42 results for science (View a list of all tags)

How to Get the Monkey Off Your Back

A friend of mine recently referred me to a very interesting article at Popular Science on what science is uncovering about the physiology of addiction (mostly drug addiction) and new drugs which are being used to cure it. Equally interesting are the photos in the series, which are by Iranian photographer Ashkan Sahihi, who photographed normal non-drug users in their experience of taking various hard drugs. The full set of photos, along with his comments, can be found here.

Physical Theories as Women

Physical Theories as Women: "Special relativity is the girl you meet at the dorm party while you're dating electrodynamics. You make out. It's not really cheating because it's not like you call her back. But you have a sneaking suspicion she knows electrodynamics and told her everything."

Atkins Backlash

The Atkins diet seems to work, but some nutritionists suggest this is only in the short term and with longer term health risks. We should perhaps be suspicious of anything that offers a quick fix. Smoking, for example, is a good way to lose weight.

Even if there are factors which affect how we metabolize food, these will always be secondary effects, you get fat if you burn less calories than you eat, period. Unfortunately our appetites are calibrated for food scarcity, so the only effective diet, a balanced input of moderate quantity and plenty exercise, requires effort.

"The [UK] Food Standards Agency, which is responsible for all the Government's nutritional guidance, has published a statement alerting the public to the health risks of low-carbohydrate diets, including Atkins, claiming that they are linked to heart disease, cancer and even obesity."

Real-life Tomacco

Wired has an interesting story on Rob Baur, an operations analyst for a municipal waste water-treatment plant, who decided to copy a certain Simpsons episode and create a real-life tomacco plant, half-tomato, half-tobacco.