Free Republic

After decades of stigma, researchers are studying cannabis and its compounds like never before. As regulations and restrictions ease in many parts of the world, including the US, this controversial plant and its ancient health claims are finally being put to the test. For many years now, scientists have noticed that some cannabis users tend to have lower body weight and a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who don't use cannabis. That is somewhat unexpected, as cannabis is known to trigger the 'munchies', or an appetite for food, in those who use the drug. Now,...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is going viral for all the wrong reasons after delivering a crazy, race-baiting speech in Alabama over the weekend. As Al.com reported, AOC joined several of her left-wing comrades in Montgomery on Saturday to whine about redistricting changes in the South that would eliminate heavily gerrymandered Democratic districts. Most of these are Black-majority seats. These bold moves could give Republicans an outside shot at keeping the House of Representatives this Fall, despite President Trump's low approval ratings. Naturally, desperate Democrats are pulling out the race card and stoking fires. AOC was no exception as she delivered...

Organ meats sit on the butcher’s shelf at a fraction of the price of premium steaks, yet most Americans walk right past them. Liver, heart, and kidneys deliver more vitamins and minerals per dollar than almost anything else in the grocery store, but cultural squeamishness and decades of convenience marketing have rendered them nearly invisible on American tables. Even as the Make America Healthy Again movement highlights these nutrient powerhouses, the rejection persists — a telling symptom of how far we have drifted from sensible, stewardship-minded eating. Beef liver, often called nature’s multivitamin, provides extraordinary levels of vitamin B12, vitamin...

A new global analysis published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology reports that cases of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) have surged 143% since 1990, reaching an estimated 1.3 billion people in 2023, according to the study, as reported by registered dietitian Molly Knudsen. The condition, driven by metabolic risk factors including high fasting plasma glucose, high body mass index (BMI), and smoking, is projected to affect 1.8 billion people by 2050 unless interventions are implemented, researchers stated. Liver cancer cases are expected to nearly double from 870,000 in 2022 to 1.52 million by 2050, with MASLD identified as...

James Rogers, the former CEO of Apeel Sciences, is seen at its headquarters in Santa Barbara, California. (Yuri Hasegawa/Redux) All it took was two Facebook posts to turn an online mob against Apeel Sciences and its booming business of keeping food fresh longer. ============================================================ The eureka moment for James Rogers arrived while driving past some California farmland in 2011. He was a doctoral student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, focusing on world hunger, and the drive got him thinking about a huge problem with fresh produce. Growing it wasn’t the problem. Keeping it fresh was. Working out of...

The 6th Circuit upheld that 158-year-old law, while the 5th Circuit concluded it could not be justified as a revenue measure. If you search for "home still" on Amazon, you will see a wide variety of contraptions designed to separate and concentrate a liquid mixture's most volatile components. Many of them are explicitly advertised as appliances designed to produce alcoholic beverages such as whiskey, brandy, gin, and vodka. But if you bought one of those products with the intent to use it for that purpose, you would be committing a federal felony. The federal ban on home production of distilled...

A wearable gas sensor called “Smart Underwear” attached to the inside of people’s underwear monitors hydrogen gas emissions to track digestive health in real time. Image credit:© iStock.com, Nadezhda Kurbatova Just one bite of ice cream or a sip of a milkshake can’t hurt too much, right? Anyone with lactose intolerance knows that this bargaining usually results in some uncomfortable gut sensations and stinky side effects about 30 minutes to a couple of hours later. People with lactose intolerance cannot breakdown lactose, the natural sugar in dairy products. When gut microbes encounter this unabsorbed lactose, they ferment it and release...

If you've found yourself lingering over egg cartons at the grocery store, wondering about the difference between brown and white eggs, you are not alone. Despite the conventional wisdom about brown eggs being healthier or somehow more "natural" than white ones, the truth is simple. The difference between brown and white eggs comes down to one thing — the breed of chicken that lays the egg. Brown eggs are laid by chicken breeds such as Rhode Island Red, Speckled Sussex, Black Australorp, Buff Orpington, and Cuckoo Maran, to name a few. These chickens lay eggs in varying shades of brown,...

Garlic has been praised for centuries as one of those humble kitchen staples that seems to do more than simply flavor food. It shows up in family recipes, old home remedies, and now, increasingly, scientific studies looking at how natural compounds may affect the body as it ages. A new study suggests one particular compound found in aged garlic extract may have a surprising relationship with muscle health — and the path may run through fat cells. The research, summarized by StudyFinds and published in Cell Metabolism, focuses on a sulfur-containing compound called S-1-propenyl-L-cysteine, or S1PC. In laboratory and animal...

Super El Niño 2026, often being referred to as the Godzilla El Niño, is shaping up to be one of the most important climate events of the decade, with early signals pointing to a powerful shift in global weather systems. As La Niña collapses and ocean temperatures rise, this transition is already influencing atmospheric patterns across the Pacific. The result is a growing concern about extreme weather 2026 and how it could reshape seasonal conditions worldwide. The El Niño global impact is expected to extend far beyond the Pacific, affecting rainfall, temperatures, and storm activity across continents. From rising heat...

Dark earth, the strange patches of black soil rich in nutrients that cause plants to grow at accelerated rates, while also capturing unusually high amounts of carbon from the air, is one of the Amazon rainforest’s greatest mysteries. Since these patches of dark earth were first discovered by European colonizers in the 1880s, debate has raged over their origins, with ideas ranging from the natural to the artificial. Variants of this dark, nutrient-rich soil have been found in a range of locations around the world, and are most often associated with the accumulation of materials in soil after long periods...

The IPCC has published a new generation of climate scenarios – and buried in the fine print is a remarkable concession: the extreme warming pathways that dominated climate research, policy, and media coverage for decades were never actually plausible. It took a while to notice because almost no one in mainstream media bothered to report it. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just published the next generation of climate scenarios,” Science policy analyst Roger Pielke Jr. wrote, calling it “big news” that “eliminated the most extreme scenarios that have dominated climate research over much of the past several...

(Photo credit: Exclusive Image for Unsplash+) Research Shows That Avoiding Eggs Entirely Linked To 22% Higher Risk Of Memory-Stealing Disease In A Nutshell People who ate eggs regularly had lower Alzheimer’s diagnosis rates over 15 years. The lowest risk appeared in those eating eggs five or more times per week. Eggs provide nutrients linked to brain health, including choline and vitamin B12. The study shows a connection, not proof that eggs prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Eggs have spent decades bouncing between dietary hero and villain, praised for their protein one year and vilified for their cholesterol the next. A new study...

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“What am I supposed to buy now—just basics? None of the snacks go through on EBT.” “I’m at checkout and it keeps declining—now I gotta use my OWN hard earned money for food." The level of fraud and waste that went unnoticed for years is staggering. 1:14 VIDEO AT LINK OF WOMAN B!TCHING ABOUT EBT NOT PAYING FOR JUNK FOODS................

The MONTHLY Victory Garden Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

'Silent assassin Residents in Ontario, Canada, are warned to watch out for the toxic hammerhead worm, a non-native species .. According to the Hamilton Conservation Authority, hammerhead worms are a toxic, non-native species that first appeared in Ontario in 2017. They are believed to have arrived in North America via the introduction of plants from Southeast Asia.The term hammerhead worm encompasses various species of flatworms, also known as shovel-headed garden worms, which is a fitting description of their shape. They can grow between 5 and 10 centimeters in length and may exhibit multiple colors.They are also toxic, releasing a neurotoxin...

Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut on Thursday slashed its operating profit forecast, citing falling cocoa prices, industry overcapacity and potential supply disruption linked to the Iran war. The company, which is the world’s largest chocolate maker, said it now expected earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to decrease by “mid-teens” percentage in its 2025 to 2026 fiscal year. The outlook reflects a significant downgrade from just three months earlier, when the Zurich-headquartered company said it was preparing for a return to growth. Hein Schumacher, who was appointed Barry Callebaut CEO in late January, said Thursday that the firm has an...

In an arid valley near the village of Kourtimale in southern Djibouti, a tattered chain link fence marks the boundaries of what was once Abdi Guelleh's farm. Within it, there's not a speck of greenery in sight. Broken lengths of irrigation piping lie scattered in the dust. A derelict weather station stands in a corner amid a tangle of cables. Here and there, taps that haven't seen water in years protrude from the earth. There's little to hint at the fact that this lifeless 2.5-acre plot was once meant to be one tiny brick in one of the world's most...

Iran does not need to secure the Strait of Hormuz. It only needs to make sure that no one else can, either. Despite the sorry condition of its naval forces,.. Iran still maintains selective control of the Strait of Hormuz—resulting in 80 to 90 percent of the traffic being halted. How? Not through naval dominance, but rather through asymmetric disruption, which Iran uses to make travel through the Strait too dangerous to risk. Iran Doesn’t Need to Close the Strait to Cut Off Shipping Iran’s strategy is not to implement a total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, it...