Life Borderless

This week the Tapanuli orangutan has been recognized as a distinct species of ape called Pongo Tapanuliensis. T he National Geographic has jubilantly proclaimed its welcoming into the great ape family far and wide.  The new species has made the number of great ape species alive today jump from the small number of seven to the slightly large r number of eight as the species is distinct from Sumatran and Bornean Orangutans. Sumatran and Bornean orangutans are, as most apes go, are endangered.   A study of the Tapanuli orangutan began November 2013 when a group of villagers in the South Tapanuli District of North Sumatra engaged in “Orangutan-human conflict”. When the Orangutan died, scientists studied his remains and compared it to 34 other adult male orangutans. They found enough differences in the Tapanuli orangutan to conclude it represented a separate species. There are fewer than 800 Tapanuli orangutans left, and unless conservation measures are taken soon, the speci

Recently Buzzfeed produced a powerful video on our culture of sexual assault and harassment. It was both powerful and sad how I could relate in small ways to the women in the video. So many faces I had seen often in Buzzfeed videos talked about demeaning things that had happened to them, and I did not doubt a word. It was just all so common, so normal, and that was what was the most horrifying to me. Some of these awful things are so much a part of the culture that I live in, that they almost felt normal. And if they were not the common occurrence, I could still relate and easily imagine them happening with no doubt in my mind. But I am a woman, and of course I  could relate and feel and impact from this video. But it made me wonder, does it really matter if I can relate? I realized that probably any woman watching it could, but that could very well mean nothing in the long run because us women are not the ones sexually assaulting and harassing other women. Not to say that there

Attack on Somalia Kills 276 Picture by Daily Sabah The Las Vegas massacre shook America and its surrounding friendly nations. But tragedy didn't end there, soon raging fires would tear through California and a brutal truck bomb would detonate in Somalia a little more than one week later. The story of the bomb that went off in Mogadishu, Somalia would be covered by The Guardian and other news media sources. However, the coverage and over all outrage of the West over the tragic event would come no where near close to the coverage and despair that the West showed in response to the Las Vegas Massacre. This holds true even though more people died when the truck bomb, which The Guardian said was loaded by a former soldier in the Somalian army, detonated in the center of Mogadishu, Somalia. To compare the devastating numbers 58 people died and 489 were wounded in the Las Vegas massacre.  In Somalia, according to Somalia’s information minister said The Guardian,  276 peopl

Gachapon game machines are all over Japans city shopping districts. Americans may better recognize and relate these to gumball machines. With gumball machines users put in a quarter, crank it, and then a gum ball clunks to the bottom and bam they've got chewy flavor that keeps giving for about two minutes. T he Japanese Gachapon game machines are far more sophisticated than gumball machines. Instead of gum users get little toy prizes, and not the cheep kind either. Well-made figurines, key chains, and tinkery toys amongst many other prizes are offered. Like with gumball machines there are several prize options and it is always a surprise as to which one you'll end up with. Prices can range between 100 yen and 500 yen, which is the basic equivalent of $1 to $5 said an article in All About Japan .  Youtubers and husband and wife, Rachel and June from the channel Rachel and Jun and their other channel Rachel & Jun's Adventures! decided to take a gander at

Surprise surprise, your brain has a lymphatic system! If you're not surprised because you have never even heard of the lymphatic system here is why the science world is shocked and why this new understanding of the brain could really help some people. Until very recently scientists thought the brain was completely void of the lymphatic system, even though the rest of the human body completely relies on it. Knowing about how the lymphatic system in the brain works may help you keep inflammation down, brain health up, and in the future help scientists cure neuroinflammatory diseases.  The lymphatic system is one of two major circulatory systems in the body. It transports lymph, a fluid containing infection-fighting white blood cells throughout the boy and helps rid the body of toxins and waist. As the educational, The Truth About Cancer website said, "A poorly functioning lymphatic system is a risk factor for the development of cancer and other chronic diseases."

Today I interviewed a mother who is a student at Cal State Fullerton, Melinda Callaway's daughter was caught in the Las Vegas massacre. Luckily  Callaway's daughter Hannah is counted among the living, but the tale of Hannah's experience, which Melinda  recounted in her interview with OC News, still sends chills of fear into my bones. Hannah Callaway, in the midst of  fear and chaos, watched a woman in front of her die from a shot through the neck. She saw people falling and slipping in the blood of the wounded and dead. She felt scared and exposed as she got stuck on top of the fence she had been attempting to escape over, only to feel some relief when a tall man came and gave her the push she needed to get over. Lost and separated from her friends she glued herself to a nice couple and found refuge in their hotel room.  At the beginning of my interview with her mother, Hannah Callaway had just finished sending a friend of hers into surgery, he had been shot in the