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Extracts of a plant used in traditional medicine for centuries have shown anti-proliferative effects against breast cancer in a small early-stage clinical trial. Researchers provided breast cancer patients with an extract of the Boswellia tree—probably best known as the source of frankincense—and instructed them to take it each day until surgery. The researchers then compared the activity of cancer cells in each woman's tumor removed during surgery with the activity in the piece of her tumor that was removed during the biopsy. "We looked at differences in the growth rate of the tumors before and after treatment, and we found...

Nothing lasts forever. Just ask Ozymandias, or Nate Fisher. Only the wind inhabits the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde in Colorado, birds and vines the pyramids of the Maya. Sand and silence have swallowed the clamors of frankincense traders and camels in the old desert center of Ubar. Troy was buried for centuries before it was uncovered. Parts of the Great Library of Alexandria, center of learning in the ancient world, might be sleeping with the fishes, off Egypt's coast in the Mediterranean. "Cities rise and fall depending on what made them go in the first place," said Peirce Lewis,...

Just north of the City of David (ancient Jerusalem), archaeologists believe they have found the first of its kind engraving on a precious gem of a biblical plant known to many as the Balm of Gilead. Deep underground in a 2,000-year-old drainage ditch next to Jerusalem’s Western Wall, archaeologists say a rare artifact from Second Temple times was uncovered. “It is a stone seal made of semi-precious amethyst stone with an engraving of a dove and a branch of a tree with fruit on the branch,” said Eli Shukron, former archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority. What was surprising was...

It is one of the oldest fragrances in the world. Nicolas Baldovini's team at the Institut de chimie de Nice (CNRS/UNS) has just discovered the components that give frankincense its distinctive odor: two molecules found for the first time in nature, named "olibanic acids" by the scientists. Their research results have just been published online, on the website of the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition. It is mentioned more than twenty times in the Bible, where it is one of the gifts offered by the Three Wise Men. Frankincense (also called olibanum1), one of the world's oldest fragrances, is a...

Archdiocese of Washington From Magi to Wise Men – A Homily for Epiphany By: Msgr. Charles PopeThere are so many wonderful details in the Epiphany story: the call of the Gentiles, the nations, and their enthusiastic response, the significance of the star they see, and the gifts they bring, the dramatic interaction with Herod and their ultimate rejection of him in favor Christ.In this meditation I would like especially to follow these Magi, in their journey of faith to become wise men. As Magi, they followed the faint stars, distant points of light; as Wise Men they follow Jesus who...

Frankincense, a festive fragrance that has been harvested in the wild in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa since ancient times, is declining so dramatically that production of the resin could be halved over the next fifteen years, according to a new study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Frankincense is produced by tapping the gum of trees in the Boswellia genus. It is traditionally used in incense and perfumes around the world and is a key part of the Christmas story — one of the three gifts to baby Jesus by the three wise men;...

The answer to treating painful arthritis could lie in an age old herbal remedy - frankincense, according to Cardiff University scientists. Cardiff scientists have been examining the potential benefits of frankincense to help relieve and alleviate the symptoms of the condition. "The search for new ways of relieving the symptoms of inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis is a long and difficult one," according to Dr Emma Blain, who leads the research with her co-investigators Professor Vic Duance from Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences and Dr Ahmed Ali of the Compton Group. "The South West of England and Wales has a long...

The gift given by the wise men to the baby Jesus probably came across the deserts from Oman. The BBC's Jeremy Howells visits the country to ask whether a commodity that was once worth its weight in gold could be reborn as a treatment for cancer.

Toronto, ON-- Saddam Hussein, who among other occult pursuits, "studied the sands", would have been better equipped with orbitary American weather satellites. During sand studies, the Black Arts Saddam conjured up jinn (genies) to do his bidding. Said to have inherited some of his mother Sabha’s psychic prowess, Saddam was believed by many to have seven jinn lined up for his personal protection. According to these people, the Butcher of Baghdad spoke on a daily basis with the king and queen of the jinn, who actually advised him. All studying the sands ever got Saddam was death and destruction. In...

Journeying with the Magi Louise Perrotta You want to cheer when the magi appear on the horizon in chapter 2 of Matthew’s Gospel. After all, the Savior of the world, God in the flesh, has been born! History’s central event has taken place! And although Jesus slipped in among us more like an undercover agent than a conquering hero, how right and fitting that a special delegation would make a special effort to welcome the newborn King. Perhaps, like me, you feel indebted to the “wise men from the East” as you read the twelve verses where they make their...