Monthly Archives: September 2019

Every damn myth debunked in one.

Vice: The Most Overhyped Wellness Promises, Debunked. “Here’s some healthy skepticism about Keto, colonics, charcoal, and more.”

“Behold our ever-growing list of today’s most pervasive wellness lies (or are they misunderstandings? Misguided hopes and dreams?). Click through on each one for a clear, deeply researched, as-definitive-as-possible explanation, gathered from experts and years of scientific research. You won’t find any thin claims based on small studies or experiments on cells or mice, unless we’re using them to point out how insufficient the research is on a given subject.”

The list includes 44 myths and links to extensive articles about each one.

Link via MetaFilter.

“She says she felt a duty to shine a light on the darkness so many young women have to go through.”

BBC News: Chanel Miller: Stanford sexual assault survivor tells her story. “What do we know about Emily Doe? We know she was sexually assaulted by Brock Turner outside a frat party at Stanford University, California, one night in January 2015. She was found unconscious and partly-clothed, near a dumpster.”

“He would get a six-month term, for sexually assaulting an intoxicated victim, sexually assaulting an unconscious victim and attempting to rape her.

He would serve three months and be put on probation for three years, ending this month. Judge Aaron Persky, who was later removed from his post, cited Turner’s good character and the fact he had been drinking.

Much of the coverage at the time also focused on the fact Turner was a star swimmer.

What do we know about Chanel Miller? Maybe you don’t know a lot, yet. If you’ve read the victim impact statement she addressed to Turner, which went viral when she was still known as Emily Doe to protect her anonymity, you’ll know she is brave and articulate.

Here is what you should know about Chanel.”

Buzzfeed News: Here’s The Powerful Letter The Stanford Victim Read To Her Attacker. (6 June, 2016)

“A former Stanford swimmer who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman was sentenced to six months in jail because a longer sentence would have “a severe impact on him,” according to a judge. At his sentencing Thursday, his victim read him a letter describing the “severe impact” the assault had on her.”

7 Tage 20 Stunden und 49 Minuten im Weltall

Deutsche Welle: Erster deutscher Raumfahrer Sigmund Jähn ist tot. “Der DDR-Bürger Sigmund Jähn flog als erster Deutscher ins All. Er wollte nie ein Held sein – und war es doch für Generationen. Aber nach der Wende wurde er arbeitslos. Nun ist Jähn im Alter von 82 Jahren gestorben.”

“Sigmund Jähn, der erste Deutsche im Weltraum, ist tot. Der DDR-Kosmonaut starb bereits am Samstag im Alter von 82 Jahren, wie das Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) jetzt erst mitteilte. “Mit Sigmund Jähn verliert die deutsche Raumfahrt einen weltweit anerkannten Kosmonauten, Wissenschaftler und Ingenieur”, sagte die Vorstandsvorsitzende des DLR, Pascale Ehrenfreund.

Jähn war mit der Rakete “Sojus 31″ am 26. August 1978 vom russischen Raumfahrtzentrum Baikonur aus gestartet. Gemeinsam mit dem sowjetischen Kosmonauten Waleri Bykowski (1934-2019) war er sieben Tage, 20 Stunden und 49 Minuten im All. Der Kosmonaut war in der DDR ein Volksheld und genoss große Popularität. Trotz seines Ruhmes blieb er immer bescheiden und wurde deshalb besonders verehrt.”

Sigmund Jähn: Ein Leben für die Raumfahrt. “Der Buchdrucker legte eine sozialistische Bilderbuchkarriere hin: Vom Pionier zum Kampfflieger zum Kosmonauten und am Ende zur Polit-Ikone. Auch nach der Wende ist Sigmund Jähn mit Herz und Hand Raumfahrer geblieben.”

“Once they start exercising and experience the benefits, they become very committed to routine exercise”

NPR Health: Exercising To Ease Pain: Taking Brisk Walks Can Help. “For people who live with chronic pain, getting up, out and moving can seem daunting. Some fear that physical activity will make their pain worse. But in fact, researchers find the opposite is true: The right kind of exercise can help reduce pain.”

“”Movement is essential for nutrition of the cartilage,” says Dr. Virginia Byers Kraus, a professor at Duke University’s Molecular Physiology Institute who serves on the research and medical committees of the Arthritis Foundation.

“Cartilage doesn’t have a blood supply but does have living cells,” she explains. “So the way it gets nutrition is by dynamic motion — putting weight off and on as you walk and move. The fluid inside the joint flows into and out of the cartilage like a sponge, so all the nutrients in the joint fluid get into the cartilage” and help slow any degradation there.

Neuroscientist Benedict Kolber with Duquesne University in Pittsburgh says exercise may also cause changes in the brain that can make a big difference in damping down pain.

“Exercise engages the endogenous opioid system,” he says, “so our bodies make opioids and use these opioids to decrease pain.”

In addition to other mechanisms still being worked out, natural opioids are thought to bind to the same receptors in the brain as opioid painkillers, Kolber says, but without the complications or potential for addiction. “There are some circumstances,” he says, “in which your body can produce so much of these natural opioids that you actually get some sense of euphoria” — hence the term runner’s high, a phenomenon athletes have long described.

Kolber says exercise also seems to activate parts of the brain that are involved in decreasing pain. “We get pain signals that are coming from our hands to our spinal cord and up to our brain,” he says, “and then we get these control systems — parts of our brain that seem to be activated in exercise — and that then turns down the pain system.”

And finally, Kolber says, exercise also seems to decrease stress. And stress can make people more sensitive to pain.”