My tubes that I have been living with since January are out! The doctor took them out yesterday, and the last one came out with a loud “pop!” Now I can taste food again, but I can taste medicine, too, and most of it tastes—well—icky.
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A renowned paleontologist and his team of pioneering geneticists are looking to genetically re-create a dinosaur, using DNA from a chicken. And no, we’re not lifting this story from a Steven Spielberg movie.
Paleontologist Jack Horner, of whom not only worked on the film "Jurassic Park" as a technical advisor, but also served as inspiration for one of the main characters, proposed his ‘chickenosaurus’ concept in his 2009 book, “How to Build a Dinosaur”. The idea is to use existing DNA found in modern chickens to regress features of the animal, so as to resemble a small dinosaur-like creature. Most birds still hold latent genes for the features previously exhibited by their reptilian ancestors.
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New neurological research has answered the question of whether amnesia is caused by damage to the specific brain cells that hold the lost memories, or if access to the memories in those cells are being blocked. And in the process, this research may have uncovered a way to recover memories that were previously lost.
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As I sit in a wheelchair and cannot go a foot on my own, I use sounds to inform me of what’s happening around me. For example, I use what I call the "Smoochie Alarm" to let me know when my caregivers are arriving. (Smoochie is my downstairs neighbor’s very cute little poodle mix.) When I hear the Smoochie Alarm followed by footsteps on our stairs, I know that relief is on the way!
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