San Francisco photographer, Beth Moon, spent 14 years searching the world for the oldest trees in existence.  She has come across some of the most fascinating and admirable feats of nature in her journey, as you can see below.

There is something to be said for their magnificence.

Moon developed these photographs by embedding tiny crystals of platinum in the paper, producing the 3D element and giving them a structure that can last thousands of years.

According to Moon, “many of the trees I have photographed have survived because they are out of reach of civilization; on mountainsides, private estates, or on protected land.

Around 250 AD, groups of nomadic hunters and gatherers in and around the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico first began establishing complex societies that would eventually become the Maya civilization. Maya peoples were the only pre-Columbian civilizations to form a fully developed writing system, known as the Maya hieroglyphic script, and was significantly more advanced than many of their neighbors in the areas of art, architecture, mathematics and astronomy.

At its peak, mighty pyramids and enormous temples were lined up precisely with events taking place in the night sky and stone carvings celebrated their great leaders. How the Maya civilization ended is still something of a mystery. The mightiest civilization in the ancient Americas fell to ruin incredibly rapidly. They wrote of a thriving civilization in the ninth century AD, but after that, their records went silent.

It’s not clear how the Mayas met their end, but archaeologists continue to stumble upon the long-deserted City-States that were home to a vibrant people. Most recently, an incredible metropolis was discovered deep in the jungle of the Mexican state of Campeche. The cities were hidden in thick vegetation and could hardly be reached.

For years now, ads have pushed us replace our old standard light bulbs with energy-saving ones. While these bulbs can save you a bit of money, you might be a bit startled to learn that, when broken, they can release 20 times the maximum mercury concentration.

This information was found in a study by the Fraunhofer Wilhelm Klauditz Institute in Germany.

The study found that exposure to these bulbs can be linked to the following conditions:

- Dizziness
- Migraines
- Seizures
- Anxiety

In light of this information, I highly suggest giving a return to old incandescent bulbs some thought. Here are a few more reasons to do so.

Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai is a 13-year-old genius. She’s only in 9th grade, attending DPS Damanjodi, a school in a small town in the Koraput district in the Indian state of Odisha.

She won the ‘Community Impact Award’ at the Google Science Fair in California for her incredible invention. She won in the 13 to 15 year old age group and received 10,000 USD as her prize. She also has the opportunity to be supported by Google to help build her project.

Lalita created a low cost bio-absorbent based water purifier. How does it work? Surprisingly, it uses corn cobs to purify the water!

Corn cobs are incredibly absorbent, making them perfect for collecting contaminants like salts, detergents, different floating particles, coloured dyes, and even some heavy metals.

Diabetes currently affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. In America alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that number to be approximately 20 million. Potential cures and methods to reverse the disease are showing some promising results, and one of them is a chemical that’s commonly found in a number of plants around the world. It’s also a main ingredient in the psychoactive mixture commonly known as ayahuasca.

Diabetes is an autoimmune disease that prevents a person’s pancreas from producing insulin, which is a hormone that enables people to receive energy from their food. This occurs when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, which are called beta cells. Apparently, the cause is not well understood, but scientists believe that genetic and environmental factors play a role. Modern day mainstream science tells us that there are no cures.

Again, types 1 and 2 diabetes affect some 380 million people worldwide. Both ultimately result from a deficiency of functional pancreatic insulin-producing beta cells, which is where this chemical is showing the most promising results.