The Innocence Project: Perfect Evidence

Imagine being convicted and put in jail for a crime you didn't commit. Well over 2,000 letters from prisoners have been sent to the Innocence Project in hope DNA evidence can prove their innocence. The Innocence Project is an "organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice." In the past decade DNA testing has freed over 100 people nationwide.

There are many cases in which police have sold false details to the media and convinced suspects to confess to being a witness at the crime scene even though they had no connection to the crime. One very well known case was the 1986 rape and murder of Lori Roscetti. Four teenage boys were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 15 years before being released based on DNA evidence. Police brought in 16-year-old Larry Ollins who had previously been arrested for non-violent burglaries. After being slapped around by police, he still refused to confess to the crime. So police moved on to Larry's friend Marcellius Bradford and his 14-year-old brother Calvin in hopes they could force out a confession. Marcellius said that police beat him up until he confessed, where as Calvin was tricked as police said he would be able to go home if he just signed a confession. But instead of being able to go home and see his mom, Calvin was locked up along with Marcellius and Larry because police forced both teens to name Larry in their confessions. However, Marcellius made a deal with the authorities and because he testified against Larry was only given 12 years in prison unlike the rest who would be serving a life sentence. Along with Larry and Calvin, Omar Saunders was interrogated by police and asked to say he was a witness at the scene, but after refusing too, was charged with murder. 

After Larry, Omar and Calvin had been in jail for a while they sent a letter to their attorney Kathleen Zellner who put in over 800 unpaid hours and $50,000 dollars to get the case back into court. She also had their DNA tested after evidence showed that semen at the crime scene did not match Larry or Omar's. Zellner then tested to see if any of the boys DNA matched the DNA on the victim and it was proven that none of the boys matched. 

How can so many people be wrongfully convicted or even forced/bribed to falsely confess? I would never have guessed that our rights could so easily being taken away from us to the point we could be put in prison for a crime we didn't commit. I am thankful that DNA evidence is available and is irrefutable. With out organizations like the Innocence Project who are so dedicated to reforming the justice system there would be so many more hopeless people wishing there was a way to prove their innocence. Luckily we have been able to use DNA testing in the last decade to help free the wrongly convicted. 

Cancer TED Talk

        Can we eat to starve cancer? The answer is yes. In a TED talk, Dr. William Li introduces the idea of starving cancer cells by not allowing them to obtain their own blood supply. Without their own blood supply they can not grow and spread. Cancer cells put out signals, telling the body to make new blood vessels in the exact place the cancer cell is located. However, by eating anti-angeogenic foods which act as a natural inhibitor of angiogenesis (the growth of new blood vessels), you can inhabit the body from producing these blood vessels to cancerous cells.  

          Different anti-angiogenic drugs and foods can help starve tumors. Dr. William Li has even helped different species with his drug combinations. There are twelve different drugs already helping eleven different cancer types. In the last couple years as anti-angiogenic treatments have become available, patient survival has increased by 70%-100% for four different cancer types from the original treatments of radiation and chemotherapy. Although these treatments are revolutionary, they are starting too late in the game, when the cancer has already grown. In order to prevent cancer we need to eat these anti-angiogenic foods. Foods like red grapes inhibit blood vessel growth by 60%! The higher the potency, the better it inhibits this growing of blood vessels. With these new and amazing discoveries, we can now have a chance at preventing cancer. 

         I believe this is an incredible discovery and should be more global and talked about. Without learning this in school, I wouldn't have known about this amazing knowledge and be able to use it to benefit myself. With this new information, impoverished countries and countries lacking many medical resources, can still have a way to prevent and cure this deathly disease.