals like buffalo, zebras and other normal sources of food were not available to lions as a result of drought? In 1898, two Tsavo lions in Kenya turned to the convenience of man at a time when there were more humans in their area during construction of the Uganda Railroad. Recent research examined the carbon and nitrogen in the teeth of the remains of the two lions — now on display at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History — and estimated that the lions claimed 35 humans in a 9-month period. Past accounts had credited the lions with eating as many as 135 humans during that span before they were shot to death. Especially interesting and scary is the belief that the lions worked in a tandem when hunting men.

Nature’s Vitamin-D Lovers: Lizards

(Images via: Flickr, Flickr, Flickr)

We’ve all seen pictures of lizards basking in the sun, a common ritual that had been popularly believed to help regulate the body temperatures of these reptiles. According to new research, it turns out that lizards also bask in the sun to get them some vitamin D, a vital nutrient found in orange juice. Lizards and humans are similar in that we both have compounds in our skin that can convert sunlight into vitamin D. What’s especially interesting with lizards is the belief that these reptiles have sensors in their brains telling them when they’ve gotten the right amount of Vitamin D. Why does this matter? Well, too little vitamin D can make the lizards sick while too much of this nutrient can be toxic. Sure, this example of lizards basking in the sun for vitamin D is not exactly a story about animal eating habits, but it certainly is a relevant depiction of how other types of animal consumption are as vital to healthy living.

Nature’s Food Testers: Apes

(Images via: Discovery, Flickr, Mama’s Health)

Apes have always loved to get their hands on bananas at any time of the day, but did you know that these primates may actually know when this favorite fruit is just right for their picking and eating without even having to peel one open? According to new research, dying brown spots on bananas are surrounded by rings that glow blue in ultraviolet light and may suggest to wild apes that the food is good to eat. Scientists have theorized that apes search for food that emits short-wavelength light and use this detection to gauge whether food is ripe or rotten. Since apes are better than humans at seeing such light, these new findings on the light emitted from bananas could eventually provide more research on the eating habits of apes.

Nature’s Spoilers: Firefly Flashes

(Images via:U Know Why, Top News, Maggie’s Farm Revisited, Deep Creek Times)

Just as light seemingly plays a role in how apes and monkeys determine when to eat food, light also signals to other animals not to eat certain types of prey. A recent study found that bats use firefly lights as a signal not to eat this prey, a good decision when considering that fireflies can be toxic for bats. According to field observations, fireflies may actually help themselves and larger predators by flashing light when in danger. Researchers provided the example of a bat catching a firefly with its wing or tail prior to getting ready to eat it. However, with such contact, a firefly may emit its light, signaling to the bat to let the prey go because of its danger, thus saving the firefly’s life. Based on field observations, bat reactions to eating fireflies are not good and can include head shaking, gagging and vomiting.

Nature’s Secret Food Stashes: Penguins and Sperm Whales

(Images via: , MSNBC, Tree Hugger)

Sometimes when the going gets tough for finding food in nature, the tough get going. For a long time, scientists wondered why some penguins actually leave their families and drift out to sea for long periods of time. This mystery is now understood based on new research of adult Macaroni penguins in the Subantarctic. Following spring breeding, these adult penguins spend six months swimming and diving in the deep sea so that they can feed on a secret stash of food: Subantarctic krill and crustaceans. As for the mythical and elusive sperm whale, it was recently captured on video stealing fish from fishing lines. Amazingly, the sperm whale was able to unhook the fish without getting caught in the fishing lines. For a mammal that big, stealing fish seems like an uneven playing field, but hey, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do sometimes.

Nature’s Food Myths: Beavers

(Image via: Max Wideman)

Beavers have always subsisted on and loved eating wood, right? Not so, according to new research that details how giant beavers in the Ice Age were more like hippos than modern beavers in terms of what they ate. Carbon dating of the extinct giant beaver Castoroides ohionesis revealed that this precursor to the modern beaver ate large amounts of aquatic plants and pond weeds as there were likely few trees during the Ice Age. However, once the climate became better and wetlands were replaced by forests, the beaver’s love for tree bark began. In current times, beavers crave wood so badly that they will resort to eating their own homes when in need of food.

Nature’s Food Crises: Albatrosses and Leatherback Turtles

(Images via: The Bird Guide, Turtle Protection, Resource Efficiency, Tree Hugger)

Just how dangerous is pollution — particularly introducing plastic into the environment — to animals? Ask remote albatrosses and ancient leatherback turtles. A recent study found that Laysan albatrosses living on Kure Atoll (a remote island in the Pacific Ocean) ingest 10 times more plastic than chicks living on the populated island of Oahu. Another study analyzed 400 deceased leatherback turtles and found that approximately 1/3 of these reptiles had plastic in their digestive systems. It turns out that these turtles can easily mistake plastic for jellyfish, their main source of food. Just as plastic can block a turtle’s gut, cause digestive problems and even lead to death, this material can also puncture intestinal tracts of albatrosses, thus highlighting the dangers of improper garbage disposal and the importance of recycling.

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Appetizers

It’s surprising how many people have never tried hummus. It’s a filling chickpea-and-tahini spread that goes great on raw veggies, pita bread or even crackers. Hummus is delicious any time of the year, but in Autumn it’s even harder to resist hummus made with roasted red peppers and garlic. This hummus recipe is quick and easy because it uses canned chickpeas and red peppers, but if you prefer you can cook your own chickpeas from dried and roast your own red peppers.

Bread and oil is a classic quick, inexpensive, and extremely yummy appetizer. The best part is that you can customize the taste in so many ways. It just takes a bit of olive oil, some dried seasonings and high-quality bread. The olive oil is the most important part; spring for the extra-virgin if you can. It has a pure, delicate taste that lower qualities can’t match. You can even use flavored or infused olive oil, either homemade or bought in the supermarket. Simply mix olive oil with a few pinches of dried herbs like oregano, thyme, rosemary, dried red pepper and sage, a bit of garlic powder and some salt and pepper. This isn’t an exact science, so simply mix your seasonings in to taste. Warm it up for a few seconds in the microwave and serve with crusty whole-grain bread. Adding a few drops of high-quality balsamic vinegar to the oil just before serving adds an unforgettable flavor.

We can’t say enough good things about stuffed mushrooms. The little white cap mushrooms are usually pretty inexpensive, and making stuffed mushrooms isn’t nearly as complicated as the finished product makes it seem. This recipe for Garlic and Rosemary Stuffed Mushrooms includes butter, but you can easily substitute a non-dairy equivalent to make the recipe vegan. It’s definitely worth it. But there’s no need to heat up the whole oven to roast your garlic if you have a toaster oven handy. Just cut off the top of the head, peel off the outer layer of skin, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil and roast in the toaster oven at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Casseroles

Beans are so important for vegetarians and vegans; they give us the necessary protein and fiber to keep us going strong. This simple bean and rice casserole is cheap and easy and contains three different kinds of beans. You can dress it up with some cumin, garlic and chili powder to give it a taco-like taste. Or add some Italian seasoning and vegan sausage crumbles, and substitute zucchini and carrots for the vegetables to make a delicious Italian casserole.

Lentils are like a superfood for non-meat-eaters. They’re cheap, chock full of protein, quick to prepare, versatile and (we think, anyway) very tasty. This French Lentil Casserole has a unique sophisticated flavor that doesn’t taste anything like the bland pasty lentils that many of us were forced to eat as children. The croutons on top give a lovely texture; again, substitute a non-dairy margarine for the butter in the recipe to make it vegan.

Macaroni and cheese is a really difficult meal to give up when you go vegan. Especially if you grew up in America, mac and cheese is a classic comfort food that’s present at lots of family gatherings. This Vegan Baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe uses soy cheese, which is avoided even by many vegans. But in this recipe, the soy cheese is spruced up with some additional ingredients and actually tastes similar to dairy mac and cheese.

Side Dishes

Parsnips are a wonderful, if underused, vegetable. They taste sort of like a cross between a carrot and a potato, and if you mash them along with potatoes they add a unique nutty and tangy taste. Parsnips are just coming into season in the Autumn and are available through most of winter. Try this amazing sweet and hearty recipe for Ginger Roasted Winter Vegetables for an experience unlike any other.

Sweet potatoes are an icon of the season. They are sweet, filling, and – luckily – very healthy. These Baked Sweet Potato Sticks are sort of like a healthier version of French fries. They couldn’t be easier, and they accompany a variety of meals very nicely. Try serving them with a vegetarian meatloaf and green salad for a delicious and healthy vegan meal.

This Green Bean Casserole may take a while to make, but it’s absolutely worth it. Use up the fresh green beans that are perfect right now from the garden or farmer’s market and this amazing casserole will blow you away. And when you dig into the recipe and start making it, it’s not as complicated as it looks at first glance.

Soups, Stews and Chilis

This Curried Carrot Bisque from the always-fabulous vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz may require a trip to the grocery store (unless you have curry powder, coconut milk and three pounds of carrots at home) but you’ll be impressed with the results. The flavors of the curry powder and carrots melt together in an unbelievably tasty combination that will warm you to the core.

Chili is a must for when the weather starts turning cool. Serve it up with some vegan cornbread or homemade Italian bread and it’s a feast! The great thing about chili is that it takes on a different personality every time you make it. This vegetarian chili recipe is a great place to start, but play around with your chili to get it just the way you like it. Add vegetables, vary the amount of liquid, and change up the spices until it’s perfect. When making a vegan chili, there are several ways to get that distinctive “meaty” flavor. Some additions we’ve tried: cocoa powder, dark beer, and balsamic vinegar. Don’t try them all at once, though!

If you’ve never had a soup or stew made with miso, you’re missing out. The fermented soybean paste imparts a salty, rich flavor to whatever it’s in. This hearty Vegetable Stew with Red Wine and Miso is great served over rice or mashed potatoes, or just scooped out of a big bowl with a big spoon.

Desserts

Autumn is dominated by apples. They’re in season, and if you go to a you-pick orchard, you can make a perfect family day out of picking and preparing the apples to make this amazing Whole-Apple Crisp. The recipe just needs a little modification to make it vegan: use vegan margarine instead of butter, agave nectar or maple syrup in place of the honey, and soy yogurt instead of Greek (or omit the yogurt and serve it with some soy ice cream).

If apples aren’t your thing, this delicious Vegan Pear Baklava is just as sweet. You can again use agave or maple syrup instead of the honey. The finished product is something like a pear crisp without the crunchy topping. The nuts between each layer provide a delicious contrast in flavors and textures.

Rice pudding is another of those comfort foods that a lot of us miss when going vegan. The stuff you buy ready-made in the stores is full of dairy, but this vegan Slow Cooked Rice Pudding is just as rich and surprisingly simple to make. It’s perfect for chilly autumn evenings, and it’ll hold you over until breakfast – when you’ll probably want another bowl!

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Trying to limit the environmental impact of your kitchen? No matter how many food scraps you compost or eco-friendly detergents you use, there are your traditional old appliances, encouraging you to do things the bad old way. They need to be rethought, incorporating all that we now know about sustainably closed loops and thrifty environmentalism…and here are two designs from the forefront of that kitchen eco-revolution.

(Image via: Dezeen)

The Flow2 Kitchen doesn’t rely on fancy electronics – but it is a technological marvel. Aside from a little plumbing and wiring this unit is a free-standing sideboard complete with sink, cooker and refrigerator. The key to its success is “low-tech” physics, cycling round in an energy-conserving, resource-hoarding loop. Newly washed pots drip their excess water onto edible plants. The fridge uses evaporating water to suck heat away from it – yep, no electrical supply needed (your utility budget will sniffle with joy). Food scraps go into the built-in vermicomposter, where your very own population of worms will nibble it down into compost ideal for the garden or for those plants under your drip-tray. And if you have kids…what better demonstration of the entire point of recycling?

(Image via: Kontrastblog)

But perhaps you like hi-tech – and perhaps you have more than a little money to throw around, in which case can we interest you in the rather science-fictional delights of the Brand Aion? The work of French designer Antoine LeBrun, the Aion works in a similar way to part of the Flow2 by conserving water, diverting any excess into the plants housed in the lid.

(Image via: Kontrastblog)

However, shut the lid and things get really clever. The whole device turns into a low-energy dishwasher – using a vegetable soap created by the plants growing above it. You keep track of how far along the cleaning cycle it is via the digital readout glowing on the front. Meanwhile, all that greenery is cleaning upwards as well, by scrubbing the air in your kitchen and leaving it as pristine as your crockery. When it becomes available (yes, it’s still in the early stages of prototyping), expect this device to get everyone in a lather.

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There’s often a large amount of difference between community service and innovative design. Canstruction is an annual event that’s aimed at changing that. The design event is held in cities all around North America, Australia and across the world. Over an 8-12 week period, teams of engineers, architects and students band together to create fascinating and amazing sculptures out of thousands of cans of food.

Following a public exhibit of the sculptures, all of the food is donated to local food pantries and shelters. Created in 1992 by the Society of Design Administration, Canstruction has collected over ten million pounds of food. More than 130 local competitions are expected to be held in the 2009/2010 season.

These amazing structures really are feats of engineering. The competition lets top architects and engineers show off their design skills to a huge audience while doing something good for the poor in their city. Canstruction is sponsored by contributions from local associations in every city, and visitors are invited to make additional donations of canned food or cash when coming to see the exhibit.

But more than being a great art exhibit, a chance for engineers and strut their stuff and a unique philanthropic project, the Canstruction sculptures are an innovative way to create low-waste, ecologically friendly art. The materials used don’t create an additional negative environmental impact and just go to show that incredible things can be made from ordinary, everyday materials.

Canstruction builds are often community events, with spectators being invited to watch the structures go together. The Super Bowl XLII Host Committee invited Canstruction to build two Giants helmets as part of the 2008 Super Bowl weekend festivities, and families were invited to watch it take place. Canstruction sculptures have also appeared at major events like Oddysey of the Mind, the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair and various conferences and gatherings around the world.

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With a burgeoning global population that has ever-growing needs for both food and housing, many architects are looking up for sustainable solutions that will prevent further sprawl and provide fresh food to urban residents. Vertical farms and skyscrapers that incorporate various functions like housing, recreation, work and tourism are like miniature self-sufficient cities, complete with transit and on-site energy production, minimizing the building’s carbon footprint and that of its residents.

La Tour Vivante: International Sustainable City

(images via: Atelier SOA)

La Tour Vivante is a vertical farm skyscraper with a light-shading skin that wraps around the structure and admits sunlight to targeted locations for both functional and aesthetic purposes. Designed by French architecture firm Atelier SOA, the skyscraper’s sustainable features include wind power, reclaimed rainwater, biogas production and on-site food production.

The architects explain, “The separation between city and countryside, urban planning and natural areas, places of living, consumption and production is increasingly problematic for sustainable land management. The concept of Tour Vivante aims to combine agricultural production, housing and activities in a single system.”

Toronto Sky Farm Concept by Gordon Graff

(images via: The Rathaus)

Designed by Gordon Graff when he was a Masters of Architecture student at Waterloo University, the Toronto Sky Farm concept seeks to provide enough food for 35,000 citizens per year. Though that may not be nearly enough to feed all the residents of downtown Toronto, it’s a start. Sky Farm would stand 59 stories tall with half its power produced by methane from plant waste. The hydroponic farming system would be fed with fresh water from Lake Ontario.

House of Peace Hotel in Tanzania Inspired by Nature

(images via: Inhabitat)

When WOW Architects set out to design the ‘House of Peace’ hotel in Tanzania, they found inspiration for its sculpted shape in the geological processes that shape rock formations in nature. With gentle slopes and greenery peeking out between floors, the concrete hotel is an interpretation of the way plate tectonics create hills, which are then molded by weather and stratified by sediments. Even the texture of the walls is drawn from that of fossils often found in such hills.

Almeisan Tower Brings Sky-High Sustainability to Dubai

(images via: Gizmag)

Though it’s unlikely to ever be built, the Almeisan Tower concept is nevertheless a fascinating peek at the ways in which we may be able to provide food for ourselves in the future.  Created by architect Robert Ferry for a competition to design a tall emblem structure for Za’abeel Park in Dubai, Almeisan Tower would use solar cells and large mirrors to generate its own power as well as the power required to run the rest of the park.

Axis Mundi’s Wacky Pop-Art Idea for MoMA Tower

(images via: Design Boom)

Though it was Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, Jean Nouvel, who was actually selected to design the expansion of New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, another architect almost stole his thunder. Axis Mundi submitted an alternative design idea for the tower, with a stacked design that features vegetated walls and gigantic reproductions of iconic pop art. Firm founder John Beckmann said of the concept, “Instead of disguising the rich potential of towers that have a mix of uses, we looked for a way to express that diversity.” The resulting mixed-use mishmash certainly stands at a stark contrast to Nouvel’s sleek, contemporary winning design.

Entangled Bank: Green-Walled Eco-City

(images via: ArchDaily)

Charlotte, North Carolina firm LITTLE designed the Entangled Bank concept, a holistic design that “combines heavy duty technological prowess with artistic integration of systems”, as a juror of the Re:Vision Dallas competition described it. The concept connects various elements of community like housing, recreation, work and tourism in a sustainable shell that includes a living wall, wind turbines and an onsite biogas plant.

XERO Project Envisions Sustainable Dallas

(images via: David Barker + Partners)

While the Entangled Bank concept turned heads and made it to the top 3 in the Re:Vision Dallas competition, it was the XERO Project that took first place. The David Barker + Partners/Fletcher Studio design is based around the question, “What if one block in Texas became the sustainable model for the world?” The design envisions a high-density, zero-energy, agriculturally oriented pair of buildings that include public orchards, community gardens, food stalls, restaurants, retail space and housing. The design also imagines connecting the building to greater Dallas with intersecting greenways.

The Zuidkas Sustainable Tower in Amsterdam

(images via: Plus Mood)

How green can a skyscraper get? Architectenbureau Paul de Ruiter decided to find out with a design commissioned by the Government Buildings Agency of the Netherlands for a mixed-use building in Amsterdam. De Ruiter aimed to achieve the highest score possible on a range of environmental objectives to help the government determine a future standard for sustainability in architecture. The design consists of a glass envelope that accommodates a variety of ‘green houses’ – atria, CO2 greenhouses and hybrid greenhouses – in addition to offices, homes, a school and retail facilities.

Plantagon Geodesic Vertical Farm

(images via: Inhabitat)

Swedish-American company Plantagon has come up with an unusual twist on the vertical farm concept: a geodesic greenhouse containing a spiral ramp upon which fresh crops can be grown in urban environments. Plantagon says the farm “will dramatically change the way we produce organic and functional food. It allows us to produce ecological [resources] with clean air and water inside urban environments, even major cities, cutting costs and environmental damage by eliminating transportation and deliver directly to consumers. This is due to the efficiency and productivity of the Plantagon® greenhouse which makes it economically possible to finance each greenhouse from its own sales.”

Vertical Park: Stackable Architecture for Mexico City

(images via: Archicentral)

Not only do we need vertical buildings that bring many functions into one building, preventing the destruction of what little green space we have left, but we also need structures that can meet our needs as they evolve. The stackable ‘Vertical Park’ concept by Jorge Hernandez de la Garza is a modular skyscraper designed for Mexico City, where space is definitely at a premium. Each module provides spaces for living, working, urban farming, water reclamation and solar energy collection.

Pyramid Farm

(images via: The Vertical Farm Project)

Architecture professors Eric Ellingsen and Dickson Despommier have dreamed up yet another way in which agriculture can be incorporated into urban environments in the future. The Pyramid Farm offers a self-sustaining ecosystem that are capable of producing a wide variety of food – including fish and poultry – while also minimizing waste as much as possible. It would even have processes in place to transform waste into energy sources that could run the farm.

Dragonfly Urban Farm Concept

(images via: Vincent Callebaut)

Few urban farm concepts are quite as visually stunning as Vincent Callebaut’s Dragonfly, a tall wing-like structure designed around the Southern bank of Roosevelt Island in New York City. This entirely self-sufficient concept features two oblong towers and 128 floors filled with housing, offices, laboratories and farms that would be tended by the building’s occupants. The greenhouse, which defines the space of the design, supports the load and is buttressed by two inhabited rings covered in solar panels.

Harvest Green Tower

(images via: Design Boom)

Romses Architects envisioned the ‘Harvest Green Tower’ for Vancouver, winning a competition held by the city of vancouver ‘the 2030 challenge’ to find new methods of green building that can help address climate change issues. The Harvest Green Tower produces food – including boutique goat and sheep dairy – and generates its own energy through wind and solar power. Incorporated within the tower are also residences, transit, offices, retail space and research facilities.

Aberrant Agriculture by Scott Johnson

(images via: Rat Haus)

The Aberrant Agriculture concept by Masters of Architecture student Scott Johnson not only combines vertical farming, residential, hotel and retail functions in one sustainable skyscraper, it also processes and sells the food that is produced within. The agricultural core of the building grows 12 ‘power foods’ including berries, garlic and beans and whatever the building’s residents couldn’t eat would be sold to the public.

Modular Skyscraper Additions Add Garden and Power Producing Space

(images via: Ecoble)

All of these ideas for the sustainable skyscrapers of the future are great, but what about all the waste that would be generated by tearing old buildings down, and wasting new resources to rebuild? That’s where this concept by Daekwon Park comes in. It’s a modular system designed to act as add-ons for existing buildings, adding space for outdoor recreation, vertical gardening and wind power generation as well as other functions as needed.

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Anti-Cancer Purple Tomatoes

(images via: Tomato Casual and The Great Beyond)

Fancy a little flower with your tomatoes? Not flour, flower – as in snapdragons. Researchers found that by injecting genes from snapdragon flowers into normal red tomatoes, the latter produced an increased amount of the pigment anthocyanin. Besides adding deep reddish and bluish tonnes to fruits like cranberries and blackberries, anthocyanin is a potent anti-oxidant that shows promise in inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, easing the symptoms of diabetes and relieving a number of age-related illnesses. Should human trials pan out, you may be seeing healthy purple pizza on the menu some day!

Hypoallergenic Tomatoes

(images via: Like To Cook and University of Szeged)

Allergic to tomatoes? It’s more likely than you think – up to 16 percent of people are sensitive to tomatoes, adding extra complications to life in a world of free-flowing ketchup, tomato sauce and burgers with the works. It’s not tomatoes themselves that are at fault, it’s a small protein called Profilin. By silencing two genes responsible for Profilin production in tomatoes, scientists can create non-allergenic fruit that are otherwise completely normal in taste, texture and appearance.

Healthier Papayas

(images via: Green Daily and ChrisChee18)

Now here’s a fun fact we bet you didn’t know: Half of all commercial papayas grown in the United States have been genetically modified to resist the Papaya Ring Virus. While GM papayas may not be any healthier for you or I, they HAVE saved the American papaya industry, which was nearly wiped out by the onset of this virus in the 1990s. The use of GM papayas does have one noteworthy consequence: genetically modified papayas are not allowed into Japan, the industry’s largest export market. Only non-GM fruit is sold to Japan; the rest is sold domestically.

Golden Rice: Kids Can See The Difference

(images via: Mythgarr, PRI and The Korea Times)

While rice is technically a grain, genetically engineered Golden Rice shares something with its vegetable cousins: a gene that produces Vitamin A, necessary to keep eyes healthy. The precursor to Vitamin A is beta-carotene which is found in yellow and orange vegetables like squash and carrots. It’s estimated that widespread consumption of Golden Rice, which will become available to farmers in 2011, will prevent blindness in as many as 500,000 children.

Yes, We Have No Non-GM Bananas

(images via: ABC News, HubPages and The Makan Club)

There’s a race going on – and if we lose it, we’ll also lose our bananas. Every last one. The culprit is Panama Disease, an incurable fusarium blight that has roared through Asian banana plantations and is poised to strike across the ocean to Latin America. The original export banana, known as “Big Mike”, was wiped out by PD and growers replaced it with the much more resistant Cavendish variety that originated in Vietnam. Now a new variant of Panama Disease has sprung up and the Cavendish looks to be going the way of Big Mike… unless scientists can engineer the fruit to fight the blight. To that end, researchers are looking at genes from an Indonesian wild banana from Indonesia that is resistant to PD To get the genes into commercial bananas, the genes are first implanted in a type of bacteria that is used to infect banana plants.

Fishy Strawberries

(image via: Freaking News)

If you think there’s something fishy about that ripe, juicy strawberry you just bit into, you could be right. Scientists have been experimenting with so-called “anti-freeze genes” found in cold water fish like Sea Flounder and Arctic Char. When implanted into fruits and vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes and strawberries, the gene acts to makes the plant in question more resistant to freezing in bad weather. The strawberries don’t actually taste fishy… though one imagines the flavor would be somewhat like fruit clamato. Yum!

Multivitamin Corn

(images via: Science Planet, 21-Food and Ars Lounge)

Peaches & Cream Corn is familiar to most of us but it’s understood that the corn only looks like fruit & milk; it’s not made from it. Now there’s a new type of corn that does incorporate the genes of foreign plants – not for good taste, but for a good cause. Multivitamin corn: it tastes good and it’s good for you! Scientists from Spain and Germany used genetic engineering techniques to cause South African elite white corn to produce three types of vitamins (Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Folic Acid) within its kernels. Beta Carotene, found naturally in carrots and squash, tints the kernels a curious shade of orange.

Viral Vegetable Marketing

(image via: UC, California Agriculture)

Studies conducted at the University of California have uncovered a novel way of using genetic engineering. In one case, zucchini prone to infection by viral diseases were able to not only survive, but thrive thanks to a gene taken from the offending virus which was implanted into the zucchini plant. The addition of only a single gene from the virus made a huge difference – note the rich, green color of the genetically modified plants above right compared with their unprotected brothers on the left.

Apple Cinnamon Apples?

(image via: WIRED)

Like cinnamon on your apples? How about IN them? That’s what you get with Cinna-Del, a genetically modified apple from agri-giant Monsanto that tastes sweet and cinnamony with every bite. Not to worry though, both the image and the concept of Cinna-Del apples are but a figment of some graphic artist’s imagination… for now.

Frankenfruits: Viral Veggies We’d (Not) Like To See

(image via: Freaking News)

It seems that when it comes to genetic modification, anything’s possible. The phab photoshoppers over at Freaking News took this particular ball and decided to run with it… some of these crazy combos look rather tasty!

With that last note in mind and knowing the capabilities of genetic researchers, it seems likely we may see genetically modified fruits & veggies even beyond our imaginations. Even though much GM research has gone towards improving the hardiness and nutritive value of our foods, one must recall an old TV margarine commercial in which it is said, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!”

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Like something straight from a science fiction movie plot, animal studies seem to show that there are no theoretical barriers to our ability to regenerate ourselves. Once the stuff of legends, an impossible fantasy, the fountain of youth may be about to transition from myth to reality – the question is not when, but how it will be done and (most importantly) whether incredible longevity medicines and technologies will have a net benefit to the world or create more problems than they are worth.

(Image via: Wired)

In fact, while David Sinclair focuses a 21st Century revolution akin to antibiotics the results could be even more radical – picture a world where age-related diseases like diabetes, dementia and even cancer could be reversible or curable, our bodies able to heal themselves by tapping into our DNA as they did when we were first growing. This is not just about extending lives, then, but about improving quality of life and ending the hotly-debated question of whether it is worth staying alive when so many diseases take over so close to death.

(Image via: Wikipedia)

Diseases are thought to “originate in damage caused to our mitochondria by free oxygen radicals. These are an inevitable byproduct of turning chemical energy into our body’s fuel, but corrode mitochondrial DNA, eventually causing organs and systems to malfunction and shut down. Fix the mitochondria, say scientists, and the rest of you won’t break down. What’s offered isn’t a protraction of physical decrepitude, but a slowing of the biological clock.” (Wired)

(Image via: Nelson Dewey)

The legendary fountain of youth is known as a rare prize, something a single individual or small group might find, covet and keep secret from the rest of the world. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this modern development, then, is the fact that all major pharmaceutical are dumping major money into research, to the tune of hundreds of millions or more. In short: when the resulting miracle drug hits the market it might cost just a few dollars due to the fierce competition.

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