Becoming A Better Student ₊˚⊹♡

New Fanfiction

Good morning, afternoon, or evening.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my post.

I am sorry that I haven's posted in a long time. I have been very busy with schoolwork, and haven't carved out the time to write blog posts.

Over six months ago, I finally got around to posting previews of my Black Widow fanfiction, titled "The Widows Caretaker". I had stated that it was four years in the making, so I had been waiting a long time to publish it. Well, four years was not enough time to perfect it, at least to my standards. So, I have edited it again, to make it make more sense. I will explain why in further posts shortly.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day or night to read my post. Have a good day or night.

Good News Network

Scientists Grow Tree from 1,000-year-old Seed Found in Cave–May Be Lost Medicinal Plant in the Bible

Dr. Sallon and her team thought it was an extinct species known from history as Judean Balsam, but it turned out to be something called Tsor

"During an archaeological dig in a desert area north of Jerusalem 40 years ago, a seed was discovered which was determined to be in pristine condition but had obviously seen many a year.

Now, despite falling from its parent 1,000 years ago, it has grown into a mature tree, and botanists examining it believe it may be an extinct species that was used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years—even receiving a nod in the Bible.

Neither Israeli botanists, nor Dr. Sarah Sallon, a physician who founded the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, could determine what species it was from simply from the seed covering. So they did what nature intended—they planted it.

Using a well-documented technique that saw 2,000-year-old date palm fruit pits germinate, Dr. Sallon soaked the seed in hormones, liquid fertilizer, and water, and then planted it in a pot of sterile seed; then waited.

Despite its genetic code being exposed to environmental stressors for over 1,000 years, the seed sprouted after 5 weeks. The shoot was protected by a caplike feature called an operculum. As the shoot grew, the operculum was shed—leaving something for the team to radiocarbon date. It narrowed down the age of the almost 10-centuries-old seed to between the years 993 an 1202.

Fast forward 14 years and the plant has become a 10-foot-tall tree. Dr. Sallon shared images of the tree, its bark, and its leaves with botanists around the world. One expert suggested it belonged to the genus Commiphora, found across the Arabian Peninsula and parts of Africa. A genetic analysis subsequently revealed this was the case, but a perfect match was lacking.

Pictured: The tree, now 14 years old.

Dr. Sallon and her team thought it was an extinct species known from history as Judean Balsam, but the best way to confirm that suspicion would be to have some aromatic traces similar to the resins of the myrrh tree to which it is related. However, no such fragrant compounds were detected.

Instead, the chemical analysis of the leaves identified a group of phytochemicals known as guggulterols which have been observed in a related species called Commiphora wightii that’s known to possess certain cancer-fighting properties in its resin.

A medicinal balm, the origin of which is not known, is mentioned in multiple historical texts including the Bible as ‘tsori,’ and rather than the fragrant Judean Balsam, it’s this tsori that Dr. Sallon and her team believe they have found.

They must wait until the tree, now 14 years old, produces flower or fruit to know for sure if it’s an extinct species, and if so, how to perhaps keep it alive.

Dr. Louise Colville, senior research leader in seed and stress biology at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London who wasn’t involved in the research, told CNN that it was a major accomplishment to grow a seed that old and possibly lead to a resurrection of this Biblical botanical.

“What’s surprising in this story is it was just a single seed and to be able to have one chance for that to germinate is extremely lucky,” she said.

“Working in a seed bank, seeing the potential for that extreme longevity gives us hope that banking and storing seeds that some at least will survive for very long periods of time.”"

-via Good News Network, October 8, 2024

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Note: This is such a good demonstration of why seed banks are so important!! They give us such real and massive hope for deextinction and the revival of endangered species.

In case anyone is having a bad night

(The best of this post and its reblogs, but with links that work)

Here is a website where you can scroll down to all the different levels of the ocean 

Here is a website where you can see the future of the universe

Here is a website where you can press a ‘make everything okay’ button, over and over, until things really are okay

Here is a website that you can read if you feel like a burden

Here is a website where you can look at strobe illusions (TW strobe/flashing)

Here is a website where you can cut stuff up (TW blood/sh)

Here and here are websites where you can play with sand

Here is a website where you can draw with macaroni and other fun foods

Here is a website where you can paint someone’s nails

Here is a website where you can grow a garden with emojis

Here is a website with hundreds of videos of people hugging you (rightfully dubbed ‘the nicest place on the internet’ because it really is, y’all, it made me cry)

Here is a website that will take you to other useless websites

Here is a website where you can make a tiny cat play bongo drums (and other instruments!)

Here is a website to help give you gentle reminders <3

Here is a website where you can grow a tiny farm

Here is a website where you can take a bunch of scientific personality tests

Here is a website of calm rain noise

Take a breath. It’s going to be okay, I promise.

A sad Yelena headcanon?

Omg I have so many but sure, all of her time under the red room was a blur except for the small flashes she had of her and Natasha, and Melina (Alexei as previously stated was barely present), when she was freed it was like coming up for air after drowning, she was navigating a world she did not know how to navigate, atleast for the first couple of months, she also harbored a deep anger towards everyone and everything (especially for Nat, not really but she felt betrayed)

Headcanon meme

i 100% know that natasha is GRUMPY in the mornings n everyone is like HORRIFIED of her!!

Absolutely! She is basically a demon before she’s had her coffee or tea. Tony once made the mistake of teasing her about something before she had coffee, and she sent him a glare so withering that he almost started crying. The only person that can actually hold a conversation with her before 9:00 a.m. is Yelena. She’s not afraid of a silly poser.

Please help me and my family 🙏

I kindly ask for your support to ease my suffering and help me achieve my delayed dreams❤🙏🏻

My story :

I am a mother of four young men living on the street in a tent after being displaced several times and losing our source of income.

My children lost their education, schools and universities, they lost their dreams and ambitions

Due to overcrowding and the abundance of insects and animals, we suffer from many skin diseases and epidemics.

Please help me to secure my children's future and save them, they are all I have 🙏🙏

gofundme.com

Donate to Urgent Help Needed For Saeed's family , organized by Said Abdelal

In the heart of war-torn northern Gaza, my family of six has been shattered by rel… Said Abdelal needs your support for Urgent Help Needed F

Campaign verified by: 90-ghost

Just $5 would go a long way in helping get my family out of the war zone.

If you're feeling anxious or depressed about the climate and want to do something to help right now, from your bed, for free...

Start helping with citizen science projects

The Conversation

Explainer: what is citizen science?

Public participation in science is increasing, and citizen science has a central part in this. It is a contribution by the public to researc

What's a citizen science project? Basically, it's crowdsourced science. In this case, crowdsourced climate science, that you can help with!

You don't need qualifications or any training besides the slideshow at the start of a project. There are a lot of things that humans can do way better than machines can, even with only minimal training, that are vital to science - especially digitizing records and building searchable databases

Like labeling trees in aerial photos so that scientists have better datasets to use for restoration.

Or counting cells in fossilized plants to track the impacts of climate change.

Or digitizing old atmospheric data to help scientists track the warming effects of El Niño.

Or counting penguins to help scientists better protect them.

Those are all on one of the most prominent citizen science platforms, called Zooniverse, but there are a ton of others, too.

Oh, and btw, you don't have to worry about messing up, because several people see each image. Studies show that if you pool the opinions of however many regular people (different by field), it matches the accuracy rate of a trained scientist in the field.

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I spent a lot of time doing this when I was really badly injured and housebound, and it was so good for me to be able to HELP and DO SOMETHING, even when I was in too much pain to leave my bed. So if you are chronically ill/disabled/for whatever reason can't participate or volunteer for things in person, I highly highly recommend.

Next time you wish you could do something - anything - to help

Remember that actually, you can. And help with some science.

8,42 ans 43 for yelena !

8. Unpopular opinion about them

She is not mature. She's hyperindependent and great at masking, but she's NOT emotionally mature-her psychosocial development stalled out at 6.

42. 3 comfort items

This is a little niche and leans into Experiment!Yelena but Laura Barton makes her a crochet or knit throw blanket that Yelena ADORES. She also has a weighted plush, and a specific pair of earrings Kate gets her that she almost never takes out.

43. 3 favorite foods and 3 they despise

Favorites: Mac and cheese (duh, one of the only processed foods she'll eat), green grapes, crispy tofu.

Least favorites: cooked spinach, shrimp, okra

Question

if anyone is reading my blog, may I please ask you, what is your opinoin on Yelena Belova?

I personally think she is very fun to watch, and acts in a realistic way considering her situation.

According to the Book Disney Descendants: Up Close! Mal was born in 1999.

She was 6 years old when she wasn’t invited to Evie’s 6th Birthday Party, which took place 10 years after all the villains were banished to the Island. Which places it in 2005. (Isle of The Lost Novel)

That means that That Auradon was created in 1995.

It also means that Rise of Red takes place in 2025.