Read-a-Thon Hours 8-15

Hours 8-16:  9:00AM-6:00PM
Time Read:  1 hour 54 minutes
Pages Read:  38
Mini Challenges Completed: 3
Naps Taken: 1
Snacks Eaten: 1 (toasted rosemary olive oil bread with pesto, mozzarella, zucchini, tomatoes, and pine nuts.  Slightly overcooked, but still yummy)
Currently Reading:  Let's face it.  This might not change for the rest of the challenge.  Still reading The Best of The Best American Science Writing, edited by Jesse Cohen

Interesting things that have come up during my reading:  

1.  In "Dr. Daedalus" Lauren Slater mentions people wanting to become amputees.  This is the second time in a couple of days that I have seen references to people who want to become amputees.  The other was a movie called Whole that I discovered while browsing through documentaries the other day.  Here's an article on Slate that talks about it some more.  Have you ever heard of this before?    

2.  People have been obsessed with low-fat diets for a few decades now, but according to Gary Taubes' "The Soft Science of Dietary Fat" there doesn't seem to be any science to actually support this craze.  Amidst all the recommendations floating around out there, including that Americans over the age of two should follow a low-fat diet, how many of us have ever stopped to consider that     

[t]he brain, for instance, is 70% fat, which chiefly serves to insulate neurons.  Fat is also the primary component of cell membranes.  Changing the proportion of saturated to unsaturated fats in the diet changes the fat composition in these membranes.  This could conceivably change the membrane permeability, which controls the transport of everything from glucose, signaling proteins, and hormones to bacteria, viruses, and tumor-causing agents into and out of the cell.  The relative saturation of fats in the diet could also influence cellular aging as well as the clotting ability of blood cells. (p.94).

Look, I know we don't want a bunch of obese children running around, but aren't two-year-olds still developing their brains and stuff?  Couldn't they maybe use a little extra fat?  I don't know; I'm not the scientist here, but stuff like this makes me think it's all just a bunch of hoopla and we should just go back to "everything in moderation".