Welcome to another Channel Update. In this post, you will find the large versions of the Medicine & Health and Brain & Behavior channel photos, and also the contextualized versions of the reader reactions from the aforementioned channels.
Medicine & Health
Medicine & Health channel photo. Image captured with an electron microscope of a six-day-old human embryo implanting in a womb. From Flickr, by LoreleiRanveig
Often in the scientific world, work and play intermingle. In this case, it appears to be especially so. Putting in the time to learn a specialty science can be incredibly rewarding.
This week's reader reaction quote on the Education & Careers channel comes from a discussion on Adventures in Ethics about the challenges of dialogue about animal research.
It's amazing how things so human can appear so alien. But then again, at that magnification, most things do appear that way.
ScienceBlogger PalMD wrote about the suffering endured by those who live with Somatization disorders:
So what can be done for these folks? Let's remember, these are often reasonably normal people, who suffer from discomfort, but not from any life-threatening illnesses.
There is some literature out there, but since this is a very diverse group of people, no one rule applies. OK, one rule does apply---they really hurt, and that must be acknowledged (malingerers are usually fairly easy to spot, as they don't have the same chronicity of symptoms). The pain is real, and must be treated as such.
Reader MarkH (who is also a Sb author of that blog but I was still a n00b at the time and did not realize!) responded:
“Seeing a lot of patients [with undiagnosable ailments] these days on my primary care rotation. They are frustrated and frustrating to treat... So, what do you do? You take them seriously every time.“
Brain & Behavior
Politics channel photo. An illustration of interconnected neurons in a brain. From Flickr, by LoreleiRanveig
As science forges on, the distinction between the physical aspects of the brain and the intangible states of being human become clearer and more obscure, simultaneously.
In a post titled Carborexia is the New Green, ScienceBlogger Joseph j7uy5 discussed a condition that may or may not exist, and that may or may not have any legitimacy whatsoever. Considered by some as "emerging" only because the New York Times has coined the term and defined it, Carborexia is the state in which "a person strives ardently to reduce his or her carbon footprint, much as a person with anorexia strives to reduce her or his body mass." Joseph j7uy5 explains, "Apparently, the author could not find anyone who is willing to be quoted as saying that sustainability is bad. So she found some quotes from some mental health professionals that could be used to imply that, perhaps, the striving for sustainability might be a sign of psychological derangement."
One reader responded:
“The post about storing 30 days worth of food and water seems a bit extreme, but then who knows—perhaps she's got a better sense of what the world may come to with the current economic crisis.“
That's all for now. Check into the ScienceBlogs channels tomorrow for photo updates!
Also, if there is something you would like to hear about from the editorial staff of ScienceBlogs, please email me at millikan@scienceblogs.com and tell me what you would like to read about.
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