A hurdle between plant-based engine fuel and commercial reality has been the several steps needed to process the plant materials before turning them into combustible, petroleum-lookalike liquids. Now, scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are a large step closer to vaulting that barrier. The research team engineered a strain of E. coli bacteria able to survive the brine...
Trendpost
The future of plant-based petroleum analogs is uncertain. By the time the technology is ready for large-scale commercial production at competitive prices, non-petroleum competitors may be not only just as cheap, if not cheaper, but also cleaner and more versatile.
Teen pot use declines
In a survey of 216,000 adolescents from all 50 states, the Washington University School of Medicine has found that marijuana use among 12- to 17-year-olds fell 24 percent from 2002 through 2013. In 2002, a little more than 16 percent of that age group reported using pot during the previous year; in 2013, the number fell below 14 percent. Researchers...
Trendpost
The failure of the war on drugs will persuade more municipalities and school districts to treat drug use as a public-health issue, rather than a criminal one, and also as a symptom indicating deeper personal difficulties.
AARP for millennials
The millennial generation, born between roughly 1978 and 1996 and more than 75 million strong, is now bigger than the Baby Boom. Millennials already have reshaped commerce and entertainment, and now have taken another step toward remaking politics: They’ve formed their own lobbying group. The Association of Young Americans was created in 2014 for persons from ages 18 through 35....
Trendpost
With the strength of numbers and a native understanding of social media, the millennial wave is taking its place as a tidal force in elections. As a group, it disdains ideology but shares a bottom-up view of power that’s reflected in support of Bernie Sanders’ presidential aspirations and policies generally regarded as progressive or populist.
Nano for the heart
Nanoparticles — engineered packets that carry medicines, markers and signaling dyes around the body — have proven their value in delivering pharmaceuticals to cancer tumors. Now, scientists are aiming them at the heart. At Rutgers University and other research centers, researchers have fashioned nanobits one-hundredth the size of a red blood cell, or about one thousand times thinner than a...
Trendpost
Statin drugs, now widely prescribed for cholesterol-clogged arteries, can cause liver damage and other nasty side effects, as do conventional drugs routinely used for a range of chronic conditions. Nano-delivery mechanisms will reduce not only this collateral damage by reducing dosages and precisely targeting therapies, but also will reduce the cost of drugs, which now staggers the baby-boomer-laden US health...
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Gerald Celente’s “Trends This Week,” a weekly show on the Progressive Radio Network, PRN.fm, airs live each Wednesday at 11 a.m. Trends This Week breaks down essential trends in economics, geopolitics, health and well-being, pop culture and more in classic Celente style. And, if you can’t catch the show live, you can listen 24/7 by accessing Trends This Week in...