•Plants can twitter, but it seems celebrities can’t—not on their own, anyway.
• Toxic sofas, after being shipped from China with packets of a harmful mold-inhibitor, caused extreme skin rashes and burns on at least 1,600—and possibly tens of thousands not yet identified—people in England.
• Science education is under assault in Texas.
• In another move of, weirdly, putting animals on birth control, China is putting gerbils on the pill.
• Daddy long-legs are threatened by climate change, a gorilla suffered a seizure and was given an MRI, and a campaign helps endangered species by enlisting clothing brands to save their namesakes: Lacoste to the crocodiles’ rescue!
• Also, we’re doomed.
It’s water! (Albeit with a little salt and electrolysis.)
Electrolyzed water is the new cleaning agent of choice for the housekeeping staff at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica. Employees have abandoned their bleach and ammonia to clean toilets and sinks with an elixir made—on site—from table salt and tap water. The salt water is then zapped by an electrolysis machine with low-voltage electricity, which converts the sodium ions into sodium hydroxide, an alkaline liquid with the cleaning abilities of detergent. Meanwhile, the chloride ions become hypchlorous acid, also known as acid water, a powerful disinfectant.
The “magic” water is also being used by the kitchen staff at the Sheraton to disinfect produce, which they say now lasts longer. A New York poultry processor uses it to kill salmonella on chicken carcasses, and it is used to clean the floors of a Michigan prison, leaving inmates without access to potentially lethal cleaners.
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