It is amazing how little physical contact of modern lifestyle has - and how it is supposed to happen only between "special people". Parents can cuddle their kids and visa versa. The same is true for lovers and couples. And you can give any old granny a hug.

For the rest of us a handshake and maybe a clap on the shoulder is the maximum of exchange - apart from a fist fight.

Even giving a friend a hug seems awkward too many people these days. We are becoming more and more mental being - with no personal physical culture apart from having sex.

Instead we pay wellness professional to touch us nicely, give us massages and caress our bodies. So it’s ok to let strangers touch us for money, while we are uncomfortable to touch our friends and see each other naked in a sauna?

Our biggest organ is the skin - and we should use it. Touching can be non-sexual, friendly and uplifting. We should use touch more often as a nonverbal form of communication and "feel" into the other person instead on just relying on mental forms of expression.

You can learn a lot about a person by touching him/her - and how he or she touches you. So open that channel and let’s touch …

Getting rid of some extra hair doesn’t make you anymore attractive or a better person. I am especially looking at you "shaving mad" Americans.

In the foreseeable future we will raise life expectancy further and further. It is now easy to replace many body parts and rejuvenate the body in many ways.

So maybe we can rebuild and regenerate our bodies for hundreds of years - but what about our minds?

Most people’s minds already go down the drain in their 40’s without physical “defects”. And when we live longer we need to constantly learn new stuff - you can’t play dumb grandpa if you live 200 or more years. You need to learn and adapt.

And what about the emotional strain of a long life? How much pain, idiocy and trivia can you take before you loose your will to live?

In nature the fight for food and survival is a tough one. That is why huge amounts of easy to get food are so devastating to us humans. We were made to survive on little food, trying to burn as few calories searching for more. How many calories have you burned to hunt your last steak? How much physical work is left in our life’s?

Humanity isn’t built for office work, fast food and extreme couching.

An interesting scientific article about the development of breasts. No easy reading, but excellent of you want to learn more about evolutionary biology.

Computed Tomography has been around since the early 70’s, but has made incredible advanced in recent years - thanks to amazing computer powers and new sensors.

This helps to avoid unnecessary surgery and reduced guesswork.

Compared to the good old X-Ray this is stoneage cave paintings versus Star Trek holograms.

Prozac Penis Nation - we are still to much ruled by our chemicals. When will be learn to influence our psyche by ourselves through mental exercises and proper food instead of external chemicals, medication and party drugs?

How about an enlightenment pill?

Have a quick peek before flushing - might save you a trip to the doctors later … 

Your urine, stool and sweat are important indicators of your health. One would think that understanding your own bodily functions should be common knowledge and taught in school - like sex education.

The smell, consistency, amount, color and the shape (of stool) can tell you a lot about your health. Not to mention flatulence and constipation as other indicators of a sick digestive system.

And anyone how ever had a serious fever know that we literally ’sweat out’ the bad stuff. So how you smell is also a medical indicator.

But compared to the Middle Ages modern humans hardly care about their shit, sweat and piss anymore. One of the reasons is that feces and urine are no longer directly collected to reuse them for other purposes. Urine was once a well needed resource, before chemical factories arrived. Ammoniac was for example extracted from Urine - and used for example in the clothing industry.

Many Kings had doctors who had nothing else to do, but sniff out his majesties poop and check for illnesses. Drinking urine itself is considered a medical application itself.

You’ll never guess what I had for breakfast today …

So maybe next time you see your doctor - maybe ask him some questions about your excretions. And learn to watch your daily ‘exports’ for unusual indicators (most alarming is for example blood in your stool or urine).

Learn by constant observation how different diets change your excretions, your smell and most of all your moods and psyche. Your brain relies on certain chemicals and mood swings can be influence by a bad diet, bad digstion and lack of certain vitamins or other elements.

Hey, Hitler was constantly constipated - and you know what his bad mood lead to - right?

More? Some sweat info, more sweat, some about your urinary system, about Bowel movements, your digestive system, some stool advice from Oprah (of all people ;-), some really good tips for stool reading and about urine.

BBC News: Diet choices ‘written in genes’

Not you choose what to eat, but your cravings and your DNA have something to say about that as well. But it’s still no excuse to eat only crap. We might not have a completely free will - but we are not just mindless eating machines at all.

A highly interesting article over at the Scientific American Mind. Neurosciene is still very young, we hardly know how our brains and minds work.

From the BBC:

Praying for patients undergoing heart operations does not improve their outcomes, a US study suggests.

A study found those who were prayed for were as likely to have a setback in hospital, be re-admitted, or die within six months as those not prayed for.

The Duke University Medical Center study of 700 patients, in the Lancet, said music, image and touch therapy did appear to reduce patients’ distress.

Heart experts said patients could benefit from feeling more optimistic.

Image: Sassoferrato - The Virgin in Prayer

Medicine has made huge advances in the last 100 years - compared to all centuries before today we can heal terrible diseases and injuries - and even replace parts of our bodies. Amazing!

More? How artificial hearts work