The drug that comes in a little blue pill could help keep malaria contained by stiffening up the parasite that causes it, say researchers.

…It’s possible that Viagra, aka Sildenafil, could make it harder for mosquitoes to spread malaria.

…We all know what Viagra is used for and what part of the body it affects, and we’re all presumably mature adults who can rise above such juvenile behavior to confront a serious subject.

…Researchers from the Pasteur Institute in Paris found that drugs like Viagra may be effective in preventing malaria from spreading from person to person by stiffening up the parasite that causes it, according to a May 16 story in the Sydney Morning Herald.

…According to the Herald, “Using an artificial spleen, the team found that certain drugs such as Viagra, also known as sildenafil, could stiffen these cells by inhibiting an enzyme that would normally make them squishy.

…More specifically, according to the study, published May 7 in the online journal PLOS Pathogens, the drugs make the parasites less flexible, which in turn changes the shape of the blood cells so that they’re more likely to be detected by the spleen.

…A study announced by the University of Bonn in 2013 found that the drug could be useful in burning fat. Another study, published in 2010 in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, found that drugs like Viagra and Cialis could be effective in treating altitude sickness.

…A study published back in 1999 in the British Medical Journal reported finding that it was possible to prolong the life of cut flowers by dissolving a Viagra tablet in water.

…Crave freelancer Danny Gallagher has contributed to Cracked.com, Mental Floss, Maxim, Break.com, Mandatory, Jackbox Games, Geeks Who Drink and many, many other publications in his never-ending quest to bring the world’s productivity to a screeching halt.

Swap These Luxury Cosmetics with their Drugstore Equivalents from Makeup Geek’s Marlena Stell

…I’m not into makeup, but after interviewing her, I am into Makeup Geek CEO Marlena Stell, who I profiled this week in How Makeup Geek CEO Marlena Stell Built a $10M Business on YouTube and Honesty, and who set me straight about department-store cosmetic prices in I Spent $28 On Mascara So You Don’t Have To:

“Just because it’s more expensive doesn’t mean it’s better quality,” Stell told me. … Stell says that Mac eyeshadow that retails for $14, costs the brand $1 to manufacture. 

Stell knows the cosmetics industry inside and out, having honestly reviewed thousands of products on her YouTube channel and blog, and launching her own makeup line, which today grosses $1 million monthly.

…Here are Stell’s Top 8 department store splurges and their drug store equals:

…Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil ($20) vs L’oreal HIP High Intensity Pigments Eyeliner ($10)

…Armani Eyes to Kill Intense Eyeshadow ($34) vs L’oreal Infallible Eyeshadow ($4.99)

…Please log in or sign up to comment.

… Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting.

In this post I’ll talk about how to create your images, how to save the images for web, and then how to import and use your images within your blog posts.

…The goal for good web design using images is to to provide the highest quality image at the lowest bandwidth possible, all the while keeping in mind the environment of the photo (portrait vs landscape, for example).

…For example, if by default your blog’s images are set to be 700px wide x 500px high, all you have to do moving forward is create your images at 1400px wide by 1000px high.

…So, when you’re saving images in Photoshop, there are a few things to keep in mind, having to do with the image type, the width of the image, and the quality of the image.

…First, let’s figure out what type of image you need, keeping in mind the ultimate goal is to have the smallest file size at the highest visual quality.

…You can reduce the image quality of your double-wide image to Medium within the Save for Web dialog box, and your images will still look amazing on a Retina screen.

…So if I’m creating an image for my blog, I create it at 1400px wide, Save for Web as JPEG Medium using the presets, and then upload it to my blog.

…If we’re looking at an image for my 700-px wide blog content, I’d upload my 1400px image and then set width=”700″ within the img tag.

…Now that you know how to make your images look good on Retina screens, does this mean you should update all of your old images?

…Keeping on top of the more technical aspects of digital content creation can be hard, but making sure your images look good can now be a top priority, now that you know how to do it.

Swap These Luxury Cosmetics with their Drugstore Equivalents from Makeup Geek’s Marlena Stell

…I’m not into makeup, but after interviewing her, I am into Makeup Geek CEO Marlena Stell, who I profiled this week in How Makeup Geek CEO Marlena Stell Built a $10M Business on YouTube and Honesty, and who set me straight about department-store cosmetic prices in I Spent $28 On Mascara So You Don’t Have To:

“Just because it’s more expensive doesn’t mean it’s better quality,” Stell told me. … Stell says that Mac eyeshadow that retails for $14, costs the brand $1 to manufacture. 

Stell knows the cosmetics industry inside and out, having honestly reviewed thousands of products on her YouTube channel and blog, and launching her own makeup line, which today grosses $1 million monthly.

…Here are Stell’s Top 8 department store splurges and their drug store equals:

…Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil ($20) vs L’oreal HIP High Intensity Pigments Eyeliner ($10)

…Armani Eyes to Kill Intense Eyeshadow ($34) vs L’oreal Infallible Eyeshadow ($4.99)

…Please log in or sign up to comment.

… Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting.

Interpol has issued a global alert for 2.4-dinitrophenol (DNP), an illicit and potentially lethal drug used as a dieting and body-building aid.

The Orange Notice warning about DNP, which is also used as a raw material for explosives, was published after one woman died in the UK and a French man was left seriously ill after taking the substance.

Under its anti-doping project, Interpol collaborated with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and received additional information from the global anti-doping organization after one of the WADA-accredited laboratories received a sample of the drug following a seizure in Australia. Issued at the request of the French Ministry of the Interior’s Central Office for the Protection of the Environment and Public Health (OCLAESP – Office central de lutte contre les atteintes à l’environnement et à la santé publique), the alert has been circulated to law enforcement in all 190 member countries, and a public version has also been made available to help raise awareness.

…Besides the intrinsic dangers of DNP, the risks associated with its use are magnified by illegal manufacturing conditions. In addition to being produced in clandestine laboratories with no hygiene regulations, without specialist manufacturing knowledge the producers also expose consumers to an increased chance of overdose.

…In the 1930s, DNP was used to boost metabolism and encourage weight loss, but it was taken out of circulation because of several deaths.

…This is a perfect example of how crucial it is that law enforcement and anti-doping organizations continue to forge closer ties so that dangerous, and potentially fatal, substances such as DNP do not reach the hands of athletes,” said WADA Director General, David Howman.

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