on epigenetics

I recently learned about epigenetics and found it to be super interesting so I thought I’d share. It has long been thought that our genes are our destiny. Our DNA, which we pass onto our children, cannot be affected by our actions. If we smoke or eat poorly, we’re putting ourselves at risk, sure. But certainly not our unborn children, right? Well, actually, a kind of new field of epigenetics shows that may not be the case. 

Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that are caused by factors other than the underlying DNA sequence. I’m not the most savvy on molecular biology or gene expression (though I will be soon.. thanks mom), but basically gene expression is governed by a molecular body that is outside of the gene - the epigenome - which determines how strongly that gene is expressed. The epigenome is affected by environmental factors like diet, stress, drugs. It then imprints upon the gene and not only affects the individual, but can be passed on to successive generations.

Per a Time article from earlier this year, ”we all know that you can truncate your own life if you smoke or overeat, but it’s becoming clear that those same bad behaviors can also predispose your kids — before they are even conceived — to disease and early death.” 

On a(nother) personal and New York related note - I finally lived my dream and went to Montauk. I don’t know what I’ve been doing the last three years.. it is gorgeous out there. View high resolution

On a(nother) personal and New York related note - I finally lived my dream and went to Montauk. I don’t know what I’ve been doing the last three years.. it is gorgeous out there.

Want to feel insignificant for about an hour? Go see the Hubble IMAX movie at the American Museum of Natural History. I sat with my mouth agape the whole time. Here’s the trailer. View high resolution

Want to feel insignificant for about an hour? Go see the Hubble IMAX movie at the American Museum of Natural History. I sat with my mouth agape the whole time. Here’s the trailer.

Watching the aforementioned biology videos brought back faint memories of my mom making me watch art history lectures as a child. They were narrated by Sister Wendy. She arrives on scene at 0:38 and is pictured below. Amazing.

 

I think my parents (doctor and medical technician) are dismayed that I daydreamed my way though high school biology and, consequently, know little about physiology. My mother recently sent me “a gift” - a box set of lectures entitled Understanding the Human Body: An Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology. It’s a series of 34 college classroom lectures, all about 45 minutes long. I sat down, beer in hand, and watched my first lecture last night. Here’s what I learned! View high resolution

I think my parents (doctor and medical technician) are dismayed that I daydreamed my way though high school biology and, consequently, know little about physiology. My mother recently sent me “a gift” - a box set of lectures entitled Understanding the Human Body: An Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology. It’s a series of 34 college classroom lectures, all about 45 minutes long. I sat down, beer in hand, and watched my first lecture last night. Here’s what I learned!

the amazing effects of music

Interesting piece in the WSJ recently about the amazing effects of music. Here are some of the findings:

  • Listening to Bach, Corelli, and Mozart is more effective in treating mild depression than is talking to a psychiatrist. per a study published in The Arts in Psychotherapy (more)
  • Young women are more likely to give out their phone number after listening to romantic music. per a study from the Pyschology of Music (more)
  • Men buy more roses when a florist plays love songs.
  • People tend to tip better when a restaurant plays music with “pro-social” or empathetic lyrics. per the International Journal of Hospitality Management (more)
This weekend I visited the Met and was turned on to Leon Levinstein, a photographer who captured candid depictions of life in New York in the 50s, 60s and 70s. I thought I would share my favorite from the exhibit (left, a woman at Coney Island). I’m juxtaposing it with my favorite of this amazing set of portraits - Orchard Beach (The Bronx Riviera) by Wayne Lawrence - that I recently stumbled upon in Mother Jones.  View high resolution

This weekend I visited the Met and was turned on to Leon Levinstein, a photographer who captured candid depictions of life in New York in the 50s, 60s and 70s. I thought I would share my favorite from the exhibit (left, a woman at Coney Island). I’m juxtaposing it with my favorite of this amazing set of portraits - Orchard Beach (The Bronx Riviera) by Wayne Lawrence - that I recently stumbled upon in Mother Jones. 

PBR, marketed as “Blue Ribbon 1844,” a “world-famous spirit,” costs $44 a bottle in China. via NewYorker.com

PBR, marketed as “Blue Ribbon 1844,” a “world-famous spirit,” costs $44 a bottle in China. via NewYorker.com

$8 for a dozen eggs? $3.90 for one peach? $50 for 3 pints of ice cream?

In yesterday’s WSJ, Michael Pollan explains his philosophy behind paying more and eating less, and why he’ll pay $8 for a dozen eggs and $3.90 for the most expensive peach ever.

On a personal note, my business was just highlighted in the NYTimes as selling the most expensive ice cream in the land. And like the farmers Pollan describes in the interview, and my local food purveyor peers who have seen great support from the NYTimes, I’m certainly not getting wealthy from it. 

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the United States has been at war for 47 of its 230 years, or 20 percent of its history
NYTimes