Why is breathing so complex?

“What makes human breathing so complex?” This question showed up recently in my email box. I’m a volunteer responder on the website, Quora, an online question-answer site (of somewhat uneven quality). As a retired biomedical scientist, sharing...

Tissue Repair and Stem Cells

For many years, stem cells have been suggested as the ideal vehicle for mending or replacing tissues damaged by disease. Experimentation has been severely hampered by technological problems in producing and obtaining genetically compatible stem cells. In addition,...

How Does the Body Repair Itself? Cellular repair.

Perhaps the most amazing feature of living beings (organisms) is that they are often able to repair injuries inflicted by the environment. That’s lucky for us, because our bodies sustain a lot of damage as we move through life, and the body needs to last a...

See Your Doctor If…

The body is an almost miraculous, self-healing being, and if cared for properly, it will usually last for a good, long lifetime. If you have survived the ills of childhood and have reached the age of 25 without incurring serious, long-term illnesses, your body is...