Friends, Tourists, Countrymen, See Where Julius Caesar Was Killed. For nearly a century, only cats (and presumably the rats they kept at bay) had free rein over an ancient archaeological site in the heart of central Rome. They would prowl among the ruins and preen for the tourists who gathered along the balustrades above, cellphones and cameras in hand. But as of Tuesday, human visitors were allowed for the first time to descend and get a better glimpse of the site, believed to be where Julius Caesar was brutally assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C. The spot is nestled in an area with four temples, rare remnants of the Roman Republic, dating from the fourth to the first centuries B.C. … (New York Times)
Where Are Their Heads? Hordes of Ancient Statues Pose That Puzzle. For many years, a Danish museum argued that its ancient head of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus belonged to a bronze torso at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This sort of discovery is rare in the world of Greco-Roman statuary, where headless torsos and torso-less heads are, though ubiquitous, seldom reconnected. But the museum, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, went so far as to arrange a loan so it could exhibit the head and body together in 1979 and even tried to buy the torso, without success. Matters grew more complicated, though, in February when the Met was forced to return the headless statue to Turkey after investigators determined it had been looted. Turkish officials said they plan to claim the head in Copenhagen as well. … (The New York Times)
Rise of Ayurveda: A Dangerous Trend to Decolonize the Scientific Method. Progress made in India in the past decade in digitization, banking reforms, and economic structuring has been phenomenal. However, there seems to be an inversely proportional relationship between economic/technological advancement and health/education in the present-day political India. It seems that the concept of going back to one’s roots has been exclusively reserved for health and education. We live in an era of evidence-based medicine, whereby the best available research is combined with the physician’s knowledge and patient’s preferences to deliver systematic health care (Akobeng 2005). The aim of evaluating an intervention is not only testing its effectiveness but—most importantly—ruling out adverse effects in concert with the first principle of medical management: “Do no harm.” Such a stringent monitoring system leads to only 10 percent of investigated drugs getting marketing approval. … (Skeptical Inquirer)
‘Shiny Happy People,’ Fundamentalism and the Toxic Quest for Certainty. In the summer of 1993, I almost joined a cult. For love. It was the same cult featured in the current most-watched show on Amazon Prime, a documentary series called “Shiny Happy People.” It’s centered on the Duggar family and the teachings of a man named Bill Gothard. The Duggars, as many readers know, were the focus of a popular 2008 reality television show called “19 Kids and Counting” and its 2015 spinoff, “Counting On.” Gothard — the Duggars’ spiritual mentor — is less famous in secular America but far more consequential across evangelical America, where the influence of his movement continues today. Most of the attention paid to “Shiny Happy People” will focus on the accusations of sexual abuse — some of them proven in court — surrounding the Duggars and Gothard. (The Institute in Basic Life Principles, which Gothard founded, has issued a statement in response to the documentary, calling it “misleading and untruthful” and claiming that it “mocks that which is good and moral in the most sensationalized way possible.”) … (New York Times)
This Nerve Influences Nearly Every Internal Organ. Can It Improve Our Mental State, Too? In recent years, the vagus nerve has become an object of fascination, especially on social media. The vagal nerve fibers, which run from the brain to the abdomen, have been anointed by some influencers as the key to reducing anxiety, regulating the nervous system and helping the body to relax. TikTok videos with the hashtag “#vagusnerve” have been viewed more than 64 million times and there are nearly 70,000 posts with the hashtag on Instagram. Some of the most popular ones feature simple hacks to “tone” or “reset” the vagus nerve, in which people plunge their faces into ice water baths or lie on their backs with ice packs on their chests. There are also neck and ear massages, eye exercises and deep-breathing techniques. Now, wellness companies have capitalized on the trend, offering products like “vagus massage oil,” vibrating bracelets and pillow mists, that claim to stimulate the nerve, but that have not been endorsed by the scientific community. … (New York Times)
Great article on Ayurveda 🙏🏼
Does praying + breathing using Rosary beads benefit the vagus (& other) nerves...maybe?