The Inuit: Lessons from the Arctic

The Inuit (also called Eskimo) are a group of hunter-gatherer cultures who inhabit the arctic regions of Alaska, Canada and Greenland. They ...

Hurricane season is here: Do you have a plan?

Hello, Dolly! Hurricane season is here. It's a long way from Broadway to the Gulf Coast, but Dolly knows how to perform for a crowd, no ...

Changing Down

Trawling through the Archive this afternoon, looking for a picture of an Ulster linen-weaving machine with a teapot balanced on it, I came a...

Book Review: "The Human Diet: Its Origins and Evolution"

I recently read this book after discovering it on another health site. It's a compilation of chapters written by several researchers in...

Trees & Mr.Badmin

It must seem slightly odd, posting a poster about March trees in July. Mind you, the weather round here recently has had me out gathering wo...

Clean your home, protect your health

Ever heard the old saying "cleanliness is next to saintliness?" As it turns out, cleanliness is also key to healthiness, especiall...

Sunscreen and Melanoma

Melanoma is the most deadly type of skin cancer, accounting for most skin cancer deaths in the US. As Ross pointed out in the comments sect...

A Sticky End

The search is over. No more will I be seen on my hands and knees rummaging at the back of shelves in Sainsburys. No more will supermarket a...

Preparing for college means more than studying for the SATs

Congratulations, high school graduates! Your tassels have been turned and caps thrown in the air. For those going on to college, a new journ...

Grains and Human Evolution

[Update 8/2011: as I've learned more about human genetics and evolution, I've come to appreciate that many Europeans actually descen...

Any Excuse

Last night I watched John Schlesinger's 1995 film of Cold Comfort Farm . A thoroughly enjoyable experience, and even if you're a big...

Another China Tidbit

A final note about the Chinese study in the previous post: the overweight vegetable-eaters (read: wheat eaters) exercised more than their no...

Unexpected Alphabets No 3

Mr.Wilkinson was recently very gracious in acknowledging, in his absorbing English Buildings blog, the introduction I gave him to the Wellan...

Wheat in China

Dr. Michael Eades linked to an interesting study yesterday on his Health and Nutrition blog. It's entitled "Vegetable-Rich Food ...

Cancer in Other Non-Industrialized Cultures

In Cancer, Disease of Civilization (1960), Wilhjalmur Stefansson mentions a few cultures besides the Inuit in which large-scale searches ne...

Mortality and Lifespan of the Inuit

One of the classic counter-arguments that's used to discredit accounts of healthy hunter-gatherers is the fallacy that they were short-l...

Cancer Among the Inuit

I remember coming across a table in the book Eat, Drink and Be Healthy (by Dr. Walter Willett) a few years back. Included were data taken ...

Sweetie Time

When I had a proper job in an agency, it was the custom on Friday afternoons to get shed loads of sweets in, usually a precursor to one of t...

Cancer and the Immune System

My understanding of cancer has changed radically over the past few months. I used to think of it as an inevitable consequence of aging, a st...

Zoonotic diseases: Or why it’s best that your dog doesn’t lick your face

Ever wonder if it’s okay to let your best friend — the furry one who pads around your house on four legs — lick your face or share your spoo...

Celiac and Fat-Soluble Vitamins

One of the things I've been thinking about lately is the possibility that intestinal damage due to gluten grains (primarily wheat) contr...

Show Sunday

Named after one village, but taking place in the field of another, our local show got under way yesterday. Ringed by ash and oak, the only b...

‘Pre-pandemic' H5N1 vaccine may help ward off disease

Officials in Europe approved a new vaccine recently that may offer some hope for preventing an influenza pandemic. In May, the European Comm...

Get Ready Mailbag

Welcome to another installment of the Get Ready Mailbag, where we take time to answer questions sent our way by readers like you. Have a que...

Unexpected Alphabets No 2

There are three beautifully-lettered mileposts (there maybe more) that sit on what appear to be the extremities of the Stanford Hall estate ...

The Seat of Power

Have you ever wondered why the buttocks is one of the most attractive parts of the body on both sexes? The shape of the buttocks comes mostl...

Real Food VIII: Ghee

All this talk about butter is making me hungry. Richard mentioned in the comments that he bought some ghee recently and has been enjoying ...

Meditation

Meditation is the single most effective tool I've ever found for cultivating calmness, positivity and self-acceptance. It's an ancie...

The Dhamma Brothers

I saw a movie a few nights ago called 'The Dhamma Brothers'. It's about a meditation program at Donaldson correctional facility...

Bedroom Shelves new ideas

elfa® Home Storage - Platinum & White Put elfa® Easy Hang Shelving to work in your office to maximize space and create smart storage. e...