The Importance of Surfaces
I would like to start by emphasizing the importance of surfaces. It is at a surface where many of our most interesting and useful phenomena occur. We live for example on the surface of a planet. It is at a surface where the catalysis of chemical reactions occur. It is essentially at a surface of a plant that sunlight is converted to a sugar. In electronics, most if not all active circuit elements involve non-equilibrium phenomena occurring at surfaces. Much of biology is concerned with reacti...
notesSurfaces are where are the interesting scientific stuff is taking place.
The Brain Consumes Lactose During Exercise
Scientists have discovered that lactose, a byproduct of intense muscular activities, can be used to fuel the brain with energy. When glucose, the natural fuel of the brain, is no longer present in sufficient quantities, the cell tissue can “switch” to alternative energy, to prevent any damage to the brain on account of the lack of energy.
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Consequently, by consuming the lactose in the blood, the brain clears the way for glucose, the main powering substance in the body, to reach the...
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1 This frees up the body's glucose to fuel the muscles in times of high energy demands on the body (Note: This meme must be wrong in using the term "lactose," because that is a sugar that comes from milk. "Lactate" is a byproduct of muscles consuming glucose that fuels the brain while the muscles take energy-precedence).
Lactate, Lactose, and Lactase
Lactate
Lactate is a negatively charged molecule formed from a compound called lactic acid. Some bacteria make lactate when they metabolize sugars. Humans also produce lactate as a byproduct of metabolism, though only under certain conditions. Specifically, says Dr. Gary Thibodeau in his book "Anatomy and Physiology," you make lactate when your cells process sugars for energy in the absence of oxygen, such as when you're engaging in a hard sprint or power efforts during exercise.
Lact...Lactose and Lactase apparently have no relation to Lactate. Lactose is a sugar in milk, Lactase is an enzyme babies use to digest milk, and Lactate is a byproduct of our muscles expending energy, which is itself a source of energy.
The Paleo Diet
An old movie called Quest for Fire opens with our ancestors seated by a fire, munching on a variety of foods. Large insects buzz about the flames. All of a sudden, one of our relatives shoots out his arm, clumsily grabbing an insect out of thin air. He stuffs it into his mouth, munches heartily, and continues staring into the fire. His colleagues dig around the soil for tuberous vegetables and scrounge for fruit in nearby trees later in the movie. Welcome to the world of Pleistocene haut... notesLook to our ancestors for best practices for diet.
The Internet is Empty Calories
But sometimes I think much of what we get on the Internet is empty calories. It’s sugar — short videos, pokes from friends, blog posts, Twitter posts (even blogs seem longwinded now), pop-ups and visualizations…Sugar is so much easier to digest, so enticing…and ultimately, it leaves us hungrier than before.
Worse than that, over a long period, many of us are genetically disposed to lose our capability to digest sugar if we consume too much of it. It makes us sick long-term, as well as... notesIs the information we consume on the Internet like refined sugar, leaving us hungrier than before?
