After crawling into the tunnel for the first time, Heinrich Frank found giant scratch marks all over the walls.

JAMES FELTON

https://www.iflscience.com/these-giant-caves-were-not-made-by-geological-processes-or-humans-68236

Senior Staff Writer

PublishedApril 11, 2023

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Around the turn of the century, a number of huge tunnels were discovered in South America. After investigation, the scientists who discovered them found that they are not made by any humans, nor geological process.

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Professor of geology, Heinrich Frank, spotted a strange hole embedded in a hill at a construction site as he passed it on the highway, according to Discover. Frank returned to the tunnel, which had been uncovered during excavation, and crawled inside. 

The tunnel was 4.5 meters (15 feet) long. Frank could tell that the tunnel was not made by geological forces, but nothing beyond that. At the end of the tunnel was a much bigger clue, that you probably still don’t want to find in a tunnel you’ve just voluntarily crawled into: a collection of giant claw marks on the ceiling.

“There’s no geological process in the world that produces long tunnels with a circular or elliptical cross-section, which branch and rise and fall, with claw marks on the walls,” Frank told Discover, adding he’s “seen dozens of caves that have inorganic origins, and in these cases, it’s very clear that digging animals had no role in their creation.”

Scratch marks on the walls. Image courtesy of Heinrich Frank.

The tunnel, along with many others that he and others discovered in Brazil and Argentina, are thought to be made by extinct megafauna. In Frank’s case it was likely giant sloths that made the tunnels, 8-10,000 years ago. These creatures are not like the sloths of today, with the primary difference being they were around the size of an African elephant.

In the Rio Grande do Sul area, Frank and his team found over 1,500 tunnels made by the beasts, with the longest stretching for 609 meters (2,000 feet) and standing at 1.8 meters (6 feet) tall. It was likely carved out by teams of sloths over several generations.

Despite their size, there is evidence that humans may have hunted giant sloths. Two hundred fossilized footprints of sloths and humans found in Utah were analyzed by a team in a 2018 study, finding them to be evidence that humans “actively stalked and/or harassed sloths, if not hunted them.”

“It is possible that the behavior was playful, but human interactions with sloths are probably better interpreted in the context of stalking and/or hunting,” the palaeontologists wrote. “Sloths would have been formidable prey. Their strong arms and sharp claws gave them a lethal reach and clear advantage in close-quarter encounters.”

I just signed a petition with the gender justice organization UltraViolet to call on the Biden administration to protect access to the abortion medication mifepristone. Outrageously, a Donald Trump-appointed federal judge just sided with anti-abortion extremists and ruled to disrupt the sale of mifepristone–in spite of scientific consensus that the pill is safe to use.

Mifepristone, a drug that can be used along with misoprostol to terminate pregnancy, was approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000. Despite its established record of efficacy and safety, anti-abortion extremists are hellbent on getting rid of it as they did Roe v. Wade.

And if they win, the effect will be devastating for all of us, not just those living in red states.

Every reputable medical organization, including American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Medical Association (AMA), has predicted that the country’s maternal mortality crisis will worsen without access to abortion care, including medication abortion.

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The Biden Administration must step in to protect medication abortion!

As we expected, a Donald Trump-appointed federal judge just ruled in favor of anti-abortion extremists to disrupt the sale of the abortion pill mifepristone.

Sign the petition to urge the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure access to the FDA approved medication, mifepristone, and to take all necessary action to protect patients and providers.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Medication abortion care is a safe, effective, non-invasive option for ending an early pregnancy. Despite its 20-year track record of safety, an extreme anti-abortion judge has ruled in favor of anti-abortion idealogues and is seeking to impose a national ban on this medication. His decision ignores the evidence and seeks to remove FDA approved medication from the market. If this decision stands, it will severely limit options for safe, non-invasive early abortions, even in states where abortion is legal. This is judicial interference at its most extreme. We can’t allow anti-abortion politicians or judges to interfere with our freedom to make decisions about our health and lives.

Sign this petition to urge the Biden-Harris administration to take immediate action to ensure access to medication abortion.

The composition includes berries, oranges, avocado, chia seeds, wholegrain bread, wholegrain pasta, whole wheat, potatoes, oat, corn, mixed beans, brazil nut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, broccoli, pistachio, banana among others.. 

(Photo: fcafotodigital / iStock via Getty Images)

AIDAN SMITH

Apr 09, 2023Common Dreams

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/meat-industry-lies-vegetarian-diet

The latest report from the United Nations on the direction the environment is heading is the scariest so far. In order to turn things around, the UN recommends—among other things—that each of us eat more plant-based foods. I’m willing to accept that eating plant-based food is good for the climate and for animals. But as someone who has eaten meat my entire life, I had to ask the question—is plant-based food good for me?”

Like many people, I’ve heard that plant-based diets lead to protein deficiency. I may like eating meat, but I can’t stomach disinformation. After diving into the research, what I found surprised me. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics makes it clear: “vegetarian, including vegan, diets typically meet or exceed recommended protein intakes.” The Academy adds that a well-rounded plant-based diet “supplies enough of all indispensable (essential) amino acids,” contrary to the myth that plant-based options lack specific essential amino acids.

But even as I came across more and more scientific studies about the positive health benefits of plant-based meats and foods, it was still difficult on a subconscious level to accept that I can build muscle without—well—eating muscle. As a very active person, I’ve always operated under the implicit belief that flesh builds flesh. So, I went even deeper into the science to see if there are any plant-based options that can compete with meat.

As it turns out, it’s entirely possible to supplant the meat in my diet with high-protein plant-based options like nuts, seeds, and legumes, all of which are widely available. Other protein-rich plant-based foods include wheat-based seitan or soybean products like tofu and soy milk. But can those options actually replace all of what I love about meat? Including, let’s be blunt – taste?

Well, according to senior clinical nutritionist Emily Gelsomin of Harvard’s Massachusetts General Hospital, both the Beyond Burger and Impossible Burgers have as much if not more protein than meat. Gelsomin also noted that both meat alternatives contain key vitamins and minerals like Zinc and cobalamin (B12) which are found in meat protein. As for taste—many of these plant-based meats are earning rave reviews, even from those with far more sophisticated pallets than mine.

Furthermore—and this was harder to swallow – with the United States currently experiencing a mortality crisis compared to other industrialized nations, I had to pay attention to the fact that plant-based diets have been connected to a decrease in mortality. Even the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), a traditional backer of meat, has admitted that people who eat more plant-based foods tend to have “lower levels of obesity, a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and lower total mortality.”

As it turns out, a 2022 study found that rates of heart attack mortality in America are alarmingly high compared to other wealthy nations. Red meat consumption is associated with poor health, as proved by a Harvard University longitudinal study. Nonetheless, despite its detrimental health impact, beef consumption remains widespread in America. The US has over 100 million fewer people than the European Union —around 336 million to 447 million in 2021—, but we consume 10,000,000,000 more pounds of beef.

In light of these statistics, even making small choices like picking a plant-based burger over a beef patty could be a big win. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), “eating a nutritious, plant-based diet may lower the risk for heart attacks and other types of cardiovascular disease.” A study by researchers from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that eating tofu reduces LDL cholesterol and lowers the risk of a heart attack. In a nation where heart attacks occur every 40 seconds, each of us choosing even occasional plant-based alternatives to red meat probably makes a lot of sense.

Let’s also talk about fiber. I and most of my friends don’t tend to focus on the role of fiber in building a well-rounded diet. According to the American Society for Nutrition, the average American diet is lacking in fiber. It turns out plant-based meat alternatives have higher fiber contents than meat. I was stunned to learn, in fact, that meat has no fiber at all, which might be why sometimes I get a heavy feeling after eating meat. A study of people who switched out at least two servings of meat a day in favor of meat alternatives found that participants came out with higher rates of fiber consumption and lower rates of saturated fat consumption.

All this could be why a 2021 survey by the International Food Information Council found that one in four Americans reported consuming more protein derived from plant sources than they had done the year prior. According to the Washington Post, a majority of U.S. households bought plant-based foods during the peak days of the pandemic, with milk alternatives and meat alternatives proving the most popular. I myself made the switch to oat milk in 2021 and haven’t looked back since — and as recent data from Morning Consult found, I’m hardly the only one.

At a time when even the fast food chains that rose to popularity with “eat more chikin” billboards are testing plant-based options, it’s obvious where the winds are heading. Plant-based foods are becoming as American as apple pie — and with more plant-based alternatives to milk, butter, and eggs available than ever before, it’s getting pretty easy to make a plant-based apple pie. A Bloomberg Intelligence report from 2021 estimated that plant-based food sales would see fivefold growth by the end of the decade, and it’s not hard to see why: American consumers have more options than ever when it comes to building a plant-based diet.

Anyway. All that research gave me an appetite. And I think I’m finally at the point where I’d prefer to bite into something that’s going to help me live longer and healthier. So—maybe don’t tell my friends just yet—but a plant-based burger, it is.