February 10, 2012

HOW LONG FOOD LASTS

The good folks over at HellaWella are making it easy for consumers to know how long food lasts in the refrigerator thanks to a nifty little visual guide titled "What's That Smell?" The irony being, of course, that not all spoiled products actually emit a foul odor, thus a need to tell when last night's super may have gone just as bad as last month's ice cream! Click here for the full infographic.

Food

Food2

February 06, 2012

LIVING LONGER

Iowa State University gerontology researcher, Peter Martin, was recently published in the Journal Of Aging Research for his 6 behavioral factors of longevity. They are: Environmental Support, Individual Characteristics, Behavioral Skills, Good Nutrition And Health Behaviors, Staying Healthy and Good Mental Health. You can check out the full explanation of each here.

Age

January 18, 2012

HEALTHY PARENTS FELLOWSHIP

New York City-based non-profit, Healthy Kids In The Heights, is spearheading a campaign that will empower neighborhood parents to become leaders in healthy living. The Healthy Parents Fellowship program is dedicated to battling child obesity in the neighborhood of Washington Heights. Led by founder and health activist, Catarina Rivera, the initiative is currently seeking funding to jump start its goals of health and entrepreneur training for parents, publicity for the project, materials and supplies, and space for its work. Washington Heights ranks second-highest in the city for childhood obesity. The Healthy Parents Fellowship really wants to change this statistic by developing community leaders that will in turn, activate community awareness. You can help fund their cause here. Only 16 days left for them to reach their goal of $2500 USD.

Healthy

January 11, 2012

MUSIC OF THE HEMISPHERES

Is music at the root of our human consciousness? This is the question that filmmakers, Elisa da Prato and James Fideler, attempts to tackle in her upcoming documentary, Music Of The Hemispheres (MOTH). The project focuses on the Music Of Thought Hypothesis theory by philosopher/professor, Dan Lloyd, who studies brain activity and its connection to music. This is accomplished through fMRI brain imaging, which then gets converted into sound via brain-data sonification. The result is a striking "symphony" of a person's thought patterns.

Readers interested in making the completion of this project and film a reality can connect to the MOTH Kickstarter page here and pledge. Only 14 days to go for it to reach its $16K USD goal!

Music

December 15, 2011

SAFE SEX APP

Swedish ad agency, Ester, was recently hired to create a safe sex campaign for young adults in Stockholm. 500,000 condoms embedded with QR codes and a safe sex app later, and the Kondom08 Campaign was born. Here's how it works: Partners scan the QR code, which installs an app onto their smart phones. When initiated (right before sex), the app reminds users to put on their condom and then the phone records the session (sound and movement). Users can then create their own profile based on their stats and compare them with with other safe sex practitioners. Fun!

Kondom08

App

December 09, 2011

SAY WORD! | ARE KIDS EATING DESSERT FOR BREAKFAST?

Sugar_bombs
Being one to LOVE our cereal followed by our cereal milk, we kind of knew it, but this report by the Enviornmental Working Group solidifies the fact that most children's cereal contains a lot of sugar!

It's not until it's contextualized with hightlight such as:
"One serving of Honey Smacks has more sugar than a Twinkie." Cereal_twinkies

and...

"One cup of any of 44 children’s cereals – including Honey Nut Cheerios, Apple Jacks, and Cap’n Crunch – contains more sugar than 3 Chips Ahoy! cookies." Cereal_chips_ahoy

That one begins to realize the ramification of what this all means especially with childhood obesity rates tripling in the past thirty years and recent research findings that suggest that products sweetened with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup food can be as addictive as cocaine or nicotine.

Eat and feed responsibly.

Download the full report here---> CEREAL REPORT

November 25, 2011

PERFUME TO SWALLOW

Synthetic biologist, Sheref Mansy, and Amsterdam-based artist, Lucy McRae, are giving pheromones a run for their money--literally! The two entrepreneurs are behind Swallowable Parfum--an ambitious cosmetic project that aims to produce capsules that can be metabolized into fragrance in accordance to the body's temperature, level of stress, and sexual arousal.

SWALLOWABLE-PARFUM

HAPPINESS, CREATIVITY AND EQUALITY

American urban studies theorist, Richard Florida, explores the correlation between happiness, creativity, and equality in his latest piece for The Atlantic. According to his findings, a creative nation makes for happier people and less social inequality. Of course, this is the condensed version. You can read the entire article here.

Creativity3

Creativity

September 19, 2011

HEALTH CONSCIOUS HISPANICS

Because of a historical mistrust in government and healthcare agencies among many Hispanics living in the United States, The National Cancer Institute and LIVESTRONG have partnered up to fund The Patient Navigator Research Program--a program dedicated to bridging the gap between healthcare and the community. The initiative works by implementing community leaders as "navigators" and stationing them in different cancer centers in cities with large Hispanic populations. Those navigators or "promotoras," as some of the female ones call themselves, then help patrons fill out medical documents, translate important information, answer questions, and overall empower decisions concerning their care.

Navigator2

Navigator 

September 14, 2011

HAITIAN REFUGEE WOES

Nearing the two year anniversary mark of Haiti's devastating earthquake, a recent article in the The New York Times reports of dwindling patience and sympathy for the impoverished country by its bordering neighbor, the Dominican Republic. The piece highlights how conditions in Haiti have deteriorated from bad to worse as health issues like cholera and a government stalemate have added to the country's cocktail of setbacks. Add that to the fact that the general Dominican consensus blames Haitians for driving up crime and taking jobs, and sentiments appear to be bleaker than ever.

Haiti

Haiti2

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The República Update is a lifestyle destination that delivers quality and relevant information to its community of readers. We cover events, pop culture, branding, trends, technology, the arts and social issues from a multicultural perspective.