Speaking of things to eagerly await, in the first of a five-part series, Mike Johnson at Modern Dragons speculates about gut flora and their possible influence on human mood and behavior:
I think that’s probably the case and, getting further afield, what I’d like to do is attempt to look into whether the changes in gut [...]
Archive for the ‘evolution’ Category
Gut Flora, Mood, and Behavior
Posted in behavior, digestion, evolution, gut flora, mood on July 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Insects Share Some Neurotransmitters with Humans and Other Mammals
Posted in Acetylcholine, Dopamine, Serotonin, evolution, insects on July 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Kelley at Bugs for Thugs:
Do insects have the same kinds of neurotransmitters as humans do? A neurotransmitter is a chemical messenger that is released when a nerve impulse reaches the synapse. Yes insects have them and even more they have some of the same neurotransmitters as vertebrates do, such as serotonin, dopamine, and acetylcholine.
metabolic metaphor?
Posted in diet, environment, evolution, soil on June 11, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Just read an old post over at The Ethicurean about a talk given by Italian socialist food ethicist Carlo Petrini. I’m not going to weigh in on the larger issues covered by Mental Masala and Dairy Queen. I did want to comment on this idea:
Petrini used the metaphor of “metabolism” to explain the earth’s ecosystem: [...]
Melanin notes
Posted in Dopamine, Melanin, evolution on May 26, 2007 | 2 Comments »
Do Fungi Feast on Radiation?
Like plants that grow toward the sun, dark fungi, blackened by the skin pigment melanin, gravitate toward radiation in contaminated soil. Scientists have observed the organisms—somewhere between plants and animals—blackening the land around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine in the years since its 1986 meltdown. “Organisms that make melanin [...]
