As there was no interesting theatre (at least interesting enough for me to ticket) this weekend, you’re probably going through withdrawal as there’s no write-up. Perhaps you’ve been shopping in Colorado. In either case, here’s something to satisfy your munchies:
- A Potent Painkiller. Traditional Chinese medicine has gotten it right again. We’re not talking ground cockroaches this time, but this time medicine made from the underground tubers of the Corydalis plant can effectively alleviate three different types of pain in mice. What’s more: they don’t build up resistance to it. The Corydalis plant is a member of the poppy family. It grows mainly in central eastern China, and has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries. Its tubers are dug up, ground, and then boiled in hot vinegar. The resulting medicine is often prescribed to treat headaches and back pain. It works through use of D2 dopamine receptors, rather than morphine receptors.
- But It’s Better Than The Alternative. I drink a lot of tea. It’s my beverage of choice — straight tea, no sweeteners. It has completely replaced soft drinks. Thus, I was a little alarmed to read this report about all the junk found in tea. The issue is not chemical additives — well, it is when you are talking flavorings — but rodent droppings and pesticides. In many ways, the problem is similar to that of spices of foreign origin, as you can’t really wash either spices or tea, and they pick up stuff from the environment or storage. Right now, I’m just going to stick my fingers in my ears and go “la, la, la”, because I haven’t seen evidence that these findings are correlated with actual health problems. Of late, I’ve been sourcing my teas more and more from Upton Teas, or places like Peets — and I rarely use teabags unless I’m forced to. Further, there are some who believe this research is suspect, including Teavana.
- Seeing Food a Different Way. We’re all familiar with food porn.* Here’s a different type of food porn. NPR is reporting on an artist who is slicing food in half and taking pictures of the result. These results are… spectacular. I would have expected them to use liquid nitrogen and buzzsaws, but they have other techniques. Here is a link to some more images.
