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The Microbiome II: Every Microbiome Is Happy in Its Own Way
In the first post of this microbiome series I covered the beginnings of microbiology. The realisation that we were surrounded by microorganisms, the development of germ theory and the first stirrings of the idea that microbes, apart from destroying our health, could also be contributing to our well-being. We left the story in the early Continue reading
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Genes, Gluttony and Gout
As a young man, and even into his forties, Henry VIII was a charismatic, athletic and highly attractive individual. He stood, for his times, a towering six feet two inches and he was renown for his prowess on the jousting field and for excelling at hunting, wrestling, tennis, and archery. But, by the time he Continue reading
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Quick Bite: New research shows what was on the menu 2 million years ago
The Ship of Theseus is the name given to a thought experiment first related by Plutarch around the beginning of the second century. In this story the ship Theseus rescued the children of Athens with was kept by the people of Athens and used every year in a pilgrimage to Delos. Over time, and many Continue reading
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Hunger games: Why we get hungry and why we overeat
Imagine you are driving down a long and lonely highway. You are late but also conscientious, so you want to stick as closely to the speed limit of 100 km/h as you can. For the purposes of this story your cruise control is broken or you don’t don’t trust Tesla’s self driving function so you Continue reading
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Quick Bite: Ultra-processed foods give you lung cancer? Maybe not
In the past I’ve been critical of both observational studies and the reporting of these studies in the media and yesterday the Independent published an article called “Food that makes up more than half of western diets linked to lung cancer” which really pushed my buttons. The title is clearly link-bait and it had me Continue reading
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Vitamin D and human individuality
In a world that seems hell bent on pigeon-holing us into convenient advertising demographics it is worth remembering that almost every single one of us is completely unique. Thanks to sexual reproduction and genetic recombination each of us is an experiment in what can be achieved with the raw clay of the human gene pool. Continue reading
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Bacterial growth or how not to kill your dinner guests
There is an old Indian parable of a king who wanted to reward a wise man who had invented chess. The wise old man asked for rice but had an unusual stipulation when was asked how much rice he wanted. He requested a single grain of rice to be put on the first square of Continue reading
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Pork, another red meat
Fear is a great motivator and, being in the business of motivation, advertising has always been very quick to take advantage of human uncertainty to build demand. An example of this is the famous “The other white meat” campaign for pork that ran in the States in 1987 and was copied here in Australia during Continue reading
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A requiem for bacon
On October 26, 2015 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) broke my heart. I know this sounds dramatic and maybe even a little silly. International research agencies don’t go around breaking peoples’ hearts. How can I justify this outrageous statement? Well it was on this day that the IARC issued a press release Continue reading
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What are ultra-processed foods and why are they coming to get me?
Anyone with even a cursory interest in food and nutrition must have noticed that ultra-processed foods are having a big moment in the media. Barely a day goes by why without some article like “Every Bite of Ultra-Processed Foods May Increase Risk of Early Death, Study Says” or “Ultra-processed foods are silently altering your metabolism, Continue reading
The Science of Food 