Robots Providing Massage Therapy? It Is In The Works, But Will It Ever Actually Work?

Car Assembly Line Robot

Robots, by definition, lack empathy.  Empathy is one of the key qualities of a good massage therapist.  So how can a robot provide massage that is actually effective and good?

The short answer is, they can't, and they will never be able to learn.  There are some things, such as massage, that a robot can never replace a human for.  Simple tasks such as bartending, equation solving, and car building, yes.  But truly human centered tasks, such as massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, and other modalities where intuition, touch, and true responsiveness are absolutely necessary, not so much.

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Food Labeling Laws Are In Need Of Change For The Benefit Of Consumers: Not All Oils Are Equal

Food labeling laws allow manufacturers of processed foods to not specify what ingredients are actually in their product.  By allowing and/or syntax, and replacing expensive oils with cheaper ones at the whim of the company, this in fact disadvantages consumers.  All oils are different, and some oils have higher saturated fats than others, and also contain different levels of omega fatty acids.  So where one oil, such as sunflower, is high in omega-6, it may be substituted with canola oil (which is generally cheaper), which has a higher omega-9 fatty acid content, and very little omega-6.  Yet, they can both be listed on the label, with no change to the Nutrition Facts label, which would be rendered inaccurate by such a substitution.

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NYC Mayor And Governor Work To Eliminate Single Use Plastic Bags While Providing No Alternative

Just as in other locations, such as the recent issue in India, banning single use plastic bags without a backup plan for people to take home their groceries is a bad idea. There, an entrepreneur invented a solution, still a single use bag, but made from plant cellulose instead of plastic. 

This article explores the debate raging around single use plastic bags, the ban of which is likely to disproportionately affect the poor, who will be unable to afford the fees or the purchase and toting of reusable bags to the market.  This is especially true of those who are just above the socio-economic classes which are eligible for public assistance, but are still struggling to survive.

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The Hazards And Health Risks Associated With Plug In Air Fresheners

This article discusses some of the health risks inherent in very popular plug-in air fresheners that most people use in their homes on a daily basis.  Some of the risks include hormone disruption, birth defects if used during pregnancy, and other reproductive harm.  They can also cause asthma and other health problems. 


"While this may seem dramatic, perhaps I’m not expressing this in sufficiently dramatic terms. For starters, these are not “air fresheners”. In no way are they actually “freshening” anything. While your space may, in fact, smell quite nice, plug-in air fresheners are continuously pumping pollutants into the air, day and night.

Phthalates, a class of synthetic chemicals that can wreak havoc on health in myriad ways, comprises one of the ingredients in many brands, and include di-butyl phthalate (DBP), di-ethyl phthalate (DEP), di-isobutyl phthalate (DIBP), and di-methyl phthalate (DMP) (see Figure 3). Di-isohexyl phthalate (DIHP)."

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Alternative Medicine Is Seen As Quackery By Conventional Medicine, But Is There Really No Evidence For Natural Medicine?

This article seeks to debunk the claim purported by conventional medical doctors, the news media, and popular culture that states that there is no evidence for the effectiveness of any natural medicine modality. According to them, only conventional medicine has science behind it.  This is not the truth, and this article seeks to shatter some of these popular myths and misconceptions about alternative medicine.

"  Even though proponents of conventional medicine assert that alternative medicine is useless, and further, that we must all use ONLY conventional treatments because only these have been proven to work, this is actually not the case.  However, most Americans believe  inaccurate memes because of articles such as the Forbes piece and many others like it which they are barraged with on a continual basis"

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Pregnancy Is Not Always A Happy Time; Tips To Make Your Pregnancy More Comfortable

Some women do not experience the joy of pregnancy.  Maybe they have complications such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and morning sickness.  Read on for tips on how to overcome some of these common and not-so-common issues...

When you are pregnant, people assume that you are happy.  There’s nothing quite like being pregnant, and for most women, it is a positive experience.  Your friends and family will be super happy that you are going to have a baby, but what if you don’t feel that way?  What if you are feeling downright miserable, in fact?

Pregnant by Vladimir Pustovit

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Progesterone, Oxytocin, Postnatal Massage, and Hugs: The Missing Link To Recovery After Birth

This article describes the effects of oxytocin, the "cuddle" hormone, and the importance of encouraging its release after pregnancy to help with mood and recovery in general.  There are many things that can be done to encourage the production of this important hormone...

Pregnancy is truly a special time in a woman’s life, and any woman who’s been pregnant will tell you that the experience, subjectively, feels different somehow. If you thought that this was, perhaps, just romanticizing your past in retrospect, or caused by the (very real!) excitement about your pregnancy, you may be shocked to learn it wasn’t at all in your head. Well, it was in your head, but that’s not to say it was imaginary; rather, there is a strong and solid neuro-hormonal basis for what you experienced. And, of course, you can now rest assured: You DID, in fact, experience many, many odd things during your strange, yet fantastically beautiful trip to motherhood.

37 Weeks Pregnant By Mark Couvilion

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