Alina Bradford
Writer and Content Specialist
Alina McKee Bradford is a writer with more than 20 years of experience. Her specialties are health, tech, DIY and lifestyle topics. She also has a substantial social media following.
PROJECTS
LiveScience
Facts About Rainforests
Rainforests are found all over the world — in West and Central Africa, South and Central America, Indonesia, Southeast Asia and Australia — on every continent except Antarctica. They are vitally important, producing most of the oxygen we breathe and providing habitat for half of the planet's flora and fauna.
Types of rainforests
The term "rainforest" has a wide classification. Typically, rainforests are lush, humid, hot stretches of land covered in tall, broadleaf evergreen trees, usuall...
LiveScience
Acid Rain: Causes, Effects and Solutions
Acid rain, or acid deposition, is a broad term that includes any form of precipitation that contains acidic components, such as sulfuric acid or nitric acid, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The precipitation is not necessarily wet or liquid; the definition includes dust, gasses, rain, snow, fog and hail. The type of acid rain that contains water is called wet deposition. Acid rain formed with dust or gasses is called dry deposition.
Causes
The term acid rain was c...
CNET
How to bake and proof bread with an Instant Pot
Though there isn't a baking mode on the Instant Pot, you can still use it to make soft, warm bread that beats a bakery every time. It can steam cook quick breads by pressure cooking them and help yeast breads rise at a record pace. The results? Mmm.
Read more: The complete guide to using your Instant Pot and What all the buttons on your Instant Pot do
Cooking fast bread
Fast bread typically calls for bread recipes that have leavening options other than yeast to make them fluffy. These types o...
CNET
Instant Pot recipes everyone should know: Hard-boiled eggs, rotisserie chicken and more
You already know that the Instant Pot can be used to make a wide range of dishes, but there's more than just stew, chili and soup. You can make hard-"boiled" eggs, bread, cake and "rotisserie" chicken in the wonder cooker, too.
Read more on Chowhound: How to use the Instant Pot to make your life easier
Pressure cooked hard-boiled eggs
In a pressure cooker you can't technically boil eggs, but you can steam them. This comes with a distinct advantage: The shells slide right off when you peel the...
CNET
13 Instant Pot tips, recipes and features everyone should know
The Instant Pot is a pressure cooker that also also sautés, slow cooks, makes poultry tender and juicy and can even be used for canning. While all the buttons, valves settings and accessories may seem daunting, we've rounded up some of our best tips to make you a skilled Instapot user.
The basics
But first, an explainer
Whether you're eyeing an Instant Pot or are a longtime owner, start with this explainer about the Instant Pot. It covers how it works, what you can cook in it and basic tips, ...
LiveScience
COPD: Causes, Symptoms & Treatment
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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic lung disease that makes breathing progressively more difficult. The disease affects about 11 million people in the United States, and it is the third leading cause of death in the country, according to the American Lung Association.
COPD is considered the intersection of three related conditions: chronic bronchitis, chronic asthma and emphysema, Dr. Neal Chaisson, who practices pulmonary medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, told Live...
LiveScience
What Is Blood Sugar?
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Blood sugar, or glucose, is the main sugar found in blood. The body gets glucose from the food we eat. This sugar is an important source of energy and provides nutrients to the body's organs, muscles and nervous system. The absorption, storage and production of glucose is regulated constantly by complex processes involving the small intestine, liver and pancreas.
Glucose enters the bloodstream after a person has eaten carbohydrates. The endocrine system helps keep the bloodstream's gluco...
LiveScience
What Is Trepanation?
Paul McCartney revealed in a 1986 interview in Musician magazine that John Lennon once asked him and his wife, Linda, "You fancy getting the trepanning done?" He was referring to trepanation surgeries that put holes in the skull using hand drills, cutting or scraping techniques. "Trepan" comes from the Greek word trypanon, which, fittingly, means "a borer."
Trepanation is really an old term, also known as trephination, according to Dr. Raphael Davis, a neurosurgeon and co-director of the Neur...
LiveScience
Thymus: Facts, Function & Diseases
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Though the thymus is a little-known organ in the body, it does some very important things. It is part of the lymphatic system, along with the tonsils, adenoids and spleen, and it's also part of the endocrine system.
Function
The thymus produces progenitor cells, which mature into T-cells (thymus-derived cells). The body uses T-cells help destroy infected or cancerous cells. T-cells created by the thymus also help other organs in the immune system grow properly.
These cells are so vital, ...
LiveScience
Accelerometer vs. Gyroscope: What's the Difference?
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Many different sensory devices are used to determine the position and orientation of an object. The most common of these sensors are the gyroscope and the accelerometer. Though similar in purpose, they measure different things. When combined into a single device, they can create a very powerful array of information.
What is a gyroscope?
A gyroscope is a device that uses Earth's gravity to help determine orientation. Its design consists of a freely-rotating disk called a rotor, mounted on...
CNET
How to download all your Instagram data
If you want to save all of your Instagram data so you can move to another platform -- or just keep a copy of everything -- now you can. This comes as part of the company's compliance to Europe's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy rules, which are designed to give users more control over their data.
Right now, the data download feature is mostly available on the web version, but it is rolling out to iOS and Android soon. Here's how to download your data through the web tool....
CNET
How to get Alexa to remember things
Alexa now has the capability to learn and recall for you. She can remember birthdays, anniversaries, clothing sizes, names and more.
Get Alexa to remember special days
Never forget a birthday, anniversary or special day again when Alexa has your back. For birthdays, simply say, for example, "Alexa, remember Jonathan's birthday is May 17." Then, when you need her help, say, "Alexa, when is Jonathan's birthday?" She'll reply, "You asked me to remember. Jonathan's birthday is May 17."
For annive...
LiveScience
Tonsils: Facts, Function & Treatment
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Tonsils are small organs in the back of the throat. As part of the lymphatic system, they play an important role in the health of the body. Tonsils were once thought to be a useless part made obsolete by evolution. When bothered by an infection, doctors once prescribed the removal of the tonsils through a tonsillectomy. These small organs are actually quite useful, though.
Size and location
Technically, there are three sets of tonsils in the body: the pharyngeal tonsils, commonly known a...
LiveScience
Adenoids: Facts, Function & Treatment
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Adenoids are tonsils, but not all tonsils are adenoids. There are three types of tonsils in the lymphatic system. The pharyngeal tonsils are commonly known as adenoids, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. They provide protection against infections and flush away unwanted particles.
Location, description and function
Adenoids are clusters of lymphatic tissue in the back of the nose, above the roof of the mouth. You can't see them by looking in someone's mouth. They are at their largest ...
LiveScience
Sigmund Freud: Life, Work & Theories
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Though his ideas were controversial, Sigmund Freud was one of the most influential scientists in the fields of psychology and psychiatry. It has been over 100 years since Freud published his theories, yet he still influences what we think about personality and the mind.
Life
Freud was born to a wool merchant and his second wife, Jakob and Amalie, in Freiberg, Moravia, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on May 6, 1856. This town is now known as Příbor and is located in the Czech Republic.
Fo...