Non-shivering thermogenesis is the process by which the body generates extra heat without shivering. Shivering is a way for the body to use muscular contractions to generate heat, but non-shivering thermogenesis uses a completely different mechanism to accomplish the same goal: a specialized fat-burning tissue called brown fat. Brown fat is brown rather than white because it's packed with mitochondria, the power plants of the cell. Under cold conditions, these mitochondria are activated, using a specialized...
Sunday, 28 July 2013
Saturday, 27 July 2013
Zucchini: The Home Gardener's Worst Friend? With bonus garden-related rambling.
Posted by Admin in: gardening.JPG "photo+(2)")
One of my main gardening goals has been to harvest more of something than I can eat, despite my limited gardening space here in the Emerald City. I want the feeling of abundance that comes with having to preserve and give away food because I can't eat it all. Enter zucchini. My grandfather used to say that in New Jersey in summertime, you'd have to keep your car doors locked, otherwise the car would be full of zucchini the...
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
The Genetics of Obesity, Part III
Posted by Admin in: genetics overweight
Genetics Loads the Gun, Environment Pulls the TriggerThanks to a WHS reader* for reminding me of the above quote by Dr. Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health**. This is a concept that helps reconcile the following two seemingly contradictory observations:Roughly 70 percent of obesity risk is genetically inherited, leaving only 30 percent of risk to environmental factors such as diet and lifestyle.Diet and lifestyle have a large impact on obesity risk. The prevalence of obesity has tripled...
Monday, 15 July 2013
Return to the Source Parkour Camp
Posted by Admin in: exercise
For those who are interested in natural movement training, this summer my friend Rafe Kelley will be hosting an interesting three-day event near Bellingham, WA called "Return to the Source". Rafe is skilled in a variety of movement disciplines and is the co-founder of the Seattle parkour gym Parkour Visions. Parkour is a very fun sport that hones our natural ability to skillfully navigate physical obstacles, but it's usually...
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
The Genetics of Obesity, Part II
Posted by Admin in: genetics overweight
Rodents Lead the WayThe study of obesity genetics dates back more than half a century. In 1949, researchers at the Jackson Laboratories identified a remarkably fat mouse, which they determined carried a spontaneous mutation in an unidentified gene. They named this the "obese" (ob/ob) mouse. Over the next few decades, researchers identified several other genetically obese mice with spontaneous mutations, including diabetic...
