Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Friday, December 28, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
'Morning wood' explained
Youtube science channel AsapSCIENCE explains the facts behind the phenomenon that brings late night and early morning erections to men all over the world.via
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Watch This: To a Computer Program, Your Heartbeat is Visible in the Color of Your Face
Did you know your face actually turns slightly red each time your heart beats, when fresh blood pumps through it? Neither did I, and that’s because it’s so slight that our visual perception system doesn’t pick up on it. Ah, but what if you could use a computer program to magnify the changes so they become visible? That’s just what computer scientists at MIT did, and the result is fascinating: watch the video above (starting at 1:25) and see how with every heartbeat, a man’s face turns tomato red, then fades to a pallid yellow. The program is so precise that it can accurately calculate a person’s heart rate from the color changes.via
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Story of Menstruation
From Disney, 1946. A basic explanation of the purpose and process of menstruation, told largely with diagrams (and completely avoiding the subject of sex).
It was co-produced with Kotex to teach pre-teen girls about Menstruation, supposably. It only educates at a superficial level, so it does not go into heavy detail for the animated "Ram's Head"/ Reproductive System sequence.
The Story of Menstruation is believed to be the first film to use the word vagina in its screenplay.
via
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
AIDES - Willy The Tourist
Introducing Willy, the tourist with a lot of frequent-flier miles. Indefatigable and cute, he is a good reminder for all of us to stay safe.
via
Thursday, April 14, 2011
The Progressive Deterioration of an AIDS-Ridden Woman In Reverse (Video)
Selinah suffers from AIDS. She agreed to be filmed every day for 90 days so that her story could be used to educate others.
The difference between her story and those of many others is that her video is shown in reverse, demonstrating the effectiveness of Topsy’s ARV treatment program on patients battling advanced effects of HIV/AIDS.
When treated, a person on the verge of death can return to health in a matter of months, making the disease not so much a death sentence, but a treatable disease like any other.
via
The difference between her story and those of many others is that her video is shown in reverse, demonstrating the effectiveness of Topsy’s ARV treatment program on patients battling advanced effects of HIV/AIDS.
When treated, a person on the verge of death can return to health in a matter of months, making the disease not so much a death sentence, but a treatable disease like any other.
via
Monday, December 6, 2010
Why Poop Is Brown
Today I found out why poop is brown.
Poop is brown due to bile from your gall bladder being metabolized by the bacteria in your intestines. This results in a byproduct called stercobilin, which, in turn, makes poop look brown-ish.
Without this stercobilin, your poop would typically look grey-ish/white. Because of this, a sure sign you are having problems with bile production, such as a blocked bile duct by a gall stone or something more serious like pancreatic cancer, is if you notice your poop is this white/grey-ish color.
Read more here.
Poop is brown due to bile from your gall bladder being metabolized by the bacteria in your intestines. This results in a byproduct called stercobilin, which, in turn, makes poop look brown-ish.
Without this stercobilin, your poop would typically look grey-ish/white. Because of this, a sure sign you are having problems with bile production, such as a blocked bile duct by a gall stone or something more serious like pancreatic cancer, is if you notice your poop is this white/grey-ish color.
Read more here.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Ah-Choo! The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold
Perhaps the only thing more prevalent than colds is the volume of misinformation about them. Science writer Jennifer Ackerman, however, was determined to get to the bottom of what she calls the "petty plague." She's certainly dedicated: for her latest book—Ah-Choo! The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold—she volunteered to be infected with a cold virus. Having endured her maladies, Ackerman talks to TIME about whether we'll ever have a cure, why you probably don't want to "boost" your immune system, and the medicinal merits of good old chicken soup.
There are so many misconceptions about colds, including the one about the weather. You don't actually catch cold from the cold—
This has been a really stubborn myth. It has been put to rest by lots of solid studies. So, Mom, relax, it's ok to go outside with wet hair. Cold doesn't cause colds, viruses do. Colds are more common in the fall and winter because the cooler, wetter weather drives people inside, and viruses can more easily jump from one person to the next.
For the sake of research, you actually volunteered to become infected with a cold. Was the experience everything you thought it would be?
Well, and more. It was an odd experience to know that you're going to get sick. The cold itself was supposed to be mild, but in my family colds tend to migrate to the chest. It was a good ten days before I was back to normal again.
Is it generally accepted that some people are genetically more prone to colds?
It's an open question: is there such a thing as a "cold constitution"? Scientists are really interested in this idea that if you infect people with the virus, everybody will get infected, but only 75% of people will actually come down with the cold. If we could do a big genetic study, we might learn exactly why that is. But right now, it looks like there's a kind of irony here: the people who don't experience symptoms probably aren't making the inflammatory agents that other people are making. In a way, their immune response is weaker than people who come down with the symptoms.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about colds?
Probably that susceptibility to colds requires a kind of weakened immune system. Dietary supplements and cold preventive remedies say, "boost your immune system so that you can ward off cold," and it's interesting, because if you want to diminish your cold symptoms, boosting elements of your immune system may be the last thing you want to do.
Your book's appendix of purported remedies is disheartening. Everything appears useless. Were you surprised at how few things have been proven to work?
Yes. And I was disabused of the notion that the zinc lozenges that my family has always used actually had some effect. We really are a pretty gullible species, and in a lot of these cases, if any of these remedies work, it may be due to the force of our own beliefs, the placebo effect.
Will there ever be a cure for the common cold?
They're still working hard on drugs, and doing gene studies looking at what factors make people susceptible. I'm an optimist. At some point we may have something that actually nips a cold in the bud. It would be a great thing if somebody in the household gets a cold, everybody else takes a nasal spray and nobody else gets sick. I feel like we're not too far off from something like that. There are some promising drugs in the pipeline. But it's been a really tough nut to crack.
Talk to me about chicken soup.
Ah, chicken soup. A researcher at the University of Nebraska looked at chicken soup and its effect on inflammatory cells in a petri dish. He found that chicken soup actually does have some anti-inflammatory effect, and anything that has an anti-inflammatory effect might, in theory, reduce symptoms. However, this has never been proven in people, so it's still speculative. But chicken soup has been touted as a cold remedy for more than a thousand years. I feel like just the hot broth, the fact that it's comfort food, may actually make it kind of healing. The idea that somebody would make you chicken soup—
That goes along with what you mention about the power of empathy?
Empathy can actually cut short a cold by a full day. Imagine, that's better than any drug on the market, and there aren't any side effects.
Read more here
There are so many misconceptions about colds, including the one about the weather. You don't actually catch cold from the cold—
This has been a really stubborn myth. It has been put to rest by lots of solid studies. So, Mom, relax, it's ok to go outside with wet hair. Cold doesn't cause colds, viruses do. Colds are more common in the fall and winter because the cooler, wetter weather drives people inside, and viruses can more easily jump from one person to the next.
For the sake of research, you actually volunteered to become infected with a cold. Was the experience everything you thought it would be?
Well, and more. It was an odd experience to know that you're going to get sick. The cold itself was supposed to be mild, but in my family colds tend to migrate to the chest. It was a good ten days before I was back to normal again.
Is it generally accepted that some people are genetically more prone to colds?
It's an open question: is there such a thing as a "cold constitution"? Scientists are really interested in this idea that if you infect people with the virus, everybody will get infected, but only 75% of people will actually come down with the cold. If we could do a big genetic study, we might learn exactly why that is. But right now, it looks like there's a kind of irony here: the people who don't experience symptoms probably aren't making the inflammatory agents that other people are making. In a way, their immune response is weaker than people who come down with the symptoms.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about colds?
Probably that susceptibility to colds requires a kind of weakened immune system. Dietary supplements and cold preventive remedies say, "boost your immune system so that you can ward off cold," and it's interesting, because if you want to diminish your cold symptoms, boosting elements of your immune system may be the last thing you want to do.
Your book's appendix of purported remedies is disheartening. Everything appears useless. Were you surprised at how few things have been proven to work?
Yes. And I was disabused of the notion that the zinc lozenges that my family has always used actually had some effect. We really are a pretty gullible species, and in a lot of these cases, if any of these remedies work, it may be due to the force of our own beliefs, the placebo effect.
Will there ever be a cure for the common cold?
They're still working hard on drugs, and doing gene studies looking at what factors make people susceptible. I'm an optimist. At some point we may have something that actually nips a cold in the bud. It would be a great thing if somebody in the household gets a cold, everybody else takes a nasal spray and nobody else gets sick. I feel like we're not too far off from something like that. There are some promising drugs in the pipeline. But it's been a really tough nut to crack.
Talk to me about chicken soup.
Ah, chicken soup. A researcher at the University of Nebraska looked at chicken soup and its effect on inflammatory cells in a petri dish. He found that chicken soup actually does have some anti-inflammatory effect, and anything that has an anti-inflammatory effect might, in theory, reduce symptoms. However, this has never been proven in people, so it's still speculative. But chicken soup has been touted as a cold remedy for more than a thousand years. I feel like just the hot broth, the fact that it's comfort food, may actually make it kind of healing. The idea that somebody would make you chicken soup—
That goes along with what you mention about the power of empathy?
Empathy can actually cut short a cold by a full day. Imagine, that's better than any drug on the market, and there aren't any side effects.
Read more here
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
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