Sleep’s Memory How do we remember? What do we try to forget? What do we forget without trying? As in many areas of consciousness, sleep is a key. Vladimir Nabokov was a formidable novelist, essayist and lepidopterist. He recognized evolutionary changes in butterflies decades before his colleagues. Yet he is better known as the author […]
Why We Need New Definitions of Health (2/13/13)
Money and Health Money will buy you health care. It won’t buy you health. The media equation of health with health care is a sad and tragic misperception. It makes people think that if they have enough money and “great” health insurance, that even if they get sick everything will be fine. That might prove […]
Time Rules Weight (2/11/13)
The Weight on America Americans are obsessed with weight. We read about it, think about it, twitter about it. We even pay billions to lose it. As I’ve argued before, weight is not the enemy. An impoverished, narrow view of health is the real culprit. Medicine looks to “fix” the “homeostatic” human machine rather than […]
Alert – Bacteria Are Reprogramming Your DNA (2/6/13)
Nerves Into Stem Cells Nerve cells are remarkably reprogrammable. The proof? Leprosy bacteria can take Schwann cells – the stuff that wraps nerve cells axon in white, fatty sheaths so they transmit faster – convert them into stem cells, then use them to flummox the immune system and infect the whole body. Which is rather […]
Crazy About Drugs (2/4/13)
A Problem of Law Item: An Egyptian rights lawyer is sentenced to 5 years in jail and 300 lashes of the whip for bringing anti-anxiety drugs (xanax – alprazolam) into Saudi Arabia. The judge notes the perpetrator’s “good morals” in explaining his “lenient” verdict (anti-anxiety drugs are banned in Saudi Arabia.) Item: Florida regulators led […]