{"id":262461,"date":"2024-07-11T09:30:50","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T14:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=262461"},"modified":"2024-07-18T09:33:16","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T14:33:16","slug":"the-secret-history-behind-the-science-of-stress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2024\/07\/11\/the-secret-history-behind-the-science-of-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"The secret history behind the science of stress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From NPR<\/a>: “The modern idea of stress began on a rooftop in Canada, with a handful of rats freezing in the winter wind. This was 1936 and by that point the owner of the rats, an endocrinologist named Hans Selye, had become expert at making rats suffer for science. He would subject them to extreme temperatures, make them go hungry for long periods, or make them exercise a lot, then kill the rats and look at their organs. What was interesting to Selye was that no matter how different the tortures he devised for the rats were, the physical effects of his different tortures were always the same. There would be changes particularly in the adrenal gland. So Selye began to suggest that subjecting an animal to prolonged stress led to tissue changes and physiological changes with the release of certain hormones, that would then cause disease and ultimately the death of the animal. And so the idea of stress as a medical problem was born.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two women and their Sherpa guides die while trying to summit Shishapangma<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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From Outside<\/a>: “The accidents made international news: two American women and their Sherpas had perished in a pair of avalanches on Shishapangma, an 8,027-meter peak in Tibet. The climbers, it was reported, had been racing to become the first American woman to scale all 14 of the world\u2019s 8,000-meter peaks, a feat widely popularized by 40-year-old Nepali mountaineer Nirmal \u201cNims\u201d Purja, who in 2019 proved that the mountains\u2014all of them located in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges of South Asia\u2014could be climbed in just months. Purja himself had been on the mountain that day; Anna Gutu was a client of his climbing company, Elite Exped, and had been led by one of its Sherpas, 27-year-old Mingmar Sherpa. Gina Rzucidlo, 45, had been led by a 35-year-old Sherpa named Tenjen \u201cLama\u201d Sherpa, who earlier that year guided Norway\u2019s Kristin Harila, a former professional skier, in a successful attempt to beat Purja\u2019s record. Both Mingmar and Tenjen died roped to their clients.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note<\/strong>: This is a version of my personal newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can\u00a0see other issues\u00a0and sign up here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The rogue dentist who claims his swallowing techniques can reshape people’s faces<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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From the Paris Review<\/a>: “I met Dr. Mike Mew at the house next door to Jake\u2019s. This house had been a house, but now it was a dentist. It was called the Smile Centre. Outside was a laminate board that said so, accompanied by a fading photo of a perfect and disembodied grin. Mike Mew is the head of the closest thing dentistry has to a cult. Mike and his father, John, believe that in humanity there is currently an epidemic of ugliness. They promise that you can build yourself a new and strong and masculine jawline, basically just by swallowing different. They call this mewing. He has obtained adoration on both 4chan and TikTok. Mewing is a big thing, a real phenomenon. Mike Mew also has, at time of writing, an ongoing misconduct hearing for, among other things, making a six-year-old boy wear head, neck, and inside-mouth appliances that allegedly led to the child being in so much pain he had \u201cseizure-like episodes.\u201d I was Mike Mew\u2019s patient from ages nine to fifteen, or thereabouts. This all started in 2005.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Editor’s note<\/strong><\/em>: If you like this newsletter, please share it with someone else. And if you <\/em>really <\/strong><\/em>like it, perhaps you could subscribe, or contribute something via <\/em>my Patreon<\/em><\/a>. Thanks for being a reader!)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the rise of the camera launched a fight to protect personal privacy in the 1900s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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From the Smithsonian<\/a>: “In 1904, a widow named Elizabeth Peck had her portrait taken at a studio in a small Iowa town. The photographer sold the negatives to Duffy\u2019s Pure Malt Whiskey, a company that avoided liquor taxes for years by falsely advertising its product as medicinal. Duffy\u2019s ads claimed the fantastical: that it cured everything from influenza to consumption, that it was endorsed by clergymen, that it could help you live until the age of 106. The portrait of Peck ended up in one of these dubious ads, published in newspapers across the country alongside what appeared to be her unqualified praise: \u201cAfter years of constant use of your Pure Malt Whiskey, both by myself and as given to patients in my capacity as nurse, I have no hesitation in recommending it.\u201d Duffy\u2019s lies were numerous. Peck (misleadingly identified as \u201cMrs. A. Schuman\u201d) was not a nurse, and she had not spent years constantly slinging back malt beverages. In fact, she fully abstained from alcohol. Peck never consented to the ad.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Smithsonian bird detectives who try to save lives lost due to plane accidents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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From The Washingtonian<\/a>: “Carla Dove recalls when the lines on her telephone \u201cstarted lighting up like Christmas trees.\u201d As the world would later learn, a flock of birds had flown into the engines of a US Airways flight taking off from LaGuardia Airport, causing them to lose power. Captain Chesley \u201cSully\u201d Sullenberger and his copilot, Jeffrey Skiles, skillfully glided the Airbus A320 to a hard landing in the Hudson River. Dove\u2019s work was just beginning. A forensic ornithologist, she heads the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s Feather Identification Lab, an elite, five-person unit that\u2019s the only full-time bird-strike identification lab in the world. (Yes, her surname is Dove. Yes, she studies birds. Yes, she has already heard the joke.) Whenever birds collide with civilian or military aircraft so violently that what remains of the winged creatures is beyond recognition, Dove\u2019s lab gets a call. The leftover gunk\u2014feather residue, broken beaks, gut matter\u2014is collected, then mailed to Washington. \u201cIt\u2019s not a very glamorous job,\u201d Dove says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How this race of ancient humans managed to live on top of the world<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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From Nature<\/a>: “When life got tough, the Denisovans got tougher. These enigmatic ancient humans hunted birds, rodents, even hyenas, helping them to thrive high on the Tibetan plateau for well over 100,000 years. Those conclusions emerge from a study of thousands of mostly tiny animal bones that provide an insight into life at Baishiya Karst Cave in China \u2014 only the second archaeological site known to host Denisovans, after the Siberian cave that gave the group its name. Denisovans are a sister group to Neanderthals, and might have once lived across Asia. Many of the cave remains could be identified only by their protein signatures. This included a rib bone that represents a new Denisovan individual, one of just a handful known. \u201c\u201cIt\u2019s at high altitude. It\u2019s cold. It\u2019s not a nice place to be,” said Frido Welker, an archaeological scientist who co-led the study.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A demonstration of the lightness illusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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a demo of lightness illusion pic.twitter.com\/Sfn9F49JIw<\/a><\/p>— Akiyoshi Kitaoka (@AkiyoshiKitaoka) June 19, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>