24 SEP 2011 by ideonexus

 A Succinct Definition of Lactate

Lactate is a dynamic substrate with great potential as an energy source in sports drinks. To date, however, the efficacy of adding lactate to these drinks has been sparsely assessed [5,15,16]. Lactate was once considered a metabolic waste but is now recognized as an important energy substrate in the body. Lactate is the main product of carbohydrate metabolism and can be used as a fuel in working muscle cells shuttled to other tissues such as the heart where lactate is fuel [17], or to the liv...
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A byproduct of our muscles converting carbohydrates to energy, which appears to serve as a secondary energy source.

09 JAN 2011 by ideonexus

 A Succinct Definition of a Meme

For something to count as a replicator it must sustain the evolutionary algorithm based on variation, selection and retention (or heredity). Memes certainly come with variation - stories are rarely told exactly the same way twice, no two buildings are absolutely identical, and every conversation is unique - and when memes are passed on, the copying is not always perfect. As the psychologist, Sir Frederic Bartlett (1932) showed n the 1930s, a story get a bit embellished or the details are forg...
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Memes are ideas that are replicated, have variation, and are subject to selection, making them things that can evolve.