Killer...s

In general I am not a fan of dogs (though we had two fine Springer spaniels when the boys were young) and find the Internet obsession with "adorable" pet videos especially nauseating.

Dogs, however, (and, of course, cats) are smarter than humans in one respect--they do not smoke nor drink (unless some stupid owners rig it so they do). Frankly, eating garbage and excrement and mice is less dangerous than using tobacco and alcohol.

Forget guns, foodie falsies, climate change, politics, vaccination lies, influenza, illicit drugs, and terrorism. The biggest killers of humans are those substances that are used legally and voluntarily--tobacco and alcohol.  

There are huge American industries that depend on the capacity and ability of humans to systematically kill themselves with these noxious poisons. And these industries get even richer when they induce people in developing and poor nations to waste their resources on obtaining these "luxuries". It's disgusting and immoral!

Recent reviews of these medical evils in the New England Journal of Medicine share the data that document that these poisons do even more damage than previously thought.  In addition, the major benefits of quitting smoking and drinking lightly (NOT in "moderation") are outlined.

As a person who cares for others in any capacity--health care worker, friend, family member, co-worker--the best thing any of us can do is nag at people who indulge in these toxins until they quit.

NOTE: There are no such things as "victimless" crimes or self-destructive acts. The people who love and care for the willfully self-destructive suffer--BIG TIME. Just ask them!

When Vitamins Kill

From "The Myth of Antioxidants".

Scientific American, February 2013

"Spiritual" healing

The evidence is clear--the human mind and body compose one organism. The distinction between "mental" and "physical" illness is completely artificial. It is used by bigots and fearmongers to enhance their self-created images of moral superiority.

It has clearly been shown that people can "get better" or "be healed" or even "be cured" through mechanisms that we don't completely understand. 

The infamous (and pejoratively named) "placebo"effect demonstrates that the patient's condition can change based on his or her "expectations", or response to the clinical encounter. Everyone in the healing arts knows that the process of care itself, independent of medicines or radiation or surgery, is powerful--for good or ill.

There is more we do not know about how the brain/mind/body really work in an integrated organism than there is that we do know. Can the mind heal the body? Of course, as the body can heal the mind. This does NOT require, in my view, magic waves from Mars or vibrations from Venus or "whoo-whoo" or interventions by the dead. It is real and has been documented repeatedly.

The meaning of "spirit" is simply "breath". Breathing brings oxygen, the essence of life. I believe that what is called "spiritual healing" is simply healing that is mediated by neurons and oxygen in a way we have yet to quantify or completely understand. It is NOT magic (which historically has been anything nor understood by the observer) nor emanations from inorganic objects.

There is enough power in our "natural" bodies and minds to account for all the reality we experience. Joo-joo juice from Jupiter is not required...more research and a whole lot of humility are.

Little Big Macs?

I would wager that most laypersons think (with foodie and nutrition-quackers reinforcement) that when you eat a Big Mac what is absorbed are a bunch of little Big Macs.

WRONG!! The fact that foodies and pseudo-nutritionists promote this thinking by ignoring actual physiology is their attempt to sell their stuff rather than educate. They are scientifically illiterate!

In fact, the entire process of DIGESTION is only preliminary to the REAL show, which is ABSORPTION. The former takes complex nutrients and breaks them down into their molecular components (amino acids, free fatty acids, and monosaccharides) . THESE are absorbed and then RE-ASSEMBLED by human cells into substances that can be used by the human body.

Complex proteins (hear me, weight lifters!) do NOT go directly from mouth to muscle; they MUST be broken down into amino acids first. These in turn can be used to replenish muscle proteins.

Foods do not "burn fat"--they can only create it! (More on that another time, Oz, you shyster!)

Humans have evolved an effective and efficient process whereby we can be maximally omnivorous. Should we be in the un-envious position of ONLY being able to eat Big Macs (as pandas can only eat bamboo and koalas can only eat eucalyptus) we would be nutritionally even unhappier than we are.

Ingest, digest, and ABSORB!

Muscle power...

...is not just about looking good (??)

If the Mayans knew so much...

...why did they lose their civilization to an environmental

--not supernatural--

disaster?

Maybe we should ask ourselves the same question.

Happy Warmer (and hopefully smarter) New Year!

The secret of life

Gas exchange!

Oxygen (green) out of the blood into the tissues;

Carbon dioxide (blue) OUT of tissues into blood;

INTERNAL RESPIRATION!

Carbon dioxide (purple) out of the blood into the alveoli;

Oxygen (red) into the blood out of the alveoli.

EXTERNAL RESPIRATION!

I'll take my Nobel, now!

You gotta have...OXYGEN!!

If the cell doesn't do it, the body doesn't either.

The cell's mitochondria produce energy through respiration (glycolysis, Kreb's cycle, oxidative phosphorylation), which requires oxygen. It's no coincidence that the "macro-process" of breathing is also called respiration. 

Most people think that the most essential substance for life is water. Not so! Water is actually a "waste" product of respiration.

The most essential substance for life is OXYGEN. Without it cells begin to die in seconds. Glucose is next in importance but it takes much longer for cells to starve than to suffocate. Breathing is job #1!!!

So, be good to your lungs and they'll never let you down. Or out!

Weak in the knees!

One of the many pieces of odd but important evidence that supports evolution, and particularly "non-directed" evolution, is the fact that humans are simply not "designed" to stand upright. 

The knee is barely able to support us, and, as athletes can attest, is easily damaged and even destroyed.Simple aging wears its components down rapidly. Had we been "meant" to walk on two legs the knee and hip would be much bigger, bulkier, and stronger.

Evolutionary biologists suggest that the first "step" in humans branching off from our ancestor common with the apes was, in fact, standing on two legs. This "freed" our brains and hands to develop as they have.

I'd rather have a big brain and exquisitely fine-tuned hands (not to mention speech!) than strong knees. Wouldn't we all? If you can't "do it all", do what counts. Unfortunately that big brain has convinced us that we can do things with our knees we were never "designed" to do. 

There is no free lunch!