The flora and fauna of the digestive track are seeing the light of day. Like oat bran to the 80s, probiotics appear poised to be the new food trend in the United States. Found in live-culture foods such as yogurt, the microbes are also found in kombucha, a type of fermented Japanese tea, which has been gaining prominence in the bevvie aisle at Whole Foods. So what gives? We've have long known that these play an important role in warding off yeast infections, especially after a round of antibiotics. But with renewed focus obesity-related diseases, anything we can do to help the guts do their thing is up for consideration. (CN)
Last April I spent an afternoon at a Starbuck-esque coffee shop in Ooty, India. Ooty is a hill station that is popular because the temperatures are quite cool during the summer and is weekend destination for Bangalore's emerging tech class. I browsed the coffee shop's in-house magazine which had a feature Q&A with call center workers. It highlighted some of the new cultural conflicts for Indian 20-somethings: working odd hours took away from family meal time, religious traditions had to be comprimised and waistlines thickening with office life. A recent story described how young Indians were solving these office-age problems: online meditation courses. A quick Google turned up thousands of online meditation resources. A few to consider: (CN)Wild MindAnandaLife Bliss
The astounding recent news that damage to the brain's insula region caused smokers to instantly quit the habit had us wondering if will there be a rush on insula-related accidents a la self-trepanning? We hope not, but the insula is suddenly the neuro-region du jour. The prune-sized area helps us, well, be human. It reads body states like hunger, anger and craving. It also helps guides our moral compass. Bottom line: we want to more about this thoughtful region. (CN)
Texas is the first state to require all middle-school girls to be vaccinated against HPV, a sexually-transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer. Currently 18 other states are considering similar measures. The vaccination called Gardasil was created by two leading pharmaceutical companies.The law has stirred debate in all corners - from right-wing groups who fear that more sexual activity is the implicit fallout from such vaccination to feminist groups , left wondering what the government's role in women's health is. For the rest of us the debate hits closer to home: should we get the vaccincation? Listen to NPR's coverage about the implications. (CN)
