Don’t Retire, ReFire: Words matter

By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times I am compelled to go deeper into the importance of words, which I touched upon in the previous month. It’s a subject that has been in the forefront of our current events for quite some time. Interestingly enough, it has been the topic of many conversations I’ve had with my grandchildren, not sparked by the media but, instead, from a page of a book of...

Inner Nature: Plant poisons

By Vidya Rajan, Columnist, The Times Plants can be just as deadly to animals as animals are to animals, and this is not hyperbole. In order not to be eaten, plants abound with an alphabet soup of chemicals designed to make the predator so uncomfortable as to leave them alone, or to really make a point by killing them stone cold dead. Here, I want to spend a little time looking at plant toxins and review...

Breaking those bad dental health habits

By Dr. Stephanie McGann, DMD FAGD, Columnist, The Times Bad Habits? You betcha – we all have then,nobody’s perfect. We all pick up bad habits along the way. Our personal oral health is no exception. Odds are you, like just about everyone else has picked up a habit or two that is not beneficial. It’s human nature to cut corners in the name of time or money, but with oral health care, the...

Don’t Retire, ReFire: ReFirement at Any Age!

By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times Four and a half years ago, when I started writing articles, my focus was on offering different perspectives to facing retirement and the questions that arise. As the months and years passed, and the articles continued, it became clear that what I was sharing had a more universal message that spanned the ages. While a sixteen year old isn’t thinking about...

Don’t let a cold sore ruin your smile

By Dr. Stephanie McGann, DMD FAGD, Columnist, The Times Nothing like holiday pandemic stress to trigger a cold sore. People who get these regularly know the feeling when one is brewing just under the skin.    It never fails that a cold sore appears at the worst possible time. Finding which cold sore treatment works best for you can help speed along its healing. Here’s how to treat It quickly. The...

Inner Nature: Parasitic control of host behavior

By Vidya Rajan, Columnist, The Times We act, we think, rationally. But our thoughts are subject to manipulation: by new ideas, new experiences, psychoactive drugs, and … parasites. Parasites are organisms that take up residence in a host, and then proceed to use the host’s energy to replicate themselves and spread. If the host is killed as part of the process, then the parasite must find some way...

Don’t Retire, ReFire: As we close the book on 2020

By Gail Suplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times Here we are, nearing the end of the year but not just any year. This is a year that will truly be memorialized in the history books. It’s certainly like no other I’ve ever seen in my six plus decades of living. It’s particularly notable for a young person, like my thirteen year old grandson, to be living through and being very much aware of and affected...

Inner Nature: Vaccine Formulations

By Vidya Rajan, Columnist, The Times In early October, I was listening to Weekend Edition on National Public Radio when an interview with the Executive Director of Shark Allies, Stefanie Brendl, came on the air [1]. Her concern was urgent: a world-wide coronavirus vaccine that could contain the ingredient squalene, isolated from from shark livers, could lead to over a half-million sharks being harvested...

You may not want to hear it, but Public Health Professionals are keeping us safe

By Dr. Stephanie McGann, DMD FAGD, Columnist, The Times We are in complicated and trying times to be sure. This month I would like to spend a few moments thanking another group of unsung heroes in our current crisis.  Public health professionals have gotten ignored or “thrown under the bus” at times during this pandemic. I thought it prudent to share all of things we take for granted today that...

Don’t Retire, Refire: Waiting to exhale

By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times November is the month to celebrate Thanksgiving. I usually focus on the holiday but this year, there’s an added perspective to ruminate on. Reaching for thanks and gratitude in the midst of this stormy year has been challenging and at times, arduous. Weariness has come over many of us as we navigate through COVID-19, an unusual number of devastating hurricanes...