My brain is on vacation this week. Check in next week for “The Price of Pet Love!”
Brain on Vacation
Uncategorized
AN EYE FOR AN EYE
I venture to assert, with absolutely no evidence necessary, that revenge is older than the Old Testament! It’s both ancient and contemporary. (Think Homer, Hamlet, and Pres. Trump’s campaign slogan, “I am your revenge.”)
Brian Knutson published research in Science in 2004, showing that when people are wronged in a laboratory game and then given a chance to retaliate, the part of the brain activated is an area known to process rewards. (In even earlier work, researchers found that this part of the brain was active during cocaine and nicotine use). Just thinking about revenge is pleasurable!
“In the past few years, psychological scientists have discovered many ways in which the practice of revenge fails to fulfill its sweet expectations. Behavioral scientists have observed that instead of quenching hostility, revenge can prolong the unpleasantness of the original offense and that merely bringing harm upon an offender is not enough to satisfy a person’s vengeful spirit. They have also found that instead of delivering justice, revenge often creates only a cycle of retaliation…”
Eric Jaffe, The Complicated Psychology of Revenge
Association for Psychological Science
Why We Seek Revenge
A belief in justice is the primary driver when seeking revenge, according to Fade Eadeh, an assistant professor of psychology at Seattle University. If the world was just and fair, bad things would happen to bad people and good things to good people. As a “good person,” you may feel compelled to even the score with a “bad person” to restore justice. However, such retaliation seldom brings balance or justice.
Carlsmith et al. in a 2008 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, reported that although people believe revenge will make them feel better and provide closure, in fact those who delivered punishment continued to think about what they had done and felt worse than those who had no opportunity to avenge a wrong. Guilt, shame, and embarrassment may tamp down any pleasure derived from vengeance,
More recently, Allie Volpe (Vox, 2024) observed that even chimpanzees and elephants have shown vengeful tendencies. Revenge, to deter offenders (and would-be offenders) from future harmful behavior is a response to wrongdoing that anthropologists have observed in practically every culture.
For revenge to have the best chance of eliciting a positive outcome, the punished party needs to know what she/he/they did that harmed another. “When [revenge] goes right, it triggers remorse and guilt, and a need for the other person to fix things,” asserts Stephen Yoshimura , a professor of communication studies at the University of Montana. “But a lot of times, because things don’t get explained or there’s a lot of misunderstanding about what exactly is the situation … they just respond with counter-retaliation. That’s where things start to get out of hand.”
A Dish Best Not Served At All
As a supervisor, parent, and spouse, I’ve long been an advocate of simply telling a person, “When you do X, I feel Y.” Among others, Dr. David Chester, Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, also suggests finding non-harmful ways to communicate how someone mistreated you.
“While interpersonal revenge can be functional, in contemporary societies it can trigger a cycle of potentially violent (not to mention potentially illegal) acts. But suppressing thoughts of revenge may cause them to rebound. So what to do? At the risk of perpetuating an overwrought cliche, the best revenge, experts say, is a life well-lived.” (Volpe)
The June 5 edition of The Wall Street Journal, has an excellent review of this topic, written by James Kimmel, Jr., a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. The title of his article pretty much says it all: “This Is Your Brain on Revenge: The neuroscience of vengeance shows that it can be as addictive as drugs and forgiveness works like detox.” He concludes that “Neuroscience supports the ancient forgiveness teachings of Jesus and the Buddha,” and maintains that we can heal an entire nation addicted to revenge by following modern science and ancient teachings about forgiveness. “We need to Make America Forgiving Again.” You can read all about it in his new book The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World’s Deadliest Addiction—and How to Overcome It.
Bottom Line: The evolutionary nature of revenge may make it “human nature,” but in this instance, what’s natural is bad for you.
PAIN, AGONY, HURT!
Studies suggest that about 10% of one’s nervous system is dedicated to sensing pain. Given what else the nervous system does—sight, smell, taste, hearing, thinking, moving, digestion, etc., etc., etc.—that’s a lot!
Why so much attention to pain? As it turns out, there are benefits to feeling poorly.
Pain for Gain
Foremost is survival: without unpleasant sensations, we wouldn’t know to avoid fire, allow injuries to heal, attend wounds such as broken bones or cuts, etc.
There are additional ways in which negative feelings lead to have positive consequences.
Pain facilitates pleasure by providing an important contrast for pleasurable experiences, increasing sensitivity to sensory input, and facilitating self-rewarding behavior.
Pain augments self-regulation and enhancement by increasing cognitive control, reducing rumination, and demonstrating virtue.
Pain promotes affiliation by arousing empathy from others, motivating social connection, and enhancing group formation.
Pain Reduction
But for all of that, we try to avoid or minimize feeling bad. Indeed, pain is the most common reason why people seek medical care. Seeking relief is not a new phenomenon, but getting it is.
Surgeons have been using general anesthesia in the Islamic world for nearly two thousand years. In the 1600s, many European doctors gave their patients opium to relieve pain.
The earliest European surgeons operated while keeping patients wide awake and physically restrained. By the 1800s, the nicest surgeons introduced ether and chloroform anesthetics for surgery. And why was this controversial?
Several major religions view physical suffering as intrinsically linked with atonement or moral goodness. Some, such as Buddhism and Taoism, hold that it is caused by an imbalance within the individual and can only be resolved through personal effort. Others, such as Christianity, have historically believed that suffering brings one closer to an ideal spiritual state.
Some doctors questioned the ethics of operating on unconscious patients. Others were concerned that relieving pain might hamper healing. “But the surgeons could not long resist their new power to perform longer and more complex procedures, and most patients thought anesthesia a divine blessing,” wrote Marcia Meldrum, an associate researcher in the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.
By the 1900s, people were using morphine and heroin as pain medications. At first, doctors thought these “safe.” However, over time, it became clear that these treatments also made people vulnerable to addictions.
Until this time, the medical field considered pain to be primarily a problem to manage in acute care (related to injury, for example, or surgery) or during a painful death from cancer.
“Flavors” of Pain
Acute pain is what you feel when you become hurt or injured. You may have experienced acute pain from an injury such as a cut or a broken limb or from disease or inflammation in the body. Acute pain can be intense and severe, but it typically resolves as your body heals from whatever caused it.
Nociceptive pain is caused by tissue damage. Most acute pain is nociceptive.
According to NIH, chronic pain is a sensation that lasts much longer than acute pain―usually months and sometimes years. Chronic pain sometimes has a clear cause, such as an acute injury, a long illness, or damage to and dysfunction of your nervous system. However, it sometimes happens without any obvious reason. Medical providers have often assumed that patients complaining of on-going pain are delusional, hypchrondiacal, malingering, or addicts. Patients often turn to psychotherapy, or sometimes neurosurgery.
Neuropathic pain is caused by nerve damage or dysfunction. You can experience neuropathic pain from injuries or illness that affect the spinal cord and brain (for example, a slipped disc in your spine) or the peripheral nervous system (the nerves throughout the rest of your body). This kind of discomfort often feels similar to burning, shooting, or stabbing.
Inflammatory pain happens when your immune system activates in response to injury or infection. In addition to causing redness or swelling, it can also make you more sensitive to feelings of pain.
Everyone’s pain feels differently, and the only way to know whether someone is hurting is to ask. Has a medical practitioner asked you to rate your discomfort on a scale from 1 to 10? They may also ask you to describe what you feel: dull, throbbing, aching, shooting, stabbing, etc.
Treatment Options
Just as there isn’t a way to measure it objectively, there isn’t one single treatment that will work for everyone. It often involves a combination of treatments, which may include:
- Over-the-counter and prescription medications (such as pain relievers and drugs that reduce inflammation)
- Physical and occupational therapy to improve function and limit discomfort
- Counseling and therapy to teach skills for coping with pain
- Medical treatments (such as medications and injections) to interrupt the brain’s signals or change how nerves process painful sensations
- Neuromodulation therapies (devices that stimulate nerves or the spinal cord) to reduce pain
- Complementary and integrative therapies (such as acupuncture and mindfulness meditation).
And When Nothing Helps…
Chronic pain is an enormous problem.
More than 1 in 5 adults in the United States experience chronic pain. Chronic conditions, such as low back pain and migraine, are the leading causes of disability around the world.
Not surprisingly, rates of chronic pain, including conditions that severely limit work or life activities, are highest among adults ages 65 and older.
In the 1980s, several prominent pain specialists suggested that opiods had a “low incidence of addictive behavior.” They pushed for increased use of the drugs to treat long-term, non-cancer pain, as Meldrum noted in her paper “The Ongoing Opioid Prescription Epidemic: Historical Context.” Today we all know how wrong they were, and we are still trying to undo the opioid crisis.
Where Does Aspirin Come From?
Apart from prescription medications, over-the-counter options are popular. Aspirin, as it is known today, was first developed in 1895 in Germany. By 1915, Bayer Pharmaceuticals developed the first tablet form, which they then sold throughout the world as a medicine.
The active ingredient in aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, which is formed by the acetylation of salicylic acid, which is derived from natural plant sources such as jasmine, willow and poplar trees, as well as certain species of legumes.
This gives credence to the efficacy of willow bark tea for minor aches and pains, as long claimed by folk medicine practitioners.
However, aspirin is no longer made from willow bark. Today, pharmaceutical companies derive aspirin from plants of the Spiraea genus. Compounders then convert the salicylic acid into acetylsalicylic acid via acetylation.
Aspirin is very useful in many ways besides pain relief. Indeed, doctors use it as a blood thinner to treat clots. At a daily dose of 81mg, it is helpful in preventing future heart attacks.
But beware: You should not use aspirin if you have a bleeding disorder such as hemophilia, a recent history of stomach or intestinal bleeding, or if you are allergic to an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) such as Advil, Motrin, Aleve, Orudis, Indocin, Lodine, Voltaren, Toradol, Mobic, Relafen, Feldene, and others.
OTC Alternatives
A common alternative to aspirin is Tylenol. Acetaminophen, commonly sold under this brand name, is a non-opioid analgesic that relieves pain and reduces fever. Acetaminophen regulates the body’s temperature and alters its perception of pain.
Tylenol is generally safe at recommended doses. For adults weighing more than 110 pounds (50 kg), the recommended acetaminophen dosage is 1000 mg every six hours or 650 mg every four hours.
Risks
However, elderly individuals may face higher risks of certain side effects due to physiological changes, including:
- Liver Damage: Aging decreases liver efficiency. This raises the risk of liver damage from acetaminophen, especially if taken in high doses or with alcohol.
- Kidney Damage: As kidney function naturally declines with age, long-term or high-dose use of acetaminophen may lead to kidney damage in the elderly, particularly if their kidneys are already compromised.
- Gastrointestinal Issues: Although Tylenol is easier on the stomach than nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), it can still cause gastrointestinal discomfort. This may include nausea, constipation, or diarrhea.
- Acetaminophen toxicity occurs when a person takes more than the recommended dosage of this medicine. Tylenol overdose leads to 56,000 emergency department visits, 2,600 hospitalizations, and 500 deaths each year in the United States, making it one of the most common poisonings. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing!
Apart from any hedonistic motives to “just feel good,” pain is an economic drain: the estimated yearly national cost of pain, including medical treatments, disability, and lost productivity, is $560 billion to $635 billion in the U.S. alone!
Bottom Line: Pain is universal, and treating it is only human. But proceed with caution!
SKIN: FUNCTIONAL AS WELL AS ORNAMENTAL
Unless wounded or suffering a rash or whatever, I venture to suggest that people mostly attend to how skin looks. It’s only logical, given that it’s exposed to public view—more or less, depending on culture, sex, age, season, and occasion!
Putting Your Best Face Forward
The good news is this: skin is constantly renewing itself, shedding dead cells and producing new ones. On average, we lose about 30,000 to 40,000 skin cells per minute. You may not see the dead, dull skin flaking off your face and body, but it is, and it contributes significantly to household dust!
It takes about a month for newly formed skin cells to make their way to the surface. The bad news is that renewal takes longer with age: turnover can take as much as six to eight weeks in someone in their 60s or 70s.
A buildup of dead skin cells can make your complexion appear duller and drier.
Like your body’s overall metabolism, the skin’s metabolic processes also lag with age and exposure to environmental aggressors.
The skin’s metabolism controls the production and breakdown of collagen and elastin. It also affects how well your skin renews its cells, repairs its damage, and even how it responds to topical products you use.
Giving Nature a Helping Hand
You can speed up the process of skin renewal (at any age) with topical products that contains retinoids, which promote new cell growth, or alpha hydroxy acids, including glycolic acid. These loosen up the intercellular glue-like substance that holds skin cells together on the surface, allowing them to slough off sooner. You can find these ingredients in cleansers, serums, lotions, or creams.
An alternative is the judicious use of skin exfoliants. Harsh or excessive exfoliation can cause small tears, which allow water to escape and potential irritants to pass into your skin, making it feel dry and sensitive.
Heads up: the molecules in most cosmetic compounds are too large to be absorbed, so be suspicious of claims about absorption.
Even molecules in some anti-aging skin-care products are too large to pass through skin’s outermost layer.
When the skin’s barrier gets damaged (from UV exposure, harsh cleansers, over-exfoliating, etc.), microscopic tears form.
Sunscreen keeps skin’s surface safe from sunburns and its cells protected from UV damage. My dermatologist recommends a lotion with SPF 35 on the face, every day, year-round, and something stronger for extended exposure, for example when sailing.
The road to healthy, radiant skin is paved with blood vessels. Skin contains 11 miles of blood vessels. Each square inch contains 20 blood vessels.
Gilding the Lily
One’s skin is an expansive canvas. The average adult has 2,800 square inches—about 22 square feet—of skin, and people have painted on it for more than 6,000 years, when ancient Egyptians (both women and men) used makeup to enhance their appearance and display their wealth. Now the beauty industry is a key driver of the U.S. economy, generating approximately $94.36 billion in cosmetics and beauty sales in 2023. Enough said about that.
Over time and around the world, for the sake of appearances, skin has been tattooed, pierced, and scarred, kept pale or tanned vigorously. Standards of beauty vary greatly from culture to culture.
But beyond its ornamental value, skin is incredibly useful!
The Real Skinny on Skin
Next time you step on the scale, remember that skin is the heaviest of all your organs. The average adult body can have 20 pounds of skin alone, making up 10-15% of body weight. That 10-15% is composed of water, oils, fats, nutrients, hair follicles, blood and lymph vessels, collagen, and living and dead cells.
Within one square inch of skin, there are 19 million skin cells of various types, each with its own specific job.
That square inch includes about 60,000 melanocytes, cells that produce melanin pigment, which gives skin its color. All humans have melanocytes (with the exception of some people born with albinism).
The majority of skin cells are keratinocytes. These include basal and squamous cells, the two types from which the most common skin cancers can arise.
Skin Hard at Work
According to the Cleveland Clinic, a square inch of skin also contains 300 sweat glands—for better or worse!
Skin helps regulate body temperature by sweating, but also by dilating blood vessels. Blood vessels bring oxygen and nutrients to your cells, remove waste, and help regulate your skin’s temperature. When the skin gets warm, your blood vessels dilate, allowing heat to escape to the outside air. When it’s cold outside, they constrict, keeping the heat in your skin.
Skin is a sensory organ, each square inch containing 1,000 nerve endings, allowing us to feel touch, temperature, pain, pressure, and vibration.
Skin is also highly reactive to emotional stress. Research has shown that skin inflammations such as eczema, psoriasis, and acne often flare during stressful times.
Stressful situations can also trigger sweating, itching and hives.
Experts have found the connection between stress and skin is bidirectional: stress can exacerbate skin issues, but skin can also send signals to the brain, triggering a stress response.
Skin is the protective barrier against external threats, such as UV rays, bacteria, and infections.
Under the Surface
Skin has a microbiome, with trillions of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses and fungi that help in fighting infection, controlling inflammation and helping your immune system recognize possible threats. Researchers are working on treatments to manipulate the bacteria on the skin’s surface to treat inflammatory skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis, acne, and diseases including skin cancer.
Researchers have discovered that skin has a circadian rhythm. During daylight hours, skin is in protective mode, trying to shield cells from UV light, free radicals, pollution, etc. Research shows that repair peaks at night. Both temperature and permeability increase at night, making skin more receptive to topical ingredients. Also at night, more water escapes from the skin. So, before bed, it’s prime time to apply moisturizer.
The thickest skin grows on the soles of the feet and palms of the hands, while the thinnest grows on the eyelids.
When exposed to sunlight, skin produces vitamin D, which is essential for bone health.
Your skin can flex. There are tiny muscles within the skin called the arrector pili muscles, located inside your hair follicles. It’s these muscles that make your body hairs stand straight up when you get goosebumps.
Medical Uses of Skin
My guess is that when people sign their organ donor cards, very few are thinking “skin.” Heart, liver, kidney, lungs…sure. In fact, skin is the largest organ in (on?) the human body. And skin donations are sorely needed.
Each year, approximately 58,000 tissue donors provide lifesaving and healing tissue for transplant. A single tissue donor can heal up to 75 lives. That’s why surgeons can perform approximately 2.5 million tissue transplants each year in the U.S.
Three-quarters of skin transplants are used in life-saving circumstances, such as severe burns. Doctors also use skin grafts in various surgeries, including open heart and post-mastectomy breast reconstruction. Experts estimate that another 500,000 patients would have shortened wound-healing time if enough skin were available.
Should you need a skin transplant, the preferred source would be you! Doctors usually take skin from the patient’s back, buttocks, and the backs of the thighs. These are highly effective, successful over 90% of the time. Skin donations from another person (living or dead) or from an animal, such as a pig or a fish, are stop-gap measures, to minimize infection and maximize fluid retention till you are able to repair yourself. “Foreign” skin is nearly always rejected long term.
Bottom Line: The title says it all. Skin is useful as well as ornamental
VARIATIONS ON A THEME
For the last several months my preferred escapist reading has been variations on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. What’s the appeal?
Well, for one thing, I enjoy seeing the varied ways a writer can use Pride and Prejudice as a starting point for so many related but different stories!
- One of the Bennet daughters is an heiress.
- Mr. Bennet dies and the women must make their way by working, sometimes for their Uncle Gardiner, sometimes as companions.
- Lydia marries someone other than George Wickham.
- Jane marries someone other than Charles Bingley.
- Elizabeth is a widow, often with a child.
- Mary Bennet marries Collins, and Charlotte Lucas marries someone else entirely.
- Elizabeth and Darcy become trapped alone together in a flood and must marry because of the “compromise.”
- Elizabeth and Darcy first meet in their teens and reunite years later.
- Minor characters shift personalities, behaviors, and support.
- Jane Austen characters from other novels make an appearance.
- Longbourn is not entailed.
- Mrs. Bennet dies; Mr. Bennet remarries and has an heir.
- Elizabeth is kidnapped.
- Darcy saves Elizabeth’s life and vice versa.
- The events of the story are mere background in the lives of the Bennets’ servants, who are dealing with their own problems.
And what makes these stories most comforting is that, whatever happens to other characters or the plot, Darcy and Elizabeth always end up together.
One of Austen’s first imitators was Sybil G. Brinton, whose novel Old Friends and New Fancies (1913) features characters from nearly all of Austen’s novels.
The Kindle Store offers literally hundreds of these stories, to buy or borrow. They come up when a user searches the store for Pride and Prejudice variations. These novels are a version of fan fiction (also known as fanfiction, fan fic, fanfic, fic, or FF).
Fan Fiction
Fan fiction is fiction created by fans—(duh!)—typically in an amateur capacity, that is based on an existing work of fiction, using their characters, settings or other intellectual properties but not authorized by the original creator(s).
Sometimes fan fiction is based on real life celebrities or politicians.
Fan fiction can range from poems and short stories to novel-length works and can be based on various media, including books, movies, TV shows, comics, video games, music videos, board games, and more.
Fan fiction allows fans to explore their favorite characters, settings, and storylines in new ways, often continuing canon narratives, exploring alternate universes, or creating original stories within the established framework.
Examples
- Stories based on popular TV shows like “Supernatural” or “Only Murders in the Building”.
- Stories based on books like “Harry Potter” or “Twilight”.
- Stories based on movies like “Star Wars” or “Avengers”.
- Stories inspired by other forms of media (such as the language learning app Duolingo).
- Poetry and song lyrics reflecting characters or elements of a story
Fan fiction websites, such as Archive of Our Own, Fanfiction.net, and Wattpad, attract millions of daily page views, and many social media users share or discuss fan fiction on Tumblr, Discord, Instagram, and TikTok .
While fan fiction often uses copyrighted material, it is generally considered fair use because it is a transformative work, and the original creators are unlikely to take legal action. One must be more cautious when writing variations of more modern works. For works out of copyright, such as Pride and Prejudice, this is never a problem.
Jane Austen’s Fandom
Jane Austen fan fiction, or JAFF, is a very popular and thriving genre, with numerous published and unpublished works, and has seen an increase in popularity since the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. As I said at the beginning, I greatly enjoy Pride and Prejudice variations.
The Austen fandom boomed after the release of the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries and the 2005 film adaptation.
There are numerous published Austen-inspired novels, with Pride and Prejudice being the most popular source of inspiration, accounting for at least 900 published books. The number of unpublished stories on various JAFF sites at least doubles that number.
Modern adaptations of Austen’s works, including “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries,” have also drawn in new audiences, including those who may not have read the original novels.
My particular escapist reading is rooted in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, but whatever your taste, there’s surely fan fiction out there for you!
Evolution of Fan Fiction
“Despite its ties to the Internet, fan fiction is nothing new. English-language fan fiction can be traced to the 18th century. Jonathan Swift’s satiric novel Gulliver’s Travels (1726) inspired some of the earliest fan fiction, including a series of poems by Alexander Pope. In one such piece, Pope imagined Gulliver’s wife bemoaning her adventurer husband’s long absence and his uninterest in her upon his return, accusing him of infidelity during his journeys: “Not touch me! never neighbour call’d me slut! Was Flimnap’s dame more sweet in Lilliput?” (britannica.com)
Because it is, by definition, “derivative,” fan fiction often gets less respect than other fiction. However, many successful traditionally published authors have written fan fiction, including Meg Cabot.
Orson Scott Card, though he says he hates fan fiction, has published “fanfic” at some point in his career.
Author Neil Gaiman inspires fan fiction, and he’s also written it. His novel Good Omens (1990), written with Sir Terry Pratchett, has nearly 50,000 entries on Archive of Our Own. Gaiman’s story “A Study in Emerald” (2003) imagines a crossover between the worlds of Conan Doyle and H.P. Lovecraft, creating a
Sherlock Holmes-style mystery with a supernatural twist. In 2004, members of the World Science Fiction Convention named it the year’s best short story.
“Early fan fiction, like its contemporary counterparts, could be bolder and more sexually explicit than its source material. Henry Fielding wrote a sensual fan fiction of Samuel Richardson’s sentimental novel Pamela (1740). Amusingly titled Shamela (1741), it reimagines Richardson’s protagonist without the burdensome virtue of chastity. Similarly, in the 19th and 20th centuries the works of Jane Austen and Arthur Conan Doyle became popular fodder for fan fiction writers, who may have wondered, What happened between the lines of the original stories?” (britannica.com)
Inspiration
Fan fiction shows up in unexpected (by me) places. For example, Biblical fanfic is (could be) a thing. Some in the fan fiction community have gone so far as to call apocryphal writings or Dante’s epic poem The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–21) “biblical fanfic.” Although people generally consider religious literature to be a unique genre, in the Internet age, The Divine Comedy has inspired its own fan fiction, including more than 150 related works on Archive of Our Own. On Fanfiction.net, the Bible has inspired about 4,000 fan pieces.
The huge number of Sherlock Holmes fans inspired the Baker Street Journal (1946), a fan magazine that published a mix of scholarly writing and fan fiction. Ellery Queen’s “My First Meeting with Sherlock Holmes” was one of those. Actually, according to britannica.com, Queen was also a fiction, created by authors Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. (Dannay and Lee also launched Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in 1941, which still publishes crime fiction.)
Harry Potter has inspired more than twice as many stories as any other fandom. In second place is the anime Naruto.
Among TV series, the BBC’s Sherlock, which has had only four seasons, generated 29,000 works of fanfiction per season. That’s almost 30% more than the runner up, Teen Wolf, which averages a little more than 20,000 stories per season over six seasons.
Big fandoms tend to be older ones (for example Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Supernatural).
Although books often generate fan fiction, here are 5 famous books generated by fanfiction:
- The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare
- Point Pleasant by Jen Archer Wood
- Paradise Lost by John Milton
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
- 50 Shades of Grey by EL James
Why Fan Fiction?
Many people write and read fanfic for many reasons.
Fan fiction fosters a sense of community among fans who share an interest in the same media. In addition to exchanging direct contact details, fans can join online communities, Discord servers, subReddits, Tumblr clusters, zine boards, etc. with other fans of similar media. Some fans even set up conventions and local meet-ups.
Some writers use prompts from other fans as writing practice. For example, Sherlock fans will challenge each other to write 221B “drabbles.” They try to tell a story in 221 words, ending with a word that begins with the letter B (in honor of Holmes and Watson’s shared flat at 221B Baker Street). Other prompts include chain stories, collaborations with illustrators, retelling scenes from the point of view of a background character, resetting a story in one’s hometown with local slang, experimenting with first or second person narrative, and just about anything else one might imagine.
Other reasons fans write their own stories:
- As a chance to explore and share interests, such as setting the story in a particular historical setting or having characters exploring niche hobbies
- Providing representation the fan writer feels is missing, whether self-insertion or widening the role of minorities overlooked by the original author
- Correcting perceived plot holes, factual inaccuracies, or underdeveloped characters
- Simply making the story turn out the way the fan writer would have preferred!
Bottom Line: If you ever wish you could change a story’s ending or hate to cut ties with particular characters, the solution could be fan fiction. Ditto if you just want to avoid too much news!
CHOCOLATE: The Good, the Bad, and the History
I’m a confirmed chocolate lover. And I’m not alone here! Great taste, a reward after a tough day, a favorite holiday gift…
Chocolate is the preferred choice of sweets for many. Which is what makes chocolate big business. The chocolate industry is worth over £100 billion. Chocolate is the most popular U.S. candy product, favored by 90% of consumers. Nearly half (47%) spend $5-$10 a few times a month buying chocolate at the grocery store. (FYI: Switzerland is the world’s top consumer of chocolate per capita.)
Consumers buy an incredible 90 million pounds of chocolate candy during Halloween week, giving it a strong lead compared to other holidays. Retailers sell almost 65 million pounds during the week leading up to Easter. Although 57% of Valentine’s Day gift-givers give candy, only 48 million pounds of chocolate are sold during Valentine’s week. This includes more than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate every year for Valentine’s Day.
Of the $1.9 billion sold on Halloween candy each year, $1.2 billion was for chocolate candy and only $680 million for sugar candy.
And then there is the impact of the chocolate industry on other products! U.S. chocolate manufacturers currently use 40 percent of the almonds produced in the United States and 25 percent of domestic peanuts.
Chocolatey Celebrations
Chocolate is so popular that many days of the year are designated for its celebration in various ways.
- 1/31 National Hot Chocolate Day
- People originally consumed chocolate as a beverage. Thomas Jefferson was a big fan of a drink using stone-roasted cacao, sugar and spices.
- 2/25 National Chocolate Covered Nut Day
- 5/15 National Chocolate Chip Day
- 6/16 National Fudge Day
- Chocolate is only one option for fudge flavors!
- 7/7 International World Chocolate Day
- 7/25 National Hot Fudge Sundae Day
- 8/4 National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day
- Ruth Wakefield invented the chocolate chip cookie in the 1930s. In 1939 she sold her recipe and the Toll House name to Nestlé, reputedly in return for a lifetime supply of chocolate!
- 8/20 National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day
- 9/27 National Chocolate Milk Day
- According to the Smithsonian, an Irish botanist, Sir Hans Sloane, in Jamaica in the early 1700s, drank a cocoa drink that he found so bitter he added milk, thus creating the first chocolate milk mixture. He then left Jamaica and returned to England, where he sold the chocolatey concoction as medicine.
- 10/13 National M&M Day
- 11/7 National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day
- 12/13 National Cocoa Day
- 12/28 National Chocolate Candy Day
The popularity of chocolate is reflected in chocolate-themed Hershey Park, the largest amusement park in Pennsylvania, as well as Hersheytown. A huge new park is scheduled to open in 2027. In addition, there are more than 60 chocolate museums around the world, including in Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
Keep in mind that chocolate and cocoa are not the same thing. Essentially, chocolate is a processed version of cocoa that includes added ingredients like sugar and cocoa butter to achieve its smooth texture and appealing flavor.
A Little Chocolate History
Historians credit the Olmec civilization of southern Mexico as being the first to roast the fruit from the cacao tree, then grind it down and mix it with water and other ingredients (but not milk or sugar). Archaeologists have discovered Olmec pottery with trace amounts of chocolate dating back to
around 1700 BCE.
During the Revolutionary War, medics would often dole out cups of hot chocolate to wounded and dying soldiers. Military leaders gave out hot chocolate mixes monthly to soldiers, and sometimes offered them in lieu of wages.
Milton Hershey of Lancaster, PA introduced the first Hershey milk chocolate bar in 1900. Foil-wrapped Hershey’s Kisses appeared in 1906. Ever wondered about that little piece of paper hanging out of a Hershey’s Kiss? That was the company’s way of flagging their candy so consumers would know that it was an original Hershey’s Kiss. The little paper tail is known as a plume.
Soldiers’ rations in the Spanish Civil War inspired Forrest Mars, Sr to create M&Ms: plain chocolate candies in a shell of hard sugar. Chocolate melts at 93°F, which is below the average human body temperature. Remember this slogan? “M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand!”
Mars joined Bruce Murrie (son of Hershey executive William Murrie) to produce M&Ms in 1941, marketing them as in response to slack chocolate sales in summer.
During World War II, M&Ms were sold exclusively to the US military because of their durability.
Hershey’s had an exclusive contract with the American military to supply chocolate for soldiers’ rations during World War II. They specifically created the D-Ration Bar to “taste a little better than a boiled potato” to discourage soldiers from eating only their chocolate ration and nothing else. The recipe for these emergency chocolate rations made a viscous liquid so thick that it clogged the regular manufacturing machines and required hand-packing into molds.
Hershey produced a Tropical D-Ration specifically designed to withstand the high temperatures in the Pacific Theater.
M&Ms were the first candies to go into space, sent with the crew of the NASA shuttle Columbia in 1981.
Chocolate Medicine
Chocolates are a popular form of self-medication.
In the 1800’s, physicians commonly advised their broken-hearted patients to eat chocolate to calm their pining.
Chocolate has been shown to improve depression and anxiety symptoms and to help enhance feelings of calmness and contentedness. Both the flavanols and methylxanthines are believed to play a role in chocolate’s mood-enhancing effects. The presence of compounds like phenylethylamine in cocoa can contribute to feelings of happiness and well-being as well.
Even the smell of chocolate can help you relax and reduce stress! A study conducted by psychologist Neil Martin at Middlesex University in Enfield, England concluded that the aroma of chocolate reduced attentiveness. Also, there are at least six varieties of flowers that naturally smell like chocolate: Carolina Allspice, Columbine-Chocolate Soldier, Chocolate Daisy, Chocolate Vine, Cosmos -Chocolate, and the Oncidium Orchid. A chocolate alternative for aromatherapy, perhaps!
Approximately 70% of people in a cross-sectional survey were less like to report depressive symptoms if they had eaten dark chocolate within the last 24 hours.
Chocolate can’t replace traditional treatment options for depressive feelings with mood disorders, but science may support its role in your diet.
Other cocoa benefits, maximized by choosing minimally processed cocoa powder or dark chocolate with high cocoa content:
- Antioxidant power: cocoa is packed with antioxidants, particularly flavanols, which combat free radical damage in the body and may protect against chronic diseases.
- Cardiovascular health: studies suggest cocoa can help lower blood pressure, improve blood vessel function, and potentially reduce the risk of heart disease due to its impact on blood flow.
- Improved cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
- Brain function: cocoa may enhance cognitive abilities like memory and focus due to its influence on neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin.
- Potential anti-inflammatory effects: cocoa’s polyphenols may help reduce inflammation in the body.
Chocolatey “Perks”
Chocolate’s reputation as a pick-me-up is greatly aided by the fact that chocolate is sweetened, so there’s a sugar boost along with the caffeine.
A one-ounce piece of milk chocolate contains about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of decaffeinated coffee.
Although a bar of dark chocolate has about 29 milligrams of caffeine, a small cup of regular coffee has about 94.
Dark chocolate has more caffeine than any other type of chocolate. Cocoa solids contain the caffeine. Cocoa beans harvested during a dry season contain more caffeine. The method of processing and roasting the beans also affects the caffeine content.
Chocolate type matters! Dark chocolate, with higher cocoa content, generally has more health benefits compared to milk chocolate, which contains more sugar and fat. In fact, more than half of people in a recent survey from the National Confectioners Association described dark chocolate as a “better for you” candy.
Over-Indulgence
Beware too much chocolate! Addiction to chocolate is called “chocoholism.” It is not a scientifically recognized term.
Cocoa powder is naturally bitter, no sugar at all. The effects of added sugar intake from chocolate— higher blood pressure, inflammation, diabetes, and fatty liver disease — are all linked to an increased risk for heart attack and stroke.
Weight Gain
High calorie intake from chocolate can lead to weight gain if consumed excessively, especially when replacing healthier food options.
Dental Issues
The sugar in chocolate can contribute to tooth decay if not properly brushed after consumption.
Digestive Problems
Some people might experience stomach upset, bloating, or diarrhea due to the fat and sugar content in chocolate, especially milk chocolate.
Cardiovascular Concerns
Regularly consuming large amounts of chocolate, particularly with high saturated fat content, might contribute to elevated cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease.
Blood Sugar Fluctuations
The sugar in chocolate can cause blood sugar spikes, potentially contributing to diabetes risk in susceptible individuals.
Caffeine Overdose
While the caffeine content in dark chocolate is lower than coffee, consuming excessive amounts can lead to sleep disturbances, anxiety, and jitters.
Skin Issues
Some people experience acne breakouts after consuming large quantities of chocolate.
Individual Sensitivities
People with specific allergies or digestive sensitivities should be cautious with chocolate consumption and consult a healthcare professional if needed.
Chocolate Dangers
And then there are heavy metals. Cadmium and lead—two heavy metals linked to a host of health problems in children and adults—are virtually unavoidable in dark chocolate. Consumer Reports scientists recently measured the amount of heavy metals in 28 dark chocolate bars, including Dove, Ghirardelli, Lindt, and Hershey’s, for lead and cadmium. All of them contained both metals. For 23 of them, just an ounce of chocolate violates California’s maximum allowable dose levels (MADL) for lead or cadmium.
Significant exposure to cadmium can cause lung cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm. Significant exposure to lead can slow children’s growth growth and development and damage the brain and nervous system.
The good news is that it’s possible for dark chocolate to maintain low levels of heavy metals: five of the 28 bars tested had levels of lead and cadmium within the California limitations.
Johns Hopkins Medicine toxicologist Andrew Stolbach told NPR “The [MADL] safety levels for lead and cadmium are set to be very protective, and going above them by a modest amount isn’t something to be
concerned about,” he said. “If you make sure that the rest of your diet is good and sufficient in calcium and iron, you protect yourself even more by preventing absorption of some lead and cadmium in your diet.”
Note: Chocolate can be toxic to cats and dogs because they can’t metabolize theobromine, a component in chocolate.
Bottom Line: Moderation is key. Enjoying chocolate in moderation as part of a balanced diet is key to reaping potential benefits without experiencing negative effects.
THE COMMON COLD
How common is the common cold? People in the U.S. suffer a billion colds per year!
Adults average 2-3 colds per year; children 6-10. Not generally dangerous, but you can feel like you’ve been hit by a truck—i.e., wiped out, tired, with sore throat, stuffy or runny nose, cough, discomfort, sneezing, headaches, and body aches. Fever is more common in children, likely to be low-grade in adults.
Cold symptoms will go away on their own over time. Sleep helps boost the immune system and can help you recover from a cold more quickly—assuming you’re able to sleep when you have a cold. For three days, I slept in a recliner, about 20 hours a day. I gather elevating the head generally helps sleep.
And how long will this misery last? Generally 3-10 days. (However, my current cold has hung on for two weeks, albeit with diminished symptoms. Oh, sigh.)
Contrary to popular belief, cold weather or getting chilled does not cause a cold, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Yes, colds are more common in fall and winter, but you can get a cold any time of year. Seasonal frequency may be related more to seasonal activities, such as returning to school or spending more time indoors.
Cold Research
So why do we call it a cold anyway? The name “cold” came into use in England in the 1500s, due to the similarity between its symptoms and those of exposure to cold weather. But it’s much older than that! Cold symptoms and treatment are described in the Egyptian Ebers papyrus, the oldest existing medical text, written before the 16th century BCE.
In 1956, Harvard Hospital of Salisbury and the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom set up the Common Cold Unit (CCU). Researchers there discovered the rhinovirus in 1956. The only successful treatment the unit discovered, in 1987, for the prevention and treatment of rhinovirus colds was zinc gluconate lozenges. Two years after making this discovery, the CCU closed, in 1989.
Rhinoviruses cause an estimated 30-35% of all adult colds. Scientists had previously identified 99 distinct rhinovirus types. Recently, however, researchers have detected a number of unknown types in patients with severe flu-like illnesses. Research indicates that there may be up to 4 different species of rhinovirus.
So, 65-70% of colds (upper respiratory infections) are not caused by a rhinovirus, meaning zinc isn’t a cure-all. Other respiratory viruses that can cause colds in the United States include common human coronaviruses, parainfluenza viruses, adenoviruses, enteroviruses (including EV-D68), and human metapneumovirus. Scientists know of more than 200 different viruses that cause the symptoms of the common cold.
Cold Complications
All colds risk complications beyond the symptoms listed above.
Mild to moderate complications:
- Middle ear infections (infection behind the ear drum)
- Sinus infections
Potentially severe complications:
- Asthma attacks (wheezing, difficulty breathing)
- Bronchiolitis (infection of the small airways)
- Bronchitis (infection of the large airways)
- Pneumonia (infection of the lungs)
- Worsening of chronic medical conditions (for example, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure)
SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), influenza virus (the virus that causes flu), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can also cause cold-like symptoms but do not cause colds. These respiratory viruses are more likely to cause severe illness, hospitalization or death, especially among groups at increased risk: infants, older adults, or those with underlying medical conditions or weakened immune systems.
If you have cold-like symptoms and suspect you have COVID- 19 or flu, take a COVID-19 test. This is especially important if you’re at higher risk for severe illness. Antiviral treatments are available for COVID-19 and flu and work best when started very soon after symptoms begin.
Cold, Hard Facts
I found the following “interesting facts” about colds at Ago Virax.
- There are around 100 known serotypes of HRV, meaning that a vaccine cannot be made … and that we have the potential to be infected around 100 times by this virus alone. Plus, mutations cause a thus-far eternal number of new strains of the virus.
- Rhinoviruses can survive for three hours outside of the body, and can sometimes live for up to 48 hours on touchable surfaces, infesting everything from door knobs and subway poles to shopping carts and light switches.
- A single cold virus can have 16 million offspring within the course of a day.
- Research suggests people are most contagious when symptoms are at their worst. However, sick people can also infect others even before symptoms develop.
- The lower the humidity, the more moisture evaporates from sneeze and cough droplets, and the further the germs can travel. Dry air also dries out the mucous lining in our nasal passages, weakening an important protective barrier. Both of these contribute to the increase in colds during cold, dry weather.
- Vitamin C won’t cure a cold. But, according to the latest scientific research, taking at least 0.2 grams of vitamin C every day may decrease the duration of a cold by a day or two.
- The single best way to avoid getting a cold, aside from becoming a hermit, is to wash your hands. A lot. Use soap and wash them in water for 20 seconds. It’s cheap and easy and more effective than alcohol-based hand sanitizers. However, if you don’t have soap and water, sanitizers will still do the job.
- Infected people spread colds by touching their eyes, nose, and (to a lesser extent) mouth and then touching communal surfaces like doorknobs or counters.
- Virus-harboring droplets can hang in the air for a few seconds after an infected person sneezes or coughs, waiting to infect the unwary.
- While a person’s breath can travel one meter per second, droplets from a sneeze can travel at about 160 kilometers per hour.
- A single sneeze can spray 100,000 germs into the air … which is why you should keep 6 feet of distance from a sneezing sick person.
Cold Comfort
And finally, a bit of good news: most cold viruses are not spread by saliva. Thus, kissing itself is not likely to transmit the common cold. (Unfortunately, if you’re close enough to be kissing, you are probably close enough to succumb.)
Bottom Line: There’s no vaccine for the common cold, and no known cure. If it truly is a common cold, prepare to just suffer through it!
KNOW WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS
I just found out that the US now has a derecho season every year. Reading about it lead me to all the fascinating and bizarre ways wind impacts the rest of the weather, many of which I discussed in this post from 2021.
According to the wind sock above, the wind when the photo was taken was blowing at about 6 knots (7mph). The sky is clear, the sun is bright, and there are no flying sharks. Unless you live in England or Seattle, this is nothing to write home about.
Even though you can’t actually see it, wind can create some pretty incredible things to write home about. Our ancestors definitely thought the wind was worth writing about, especially when it picked up everything around and sent it flying through the air.
Like snow, there are seemingly endless names for specific types of winds. If you really want to know about the difference between piteraq and bora winds, check out the World Meteorological Organization or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration websites. I’ve included some of the most spectacular and most mythological wind events here.
Dust Devils
Suppose you experienced a Dust Devil? A small dust devil, say 18 inches wide and a few yards tall is a sight to behold. A BIG dust devil—say 33 feet wide and 1000 feet tall—can be terrifying!
An extreme dust devil can reach 60 mph and last up to 20 minutes. In the process, it could lift more than 12 tons of dirt, and the friction between wind and surface can create sparks often mistaken for lightning. In fact, dust devils are not associated with storms.
Dust devils have been known to lift roofs and collapse buildings, sometimes killing people. There are reports of them flinging animals and 10-year-old children about. Inflatable bounce houses are especially vulnerable.
Where do they come from? When hot air at ground level rises quickly and hits a pocket of cool/cold air, it can start to spin, forming a column of air. The spinning, along with friction from the surface, allows the column to move, picking up dust along the way. Dust devils are especially likely in deserts. Usually they cause little damage.
Other Names for Dust Devils
- Dancing devil
- Dirt devil
- Dust whirl
- Sand auger
- Sand pillar
- Redemoinho in Brazil
- Remoinho in Portugal
- Willy willy or whirly whirly in Australia
Beliefs About Dust Devils
- Chindi is the Navajo term for spirit or ghost
- Good spirits whirl clockwise; bad spirits spin counterclockwise
- Ngoma cia aka is the word for women’s spirit/ demon or women’s evil among the Kikuyu in Kenya
- Fasset el ‘afreet from Egypt, meaning ghost wind
- Many traditions on the Arabian peninsula include a djinn or afreet/ ifrit inside the column of dust
- According to Brazilian legend, Saci-Pererê lives inside the dust devil and grant wishes to anyone who can steal his magic cap
More Devilish Wind
Martian dust devils form the same way as on Earth, but bigger: up to 10 times as high and 50 times as wide, with mini-lightning flashes. Dust devil trails on earth’s deserts usually disappear in a couple of days; on Mars, they remain visible (so I’m told) for weeks.
Snow devils develop when a strong wind hits a solid object (like a mountain), spins downward and lifts up snow, creating a vortex. They usually last only a few minutes, and they are small (seldom more than 30 feet across). Still not something one would want to be out in.
Fire whirls, aka fire devils or fire tornadoes, develop a vortex inside a wildfire. They are whirling columns of fire rising up into the air. They carry ash, debris, and smoke and feed the fire and spread it. There have also been reports of fire whirls at volcanos and during earthquakes.
Haboob (هَبوب) is a kind of huge dirt devil that can appear in deserts around the world, including the U.S., associated with thunderstorms. When the rain is released, it causes sand to blow up, making a wall of sand that precedes the storm. Haboobs can be several miles high and 60 miles wide.
Tornadoes
There are many varieties of tornado beyond those that transport Kansas farm houses to Munchkinland.
The actual definition of a tornado is a bit fuzzy, even among the experts. They can’t seem to agree on when one tornado stops and another starts. The swirling wind tunnel has to touch the ground and the clouds at the same time before it counts (that’s why gustnadoes aren’t really tornadoes, though I’ll include them here for ease of reference). Tornado experts judge tornado strength by size, wind speed, and distance over the rainbow it can throw a farmhouse.
Gustnadoes
Gustnadoes are closely related to dust devils, short-lived and ground based, but they have stronger winds (maybe as strong as weak tornadoes) and develop over open plains areas of the U.S. They don’t form funnels and may go unnoticed. Though a gustnado can cause serious damage, it’s not tall enough to register as a tornado.
Other Weird Winds
Firestorm
A firestorm develops when a fire becomes so big and intense that it creates its own storm-force wind systems. Firestorms are most often associated with wildfires and brush fires, but they can also be created when large sections of densely built cities catch fire.
Sandstorm
Sandstorms (aka dust storms) don’t whirl or spin. It’s essentially a wall of wind that pushes sand in a more-or-less straight line. Wind strength can be strong enough to pick and move entire sand dunes great distances. Sandstorms occur worldwide, wherever deserts are found.
Khamsin
Each spring, areas along the eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Arabian peninsula are hit by a khamsin (خمسين from Arabic word for 50). The khamsin is a 50-day wind that coats everything in sand and dirt.
In 2009, archaeologists may have found remains that appear to be those of a Persian army of more than 50,000 that vanished in 525 BCE. A strong wind that blew up from the south is suspected of covering them in suffocating mounds of sand.
Downburst
A downburst occurs when the downdraft of a thunderstorm hits the ground and forces the air to gust outward and curl backward. As it moves horizontally, the wind can cause extensive damage to everything it passes over. The wind curling backward can cause further damage, creating tornadoes, waterspouts, snow devils, sharknadoes, and fire whirls.
- A macroburst happens when an extremely strong downdraft hits the ground. Horizontal gusts cover an area more than 4 km in diameter. These gusts can be as destructive as a tornado.
- Microbursts are smaller in size and shorter in duration. A microburst is less than 4 km across and short-lived, lasting only five to 10 minutes, with maximum windspeeds sometimes exceeding 100 mph.
Derecho
A derecho is a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. A typical derecho consists of numerous microbursts, downbursts, and downburst clusters. By definition, if the wind damage swath extends more than 240 miles (about 400 kilometers) and includes wind gusts of at least 58 mph (93 km/h) or greater along most of its length, then the event may be classified as a derecho.
Ground Blizzard
Unlike regular blizzards, ground blizzards don’t involve any snow falling from the sky, but they are still deadly. Instead, snow that is already on the ground is whipped into whiteout conditions by an extreme cold front. Temperatures plummet, and snow on the ground is picked up by wind gusts up to 60mph. The Arctic cold fronts that cause ground blizzards also cause extreme low temperatures.
Every one of these wind events have been known to kill people! In addition, extremely hot or cold winds can do the same. Though we usually can’t see the air itself, the effects are pretty amazing!
Godly Winds
In Irish folklore, the Sidhe or Aos Si are the supernatural pantheon. Sidhe is used to mean fairies, but the Old Irish translation is “wind” or “gust.”
Deities connected to the wind are often closely related to those of the air. In many traditions, the same deity governs the air and the wind. Cultures heavily reliant on changes in the wind, such as seafaring communities or nomadic groups on open plains, tend to have more detailed and powerful wind and air gods.
One of the most famous wind gods in mythology is Aeolus, the Greek god governing all winds, who was closely involved in Odysseus’s voyage home. He is certainly not the only supernatural being in charge of the wind and air.
(by Andrey Shishkin)
Superhero Winds
If that’s not enough to convince you that wind and air hold a prominent position in our collective subconscious, just look at how many modern superheroes (and villains) have the names and powers of wind phenomena.
Bottom Line: We tend to think in terms of breezes or stiff winds, but there’s so much more to wind than that!
DISGUSTING! BUT FASCINATING
Life is hard for a parasite. … As a parasite, you do know where your next meal is coming from most of the time. In return for that security, you have probably given up most of your nervous system and sense organs. Considering that you probably live in the mire of someone’s intestine or their bile duct, not having sense organs is probably a plus.
Roger M. Knutson, Fearsome Fauna: A Field Guide to the Creatures That Live In You
Types of Parasites
There are three main types of parasites that can affect humans: protozoa, helminths, and ectoparasites. They can live on or in the human body and cause various diseases. The Cleveland Clinic provides clear, succinct descriptions, as follows.
Ectoparasites
Ectoparasites live on the outside (exterior) of the body. They carry diseases between other animals and humans and usually carry infections through blood. They generally include the following:
- Fleas are small, wingless insects with strong back legs that they use to jump long distances. Infected fleas can spread disease when they bite or if a person accidentally swallows an infected flea.
- Head lice and pubic lice (crabs) are tiny, flat insects that travel by crawling. Both types of lice travel from person to person through close contact, which may include sexual intercourse or sharing personal items like hats, sheets, pillows, or towels.
- Mites are small arachnids, relatives of spiders and ticks. They’re small, about as tall as a stack of 10 sheets of paper. They may cause scabies.
- Ticks also are arachnids. Their bites usually don’t cause pain or itchiness. They typically bite you and then burrow into your skin.
Helminths
Helminths are worms that usually live in your gastrointestinal (GI) tract. They are visible to the naked eye in their adult stage — and range from greater than 1 millimeter to a little longer than 39 inches (slightly smaller than the width of a doorway).
The main types of helminths that affect people include the following:
- Flukes (Trematodes) are a type of flatworm that can spread through contaminated water or aquatic animals (including snails, crabs, and fish). The many different types of flukes may infect your blood, urinary bladder, liver, lungs, intestines, and other organs.
- Tapeworm (Cestode) adults are long, flat worms that live in the intestines and feed on the nutrients that you get from eating food. They spread by laying eggs that leave your body when you poop. The eggs then spread through infected food and water or undercooked meat.
- Roundworms (Nematodes) are small parasites that also live in your intestines. They spread from infected poop or soil.
Protozoans
Protozoans are one-celled organisms that live in your intestines or blood and tissues. You can’t see them without a microscope. They can spread through several means, including contaminated food or water and person-to-person contact.
There are tens of thousands of types of protozoans. Experts classify them according to how they move. The main types that affect people include the following:
- Amoeba, which form temporary “false feet” (pseudopods) to move. The amoeba Entamoeba histolytica (E. histolytica) causes dysentery.
- Ciliates use many short, hairlike structures (cilia) to move and gather food. Balantidium coli (B. coli) is the only ciliate that affects people. It causes dysentery.
- Flagellates use one or many whip-like structures (flagella) to move and sense their surroundings. The flagellate Giardia intestinalis causes giardiasis, and Trypanosoma brucei causes sleeping sickness.
- Sporozoans (apicomplexan) aren’t capable of moving in their adult stage. They eat the food you are digesting or your body fluids. The sporozoan Plasmodium causes malaria, and Cryptosporidium causes cryptosporidiosis.
Human(-Infesting) Parasites
According to Knutson, the parasites that live in humans are generally ugly, not smart, and extremely motivated to reproduce.
Given where they live, parasites have little need for such sense organs as eyes or a sense of smell. As Knutson says, “Better you should have a good set of hooks, suckers, or clamps or a mouth for hanging on or the capacity to swim with vigor.”
According to the CDC, more than 60 million people in the US are infected with parasites. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was 16.1%, according to the NIH. Soil-transmitted helminth infections (14.3%) were more common than protozoan infections (1.8%).
I’ve focused on the U.S., where neglected parasitic infections are not rare. NIH says neglected parasitic infections affect at least 12 million Americans, either through new infections (e.g., trichomoniasis) or from prevalent persistent infections resulting in chronic conditions. Limited access to clean water and sanitation are major factors. Practicing good hygiene, thoroughly cooking meat, and drinking clean water also helps prevent many parasites.
“One or another of them [parasites] can live in nearly all our internal spaces or cells, and sometimes during an adolescent ‘walkabout’ they wander from our skin to our bloodstream to our lungs to our gut and during the wandering create their own small spaces where we had none before. They drink our blood, eat our cells, infest our muscles, and compete with us for the food we have already eaten and for the vitamins we need to keep us healthy.”
Roger M. Knutson, Fearsome Fauna: A Field Guide to the Creatures That Live In You
Treating Parasites
Treatment is extremely important. You may develop a serious infection with severe symptoms if you don’t get treatment and follow your doctor’s orders carefully.
Treatment specifics depend on what type of parasite you have.
For treating ectoparasites such as lice, fleas, and ticks:
- Bathing with soap
- Shampoos
- Ointments
- Washing your clothing, bedding, and towels in hot water
- Vacuuming carpets, mattresses, and furniture and emptying the vacuum bag into the trash outside
For other types of parasites, your healthcare provider may prescribe:
With a proper diagnosis and treatment, most people make a full recovery. So carefully follow your provider’s instructions. If you don’t, your parasite may come back.
Symptoms of Parasites
How can you know? Because there are so many different types of parasites, the symptoms also vary widely. According to the Cleveland Clinic, common parasite symptoms include:
- Diarrhea
- Nausea and vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Unexplained weight loss
- Increased appetite
- Muscle aches
- Fever
- Chills
- Problems sleeping (insomnia)
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Skin rash
You may have a parasite and no symptoms, or the symptoms may appear a long time after infection. You may also not have any symptoms and accidentally pass a parasite to another person who develops symptoms.
Parasites Everywhere!
NIH estimates that there are between 75,000 and 300,000 helminth species alone parasitizing vertebrates. But they have no credible way of estimating how many parasitic protozoa, fungi, bacteria, and viruses exist. According to an article in Salon, several estimates suggest that parasites actually outnumber “free living” organisms by about 3 to 2. In short, they’re everywhere.
Conclusion: although you might feel queasy to learn that you have a parasitic infection, don’t take it personally. Instead take appropriate steps to recover and to avoid having anything eating you in the future!
Bottom Line: Parasites are an ugly fact of life. But you don’t have to despair. And learning about them can be fascinating.
SPIDERS
Why not? There are now upwards of 50,000 named species worldwide, on every continent except Antartica. Chances are you cross paths with spiders frequently.
The vast majority are harmless. They’re actually helpful to humans. Without spiders to eat pests harmful to agriculture, it’s thought that our food supply would be at risk. And there would be a heck of a lot more mosquitoes, ants, and flies around!
Some people actually leave spiders alone in their houses to take care of these other household pests.
Is Everyone Afraid of Spiders?
Even so, spiders are far from popular. We all try to avoid things that make us feel uncomfortable, and most people are not comfortable with spiders!
If you give children a free option to tell researchers what sorts of things they fear the most, both boys and girls report “spiders” as their top fear (the second fear is being kidnapped, third is predators, and fourth is the dark).
Insight Pest conducted a survey about people’ fears, with the following results:
- The first question we asked in the survey was on the most frightening pests in general.
- Interestingly, the most frightening pest for most people is actually a snake.
- Spiders are second, followed by wasps.
- Men are more scared of snakes and wasps than women are, and women (24%) are more scared of spiders than men (17%).
- Level of spider fear (1-10): men 4.4, women 5.6
- Fear of spiders by age: 26% of those 18-34; 20% of those 35-54; 13% of those 55 and older.
- Level of spider fear (1-10): 5.1 for those 18-34, 5.0 for those 35-54, and 4.70 for those 55 and older.
Visit the website for more info on the worst place to find a spider, how people deal with spiders, who would tolerate a house infested with spiders, sleep problems related to spiders, etc.
FYI, to remove a spider in the house, put a clear plastic cup over it, slide a thick paper sheet under the cup and spider, and let it go outside.
Based on the literature, arachnophobia affects 2.7–6.1% of people in the general population and is significantly more prevalent among women than men. Arachnophobia differs from a fear in that a phobia is an intense and irrational fear. Most spider phobias are completely unwarranted. Only 0.5% of spiders are potentially harmful to humans and most of those are in Australia and South America.
Why Do We Fear Spiders?
Daniel Frynta at Charles University, Prague, and colleagues posit that we evolved to fear not “essentially harmless” spiders but a dangerous close relative with a similar body plan. Scorpions do pose a real threat, killing an estimated 2,600 people every year. Their data don’t prove that people generalize an evolved fear/disgust of scorpions to spiders. Unlike the vast majority of spiders, scorpions are also an ancient group, and species with a venom tailored to mammals are native to Africa and the Middle East — so our distant ancestors and dangerous scorpions could have evolved side-by- side. “Fear of scorpions therefore seems to be better warranted than fear of spiders,” the team writes. The corresponding conclusion is that our brains over-generalize, reacting to spiders in the same way.
Other explanations of spider fears include classical conditioning following a traumatic incident, and learning from parents and those around the child.
Don’t Be Afraid!
Fun facts that may (or may not) make spiders seem less creepy.
- Spiders are nearsighted.
- Females can lay up to 3,000 eggs at one time.
- Jumping spiders can jump up to 50x their own length.
- The ‘daddy long-legs‘ you see might not actually be a spider.
- There’s a spider with a cartoonish butt.
- Some spiders can jump on demand.
- Cannibal spiders look like pelicans.
- The tiny Samoan moss spider is .011 inch long (smaller than a typed period).
- The Goliath birdeater is a tarantula with a leg span of almost a foot.
According to National Geographic, most species are carnivorous, either trapping flies and other insects in their webs, or hunting them down. They can’t swallow their food as is, though—spiders inject their prey with digestive fluids, then suck out the liquefied remains.
Spiders are arachnids—i.e., their skeletons are on the outside—so they aren’t insects. They have eight legs, a body in two segments, a spinneret to exude incredibly strong silk, and fangs generally able to inject venom.
Though all spiders have venom to one degree or another, only a handful are dangerous to humans. Those include the black widow and the brown recluse, both found in the United States.
Though not all spider species build webs, every species produces silk, a strong, flexible protein fiber. They use the silk to climb, to tether themselves for safety in case of a fall, to create egg sacs, to wrap up prey, to make nests, and more.
Most spider species have eight eyes, though some have six. Despite all of those eyes, though, many don’t see very well.
A notable exception is the jumping spider, which can see more colors than humans can. Using filters that sit in front of cells in their eyes, the day-hunting jumping spider can see in the red spectrum, green spectrum, and in UV light.
Bottom Line: Wherever spider fears come from, they are as common as they are irrational. And spiders are fascinating!
