AI for Traditional Medicine
In May of 2025 a paper was released on this subject, although I just located it now. They’re stating: “Through this review, we hope the researchers from AI community can understand where AI techniques have been applied in TM, and the researchers from medicine community are aware of what and how AI techniques can be applied in TM.” Having the skill set of custom LLM design and modification and an expert knowledge in herbal medicine is obviously rare and not expected, we shouldn’t that as an excuse to not explore this direction. And while many have healthy scepticism about the application of AI to traditional medicine, that should not stop us from exploring how it’s being used and benefitting mainstream medicine and how it may benefit us in our field.
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Rising CO₂ Levels in Human Blood
Human blood chemistry is being impacted by the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
And this quote is concerning: “If current trends continue, modelling indicates average bicarbonate levels could approach the upper limit of today’s accepted healthy range within 50 years.” Note that bicarbonate levels are a proxy/indicator for CO₂ levels. Source: https://phys.org/news/2026-02-carbon-dioxide-human-blood.html
It’s not quite clear yet what the implications for human health are, but the effect will be higher in those exposed to these higher levels for more of their lifespan.
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Infant Screen Time Linked to Teenage Anxiety
The following study Neurobehavioural links from infant screen time to anxiety found concerning but not altogether surprising findings that resulted from exposing 1-2 year old children to screen time. This is yet another reminder to parents to be limiting their children’s screen time and delaying its introduction into their lives until the appropriate time.
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The Microbiome of the Lung
I came across this research paper recently:
Maltz MR, Topacio TM, Lo DD, Zaza M, Freund L, Botthoff J, Swenson M, Cocker D, Biddle T, Yisrael K, del Castillo D, Drover RW, Aronson E.0. Lung microbiomes’ variable responses to dust exposure in mouse models of asthma. mSphere0:e00209-25. https://doi.org/10.1128/msphere.00209-25
Of course, microbial ecology extends far beyond the digestive tract. Researchers have identified distinct microbial communities throughout the human body (collectively known as the human microbiome). These include the oral microbiome, skin microbiome, respiratory microbiome, urogenital microbiome, and reproductive microbiomes, among others.
It’s not common, however, to hear the lung microbiome spoken about. This was an animal study done on mice so we can’t go extrapolating the findings too quickly to humans, but it was concerning how quickly the inhalation of the dust from this area resulted in alterations in the microbiome and an immune responses.
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On Protein Intake: Have We Gone Too Far?
Eric Topol has written an article titled Our Preoccupation With Protein Intake. In this article he talks about why increased protein intake became popular, what the research has to say, and safety concerns associated with the high protein diet. It’s an interesting and thoughtful short read.
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On Organic Gardening
Dr. Bruce Bugbee makes some interesting points about organic gardening (not against the principals of it but in the difficulty of application and finding the right balance). This is not a call to abandon organic agriculture but rather, we must always be sensitive to what we’re doing and if there are better ways to do it.