Ben & Jerry’s Tells Court It Doesn’t Want ‘Judea and Samaria’ Flavor

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Could the new owner of Ben & Jerry’s Israeli business interests rename a flavor “Judea and Samaria”?

Avi Zinger, who bought the company’s Hebrew and Arabic branding from parent company Unilever last month, recently told an Israeli news outlet that he had the right to do so, and even proposed renaming “Chunky Monkey” the Biblical name for the West Bank.

And that threat, Ben & Jerry’s lawyers say, is reason enough why the sale shouldn’t legally go through. (Read more from “Ben & Jerry’s Tells Court It Doesn’t Want ‘Judea and Samaria’ Flavor” HERE)

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Popular Children’s Toy Store Makes Startling Comeback

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Toys R Us, the beloved children’s toy store, is officially back inside Macy’s locations in 9 states, with more “coming soon.”

The retailer did a Christmas in July-type announcement, saying all locations will be complete by October 15, just in time for the holiday shopping season.

Current locations are in California, Georgia, New Jersey, Illinois, Nevada, Louisiana, New York, Maryland and Missouri, according to the Macy’s website. The additional locations opening soon across the country are listed as well.

The in-store shops range from 1,000 square feet up to 10,000 square feet. Larger locations dubbed “flagship locations” will be in Atlanta, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco.

Macy’s said stores could add another 500 to 3,000 square feet during the holiday season to offer “an even wider assortment of products.” (Read more from “Popular Children’s Toy Store Makes Startling Comeback” HERE)

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Scientists Create the First Synthetic Embryos

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Researchers in Israel have created the world’s first “synthetic embryos” in a landmark study, without using sperm or egg cells.

Scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, were able to make stem cells taken from mice form early embryo-like structures, including a gastrointestinal tract, a beating heart, and the early stages of a brain. The embryos are considered “synthetic” because they were not derived from a fertilized egg — but preliminary results suggest that “synthetic embryos” are fairly similar to natural embryos.

“Remarkably, we show that embryonic stem cells generate whole synthetic embryos, meaning this includes the placenta and yolk sac surrounding the embryo,” said Dr. Jacob Hanna, who headed the study. “We are truly excited about this work and its implications.”

Researchers believe that this breakthrough could offer alternatives to animal experimentation and pave the way for new stem cell growth for human transplants. Skin cells could be potentially transformed into bone marrow stem cells, for example, to help treat patients suffering from leukemia. The demand for donated organs often outstrips the supply, and the immune system naturally attacks foreign cells, requiring already weakened patients to take immunosuppressant drugs after a transplant. Being able to grow tissues from a patient’s DNA could bypass many of the compatibility issues current transplants face and greatly increase the availability of the treatment.

The synthetic embryos are not thought to have the potential to develop into fully-formed animals, and only 0.5% of the observed stem cells combined to grow distinctive tissue, although those tissues seemed fully functional and “95%” similar to natural tissues in basic structure. (Read more from “Scientists Create the First Synthetic Embryos” HERE)

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Bears Eat Star Athlete, Rich Tourist Couple After Helicopter Crash In Rugged Wilderness

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A wealthy couple and their pilot were tragically mauled and eaten by wild bears after their helicopter crashed in the Russian wilderness last week.

Zoya Kaygorodova and Sergey Kolesnyak, a couple in their 30s, were on a pricey tour of the Russian Far East, flying high above the Kamchatka peninsula on the Sea of Okhotsk when the helicopter flown by famous Russian biathlete Igor Malinovsky went down. Authorities said the chopper ran into bad weather.

“The missing aircraft was found by a passing helicopter on the afternoon of July 17 near the Semyachik pass, 13 kilometers from the Uzon volcano,” the Russian Emergencies Ministry said in a statement. “Unfortunately, no one survived the crash.”

European news reports say the wreckage and three mangled bodies were recovered near Kamchatka, Newsweek reported Tuesday.

Malinovsky, just 25 years old and a five-time world junior biathlon champion, reportedly lost communication due to the bad weather conditions shortly before the chopper crashed. Russian media said Malinovsky was from the Kamchatka region. (Read more from “Bears Eat Star Athlete, Rich Tourist Couple After Helicopter Crash in Rugged Wilderness” HERE)

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Apple Watch Saves Life of Woman With Heart Tumor: ‘It Truly Saved My Life’

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A woman from Maine is now recovering from surgery to remove what would have been a deadly heart tumor, and she has Apple Watch to thank for her new lease on life.

Kim Durkee, 67, said that for three nights in a row back in May, her Apple Watch alerted her that she may be in atrial fibrillation, otherwise known as an abnormal heart arrythmia. At first, she dismissed the alerts and presumed that the watch may have been malfunctioning.

“The third night, the numbers went a little too high for comfort,” Durkee said. “Then I said, ‘You know what? Go to the emergency room. If they tell you it’s nothing to worry about, then toss the watch.”

Though she had no other symptoms, she visited local doctors in Maine, who confirmed that she was, indeed, in atrial fibrillation. And the cause of the A-fib nearly floored her: a myxoma, a rare tumor that forms in primitive connective tissue, usually in the heart. In Durkee’s case, the myxoma had obstructed blood flow in her heart, causing the arrythmia. If gone undetected, it would’ve likely resulted in a stroke. (Read more from “Apple Watch Saves Life of Woman With Heart Tumor: ‘It Truly Saved My Life’” HERE)

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Man Survives 18 Hours Adrift at Sea by Clinging to Half-Deflated Soccer Ball

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A 30-year-old North Macedonian man is alive today, thanks to a small soccer ball that children 80 miles away had lost ten days earlier.

Some time earlier this month, a man known only as “Ivan” was vacationing with friends near Kassandra, Greece. They were enjoying time on the beach when a strong current swept three people, including Ivan, far out to sea. Ivan’s friends alerted authorities, who immediately sprang into action, but despite a thorough search, no one could find him.

Meanwhile, Ivan found himself lost at sea with little hope of rescue when a small half-deflated kids soccer ball drifted right into his path. He grabbed hold of the ball and clung to it for dear life. Eighteen hours later, a helicopter from the Greek Air Force finally spotted him.

Ivan was taken to the hospital, where his father and even the local mayor were able to visit with him.

“I had constant information on the course of the rescue and am very happy about the smooth ending of the young man’s adventure,” Anastasia Chalkia, the mayor of Kassandra, wrote in a translated Facebook post. “The young man found a ball that saved his life as he helped him when he got tired.” (Read more from “Man Survives 18 Hours Adrift at Sea by Clinging to Half-Deflated Soccer Ball” HERE)

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Marijuana Users More Likely to Need Emergency Care and Hospitalization, Study Finds

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A new study suggests recreational marijuana smokers may be at an increased risk of needing emergency room care or hospitalization compared with those who do not use cannabis.

Canadian researchers behind the study published in BMJ Open Respiratory Research compared health data from nearly 4,800 people who reported using marijuana in the preceding 12 months with data from 10,000 people who don’t use.

The goal of the study was to examine whether there was a link between marijuana use and respiratory-related hospitalizations or emergency room visits. While researchers found no strong association with marijuana use and respiratory-related hospital visits and deaths, they found overall visits to emergency rooms and hospitalizations for any reason was higher among those who used marijuana. The analysis was adjusted for 31 other confounding factors, such as physical and mental health diseases, tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use.

Cannabis users were 22 percent more likely than those who don’t use to land in the emergency room or become hospitalized for any reason, suggesting use of the drug may be associated with negative health outcomes. Bodily injury was the top reason for emergency department visits and hospitalizations among marijuana users, while respiratory issues came in second. (Read more from “Marijuana Users More Likely to Need Emergency Care and Hospitalization, Study Finds” HERE)

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400K Chinese Items Pulled off Costco Shelves Over Dangerous Defect

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Over 400,000 patio umbrellas sold at big box retailer Costco have been recalled due to a malfunction that can cause them to burst into flames.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the recall announcement this week after six reported incidents of product malfunction.

“The firm has received six reports of the lithium-ion batteries overheating,” the commission wrote. “This includes three reports of solar panels catching fire while charging via the AC adapter indoors and two reports of umbrellas catching fire when the solar panel puck overheated and caught fire while attached to the umbrella and one smoke inhalation injury.” . . .

“Consumers should immediately stop using the umbrellas, remove the solar panel puck containing a lithium-ion battery from the top of the umbrella, store the puck out of the sun and away from combustible material and do not charge the puck with the AC adapter.” (Read more from “400K Items Pulled off Costco Shelves Over Dangerous Defect” HERE)

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For more information on these defective Sunvilla Chinese products, click HERE.

For information on Sunvilla’s imports from China, click HERE.

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Creepy Report: Alexa Working On Allowing Conversations With Dead Relatives

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. . .According to the Sun, Alexa could be getting a new feature that would let you talk to a dead relative.

The report called the idea “creepy,” but said it anyway is being tested.

It is intended to “speak to you in the voice of deceased friends, family or loved ones.” . . .

Rohit Prasad, a spokesman for Amazon, apparently explained is is to “make the memories last.”

The software apparently, after hearing someone’s voice for less than a minute, can simulate that voice when speaking. (Read more from “Creepy Report: Alexa Working On Allowing Conversations With Dead Relatives” HERE)

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Largest Ever Florida Python Discovered, and the Contents of Its Stomach Will Blow Your Mind

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Field biologists discovered an 18-foot invasive Burmese python weighing 215 pounds in the Florida Everglades.

Researchers from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida believed their scale was broken when they weighed the beast, as none of them could comprehend a Burmese python would ever grow so huge, National Geographic reported Tuesday. The snake, the largest ever discovered in Florida, was captured using a male scout snake with a GPS tracker attached to it, the outlet continued. Burmese pythons are effectively impossible to spot without scout snakes, according to BroBible. . .

Inside her digestive tract, the researchers found “tan goop with bits of fur,” dissolved bone and three intact hoof cores belonging to a deer, National Geographic reported. Only 73 different animal species have been discovered inside of Florida Burmese python guts, including 24 mammals, 47 birds and two reptiles, according to the outlet. (Read more from “Largest Ever Florida Python Discovered, and the Contents of Its Stomach Will Blow Your Mind” HERE)

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