I'm going to be a writer

Since last week it is possible to publish and sell your own book online via the famous Dutch webshop Bol.com. Great news for people like me, who love write and have always dreamed of their own book. The new initiative is called Brave New Books where every random person can publish his book and sell it on Bol. No annoying book publishers, but you being independent. 
It is not a new concept though, as more and more websites have popped up with the same idea: jouwboek.nl, mijnbestseller.nl, tenpages.com but it is indeed increasing and therefore striking. The expectation is that in three years 25.000 books wil be published. I'm going to try out tenpages.com myself soon.

How to teach children how to understand and deal with racism and discrimination

This is an old clip of a teachter who teaches their pupils how discrimination and racism can occur within a class and how easy it actually is to solve it. It yields beautiful images that are to this day still relevant. The payoff at the end is brilliant and a perfect metaphor for what we deal with and face every day in our society. Like "Catcher in the Rye" is to high school students, this is part of your Upworthy required reading.

video walk-through:
1:30: This teacher begins a study that will be talked about for 40 years.
3:00: She re-creates segregation and racism in her classroom.
7:45: Mrs. Elliott flips the entire class on their heads.
10:00 Jane Elliot makes the most profound discovery about us all
11:43: The students learn something that the world is still struggling to.

There are too many great moments to point out. Just watch!

Source: click here

Dutch student designs game in which you can destroy cancer cells

20 year-old Martijn van den Broeck, student at the University of Technology in Eindhoven and also the designer of the so-called Healing Game, had the idea for its project because he wanted to combine something funny that makes you happy (in this case the game) with something totally opposite, the illness. Combining the virtual with the real, he says.  'I think the Healing Game relates to the next nature philosophy because our generation is born and grown playing with video games, we all know how to use them, I just figured a new unexpected application for video games, combining the virtual with the real, the entertainment with the helpful, the familiar with the extraordinary. The goal of this work is to stimulate discussion and debate by translating nanotechnological trends to everyday products', says Martijn.  
The game works as follows: The player swallows an intelligent pill, containing nanoscale capsules and a substance that makes cancer cells glow. By controlling one capsule with a joystick, the player goes on a “search and destroy” mission inside his or her own body. Even friends and family can be invited to help.

Video games are no longer separated from the real world, the virtual world is also real and those worlds are blending more and more. I love how Martijn van den Broeck plays with this and dares to push the limits.

Source: click here

A cloned mouse by using one drop of blood

Japanese scientists have succeeded to clone a mouse by only using one single drop of blood. The scientists used circulated blood cells who were collected from the tail of a donor mouse who was used to produce the clone. The female cloned mouse should be able to live a normal lifespan and could even give birth to young, according to the researchers. 
Mice already have been cloned by using other parts of the body, such as white blood cells found in the lymph nodes, bone marrow and liver. The research the Japanese scientists were doing was to discover if it was possible to clone a mouse by only using circulating blood cells.

The aim to find an easily available source of donor cells to clone scientifically valuable strains of laboratory mice was not to high, but it is one hell of a breakthrough. Imagine this is possible with human beings. How many of you would be walking around? Crazy idead huh? But not as unreal as you think. Lots of ethical discussions will arise in the near future.

What 200 calories look like

Whether you prefer eating Big Macs, chocolate or an apple, in this video all sorts of foods are visualized in portions of 200 calories. One bigger than the other of course, because you can eat a lot more apple than chocolate before you hit the 200 calories. This video shows perfectly how calories are built up and how much calories your food contains. Perfect to create awareness!





Want to know what 2000 calories look like? Watch the video below.

A portrait from a single hair

We are so far with present technology that we can figure out how someone looks by a investigating one single hair. This is what really intrigued the artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg, who spent time collecting hairs shed in public spaces... and then sequencing the DNA therein to print 3D sculptures of what those hairs’ owners might look like.
The video 'DNA Portrait' is a lovely short documentary shot by TED. 'It's a very accessible way for the public to engage with this new technology. It really brings to light how powerful it is, the idea that a hair from your head can fall on your street and a perfect stranger can pick it up and know something about it', says TEDGlobal speaker Ellen Jorgensen, who runs a lab in DNA-based technology. Adding: 'With DNA sequencing becoming faster and cheaper, this is the world we’re all going to be living in.'


Source: click here

The facts about alcohol

When I go out I usually drink a glass of wine, or two or three... But I do realise too much alcohol is not good for my health and I try to not make it a weekly or even monthly habit. 

Some of you probably don't want to know, but I nontheless I want to show you the facts about alcohol in the form of a infographic to give you an idea. Please do take into account that alcohol is alcohol, which brings a lot more health consequences with it, than non-alcoholic beverages or food.

Source: click here