Welcome to the Change of Command Ceremony for Camp Lemonnier. I'm Commander James DeVall, Executive Officer for Camp Lemonnier, and I'll be the Master of Ceremonies today. While the Change of Command Ceremony you witness today is not prescribed specifically by any U.S. Navy regulations, it is a unique product of the rich heritage of the naval tradition. Customers established that the ceremony shall be formal and impressive, designed to reinforce the respect for authority that is vital to any military organization. The heart of the ceremony is the formal reading of official orders by the relieving officer and the officer to be relieved. Command passes when the relieving officer states, I relieve you, and the officer being relieved responds, I stand relieved. This simple procedure signifies the transfer of total responsibility, authority, and accountability from one individual to another. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the arrival of the official party the creating of the colors, the national anthems of Djibouti and the United States, and the invocation. Motion, post the side voice. Lemonnier, arriving. United States Navy, arriving. Africa Central, arriving. We thank you for giving us Captain Kraus and for the care she has provided to the people of Camp Lemonnier, to our partner nations, and to our host nation of Djibouti. Accompany her as she transitions to new forms of service elsewhere. May your spirit also rest upon Captain Kensa, who will now lead Camp Lemonnier. Grant her diligence in leadership, energy in service, clear vision, and standard judgment. As we transfer the responsibilities of this command, brace us with your presence so that we may be renewed in our work of service with honor. Amen. Chaplain, thank you. Military personnel, on cover. Two, ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. It is my distinct pleasure to introduce Commander Navy Region Europe, Africa Central, for your Admiral Maas. Good morning, CODJ. Welcome, honored guests, our Djiboutian leaders, allies, friends, families, Dr. Davion here, and the men and women of Camp Lemonnier. Thank you for your attendance today at this change of command ceremony as we recognize the accomplishments of Captain Suzanne Krause and welcome aboard Captain Eilish Kencell to CLDJ. The Navy's and the United States Department of Defense only permanent operating base on the African continent. Your attendance honors all of us here, demonstrates our collective commitment to regional security and stands as a testament to Captain Krause's tremendous impact while in command. As we transfer authority, responsibility, and accountability of Camp Lemonnier, I want to thank the personnel who day in and out worked hard to accomplish the priorities set forth by Captain Krause. To all of the sailors present here and on post today, including the 80% of the uniformed staff who are reserve sailors, thank you for your commitment, professionalism, and the tremendous sacrifice that you and your families make which directly impacts the overall success of our mission in Africa and around the globe. A change of command is a time-honored ceremony which gives us the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of an outgoing CO and to look ahead to the future tenure of the incoming commanding officer. Now, usually after a change of command, the new CO has a little bit of time to settle in, but it wasn't the case for you, Sudan. It's been almost a year to the day since you took the helm here at CLDJ, and as you all know, it's been a whirlwind tour. Within a few days of taking command, President Biden ordered the evacuation of the United States Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan in response to an escalating civil war. That order was then expanded to assist in the departure of American citizens and designated personnel in the region. Within a matter of days, Suzanne poshered the base to prepare for a joint U.S. search response. And within 24 hours of notification, this critical CLDJ team provided security, food, shelter, and religious accommodation to the evacuees as they awaited transport to the United States. Through Suzanne's leadership, they supported 358 sorties, 188 evacuees, 1600 passengers, and 2 million pounds of cargo. All of this while ensuring zero mission interruptions. It was truly an amazing feat, one in which she quickly earned the call sign crisis, and it really was just the beginning of what she would see in command over the next year. In that same vein of emergency response, Captain Kraus worked with the Djiboutians to create an integrated airport emergency service response and also created trilateral training opportunities for American, French, and Djiboutian firefighters. Additionally, her participation in Exercise Bull Shark allowed U.S. forces, European Union naval forces, and the Djiboutian Navy and Coast Guard an opportunity to conduct joint crisis response and personnel recovery, further expanding our capabilities and interoperability. Throughout all of the aforementioned events, you also had a base to run. You commanded nearly 800 military, 1700 contractors, 25 civilian personnel, and the 38 tenant commands who were on this base you assisted each and every day. You and your staff managed a $73 million boss contract, $37 million in assets, and the largest U.S. Navy overseas dispersing office. You were responsible for providing 24-7 air operations, port security, housing, and galley recreation, and utility services for more than 5,000 personnel stationed here. And you met every challenge head-on with steadfast determination. Whenever there was an issue, I had no doubt you would find your way through it or around it, and you would improve this base for the future. Your absent is by far the most diverse and operational of the Navy's regions and CLDJ the most dynamic of its installations. There is no one I would have rather had in the seat than you Suzanne. A leader who kept her team focused on meeting its operational requirements all the while taking care of everyone deployed here. Our CNO talks about war fighters, war fighting, and the foundation. And to you Suzanne, along with all of your sailors and officers, know that each of you exemplifies what is meant by those three words. On top of all of that, you use your diplomatic skills to cultivate positive relationships with allies, partners, and the Djiboutian government. You also maintain routine interaction with our allies stationed around Djibouti and represented the United States in nearly 100 multinational distinguished visitor and ambassador level events. Suzanne, your impact is evident. It is clear by the people here today and the relationships you've built throughout Djibouti and across the region that you have the innate ability to inspire an impeccable work ethic and you are a leader who will be sorely missed. You led this team through so much and I thank you for everything you have done and everything you have given to them. There's been a cost that goes beyond just what I've talked about here. It comes from others as well. Being away from your husband, Scott and your children, Rebecca, Jenna, Liberty, Scout and Fletcher, I'm sure are ready to have you back. It's a huge sacrifice for everyone. Family is everything and we could not do their job without your support. Thank you, Scott, for all that you did to support Suzanne so she could do all those things I talked about. Our nation has its costs and its sacrifices that loved ones pay for without recognition, medals or awards. And though my wife can't be here with me, please know that both Carrie and I acknowledge and truly appreciate the invaluable support families provide as our Navy and its sailors answer the call to serve. Suzanne, you've done an incredible job. Fair wins in following seas. Eilish, I want to officially welcome you to CLDJ. From your past deployments, I know that you fully understand the environment that CLDJ finds itself in and that experience will serve you well as you assume command. You have an incredible team of sailors, soldiers and partners in this room rely on every one of them. As instability across the region continues, this next year will be unrelentingly fast-paced and unpredictable. I'm excited to see you operate in such a dynamic environment and I know our relationship with Djibouti and all of our partners here will continue to thrive under your watch. As you get ready to take the seat, I feel it is important to remind ourselves why we take the time to recognize your assumption of command. In my view, selection for command at any level is the ultimate compliment to an officer, a responsibility like no other. And if done correctly, with your heart and soul invested, it is the hardest and the most rewarding job you will ever have. I would like to paraphrase the following from the latest US Navy charge of command. The responsibility of command is absolute. You remain accountable for both the action and the inaction as well as the outcomes that make your team better. You are absolutely responsible for every aspect of your command. Eilish, the mantle of leadership is now on you. Suzanne, thank you again. Your leadership has been an inspiration to the team. I can feel it in them when I talk to them, when I walk around. You are the right person at the right time to navigate all of the challenges that CLDJ has faced over the past year. Eilish, the challenges remain and the world itself, especially in this AOR, stands on the precipice of their danger and challenges. Continue to build on the foundation, train and protect your warfighters and stand ready to lead our warfighting efforts if called upon. I look forward to seeing you continue to build on the foundation of success that has been laid here as you take the helm. Thank you all. May God bless the United States, our partners and allies in the United States Navy. Thank you. Thank you for your kind remarks. Cross, front and center. Rear Admiral Collins will now present Captain Krauss' End of Tour Award. Guests, please stand for the presentation of the award. Terry Personnel, attention to award. This is to certify that the President of the United States of America has awarded the Legion of Merit Gold Star and Louis II Award to Captain Suzanne J. M. Krauss, United States Navy for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services as commanding officer Camp Lemonnier Djibouti from April, 2023 to April, 2024. Given this 16th day of April, 2024, signed C. S. Gray Vice Admiral, United States Navy, Commander, Naval Installations Command. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. It is my honor to introduce Captain Krauss, and Acting Officer Camp Lemonnier. Good morning and welcome to Camp Lemonnier. Admiral's, Generals, Ambassadors, Charger DeFaire, honored guests. I want to begin by saying thank you to Lieutenant Bravilla and everyone who played a part making this ceremony a reality. It is a big lift and I am humbled by your efforts. Post 1 Marines and the VMM Sailors and the color guard sharp as ever. Thank you. Admiral Collins, thank you for entrusting me with command of this installation which is critical to supporting our fleets, tenants, and allied operations in this region. Thank you to our contribution partners who have joined us today.  I have now spent two years of my adult life in your country and I am so appreciative for your hospitality and your friendship as we have worked together toward our common goals of regional security and stability. Thank you to the foreign partners and allies who join us in these common goals who have joined us here today. To the leaders of Camp 38 Tenant Commands what you do here in Djibouti and the Horn of Africa matters and it has been an honor to support your work providing a joint force with shore based responsive options for conflict and crisis response. Command Master Chief Pied and Commander Duval you are the boots. Thank you for being by my side supporting me, advising me, and personally taking on the burden of command. I am grateful to have had such an amazing tryout. Thank you to my family, my parents, who's unwavering support enables me to take the hard jobs half way around the world. I worked here to support a mission that I believe in and your sacrifice was not in vain. To my husband Scott who's here with us today, Scott can you stand up? I would like for you and I would like for you to look behind you to see the joint forward deployed team that really enhances the peace and deters our adversaries. This is the team that I have supported and who have supported me while standing the watch. Thank you. I have been mobilized for 507 days today. That's 507 times that I've said I miss you. 507 times that I told you I love you 507 times that I promised you I would be home soon. And in the months after I return home, we'll send Fletcher off to his first Navy midshipman cruise, move Scout to Korea for her year abroad, commission liberty into the Navy, visit Jenna in her new home in Montana and give Rebecca away in marriage to Clayton. Scott, my favorite place in the world is with you. Thank you. I'm Collin's one of some Camp Lemonnier's major milestones for the past year so I would like to spend some time talking to CLDJ staff. Sailors, civilians, and contractors of Camp Lemonnier, I have been unavoidably transformed serving as your skipper. You are the Navy's most critical asset and you have been my strength and my sunshine. Your commitment to our mission and our Navy is visible every day in the work that you do and the motivation that you put in. I know that as skipper, I see you at your best, but I want you to know and believe that your best is pretty remarkable. It has not been an easy year. In fact, it has been quite challenging. This commitment to service requires sacrifice. Over the past year while serving, we have lost parents and grandparents back at home. We have had children born back at home, some mid-tour another within a day of leaving for Djibouti. We've had sailors study for and pass their professional engineering exam while others deferred their acceptance to medical school. We've had sailors graduate from the Navy and sailors who have run the famed Grand Barra. We've also had nearly 50 sailors and Marines push forward and play hard, securing the win in the last 30 seconds of Camp's Army Navy football game. I hope there are some still here who remember that day.  I leave here better because of you. Eili, welcome to Djibouti. You have a CLDJ team here who is trained, resilient, bold in their actions and ready to ensure that from the shore our Navy can support, develop and deploy the world's most capable joint force. You will undoubtedly continue to face challenges in the AOR this year, but I am confident that this tremendous team under your leadership is ready to meet these challenges with honor, courage and commitment. Sailors, I ask that you continue to support one another. I ask that you continue to give your best and rise to the challenge of the mission and for one last time as your Camp Lemonnier Skip. I ask, who's crushing it today? Remain seated and uncovered for the reading of the orders. I will now read my orders. Viewpers, orders number 0413 when directed by reporting senior Detach in April 2024 as commanding officer Camp Lemonnier Djibouti report to commander US naval forces Europe, Africa. I will now read my orders. Viewpers, orders 05261999 when directed return to active duty and report to commanding officer Camp Lemonnier Djibouti as her relief. Ladies and gentlemen, the commanding officer Camp Lemonnier. Bonjour and good morning. I would like to echo rear animal columns and Captain Krause in expressing my gratitude for the attendance of our many distinguished guests. I'm honored to assume command of Camp Lemonnier here in Djibouti. I know how important this installation is to regional security and stability in the Horn of Africa and I look forward to continuing our long legacy of partnership with our Djiboutian hosts and regional allies. The warm embrace I have received since arriving in Djibouti has been overwhelming more than one and while I will soon adjust to the heat I hope. I know I will always be responsive to camaraderie and mutual support I have encountered in the past two weeks. Merci beaucoup. That being said, I believe the most awesome thing I've witnessed since arriving is the complexity of the operations of this camp and the professionalism and expertise of all those who work to ensure those operations run smoothly. Suzanne, your team here operates as a well-off machine and the genuine respect and admiration you have for them and they have for you is inspiring. I hope I can fit into the hole you leave behind and continue to serve the camp as well if you have. To the sailors, soldiers and airmen of Camp Lemonnier I am energized by your dedication and your ability to make the most of the environment you are in. I am committed to being a positive contribution to an already positive command. There are two things I would ask of you first that you respect one another we cannot be successful as a force if we do not see the humanity of those around us and appreciate the daily challenges each of us face. Second, I ask you to remember the ancient Roman proverb fortes fortuna yuba which means fortune favors the bold. We see evidence of the truth of this proverb throughout history and specifically in the history of the U.S. Navy from John Paul Jones to Dora Miller, our galley Sam's namesake. America has a long tradition of boldness and I challenge you to continue it. Be bold, make a difference while you are here, try something new step out of your comfort zone embrace that feeling because it is in that space that we grow. I know that my time here will push the edges of my comfort zone and I look forward to sharing that experience with each of you. I would like to say again how humbled I am to be in this position let's have a great year, thank you. Ex-O take charge and carry out the plan of the day. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the benediction. Almighty God we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces our civil servants, our diplomats and our contractors serve our country at home or abroad especially those who live here at Camp Le Mansier. Defend them this day with your heavenly grace strengthen them in their trials and temptations. Surround them with honor give them courage to face the perils that may come their way and grant them a sense of your abiding commitment wherever they may be. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen this concludes our change of command ceremony. Captain Kraus and Captain Cancel the refreshments in the rear of the room thank you for joining us today. Rogue Yarn


I am Namusha Alemna, I work at INRI, we're back at scale program, and a capacity development expert. How many of you are born in rural areas? Show me your hand. Yes, in villages, rural areas. Thank you. Like some of you here, I was born in a rural village in Ethiopia, some 200 kilometers north of Addis Ababa. I was among the first born boys in my family. The first born was all boys. I grew up sharing domestic and farm activities, as you can imagine. They are all boys, and it is our responsibility to share all the domestic work, including fetching water, fetching firewood, and except making injera, that's just a taboo. Except making injera, I do all the other domestic activities. In my school age, I walk to school barefoot, you can imagine. Barefoot on a rocky and rough road, and in a cold and windy weather. And the hardship of rural life makes me work hard in school, and to be very resourceful in my studies. Actually, my hard work in school gives proof, and after graduation, I get my first job in the northern part of Ethiopia. I get married there, and have three wonderful children. As I have done in my home village, I share domestic responsibilities, domestic work, with my wife. Cleaning the dishes, and souping the floor, all other activities. And she enjoys my company, especially in the kitchen. She loves when I just accompany her, attend her, when we prepare food together in the kitchen. But she does not want our neighbors to know that I do domestic work, especially in the kitchen. I don't take it seriously until a shocking event happens at home, which actually makes me think about men sharing domestic work. It is a Sunday morning, it was a very bright, beautiful morning, and I am cleaning, sweeping the floor, while my wife is preparing a delicious breakfast in the kitchen. My dear, someone is knocking at the door, my wife says. Soon after, a lover, who is actually a woman, enters our house through the bathroom, and on seeing me, sweeping the floor, she screams. She immediately goes back. Honestly, I was shocked by what I see, and I remain speechless for a moment, not knowing what wrong did I do, and what actually makes a woman behave like that. I ask my wife about the situation, why the woman is just reacting like that. Looking at me and smiling, my wife invites me to take a seat. I sat down, and we have a conversation about the situation. In that conversation, I learned that part of the country is culturally unwelcome for men to take part in domestic work. That event was a turning point for me, it was a defining moment for me. Since that time, I started to think about how culture matters, how cultural differences matter, how social norms and values really determine what is expected of men and women in society. Gradually, I grew interest in social issues and decided to study social sciences. I did my master's in rural social development at Reading University in UK. Upon return to my home country, I teach courses in rural physiology, extension education, and do research in local knowledge systems, farm renovations, particularly women farm renovators. In my research, I learned that women actually innovate. They are resourceful, they are knowledgeable, they are innovative, but the point is, men, their husbands, speak about women's innovations. That was also another fact. Women face cultural resistance to innovate and improve their livelihoods. They are seen as troublemakers and illusionists. I remember one woman innovator in Tigray region where I worked during that time, her name is just Lata Brahman, and she was a widow and she leads her own family. One of the challenges women face is lack of male labor. So she let her farm out through a chair cropping arrangement. She decided to plow herself. So plowing is a tapu in Ethiopia, as is cooking for a man. So she starts to plow herself and she hides herself when she sees men coming from a distance. She looks at the auction there, so she hides herself, because just to avoid ridiculing and criticism from the society. So you can see the kind of challenges women face and under what conditions do they really innovate. Re-cognizing and empowering women in general, women innovators, it requires consultations, engagements with local leaders, institutions and community members through community-based participatory processes. And it is only so often an active dialogue with community members and local leaders that social culture norms which restrict women from taking part in development in decision-making can be addressed. At Illy, I see my role as a knowledge broker and community organizer. I contribute to Illy's mission by helping supporting Illy research programs, put knowledge to use and get the science right, particularly to the partners and pastoralists. I help scientists translate research knowledge into learning and extension materials and communicating, sharing knowledge with communities and development partners to have impact at scale. Thank you for your attention.


Item number, SCP-248, Object Class, SAFE. Special Containment Procedures. SCP-248 is to be kept in a fireproof safe in Dr. Meis's office, unless being used directly for testing purposes. The SAFE has a keypad style opening mechanism. Any personnel of at least level 2 security clearance have full permission to access SCP-248, as the numeric code is... Description. SCP-248 is a 25-page booklet of stickers, each reading 110% with a small pressed imprint of the words, the factory, in the bottom right corner. The booklet itself is 7.5 cm in height and 15 cm in length. Each page of SCP-248 contains two of the stickers, making a total of what would be 50, but circumstances before its discovery have left only 49 stickers. SCP-248 was discovered at a small house in... Georgia. The object came to the Foundation's attention after one of the stickers was placed on an old, half-disassembled tractor in the family's barn by the youngest son, Ronnie... The tractor was suddenly able to operate as if it were fully functional, despite lacking much of the engine and frame. Agents removed SCP-248 and the tractor from the family in exchange for a bogus coupon for free pesticides for the farm. The family was administered Standard Class A amnestics. Dr. Meis received SCP-248 upon its arrival to site and took deep interest in its apparent abilities. The tractor is now labeled SCP-248-1. Testing of SCP-248 has been approved by Dr. Meis. Remaining stickers in SCP-248. 46. Addendum 248-1. SCP-248-1 is a 1979 John Deere tractor in an extremely rusted state. Most of the engine is missing, apparently from a restoration that was never completed. The frame is also partially missing near the rear of the tractor, where the driver would be positioned. A sticker from SCP-248 is located near the back behind the left wheel. Upon turning the key to the ignition, SCP-248-1 starts up and operates as if it were in pristine condition. It is capable of achieving speeds up to 42 km per hour, slightly faster than a typical tractor of that specific model. Though the tractor operates with no engine, gasoline is still required to maintain power. Removal of the gas tank resulted in SCP-248-1 becoming non-functional in all aspects. The whole of SCP-248-1 is to be held in one of the hangars at Site B for future tests regarding the need for fuel but lack of engine to create forward motion. Addendum 248-2. Testing of SCP-248 on a brand computer. A sticker from SCP-248 was placed on the motherboard of the computer, which was then started up like usual. The speed of the computer was greatly enhanced, as noted by Dr. P. P. the owner of the computer. Diagnostics of the PC reveal the disk space to have increased from its maximum of 250 gigabytes to 275 gigabytes, as expected. The RAM had also reached the expected 110% efficiency. However, the interior was also experiencing similar results. The heat sink was pulling off 10% more heat than usual, and the conductivity of the wiring was allowing electricity to flow 10% more smoothly than the best modern superconductors. Why the wiring is achieving such a high rate of non-resistant flow, compared to the heat sink slightly above optimal cooling, is not understood at this time. Removal of the battery rendered the computer useless, just as in Addendum 248-1. Further study of SCP-248 in power supplies has been noted for future tests. Dr. P. P's computer is now labeled SCP-248-2 and is to be kept in Dr. Myse's top desk drawer. The drawer is opened via numeric keyboard. The password to which is Dr. Myse has requested that future tests regarding electronics attempt to focus, at least partially, on the implications of this high conductivity. Some form of electricity producing turbine or power plant could potentially increase energy production a thousand fold. Addendum 248-3. Testing of SCP-248 on organic matter. A sticker from SCP-248 was placed on the forearm of a Class D who volunteered to work with this unknown SCP, rather than being transferred to Site-19 for Keter duty. Initial reaction to the sticker yielded no results. Subject received none of the additional enhancements as seen in previous tests. After 60 minutes of exposure, the subject was still unchanged. Retrieval of the sticker was ordered to test the item's adhesive properties. Agent had difficulty removing the sticker, while the subject was claiming to experience extreme pain during the attempted retrieval. After a small talk with Dr. Myse, Agent removed the sticker with much of the subject's skin still stuck to it. Microscopic examination revealed that the resin had bonded to the subject's flesh in the same way navy grade tape bonds to the sides of submarines, to withstand tremendous pressures. Chemical testing of the resin itself shows that it is consistent with average mass produced resin, used in everyday scotch tape. The chunk of skin was labeled SCP-248-3 by Dr. Myse, and is now held in a vacuum sealed plastic container. It is stored in the same fireproof safe as SCP-248 in Dr. Myse's office. Addendum 2484. Testing of SCP-248 on SCP-248-1. Attempted removal of sticker. Agent asked to try and remove the sticker with his fingers. After a few moments of failed attempts at scratching it off, said agent is given tools to use. Tweezers, a pair of pliers, a pocket knife, a chisel, and a hunting knife had no effect on the sticker itself. This test, along with test 2483, confirm that the adhesive has properties beyond our understanding. After failing to remove the sticker, a second sticker was added near the first to test if SCP-248 has stackable abilities. The first speed trial observed SCP-248-1 reaching 84 km an hour, which is indeed 220%. However, after a 15 minute period, the tractor showed advanced signs of oxidation wear. After a total of 36 minutes of use with both stickers, SCP-248-1 had almost completely turned to rust and lost all form. At this point, the stickers fell free from the pile of rust and were gathered by Dr. Myse for testing. Results show that the resin had formed a chemical bond, as with the biological matter, and only broke that bond after the original composition of the matter it was attached to had changed. It should be noted that there is no longer resin on the stickers, and they no longer stick to surfaces. SCP-248-1 neutralized. If this item was mass produced, like it is assumed that other factory SCPs were, we could have potentially struck gold. If a power grid can be made to function without the degenerative effects of SCP-248, free-flowing power could be possible at room temperature. I will personally begin researching the factory and its whereabouts as soon as High Command approves. Dr. Myse. Lesson complete. If you missed the previous orientation, go watch SCP-247, a harmless kitten, right now. Or for the complete course, watch this playlist.


In this movie, I will summarize how neural crest cells are generated in the chicken embryo. The neural crest is a population of multipotent embryonic cells unique to vertebrates, which migrate from the dorsal neural tube early in development to give rise to a diverse array of derivatives, including smooth muscle cells, osteoblasts, adipocytes, chondrocytes, melanocytes, glia of the peripheral nervous system and neurons. How are neural crest cells generated? During astrolation, the ectoderm is divided into two areas. The neural ectoderm that gives rise to the nervous system and the non-neural ectoderm that gives rise to the epidermis. Underneath the ectoderm, there is the forming mesoderm. Later, but still during astrolation, a third domain appears on the border between the non-neural ectoderm and the neural ectoderm, the neural plate border. During neuralation, as the neural plate begins to close to form the neural tube, the presumptive neural crest cells occupy the dorsal tip of the neural plate, the neural folds, and are laterally flanked by the prospective placodial ectoderm in the cranial regions and by the prospective epidermis in the trunk and tail. When the neural tube fuses, the cells from the neural crest undergo an epithelial to mesenchymal transition in a rostrocaudal wave and take on stereotypical patterns of migration and give rise to various cell types. Which are the signaling pathways involved in the formation of the neural crest? The neural crest is induced during astrolation and its early development can be explained in a two-steps process. During astrolation, an initial phase of FGF signaling from the ectoderm and mesoderm, wind signaling from the ectoderm and mesoderm, and low or negative BMP signaling from the ectoderm, induces the neural plate border. These signaling pathways integrate early development to induce the expression of a set of regulatory transcription factors, pax, socks, and zig, which specify the neural plate border. In a second phase, during neurolation, wind signaling from the ectoderm and mesoderm, and BMP signaling from the ectoderm, promote a second set of transcription factors called the neural crest specifiers. These are slack and twist. The neural crest specifiers are very important as they control neural crest behavior from epithelial to mesenchymal transition, migration, and differentiation. Once formed, the neural crest cells undergo epithelial to mesenchymal transition, start delaminating into separate cell populations, and attain migratory qualities. Although the signaling pathways implicated in neural crest development appear to be conserved among different species, the source, timing, and precise regulation show considerable variation. I hope that you now understand how neural crest induction takes place.


How do we finish this off? Once we finish building our fence, how can I cover up the Seca post fix? Sure, great question. So just like any traditional fence post installation, you fill the top portion back in with soil and you can plant grass or gravel whoever you want your landscape to look like. It's gonna be beautiful. Beautiful finish fence, like that.


OK, sorry for the delay. I guess it always happens when I'm about to present. So today I'll be talking about the next major WordPress release, 5.3, and run through a little bit of some of the things that you ask some of the new changes for developers and for end users as well. So my name is Admin. I'm a developer. I work at this local agency, Nerdmedia. I've been developing WordPress for about four to five years now. And I do mostly plug-in development. So not so much of a theme developer. And OK, so the scheduled release date for 5.3 is 12 November. And right now we are at RC2, release candidate 2. So if everything goes well, then the official release will be as the scheduled date. And what you can expect from this release, new blog editor features and improvements, a new default theme, 2020. And Admin, some Admin UI enhancements. And OK, so for the blog editor, so as some of you might already know, this blog editor actually exists as a separate plug-in itself. So it's constantly receiving a lot of updates every now and then. So with this new WordPress version, 12 of the updates from the plug-in will be merged into this 5.3. So one of the biggest improvements is the load time. So they did a test with a post of 36,000 words and 1,000 blocks. And they noticed a 1.5 seconds in load time reduction, which is quite impressive. So there is one of the new blogs they're going to include is called the group blog.  This actually sets. It's actually in preparation for the future where people are going to use blog editor to create templates instead of the current way of creating templates whereby they're just using PHP. So what you can do if this group blocks is that you can just nest an image and text and then just reuse it in other pages. And you can just move the whole thing around. And also some other improvements to the existing blocks. We have some improvements include changes to the column block, image block, table block, button block, and more. So I'll just go through this view, starting with the group blocks. So as you can see, this is how it looks like. So you can just create a group block and then insert or nest other blocks inside. So it allows some wide and full width settings and also allows you to align all your child blocks. So this is one group. It consists of the headline and the media and the text block. So this is the full width. And then you can go back to wide width. And the next is improvements to the current column block. For this one, we have right now we have this new width setting. So it allows you to adjust the width of individual columns. So previously, there's no settings for you to adjust the width. You can only select how many columns you want. So right now, you can change the width through the settings over there. And it also has this layout selector. So when you add the column block, it actually prompts you to choose how many column layout you want, which is, if you guys missed it, it's the start. So when you first add the column block, it's going to show you this little prompt. And next we have the image block. It's not so much changes to this one except that they allow you to change the style of the image. For example, from default to a circle mass setting. So it's quite useful for maybe your avatar picture or something. And the next we have table block. I'm not sure if how many of you are still using tables. But in this change, they allow you to include haters and footers to the table. So it's like a heading. And then there's a footer at the bottom and allows you to add colors as well. So this is the header, item one, item two. And then this is the body. And then at the bottom, you can also add footer. And you can have the stripe styling as well. OK. And the button block is not so much. It allows you to add border radius. There's the settings for you to include border radius to your button, which is. And it also supports this target thing. So what it allows you to do is that you can choose to open the link in the new tab, which is quite basic. But previously, I think they don't have this setting. So at the bottom there, they allow you to choose whether you want to open it in the new tab. And the slider for you to adjust the border radius. OK. And next, we have the new theme. It's called 2020. So when 5.3 is released, this will be the new default theme. So as you can see, this theme, it focuses on clarity and readability. So it actually has its own. They included this new typeface, Enter. It's a new open source font. And it's going to be shipped together with the theme. So what this, as you can see, it gets a very strong and bold personality when it comes to headers. So the theme itself is they mentioned that you can just use the theme to do all kinds of layouts. And it's very focused on being compatible with the blog editor. So here are some of the mock screenshots that they provide. As you can see, I feel that to me, when I first see it, it feels very focused on content creation, like blog, because of the single centered column. And the typeface obviously looks very readable, like what they say. And everything looks very clean. I think a lot of people mention that it's actually, from what they say, it's actually going to be the nicest default theme so far. And looking at the way things are going, it seems like it's going to be that way. So full support for the blog editor, definitely. So they actually encourage people to use the blog editor to create all kinds of layouts, because I think out of the box itself, it's pretty minimal. So they focus on a lot of you using the column and the group blocks to create all kinds of layouts. So there are also custom colors as well. You can select the background color. All these settings are in the customizer, custom colors, header and footer background color. And there's this new template. It's called cover template. So as you can see, what it does is provides you this big image overlay. And then the title of the page will be on top of the image. And you can also change the color of this overlay as well. Is this a video? I think it's a video.  I think I missed the video part for this one as well. One cool thing I find, I realized is that if you notice, the font actually changes colors itself according to the background color. So there's this automatic setting for it. They want to ensure that the contrast is there. They don't want you to select a dark background and then use a dark font. So this is quite interesting. And for this theme, it comes with two menus. On the top, there's this expanded horizontal menu. And then there's the off canvas menu. So on mobile, it comes with a menu at the footer. And on mobile, this is how it looks like. So in the customizer, you can choose whether you want to have both menus at the top or only just so for the top menu. Actually, if you don't assign any menu items to the off canvas menu, then this part will not appear. So you only have the standard expanded menu. So in this case, I actually assigned two different menus to the expanded and off canvas menu. That's why it's appearing over here. OK, so next, we have some admin enhancements. One of them, I think it's quite a big improvement. Is that it allow you to upload big images right now. I'm not sure how many of you have actually tried uploading from your phone directly. Because usually, when you take a picture of your phone, it's going to be at least three mega because it was something. So previously, before this version, what it does is when you try to upload a big image, and if your server times out, for example, then that image will not be uploaded. So when you want to re-upload again, you have to go through the whole process and then hope that your server will not time out. So what this change brings is that when you upload a big image, for example, and if your server times out, they will store the, those that have already been uploaded, they will actually store it over there. And then when you try to upload it again, the upload will resume automatically. So as you know, when you upload one image to WordPress, actually, WordPress itself generates about three default images, I think three or four. So one good thing about this is, for example, if you upload a super large image, like a 5,000 pixel image, with this new change, it actually, they will detect that the image is above the default settings. They have this default 2,560 pixel threshold limit. So if anything above that limit, they will actually reduce the image automatically to that size so that the whole thing is still web optimized. It still doesn't take too long to load. But also the cool thing is that the original image is still stored inside your uploads folder, even though it's not used. So what it's actually showing is the optimized version. But having said that, it's still always better to crop and optimize your image. So don't rely on this to optimize all your images, because it might not do a good job, it might not do something that you, I mean, at the end, the end product might not appear as what you want. So it's good for me, I always go to Photoshop and then I just save the image as web and resize it to the correct size that I want to use. So image rotation is also a big thing. For me, when I was creating this application last year, so what I required the user to do is to upload the photo from their phone. And when they upload the photo, the image itself will just rotate to the left or right. So what I need to do is that I need to install a plugin which will automatically rotate the image back to normal, which is quite interesting. I didn't expect that to happen. But right now with this release, they will actually fix that bug. So you don't have to install any additional plugins. It will just automatically rotate the image based on the active orientation metadata. So when you take a picture with your phone, the image itself inside, they have this data which includes the orientation of the image. So when you upload to WordPress, WordPress will use that data to decide what orientation the image will be in. And next, we have this small little feature, admin email notification. This is actually a security measure. So for example, if you never log into your admin to your site for about six months, I think the default value is six months. And then after six months, if you want to log in, they will show you this prompt, asking you to confirm your admin email because if your admin email is different, then you might get locked out. So this is just some security measure to ensure that you are still using the same email. There's a filter for you to change the default duration. So default is six months, you can just change it to one month or something like that. So if you haven't logged into your site for one month and then this thing will show up, can be a little bit annoying, but I think it's still better to be safe. I think it's for everyone that tries to log into the back end. Yeah. Or maybe not because it only mentions that it's only administration email. So maybe only the dose of administrator role, then you get it, I guess. Yeah. Because yeah, which is the most important one. This administration email is the one. Is it the general session? Yeah. The one in the settings where you can receive, is it password? When the new user signs up and then you receive all the notification. So I guess it only applies for our administrator. And this show hide password toggle, I think it's quite common right now in other applications. So what you can do is you click on that icon and then it actually shows you the password to make sure that you know you're not typing the wrong password. It's available for both mobile and desktop. I think it's, keep forgetting to play in video. Yeah, something like this. Damn. No, I think I took this from somewhere else. Okay, some, yeah, this is one of the many UI changes. You can, it's not very major. You probably wouldn't really notice it, but it actually brings about this coherency in the whole admin. So this is how it looks after and that is how it looks right now. So as you can see some of the buttons and the fonts and the border are actually different. So when I look at it, first it actually feels more cohesive. Feels like everything is together. Even though it's, yeah, even though it's not a big change, I think after you use it, oh wow, you'll notice it as well. So you improve color contrast for form, views and buttons. And, okay, so for developers, there are some other exciting features. So PHP 7.4 is gonna be released end of November and WordPress 5.3 will be fully supported. So it's also one of the ways they're gonna modernize the code base. And WordPress 5.3 will be, if you look into the source code for some of the functions and classes, you'll notice that the spread operator is being used. This actually brings about performance improvements. So developers should also look at the change log to make sure that they are code is also up to date. Because if I'm not wrong, there are some of the functions that are being deprecated. So it's good to take a look and make sure that when you update your site, it's still functioning well. So next is the date, time component fixes. This is actually quite a big issue. So what it does is, actually I included this link at the bottom over here. It links to this, a talk by one of the component maintainers. So he explains that how WordPress is actually breaking all the time when it comes to displaying time zones and GMT and all that kind of stuff. With this update, they actually fix displaying of date if you actually use a lot of output, a lot of all your posts, date, that kind of stuff. You might not really notice the difference, but from what I heard is if you try and create a post and then if you try and change the time zone in the settings, I mean, in your admin settings, there's this dropdown for you to change the time zone. Then that's where things will start to get a bit funky. Not really, I mean, you don't really often change the time zone, right? But when it happens, then you will realize that WordPress is actually handling time in a very, very, very shaky and prone to error way. So if you're really interested in this, you should go and watch the video. I think it's about 40 minutes. It really explains what is the issue right now. Okay, and next would be the REST API. We have some new features. One is the performance increase when you are dealing with large API responses. So with this improvement, we can expect a 30 to 40% performance increase. And the next is this Fuse underscore Fuse parameters now supports nested Fuse. I think this is, at least for me, I think this is quite a very interesting change because usually right now, if you want to, for example, in this output, if you want to display the button block text because this is a nested few. So what you need to do is you have to go to your JavaScript and then do a title.rendert to show the button block. But with this new parameter, I think it's video. No, it's not a video. With this new feature, you can just append title.rendert to the end and then you just get the button block over there as the output. So you can just output immediately without having to go to title and then.rendert. Okay, and next is search engine indexing. This is, so in the admin settings, you have this search engine visibility. So if you are working on staging, for example, you probably want to check this one so that the search engine will not index your site. But what it actually does is it just inputs this disallow statement in your robot text. So it tells the search engine not to crawl your site. But it doesn't mean when the search engine is not crawling your site, it doesn't mean that your site will not get indexed. So with this change, they will just remove the previous way of doing that and then they will just include this new robot's meta tag. It actually includes no index and no follow. So right now, if you check the box, you can be sure that your site will not be indexed and there will be no further crawling as well. Okay, and I think, yeah, so if you are interested in checking it out before the 12th of November, you can install this plugin called WordPress Beta Tester and then go to the tools beta testing and check this option to make sure that you are testing the latest release. Then you go to your dashboard and update the version. And if you're interested to find out more about the other changes, you can click on, go to this link and they just released this few guides. So it actually includes all the major improvements in WordPress 5.3. Okay, I think that's all I have. Any questions? Yeah. Yeah. Can I use short course in block editor then? Um, yes. Yeah, you can. I don't think there's any changes in that. Yeah. There's a short code block. There's a short code block, right? Yeah, so we need to put it in there. Yeah. What other change is the error handling? For the media, is it? Yeah, for media, so if you are... Yeah, so from what I read, when you upload the media, sometimes you experience the HTTP error without any explanation what is wrong. So with this update, I think they're gonna expand and be more descriptive about the error. So it covers the various 500 errors as well. So you will not just get this HTTP error anymore and at least you know what's wrong. Yep. Do you have the test release in your, the installation in your code? It's not, I can run through the theme. Oh yeah, it's working really. I'll just see if I can run through. Maybe I'll just show you the, how the theme looks like. Like you said, I think it is actually gonna be a usable thing. Yeah, actually... Probably the most since maybe in 2013. Yeah, but actually how many of us actually use the default theme? I'm not sure. Maybe for blogging or... Thinking about WordCAD next year, I'm like, yeah, would it be the same thing? Because I mean, if you want to build sites, you probably go with something like Genesis or other more popular themes. To me, I feel that the default theme is nice and it's, but I would use it for, mainly just for blogging. I probably wouldn't use that for web development, other site development. Like if you have a very small company and you're just looking at getting five pages out. Yeah, if it's a small site then, yeah, it's okay. But I mean, in the first place, we are probably already used to the theme that we use. So every time when they release a new default theme, it doesn't really make sense to just change it. But it's good to know that it's there. And it looks really presentable as well. Okay, let me see if I... Not blogging? But it's not even loading it. No, it's in your own display. This way. The comb is so laggy. So it's coming out on the 12th, WordCAD. Yeah, WordCAD, yes, is on the second, is it? So it's going to be after. I'm sure that will give a rundown of... Yeah. I don't think it's working. I can't... It's not detecting now. Too bad I can't show you the demo that I have. But if you're interested, like what I mentioned, you can download the beta test of plugin and install it. And then you will see the new theme. Terrible.


Just getting out of Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning, which I think is the seventh. This is a part one. Some of these properties have been going so long, it's almost pointless to even review them anymore. Much like Fast 10, if you're on this ride with this family, you're gonna like this film. It's not doing anything insulting by any means. Tom Cruise is still top tier. The rest of the cast is fantastic as always. It's another Mission Impossible movie. This one is long though, two hours and 50 minutes. Thankfully, you don't really feel it. It's got enough action set pieces. It's got enough interesting things going on with the story that I think you'll have a good time. I'll have a full review on my channel in just a day. Check it out.


The first challenge the Holy Spirit gives us is that your palace has a purpose means you were not saved by good works but you were saved for good works. Holy Spirit is challenging us that the reason why God, one of the reasons why God saves you is not just so that you will have a better life on earth but so you will reach out to others.  I don't want you to see your fame, your finances, I don't want you to see your success and your physical appearance as an end to itself, Esther, you're beautiful but that's not the point, use your beauty as a leverage to touch other people's lives and that's what Holy Spirit will challenge you. He's not going to challenge you to resign and says hey king I quit, I'm going to go and suffer with my people, he's going to say use what you have for the leverage of my kingdom but the second thing the Holy Spirit will challenge us with is to pay a price to reach that purpose. I think one of the reasons why we do very little about reaching out to people. Everyone loves the idea of winning souls as long as it doesn't cost me anything. As long as I don't have to stand come out of my comfort zone and as long as everybody will like me and accept me and if somebody might not like me my popularity and my acceptance is more important than them. What would happen if Jesus would say I would love to save the humans as long as they would treat me right but if it's going to smell like these guys are not going to like me forget about it, them, their earth and everything. We can burn their galaxy and make a lot new ones. Jesus never had that. He knew that there's going to be a cost in bringing salvation to me. There might be a cost of you reaching out your faith for the people because somebody say amen. I remember a story that really touched me and it's a story of an Armenian champion swimmer Shavarsh Karapetian. If he's watching listening I'm sorry if I mispronounce your name. He's a retired Soviet Armenian champion swimmer. He's an 11-time world record holder, 17-time world champion and a 13-time European champion and 7-time USSR champion. On September 16, 1976, him and his brother were running his brother Kamok or his brother's name is Kamok. They were running together for 12 miles. It was their typical workout exercise time and as they were running it was very cold outside and they saw in front of them a bus that had 92 people slid off of a bridge and fell into a water and it was about 70 feet away from them so it was not too close. It was extremely cold and this swimmer he was really good at swimming and he was really good at swimming and he had records and championships and here he has a chance to jump into a dirty cold water or to keep running. He stops, jumps into a water. He goes about 33 feet deep into a dark because it was already dark water freezing polluted water. With his hands and with his feet he breaks the window of the glass and one by one begins to pull people out. He made about 30 something dives in there. It took him from four to five seconds for each person. He brought up more than 20 people on the surface but only 20 people survived. At the end when they asked him, what do you think about what just happened? This is what he said. This is him. He said, I knew that I could only save so many lives. I was afraid to make a mistake. It was so dark down there that I could barely see anything. One of my dives I accidentally grabbed a seat instead of a passenger. I could have saved a life instead and that seat still haunts me in my nightmares. Because of this feat he became unconscious for 46 days. He lost his ability to compete because his lungs got so polluted with cold and also freezing water. He was never able to compete again because this happened during a time of Soviet Union. This story actually wasn't published until two years after this incident on the big newspaper in former Soviet Union. They posted the story and people started to literally call him a hero. Because of one newspaper he received 60,000 letters of people saying thank you for leveraging your championship for souls. But it didn't end there for this man. He was addicted to these things. In 1985 he was also walking by a building that was on fire and there were people trapped inside and not being experienced because he wasn't a firefighter. He got into the building and he saved people, almost lost his life and ended up next few months being in the hospital again. And this man was addicted not to fame, championship or titles but changing people's lives. Nobody knows about him being a champion today. Almost everybody knows him as a man who is a hero because you have to know one more thing the Holy Spirit teaches us. A reward is always greater than the risk. To see when people get saved the joy that comes from that is unparalleled. I know that about myself when in 2005, January 27th, right here in the service the pews were still blue. Two, three pews, two, three pews of just our cousins and we were praying for already five years for people to be saved and we didn't see people being saved. It was one young man who came to the service and I preached a message called exchange from guilt to justification and I preached it hot and at the end I gave first time an altar call because there was one new person there and I was doing an altar call as though there was 20 new people and that poor guy was looking at me and I was trying to do an altar call so pumping everybody up. I asked everybody to bow his bow their eyes and close his eyes and he didn't and I asked people who want to give their life to Jesus to lift their hands and before I'm looking at him he looks at me and we have our own little communication and I see he starts to cry. My heart begins to bubble inside because not only we have a new person but he's crying and he lifts his hands and gives his life to Jesus. I remember when I let him in a sinner's prayer and when that ended I hugged every person I met that night. I've experienced a mound of joy I've never done drugs but I can tell you one thing the ecstasy the joy that you receive seeing a person give their life to Jesus pales in comparison with anything. I can only understand that the day when Jesus when disciples brought him sandwiches he says guys I already have food he says I just talked to a woman and she gave her life to God and that is my food and disciples like what are you talking about and I think Peter knew what Jesus was talking about on the day of Pentecost when thousands of people got saved I think Peter at that day remembered oh that's what Jesus was talking about this is so much better than anything else. You see that I see that in other people when I remember when my friend Eder when he invited somebody and that person gave his life to Jesus and on that day Eder only slept two hours he's like I was thinking about not coming to church and he was bawling his eyes out in this service not because he got a million dollars not because he you know got a big gift or a car but just because of one thing somebody's soul got saved you may say why is that so important because the returnity is gonna change and the Holy Spirit gives you a dose of that joy to get you addicted seeing people's lives changed I would rather be addicted to seeing people's lives changed than being addicted to seeing my own life being ruined a lot of people are addicted to things that will ruin their life let's be addicted to things that will change people's eternity let's be addicted to things that would change our city and change our generation remember even when our leaders will testify and share their faith with somebody and we have a group text message and then they will send the text message saying we just shared our faith with this and that person and you see that joy you see that excitement that's why when our church begins to see more people giving their lives to Jesus there's one thing that's going to increase in our church joy joy doesn't come when we drive nice cars joy doesn't come when we build mansions you know people who have mansions and fall and throw themselves from a 19 story building and destroy themselves why because joy comes the bible says when we see people come to Jesus Christ heaven throws a party not when you get a breakthrough but when you win a soul leverage your palace leverage your gifts leverage your influence your life is very short you don't want to be known as a person who has a world record you want to be known as a person who leverages it to change a person's eternity


Did you know that burnout is the new pandemic? It is so common in today's fast-paced world that everyone is affected. How can we treat burnout? Set clear boundaries between work and personal life. Practice self-care. Take breaks. Talk to a friend. Build a positive work environment. Employers can help avoid burnout by encouraging flexible working hours. Providing physical and mental health tools, such as sharing this video. Clear communication. And providing professional development. With these tips, individuals and employers can achieve a better balance. And avoid burnout by emphasizing well-being.


Williamson's Tug Valley Runners Club will be hosting their holiday group run series this month. In preparation we spoke with club president Alexis Pataza about the event. So we've been doing this group run series for a few years now, and of course with everything that's been happening the past two years, you know, with COVID and everything, we still are continuing just to kind of keep people engaged and motivated during the holiday season. And with these runs, these are free group runs that everybody can come and show up. And that caters to everybody who wants to walk or run or just, you know, hang out, volunteer with us. But the series consists of the Thanksgiving run. It's called the Earn It Before You Eat It. And then we have a, this past Sunday we just had the Christmas Eve Eve run. And then the next two ones coming up here on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day is the run into the new year. And the next day on January 1st would be called the Hangover. For updates or for more information, you can visit the Tug Valley Runners Club Facebook page. Runners will meet in the West Williamson Community Center on December 31st at 11.40 p.m. For Mountain Top News, I'm Joel Hodgell.


And now, the benefits of spearmint. Now spearmint actually has a longer history of medicinal use than its brother, peppermint. Ancient herbalists like Pliny the Elder prescribed mint to revitalize and restore the body. This included problems like stomach ache, dandruff, bad breath, colds and respiratory problems. The Edinburgh New Dispensary recommended spearmint water as a present and incomparable remedy for strengthening a weak stomach and curing vomiting proceeding from cold viscous phlegm. And spearmint was actually more widely used than peppermint until the 20th century. But that's the past. Let's actually get into how spearmint is good for you today. Now when putting this together, I actually considered spreading it out according to the spearmint leaf tea or oil benefits. But in the end, it actually turned out to be much easier to separate according to areas of the body. So if there's a specific area of the body that you're wanting to focus in on first, you can do that. Just look at the times listed in the description down below to know where to start. Alright, let's rock spearmint lovers! Now one of the odd things about spearmint is that it actually has less research on it than peppermint. There unfortunately haven't been enough human trials for medical experts to say yes, spearmint is good for this. However, we do know lots about spearmint based on other types of trials and experiments and of course multiple centuries of personal use accounts. So I'm not making this stuff up. I mean, if it was good enough for my great great great great great great great great great great great grandma, that is good enough for me. In all seriousness, the nutritional benefits of spearmint really are quite well documented. As you can see here, spearmint contains a plethora of wonderful vitamins and minerals that include vitamin A, iron, and potassium. Spearmint also contains lots of antioxidants like rosemaryic acid, flavones, limonine and menthol. And according to researchers, spearmint shows excellent antioxidant activity against free radicals and one study extracts from spearmint prevented fat oxidation in meat. And this is important because it helps fight things like cancer and chronic diseases. Spearmint is great for bad breath. Well, yeah, that's a bit of a no-brainer. You don't really need empirical evidence to back up things this obvious, do you? But if you want a little evidence, no problem. Spearmint works because it has strong antibacterial and antimicrobial properties that break down those nasty halitosis germs.  Besides mouth issues, spearmint is probably most widely known for dealing with various digestive issues. This includes issues like indigestion, IBS, nausea, vomiting, morning sickness, and flatulence. The compound carvone, which is naturally found in spearmint, has been shown to strongly inhibit muscle contractions in the digestive tract. One study published in the Indian Journal of Pharmacology showed that spearmint tea significantly increased lipase activity of the pancreas and intestinal mucosa. Furthermore, it increased intestinal amylase activity. As well as aiding digestion overall, these extraordinary abilities might mean that spearmint tea combats problems such as cramping, bloating, and constipation as well. In an eight-week randomized study of 32 people with irritable bowel syndrome, one group was given a product containing spearmint, lemon balm, and coriander, along with low pyromide for diarrhea or psyllium for constipation. At the end of the study, people who received the spearmint-containing supplement reported less abdominal pain, discomfort, and bloating compared to those in the placebo group. We've talked about how spearmint is good for nausea and vomiting, but in one specific study involving chemotherapy patients after surgery, spearmint essential oil applied to the skin significantly reduced the incidence of nausea and vomiting compared to a placebo group. I'm lumping these three issues together because when it comes to various issues like stress, fatigue, and nervous system problems, they affect both the brain and the body. There was a large review of various animal and human studies that concluded that spearmint oil actually has pain-relieving effects. In one 16-week study of 62 people with knee arthritis, regular spearmint tea consumed twice daily reduced stiffness, pain, and physical disability. The studies have shown that given a spearmint extract, mice have actually improved their learning and memory as shown by their performance on a maze test. In a more recent study, older adults with memory impairment who are given daily supplements containing 900 mg of spearmint extract experienced a 15% improvement in working memory.  Well, it's a good thing that spearmint's good for reducing stress, too. In another study on rats, a spearmint extract was found to decrease anxiety and improve sleep. Personally, research shows that menthol has a relaxing sedative effect on the body, allowing easier sleep as well as reduced stress and anxiety. Okay, so how does this work exactly? Well, it's believed that spearmint promotes relaxation by interacting with GABA receptors in your brain. GABA is a neurotransmitter involved in reducing nerve activity. Spearmint oil has also been shown to be a big happy helper, as it can be used as a blended massage oil and an aromatherapy to help relieve headaches, stress, fatigue, and nervous conditions. Sightbar! Spearmint tea has a sweet taste but a milder flavor than peppermint tea, but it actually has more documented benefits than peppermint tea. Excellent! Yes! Who wants a spot of tea? Oh, don't mind if I do. Now the carvone found in spearmint has actually been shown to work similarly to calcium channel blockers. Go carvone! Go carvone! Go! Go carvone! In fact, in one animal study, carvone was shown to be one hundred times more potent at reducing blood vessel contractions than verapamil, a commonly used blood pressure medication. The high potassium levels found in spearmint are also crucial to maintaining healthy blood pressure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but what if you've got like diabetes or some blood sugar problems, that's all kind of messed up? I mean, can spearmint really help with that? In one study, rats were given a spearmint extract while healthy rats appeared unaffected. Rats with diabetes had significantly lower blood sugar. In another twenty-one day study in rats with diabetes, the animals given spearmint extract showed a twenty-five percent reduction in blood sugar. The iron content in a single serving of spearmint can help stimulate the production of red blood cells and hemoglobin. Now this not only prevents anemia but increases circulation to the rest of the body's extremities. Boosting energy levels and wound healing capabilities. Studies have found that spearmint oil is effective against several types of harmful bacteria and studies have shown spearmint to work against bacteria that caused foodborne illnesses such as E. coli and Listeria. Spearmint essential oil has the properties of an eminogog. Uh, holiday hooby-wobby? Eminogogs promote the secretion of estrogen and stimulate blood flow in the pelvic area and uterus, even stimulating menstruation in some cases. This helps to maintain the health of the uterus by allowing the oil to deal with issues such as early menopause, irregularities with periods, blocked menses, feelings of pain in the abdomen, nausea, and fatigue. And it doesn't stop there baby. Several studies have now been done showing the benefits of spearmint for women who are suffering from hormonal imbalances. Specifically, polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal disorder considered common among women of reproductive age. Studies and women have shown that it can decrease male hormones like testosterone while increasing female hormones necessary for ovulation, such as luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, and estradiol. This is true for spearmint essential oil as well, where study and rats found it to decrease testosterone in ovarian cysts and increase the number of viable eggs in the rat's ovaries. Drinking spearmint tea has been found to reduce hercetism, or the growth of dark coarse hair on the face, chest, and abdomen of women. In fact is a common herbal remedy for unwanted hair growth in Middle Eastern countries. Researchers in Turkey conducted controlled experiments on 21 female patients suffering from hercetism. The women drank spearmint tea twice a day for five days. The results showed that spearmint has a potential as an alternative to other forms of anti-androgenic treatment when hercetism is in a mild form. In a longer 30 day study in 41 women with PCOS, women who drank two cups of spearmint tea a day also reported a reduction in their facial hair. I need something from my cold symptoms, what do I do? Well spearmint tea has been shown to have significant impact on the health of your respiratory system due to its naturally soothing and anti-inflammatory qualities. It can help relieve sore throats and tightness in the chest, alleviating congestion and irritation. According to experts, spearmint's powerful aroma can also help clear up sinuses and even increase mental clarity. Used in aromatherapy, spearmint oil is said to help reduce nasal congestion caused by the excess buildup of phlegm and mucus in the nose and throat, thereby promoting easier breathing. Now compared to peppermint oil, spearmint oil's effects are similar, but milder. And for this reason it's earned the nickname, the gentler, mint oil. And as such, spearmint is the ideal mint option when it comes to the elderly, children, and those with sensitive skin. Used topically and cosmetically, the antioxidant quality of spearmint essential oil reduces the appearance of wrinkles and skin imperfections such as discoloration. It is believed to help reveal a new layer of skin, thus increasing the skin's resilience and elasticity. It helps to cleanse the pores and tighten the skin, which may potentially promote the speedy healing of minor abrasions. Additionally, when used on the skin as a creamer lotion, it may help relieve itching, dermatitis, and hives. Yeah, that's a nice fringe benefit, uh, can I get some spearmint over here? Although spearmint can't cure acne, there is evidence to say that it can help. This is according to a 2015 study conducted by the American Academy of Dermatology. It noted that drinking two cups of spearmint tea daily reduced inflammatory acne lesions by 25% after one month and by 51% after three months. Side effects. There are none. Great, um, this is going to turn off the lights, we're all done, that's good, thanks. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. It's none unless you're allergic to it, or take it to excess. In which case your symptoms aren't really side effects, they're just an allergic reaction or you're overdosing. Luckily in most cases, the symptoms are mild. Spearmint is on the FDA's generally recognized as safe list. It has been recognized that spearmint has no possible side effects if consumed within daily limits. Now if you do go to excess, symptoms can include skin rash, throat irritation, headache, and dizziness. In which case if you are allergic, it's best to step away from spearmint and look for other herbs to help you out. Some researchers suggested that four cups of spearmint tea a day has a negative effect on male libido, but there is actually a recent rodent study that indicates this is not true. In which case just nicks that from your mind, it is foolish, poppycock, poppycock I tell you. When taken within limits, spearmint tea can be used safely in pregnancy. However, excessive use of spearmint tea might cause damage to the uterus, and this can't possibly lead to a miscarriage. In regards to breastfeeding, there is not enough reliable information about the safety of taking spearmint. That said, there isn't actually any research saying that it is bad for you. Also spearmint used in excess could possibly lead to some kidney damage and liver damage. However, just to be clear, as I said earlier when taken within the guidelines, spearmint is perfectly safe with no side effects. As I always say, just practice moderation. Just keep a close eye and make sure you're within the daily recommended allowance, and everything should be absolutely fine. Woo! We made it! Ho ho ho! That wasn't so hard, was it? Alright, thanks so much for watching, hey, remember there's that handy dandy like button and subscribe button hanging right there ready to be clicked. If you want to learn more amazing things about spearmint, please watch the history of mint and the mythology of mint. Have you actually used spearmint for the medicinal properties I talked about today? Well, please let me know in the comments section down below because I would love to hear about it.


The rapid increase in electric vehicle adoption has led to a surge in demand for lithium ion batteries, LIBs, which contain rare metals and toxic electrolytes. To ensure sustainable use of these batteries, they must be effectively managed at end of life, either through reuse in less demanding applications or through recycling. This review discusses the various options available for managing spent LIBs, including battery second use, repair of electrodes, and material recovery. Current technologies, environmental impacts, and economic feasibility are also considered. Examples of pilot and industrial scale adoption of the processes are provided. This article was authored by Cannon-Hanton-Ossirisical and Montresa-Wangfruk.