Blog Posts by Mother Nature Network (mnn.com)

By Melissa Breyer, Mother Nature Network

The Latin name for the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, means "food of the gods," and it does seem that the fruit of the tree and its delicious derivatives are indeed fit for the deities.

Both the Mayans and Aztecs believed the cacao bean had magical and divine attributes, appropriate for service in even the most sacred rituals of birth, marriage and death. By the 17th century, chocolate in drinking form was a fashionable quaff for the European elite, who believed it to have nutritious, medicinal and aphrodisiac properties. It's been said that Casanova was especially enamored by its charms.

And the love affair has yet to wane. Chocolate manufacturing is a more than $4 billion industry in the United States alone, and the average American eats at least half a pound of the confectionery every month.

But chocolate is a funny thing. In recent years it has become the darling of nutritionists as health benefit after health benefit has

Melissa Hincha-Ownby, Mother Nature Network

If you purchased a new iPhone 5 recently and are wondering what to do with your old mobile phone, then a trip to the post office in order. Yes, the post office. The United States Postal Service (USPS) expanded its recycling program and now allows customers to trade in their old electronics for cash, including cellphones, at one of 3,100 retail locations nationwide.

Customers interested in trading in an old cellphone, digital camera, PDA or other small electronic device should first visit the Recycle Through USPS website. The USPS has partnered with MaxBack and customers will be routed to a new website where they will first search for the specific electronic device that they want to trade in.

Once the device has been located in the USPS/MaxBack database, an instant quote is provided and the customer can then accept the quote. The next step is to mail in the device, at no charge, using USPS Priority Mail. Upon receipt of the

By Starre Vartan, Mother Nature Network
Hair

My hair is super curly, long, and tends to by dry (most people with curly hair also have drier hair). It has always been a challenge to keep it tidy and frizz-free - or at least low-frizz. Over the years I have experimented with quite a few ways to deal with it, from using products laden with everything and anything, to totally natural. To my delight (and maybe a little surprise), the natural products and techniques actually work better. Here's what I use to make it all work.

Infrequent washing: I'll never forget spending 13 days in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area the summer after freshman year of high school; I had wanted to go on a hiking and camping adventure, and had signed on to hike the Continental Divide with a group called Menogyn. For two weeks we hiked, sweated, and then repeated the hiking and sweating the next day - I think there were exactly two times we dunked in streams full enough to call it a bath. Shockingly, to my teenage

By Chanie Kirschner, Mother Nature Network

Great question, and I can answer this with the utmost authority, because I frequent elevators quite a bit. Here's what to do:

Take a deep breath. When the elevator you're in first lurches to a stop between floors, your gut response may be to panic. Especially if you get claustrophobic. But don't. Getting nervous will only make things worse, especially if you work yourself into a full-blown panic attack and nobody can get in to give you medical attention. So just breathe, and remember that this too shall pass.

Related: You can overcome every type of anxiety

Press the call button. All elevators have them, and there's a reason they are there - for situations just like this. Some elevators have an emergency telephone to be used for the very same purpose. Your call will signal building maintenance that there's a problem with your elevator, and set the wheels in motion for your ultimate exodus. If no one answers your call, try banging

By Melissa Breyer, Mother Nature Network

Our houses are our havens. They protect us from the elements and wild animals, they provide a place to raise our families and keep our belongings, and they offer a little relief from the maddening world. They are our sanctuaries.

But they can also be a menace. Not in the Stephen King or Edgar Allen Poe kind of way - they aren't actively out to get us - but many an accident comes courtesy of the dynamics of the home.

The kitchen offers open flames and honed steel designed to cut through plants and flesh; utility rooms and broom closets provide an array of toxic cleaning chemicals worthy of a Superfund site; halls and stairways are prime tripping zones; and the garage provides auto and gardening chemicals and tools.

The potential for danger lurks everywhere.

But it's the bathroom that we need to worry about. Slips and falls are one of the leading causes of accidental death in the United States, and bathrooms are where these

By Starre Vartan, Mother Nature Network

Invisible bike helmet

Anna Haupt and Terese Alpin were design students who took on an enormous task for their final project a few years ago: how do you create helmetless head protection for cyclists?

Plenty of people who ride bikes don't like to wear helmets because they are uncomfortable, they flatten your hair and make your head sweat. And because bike helmets just look ugly or because riders just like to feel the wind in their hair, the designers wanted to create a solution for all of those people who want to protect their craniums but abhor bike helmets.

Passionate bikers themselves, the designing duo has now taken their initial challenge and spent years perfecting what plenty of people think is a multimillion dollar idea (and gotten some serious financing to bring it to fruition). Their tenacity and perseverance show that even what seems impossible can be done.

The Invisible Bicycle Helmet | Fredrik Gertten from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

By Chanie Kirschner, Mother Nature Network

If you went to elementary school (and I'm making a broad assumption that you went to elementary school), you must have heard that if you swallow gum, it stays in your body for seven years. Well, I got news for you - nothing stays in your body for that long. (Well, maybe the belly fat you earned when you had your third child, but besides that, pretty much nothing.) So I know you're curious - if it doesn't stay in your body, what happens to it?

Turns out that your system doesn't digest chewing gum very well. That's because of what chewing gum is made of. Before World War II, chewing gum was made of chicle, a latex sap from the sapodilla tree. In the middle of the century though, scientists came up with artificial ways to re-create the rubbery substance. That substance, mixed with artificial flavors and sweeteners, is the chewing gum we know today. So why can't we digest it? For the same reason that we can't digest a rubber band all

By Laura Moss, Mother Nature Network

Although it's easy to assume that cats purr because they're content, research shows that purring is likely a means of communication and a form of self-healing.

Yes, your feline friend purrs when you stroke her fur, but cats also purr when they're frightened or feel threatened, such as during a visit to the veterinarian.

Veterinarian Kelly Morgan equates this reaction with smiling. "People will smile when they're nervous, when they want something, and when they're happy, so perhaps the purr can also be an appeasing gesture," Morgan told WebMD.

A cat's purr begins in its brain. A repetitive neural oscillator sends messages to the laryngeal muscles, causing them to twitch at a rate of 25 to 150 vibrations per second. This causes the vocal cords to separate when the cat inhales and exhales, producing a purr.

But not all cats can purr. Domestic cats, some wild cats and their relatives - civets, genets and mongooses - purr, and even