An Aloe vera plant can add a lovely touch of green to any office or home.
But did you know that your favorite potted plant could be used for so much more
than household décor?
The powerful Aloe vera plant is a part of the Aloaceae, or lily, family, which is known
for its diverse perennials with short stems and thick, crowded leaves. Aloe vera has been
used for medicinal purposes for centuries. Native to North Africa, Southern
Europe, and the Canary Islands, today Aloe
vera is grown in tropical climates worldwide. From relieving heartburn to
slowing the spread of cancer, researchers are only first beginning to unlock
all of the powerful uses of this universal plant and its many amazing byproducts.
1. Your houseplant could fight your heartburn. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a
digestive disorder that often results in symptoms including heartburn. A recent
review explains
that consuming 1 to 3 onces of aloe gel at mealtimes could reduce the severity
of GERD and other digestion-related problems. The plant’s low toxicity makes it
a safe and gentle remedy. 2. A little Aloe vera
gel a day could keep bacteria on fruits and vegetables away. In a recent study, an Aloe vera gel coating on tomato plants was
able to block, not all, but many types of harmful bacteria. Similar results
were found in a different study with
apples. This means that aloe gel could help produce stay fresh for longer
without the need for potentially dangerous chemicals.
3. An alternative to mouthwash. A 2014
study found Aloe vera extract to be a safe and
effective alternative to chemical-based mouthwashes. The plant’s natural ingredients,
which include a healthy dose of vitamin C, can block plaque and also provide
relief if you have bleeding or swelling gums. 4. The new blood sugar regulator is greener than ever. Might Aloe
vera be able to help people with diabetes regulate their blood sugar
levels? One study conducted in Thailand
found that two tablespoons of Aloe vera
juice per day caused blood sugar levels to fall in people with type 2 diabetes,
which means it may have a future in diabetes treatment. These results were
confirmed with a later study from Turkey that
used pulp extract.
5. A little extra push. Recently, a team of Nigerian scientists conducted a study to
determine whether local folklore about Aloe
vera was true. Experimenting on rats, they found that gel made from typical
Aloe vera houseplants was able to
relieve constipation.
6.Brighten
more than just your office space. You can use Aloe vera to keep your skin clear and hydrated. According to a study, the plant
is particularly special because it’s designed to live in dry, unstable
climates. To survive, the leaves of Aloe vera
store water. The combination of the moist leaf and special plant compounds called
complex carbohydrates make it an effective face moisturizer and pain reliever. 7. Stepping up in the battle against cancer. According to a new study,
Aloe-emodin, a compound in Aloe vera
leaves, could slow down the spread of breast cancer cells. Researchers are
currently investigating how Aloe may play a role in other types of cancer, as
well.
Every people has their
own taste. Some likes spicy foods, some were coped with sour dishes,
and some push both of the taste but were stick to the sweetie instead.
For me, I love all of them. so, Today, im going to show on how to make
an asian guacamole, it's not really easy to find a restaurant that
serves guacamole here in asia, especially Malaysia.
Watch the video below, and thanks to Chef Devoux, I really appreciate your hardwork so much just to show us the recipe and tutorial.
The modern ocean is a scary place, filled with barracuda, sharks,
super-squids, and possibly Cthulhu. However, no matter what we find in
the depths these days, none of them seem to come close to the giant
terrors that roamed the seas in Earth’s past; giant sea-lizards, monster sharks and even “hypercarnivorous” whales. For most of these things, humans would barely qualify as a snack.
Here are 10 of the scariest prehistoric sea monsters to ever call the ocean home in prehistory.
10. Megalodon
Megalodon is probably the best-known creature in the list; it’s hard
to keep the idea of a shark the size of a school bus out of pop culture.
Plus, science-minded entertainment sources like the Discovery Channel
love creatures that could pass for a movie monster. Despite the popular
idea that Megalodon coexisted with dinosaurs, they lived from 25 to 1.5
million years ago, meaning that at best they missed the last dinosaur by
40 million years. On the other hand, this meant they might have still
been around for the first humans. Eek. Megalodons swam the warm oceans that were around until the last ice
age in the early Pleistocene, which may have robbed them of their
breeding grounds and food. Sometimes, it seems nature has our back.
9. Liopleurodon
If Jurassic Park had an aquarium scene, and actually featured more
animals from the Jurassic period, liopleurodon probably would have been
in it. Although the actual length of these beasts is contested (some
scientists have claimed lengths in excess of 50’), most agree that it
was around 20 feet in length, with a full fifth of that being
pointy-toothed head. When the mouth of the “smaller” estimate is still
plenty large to eat you whole, I think that is perfectly huge enough. Scientists have tested the paddle design of these creatures on small swimming robots
and found that although they would not have been incredibly fast, they
were incredibly agile. They also would have been able to make short,
fast burst attacks like crocodiles, which in no way makes them any less
intimidating.
8. Basilosaurus
Despite the name and appearance, that is not a reptile, but actually a
whale (and not even the most fearsome on the list!) Basilosaurs were
predatory ancestors of modern whales, and could be 50 to 85 feet long!
It is described as being the closest a whale has ever come to being a
snake because of how long and sinuous it was. Imagine swimming in the
ocean with an 80+ foot long alligator-snake-whale. Now imagine being
afraid to even take a bath ever again. Physical evidence suggests that basilosaurus did not have the cognitive ability of modern whales,
nor the ability to echolocate, and could only navigate in 2 dimensions
(so no deep diving or breaching). So at least this monster whale was
dumber than a bag of prehistoric hammers and could not chase you if you
dove or scrambled out on dry land, probably forever.
7. Jaekelopterus rhenaniae
Nothing about the words “sea scorpion” are comforting to begin with,
so this should not come off as too awful: this was one of the two
largest arthropods to have ever lived, reaching a length of over 8 feet
of armored, clawed horror. Most of us freak out at the thought of
inch-long ants and foot wide spiders, so it’s easy to imagine screaming
like a little girl if you ever stumbled across a living one of these. On the plus side, sea scorpions (Euripterids) have been extinct since
before the dinosaurs, having been wiped out in the Permian Triassic
extinction event (which killed 90% of all life on earth) and are only
survived, to some degree, by horseshoe crabs, which are even less
formidable than regular crabs. There is no evidence that any sea
scorpions were actually venomous, but the structure of their tail is
similar to a modern scorpion’s, so it might have been.
6. Mauisaurus
Mauisaurus was named after the Maori god Maui, who pulled the islands of
New Zealand up from the sea floor with a fish hook, so already you know
this thing is going to be enormous. The neck of Mauisaurus measured up
to 49 feet long; the longest proportionate (and really, “actual”) neck
of any living thing aside from some sauropod dinosaurs. Their overall
length was about 66 feet, and that ridiculously long neck had plenty of
vertebrae, implying that it was flexible. Imagine a snake strung through a sea turtle with no shell, and you have an approximate idea of what this thing looked like.It lived back in the Cretaceous era, meaning that creatures that jumped
in the water avoid Velociraptors and Tyrannosaurs had to contend with
these; the jury is out on which is worse. As far as science can tell,
Mauisaurus was limited to the New Zealand area, showing that the area
that would one day become Australia and its neighbors was always a land
of terror. 5. Dunkleosteus
Dunkleosteus was a 30 foot long carnivorous tank. It was outlasted by sharks,
but I am sure that is small consolation for the variety of creatures
this beast ate. Instead of teeth, it had bony ridges, like a turtle. It
has been calculated that they had a bite force of 8,000 pounds per
square inch, putting it on par with crocodiles and T-Rex in terms of
being history’s strongest biters. They also believe, based on the
evidence in the skull regarding its musculature, that it could have
opened its mouth in one fiftieth of a second, meaning it vacuumed food
into its guillotine of a mouth. The plates that made up the “teeth” changed as the fish aged from a
solid, rigid jaw to segments that allowed it to hold prey easier, and
made it more effective in biting through the bony plate armor of other
armored fish. In the arms race that was the prehistoric ocean,
Dunleosteus was a predatory super tank.
4. Kronosaurus
Kronosaurus is another short-necked pliosaur (like Liopleurodon up at
number 9), and like Liopleurodon, its overall length has been
contested. It was a “mere” 30 feet long and the longest teeth in its
massive mouth were up to 11 inches long. This is why it was named after
Cronus, the king of the old Greek Titans. Guess where it lived? If you guessed “Australia”, then you have been
paying attention to life (and are correct). The head was up to 9 feet
long. They could eat an entire modern man whole, and still have room
left over for half of another. It has also been suggested that since
their flippers are so similar in design to those of modern sea turtles,
that they may have crawled out onto land to lay eggs. You can be sure no
one was digging up these thing’s nests to get at the eggs.
3. Helicoprion
These sharks grew to be about 15 feet long, and had a lower jaw that
was made of a “tooth whorl”. It looks like a cross between a circular
saw and a shark, and when you mix apex predators with power tools, the
world quakes in fear. Helicoprion’s teeth were serrated, implying that they were definitely
carnivores, but there is some debate as to whether their teeth were in
the front of the mouth, as shown in the picture, or if they were farther
back, which would suggest a softer diet, like jellyfish. However it was
arranged, it clearly worked; Helicoprion survived the Permian Triassic
extinction, which means they may have been smart enough to create bomb shelters. Or maybe they just lived in the deep sea.
2. Livyatan melvillei
Remember me mentioning “hypercarnivorous” whales? Well here it is. Imagine a cross between an orca
and a sperm whale. Livyatan melvillei was a whale that ate other
whales. It had the largest teeth of any animal to ever use their teeth
to eat (elephant tusks are bigger, but they just look impressive and
help them smash things; they don’t eat with them) topping out at 1.18
feet. They lived in the same oceans and ate the same food as the
Megalodon, so this whale actually had to compete with the largest
predatory shark ever. Not to mention their head was 10 feet long and featured the same
echo-locating equipment as modern toothed whales, making them much more
effective in murky water. In case it was not obvious, this beast was
named after the leviathan, a giant sea monster from the bible, and
Herman Melville, who wrote Moby Dick. If the great white whale had been
one of these, it would have eaten the Pequot and everyone aboard as a
snack.
1. Giant Stingray
What grew 17 feet across, had a 10 inch poison spike in its tail and
was strong enough to drag a boat filled with people? In this case, a
prehistoric super-fish that is still lurking around in fresh and
brackish waters from the Mekong
river to northern Australia. Stingrays have been around since a few
million years after the dinosaurs died out, and have proven to be a
successful design, much like the sharks they descended from. The giant stingrays use that tried and true ancient design, but have
somehow managed to survive ice ages and even the catastrophic Toba
event. They were featured on Animal Planet’s River Monsters, and despite
the host’s tendency to exaggerate damn near everything, they are
incredibly dangerous to fool around with, even if you don’t know you are
fooling around with one. They are notorious for putting their
neurotoxin covered spike completely through limbs. I guess, on the plus
side, if there is one, at least they won’t try to eat you.
