Green smoothies are put to the test for the autoimmune disease lupus.
There are dozens and dozens of journals I try to stay on top of every month, and one I always anticipate is TheInternational Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention, a peer-reviewed medical “journal created to document the science of nutrition and lifestyle to prevent, suspend and reverse disease,” with an editor-in-chief no less prestigious than Dr. Kim Williams, past president of the American College of Cardiology. I was honored to join its editorial advisory board, along with so many of my heroes. The best part? It’s free. Go to IJDRP.org and put in your email to subscribe at no cost, and you’ll be alerted when new issues are out, which you can download in full in PDF form. (Did I mention it’s free?)
When it comes to chronic lifestyle diseases, wrote Dr. Williams, “Instead of preventing chronic lifestyle diseases, we [doctors] manage. Never cure, just mitigate. Why? Because of finance, culture, habit, and tradition.” There are many of us, though, who “envision a world where trillions of dollars are not spent on medical care that should never have been necessary, but rather on infrastructure, environment, education, and advancing science. For this reason, comes TheInternational Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention (IJDRP).” After all, wrote the journal’s co-founder, “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”
To give you a taste of the journal: How about pitting plants against one of the most inflammatory diseases out there—lupus, an autoimmune disease in which your body can start attacking your DNA? Kidney inflammation is a common consequence, and even with our armamentarium of immunosuppressant drugs and steroids, lupus-induced kidney inflammation can lead to end-stage renal disease, which means dialysis, and even death. That is, unless you pack your diet with some of the most anti-inflammatory foods out there and your kidney function improves so much you no longer need dialysis or a kidney transplant. Another similar case was presented with a resolution in symptoms and normal kidney function, unless the patient deviated from the diet and his symptoms then reappeared.
As I discuss in my video Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Lupus, even just cutting out animal products can make a difference. Researchers randomized people to remove meat, eggs, and dairy from their diets without significantly increasing fruit and vegetable intake and found that doing just that can lower C-reactive protein levels by nearly a third within eight weeks, as you can see below and at 2:21 in my video. (Our C-reactive protein level is a sensitive indicator of whole-body inflammation.)
But with lupus, the researchers didn’t mess around. Each day, the study subjects were to eat a pound of leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables like kale, fruits like berries, and lots of chia or flax, and drink a gallon of water. We’re talking about a green smoothie diet to extinguish lupus flares. (Note, though, that if your kidneys are already compromised, this should be done under physician supervision so they can monitor your electrolytes like potassium and make sure you don’t get overloaded with fluid.) Bottom line? With such remarkable improvements due to dietary changes alone, the hope is that researchers will take up the mantle and formally put it to the test.
Reversals of autoimmune inflammatory skin disease can be particularly striking visually. A woman with a 35-year history of psoriasis that had been unsuccessfully managed for 19 years with drugs suffered from other autoimmune conditions, including Sjogren’s syndrome. She was put on an extraordinarily healthy diet packed with greens and other vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, avocados, and some whole grains, and boom! Within one year, she went from 40 percent of her entire body surface area inflamed and affected down to 0 percent, completely clear, and, as a bonus, her Sjogren’s symptoms resolved, too, while helping to normalize her weight and cholesterol. You can see before and after photos below and at 3:39 in my video.
I think I only have one other video on lupus: Fighting Lupus with Turmeric: Good as Gold. It’s not for lack of trying, though. There just hasn’t been much research out there.
I talk about another autoimmune disease, type 1 diabetes, in Type 1 Diabetes Treatment: A Plant-Based Diet.
To read and subscribe—for free—to TheInternational Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention, visit www.IJDRP.org.
The full title of this article is “Why the Cimarons are one of the greatest British bands of all time – as documentary Harder Than the Rock shows.”Kenny Monrose (Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge) writes about The Cimarons and the film Harder Than the Rock: The Cimarons’ Story (directed by Mark Warmington) for The Conversation. [Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.]
Harder Than the Rock is a rollercoaster of a film that charts the highs and lows of the music business, as well as its precarious nature. But it also highlights the passion, commitment and humility that drives the creative architects of reggae, The Cimarons, to deliver such heartful joy to their fans – in spite of the personal cost.
My first encounter with The Cimarons was listening to Trojan Reggae Party Volume One (1971), a live album recorded from the White Hart pub in Harlesden, northwest London. This LP formed part of my father’s cherished record collection.
[. . .] If, like me, you listened to reggae or were party to the host of sub-genres it spawned during the 1960s and 70s, then it’s likely that you too witnessed The Cimarons. They were the go-to backing band of the era and worked with luminaries such as Lee Perry and Bob Marley. They were heavily influenced by rock groups such as The Kinks and Cream. [. . .]
[See the trailer for Harder Than the Rock at The Conversation.]
The band led the emergence of the distinctively British mod reggae, a sub-genre popular in the skinhead subculture which was often faster and more danceable than traditional reggae. Like Marley and Jimmy Cliff, The Cimarons were pioneers.
They paved the way for Jamaican music to be heard globally for the first time in places such as Thailand and Japan, and in regions of west Africa. And let’s not forget the impact that the band had in Ireland, which highlighted the nearness that existed between the West Indian communities and the Irish on the British mainland.
The Cimarons effortlessly fused the rich and rebellious sound of Jamaican music with the equally rebellious but frenetic sound of rock and punk. They proved that music – arguably more than religion, politics or sport – can impel and encourage connectivity and integration. This was particularly potent during the 1970s and 80s when the country was marred by social exclusion and anti-immigration propaganda.
Unfairly, The Cimarons never accrued their rightful financial reward for their music. In the words of reggae’s first prince, Dennis Brown, they were instead offered “praise without raise”. In spite of this, the reggae rhapsody pushes on, and the band are rightfully celebrated in Harder Than the Rock.
The film is an audio-visual masterpiece that brilliantly captures the history of British reggae music. Director Mark Warmington has achieved something very special in providing a favoured insight into the history of not only one of the greatest British reggae bands, but one of the greatest British bands full stop.
For original article, see https://theconversation.com/why-the-cimarons-are-one-of-the-greatest-british-bands-of-all-time-as-documentary-harder-than-the-rock-shows-241062
[Shown above: The Cimarons today. Margot Films/J6 Films.]
As an Australian working within the global Greenpeace network, it is a question I have been asked numerous times. Our Great Barrier Reef is justly famous across the planet as one of the most admired and remarkable places on earth.
Around two million people come from around Australia and the world to see our Reef every year, and there’s no doubt that a visit is on the ‘bucket list’ of countless more who imagine themselves gliding amidst the wonder of colour and life.
I visited the reef again earlier this year to film a documentary with CNN, and found myself rapidly entering a state of dream-like exhilaration sparked by every kaleidoscopic glimpse of fish and coral. One big branching array of coral particularly caught my attention, the fans a delicate cornflower blue, with an intensity that faded towards the edges as if by a painter’s brush.
My dreaming, though, was brought up short. My companion in the water was marine biologist and James Cook University professor Jodie Rummer and her assessment was blunt: “The damage here is worse than I feared it would be.”
It turned out that the fading blue that I had unthinkingly admired as the beauty of healthy coral was actually evidence of bleaching—the devastating phenomenon caused by warming oceans that can eventually kill corals if bleaching occurs too frequently or intensely.
There have now been five mass bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef in the last decade: 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022, and 2024. Scientists are growing increasingly distraught about the fate of the reef, in the face of frequent marine heatwaves, which are driven by record global temperatures.
As leading Australian reef scientist Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg put it in a recent article: “The Great Barrier Reef is the warmest it has been for at least 400 years. Unless humanity takes dramatic action to halt climate change, we will lose the beautiful, complex reefs that have existed on Earth for millennia.”
Wise words from @oveHG. While the situation for the Great Barrier Reef is dire, we understand the cause of the problems and we have to implement the solutions. Above all, there must be no new fossil fuel projects. https://t.co/iB4Y9eRVGm
Other factors are eroding the health of the Great Barrier Reef, ranging from unsustainable fishing to pollution, sediment runoff, and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks.
But scientific consensus is clear that climate change, largely driven by the burning of coal, oil, and gas, is an existential threat to the reef. If we don’t address climate change, all other efforts will effectively be no more than tinkering at the edges of the problem.
While some parts of the reef have been spared from the worst of the bleaching so far, the reality is that scientists like Professor Hoegh-Guldberg predict that “in the next 18 to 24 months we’ll see bleaching on the scale we haven’t seen before”.
And if nothing is done to stop the root cause of rising ocean temperatures—climate change, driven by the burning of coal, oil, and gas—then the impacts of warming will eventually outstrip the ability of reefs to adapt and survive.
The future of the Great Barrier Reef depends on reducing greenhouse gas emissions at emergency speed and scale. To give our reef the best chance of life, there should be no new coal, oil, or gas extraction projects in Australia or anywhere else in the world.
Stopping climate pollution is the only way to give our reef a chance at survival; and though the road to recovery for the reef will no doubt be complex and difficult, it is not too late for us to do everything in our power to save the reef.
Fossil fuel corporations like Woodside, Whitehaven and Santos, who unashamedly continue to attempt to open new coal, oil and gas reserves despite full awareness of the catastrophic consequences for people and nature, must be stopped. Our elected leaders must stop approving new fossil fuel projects even as they accelerate the growth of renewables.
The actions we take now—in the next days and months—will determine the fate of the Great Barrier Reef, as well as the future conditions of all life on Earth.
Our joy at what still exists, and faith in the resurgence that could yet be, must co-exist with our grief and fury and that which has been bleached from existence.
Rejoicing in the life that we see is at the heart of our hope. Witnessing what we are losing, and remembering that which is already gone, is at the core of our activism.
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All Android phones have fast charging built in, but not all standards are created equal. While several brands rely on USB’s standard Power Delivery, Chinese manufacturers use their own tech instead, delivering significantly higher charging speeds on their phones.
OPPO’s SuperVOOC is the industry leader in this area, with the brand able to push battery charging to as much as 240W. That’s an outlier, but on most OnePlus and OPPO phones available today, you’ll see 65W and 100W charging as standard, allowing these devices to fully charge their batteries in under 30 minutes.
To put that into context, Samsung uses 45W charging on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but the device takes over 60 minutes to charge the battery — more than twice as long as the OnePlus 12. The best part is that you don’t get any downsides to 100W fast charging; I used OnePlus and OPPO devices based on the 100W tech for three years now, and long-term battery degradation is in line with other phones.
So here’s everything you need to know about the SuperVOOC charging standard — how it evolved over the years, how it works in the latest devices, and how it’s different to other fast charging solutions.
OPPO introduced its VOOC charging tech back in 2014, and if you’re curious, it is an abbreviation of Voltage Open Loop Multi-step Constant-Current Charging. VOLMCCC doesn’t quite have the same allure, so OPPO shortened it to VOOC. In the early days, the standard went up to 20W (5V/4A), allowing devices at the time — like the OnePlus 6T — to charge up to 60% in just 35 minutes, a sizeable achievement.
Then came SuperVOOC in 2006, going up to 50W by pushing 10V at 5A, but not many devices used this standard. The biggest upgrade came in 2019 with the debut of VOOC 3.0, which made 30W charging standard across most OnePlus and OPPO devices. The tech switched to 5V/6A to deliver faster charging, with devices like the OnePlus 7T going up to a 70% charge in just 30 minutes.
The next evolution occurred in 2020 with SuperVOOC 2.0, which introduced the 65W standard that’s still in use today. It moved the charging tech to deliver 10V over 6.5A, introducing the ability to fully charge devices in under 40 minutes. When I tested the OnePlus 8T that year, I saw that the battery charged in just 38 minutes, a record at the time.
Get the latest news from Android Central, your trusted companion in the world of Android
OnePlus used OPPO’s charging tech from the very beginning, but because it was set up as a standalone entity, it changed the moniker. The 20W standard was called Dash Charge, and with the switch to 30W came Warp Charge. And when 65W charging became available, the manufacturer went with Warp Charge 65.
There was a derivative of this — dubbed the 65T — on the OnePlus 9 Pro, which allowed the device to maintain a sustained voltage for an extended duration, and it unlocked a full charge in under 30 minutes. The biggest advantage to the SuperVOOC standard is that it doesn’t overheat your device; that’s because most of the charging circuitry is built into the wall unit.
This is why you can only get the quoted charging speeds only when you use a SuperVOOC charger; while USB PD also has 65W charging, the voltages are different, so you don’t get the same benefits.
A standard smartphone battery is highly reactive, which is why phone companies have several safeguards built into the charging circuitry. Lithium-Ion batteries are able to take in more power initially, tapering out as the charge builds. It is on this principle that fast charging works.
Qualcomm’s Quick Charge technology delivers a higher voltage to the battery to expedite charging time. Quick Charge 5.0 is fully compliant with the USB-C Power Delivery (PD) spec, and while some manufacturers like ASUS use Qualcomm’s solution, most brands have switched over to USB PD instead.
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Samsung, for instance, switched to USB Power Delivery’s Programmable Power Supply (PPS) spec starting with the Galaxy Note 10 series, offering 45W charging. This is still the case on its latest devices, but most of its mid-range phones still use a 25W standard.
SuperVOOC’s differentiation comes by way of using a dual-cell battery; the OnePlus 12 has a 5400mAh battery, but it is made up of two 2700mAh cells. This way, the 100W charge is split over both batteries at the same time, allowing the device to charge in under 30 minutes.
The key difference between SuperVOOC and other charging standards is that while USB PD uses higher voltages to charge batteries, OPPO instead focuses on delivering a higher amperage. For instance, USB PD pushes 20V at 3.25A to send 65W to devices, whereas SuperVOOC delivers 10V at 6.5A to attain 65W. But because all the associated circuitry is in the wall unit, you’ll get all the advantages of fast charging without any of the downsides (overheating).
One of the main benefits of SuperVOOC is its ability to keep temperatures low while charging. The fast charging option allows you to watch videos or play games while the phone is charging, with no net drop in speeds. That isn’t the case with other charging solutions, as the higher voltages invariably lead to the phone reverting to normal speeds to prevent overheating.
With SuperVOOC 100W, you can easily charge a phone battery in under 30 minutes, and it is a proven technology by this point — I used it on dozens of phones. There’s also a SuperVOOC 150W standard, but that was available on just a few devices, and while OPPO showcased SuperVOOC 240W as well, it isn’t practical on its flagships.
Like other charging standards, SuperVOOC takes more than twice as long to go from 50% to a full charge, and that’s to prevent damage to the battery (and more importantly, you), with the wall charger limiting output after hitting 70% and going even lower after reaching 80%. With the OnePlus 12, the phone goes up to 72% in just 15 minutes, but takes an additional 15 minutes to go the rest of the 28%.
The dedicated microcontroller unit inside the phone constantly monitors the charge level to determine the desired amperage to be delivered. This is a good thing, because it ensures that everything doesn’t burn down when you plug your phone in overnight. Of course, the main downside is that you’ll need to use OnePlus and OPPO’s bundled chargers to get the full charging potential.
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
That said, OPPO has licensed the technology to third-party vendors like Anker, and the charging brand is delivering SuperVOOC 65W on select power banks and chargers, including the Prime 27,650mAh power bank that goes up to 250W. This is a huge deal, as it allows you to get all the advantages of the charging tech on the go.
An additional thing to mention here is that while you get 100W charging in most regions, OnePlus limits the chargers to 80W in North America. This has to do with voltages again, so if you’re using the OnePlus 12 in the region, you’ll only be able to use 80W. In real-world use, that means the device will take roughly eight additional minutes to charge.
A key update introduced in 2022 is the ability to increase battery longevity. Even with SuperVOOC 100W, OPPO is guaranteeing 1600 charge cycles before battery degradation, and that’s a huge achievement. Also, the best part about using the SuperVOOC 100W charger is that it doubles as a USB PD charger as well, going up to 65W. So if you have other devices that leverage PD, you can charge those easily.
What is AIRVOOC 50?
(Image credit: Source: Andrew Martonik / Android Central)
The OnePlus 8 Pro became the first device from the manufacturer (globally) to offer wireless charging, and in usual OnePlus fashion the company outfitted the phone with 30W wireless charging. AIRVOOC 30 — also called dubbed Warp Charge 30 Wireless on OnePlus devices — could deliver up to a 50% charge in just 30 minutes, allowing it to become a standout option in the wireless charging segment.
To deliver sustained 30W wireless charging, OnePlus used two charge pumps and clever charging tech. The charger coil itself sends 20V at 1.5A (netting 30W) to the first charge pump, which then halves the voltage to 10W while boosting the amperage to 3A (once again creating 30W). The second charge pump halves the voltage yet again to 5V, with the amperage doubled to 6A. That 5V at 6A charge leads to 30W, and it’s this charge that’s sent to the charging coil on the back of the phone.
OPPO is using this technique because there’s no way to safely deliver a 6A charge directly from the induction coil on the wireless charger to the one on the phone. That would create a lot of heat and inevitably burn things down, so it’s instead relying on two charge pumps. The technology is very interesting, and it continues to be one of the best wireless charging solutions around.
With the OnePlus 9 series, OnePlus introduced 50W wireless charging, and this is still the same tech that’s used in the Find X7 Ultra and the best OnePlus phones. It is called AIRVOOC 50, and the tech is able to charge a device in under 45 minutes, but you’ll need to use the dedicated wireless charger, and that’s no longer available in most markets.
OPPO continues to lead the way with its charging tech, and SuperVOOC 100W allows you to easily charge your phone in under 30 minutes — and do so safely. With the Find X8 and OnePlus 13 set to launch soon, it is interesting to see how the charging tech will evolve in the coming years.
The OnePlus 12 is still one of the best phones you can buy today. It has a gorgeous design, some of the best hardware available today, and Hasselblad-tuned cameras that are truly outstanding.
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This swivel chair is one that will add some style and pizzazz to your living room. The retro-esque style of this couch makes this a perfect piece to add to your home. It is an eye-catcher within itself. In addition to that, the memory foam seat base provides increased comfort.
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If you’re looking for some chairs for your backyard area, this swivel chair is the one. It is modern in design and provides comfort for when you’re chilling outdoors. Whether you’re relaxing outdoors by yourself or with some friends, swivel chairs are one way to stay comfortable while keeping your home chic. Looks aside, this is also an amazingly well-built piece. Its aluminum frames feature a powder-coated finish which creates a protective, weather-resistant, rustproof, and UV-inhibiting barrier that’s 10 times more durable than paint.
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Swivel chairs are a great piece to add to any room in the house, and even outside the house. It’s a great way to make relaxing more comfortable. If you want to read more about design and style pieces, check out this post about colorful chairs.
Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold has emerged as a surprise transfer target for Real Madrid.
The England international is believed to be at the top of Madrid’s list of right-back candidates as the Spanish club considers reinforcing the position, according to The Athletic’s Mario Cortegana.
A move to the Spanish capital is expected to be contingent on Alexander-Arnold playing out the remainder of his Liverpool contract. Madrid prefer to sign him on a free transfer after his deal expires in the summer of 2025, Cortegana adds.
Talks over a new deal at Anfield are understood to be ongoing.
Alexander-Arnold will be allowed to negotiate a free transfer with different clubs once he enters the final six months of his deal in January.
Madrid’s plans to sign a new right-back were expedited after Dani Carvajal suffered a season-ending ACL tear earlier this month.
Tottenham’s Pedro Porro, Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong, and Juanlu of Sevilla have also been linked with the reigning European champions.
Madrid are also expected to be in the market for a center-back. The club could increase its efforts to add defensive reinforcements in January, with former Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte, who plays in Saudi Arabia, headlining the list of possible targets.
This story appears in SLAM 252. Get your copy now.
Growing up the youngest of four siblings, Nate Ament did everything his brothers did. It’s why when it comes to sports, soccer was the first thing he gravitated to. His older brothers played it, so he did, too. And when his third oldest brother Frederick started to pick up basketball, Nate was more than game.
By the time he was 10, the rapidly growing Manassas, VA, native realized that he was going to be too tall to stay on the pitch. So hoops it was. It started out as 1s and 2s at the local elementary school. After a two-minute walk, Nate and his brothers were on the blacktop, meeting up with Nate’s classmates and Frederick’s friends from high school. The battles were fun, but it was pride that Nate was seeking, even in middle school.
“The part that I fell in love with was being able to play a sport where you can take someone 1-on-1 and you can try to beat them, not just offensively but defensively,” Nate says. “Being able to have a matchup is being able to say, I’m gonna guard you the whole game. I’m gonna stop you from scoring on me. I’m gonna make sure my team wins. So, I really fell in love with the competitiveness of it.”
Seven years later, that will, love and determination serves as the foundation of Nate’s game, a game that has seen him blossom into a consensus top-5 player in the Class of 2025 and the No. 1 player in the state of Virginia. Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UConn, Virginia and many, many others have stamped the five-star do-it-all wing as a future difference-maker for their squads.
Between the 3SSB circuit and his tape out at Highland High School, it’s easy to classify Ament as the modern NBA archetype. He’s a lengthy 6-9 forward who’s continuously fine-tuning the framework of his three-level scoring. The locks on defense are there, too. Mind you, with a handle and quickness to break down defenders in transition and off the wing. Size-ups, step-back treys and low-post fades, it’s all his game.
“From when I first started playing basketball to now, I knew that you just have to be consistent, always getting in the gym. In anything I did, I just knew that I wanted to be the best,” Nate says. “I just kept it consistent. I knew that I had the capabilities to be one of the best in the country. But for me, it was just important not to rush things and to stay patient with my journey, because my journey’s different than anyone else’s.”
As of late, the game has taken him from the gleaming lights of Times Square to the gold medal podium at the FIBA AmeriCup with the U18 USA Team. And to cap off a summer driven by years of commitment to his craft, he took home the Terrence Clarke Spalding MVP Award and the dub at the SLAM Summer Classic Vol. 6. While he netted contested jumpers and rose up to meet the rim more than a few times while playing at the Rucker Park, memories from his days on the blacktop resurfaced. He wanted to get the best of his matchup, just like his brothers.
“They try to be the best at everything they can do, whether that’s sports, whether that’s school, life or anything. I try to do that with basketball as well,” he says. “They’re kind of my motivation. I play hard for them. Not just for my brothers, but for my whole family, just to make sure that I’m representing the name on the back of my jersey in the best way possible.”
