Those venturing into space face a very serious occupational hazard -- cancer. The disease can be caused by radiation from the cosmic rays and solar flares astronauts encounter when they travel beyond the Earth's protective magnetic layer or magnetosphere.

British scientists are working on rectifying this problem by creating a Star Trek-style deflector shield to protect astronauts from radiation.

Think about this:

Scientists wish to mimic the magnetic field that protects the Earth with shields deployed around spacecraft and on the surfaces of planets to deflect harmful energetic particles.

Details, presented at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Preston, UK, include the following:

• The idea has been linked to the deflector shields that protect the USS Enterprise and other spacecraft on Star Trek. The shields, like on the TV show, could be switched on and off.

• In order to make the shield, scientists must generate a magnetic field and then fill it with ionized gas, or plasma. As energetic particles interact with the plasma, energy is sapped away from them, causing them to slow down.

• Protective shelters would not work on long-duration space journeys due to the drip of energized particles, thought to be as harmful as large solar storms.

"The nice thing is that magnet technology is really quite evolved here on Earth," says Dr. Mike Hapgood, from the Didcot-based research centre. The question is can you take it into space?"

A team from Rutherford-Appleton plans to build an artificial magnetosphere in the laboratory. They would eventually like to fly a test satellite which would test the technology in space.

Gardening is good for the soul. I'm sure of it. It did wonders for my grandma, who planted and flowered and blossomed for most of her life and long after her rounded back and arthritic fingers told her to stop. She just couldn't help herself -- the fruits of the earth brought her such joy that the toll hard labor took on her body was somehow worth every trace of dirt that crumbled beneath her fingertips.

In my own small way, I can't resist either. I'm no lifelong gardener or anything. I'm more of a spur-of-the-moment kind of girl. And I haven't a green thumb on either of my hands. My flowers always seem to die. Because no matter how much I love them at the beginning of the warm season, I end up neglecting them.

I tell my husband every year, "Please remind me not to buy flowers this year." It just seems silly to spend so much money only to toss my dead blooms after they wither and shrivel. So my husband reminds me. And I go right back out and buy more. Like I did today.

I spent about an hour with my little boys shoveling dirt and arranging red and orange and yellow and white flowers in all sorts of pots. It was a priceless hour -- although really it cost me about 60 bucks. It was refreshing and rejuvenating and in a way, healing.

I know the effects of today's flower therapy will fade, just as the flowers themselves will fail to thrive. But I also know I will do it all again next year. Because it's good for my soul. And I just can't resist.

I remember thinking when my grandma was a spunky 80-year-old -- still going to aerobics classes in her purple tights -- that it must be sad to be such an age when so many friends and acquaintances are falling ill and passing away. My grandma was always one to care for others, call on others, pray for others -- and often she seemed to be the only one in her circle who was thriving. Somehow, she took it all in stride and continued baking and gardening and sewing and living strong until her own death at the age of 86 -- when she left her remaining friends and acquaintances wondering if their own time on Earth was approaching a quick end. At the time, I thought this loss of friends was merely a side effect of aging. It didn't seem to concern me at my own young age of 30. I didn't really know any 30-year-olds who were dying. And I didn't predict anyone my age would be dying until I was closer to the age of 80. How wrong I was.

I am now 36 years old. And I know many women my age who have died -- most of them because of breast cancer, the same disease I have been fighting for nearly two years. So it's not only sad to me that people my age are dying, it's also quite personal and frightening -- for it could easily me in the same predicament. So I feel vulnerable -- so many years earlier than I imagined.

I think I know how my grandma must have felt when her loved ones were leaving her. And I think I will take her same approach to coping with this unfortunate fact of life. Although I couldn't possibly bake and garden and sew like she did, I can keep busy with my own hobbies and interests. And I can continue living strong until my own death -- which hopefully won't occur until after I've made my appearance in purple tights. About 50 years from now.

An unavoidable and unfortunate side effect of most chemotherapy drug treatments is hair loss. In making the best of a bad situation, Chemo Chicks features tattoo kits to adorn your head, re-create your eyebrows and have some fun with your temporary baldness.

The product, Earth Henna Body Painting Kits, is based on Mehndi, the art of henna painting on the body, practiced for thousands of years in India, Africa and the Middle East. For a bit of fun folklore, Chemo Chicks shares that the crushed leaves of the henna plant used to make henna are believed to bring love, luck and prosperity. Henna tattoos are painless and not permanent -- the henna tattoos fade gradually over weeks.

According to the Earth Henna tattoo kit product description, the henna paste lasts 4-6 weeks once mixed; contains enough henna to do two head tattoos or many eyebrows; and comes with head patterns and eyebrow stencils -- or you can create your own.

The body painting tattoo kit is based on a formula created after Artsy Chick Jen -- who is a scenic artist and painter for film and television -- after spending hours researching this ancient art. Together with Jana Rosenblatt, founder of Chemo Chicks and ovarian cancer survivor, they created a kit that other cancer patients can have fun using to lessen the trauma of chemotherapy hair loss. According to Jana, her head tattoo makes every one who sees it smile -- which makes her smile.

There are all sorts of gifts for dad on Father's Day -- shirts and ties and books and coffee mugs and golf balls -- and many of us have already spent money on the stuff we can wrap up and deliver or mail off to dad on this special day. But some gifts -- the ones we can't wrap up -- have an appeal that is priceless because they focus on the moment, they build relationships, and they promote mental and physical health. And here are just seven simple but everlasting gifts to consider sharing with dad on this Father's Day.

I've been wondering lately about how I might alter my diet in a post-cancer world. I am a moderate eater -- I eat moderate amounts of meat and fruits and vegetables and grains and dairy. And moderate amounts of fats and sweets too. Sometimes I wonder if I am doing myself a disservice by eating meat and processed foods and refined sugar. I've gathered many opinions that indicate that the further our food comes from the dirt of this Earth, the worse it is for us. That perhaps the increase in cancer cases in the United States is linked to the increase in diets rich in artificial stuff. Part of me resists this speculation -- maybe because I enjoy a variety of foods from the entire food pyramid and I just don't want to give them up.  And part of me believes that if this argument is true, then I am a fool to not jump on board and take control of my future health. So I've taken the first step -- I've done some research and have located a destination where I could explore this route with detail and precision by practicing a whole new way of eating and being.

Hippocrates Health Institute, a leader in the field of natural and complementary health care and education since 1956, teaches a vegan diet with a focus on implementing this lifestyle at home. Food is served in its purest form and is fresh, organic, and enzyme-rich. Food is not the only focus at this institute, however. Whole body healing includes various therapies, exercise, and workshops. While living on the premises of this West Palm Beach, Florida oasis for a minimum of one week and a maximum of three weeks, I could cleanse myself of the toxins and stress and anxiety that have invaded my body as a result of cancer. It's tempting. And maybe when my treatment is complete in August, I will become a student of this philosophy. Just maybe.

Ideally, the Dervaes would reside on a couple of country acres in order to live the organic, self-sufficient eco-friendly and health conscious lifestyle they live. Instead, finding themselves in the middle of an urban landscape, on a simple city block in Pasadena, California, the five member family has transformed the 1/5 acre and city home into a sustainable urban homestead that provides them with enough organic and cancer prevention food that they have turned the excess crops into a lucrative home business.

The family is vegetarian, and the yard blooms with over 350 varieties of edible and useful plants. The 1/10 acre organic garden now grows over 6,000 pounds of organic produce each year. The money from the cottage-industry produce business helps fund purchases of solar panels, energy efficient appliances, and a biodiesel processor. The family makes their own vegetable oil-based bio-diesel fuel to run the family car. They have chickens and ducks, and compost with worms.

The Dervaes family is generous in the time they spend showing others what they are doing, from allowing local school children come take a tour to giving how-to workshops to keeping a blog. For the last three years, I have followed their daily lifestyle with fascination, reading the daily journal they keep. So much in the way they live is a cancer prevention lifestyle. They protect their health, they protect the health of others, and they protect the health of the planet -- in the way they choose to live. All while living in the middle of a city on a small city lot. I think you will enjoy the visit to the Path to Freedom journal.

For fifty years, Americans have enjoyed the bounty of the chemical revolution, trusting the government and industry to keep us safe. The public has a right to know the truth about the thousands of chemicals in use and the lives compromised. -- Bill Moyers
 
Trade Secrets: A Moyers Report is a highly-acclaimed PBS documentary presented by Bill Moyers, a widely-respected investigative journalist, exposing the secret documents of chemical companies, the dangers these chemicals pose to our present day health, and the options we have in creating a safer home environment by reducing the known and unknown cancer risks some of these chemicals pose for our family.

Bill Moyers is extensive in his research and reporting, and PBS has graciously provided much of the documentary's focus and findings on the website dedicated to the show. The report is broken down into three areas: The Problem which discusses the body burden, the toxic journey and children at risk; The Evidence reveals the secrecy, the regulatory war, and the money and politics involved in the deceptive practices of the chemical industry; and most importantly, The Options offers concrete and doable ways of protecting your family and yourself from the damages of potentially cancer-causing toxic chemicals.

According to Trade Secrets, most of us believe the chemicals in consumer products have been tested and approved by some government agency. In fact, until they are proven harmful, most chemicals are presumed safe. Of the more than 75,000 chemicals registered with the Environmental Protection Agency, only a fraction have gone through complete testing to find out whether they might cause problems for human health. Many that are produced in enormous quantities have never been tested at all. In order to make informed cancer prevention choices, you owe it to yourself and your family to read through the facts and information provided in this documentary.

Environment Canada meteorologists are warning people who enjoy spending time in the sun to do less so this year. As the ozone layer continues to thin, the danger for sunburn, cataracts and skin cancer continues to increase. The ozone layer is not protecting us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation as much as it once did.

According to Environment Canada, the ozone layer across Canada has decreased by four to eight per cent over winter and spring, and the more sunny days there during the summer season, the more skin cancer risk to those who spend time outdoors.

Counting on sunscreen lotion to protect from the damaging rays of the bright day sun is no longer sufficient. Skin cancer experts insist, to be safe, stay out of the sun from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. -- if you must be outside -- stay in the shade. Wear a wide-brimmed hat and quality sunglasses that offer protection from UVA and UVB radiation, and a long-sleeved shirt. Gone are the care-free days of walking out the door in shorts and a summer top, to spend the day enjoying the warmth and brightness of a summer day. Or, for sun worshippers, a day basking in the sun to achieve the golden tan.

What is hanging so toxic in the air? According to the latest data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, benzene from cars and trucks that burn gasoline or diesel fuel. Other toxins causing higher risks for cancer where air pollution is the worst are naphthalene and acetaldehyde -- also from vehicles.

Autoblog, one of our sister blogs, has launched AutoblogGreen, which will feature posts on living an eco-friendly lifestyle in all things auto-related in green car culture. They will be keeping a close ear to the ground and fingers to the keyboard to give readers an up-to-the-minute accounting on the auto industry's efforts to create transportation that is fuel-efficient and cleaner for the environment.

From our perspective here at The Cancer Blog, transportation going green means a giant step towards a cancer prevention environment. From air pollution to alternative fuels, check AutoblogGreen out! It's a very cool, forward-thinking blog.

To celebrate Earth Day today, we will offer posts featuring information and resources for ways to live green in reducing the environmental risks to cancer. The Canadian Cancer Society issued a statement last week calling for a ban on the use of pesticides in private gardens and lawns, based on the conclusions of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC, that state that substances used in pesticides are classified as known, probable or possible carcinogens.

In an observational study, Purdue University researchers found the risk of bladder cancer was four times greater in dogs exposed to lawns or gardens that had been treated with phenoxy herbicides than it was in dogs exposed to untreated lawns or gardens. Over 100 million pounds of pesticides are used by homeowners in homes and gardens each year, and the Pesticide Free Lawns Coalition estimates of the 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, 19 are linked to cancer.

YARDSCAPING suggests these basic tips for nontoxic lawn care:

• Build good soil for healthy plant growth.
• Use organic or slow-release fertilizers at moderate rates and only when necessary. Avoid phosphorus fertilizers.
• Plant slow-growing, low-maintenance grasses.
• Mow high -- 2.5 to 3.5 inches -- with sharp lawnmower blades so that grass chokes out weeds.
• Leave grass clippings on the lawn to recycle nutrients there so that you’ll minimize or eliminate the need for additional fertilizers.
• Accept the fact that life -- and lawns -- aren’t supposed to be perfect.

The Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides works to protect people and the environment by advancing healthy solutions to pest problems, and offers a free newsletter featuring pesticide-free techniques and solutions that are simple and effective for maintaining an attractive and healthy lawn.

That's what I am calling AOL's list of top ten green cities -- the top ten cancer prevention cities -- because when it comes to reducing environmental cancer risks and promoting a healthy lifestyle, a city that is known as a green city is also a cancer prevention city. AOL's criteria in choosing the top ten green cities they believe are creating a healthy and livable place for its residents are: clean air and clean water, renewable energy, reliable city buses, trams, streetcars and subways, a growing number of parks and greenbelts, and farmer’s markets.

Not to claim bragging rights, but my hometown of Portland, Oregon is on the list. Austin, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Boulder, Colorado; Burlington, Vermont; Madison, Wisconsin; San Francisco, California; Santa Monica, California; Chicago, Illinois and New York, New York made the list. New York City? Yes. According to AOL's reviewers, Central Park goes a long way in making New York City a green city. As does the fact that 80 percent of the residents use public transportation. New Yorkers use fossil fuels at the rate the U.S. did in the 1920s. To learn all the ways these cities made the green list, go read AOL's Top 10 Greenest Cities. Or as I like to think of it -- the top ten cities promoting a healthy lifestyle and maintaining clean livable areas resulting in the creation of a cancer prevention environment -- the top ten cancer prevention cities.

On April 22, Earth Day is observed each year to promote awareness of environmental issues. According to Earth Day's founder, Senator Gaylord Nelson, who, in 1970, wrote letters to colleges and put a special article in Scholastic Magazine to promote the special day he had planned, Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. People cared. People were concerned. According to Senator Nelson, the first year event organized itself. Today, over three decades later, Earth Day is a worldwide event. People still care. People are still concerned.

Environmental issues are of special concern to cancer survivors and people interested in cancer prevention. Environmental toxins and pollution are some of the causes linked to the risk and development of cancer. At The Cancer Blog, we post information from reputable and respected individuals and organizations outlining some of the environmental concerns as it relates to cancer risks. This is the second recap of posts, the first recap can be found here.

• Greenpeace: Chernobyl cancer deaths grossly underestimated
• Gardening organic for cancer prevention
• Cancer society calls for ban on lawn and garden pesticides
• Peter Max Earth Day T-Shirt benefits breast cancer
• Earth Day cancer survivor and the Rachel Carson for our time
• TCE: groundwater contamination in toxic triangle of cancer
• Oyster Creek nuclear power plant link to childhood cancer
• Tooth Fairy Project: low level radiation link to cancer
• Health agency saying higher cancer rates have little meaning
• Potato farms a hotbed of cancer debate
• California and New York highest air pollution cancer risks
• Environmental contaminants strong link to cancer

University of Florida researchers conducted laboratory studies that show extracts from acai, a Brazilian berry, contain antioxidants that can destroy cultured human cancer cells. “Acai berries are already considered one of the richest fruit sources of antioxidants. This study was an important step toward learning what people may gain from using beverages, dietary supplements or other products made with the berries,” stated Talcott, an assistant professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. According to the UF researchers, other fruits including grapes, guavas and mangoes, contain antioxidants known to kill cancer cells.

Six different chemical extracts were made from acai fruit pulp. Four of the extracts were shown to kill significant numbers of leukemia cells. Depending on the extract and concentration, anywhere from about 35 percent to 86 percent of the cells died. Researchers in this study caution this does not mean that acai berries will cure leukemia, only that some of the extract compounds showed favorable results in laboratory tests. Another study is underway to research the effects of acai’s antioxidant abilities on healthy human subjects. If you've not heard about the acai berry before -- you are not alone. But, as this berry gains more media attention for its potent cancer prevention properties, it's destined to become a popular addition to the diet. Some of the celebrity fans of the acai berry include Oprah, Andre Agassi and Sting.

There is valid concern regarding cancer-causing chemical pesticides used around the home and in the backyard vegetable garden. For the garden, many pests are drawn to unhealthy soils and plants, and as a result, the need for pesticide application increases to control damage done by garden invaders. However, if you keep your garden healthy, and implement the practice of companion planting, you might be able to reduce your use of toxic chemical pesticides to zero. Companion planting is the practice of growing plants close to each other that utilizes each plant's ability to protect the other plant by attracting beneficial insects and repelling harmful ones. Gardening organic is a satisfying cancer prevention way to get fresh vegetables to your dinner table.

For example, the Three Sisters gardening practice of North America Native Americans is organic and practical. Corn, squash, and climbing beans are grown close together. The corn provides a natural pole for the beans to climb, the beans provide needed nutrients for the soil and the squash acts as a spreading ground cover choking out weeds and protecting the soil from drying out too fast. A fish is planted in the soil to provide a natural fertilizer.

Yayasan IDEP Foundation offers a comprehensive companion planting chart, including an extensive list of tips on natural insect repellants for ants, aphids, cabbage butterfly, mosquitoes, moths, red spider, fleas, flies, slugs, snails and more -- to use around the home and to grow in your garden and yard. Available as a free PDF document, you can download the Companion Planting Chart here.