Temma Ehrenfeld

My friend Boe noticed her memory slipping in her early sixties. Her parents both had Alzheimer’s and after some years of fierce fighting – an increase in aggressive words can be a sign of the disease - in their nursing home room, they declined so much they no longer recognized each other.

Life began in water, an idea we seem to have understood long before science explained evolution. Why else did fish symbolize fertility in so many ancient cultures, from Egypt to the Celts, Indians, Mesopotamians, Burmese, Persians and Slavs?

These days, the oysters on Manhattan power-lunch plates come from far away. But in the city’s early years, plump, fresh oysters were a direct Hudson-River-to-table delicacy.

There are definitely more than five, and the total can be surprising, as in the new book, ‘Super Senses: The Science of Your 32 Senses and How to Use Them’ (John Murray, 2021).
Thirty-two? Yes, scientists can count that many by looking at specific structures in the human body ...

year before the pandemic, I was diagnosed with a condition called mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS).

The popularity of headphones and earbuds has soared—and the market is projected to grow 20 percent a year in the next five years. But there’s a problem: Your children, teens or young adults could easily be putting their hearing at risk.

Mast cells are among the immune system’s first line of defense. They are abundant in the parts of the body that have close...

So while a New Englander might discuss “barbecuing” fish, hot dogs and burgers on the grill, in parts of the country where barbecue is taken very seriously, that would be known as “grilling.”
In much of the American South...

Knowing your triggers can help calm you.
Anxiety is common—it affects some 40 million Americans. That doesn’t mean it’s easy or harmless.
You may be so used to anxiety that you don’t notice it in yourself. Restlessness, tingling, irritability, tight muscles, insomnia, and digestive issues are all signs of anxiety. You might suddenly sweat, tremble, or feel your heart pounding and your throat closing: Those are signs of panic.

Kelp may be at the heart of the story of humankind, of both our origins and our ancient migration out of Africa to the rest of the planet.

In English, we speak of fish in many expressions that are not about fish. Pinning down the origins of these idioms through the centuries in some cases was as easy as shooting fish in a barrel; in others, it presented me with a pretty kettle of fish.
So consider this arti...

If you are crushed by job loss, don’t drink. If you know people who are crushed by job loss, stay with them if they are drinking.

The dangers of alcohol

The octopus is highly intelligent and explores like a human child.