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Vibration platforms, belts, and accessories have been touted on late-night infomercials for decades as a simple, convenient alternative to actual exercise, but do they really work?

According to a recent study looking at the effects of whole body vibration on mice, yes, they actually do, by mimicking the benefits of exercise on muscle and bone health, and the researchers think the technique could help treat human health conditions too.

“Our study is the first to show that whole body vibration may be just as effective as exercise at combating some of the negative consequences of obesity and diabetes,” says cellular biologist Meghan E. McGee-Lawrence from Augusta University.

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Living systems on every scale have governance — methods of self-regulation to manage the coherence and continuity of the system. Also, for steering toward goals or away from dangers.

This governance is not the same as a government. Government as we know it is a blunt instrument designed to enforce the will of the many over the few (although at this point it enforces the will of few on the many) It is a monolithic bureaucracy. And frankly, it isn’t very good at governance, at least not as defined in the first paragraph.

Notice that governance includes both conserving continuity and making progress. All living systems have this tension between being conservative and progressive.

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American neuroscientist Dean Buonomano believes that your brain might be processing the world around you in a totally different manner than how you think you’re perceiving it. We’d like to believe that our brains take in information on a first-come first-serve basis, but in actuality our brains are operating more like a cross between a tour guide and an overworked line cook at a busy diner. The tour guide tells you what’s going on while the line cook side gets everything ready behind the scenes. Together, this creates a conscious reality that Buonomano describes as a “a narrative created for our viewing pleasure by our unconscious brain.”

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