07.31.06
Fetus in Fetus
Whats better than chain emails? What about blogging about someone elses blog? Heres a video of a rare condition called fetus in fetus where a dead twin grows inside the body of the living one.
07.29.06
Soy- Good or Evil?
During my usual news surfing, I found this article titled Should we worry about soya in our food? Now this is alarming when you realize how much soy people are eating. Soy is used in 50%+ of processed food. It is in breakfast cereals, cereal bars and biscuits, cheeses, cakes, dairy desserts, gravies, noodles, pastries, soups, sausage casings, sauces and sandwich spreads. Elements of soya may be disguised and simply appear as soya flour, hydrolysed vegetable protein, soy protein isolate, protein concentrate, textured vegetable protein, vegetable oil (simple, fully, or partially hydrogenated), plant sterols, or the emulsifier lecithin. Many fast food joints put soy in the meat paddies. Ever wonder why the quarter pounder is called a 1/4 lb “meat patty”? And of course if your vegetarian, soya is everywhere (especially the imitation meat products, and meat subsitutes). The article talks about how soy’s curealls: phyto-estrogens, isoflavones, soy protein isolates are all harmful to humans. Now soy has been consumed for ages in Asia, but mainly in condiments and sauces- all in fermented varieties. All except the following (taken from here or here):
Traditionally fermented soy products make a delicious, natural seasoning that may supply important nutritional factors in the Asian diet. But except in times of famine, Asians consume soy products only in small amounts, as condiments, and not as a replacement for animal foods – with one exception. Celibate monks living in monasteries and leading a vegetarian lifestyle find soy foods quite helpful because they dampen libido.
Here is another crazy excerpt from the same article:
Just imagine. Farmers have been imagining – and planting more soy. What was once a minor crop, listed in the 1913 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) handbook not as a food but as an industrial product, now covers 72 million acres of American farmland. Much of this harvest will be used to feed chickens, turkeys, pigs, cows and salmon. Another large fraction will be squeezed to produce oil for margarine, shortenings and salad dressings.
For years now I have heard all these great things about soy. But now I’m questioning. Here is a “FACTS” clarification from Soy Foods association of North America regarding the concerns addressed in the earlier articles.
In this related article, under the section titled Phytoestrogens — Soy Self Defense, it says, and I quote:
Plants have evolved many different strategies to protect themselves from predators. Some have thorns or spines, while others smell bad, taste bad, or poison animals that eat them. Some plants took a different route, using birth control as a way to counter the critters who were wont to munch.
Its a novel thought. All and all, this topic requires more research. I intend to also filter my other eating habits for other hidden dangers.
07.27.06
World War III (or possibly IV)
Check out this article which talks about how the current war on terrorism is considered by some to be the third world war (or possibly fourth if you include the Cold War). The article has a decent amount of substance, and is worth the read. Heres an interesting tidbit:
Even the French leftist philosopher, Jean Baudrillard, adopted the expression to describe the war on terror, although he used it his own unique way: “There is no longer a front, no demarcation line, the enemy sits in the heart of the culture that fights it,” he told the German magazine Der Spiegel. “That is, if you like, the fourth world war: no longer between peoples, states, systems and ideologies, but, rather, of the human species against itself.”
Eat bacteria!
This article talks about a study that shows a daily dose of a healthy bacteria (probiotic lactoacillus acidophilus) capsule over a month can reverse a problem in immunity in fatigued athletes.
Spicy Peppers!
Check out this article if you are curious to know why peppers are spicy. In a nut shell, its because birds cant taste the spice, and they leave the seeds intact, while animals do (and if they could eat the pepper, would destroy the seeds).
Dog’s Best Friend
This article talks about a paper in the June 29th issue of Genome Research that presents evidence suggesting that the domestication of dogs by humans has given rise to the immense diversity of the canine species by allowing otherwise harmful genetic mutations to survive. Now consider that dogs have been domesticated for over 10,000 years. And all these different breeds of dogs came from a single ancestor species, the gray wolf.
07.13.06
Brain wrapup
This article talks about a study that shows sleep enhances memory retention. I think the title is a bit misleading. I think it should be more correctly explained as restfullness improves cognitive function. In the second experiment, subjects had to learn a new set of words in a short time span. Those that were well rested had higher cognitive ability. Nothing too major in this article.
Here is another article that discusses the “Contempory Theory of Dreaming”. Its an interesting read. The conclusion of the article is:
Thus we consider a possible (though certainly not proven) function of a dream to be weaving new material into the memory system in a way that both reduces emotional arousal and is adaptive in helping us cope with further trauma or stressful events.
Here is a very lengthy article that talks about the brain and conscious choice. One theory is that what we call free will is essentially a fiction, but instead a congnitive feeling. Theres alot more to the article. Set aside 20-30min and read it for yourself. I did like this interesting bit at the end which discusses free will and pre-destination.
A neuroscientist with a strongly philosophical and political cast of mind, he insists that we are freed as well as constrained by our “biosocial†nature, in other words by genes, environment and the constraints of the brain. Yet by the same token we as humans are radically undetermined. “Living as we do at the interface of multiple determinisms, we become free to construct our own futures, though in circumstances not of our own choosing.â€
07.07.06
Tummy time
This article at the BBC talks about how babies need tummy time to help them develop. Advantages include babies get more time to develop skills to roll, crawl, sit, pull to stand, and eventually walk. They still recommend babies to sleep on theib backs b/c babies that sleep on their back have a decreased risk of cot death.
Chinese take-out phone prank
This link is to some guys blog where he has a recording of a three way phone prank for chinese take out. They call one restaurant, place an order, then call a second, and then has the first restaurant repeat the order to the second. Things start of smooth, but then crazy when they talk about delivery…
07.06.06
Barcodes in Vogue
This article talks about Japanese Design Barcode and how they have creatively turned plain, boring barcodes into (line) art. Check out there homepage at www.d-barcode.com. They have a fairly novel website too.
Hospital Owes Korean Egg Donor $63 Million
Link to wired article. The woman is 52 years old. She claims the procedure has left her infertile. Was she planning on having another kid? When does menopause kick in again?