a burgundy zine
August 19, 2020
Cancer, one of the leading causes of death worldwide, appears to have afflicted the ferocious beasts the roamed the Earth with our prehistoric ancestors.
Earlier this month, research published in The Lancet Oncology Journal diagnosed a dinosaur with bone cancer. And this isn’t the first time researchers have made such a diagnosis based on dinosaur fossils.
May 30, 2020
Austin Stoltzfus sheds light on the possibility that we’re simply puppets to mind-controlling parasites.
May 18, 2020
Red speckles and poofy, majestical shapes that appear to be pulled straight from a fairy tale are most likely at the forefront of your mind when you think of mushrooms – or, perhaps, some colorful, swirly-whirly imagery and “hippie babble” come to mind.
But there’s far more to mushrooms than meets the eye. Mycelium, the vegetative part of fungi that forms during the hyphae growth stage of mushrooms, has piqued the interests of researchers around the globe.
In recent years, scientists have put mycelium under the microscope due to its physical strength and pharmacological properties. This has opened the floodgates for mycelia to serve as a natural construction compound for building houses or creating new medicines.
April 30, 2020
Blue is all around us, from the oceans to their reflection in the sky, but it’s very rare that you’ll see blue anywhere else in nature – unless you’re flipping through a Dr. Seuss book.
Wildflowers sporting a bluish-hue, which includes purple and violet flowers, only account for about 15 to 20 percent of all flower colors, says a 2018 Breeding Science journal review.
“Many ornamental plants with a high production volume, such as rose and chrysanthemum, lack the key genes for producing the blue delphinidin pigment or do not have an intracellular environment suitable for developing blue color,” the review explains.
While recent advancements in genetic engineering have allowed scientists to synthesize blue roses, chrysanthemums, orchids, and dahlias, the process isn’t as simple as “editing a few genes” (granted, gene editing isn’t such a simple process, either).
April 20, 2020
The cannabis industry has put terpenes on the map due to how they affect the scent, taste, and medicinal properties of the product. However, terpenes aren’t exclusive to cannabis – they’re found in plants, fruits, and spices.
Terpenes can be used to apply flavor or fragrance to products like essential oils or shampoos (just look at the ingredients of your favorite Lush soap). They also play a vital role in how plants interact with the environment, providing plants with an odor-based defense mechanism, says a 2015 3 Biotech article.
Furthermore, many people feel their body odor is affected by using cannabis and consuming certain foods can alter how you smell – including meat and tomatoes.
So, could terpenes be the culprit behind certain human body odors?
January 19, 2020
NASA recently announced they’re exploring new, green ways to sustain human life in outer space through the help of our beloved fungal friends: mushrooms, or rather, their mycelia.
October 20, 2019
Unencumbered by words and semantics, plants express themselves through their luscious leaves and abundant blooms, which are the result of carefully calculated survival tactics that almost seem “thought out.”
These physical characteristics can tell human observers a lot about how the plant is doing; whether it needs more water or sunlight, warmth or humidity, and so forth – but, plants don’t have eyes like we do. They don’t have brains like ours, yet research shows they possess intelligence.
How far does that intelligence go? Do plants “think?”
June 23, 2019
Gray whales are a speckled, 45-foot, 1,500-pound marine mammal that are native to the Pacific Ocean, according to the Marine Mammal Center.
This year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared an Unusual Mortality Event due to the increase in strandings, so we reached out to the NOAA to dive further into the issue.
June 17, 2019
It’s been nearly one month since leopard seals became the latest “residents of New Zealand” – but what exactly does that mean?
April 25, 2019
This article by James Priest was originally published on CannaLance and is being featured on our site for the fourth issue of The Burgundy Zine.
