Marijuana advocates all over the world rejoiced at the news, and for good reason, since it is yet another piece of scientific evidence that helps prove to naysayers that cannabis has considerable health benefits. NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano stated, “The National Academy of Science’s conclusions that marijuana possesses established therapeutic utility for certain patients and that it possesses an acceptable safety profile when compared to those of other medications or recreational intoxicants are not surprising. This evidence has been available for some time, yet for decades marijuana policy in this country has largely been driven by rhetoric and emotion, not science and evidence.”

It continues to become more and more obvious that the only reason that cannabis hasn’t been legalized from coast to coast, all across the United States, is because the powers that be are benefiting heavily from the pharmaceutical drugs that are being peddled in its place. Should cannabis be legalized, Big Pharma will take a drastic hit, which is guaranteed to leave them scrambling. Considering the fact that President Donald Trump has already waged a culture war against the pharmaceutical industry, it should come as no great surprise that they don’t want their brand to be damaged any further.

The bottom line is that cannabis is a natural, healthy and effective alternative to chemical drugs that are created in a lab somewhere. Opioid addiction in America is through the roof, and few have the courage to address that fact because they are afraid of the wrath of those controlling the pharmaceutical industry. Thankfully, the truth is always on the side of justice and there is no way to keep the truth from coming out. Though the powers that be did their best to keep Americans in the dark on the health benefits of cannabis for as long as possible, that time is long gone. We are all waking up, and it’s only a matter of time before everyone knows that marijuana is actually considerably healthier than the drugs peddled at the pharmacy. (RELATED: Find more news about medical marijuana at MedicalMarijuanaUpdate.com)

This is going to be a year that welcomes many changes to the United States. With the inauguration of Donald Trump comes a lot of new ideas regarding freedom and liberty within our country. One of the issues that our politicians need to address immediately is the archaic manner in which the federal government views cannabis. If they are truly in the business of improving the lives of the American people, they need to stop banning a plant that is guaranteed to help many. Should they choose to continue living in the past, denying the truth and waging a war on reality, they will be preventing many from reaching their full potential.

Read more censored science news at Censored.news.

Sources:

TheDailySheeple.com

OpposingViews.com

WeedNews.co

The 26 antibiotics available in the US, including last-line antibiotic colistin, were unable to stop the infection. The result was tragic; the woman’s microbiome was overtaken by the highly evolved superbug and the infection killed her. During the struggle to survive, the woman was isolated so the bacteria would not spread to other weakened patients in the hospital. According to microbial tests taken from other patients, the drug-resistant superbug did not spread; however, a superbug’s ability to spread is only half the problem. The other, more troubling problem with super bugs is their ability to lurk quietly inside the human gut until they find an opportunity to take advantage of a microbiome newly weakened by a round of antibiotics.

The real threat of superbug infection occurs due to a bacteria’s ability to evolve when antibiotics are administered

Patients are often admitted to the hospital with compromised microbiomes and weakened immune systems. The addition of more antibiotics allows these lurking, resistant superbugs to take control of the patient. As increasing use of antibiotics depletes the good microbes in the individual’s gut, superbugs are able to destroy the balance and take over the patient’s immune system. When there are not enough protective microbes in the gut, the superbug can take command and an infection manifests. The real threat of super bugs is their ability to manifest when a patient is given antibiotics. (RELATED: Read more about the failures of chemical medicine at Medicine.news)

Colistin is an antibiotic that is reserved for resistant super bugs, yet resistance to this drug has emerged as of recent. The scientists are finding out that resistance to colistin is caused by a single evolving gene called mcr-1. This gene is special because it can transfer between bacteria rather easily via free floating DNA called plasmids.

Plasmids are swapped in the gut of humans, as bacteria interact. If the individual obtains a bacterium with a plasmid that carries resistance to colistin, the bacteria may lurk in the gut and be held in check; however, the bacterium becomes infectious when antibiotics are administered. The antibiotics kill everything except for the resistant bacteria. This failure of modern medicine allows the newly-equipped super bug to fill the void and manifest infection in the body. With no microbial competition to hold the infectious bacterium accountable, the super bug takes control. (RELATED: Follow more news about Big Pharma at BigPharmaNews.com)

Antibiotic resistance occurring rapidly, across multiple bacteria species

Scientists warn that a single bacterium might collect multiple plasmids with multiple genes for resistance to multiple antibiotics. These infections can occur for multiple types of bacteria; tests have shown that E. coli has developed resistance through this same mcr-1 gene. One of the most recent super bugs to manifest came from the overuse of an antibiotic class called carbapenems. In 2009, scientists quickly found that the super bug had developed resistance through the gene, ndm-1, which allowed the bacteria to survive against the antibiotics that were once so heavily relied upon to treat it.

The real threat here is not the spread of a super bug from one person to the next. The real problem is the weakening of microbiomes via antibiotics which allows isolated cases of super bug infection to manifest, time and time again, in new places. Even if a hospital can control a super bug in the moment through isolation and sterilization, the real threat could manifest again and again, somewhere else.

Sources:

CDC.gov

Chemotherapy was originally derived from deadly mustard gas used as chemical warfare in World War I

Did you know that 75 percent of MDs and oncologists would never use chemotherapy on themselves or their relatives? Why? They know that there’s only a 2.3 percent average chance that it works, and for the rest of humanity, it destroys the entire human immune system and creates new cancers in the blood and body. It’s true; cancer is the uncontrolled growth and errant replication of cells that are exposed to an overload of chemicals, synthetics, heavy metal toxins and other carcinogens. Guess what’s in flu shots, diet soda and cigarettes?

Chemotherapy “alkylating agents” are composed of tetrazines and nitrogen mustards – chemicals that lead to other cancers. So, while you stave off certain bad cell divisions, you destroy healthy gut flora and the entire endocrine system, throwing off your hormonal balance and polluting the blood, heart and brain with carcinogens, which are what caused your cancer in the first place.

Flu shots contain mercury and formaldehyde – two of the most deadly neurotoxins known to medical science

Formaldehyde is a dangerous environmental pollutant that is used to embalm dead people in order to preserve their corpses. Formaldehyde is ranked as one of the most hazardous compounds to human health, and can cause liver damage, gastrointestinal issues, reproductive deformation and respiratory distress. You thought you got a little bit of the flu when you got your flu jab? That was your reaction to the formaldehyde!

Formaldehyde is a well-established neurotoxin that is detrimental to learning, behavior and memory. The levels of formaldehyde in the brain increase substantially with most neurodegenerative disorders. Coincidence? Did you know that the CDC has the nerve to recommend flu shots to pregnant women? That is totally insane.

Scientists and vaccine manufacturers use formaldehyde to “deaden” or weaken the influenza virus strains, but those viruses can lay dormant for extended periods of time and then suddenly “wake up” when fed by viral proteins (hemagglutinin) in your blood, especially when the virus sticks to cells lining the respiratory tract. That’s when the virus sheds its “coat.” The viral RNA enters the nucleus of the host cell and literally hijacks it.

Injecting formaldehyde into the body can cause blindness, brain damage, seizures, and yes, even cancer. Flu shots can lead to facial paralysis, as explained in the “post-marketing experience” section on the vaccine insert. Have you ever read that insert? Take a look right here.

Then, your body has to contend with massive amounts of mercury, which have been injected into your muscle tissue. Your body reacts violently as your immune system goes into a state of complete and utter panic. It’s called fight or flight. Why? Mercury is the most toxic non-radioactive element on earth. According to the CDC, no amount of mercury injected into the body has been determined as being too much, but eating or drinking mercury (like in fish or water) is very dangerous. Flu shots still contain massive amounts of mercury, a most potent neurotoxin, listed as thimerosal. However, thimerosal is just a fancy name for an anti-fungal chemical compound (C₉H₉HgNaO₂S) which consists of at least 50 percent mercury.

Mercury tests conducted on vaccines at the Natural News Forensic Food Lab using high-end laboratory instrumentation have revealed a shockingly high level of toxic mercury in an influenza vaccine (flu shot) made by GlaxoSmithKline (lot #9H2GX). Tests conducted document mercury in the Flulaval vaccine at a shocking 51 parts per million, or over 25,000 times higher than the maximum contaminant level of inorganic mercury in drinking water set by the EPA. (Read more news about vaccine ingredients at Vaccines.news)

Cigarettes or diet soda – which gives you cancer faster?

Artificial sweeteners are just that: artificial. That means your body is completely fooled into thinking it’s food because it tastes sweet and it’s entering your body with other food or beverages. Some synthetic, lab-made sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose and sorbitol can remain inside your cleansing organs for weeks, months and even years. Aspartame has been found lodged in the brains of children. Aspartame’s toxic effects are cumulative, building up over time. This complex molecule is made up of 50 percent phenylalanine, 40 percent aspartic acid and 10 percent methanol, and each of these substances can be dangerous to humans as they work together in the body. In children with the PKU phenylektoneuric gene (PKU), aspartame damages the developing brain.

Cigarettes, on the other hand, are loaded with formaldehyde, pesticides, fiberglass (it’s in the filter), aluminum and other deadly heavy metal toxins.

The new Splenda Essentials cleverly adds vitamin B and antioxidants to its core ingredient sucralose, a non-nutritive sweetener that does not grow in sugar fields, but is rather manufactured in laboratories as a synthetic compound. That’s right: At some point during the manufacturing process, the natural sugar disappears, and what remains are chlorinated atoms that are bulked up with dextrose and maltodextrin. You see, Sucralose is produced by substituting three chlorine atoms for three hydroxyl groups. Sucralose is not approved for use in most European countries, where national healthcare programs are prominent. Go figure.

So, now you’re asking: What’s the big deal with ingesting synthetic food agents? The Japanese Food Sanitation Council reports that up to 40 percent of ingested sucralose is absorbed and can concentrate in the liver, kidney and gastrointestinal tract. Can you say, “Irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers and cancer polyps,” three times, really fast?

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wants to pull deadly mercury out of all flu shots

The one and only Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who was named one of Time magazine’s “Heroes for the Planet” in May of 2010, just authored an incredible, mind-blowing book entitled, Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury — a Known Neurotoxin — from Vaccines, and has now been appointed by President Donald J. Trump to run the new Vaccine Safety Commission for the United States of America. Get ready for the most violent chemicals to be removed from American medicine, especially the flu shot.

Let’s all stop eating, drinking and injecting chemicals while pretending it’s okay – because it’s not okay. Find organic truth in everything, from food to medicine. It’s out there. (Read more censored news at Censored.news)

Sources for this article include:

TruthWiki.org

TruthWiki.org

NaturalNews.com

CourseHero.com

Aim4Health.com

RobertFKennedyJr.com

BarnesAndNoble.com

Vaccines.news

SaneVax.org

NaturalNews.com

To say that Big Pharma is corrupt is an understatement, especially after a shocking new study published in the British Medical Journal found that drug makers actually purchase positive field trial results so that it will be easier, cheaper and quicker to get new drugs approved.

As reported by The Daily Sheeple, financial ties between researchers and Big Pharma firms “are independently associated with positive trial results, suggesting bias in the evidence base,” according to the new study.

For their study, which was published in the BMJ, researchers analyzed results from 195 drug trials that were reported in 2013. Led by experts from the University of California-San Francisco, the research team discovered that in more than half of clinical trials – 58 percent – the lead scientist in the study had at least some level of financial ties to the company that made the drug under testing. (RELATED: Keep current with the most recent medical scandals at Medicine.news)

Included in the cozy relationships were direct payments to researchers, honorariums, paid travel expenses, stock ownership and payment for “advisory” work.

In an accompanying editorial, entitled, The Ties That Bind, the BMJ noted:

“Substantial evidence shows that sponsorship or funding of trials of drugs and devices by companies producing the drug or device results in publications that tend to favour the sponsor’s product. Personal financial ties—including travel expenses, honorariums, payment for advisory work, or stock ownership—between commercial companies and authors of reviews, meta-analyses, editorials, and letters are also associated with conclusions favourable to the sponsor.”

The fraudulent nature of clinical trials involving Big Pharma has been known to insiders for quite some time, including Dr. Marcia Angell, a physician and longtime Editor in Chief of the New England Medical Journal.

“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine,” she has said.

Natural News founder/editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, has also tracked the issue of faking drug trial results so that pharmaceutical firms can get their flawed products to market faster.

“There’s no question whatsoever that the bulk of drug company-funded clinical trials are rooted in scientific fraud,” he said. “Much of the entire body of so-called ‘scientific evidence’ cited by the FDA to justify the granting of prescription drug monopolies is nothing more than pharmaceutical voodoo and quackery disguised to look like legitimate science.” (RELATED: The most recent discoveries can be found at Scientific.news)

In a separate news release, Andreas Lundh of the University of Southern Denmark, and Lisa Bero of the University of Sydney, said that more studies, and more transparency, are needed for clinical trials:

“They urge trial authors to share their data and participate in industry funded trials only if data are made publicly available – and suggest journals could help by rejecting research by authors who are unwilling to share their data and by penalising authors who fail to disclose financial ties. The role of sponsors, or companies with which authors have ties, in the research must also be transparent,” EurkAlert reported.

President Trump has vowed to clean out the cesspool that is Big Pharma’s power lock in the nation’s capital.

“Pharma has a lot of lobbyists and a lot of power,” he said during his first press conference as president-elect recently. “There’s very little bidding on drugs. We’re the largest drug buyer in the world, and we’re going to start bidding. We’re going to start saving billions of dollars on drugs.”

In addition to implementing a bidding process and making other changes to how Big Pharma does business, Trump is considering appointing vaccine skeptic, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to a special panel to look into their safety.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources:

Trump.news

TheDailySheeple.com

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov

In Wales and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, officials have evidently determined that trying to treat the virus that is apparently responsible for a hacking cough with antibiotics is a waste of time. Thousands of people in the U.K. currently are dealing with a nagging cough this winter, possibly even Queen Elizabeth.

The Cardiff and Vale University Health Board contends that there is little a physician can do to alleviate the condition of a prolonged cough and recommends rest and drinking plenty of fluids. “Antibiotics will be of no help for most normally healthy people,” Dr. Anna Kuczynska remarked. Against this backdrop, the Board suggests that making a doctor’s appointment for a prolonged cough will just tie up waiting rooms unnecessarily.

Adenovirus is believed to be the culprit in the hacking cough outbreak, according to an expert with whom the Independent of London consulted. “John Oxford, professor of virology at the University of London, said the outbreak was likely to be caused by adenovirus – the microbe behind conditions such as bronchitis, pneumonia and gastroenteritis. Adenovirus can survive at body temperature and can push down into the lungs, causing a chesty cough that can remain long after other symptoms have eased.”

Frequent hand washing and staying indoors as much as possible “because cold air soon stirs up the cough reflux,” can be beneficial, he noted.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledges that about one-third of all antibiotics prescribed for outpatients are unnecessary, much of it for what it describes as acute respiratory conditions “such as colds, bronchitis, sore throats caused by viruses, and even some sinus and ear infections” and that antibiotic resistance is a major problem across the world.

The National Health Service, the government-run agency in the U.K., indicates that a hacking cough generally resolves itself within three weeks. Individuals should see a doctor if the condition continues beyond 21 days, according to the NHS, because it may be an indicator of a respiratory tract infection, allergies, or a more serious illness such as lung cancer or tuberculosis.

Queen Elizabeth, 90, has been out of the public eye in the past few months, including passing on her attendance at the traditional Christmas Day church service, and some believe that she might be suffering from a hacking cough. A Buckingham Palace statement earlier this month announced that the Queen was recuperating from a heavy cold.

Dr. Clare Gerada of the Royal College of General Practitioners told the London Telegraph that “We are seeing an awful lot of people this winter with a virus that is more severe than a normal cold, almost a type of bronchitis. It is causing a hacking cough and if the Queen has got it, then she is probably exhausted from coughing. It may well be affecting her sleep as well, which would leave anyone feeling exhausted, never mind a 90-year-old.”

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton famously experienced several coughing fits on the campaign trail, and was later diagnosed with pneumonia after collapsing at the 9/11 ceremony, for which she received a course of antibiotics.

Natural News has previously identified some home remedies that may help alleviate a cough, including a mixture of honey, lemon juice, coconut oil, ginger tea, black pepper and honey, thyme tea, and peppermint tea. Echinacea products and zinc supplements may also be helpful.

Over-the-counter cough syrup is apparently minimally effective, however, and may be little more than a placebo, however, according to a recent study from the American Chemistry Society.

Sources:

NaturalNews.com

Cardiffandvaleuhb.wales.nhs.uk

Independent.co.uk

CDC.gov

Telegraph.co.uk

Inquisitr.com

The largest study of its kind ever conducted on aspartame was put together by researchers from the University of Iowa. They looked at 60,000 women who consumed aspartame-laden diet beverages over the course of 10 years and found that those who consume two or more diet drinks per day are significantly more prone than other women to develop cardiovascular disease — and to die from it.

The paper compared the health outcomes of women who consume diet beverages to those who don’t, observing that those who do are 30 percent more likely to suffer some kind of cardiovascular event such as a heart attack or stroke. Among those who suffer such a fate, those who consume aspartame are 50 percent more likely to die from it compared to non-diet beverage drinkers. (Related: Learn about other toxic ingredients at Ingredients.news)

Dr. Ankur Vyas, lead investigator of the study, noted that this is one of the largest studies ever to look at aspartame, and that the findings are “consistent with some previous data, especially those linking diet drinks to metabolic syndrome.”

“On average, women who consumed two or more diet drinks a day were younger, more likely to be smokers, and had a higher prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and higher body mass index,” the paper explained.

Aspartame, artificial sweeteners make people fat

It is hardly surprising, then, that diet soda sales have continued to plummet year after year as research such as this continues to emerge. Folks are waking up to the dangers of aspartame and switching to healthier alternatives like local honey and stevia extract. Not only is aspartame dangerous in these many ways, but it doesn’t even do the one thing that most people falsely believe it does — help them to lose weight.

There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which include the fact that artificial sweeteners like aspartame do not activate the food rewards pathway in the brain that tells people that they’re full, and that it’s time to stop eating. Instead, diet soda consumers can chug can after can, and bottle after bottle, of their favorite chemical-laced soft drink and simply not stop.

Aspartame specifically has also been shown in studies to actually make people more hungry than if they simply consumed sugar. Since anything that tastes sweet enhances appetite, the hunger-promoting effects of aspartame end up leading people who consume it to also consume other foods — and lots of them!

There is also evidence to suggest that consuming aspartame increases fat storage in the body. Since phenylalanine and aspartate, the two chemical components of aspartame, interfere with insulin and leptin, both of which control how fat is handled by the body, their consumption actually causes people to pack on more pounds rather than shed them.

And then there’s the science suggesting that aspartame could increase the risk of brain tumors. A 1996 study published in the Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology identified a strong correlation between aspartame consumption and brain tumors in mice, leading the researchers of that study to conclude that “there is need for reassessing the carcinogenic potential of aspartame.”

Another web resource coming soon: Sweeteners.news, covering aspartame, stevia, Sucralose and more.

Sources:

EatLocalGrown.com

UIowa.edu

GlobalHealingCenter.com

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov

In almost 60 years, since the investigations of Big Pharma began, Congress has never passed any kind of legislation to prevent the pharmaceutical industry from charging exorbitant prices — even for products that were developed with taxpayer dollars. (RELATED: Find out more about Big Pharma at Medicine.news)

Corporate greed keeps life-saving drugs from veterans

Just three years ago, in 2014, the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging held a hearing to investigate the skyrocketing price of generic drugs. Drug prices have continued to increase since then, of course.

The following year, Gilead came under fire for their outlandish drug prices — most notably, the sky-high costs of their drugs for hepatitis C. One drug, Solvaldi, was actually developed by a research scientist from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. After being acquired by Gilead, the product was priced so high that the VA — which paid to develop the drug — could not afford to give the pills to their own patients.

Gilead felt that it was fair for them to charge $1,000 per pill for a drug that they themselves had not even created. The retail price for a 12-week Solvaldi treatment is a sickening $84,000; even with a 50 percent discount, the VA was still unable to afford treatment for many sick veterans that contacted Hep C while overseas during the Vietnam War.

Only the lowest of the low could sleep at night, knowing that their price-gouging was preventing veterans from getting much-needed medical care.

Don’t worry, it gets worse.

Dr. Raymond Schinazi, the drug’s creator — owner of Pharmasett and at the time of the drug’s creation, Senior Research Scientist of the VA in Atlanta — admitted in a 2013 trade publication that an entire 12-week treatment of Solvaldi only cost $1,400 to make. A report from Americans For Tax Fairness states that Schinazi and his private company received millions in federal grant money to conduct research and develop treatment for Hep C.

Schinazi sold his company to Gilead in 2012. Shortly after acquiring it, Gilead saw fit to raise the price of the drug — to nearly 60 times what it costs to produce.

Following their investigation of Gilead, government officials concluded that the only explanation for the explicit price-gouging was corporate greed: they charged as much as possible, purely because they could.

(Related: Read more about rigged pricing, rigged polls and rigged systems at Rigged.news)

Other drugs have been created with taxpayer money

ABC News reported that the federal government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent some $484 million dollars on developing a cancer drug called Taxol. They entered an agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in 1993.  A 2003 report by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) revealed that the federal government recovered a mere $35 million in royalty payments — even though BMS had racked up profits to the tune of $9 billion — in just 9 years. That’s a billion dollars a year in profits! And yet it was our tax dollars that paid for all that research.

The GAO report showed that the NIH spent almost half a billion dollars to research and create a new drug, and they then signed a contract that inevitably allowed a pharmaceutical company to patent it and prevent generics from entering the marketplace for years. It is beyond comprehension and totally reprehensible.

Corruption and greed in the pharmaceutical industry are hardly a thing of the past. More recently, pharmaceutical giant Mylan was called out for their price-gouging of the life-saving EpiPen. After acquiring the EpiPen patent — which was initially developed for the Department of Defense — Mylan increased the price of the product by 461 percent over the course of nine years.

There are countless other instances of wrongdoing within the pharmaceutical industry, particularly as it pertains to government regulation and policy.  Clearly, this is an issue that needs to be resolved — and should have been remedied years ago during or after one of the 50 investigations the government has conducted.

Sources:

Workers.org

RT.com

ABCNews.go.com

AmericansForTaxFairness.org

GenomeBiology.BiomedCentral.com

USUncut.com

As reported by National Public Radio (NPR), researchers discovered how to make mice kill at the flip of a switch, essentially, adding that may reveal how hunting behaviors evolved hundreds of millions of years ago.

Mice in the lab became very aggressive predators when two sets of neurons in the amygdala were activated using laser light, according to a research team which published its findings recently in the journal Cell. (RELATED: Discover more scientific news and discoveries at Scientific.news)

Ivan de Araujo, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University, as well as an associate fellow at The John B. Pierce Laboratory in New Haven, Conn., said that the use of the laser light stimulant transformed the rodents into very efficient hunters.

“They pursue the prey [a live cricket] faster and they are more capable of capturing and killing it,” he said—all without undergoing any special conditioning or previous training to hone their hunting skills.

NPR noted further:

Activating the neurons even caused the mice to attack inanimate objects, including sticks, bottle caps and an insectlike toy. “The animals intensively bite the toy and use their forepaws in an attempt to kill it,” De Araujo says.

But the aggressive behavior is reserved for prey. Mice didn’t attack each other, even when both sets of neurons were activated.

The results of the stimulation research may provide insight into how the brain has changed over the course of hundreds of millions of years, when the first animals with jaws began to appear on earth. De Araujo said that the new ability to aggressively hunt down and kill prey very likely “influenced the way the brain is wired up in a major way.”

“Superior predatory skills led to the evolutionary triumph of jawed vertebrates. However, the mechanisms by which the vertebrate brain controls predation remain largely unknown,” says a summary of the research.

De Araujo said that, specifically, the brain had to develop so-called ‘hunting circuits’ that enabled precise, coordinated movements of a predator’s jaw and neck, adding that is a “very demanding task.”

The research team believed from the outset of their study that mice had these hunting circuits wired already in their brains because many kill and eat insects. Also, one species that is known as the killer mouse “basically feeds on live prey, including sometimes even other mice,” said de Araujo.

As expected, the research team indeed discovered a set of neurons in the amygdala, which is a structure that spurs both emotion and motivation, became active when a mouse began to pursue prey. In addition, they were able to isolate a second set of neurons that were activated when the rodent was biting and killing.

Using a technique called optogenetics, the researchers managed to create mice in which both sets of neurons were controllable through the use of light emitted from a laser. That essentially created “an on-off switch” the team could use to activate either set of neurons or both, the associate professor said.

“When we stimulate [both sets of] neurons it is as if there is a prey in front of the animal,” he said. At that point, the mice assume a body posture and take actions that are generally associated with real hunting.

The research team also unearthed evidence of similar hunting circuits in rats and other species—including human beings—whose survival at one point during evolution depended on our ability to hunt and kill large animals.

You can imagine that this kind of discovery would interest, say, the Defense Department, which could utilize it as a means of turning soldiers “on and off” on the battlefield. [RELATED: Stay current with the evil side of science at Evil.news]

But sinister forces could also use it to create human monsters among the population. Would an authoritarian government find such technology useful?

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources:

NPR.org

Cell.com

Science.NaturalNews.com

In Ayurveda, holy basil is used to support immunity, aid detoxification, modulate stress and slow aging. In Western herbalism, the plant is known as an “adaptogen,” or a plant that increases the body’s resistance to a wide variety of environmental stressors, rather than having only a few specific effects (such as lowering blood pressure, for example).

Adaptogens are so named because they adapt their function to the needs of the body, thus helping maintain balance. (Learn more about natural medicine for preventing disease at Prevention.news)

Soothing stress, slowing aging

According to Ayurveda, holy basil can be used to boost mood, stamina and endurance by filling the body with a calming energy. It can help speed up slowed digestion or free up suppressed emotions.

Studies suggest that some of holy basil’s benefits come from its ability to help the body regulate its levels of cortisol, which is sometimes called the “stress hormone.” Released during times of stress, cortisol activates many components of the sympathetic nervous system, also known as the “fight or flight” response. While this response is important in times of crisis, it is hard on the body over time, and cortisol has been linked to many of the negative health effects of chronic stress.

Holy basil’s effects on cortisol may partially explain its traditional use in Ayurveda to soothe emotional and digestive upset. Cortisol can also suppress the immune system, a condition holy basil is also used to treat.

The herb’s much-lauded anti-aging effects may come in part from its high antioxidant activity. Researchers believe that many of the effects of aging come from cell and DNA damage caused by chemicals known as free radicals; antioxidants help remove free radicals from the body.

Science beginning to explore effects

Holy basil’s antioxidant effects likely make it a powerful cancer preventive, as cancer is one of the many health conditions linked to free radical damage.

A 2007 study from the Journal of Medicinal Food further suggests that holy basil may also exhibit direct anticancer activity. In that study, cancer was induced in rats, who were then treated with varying doses of holy basil leaf extract. At concentrations of 300 mg per kg of body weight, the extract reduced cancer cell formation, oxidative damage to proteins and fats, and levels of enzymes responsible for producing further toxic effects in the body.

Another study, published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in 2008, found that holy basil might help reduce the effects of nerve degeneration (neuropathy), a common side effect of injury and many diseases, such as diabetes. Researchers severed sciatic nerves in the paws of rats, then treated them with holy basil extract for ten days. They found that over the course of the treatment, the nerve degeneration was reduced, and nerve sensitivity and motor control increased. Rats treated with holy basil extract also showed decreased oxidative stress and higher levels of calcium and glutathione. (RELATED: Learn about more natural remedies at Remedies.news)

Holy basil may also be good for the skin, perhaps due to potent antimicrobial activity. A study published in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science in 2006 compared the effects of holy basil, sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum, the type commonly used in Western cooking), and hoary basil (Ocimum americanum) on bacteria believed to be the cause of acne. The researchers found that both holy basil and sweet basil showed significant antimicrobial effects.

Sources:

YogaJournal.com

NaturalNews.com

Benefits of this naturally healthy remedy

The combination of the three ingredients yields specific advantages to anyone who mixes then drinks them. It can help to prevent and treat gastrointestinal symptoms such as indigestion, and it has also been shown to ward off weight issues like obesity. With the obesity rate climbing ever higher, having people take a few minutes to prepare this drink can certainly provide a solution to a growing problem.

Taking a look at the benefits of the three individual ingredients gives some clues as to what makes them so powerful when combined:

• Garlic is high in allicin, which is anti-inflammatory and anti-aging. It offers a world of miraculous benefits, and when taken internally, it can be helpful for treating all sorts of infections.
• Honey contains high levels of vitamins, minerals and enzymes, and it’s an excellent antiseptic.
• Apple cider vinegar may provide the secret sauce in the garlic, honey and apple cider vinegar combination because of the sour-tasting liquid’s anti-obesity and indigestion-fighting properties.

You can imagine what a powerhouse you are creating when you combine the three items, in light of their individual properties and benefits even when used alone. (RELATED: Learn more news about the healing power of superfoods at Superfoods.news)

How to make this powerful mixture

Preparing for yourself a healthy drink of these three wonderful ingredients could not be easier or quicker. Simply measure out one cup of apple cider vinegar, one cup of honey and ten cloves of freshly minced garlic. Thoroughly combine the ingredients in a blender, and pour the mixture into a glass jar. Refrigerate that. Take two tablespoons of the mixture each day in the morning, before eating or drinking anything. The mixture keeps for five days, and after that it will not provide the same powerful benefits. If you would like to improve the flavor some, add a small amount of water or organic juice such as apple juice.

Tips for maximum effectiveness

To get the most healing power out of the garlic, honey and apple cider vinegar mixture, make sure you follow certain rules. First, preferably use only organic ingredients. Also, garlic should be as fresh as possible or even grown in your own garden. Avoid using garlic that feels spongy or has dried out. Honey needs to be raw and preferably local, and avoid at all costs the “fake” honey that has become more prevalent in recent years. It is a “mystery” concoction of additives masquerading as a healthy food. Use raw apple cider vinegar that contains particles, also known as the “mother,” that settle to the bottom of the bottle. Before pouring out some vinegar, shake the capped bottle vigorously to thoroughly mix the particles in with the liquid.

Additional benefits include reduced cholesterol and blood pressure, cancer treatment and diabetes improvement. What if one of the cures for those dreaded ailments is right in your kitchen? So cheers to your health, and enjoy the rewards that come from setting aside a few minutes daily to take care of yourself by drinking this remedy.

Learn more about natural remedies at Remedies.news.

Sources:

PinoyHealthGuide.com

SteptoHealth.com

LPI.OregonState.edu

FoodSafetyNews.com

FoodRenegade.com