It’s a question that has bedeviled us for centuries — how do you treat the mentally ill? We know what doesn’t work; did you ever wonder about the origin of the word bedlam ( https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bedlam)? But perhaps what works best has been under our noses all along. This story begins with a young lady who
Whenever I try to write rhyming poetry, a strange things happens — it sounds very Seussian. I didn’t plan it that way, but the similarity is unmistakable. But I shouldn’t be surprised, because Dr. Seuss has been influencing kids for eighty years now. March 2 was the good doctor’s birthday. In tribute, here is his
How long does it take to convince a man not to harass women? For a female journalist in Australia, it was two hours. This young lady, Eleanor Gordon-Smith, had always been bothered by being on the receiving end of “catcalls” from males since she was a little girl (“Call me when you’re legal.”) So she
If you remember an early scene in Disney’s animated feature 101 Dalmatians where Pongo is looking out the window for a prospective mate for his “pet” (owner), every woman and her dog he sees is a matched pair. There could be some truth to that. Research has shown that people do choose dogs that share their
You may have wondered if you pet can dream like you do. Is there any way to find out? There may be. When we dream, we’re in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, when your eyes move rapidly and there’s lots of electrical activity in the brain. (By the way, REM sleep was discovered in 1953.)
I’ve never liked coffee. My mother made a cup for me when I was about ten years old, and I hated it. But I could be missing out. First, is coffee bad for you? Today most researchers say no. In fact, a recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine found that older people with
This is too good a story not to repeat. You know there is a lot of gambling around major sporting events, including high-profile and fun wagers between politicians and cities. For this year’s Super Bowl, the zoos of Atlanta and Roger Williams Park in Rhode Island took things a step farther. They bet with each
One of the pitfalls of modern life is depression. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States. In 2014, around 15.7 million adults age 18 or older in the U.S. had experienced at least one major depressive episode in the last
This is a poor way to start, but I apologize to all the health-care professionals for this post. I know there are many competent and dedicated people in the field (and I certainly have benefited from them), but the truth is throughout medical history, there have been many erroneous conceptions and outright mistakes. As a
A question for today — Is alcohol a happy byproduct of civilization? Or is it one of the reasons for our civilization? The February, 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine explores this in an article entitled “A 9000-Year Love Affair”. It explains how alcohol is one of the most universally produced substances in history. In