The placebo effect demonstrates the mind’s capacity to outperform a given treatment. Within contextual limits, one can deduce from it the impact on the body of believing to be true something that is false. I’m interested here in a related concept that follows quite naturally: what is the impact of believing to be true something…
There are nurses from whom vaccine administration might be described as being pricked by a needle. From others the same procedure is closer in sensation to how one imagines it would feel to have driven into muscle a metal stick with barbs. It was the latter that characterized my final in a series of rabies…
It’s difficult to alter, without use of chemicals, patterns of behavior that chemical use cultivated–so difficult, in fact, that one of the most effective methods relies on the supposition that chemicals are involved. And in an important sense, the supposition is correct. The Placebo Effect, in many cases potent and sustainable, results from a deluge…
The idea of working as an ambulance EMT is becoming more and more attractive. So much so that it’s beginning to motivate me to get a Driver’s License. Two things: 1. While even most emergency cases might not be life threatening in the time spanning the ambulance ride, some certainly are, and EMT is one…
H5N1 is disconcerting because its name implies that there also exists H5N2, H5N3, H4R9, and the millions of other alphanumeric combinations. If ever I find myself lacking things to worry about, I have only to read an article on virology. If their child has been diagnosed with a life threatening disease, sometimes parents will, in…
Anne Wojcicki, wife of google co-founder Sergey Brin, has been getting some publicity recently for her work as co-founder of 23andMe, a silicon valley startup that will sequence 500,000 of the 3 billion single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that make up the human genome for the price of $1000 and your spit. The idea is to…
The Psychology Dept. on campus offers year round once a week counseling at a cost of $5 for a 50 minute session. Last week I had a free screening and in one hour I’m going in for my first session. It’s what they call a training clinic, where the clinicians are grad students who consult…
My wisdom teeth were removed this morning. I chose local anesthetic only, out of fear that sedation would lead to an infinite coma. It went well, taking a half hour for all four. The worst part was the beginning, getting anesthetized. About 5 injections of variable volume to each of the four corners. I’ve had…
HIV is a smart virus, but it would be smarter if it made all its victims horny. Rabies has it right. The infected animal becomes aggressive so that the rabies virus has a better chance of getting inside more bodies and thus extend its collective lifespan. HIV ought to tinker with the mind a bit…
One news item and one documentary inspired comment: a few weeks ago it was reported that a disease research facility had successfully mapped out the genetics of the strain responsible for the 1918? flu pandemic. Some people got scared and cried out “Why would you ever do such a thing?! Do you want millions more…