If I told you it was possible to drop your cancer risk by a massive 77% using simple, cheap supplements, you’d be sceptical, right? And if I told you it costs less than R1.00 per day, you’d think me crazy. Doubt no more. Exciting new research conducted at the Creighton University School of Medicine in […]
When I was a medical student, “going viral” was something really bad. If a patient “went viral”, you’d feed them pancakes (because that was the only thing you could slide underneath the door). You didn’t open the door until you sent in the SWAT team in plastic coveralls. It was that bad. Nowadays,, “going viral”
You might have noticed that St Valentine’s Day is approaching. My wife and I don’t really “do the Valentine’s Day thing”. After Christmas, two wedding anniversaries (yes, we got married twice – double the fun, double the trouble) and one engagement anniversary early in the year, we’re kind of “uitgekuier” (worn out?) by the middle
Let’s briefly recap: Plants trap their valuable minerals and nutrients in a strong web of fibres. To digest those fibres, animals need the help of microbes. Fibre-eating microbes need help to stay happy and healthy. A healthy gut microbiome needs a healthy skin microbiome. The two are linked at either end. Skin microbes need shade
Without the Sahara desert, the Amazon rain forest could not exist. Surprised? Apparently, it’s true. The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. Dust. Mighty desert winds sweep mineral-laden sand into the upper layers of the atmosphere. This dust gently settles over the Amazon basin, supplying important nutrients (especially phosphorous) to the poor soils
“She discovered with great delight that one does not love one’s children just because they are one’s children, but because of the friendship formed while raising them.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera OK, so I lied. This email is not about Zika. Not too much, at any rate. But it
Human bodies contain about 60% water. Sometimes, it’s noticeable, especially in the brain region, which contains about 75% water. Politicians may hold more water, possibly even hot air, but scientists have yet to confirm this. What remains when we take away the water? The rest, as they say, is dust and ashes. Close on 20%
Someone once told me, “99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.” To which I replied, “1% of doctors give the rest a good name.” Come to think of it, though, I don’t know ANY evil lawyers personally, and only a handful of doctors so bad, I wouldn’t entrust them with my pet cockroach.
Chances are, your mother taught you to wash your hands (with soap and water!) before eating (and after visiting the loo). Chances are, you still do (well, most of the time anyway). But where does this practise come from? We know from the Good Book that the Jews had hand-washing rituals for as long as
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. – HS Haskins (though also attributed to many other “soft philosophers”) We’re at the beginning of a (slightly shop-soiled) new year. Somehow, that feels grand and important to most of us. Behind us lies a year of
