The why of barefoot running — An evolutionary lens Hominins, of which homo sapiens are the only surviving species, walked and ran barefoot over natural terrain for more than 2 million years. During that time, natural selection favoured anatomical and functional changes that maximised efficiency and minimised the risk of barefoot injury. This was a profound evolutionary pressure upon…

D is a hormone critical to our biology It is conventional to refer to vitamin D as a vitamin, however this underplays its significance. The active metabolite of vitamin D is more akin to a hormone and has a ubiquitous role in our biology through modifying DNA expression in a…

An 800,000 year perspective — It has been said that the Earth has experienced climate change in the past, and that we are overreacting to a perceived crisis. Scientisis have various ways to look into that past, and one of those is to study ice cores. The better we understand the past, the better we…

A Big Fossil sham — The concept of an ‘ecological footprint’ goes back some decades. It was developed in an attempt to compare the natural resources we have against the natural resources we use, in order to highlight humanities ecological impact. It applied at the global level. There were many assumptions. However, around the year…

Looking beyond the cows — While atmospheric methane (CH4) traps more thermal energy than carbon dioxide (CO2), its Global Warming Potential (GWP) is variously reported as either ~30 times or ~80 times that of CO2. Which of those values is correct? They both are. The complication is that methane persists in the atmosphere for only…

They’re part of a carbon cycle, not a carbon source. If you will excuse a mixed metaphor, cows are being used as scapegoats to downplay and detract from the driver of the climate crisis — fossil fuels. The claim is that cows burp methane gas and contribute to our climate…

About fat in 10 questions — Our bodies need fat to function. For example, after allowing for water (70–80% by weight), our brains are mostly fat. Fats in the brain provide the electrical insulation for our myriad nerve fibres, and have a role in nerve signaling and neurotransmission. Just as for vitamins, some fats are ‘essential’…

Ambition and futility — the human condition The three most famous of the Iberian maritime explorers — Columbus, da Gama and Magellan — all had one thing in common; they didn’t set out to discover anything at all, but rather to find a route to Asia and thereby dominate the…

The connection between toasting health and toasting bread A lot of food gets put on toast. Eggs for example, but only relatively recently (they used to be put in soup). Here where I live, it would be considered un-Australian not to smear toast with a black tar-like paste made from…