We all know approximately what meditation is, but what exactly is mindful meditation? Mindful meditation is a form of intentional, focused meditation in which you focus on the current thoughts you’re having and sensations you’re experiencing. And according to a new study published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, this type of meditation is more effective at relieving anxiety and depression that common medications.

D. Madhav Goyal of the John Hopkins School of Medicine led the study published in JAMA and definitively singled out mindful meditation as the most effective treatment.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all that mindfulness performs as well as or better than medication,” says Adrian Wells, professor of psychopathology at Manchester University and a adviser to the charity Anxiety UK. “In the group work that I’ve done with sufferers of anxiety or depression, I’ve found it very beneficial because it calms the mind. It’s not a new thing.”

Earthships are sustainable homes that can be built out of a variety of waste and earth. They’re rad in ways no other house can match.

1. Sustainability does not mean living primitively

When you think about offgrid living, what comes to mind? 18th century candle light living? Not the case. As you can see, just because you’re living sustainably doesn’t mean you’re living in a cave without running water or anything.

2. There’s the free food.

An earthship’s passive solar unit can double as a greenhouse for year-round vegetables. You can also utilize your home’s abilities to catch rain water for watering and other graywater uses.

For better or for worse, our modern society has made us dependent upon what many of us call the system. We go to the store and there’s our food. We go to the local hardware store and there’s our tools and wood. We pay a bill and expect our homes to be warm. But we didn’t always live like that. There was a time before this supply chain existed where we did a lot more for ourselves. I’d like to talk about 8 survival skills you should relearn.

1. Gardening for food.

This is an important one. On an individual level, we become more self-reliant and healthy. In the larger scheme, locally grown food, and that includes food you’ve grown yourself, is a key part of poverty reduction and being able to effectively feed 7 billion people or more. But how is it done?

It’s not terribly difficult. At its most basic, all you need is sun, seed, dirt and water. Of course, there’s a lot more to it than that, and this primer will help you navigate the process of starting your own garden.

2. Animal husbandry...

On March 25th, Judge Mueller of the Sacramento Division of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California will announce her verdict for United States v. Schweder. The case will likely determine whether or not the Schedule I status for cannabis is constitutional or not. Being a Schedule I drug puts it in the same category as heroin.

Once this verdict is issued, it will almost certainly be appealed by whichever side loses. If so, it’ll go to the 9th circuit court. If it’s upheld, it will apply to states within the 9th circuit. If it’s appealed again, it’ll head to the US Supreme Court, which applies to the entire nation.

John Balazs, an attorney in Sacramento, sums the nature of the case up nicely:

In short, the defense brief argues that the evidence failed to support the continued inclusion of marijuana in Schedule I...

NASA has successfully tested a new space drive that doesn’t use a propellant and shouldn’t work, at least according to the laws of physics, according to a story that broke in Wired.UK. The drive, called the Cannae Drive, worked in the NASA directed test, defying physics.

The Cannae Drive is based on the work of Roger Shawyer, a British scientist, who conceived what’s called the EMDrive. It works by bouncing microwaves in an enclosed chamber, thus creating thrust. Shawyer was never able to get anyone interested in his device, despite numerous demonstrations. His critics simply rejected the device entirely, pointing out that it violates the conservation of motion.

The Chinese quietly tested their own version of the EMDrive at up to 72 grams of thrust, which is enough to be a satellite thruster. This device has not yet been reported on in too many places and few believed it to be possible.