A couple of highlights from around the web that made it into our feeds this week.
The Lies in Your Grocery Store
Now this one affects every single one of us—the authenticity of ingredients and flavors in packaged foods. From the lack of real fruit in Pop-Tarts and Snapple to fraudulent claims on gum and toothpaste packaging to the myriad misleading displays of nutrition on endless products from “healthy” brands, we are being duped. This article follows Spencer Sheehan, a lawyer from Long Island who has made it his mission to go after these companies on behalf of consumers. An enlightening (and alarming) read. (From newyorker.com)
Everything I Thought I Knew About Nasal Congestion Is Wrong
We’re entering the season of the runny nose, but how much do we really know about how congestion works? As it turns out, we have what could be described as two noses: “Each nostril opens into its own nasal cavity, which does not connect with the other directly. They are two separate organs, as separate as your two eyes or your two ears.” The inner tubes of our noses are constantly changing, and it’s the swelling, not mucus, that causes a stuffy nose. Humans have a nasal cycle, but the way it feels vs. functions may not be as intuitive as you thought. (From theatlantic.com)
A Doctor in Gaza Describes ‘Horrific Scenes’ After Israeli Airstrikes
The horrors in Israel and Gaza over the last few weeks are at the forefront of our collective conscience. As medical institutions in the United States operate with every tool and resource at their disposal, stories from doctors on the ground in Gaza seem unfathomable. This is a brief account from physicians on what’s happening at Kamal Adwan Hospital. (From nytimes.com)
We leave you with a poem by the one and only Mary Oliver:
“Lead”
Here is a story
to break your heart.
Are you willing?
This winter
the loons came to our harbor
and died, one by one,
of nothing we could see.
A friend told me
of one on the shore
that lifted its head and opened
the elegant beak and cried out
in the long, sweet savoring of its life
which, if you have heard it,
you know is a sacred thing.,
and for which, if you have not heard it,
you had better hurry to where
they still sing.
And, believe me, tell no one
just where that is.
The next morning
this loon, speckled
and iridescent and with a plan
to fly home
to some hidden lake,
was dead on the shore.
I tell you this
to break your heart,
by which I mean only
that it break open and never close again
to the rest of the world.
Also, check out:
- What We’re Reading (and Viewing): Barbie Edition
- Dr. Craig Smith on What He’s Been Reading Lately
- Dr. Abraham Kirkhely on What He’s Been Reading Lately