News Author Galen Lastko
Go Have A Laugh
Photo by kazuend on Unsplash Despite what you might have heard, laughter is not the best medicine: if it was, some pharmaceutical company would probably figure out how to patent it. Laughter is, however, an exceptional way to relieve stress…
The Scrolling of Doom
Photo by Rob Hampson on Unsplash Doom scrolling (or, even better, doom surfing) is the act of endlessly dragging yourself through the news feed on your phone or computer while slowly being overwhelmed by the volume of negative, depressing, or…
This Pox is Bananas
Photo by Mike Dorner on Unsplash The next major pandemic may already be here. I’m not sure who ordered it, since we’ve still got plenty of COVID-19 leftovers in the fridge, but monkeypox, typically a disease confined to the African…
So Healthy Together: The Care and Feeding of Your Immune System
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash With all of the COVID-related anxiety we’ve slogged through these past years, it’s been very easy to forget just how remarkable the human immune system is. All animals have some ability to recognize and…
What’s Cooking?
Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash We aren’t just what we eat, we’re also how we eat it. Our evolution as a species, particularly that of our brains, has been tied to our remarkable ability to extract nutrition…
Stay Tuned: Music is Good for You
Photo by Alireza Attari on Unsplash It’s not really surprising that music has positive health benefits. After all, pretty much everyone likes at least some kind of music, and liking things and being happy is of course deeply tied to…
Spring Screening
Photo by @andrew_scullin on Unsplash O, March! Herald of flowers, vanguard of spring. Sacred month of Mars, the ancient Roman god of war and candy bars, you bring us the vernal equinox, St. Patrick’s Day, spring training, and the return…
Two Paths, Both Dignified
Photo by Online Marketing on Unsplash There are two degrees which qualify an individual to practice medicine here in the United States. While doctors can be difficult to identify in the wild, a trained naturalist can distinguish the two species…
So Long, Omicron?
Photo by Adrian Swancar on Unsplash I’m sorry folks, but the pandemic is not over yet. I really wish I had to try harder to come up with topics, but everyone’s favorite bat flu keeps returning to my arms unbeckoned.…
The Omicron Chronicles
Photo by Gustavo Fring from Pexels What’s that wriggling down the chimney? Why, it’s a brand-new COVID variant! The Omicron variant was first detected in California this past week, but despite the headlines, there’s little indication that there’s any reason to be overly…