I woke up this morning feeling tired; as if I had no energy. Of course, by the time my feet hit the floor, I realized this was quite impossible. Thanks to a 2 billion-year-old symbiotic relationship that lives within every one of our cells, thanks to our mothers. I am referring of course to mitochondria, …
Of Spiderlings, DNA, and Collective Memory.
Children sometimes come out with the most significant questions, and in their innocence, often assume we have the answer. Usually, we do not. On the few lucky occasions, however, we may, in fact, know how to answer. I recall having a conversation with a small child as we finished reading “Charlottes Web.” She turned to …
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A Personal Time Machine
Dr. Carl Sagan once remarked that astronomy is a “humbling and character-building experience.” Anyone who’s looked up in a dark night sky, away from streetlights or cities could not help but be awed at the distant planets, stars, galaxies, and nebula. Peering through even a relatively cheap set of binoculars reveals as many as 100 …
About Bias: Why we like people better when they look like us, or agree with us.
Lately, perhaps due to the politics of an impending Brexit revote, the ongoing political infighting in the United States, issues arising from the anti-VAX movement and the threats they impose to public health, and the anti-GMO movements making the rounds, perhaps a look at bias was due. Bias, in one sense, means that we tend …
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The Role of Social Media in Loneliness and Isolation.
What part does Social Media play in Loneliness and Isolation of Youth in today's world?
Association Between Child Abuse and Hypertension in Adulthood.
This is a reprint of a recent (2018) article in the Global Scientific Research Journal of Public Health based upon my own independent research (2013-2015). Nicoletta Alexander, Gudeta Fufaa, and Barry Woods, all played critical roles in supporting the original research project, and I owe them my undying gratitude. ©Mahalakshmi …
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The Normal Response to Injury: An Editorial on the Natural Healing Qualities of the Inflammatory Process
Last week, while out for a run, I felt a sharp pain in my knee. Inspection revealed no obvious biomechanical issue, and the pain was intermittent. Still I took it easy until I returned home. While the area where I had felt the pain was swollen, it was not discolored. Discolored areas generally indicate the …
Is the Disconnect between Biology and Culture making you Ill? Part Three: Homeostasis and Couch Potatoes who were Born to Run.
Homeostasis is really about balance, and in this case, energy balance. We are predisposed to maintain this homeostasis by taking advantage of surplus energy and storing it as fat. And while this trait has served our species for 2 million years, we no longer live in a feast or famine environment, and those conditions of …
Is the Disconnect between Biology and Culture making you Ill? Part Two: Stressing the system
The human immune response system, much like that of other mammals, evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to be a barrier against the nasty bugs and pathogens we live with day-to-day. Since the discovery of antibiotics (and their overuse in both human medicine and industrial farming), we have created a very clean and sterile …
Is the Disconnect between Biology and Culture making you Ill? Part One: Evolutionary Medicine.
Part One: Background Over the winter, rather disgusted at the weight that I put on over the past 20 years, I decided to do something about it. Complaining was easy, but taking steps to improve my health also proved to be quite easy as well. About 25 years ago, I was diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, …
