Scott Kelly's life, height return to normal after near year in space

Astronaut Scott Kelly, who grew about 2 inches during his nearly one year stay on the International Space Station, is back to his normal height, his identical twin brother, Mark, said Thursday.

Scott Kelly, whose spine elongated while he spent 340 days in space, took less than two days to shrink.

Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" by email that the two went back-to-back an hour after his brother returned to the United States early Thursday.

Scott grew 1½ inches before returning to normal, he said.

Scott Kelly landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday morning, and arrived in Houston to hugs and American treats a day later.

There he was welcomed by his twin, second lady Jill Biden and various NASA officials.

Biden brought the astronaut some beer and apple pie.

"Nothing's more American than that," she said. "... That's what he said he wanted."

'It's great to be back'

Scott Kelly, 52, attributed the success of his year in space to his NASA colleagues, family and friends.

"It's great to be back in Texas, on U.S. soil ... on planet Earth," he said.

"This is not my achievement. It's NASA's achievement and it's our country's achievement. ... There's no greater privilege than serving your country however and wherever you might do it."

In a phone call, President Barack Obama applauded him for his record-breaking yearlong mission.

In a statement, the White House said, "Kelly's year in space would provide critical data to researchers trying to understand how to keep astronauts healthy during long space voyages and fulfill the President's vision of putting American astronauts on Mars in the 2030s."

Pool plunge

Though he's no longer an astronaut, Mark Kelly volunteered to take part in NASA's "Twins Study"with his brother. NASA wants to see how the identical twins measure up after a year in two very different environments: Scott in space and Mark on Earth.

Scott Kelly returned to Earth after 340 days, the longest any U.S. astronaut has been in space.

Since then, he's been getting reacquainted with his planet. After garnering a million Twitter followers during his stint in space, the astronaut has started tweeting about life back on the ground -- including a long-awaited plunge into a swimming pool while still wearing his NASA jumpsuit.

And after nearly a year sharing pictures of breathtaking views and high-tech equipment, Kelly did something Wednesday that showed he's just like the rest of us.

important uses of banana peels you never know

Important uses of banana peels you never know

Brighten up houseplants

Do you have dusty or dingy leaves on your houseplants? Do not bother to mist them with water that just spreads the dirt around. Rather, wipe down each leaf with the inside part of a banana peel.

Polish shoes

A great alternative to shoe polish is a banana peel. You should rub your shoe with the inside of the peel. After that, buff the shoes with a soft cloth. Bananas are full of potassium, and also the shoe polish contains potassium. Your shoes will last longer, because the natural oils of banana soak into the leather.

Acne

You can rub the banana peel over a certain area every night before sleeping, in order to reduce irritation and inflammation, as well as prevent outbreaks.

Whiten teeth

The potassium in banana peel is thought to help whiten the teeth. You should choose a banana that seems just ripe, because that is when the levels of potassium are optimal.

Rub the inside of the peel alongside your teeth until they get completely coated in the banana paste.

You should apply for about 2 minutes, and then leave the paste to stay for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, brush your teeth with toothpaste in order to remove the residue.

Warts

Banana peel can also eliminate warts. Apply a piece of a banana peel on the wart and protect it with a bandage, or you can just rub the inner side of the peel on the pretentious area.

Bug Bites

You should rub a banana peel on bug bites in order to reduce itching and calm your skin.

Psoriasis

In just a couple of days the banana peel can also cure psoriasis. Scrub some banana peel on the affected area twice a day. It also has the abilities to relieve itchiness, moisturize the skin, and cure psoriasis in just a few days.

Rashes and itches

You can utilize banana peel for relieving rashes and itches. Just rub a banana peel over the painful area 2 times a day until is completely gone.

Headache

Because of the high potassium content it can help you heal the root cause of your pain. Take the banana peel and hold it through the forehead and the back of the neck.

Helps with hemorrhoids

The peel of this amazing fruit is amazingly effective in case of hemorrhoids. All you have to do is to scrub the peel on the affected area for about five minutes, 4 to 5 times per day.

Benefits of Reducing the quantity of meat in your diet.

Switching to a meat-free diet can have a tremendous impact on the world around you. What this means is that the 30% of Earth’s land mass that is used to raise animals for food would go back to nature for growing vegetables and other varieties that are naturally grown from soil. Essentially, the ripple effect that this would have if everyone switched to a vegetable based diet, then our world would be significantly healthier.

Lose Weight 

Obesity is a pretty dire issue in the world of America today. However, obesity has been found to be a much lower statistic among vegetarians. A study that was published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics was able to show that caloric intake in comparison between vegetarians and meat eaters was actually similar, however, meat-eaters had the lowest intake of fiber, magnesium, beta carotene, and plant proteins. Essentially, meat induces the highest intake of hear disease-linked fatty acids.

Reduced Inflammation

By switching to less potent foods that aren’t meat, you can greatly reduce the inflammation that goes on in your body. Our body’s respond to animal fat by our arteries becoming paralyzed as well as hindering their ability to open, with the addition of your lungs becoming inflamed as well. All of these can cause long term effects if continued inflammation occurs, such as autoimmune diseases, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

important uses of silica

Don’t Throw These Bags! When You See What Can They Do, You’ll Keep Them Like A Gold!

1# Keep your workout gear dry 

Good thing about silica is that you can put it into you training bag along with your workout gear and it will prevent bacteria proliferation.

Also, will keep your bag dry and clean and destroy that bad smell, all by silica gel bags. 

2# Prolong the shelf life of your make-up 

If you want to prevent occurrence of moisture in your powder make up, put on of these bags in your make up case. 

3# Put them in your wardrobe 

Also, you can put them in your closet to protect your close form moisture and bad smell that goes with it. 

4# Restore your water-damaged phone 

Restoring your water-damaged phone is probably one of the most amazing uses of silicon dioxide.

If this happens to you, put your phone among 4-5 silica gel bags and they will take all of the moisture from your phone and make it dry.