Ah! At last! Some sensible guidance on the consumption of alcohol.
Sage Guidance
Category Archives: medical
Piloerection
Piloerection — more commonly known as goosebumps …
We all get goosebumps.
But I have recemtly found out two things about this common phenomenon — one is general and the other seemingly specific to me.
Firstly piloerection (hairs standing up) is interesting because it is a demonstration of evolution not happening. We are all familiar with the cat with its fur fluffed out and tail bushed, usually when confronted with an aggressor. We’re all also familiar with the robin, or pigeon, fluffed up in the winter against the cold. Both these are the original uses of what we still have as goosebumps.
The way this works is that the tiny muscles around the hair follicles (or equivalent for feathers) react to cold or to adrenalin (produced in response to fear, or excitement). In contracting these tiny muscles pull the hair into a more erect state and cause the little bumps around the hair follicle. Humans have lost (most of) their fur, but we’ve not lost the response mechanisms to cold or which stimulate production of adrenalin. So we still get goosebumps, although they apparently confer no advantage on us. There is no cost, the reactions aren’t deleterious, so there has been no evolutionary pressure to remove the reaction. This is one of a number of traits which (some of) us exhibit and which are evolutionary remnants; others include our tails, widom teeth and appendix.
Like everyone I get goosebumps, and the tingling sensation of the skin that usually goes along with them. And, also like most, this is strongest on the forearms. But what I’ve noticed recently is that this is more marked on the right side of my body than the left. Sometimes it is only on my right side. Sometimes both sides but the right predominates. Whether it has always been like this I don’t know, but I think it probably has. I find this strange and I can neither find, nor conjure up, a satisfactory explanation. Does anyone have any clues?
Nanny State
Atlantic Insight has an interesting interview (podcast & transcript) with Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs. He’s not at all impressed by the nanny state or public health lobbyists.
It’s worth a read, or listen: Interview with Christopher Snowdon
Your Interesting Links
Lots of science-y bits again in this months offering …
Science & Medicine
I wonder when humans first started pondering about aliens? Well certainly they were in medieval times.
On the discovery of dinosaurs among us.
So what would you guess is the world’s deadliest poison? Well here are five of the top contenders.
Clean water. We all depend on it, but do you know what happens to it between its source and your tap? Simple explainer from Compound Interest.
Hugs generally feel good. Now researchers are beginning to understand why.
Wow! In what looks a stunning piece of work some neuroscientists have been able to create an atlas showing how words are organised in the brain. The implications could be worrying though.
Next up another stunning piece of research and development … A biotech company has developed a DNA sequencer that fits in a pocket and will go literally anywhere. Of course it is still expensive, but that should change. [Long read]
More new work shows that women get healthier after their husbands die. It must be finally having been able to stop doing childcare.
So really how do female astronauts cope with menstruation? Seems it is currently most down to persona choice.
Sexuality
So here are some of those sex myths debunked.
Here’s the story of a childless young lady who chose to be sterilised in her 20s and 40 years later she hasn’t regretted it, despite the harassment.
Social Sciences & Business
Bodyhackers: people who ave stuff implanted in them, like the microchips we put in our cats and dogs. They’re all around us. And most of them are women.
Language
Speed-reading. Too good to be true? Well that’s what the latest research is telling us.
History
Here’s an interesting piece on the early history of London’s St Paul’s Cathedral.
Archaeological divers found a 400-year-old dress in a shipwreck off the Netherlands. And it seems it sheds light on plot to pawn crown jewels.
The oddities of maritime history … the SS Baychimo, one of the strangest ghost ships on record sailing unmanned for 38 years.
Food & Drink
Well the French may call them pissenlit, but the humble dandelion is an interesting and useful herb. I remember when I was a kid we made both dandelion wine (lots of flowers) and dandelion coffee (from the roots). Love the illustrations too.
Out there are some amazing heirloom breeds: from woolly pigs to deodorant squash. And they’re vanishing, which is a shame as we’re losing some rich variety.
Shock, Horror, Humour
And finally … If you live near the sea what do you do with all the flotsam you find? If you’re artist Stuart Haygarth you sort it all to make interesting collections of weirdness.
More at the end of the month.
Boost for GP Services
NHS in £2.4bn funding boost for GP services in England says the BBC News headline.
So OK, our hard-pressed GPs are going to get a funding increase over the next four years which will pay for 5000 more GPs and the same number of other GP practice clinicians (nurses, pharmacists etc.). There will also be:
– a relaxation of rules to make it easier to renovate premises or build new ones
– a public campaign to encourage junior doctors to become GPs
– the recruitment of 500 doctors from abroad to boost numbers.
While any extra help for GPs is to be welcomed, this does beg lots of questions, including:
- Is this actually new money, or is some other part of the NHS being salami-sliced to find the cash?
- Where does the government think it is going to find 5000 new GPs in four years, especially if only 500 are coming from overseas? Remember, it takes 10 years to train a GP from scratch and at least 4 years if they are already finishing their basic medical training. Oh and we’ve been hearing this “5000 new GPs” for the last 2 years or more, so this isn’t new!
- What good is a public campaign going to be to encourage junior doctors to become GPs? It isn’t the public who need convincing, but medical students.
- It is all very fine relaxing the rules on renovating/building premises, but this doesn’t help unless there is the money to do the work … and there’s no sign of that! [Just as an example, my GP’s have had planning permission for a small extension for 2 years or more, but so far no funding.]
- Yes, we need more GPs, but existing practices also need a general funding boost as they are struggling not just with workload but the ability to pay for all the things they have to do. [You want the phones answered quicker? That means extra reception staff and they have to be paid.]
So yes, good, but …
Many Years On …
A few days ago there was an article in the Guardian under the banner Why it’s time to dispel the myths about nuclear power.
Just a couple of snippets:
Chernobyl was a perfect storm, a damning tale of ineptitude leading to needless loss of life. It was also unequivocally the world’s worst nuclear accident. To many, it is also heralded as proof-positive that nuclear energy was inherently unsafe, a narrative adopted by many anti-nuclear groups … But perception and reality do not always neatly align; in the wake of the disaster, the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and others undertook a co-ordinated effort to follow up on health effects … Despite aggressive monitoring for three decades, there has been no significant increase in solid tumours or delayed health effects, even in the hundreds of thousands of minimally protected cleanup workers who helped purge the site after the accident. In the words of the 2008 UNSCEAR report: “There is no scientific evidence of increases in overall cancer incidence or mortality rates or in rates of non-malignant disorders that could be related to radiation exposure … The incidence of leukaemia in the general population, one of the main concerns owing to the shorter time expected between exposure and its occurrence compared with solid cancers, does not appear to be elevated”.
… … …
Unlike the accident in the Ukraine, events at Fukushima in March 2011 were not the result of ineptitude but rather a massive natural disaster in the form of a deadly 15-metre high tsunami** … While the world media fixated on the drama unfolding at the plant, it lost sight of the fact that around 16,000 had just been killed in a massive natural disaster. Despite the preponderance of breathless headlines since the reality is that five years later, radiobiological consequences of Fukushima are practically negligible — no one has died from the event, and is it extraordinarily unlikely that anyone will do so in future. The volume of radioactive leak from the site is so small as to be of no health concern; there is no detectable radiation from the accident in Fukushima grown-food, nor in fish caught off the coast.
… … …
It is important also to see these disasters in the wider context of energy production: when the Banqiao hydroelectric dam failed in China in 1975 it led to at least 171,000 deaths and displaced 11 million people … None of this is to denigrate the vital importance of such technologies, but rather to point out that every form of energy production has some inherent risk.
Do go and read the whole article.
** It is worth noting again that the containment at the Fukushima plant worked largely as designed. Excepting the natural disaster, the root cause failure appears to have been one of shortcomings in plant external safety design and process which would be just as likely with any major plant.
Oddity of the Week: Stoned Yoni
This from Weird Universe, 13 March 2016:
“Medical” marijuana will take on a new meaning soon if the Food and Drug Administration approves Foria Relief cannabis vaginal suppositories for relieving menstrual pain (from the California company Foria). Currently, the product is available only in California and Colorado, at $44 for a four-pack. The company claims the inserts are targeted to the pelvic nerve endings, but International Business Times, citing a gynecologist-blogger, noted that the only studies on the efficacy of Foria Relief were done on the uteruses of rats.
More in the International Business Times article.
Your Interesting Links
There’s a lot in this month’s edition, which is a few days late, so let’s get straight in.
Science & Medicine
Scientists have tried to work out the five most addictive substances on Earth and what they do to your brain.
No real surprises though.
Another set of scientists have discovered a mysterious boiling river in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Well it’s almost boiling and certainly hot enough to lightly poach the unwary.
Talking of boiling water, what temperature does it actually boil? And why can’t you make tea at the top of Everest (even supposing you were stupid enough to want to)?
And to the other end of the scale … Yet more scientists have been and recorded the sounds at the bottom of the ocean. Not just any ocean but deepest part, the Mariana Trench. And they were in for quite a surprise.
From sound to … sound. It seems that parrots are a lot more than just pretty birds. They have their own parrot languages and are also known to make tools.
Back to water and a German scientist has worked out just how Archer Fish are so adept at shooting down insects with a jet of water.
And now to things medical … One in five of us believe we have a serious allergy, but most of it is just belief. Here’s a summary of some key things you should know about allergies and intolerances (which aren’t the same at all!).
“I’ve been told bacon smells lovely.” Just what is it like to live with no sense of smell?
There’s no reason why it should work, but it does. We’ve all experienced the placebo effect but here are five popular placebo myths explained.
[Trigger Warning] It is thought that anything up to a quarter of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, the vast majority in the first 12 weeks, and often there is no obvious reason. However miscarriage remains a taboo and is seldom talked about. But medics are now putting effort into trying to find underlying reasons and to help those women most badly affected and those most at risk. [Long read]
What happens when you have a hole in your ear? Specifically a hole in the canal(s) of your inner ear? It’s rare, but the effect is quite frightening. [Long read]
Seems that attacking people who are overweight (or worse) is counter-productive. You don’t say!
Are you a loner? And a nerd? Yes many of us who do a lot of thinking (it’s often called research, or work) are. So we need some peace and quiet — and a little sympathy.
Sexuality
It is important that we talk openly, frankly and honestly to our children about sex and pleasure. Peggy Orenstein has a new book out on “Girls & Sex”; here‘s a piece about it and a few myths exploded. But don’t forget the boys as well; they have to be taught about sex and pleasure, and often respect for the girls too.
At which point it seems appropriate to ask why the clitoris doesn’t get the attention it deserves? And why does this matter?It seems there are engineering lessons to be learnt from the design of the penis and the mechanics of erection
Social Sciences & Business
The surprising chances of our lives can seem like they’re hinting at hidden truths. On coincidences and the meaning of life.
History
Apparently a 5000-year-old linen dress is the oldest know woven garment. and it’s on display in London.
There are many mysteries about the lives and deaths of the Egyptian Pharaohs. But it looks as if one may have been solved as CT scans have revealed brutal injuries to Pharaoh Ramesses III.
We’ve all come to know (and love?) the @ sign. But I remember being totally mystified by it as a kid using my father’s typewriter, which isn’t surprising as it appear to have a long and rather convoluted history.
Edward Johnston and the typeface that changed the face of London Underground, and much else besides. with a rather more than walk-on part by Eric Gill.
I love the Museum of London Docklands and they’re opening a new gallery which centres around the museum’s building itself. IanVisits got a sneak preview.
Food & Drink
Are you a devoted breakfast eater? Or are you like me and usually not want breakfast? Breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day, but is it? Spoiler: probably not.
Apparently we don’t have a clue how to shop for vegetables. Dear God, Mr American, tell me something I’ve not known this last 60 years.
Professional chefs on mould, food waste and expiry dates.
The UK has sheep coming out of its ears, so why won’t UK supermarkets stock British lamb? Surely it has to be better than frozen New Zealand lamb that’s been shipped round the world; and because it’s on our doorsteps it really shouldn’t be more expensive. Sorry supermarkets (and butchers) if you aren’t going to sell me fresh British lamb, I’m not buying lamb. Simples.
Shock, Horror, Humour
Finally, for the avoidance of doubt — and the education of the masses — here’s the CPS guidance on nudity in public.
Herbally High
At last. Some people who might have some influence are finally getting the message: prohibition doesn’t work. And that by decriminalising and licensing things you can not only control them but you can tax them.
No, for once I’m not talking about sex work. This is about cannabis.
The headline in yesterday’s Guardian read:
Sell cannabis to over-18s in licensed shops, says Lib Dem panel
It isn’t quite the Dutch model, but the recommendations have been put forward by a panel of experts including a couple of top cops.
The article is worth a read.
Those Alcohol Guidelines, Again
Under the title No wonder Britain’s alcohol guidelines are so extreme — just look at who drafted them Christopher Snowdon at Spectator Health lifts the lid on the way in which the new alcohol guidelines were arrived at.
If true, and I have no reason to suspect Snowdon isn’t being truthful, this is a disgraceful abuse of power by the Chief Medical Officer, and others, to arrive at conclusions which suit their personal predilections in the face of major conflicting evidence.
Given the academic stature of many of those involved, they really should know better. The fact that they appear not to, should be sufficient to disqualify them from their roles and they deserve to be summarily sacked.