This record-breaking band specializes in vegetal instruments—from celeriac bongos to pepper horns.

Engineers have had to come up with some interesting ways to generate oxygen for astronauts in the vacuum of space.

While on an episode of The Pivot podcast, Marvel star and father to four sons Anthony Mackie recently took a strong stance regarding masculinity, saying: "In the past 20 years, we've been living through the death of the American male…but I raised my boys to become young men.”While that sentence might at first seem like we’re heading into some cringey “alpha male” territory, the Captain America: Brave New World actor also elaborated on the values he instills in sons, like being respectful, having humility, saying “yes sir” or “yes ma'am” and “thank you,” opening the door for women, making sure their mother is "taken care of and provided for.” @thepivot Anthony Mackie On The Death Of The American Male #anthonymackie #captainamerica #marvel #foryou #mindset #fatherhood #america #masculinity #fyp ♬ original sound - The Pivot Podcast Mackie then provided an example, saying that before leaving for a job, he would make his 15-year-old son the “man of the house,” with the responsibility of making sure the doors were locked and the alarm was on. Because, as Mackie put it, “if I’m not there to protect, he gotta be there to protect.”This sentiment reflects a broader shift that many parents are experiencing. While there are certainly many praises to sing about modern practices like gentle parenting, many people are also longing for a return of some “traditional” approaches that are equally beneficial, particularly when it comes to setting helpful boundaries and teaching manners.As one viewer put it, “That’s called structure, responsibility, accountability, and direction.”But there’s also Mackie’s take on masculinity itself—involving caring for and protecting others, showing up for responsibilities, and embodying true leadership—which people are positively responding to. Masculinity doesn't have to be toxic. Photo credit: CanvaMackie's take t seems to touch on admirable traits that can go unnoticed by both far left progressives, who wave the flag of “toxic masculinity” (and thus alienate half the population), and the right wing "manfluencers" like Andrew Tate who offer a place for men to be welcomed while promoting actual toxic traits like misogyny, narcissism, and domination.“That’s not the masculinity that needs to die. More fathers need to teach this,” one person wrote about Mackie's take.Another echoed, “What a beautiful way to articulate being a man.”As another viewer noted, parents can of course teach boys these traits while also teaching “emotional intelligence too—vulnerability, honesty, empathy, care. Then the boys will be golden.”And just as we can incorporate both new and old parenting styles, we can also integrate some nuance in the way we talk about masculinity. Our conversations surrounding gender roles are constantly in flux, and yet there's a bit of stuckness around this topic—what makes a “real” man, how to be a “good” man, and so on. Mackie’s take put to words what a lot of folks are feeling: that the good parts of masculinity are being erased along with the bad, and that if we really do want the next generation of men to be fully realized, we need to teach them what that looks like. Watch the full podcast episode below: - YouTube www.youtube.com

There's an old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.A team of researchers at UCI had been experimenting with nanowires for potential use in batteries, but found that over time the thin, fragile wires would break down and crack after too many charging cycles. A charge cycle is when a battery goes from completely full to completely empty and back to full again.But one day, on a whim, Thai coated a set of gold nanowires in manganese dioxide and a Plexiglas-like electrolyte gel. Batteries being recycled at WRWA, London. Nov ‘21 Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash "She started to cycle these gel capacitors, and that's when we got the surprise," said Reginald Penner, chair of the university's chemistry department. "She said, 'this thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it's still going.' She came back a few days later and said 'it's been cycling for 30,000 cycles.' That kept going on for a month."This discovery is mind-blowing because the average laptop battery lasts 300 to 500 charge cycles. The nanobattery developed at UCI made it though 200,000 cycles in three months. That would extend the life of the average laptop battery by about 400 years. The rest of the device would have probably gone kaput decades before the battery, but the implications for a battery that that lasts hundreds of years are pretty startling. - YouTube www.youtube.com “Mya was playing around, and she coated this whole thing with a very thin gel layer and started to cycle it,” said Penner added. “She discovered that just by using this gel, she could cycle it hundreds of thousands of times without losing any capacity.”“That was crazy,” he added, “because these things typically die in dramatic fashion after 5,000 or 6,000 or 7,000 cycles at most. ”"The big picture is that there may be a very simple way to stabilize nanowires of the type that we studied," Penner said. "If this turns out to be generally true, it would be a great advance for the community." Not bad for just fooling around in the laboratory.Since her discovery, Mya Le Thai has gone on to a successful career as the Principal Scientist with the Enevate Corporation, This article originally appeared eight years ago.

Why is it that almost every statistic indicates that things have been getting worse in recent years?  Our society has been deteriorating physically, mentally, emotionally, financially and spiritually.  It is time to admit how far we have fallen.  If we continue to insist that we are doing the right things, we will continue to get the same results. And right now the results that we are getting are not good at all.  The following are 20 facts that will make you really mad if you stop and think about them for a while… #1 In 1960, households with married parents accounted for 44.2 percent of all households in the United States.  Today, that figure has dropped to just 17.9 percent. #2 At this stage, an all-time record 58.4 percent of all U.S. households are made up of either single or married adults with no children. #3 The reading skills of U.S. kids have gotten even worse.  According to the Wall Street Journal, “the 67% of eighth-graders who scored at a basic or better reading level in 2024 was the lowest share since testing began in 1992”. #4 A high school kid in California that had a 4.4 grade point average and that scored 1590 on the SAT was rejected by 16 prominent colleges because he is Asian. #5 China has now become the world’s largest exporter of high technology products by a very wide margin. #6 If you can believe it, China actually has a larger navy than the United States does. #7 The U.S. government currently owes China 859 billion dollars.  Much of that money was wasted by our politicians on some of the most ridiculous things imaginable.  But instead of thanking Elon Musk and his team for cutting out some of that waste, a significant portion of the population is throwing a massive temper tantrum. #8 Back in 1913, the federal tax code was a whopping 400 pages long.  If you lived back then, would you have had enough time to read the entire thing?  Perhaps.  Well, today if you add the federal tax code and the federal tax regulations together, you get a grand total of more than 75,000 pages.  Do you think that anyone has ever read all of that? #9 This year, it is estimated that U.S. taxpayers will spend somewhere around 7.9 billion hours preparing their taxes. #10 16 million homes in the United States are sitting empty right now.  Meanwhile, homelessness in the U.S. has risen to the highest level ever recorded. #11 One-third of all Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings. #12 Approximately 25 percent of all U.S. households now have zero net worth or negative net worth.  Back in 2007, that number was just 18.6 percent. #13 One survey found that 18 percent of all insured adults in the U.S. have had a health insurance claim denied within the past year. #14 Since Obamacare became law, the annual profits of the five largest health insurance companies in the United States have gone up by 230 percent. #15 The state of New York has 670,000 residents that are in the country illegally. #16 A study that was funded by the Charlotte Lozier Institute found that women that have had abortions are about twice as likely to commit suicide. #17 One recent study discovered that the number of microplastic particles in the brain of an average person that died in 2024 “was about 50 percent higher than in those who died in 2016”. #18 Between the year 2000 and the year 2020, the butterfly population in the United States declined by 22 percent. #19 The bottom half of the global population owns approximately 2 percent of all global wealth. #20 It has been estimated that 828 million people throughout the world go to bed hungry each night. If we really want to change our world for the better, we need to start with what we believe.  Our society has sold us a pack of lies.  For years, they have been trying to convince everyone that the liberal establishment that dominates western nations has all the answers. They don’t. But we continue to buy the products that they advertise to us, consume endless hours of the “programming” that they constantly feed us, send our children to their lavishly funded indoctrination centers, and rely on the insidious health systems that they have created. If we truly want different results, we need to think differently, and that means breaking free from the matrix of control that they have constructed. The world is the way that it is because of the collective choices that we have made. It is time to wake up and change direction before it is too late. Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com. About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s  books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today. The post 20 Facts That Will Make You Really Mad If You Stop And Think About Them For A While appeared first on End Of The American Dream.

by Michael Snyder, End Of The American Dream: If the left is this angry now, what do you think they will be like once President Trump and Elon Musk have had six more months to make major changes?  They are calling it “the anti-Trump resistance”, and all over the nation this movement is becoming increasingly violent. […]

from Dr. Jane Ruby: TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/

Symone Sanders-Townsend is a longtime operative in the Democratic Party. The MSNBC host served as the press secretary for the 2016 presidential campaign of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, then joined the 2020 primary campaign for then-former Vice President Joe Biden. From there, she served in the last administration, specifically as...