Saturday, January 15, 2011
I tried to tell my mom this, part 2
Earlier I noted an interesting bit of science news. The microbe Mycobacterium Vaccae, commonly found in soil, seems to aid both happiness and intelligence.
A new item reflects the same fact from another angle. A cancer researcher was using Mycobacterium vaccae to stir up an immune response against some form of cancer. He found that the trial was impossible to run in proper double-blind form, because the researchers could immediately and reliably distinguish the real-bacteria patients from the placebo patients. The real-bacteria patients were dramatically happier.
Got me to thinking. Before the tyrannical "patients rights" movement forced institutions to stop the practice, all kinds of institutions ran their own farms. Prisons, insane asylums, homes for the retarded. The patients liked the farming, food self-sufficiency saved money, and the institutions needed much less medication and restraint.
Exercise, sunlight and usefulness were undoubtedly the main factors, but I'm wondering now if working directly in the soil was also important.
Now, of course, prisoners and patients are "liberated" from the therapy of Dr. Mike Vaccae.
Here's an experiment: Survey people who spend a lot of time gardening. See if those who wear plastic gloves can be distinguished from those who get their hands dirty.
= = = = =
Incidentally and anecdotally, two of the local radio and TV personalities are noticeably happy all the time. Yup, they're the gardening specialists. ¶ 5:19 PM
A new item reflects the same fact from another angle. A cancer researcher was using Mycobacterium vaccae to stir up an immune response against some form of cancer. He found that the trial was impossible to run in proper double-blind form, because the researchers could immediately and reliably distinguish the real-bacteria patients from the placebo patients. The real-bacteria patients were dramatically happier.
Got me to thinking. Before the tyrannical "patients rights" movement forced institutions to stop the practice, all kinds of institutions ran their own farms. Prisons, insane asylums, homes for the retarded. The patients liked the farming, food self-sufficiency saved money, and the institutions needed much less medication and restraint.
Exercise, sunlight and usefulness were undoubtedly the main factors, but I'm wondering now if working directly in the soil was also important.
Now, of course, prisoners and patients are "liberated" from the therapy of Dr. Mike Vaccae.
Here's an experiment: Survey people who spend a lot of time gardening. See if those who wear plastic gloves can be distinguished from those who get their hands dirty.
= = = = =
Incidentally and anecdotally, two of the local radio and TV personalities are noticeably happy all the time. Yup, they're the gardening specialists. ¶ 5:19 PM
