Good Monday All,

I came across this article in the Guardian which gave a very interesting account of how cultured meat, developed in the laboratory, could have a dramatic effect on global hunger and climate change.

Now, hold your horses ;-), I know that most of you reading this are thinking “It’s official, the scientists are crazy, trying make us eat laboratory meat etc etc”. I would have said the same thing at first instance, however, now I’m not so sure.The article does a very good job of really breaking down the advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, all you environmentalists and health gurus will find it interesting to know how much more advantageous this theory is to our environment and ultimate world health.

The science is not difficult to understand and is explained really well in the article it-self so i wont go into it now. Cultured or In Vitro meat may sound scary, but honestly how many of us can say any of our meat is not affected by either steroids or farm “fed” animals (what EXACTLY are they being fed)? In-fact, I would go so far as to say that in the west, much of our food in-take is “unnatural” and taking all these pharmaceutically produced additives, vitamins,minerals, and health potions is just a case of the apple not falling too far from the tree! Even our vegetables are “mass produced” and sprayed with chemicals. I have seen what a “organic” tomato grown organically looks like at my Grandfarthers farm in Sudan, and they never came out perfectly round nor do they taste the same!

More importantly, we have to eat to live, what would you do if all you needed to do was feed your loved ones? how much responsibility do you feel as an individual in the west contributing to a potential global food crisis and knowing this is already a reality for some? This is what came to my mind when I read the article

Click here for the full article and let me know what you think, it is really interesting stuff. If you like it, share it.

Health, Love and Life

Ex

Happy Monday Geeks,

I saw the trailer for the Dark Girls movie a while back and then again yesterday.  Hence this post. I almost do not know where to begin with this topic! Sigh. I’m gonna try and not get too deep on you. Ok forget that! FAIL. I am just gonna give it to you like it is ( FYI I just deleted a paragraph of well written, poetic and politically correct prose! lol)

My mum is light-skinned Sudanese and my dad is dark skinned Sudanese. They are both beautiful. I came out on the darker side. I cannot tell you how many times I heard comments like the below, from a very early age:

“oh she came out on her fathers side, who told her mum to marry a dark skinned man”

“Maybe she will grow out of it and get lighter like her mum as she gets older, I’ve seen it happen, so and so daughter got lighter”

“one out of three is not bad (my youngest sister looks the most like my mum)”

I was lucky, I got the chance to leave Sudan. I had the opportunity to read and learn my history from all perspectives. I am blessed to have met people from all over the world who counteracted the above and spoke of how beautiful my skin tone is. I had the space to see for myself how beautiful we are in all shades, shapes and sizes. Eventually, I got over the early negative feelings associated with me, my skin, my person. I LOVE MY SKIN COLOUR, in-fact I love it when I have caught the sun and I am a few shades darker. Now when someone says to me “you came out on your fathers side” I say “Yes I did, and I love mine and my fathers complexion, thank you”

Here comes the science. Hope you are ready 🙂

Skin lightening is a huge problem in Africa, Asia, India and the Caribbean. Skin lightening (bleaching) cosmetics and toiletries are widely used in most of these countries. Currently, in the UK the rate of skin lightening is increasing despite many products being illegal. They are being bought under the counter and medical skin conditions are not being diagnosed. The active ingredients in these cosmetic products are hydroquinone, mercury (yes, mercury!!) and corticosteroids. Several additives (conconctions) are used to enhance the bleaching effect. Since these products are used for a long duration, on a large body surface area, and under hot humid conditions, percutaneous absorption is enhanced.

The complications of these products are very serious and are sometimes fatal, they are listed below. I want you to know them, so if you are ever in a situation that allows you to inform someone who does not know, you can. Scare the living daylights out of them if you have too, I do it all the time when I go home to Sudan, some of my cousins wont touch the stuff. Sadly, some ignore me and carry on using them. The pressure is immense. I continue to tell them they are dark and beautiful.

Dangers of skin lightening include:

Exogenous ochronosis (i.e bluish black discoloration of tissue and skin),

Skin burns

Mercury poisoning

Impaired wound healing and wound dehiscence

The fish odor syndrome ( basically, your body stops breaking down some of the oils in your skin and you smell like a fish! literally, I met someone with this condition and it is no joke!)

Nephropathy (leads to diabetes)

Steroid addiction syndrome

Predisposition to infections

Endocrinologic complications of corticosteroids, including suppression of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis aka HPA (basically it messes up everything, as your HPA regulates stress, digestion, the immune system, moods and emotions, sexuality, and energy storage and expenditure!) Now why do you wanna go mess with that eh? O!

Here is the official preview for Dark Girls

Now listen to this to make you feel better, it worked for me 🙂

I have shared a bit about myself on this post, I hope you will share with me your thoughts? Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the trailer for Dark Girls. Gentlemen, I am especially interested to know your thoughts.

Knowledge is power, so share the knowledge.

Health, Love and Life

Ex

Happy Weekend Geeks,

It is only 2 degrees Celsius in London but the sun is shinning 🙂

This one is short and sweet.  I had to post this for two reasons, in no particular order;

Reason one, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) fully funded my PhD studies, thank you again.

Reason two, not only is it a funny advert but it is also teaching you something that can save someones life. Literally.

Most of us live in an environment which means heart disease is one of the biggest killers. That means more likely than not, YOU could find yourself in a situation where CPR is required, whether it is a friend, family member or stranger.

Click play and take this OPPORTUNITY to LEARN a SKILL that can change someones life.

oh and this already has a theme song, the Bee Gees Stayin’ Alive, not a bad choice BHF even if i do say so myself lol

Share the post geeks, sharing is caring and all that good stuff, you could be saving someones life.

Health, Love and Life

Ex

Hello Geeks

Last-night, I got on-line and my facebook inbox, twitter DM and  e-mail contained messages suggesting I should write a post about this 2 and a half year old baby boy genius by the name of Romanieo and his father.

Some of you may have already seen the video once but I think it is safe to say it deserves to be watched more than once, I mean come on, the boy knows what Protons, Neutrons and Electrons are! He is not even 3 yet! Furthermore, I think he knows more of the periodic table than I do (don’t judge me, I am a geneticist not a chemist or physicist aight! let me see him or his dad tell me anything about DNA sequencing mechanisms lol ).

However, the most amazing thing for me really wasn’t the “genius” of it all but the absolutely beautiful and inspiring dedication to knowledge and love this father had with his child. My favorite part was not when Romanieo answered the correct element to the Nuclear Fission set up but when his father said to him:

“where is your mind? and where is your intuition? Now where is my intuition? That’s right. Now put your intuition with my intuition” And then Romanieo and his father rub heads and noses together. A beautiful moment. I LOVE this video. you MUST click play.

–

I was trying to think of the most deserving song dedication to this, it took me a min but I think I got it

–

Share the post with all the great parents you know and INSPIRE them further.  Share in each others greatness, it can only lead to even greater things.

Peace, Love and Health

Ex

PART TWO We=MC^2

Hello All,

Most of you may have read this post before, but I wanted to keep you up-dated on this projects progress for two reasons.

Reason one, I am still in love with this little boy and his family

Reason two, I sent them an e-mail a while back, not expecting a response. I wanted to know if and how they are going to develop the “big idea” they talked about in the posted videos. I did get a response, a heart-warming and very honest response, saying they are working on it and would let me know as soon as they knew themselves.

Many of us have “big ideas” all the time, most of the time they are brilliant. Most of the time, many of us do not follow them up, not purposefully, but life and it’s many responsibilities can make it hard sometimes.  I think this story is inspiring.

They have been asked by several parents and grandparents how can they start immediately working with their toddlers using the method they call TEAMMS. This acronym stands for: Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, Music and Science. It incorporates the best of STEM and expands upon it by adding the critical components of the Arts and Music. They decided to write and publish a book by August. This time frame will give parents some companion teaching tools as they prepare their children for preschool/school. However, they need help in achieving this goal and like many, they have decided to use a Kickstarter campaign.

The kickstarter project is called A little like Einstein: help us give rise to a new generation of Big Thinkers – Polymaths. If you do, you will own a piece of history and be able to say to the world with pride that you helped make it happen. If you think you can help by making a donation click on this link. Click on the link anyway, even if just to see the new video and complete the story. You can also help by re-blogging, tweeting and posting to your social networking media sites.

Thank you for reading and I hope this story is as inspirational to you as it is to me.

E