After discussing how history is hardwired into the human body in my last blog post, I wanted to present an example of how body history can be used for a practical purpose. As anyone who has watched crime dramas knows, DNA, the historian in our bodies that links us to our ancestors, can be used to link a criminal to a crime scene if the criminal happens to leave some of that DNA behind. While…
My year of rereading continues, although I keep getting (or letting myself get) sidetracked from the rereading. So far, the books I’ve reread include: “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives” by Nicholas Christakis “Charley” or “The Girl Who Ran Away” by Joan Robinson “A Wrinkle in Time”, “A Wind in the Door” and “A Swiftly Tilting Planet” by Madeline L’Engle “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett…
Wouldn’t it be fun to have a personal historian assigned to you, someone to capture the significant details of your life? As it turns out, we each have several personal historians hitching a ride within our bodies. One of these personal historians is memory, the neurological mechanism that allows us to remember what has happened over time. The constancy of memory helps to shape our personalities, keeps us from entering dangerous situations, and encourages us…