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Swim with massive sharks at this private island in the Bahamas

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Despite growing to a frightening 14 feet, nurse sharks generally don't harm humans. At Compass Cay, a private island in the Bahamas, you can swim with swarms of them. Even though it's safe, it looks terrifying.

Written and produced by Jeremy Dreyfuss

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These 16 truths about adulthood drawn on Post-its will make you laugh before you cringe

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Adulthood is hard.

Chaz Hutton, a 32-year-old Australian based in London, knows this all too well. He illustrates the surprises, disappointments, and hard truths of adulthood in stick-figure form through Post-it notes he then Instagrams.

"They started as just a thing I'd send to friends on a group chat, then after a few months those friends convinced me to start an Instagram, which I assured them was a terrible idea, and that nothing would come of it," Hutton told Business Insider in an email.

His insights have been so popular that he's stopped working as an architect to pursue the project full-time.

"...aaaaaaand repeat"

A photo posted by Insta-Chaz (@instachaaz) on Feb 22, 2016 at 7:02am PST on

"It's been amazing," he said. "The comments are probably the one thing about it, and largely the reason I've bothered keeping it up! Although it's becoming harder to explain to people what exactly it is I do for a living."

Scroll down to check out Hutton's take on everyday life, and see more uncomfortable but funny truths about adulthood on Instagram at @instachaaz. Hutton's first book of illustrations, "A Sticky Note Guide to Life," will be published in November.

SEE ALSO: Learn everything you need to know about personal finance from 11 simple sketches

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How to turn your MacBook into an external hard drive by pressing one button

The 15 best countries to launch your career

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denmark copenhagen

Though it may seem difficult to land a great job right after graduation, college-educated employees are actually in high demand worldwide. By 2020, there will be a void of roughly 40 million college-educated workers in the global economy, according to predictions from The McKinsey Global Institute

Many newly minted graduates overlook the possibility of working abroad as they begin launching careers, but outside of the US, several other countries are ripe for building a career. 

In partnership with brand strategy firm BAV and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, U.S. News & World Report compiled a list of the best countries to start a career, highlighting places with robust economies that are able to employ workers at their appropriate skill level. The ranking looked at how nearly 6,000 millennials (defined as adults less than 35 years old) scored countries on seven criteria: job market, economic stability, entrepreneurial atmosphere, income equality, innovation, progressiveness, and whether they wanted to live there. U.S. News weighted each metric equally to determine a country's overall score. 

Economic juggernaut China earned the No. 1 spot, followed by Germany in second and the US in third. Keep reading to check out the full list of the 15 best countries to launch a career. 

SEE ALSO: The 20 best places to live in America if you want to be happy at work

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15. France

Capital:Paris

GDP: $2.8 trillion

Population: 66.2 million



14. Australia

Capital:Canberra

GDP: $1.6 trillion

Population: 23.5 million



13. Singapore

Capital:Singapore

GDP: $298 billion

Population: 5.5 million



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This is the skincare mistake you're probably making every single morning

The biggest box-office hit the year you were born

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Back to the Future

Moviegoing has long been one of America's favorite pastimes, with blockbuster box-office earnings serving as a reliable predictor of cultural staying power.

Using both IMDb's and Box Office Mojo's lists of the highest-grossing films by year, Business Insider has compiled a chronology of the biggest box-office hits every year since 1975.

We adjusted global box-office receipts for inflation through 2016 using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator. We've also included critic ratings from Metacritic (on a scale of one to 100) and fan ratings from IMDb (on a scale of 1 to 10) for each film.

Several franchises are represented — "Star Wars," "Harry Potter," and "Pirates of the Caribbean" each make multiple appearances — as are Academy Award nominees and winners such as "Titanic" and "Rocky."

We used '75 as the cutoff because we found that worldwide figures before then were spotty and inconsistent.

Read on to find out the highest-grossing movie released the year you were born:

DON'T MISS: The 30 most expensive movies ever made

AND: RANKED: The 10 movies most likely to dominate this summer

2015: "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens"

Adjusted gross: $2.07 billion

Unadjusted gross: $2.07 billion

Critic rating: 81

Fan rating: 8.3

Plot summary"Three decades after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, a new threat arises. The First Order attempts to rule the galaxy and only a ragtag group of heroes can stop them, along with the help of the Resistance." 



2014: "Transformers: Age of Extinction"

Adjusted gross: $1.12 billion

Unadjusted gross: $1.1 billion

Critic rating: 32

Fan rating: 5.7

Plot summary"Autobots must escape sight from a bounty hunter who has taken control of the human serendipity: Unexpectedly, Optimus Prime and his remaining gang turn to a mechanic, his daughter, and her back street racing boyfriend for help."



2013: "Frozen"

Adjusted gross: $1.31 billion

Unadjusted gross: $1.28 billion

Critic rating: 74

Fan rating: 7.6

Plot summary"When the newly crowned Queen Elsa accidentally uses her power to turn things into ice to curse her home in infinite winter, her sister, Anna, teams up with a mountain man, his playful reindeer, and a snowman to change the weather condition."



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12 science experiments you can see every day in your kitchen

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cooking brussels sprouts

If you're like me, there are some parts of cooking that are completely baffling. I'm not just talking about figuring out the recipe. Sometimes I also just wonder what sort of chemical reactions are going on that makes the food taste so good and turn out the right — or wrong — way.

Without further ado, here are the scientific answers to some of your biggest quandaries in the kitchen.

NEXT: The definitive, scientific answers to 20 health questions everyone has

CHECK OUT: 14 of your most embarrassing questions about wine answered with science

How much water do I need to cook my rice?

Here's a general rule: For every cup of rice you cook, you'll need two cups of water. However, Dan Souza, the executive editor of Cook's Science at America's Test Kitchen and one of the authors of "The Science of Good Cooking," told Business Insider that this isn't always true. There are a number of other factors that influence how much water you're going to need, including what size the pot is and how much evaporates.

"If you have a ratio of 1:2 and you double that to 2:4, you're saying you're going to get double evaporating because you doubled it, and that's not true," he said. So keep this in mind the next time you try to double your portions.



Does searing a steak really seal in its juices?

Many cooks will tell you that searing your meat ensures all the good juices stay inside. That's not quite true. While you're searing a steak on a high temperature, you're making a crispier crust on the steak, but that crust isn't responsible for keeping in any liquids.

"Nothing about making a crust on the outside of a steak is going to trap moisture," Souza said. In fact, he said, muscle proteins at higher temperatures actually squeeze out liquids instead of keeping them in.



What's the best way to preserve nutrients when cooking vegetables?

The best way to preserve and enhance the nutrition in fresh broccoli is to steam them, according to a November 2015 study that evaluated different cooking methods for vegetables, including broccoli. 

One of the easiest ways to steam? Fill a large glass bowl with broccoli, add a tablespoon or so of water to the bowl, cover the bowl with a plate, and then microwave your setup on high for a few minutes. 

 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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This is the best watch to have if you travel often for work

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seiko watch SSE093

Knowing the local time of wherever you are is crucial when you travel. While you can manually adjust your watch to reflect the local time, there are some watches out there that can take care of this for you automatically. 

Seiko launched its Astron collection of GPS Solar watches back in 2012, and the timepieces have become known for their energy-efficient design and practicality. 

In March, the company introduced the new Caliber 8X22 series to its Astron collection. The new watches boast a slimmer case and a clean dial layout that allows users to see the current local time at a glance. 

According to Susumu Kawanishi, the president and CEO of Seiko Corp. of America, the company created the collection to meet the needs of business travelers who often find themselves switching through time zones several times a month. The collection is ideal for those who want a watch that can keep up with their demanding schedule. 

Prices for watches in the new series range from $1,700 to $2,400, depending on the style and model. 

The watches can adjust to any time zone with the single touch of a button, and they're built with a GPS solar module. The watches can absorb various light forms, not just sunlight, and they work even when the wearer is walking or in a vehicle.

Astron SSE085 (2)Once GPS signals are received, you'll see the second hand on the watch start moving before it displays the current time. The GPS solar module stores the absorbed energy into a self-recharging battery, and a charge level is indicated on the dial. 

The slimmer case on this new series means that the antenna that receives GPS signals is smaller. The increased processing power of the circuit in the GPS module allows for stronger reception.  

The new series also has a perpetual calendar that doesn't need to be manually corrected until February 28, 2100. It's accurate to one second every 100,000 years.

Wearers have the ability to show both their local and home times on the display. The watches are water-resistant up to about 328 feet. 

Other design elements include a titanium case with black coating, a ceramic bezel, sapphire crystal with clear coating, and a titanium bracelet with super-hard coating. The SSE091 model also includes a colored mother-of-pearl dial and a ceramic and titanium bracelet with a three-fold clasp and push button release.

The company currently has more than 50 different watches in its Astron GPS Solar collection. 

SEE ALSO: Fraudulent hotel booking sites are more common than you might think — here's how you can spot them

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on Facebook!

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The answer to treating drug and alcohol addiction may be far simpler than you think

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drugs heroin

If drug addiction is a disease like cancer or Alzheimer's, how do you explain the seemingly amoral behavior — the lying, cheating, and hiding — that has come to be linked with so many addicts?

The answer is far simpler than you might think, at least according to neuroscience journalist and author Maia Szalavitz, whose new book, "Unbroken Brain," throws water on most of the modern assumptions that plague our understanding of drug and alcohol addiction.

Addiction, she writes, is not a disease like cancer. But it's not a moral failing, either.

Instead she proposes that it's a learning disorder, much like ADHD, and needs to be treated as such. This treatment regimen would vary based on the individual but could include things like cognitive behavioral therapy, a form of psychotherapy in which the therapist and patient work together to swap unhealthy learned patterns with more constructive ways of thinking, and potentially medication.

Seem like a radical idea? It turns out that numerous experts — from neuroscientists to economists to psychiatrists (not to mention several peer-reviewed scientific studies) — agree with her. And they have for more than a decade.

Treating addiction as either a disease like cancer or a moral failing based on someone's character defects, the idea goes, doesn't work. Addiction instead is a learned behavior that often results in measurable changes to the brain. And acknowledging this could revolutionize not only how we see addicts but also how we treat addiction.

How we came to we see addiction as a moral failing

When most of us think about addiction, we focus on one set of its symptoms — the behavioral changes many addicts display like failing to keep commitments, stealing drugs when they can no longer afford them, doing them in secret, and isolating themselves from family and friends.

But we've ignored the real causes.

"Scientists think it's nuts" to frame the idea of addiction as a learning disorder as new, Szalavitz told Business Insider recently, "but most of the public has no idea and it's been framed to the public as a disease — so when you think disease, you think cancer and Alzheimer's — but then they see how people with addictions behave and they think, 'Well, that doesn’t fit.'"

"So on the one hand we're calling it a disease," Szalavitz added, "but then we're treating it as a sin. And that doesn't make sense."

maia szalavitz

There are several reasons for this, Szalavitz wrote in her book. A cult named Synanon, for example, which is now credited with spawning the "tough love" movement, focused on publicly shaming and humiliating its members who were addicted to drugs or alcohol. This focus on defects of character, Szalavitz said, is "not exactly helpful for someone who already has a lot of self-hatred."

Some rehab centers and 12-step programs reinforce this idea, Szalavitz (a former member of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous) wrote, by requiring members to do things like accept the idea of God or a higher power, pray and meditate, and accept their own powerlessness (the first step of Alcoholics Anonymous).

All of these approaches may be helpful to some people, Szalavitz said. And they have undoubtedly changed the lives of many people for the better. Multiple people I spoke with for this story said that if it were not for Alcoholics Anonymous, they would assuredly be dead.

The problem with these approaches, Szalavitz argues, is that they're not medical approaches, but addiction is a medical problem — a learning disorder — that needs a medical solution. This would ideally involve doctors and trained psychiatrists and psychologists as well as support groups.

"Self-help should be self-help and treatment should be treatment," Szalavitz said. "Your oncologist is not your breast cancer support group."

Self-help should be self-help and treatment should be treatment. Your oncologist is not your breast cancer support group.

Addiction is a learning disorder like ADHD, and changing our understanding of it is a matter of life and death

A 2004 paper in the journal Nature suggested that addiction was a learning disorder, meaning it was a behavior that was learned, perhaps as a coping mechanism, and resulted in fundamental changes to the brain wiring of people who are addicted.

From the paper's abstract (emphasis ours):

Drug addiction manifests as a compulsive drive to take a drug despite serious adverse consequences. This aberrant behavior has traditionally been viewed as bad 'choices' that are made voluntarily by the addict. However, recent studies have shown that repeated drug use leads to long-lasting changes in the brain that undermine voluntary control. This, combined with new knowledge of how environmental, genetic and developmental factors contribute to addiction, should bring about changes in our approach to the prevention and treatment of addiction.

That was 12 years ago.

For many addicts, the problem is that their behavior of using eventually stops working its magic. Yet the compulsion to use remains, so they try something stronger. That's what happened to Szalavitz, who battled addiction for years.

A man prepares to inject himself with heroin using a needle obtained from the People's Harm Reduction Alliance, the nation's largest needle-exchange program, in Seattle, Washington April 30, 2015. REUTERS/David Ryder

The experience of Szalavitz, who used cocaine and heroin for years, describes an insatiable craving for cocaine, for example, even when she knew injecting herself with the drug no longer provided any trace of benefits. She described watching the world around her — her studies at Columbia University, which she had dreamed of attending since she was a child, two parents who supported and loved her — begin to crumble. Yet she kept using.

A 2005 paper in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior sheds light on why this happens.

In it, University of Michigan pharmacologist Gail Winger and her colleagues argue that drug addiction is a behavioral disorder, since it involves what looks like "choosing" a drug over other potential options (though the matter of choice in this matter is also hotly debated), "perhaps because the drug is a more potent reinforcer relative to competing reinforcers in the addict's life."

In other words, contrary to the long-ingrained notion that Szalavitz continued to use because she liked the effects the drugs produced, she, like many addicts, used because she had learned that using would help her feel OK in the world. She describes being constantly overwhelmed by colors and sounds as a child, for example, and struggling to form friendships or even feel safe and loved despite being surrounded by loving family.

But when she found drugs as an adolescent, they helped to ease all of these difficulties. They helped "lower the volume," Szalavitz said. Here's the problem: Using worked for her — primarily during years when her adolescent brain was literally being remodeled and shaped for adulthood. And for many addicts, by the time the drug stops working, the brain has already decided that it needs to use, despite plenty of evidence (and perhaps even a few interventions) to the contrary.

"Longitudinal investigations of individuals going through the period between childhood and adulthood reveal that there is a remodeling of the brain that starts often just before the teen years begin and continues well into the mid-twenties," Dr. Dan Siegel, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles' School of Medicine, writes in a blog post for Psychology Today.

Essentially this means that for some people behaviors that are learned between these two life phases are far more likely to stick, especially when such behaviors had positive outcomes at one point.

One recovering alcoholic I talked to said this about her drinking habit, which eventually left her in jail with no money and no family to call: "I firmly believe that alcohol saved my life. It just stopped working." For years of her teenage life, she was incredibly uncomfortable in social situations. She was overwhelmed at parties and couldn't seem to hold on to any friends. Then she found alcohol, and her problems seemed to lift. She was finally able to carry on a conversation. Everything was easier. She felt comfortable in her own skin. "I had arrived," she told me.

But eventually the substance — in her case alcohol — stopped working.

party drunk binge drinking alcohol shots

This is where seeing drug addiction as a disease or as a moral failing falls dramatically and tragically short. And a new approach is needed.

"In actuality [addiction] is a form of pathologic learning," Szalavitz said. "With addiction overwhelming changes occur in the brain region involving areas that evolved for things like love and sex and feeding. All these things that are fundamental to reproduction."

That means addiction will create what Szalavitz calls "very powerful drives" — strong desires to take the drug repeatedly even if it's not providing any pleasant effects. But it doesn't make addicts totally powerless either.

"We've just been getting this completely backwards, by failing to address the role of learning," she said. "If you want to call it a disease, the kind of disease it is is a learning disease."

This has been proved time and time again with things like clean needle exchanges, in which providing addicts with access to sterile needles has resulted in dramatically reduced rates of diseases like HIV and AIDS. "The way it's been framed as a disease is people can't control anything about themselves — they wouldn't use clean needles or try to protect their health in any way, but that's been proven false with things like needle exchanges."

Evidence that addicts can learn healthy behavior is crucial, because it highlights the role addiction plays in learning. It's also incredibly hopeful, because it suggests that addicts can change, provided they have access to the right resources.

"The bottom line in terms of this is that we know people with addiction have a skewed decision-making system, but they don't have no free will," Szalavitz said.

SEE ALSO: A new book will change everything you think you know about drugs, alcohol, and addiction

RELATED: Mind-blowing new images show how LSD changes the way parts of the brain communicate

Join the conversation about this story »

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Here’s what really happens to your body when you swallow gum

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You might have heard the rumors as a kid: Swallow gum and it’ll sit stubbornly in your stomach for seven long years.

But what does science have to say about that? Reactions, a video series from the American Chemical Society, traced the steps taken by our body's digestive system to find out that while some of the gum we chew can survive digestion, it "doesn’t mean the gum you swallowed in grade school is still there." 

Phew.

Turns out there are three basic components of digestion: The first includes the mechanical processes that are required to process your food when you first ingest it, i.e. chewing. The second focuses on the enzymes or proteins in your saliva and stomach that help break down that food. Last but not least are acids, which dissolve what's left into something your body can comfortably pass through your intestines.

Traditionally when you eat, your teeth and tongue work together to munch the food into small bits. Then your muscle movements push the food through the digestive tract until it is emptied into the stomach and churned with digestive juices, as shown below:

While this is happening, the enzymes in your saliva, stomach juices, and intestines drive chemical processes that allow you to convert that food into nutrients your body can use.

Then, the acids in your stomach get to work, dissolving what’s left of that food into a mush that your body can comfortably pass through your intestines and, eventually...dispose of.

But gum isn’t designed to be smoothly digested by your body like regular food. That’s because it contains either a natural or synthetic rubber base, which is what gives it its gummy consistency. Butyl rubber, commonly used in gum (as well as tires and basketballs, mm!), is a synthetic rubber that provides it with an ideal chewiness.

You’ve probably noticed that gum is unaffected by the crushing of your teeth — that’s kind of the point. So when you swallow the gum, it moves through your digestive tract into your stomach as one giant wad.

While your enzymes are able to break down the carbohydrates, oils, and alcohols in the gum as they would with regular food, the rubber base in the gum is basically immune to these enzymes.

Even the “harsh brew” of acids in your stomach is no match for this rubber base. (Remember that rubber is so resilient that we use it in gloves for protection.) As a result, part of your gum survives all of your digestive system's attempts to break it down.

But so do parts of a lot of other things you eat, like sunflower seeds or corn. So while that gum you swallowed is rebellious enough to stand up to your digestive processes, that doesn’t stop your muscles from eventually ushering it through your body and out the other end within a couple days.

To learn more, check out Reaction's video below:

SEE ALSO: How bubble gum is made

DON'T MISS: How giant slabs of rubber become thin rubber bands

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Doing these 14 uncomfortable things could change your life forever

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Runner at Sunset

What makes someone uncomfortable depends on the person, but what's universally true is the value of recognizing boundaries and continually pushing them.

As Quora user Joos Meyer explains in response to the question, "What uncomfortable things such as cold showers can improve your life?" pushing your comfort zone is the key to self-improvement.

"I think the best methodology is to every day or week set a task or find a situation that makes you slightly uncomfortable. Do that thing. This will incorporate the experience into your model of 'normality' and hence expand your 'comfort zone,'" he writes.

Here are some uncomfortable things that other Quora users say have helped them grow:

SEE ALSO: 15 daily habits that are easy to practice and can significantly improve your life

DON'T MISS: A marriage expert says doing these 3 things will help you have successful relationships at home and at work

1. Question everything

"The most uncomfortable thing one can do is to question everything that is taken for granted and seek answers," writes Malli Gurram. "Try to see the other side of the norm."



2. Be honest

Being the most honest you've ever been with someone in your life will be one of the most uncomfortable things you can do, Ryan Brown says, but it could also be the most valuable.

To do this, he suggests writing a list of all the people to whom you have something — good or bad — to say, writing down the honest feelings you need to convey to them in a letter, handing the person the letter, and writing down what happened and how the experience affected you and the other person.

"If you're being really honest, each letter you write should make you quite emotional as you are writing it," Brown writes. "That is how you know you have tapped into your actual emotions and feelings — that it actually means something to you."

"Don't forget what you have learned from the experience," he suggests. "Let it be with you forever."



3. Meditate

Oftentimes, slowing down and finding inner calm can be especially difficult for those of us who are constantly on the go and thinking of the next things we need to do.

But as Nathan Hershey points out, the benefits can include enhancing your cognitive capacity, emotional intelligence, and overall self-discipline.



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Your weekend barbecue might be bad for you — here's the safest way to do it

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barbecue hotdogs chicken burgers

The weather is getting warmer, and the smell of people grilling is starting to fill the evening air.

And while that cooking method does produce a delicious, smoky flavor for the meat, it's also potentially increasing your risk of certain kinds of cancer.

On the heels of its April report with the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) that looked at factors that have a relationship to stomach cancer, the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) has come out with guidelines about grilling. 

In that report, they found in particular that three factors were linked with a higher-than-average risk of developing stomach cancer: a high body fat percentage, a high alcohol intake, and a high intake of processed meats. That means that while the average risk for stomach cancer for most people remains fairly low, it may be somewhat higher in people who can check off all of these factors. 

And while the evidence is still limited, some research suggests that grilled or barbecued meats may be especially unhealthy. One reason?

Cooking meat at high temperatures, which is what you do when you grill something, can lead to the formation of substances called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute, these substances may be carcinogenic; severalstudies have documented this link. 

"Smoking or charring meat also contributes to the formation of PAHs," AICR's head of nutrition Alice Bender said in a release.

That's not to say though that you have to ditch grilling entirely, just that there are some steps you can take to avoid having your meat on high temperatures for such a long time.

Instead, the AICR suggests:

  1. Marinading your meat, which has been linked to less HCA formation during the cooking process.
  2. Pre-cooking in the oven or stovetop first before exposing it to flames of the grill.
  3. Going lean to avoid charring and flare-ups that occur as the fire burns up fat.
  4. Mixing in veggies with smaller cuts of meat for a shorter cooking time.
  5. Sticking to grilling fruits and vegetables (those don't produce HCAs). 

RELATED: Yes, bacon has been linked to cancer AGAIN — here's how bad processed meats actually are for you

NEXT: 3 behaviors are linked to your risk of developing the 5th most common type of cancer

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400 Italian pizza makers spent 11 hours making the world's longest pizza

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Four hundred Italian pizza makers spent 11 hours making the world's longest pizza, which spans 1.15 miles. Guinness World Records were present and measured the piping hot pizza as it came out of the oven.

Written and produced by David Fang

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Here's what it's like to eat a $245 meal at one of New York City's finest restaurants

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daniel

My food-loving mom recently flew in from North Carolina to spend Mother's Day weekend in New York City with me.

We did a lot of exploring — and even more eating.

As a Mother's Day treat, my incredibly generous grandpa, who happens to be a restaurant connoisseur and former food critic, treated us to an experience of of a lifetime: brunch at Chef Daniel Boulud's renowned restaurant, Daniel.

The experience was thrilling, educational, humbling, and at times, confusing (which of the three forks do I use?); the food was beautiful, complex, mouth-watering, and at times, perplexing (do I eat that small appetizer in one bite?); and, yes, the portions were small ... but we were somehow incredibly full afterwards.

Here's a closer look at the two and a half hour marathon meal:

SEE ALSO: I research restaurants at every price point before my mom visits NYC — here are 15 we've gone to so far

SEE ALSO: The 50 best restaurants in America

Daniel is tucked away on the Upper East Side, on 60th street between Park and Madison.



The revolving doors led us to a reception area, where we were greeted by the hostess. She checked our coats (and my mom's suitcase), and despite arriving 15 minutes early, we were escorted to our table immediately.

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When we made our reservation, we had the option of sitting in the main dining room (pictured) or the lounge. We went with the smaller lounge area — it seemed like the less intimidating, more casual option at the time — but if we were to do it all over, we'd like to be in the heart of the action.



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