Categoría: Learning
This week a new report said that a diet high in animal protein could increase our chances of dying from cancer or diabetes fourfold. So if protein has joined sugar, fat and carbohydrate in being bad for us, what’s left for dinner?
Red meat: everything in moderation, perhaps.
When my father died of secondary liver cancer, they didn’t have time to find the primary, but assumed it was in his bowel. My stepmother was pleased because she said: «At least nobody can say he drank too much» (to which I replied: «Yeah, unless they’d met him»). On the assumption that it did start in his bowel, we agreed that if there had been any fault at all in his lifestyle, it would have been eating too much red meat. This was in 2004, but the link between red meat, especially processed meats, and cancer of the bowel had been well-established for some time. And who can blame a man for eating too much red meat? You might just as well blame him for singing too loudly in the bath; it’s part of what it is to be an exuberant human, living in fortunate times.
IDIOM OF THE DAY
Newspaper report in 1853 got author Solomon Northup’s surname wrong twice, misspelling it as Northrop and Northrup.
The New York Times has printed a correction for misspelling 161 years ago the name of a black man who was sold into slavery and whose memoirs were turned into the Oscar-winning movie 12 Years a Slave.
Phrasal Verbs with Look
Tribute to Paco de Lucía
Paco de Lucía, born Francisco Sánchez Gómez (21 December 1947 – 26 February 2014) was a Spanish flamenco guitarist, composer and producer. A leading proponent of the New Falmenco style, he was one of the first flamenco guitarists who has also successfully crossed over into other genres of music such as classical and jazz.
In her book «Animal Wise,» Virginia Morell gets inside our fellow creatures’ heads.
Animals like this Belgian Malois «aren’t just robots—they truly are living, sentient beings,» says the author.
What do animals think and feel? This question, which has long intrigued science writer and author Virginia Morell, is explored in her new book Animal Wise.
Partly inspired by her 2008 National Geographic magazine article, «Animal Minds,» the book was just named a finalist for the 2013 L.A. Times Book Prize in Science and Technology.
From ants that teach, to earthworms that make decisions, to rats that love to be tickled, Morell aims to reshape our understanding of animals and their emotions. For the book, she shadowed several innovative scientists investigating the animal psyche, focusing on well-known species such as dolphins and the domestic dog.