blog | The Burgundy Zine

April 26, 2020

Litter is Not a Suitable Home for Ants, Study Says

The world is your oyster, not your dumpster – although it’s often mistreated as such.

The non-profit organization Keep America Beautiful reports the United States spends approximately $11.5 billion to clean up litter annually. However, crumbled up plastics and abandoned glass bottles still find their way into the natural world, invading forests, lakes, rivers, and oceans.

Recently, researchers investigated the impact of discarded bottles and containers on ants, questioning whether these discarded byproducts of human activity are a “deadly trap or sweet home.”

April 26, 2020

Weekly Newsletter #70: Every Day is Earth Day

Earlier this week, individuals around the globe came together virtually to pay homage to our planet in celebration of Earth Day.

While this worldwide celebration is an effective way to raise awareness and encourage more environmentally-friendly lifestyle choices, we’d like to remind you that these choices must live on throughout the year in order to make a positive impact.

The power to save the planet is in mankind’s hands – don’t let it slip through our fingers.

April 25, 2020

Elephants Connection to the Land by Global Sanctuary for Elephants

Experts at the Global Sanctuary for Elephants shed light on the beautiful, innate connection elephants have to mother nature.

April 23, 2020

Don’t Forget to Relax by Belinda Kou

Lettering artist Belinda Kou eases us with her beautiful illustration of a much-needed reminder: don’t forget to relax.

April 20, 2020

Winged Beauties by Carl Bovis

Bird photographer Carl Bovis stuns us with a gallery of his beautiful pictures.

April 20, 2020

You Are What You Eat… Or Smoke

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?

April 19, 2020

Weekly Newsletter #69: Why We Ever

“Open your mouth, say something warm. I’ve spent a while on the strangest side of your door.”

If you haven’t heard the second part of Hayley Williams’ “Petals For Armor” EP, do both of us a favor and listen to it right now… Wow.

Anyways, let’s get into our weekly recap!

April 16, 2020

How Animals Perceive Time

Ah, time. It’s a not-so-universal measurement that seems so innate to us humans that we structure our entire lives around it with alarm clocks, planners, shared digital calendars.

Although the importance we place on time is a very manmade construct – leaving some to questions whether it’s even real all together – the passage of time still remains a fact of life: the sun rises, the sunsets; we are born, we grow, we eventually die.

So, without a watch or a notification to ping them before important events, how do animals perceive time?

April 15, 2020

How Psychedelics Impact Personality and Creativity

It only takes a few milligrams of a naturally occurring compound – or even a just few micrograms on a sliver of paper – to open your mind to a vibrant swirl of creativity and long-lasting personality changes.

While psychedelics have shown efficacy in treating various mental health conditions including anxiety, treatment-resistant depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, they also carry the potential to help researchers further understand the interplay between various brain networks, says a 2018 Medical Hypothesis study.

April 12, 2020

Weekly Newsletter #68: Happy Easter

Happy Easter, bug buddies – and a happy early Easter, to all of you who celebrate Orthodox Easter, too!