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Rare geographical conditions generate a massive lightning storm most days of the year. This amazing phenomenon occurs at the mouth of the Catatumbo river at Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. Believe it or not, this storm is the world’s principal regenerator of the earth’s ozone layer.

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader had taken the time to answer questions submitted by YouTube users, and he also addresses some environmental issues (at 2:50 min).

In the past he was known as the greenest of all presidential candidates to date. This time, however, both Obama and McCain signal a surprising commitment to environmental issues.

Get acquainted:

The digestive system is endowed with its own, local nervous system referred to as the enteric or intrinsic nervous system. The magnitude and complexity of the enteric nervous system is immense - it contains as many neurons as the spinal cord.

A Scientific Overview:

Conventional medical treatment for neurological disorders such as epilepsy, migraine, and autism focuses on the brain. Although standard medical treatment is often helpful, the underlying causes of these disorders are not well understood. Furthermore, some individuals respond poorly, or not all to regular medicine. Evidence is accumulating in the medical literature that the enteric nervous system (ENS) - that part of the nervous system associated with the alimentary canal - also plays a role in these disorders. Historically, the concept of an autonomous abdominal nervous system was advocated by Byron Robinson, Johannis Langley, and Edgar Cayce. The work of these three prominent historical figures is considered along with modern viewpoints on the abdominal nervous system. Complementary therapies that address the nervous system of the abdomen hold potential as useful adjuncts to conventional treatment for certain neurological disorders.

Now let’s see why this is important:

As light is shed on the circuitry between the two brains, researchers are beginning to understand why people act and feel the way they do. When the central brain encounters a frightening situation, it releases stress hormones that prepare the body to fight or flee. The stomach contains many sensory nerves that are stimulated by this chemical surge - hence the “butterflies”. On the battlefield, the higher brain tells the gut brain to shut down. A frightened running animal does not stop to defecate, according to Dr. Gershon.

Fear also causes the vagus nerve to “turn up the volume” on serotonin circuits in the gut. Thus over stimulated, the gut goes into higher gear and diarrhea results. Similarly, people sometimes “choke” with emotion. When nerves in the esophagus are highly stimulated, people have trouble swallowing.

Samovar Tea Lounge, a San Fransisco tea house, has created a 16-part video series called “Passage to Peace: Exploring Tea Culture Today”.

Press the image below to watch the trailer for this online series, which aims to show the connection between drinking tea and inner peace.

Environmental Architecture is a field that’s becoming more and more prevalent around the world. As our planet population constantly expands while available space is only getting more sparse, bold solutions are in dire need.

One such futuristic solution comes from New York-based architect Phu Hoang. His architecture firm is aiming to tackle the issue of the receding water level at the Dead Sea. This famous salt lake is the world’s lowest point, and is situated between Israel and Jordan in the Middle East. This hot region isn’t blessed with lots of fresh water, and Hoang’s suggestion explains how the Dead Sea offers the opportunity to desalinate fresh water, made available for both Israel and Jordan, while luring tourists from around the world.

They key to his plan lies in the fact that the receding water levels reveal new land patches that aren’t claimed by any country, and can thus be referred to as “No Man’s Land”. He proposes to construct artificial archipelago in this No Man’s Land, which will transform the humid air into drinkable water.

Have you heard of any other futuristic designs? Feel free to let us know about them.

Vipassana meditation thickens parts of the brain responsible for awareness and sensation:

Our data suggest that meditation practice can promote cortical plasticity in adults in areas important for cognitive and emotional processing and well-being,” says Sara Lazar, leader of the study and a psychologist at Harvard Medical School. “These findings are consistent with other studies that demonstrated increased thickness of music areas in the brains of musicians, and visual and motor areas in the brains of jugglers. In other words, the structure of an adult brain can change in response to repeated practice.”

Global warming responsible for less sex in the desert:

American prostitutes are offering free fuel after finding that high petrol prices were keeping customers away.

In the Nevada desert, where it is legal to run brothels, truck drivers make up a significant proportion of the men who like to pay to stay awhile.

But with bowser prices making filling the tank of the big rigs which ply their trade on America’s highways almost prohibitively expensive, something has had to give.

The Nevada Brothel Owners Association claim they are bearing the brunt, with revenue in some establishments dropping by up to 45 per cent since the oil crisis began.

We all know that oil isn’t endless. When all of it is dug up, we’ll be in a serious trouble — unless we develop reasonable sources of alternative energy. However, experts predict that we still have several decades before reaching “the point of no oil”.

This estimation is confronted, or rather supplemented, by the Peak Oil Theory.

In short, peak oil theory claims that disaster will strike much sooner than we think. See, oil isn’t going to disappear one day all of a sudden. One day not too far away, oil reserves will start dwindling, and in fact it is from this turning point that things will start to get really bad — many many years before the earth completely dries out.

Our global economic system is very fragile. You only need to look around and see what’s happening now when oil prices rise steadily, without there being any shortage of oil. In response, food prices soar, riots break in Southeast Asia and in Central Africa, and the inflation is running wild. Now imagine what might happen when we do reach that peak: First of all, prices will jump up like never before. Secondly, oil-producing countries will have to place increasingly-smaller quotas on oil excavation in order to stretch their oil fields’ viability for as many years as possible. This will cause oil shortages around the world.

One estimation for when we’ll be reaching the peak point talks about 2010.