Even the most dedicated scientists might not always have a handle on what animals are up to. As in any other field, previous theories were revised or discarded.

Let’s take a look at Niko Tinbergen’s “The herring gull’s world,” published in 1953, and his take on the displacement theories.

Even decades ago, researchers faced many potential complications in their quest to pin down the notion of displacement.

Not surprisingly, this whole topic started with Sigmund Freud and his talk of a displacement mechanism, back in 1913.

Many creatures have been getting along for millennia without human opinions. Maybe we don’t know everything about why animals do the things they do.

Some assessments ignore the mounting evidence that long COVID is a very real threat to children, and the links between COVID and obesity are ominous too.

We listen to experts on what type of fuel to put into our car. If only we would pay a similar amount of attention to what we put into our bodies.

Some research shows that substance abuse is a question of personal vulnerability, whether it is physically based on genetic heritage or is psychological.

More recent research with different methods has shown deficiencies in research that concluded that all rats and people who use addictive drugs become addicted.

“Addiction” is quite the loaded term, and once the discussion turns to addiction in terms of food and in relation to obesity, watch out!

In reviewing the history of beliefs and research about food addiction, we can see how the significance of an animal experiment might be misconstrued.

For decades, the debate has persisted over the validity of “food addiction” as a thing that medical science should deal with or even acknowledge.

Is food abuse the same as food dependence? And doesn’t that phrase sound slightly absurd? After all, 100% of humans are food-dependent.

Is there such a thing as food addiction? Is it a substance addiction or a behavioral addiction, or a combination of the two? Or something else entirely?

Long COVID is a tedious game of whack-a mole, with new pains and weaknesses relentlessly turning up and needing to be dealt with.

We are looking at how the consciousness of the serious nature of long COVID originated and then progressed over the ensuing months.

Long COVID patients cope with chest pain, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath, but the after-effects can also be much worse.

Xand and Chris van Tulleken, the very media-savvy twin doctors with weight issues, have a complicated history regarding both obesity and each other.

The public has become used to hearing about the unwisdom of the whole food-tampering enterprise, and also accustomed to not doing much about it.

Are potatoes generally good or bad for weight loss? The issue is contentious.

… Or is it? That is the eternal question. Despite decades of scientific research, there are still as many theories about food as there are theorists.

If you look at the obesity stats by state, you’ll see there is a very strong correlation between obesity, lack of exercise, and a needlessly shortened lifespan.

It is not surprising that the motives and methods of weight-loss proponents (and opponents) are sometimes questioned.

Obesity and the coronavirus, having apparently sworn a blood oath to support each other to the bitter end, are still thick as thieves.

Delta has tailored itself into a juggernaut that plows through the population like a race car escaped from the track.

According to some research findings, there are grounds for suspicion that feline pets could be a vector for the transmission of COVID within a family.

Low-quality sleep affects organisms like low-quality food. It can keep a creature alive and functioning, but it is not capital-L Life.

With TV, it’s not just the noise or the disturbing subject matter or the commercials for sugar-sweetened beverages and junk food that lead to childhood obesity.

Could sleep-disruptive shifts in light negatively influence eating behavior, and even promote addiction? Some studies point out the link to obesity.

We’ve been discussing how TV noise might affect the sleep of the young, especially small children and first-year college students.