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[personal profile] ellenkushner
Boy, howdy! Captive in the Mammogram Waiting Room of Eternal Rest, I read this week's entire Tuesday NYTimes "Science Times" section - and there's something for everyone:

• Smoking can make you bald!
• Walruses are incredibly cool!
• Boil broccoli; steam carrots (or is it the other way 'round?)
• Mozart's music may heal tissues & reduce pain
• Hookahs are actually as bad ("Each puff has as much as 100 times the smoke as a puff from a cigarette...And smokers are also inhaling fumes from the charcoal.") for you as cigarettes. . .
• . . . which are incredibly addictive; willpower alone can't do it if your genes are against you there.
• Your genes may also determine how badly you crave sweet things
which brings us to my fascinating favorite:
• Stressed-out by low-status primates crave sweet and/or fatty food more - as the article says, "The female monkeys weren’t dieters who tasted one forbidden food and then couldn’t stop themselves from binging. They were not rebelling against the thin mandate from tyrannical fashion magazines. They weren’t choosing junk food because they couldn’t find healthier fare . . .They get some sort of comfort that is particularly appealing to the subordinate monkeys. One possibility is that the fatty foods help block the monkeys’ stress responses . . . Another possible explanation. . . is that the snacks activated the reward pathways in the brain."

Wow. So go read up on all this; you may have to Log In to the NYTimes Online, but (a) it's free and (b) it is then Yours Forever!

I'll be thinking of those monkeys for a long time.

Date: 2008-05-22 01:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kate-schaefer.livejournal.com
I'm going to read this on the plane tomorrow. We save up Science News and the Tuesday science section for travel.

Date: 2008-05-22 12:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mroctober.livejournal.com
I went to a Turkish restaurant with friends once and we all sampled the hookah. The smoke was supposedly flavored but it had so little taste. Was actually pretty mild. I'm surprised how unhealthy it is.

Date: 2008-05-22 01:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rojomojo.livejournal.com
good article on genetic smoking links. I did quit, as did most of my family. and we all got addicted to food as a dopamine source (I think). So now, instead of being skinny and smelling like smoke, my whole family is overweight and unhealthy. Most of us tend toward alcoholism, too. My wife, who has none of these problems doesn't get why her kids smoke and do drugs. If only we knew what supplements to take to help fight that. Being one step away from melancholy, the urge to drink, etc. is not always fun. Meditation helps, but I have often wondered what "normal" brain chemistry would be like.

rojo

Date: 2008-05-31 02:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-kushner.livejournal.com
I guess they're working on that now; they're trying to find us all the perfect balance of brain chemicals. Assuming there is one may be the first mistake . . . . Or maybe not. Time will tell.

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