Alison Wood Brooks

So if you're prescribing a medication for pain, like an opioid, you have to take that kind of thing in account or you should be considering that when you do so.

So if you're prescribing a medication for pain, like an opioid, you have to take that kind of thing in account or you should be considering that when you do so.

So if you're prescribing a medication for pain, like an opioid, you have to take that kind of thing in account or you should be considering that when you do so.

Not necessarily less or more, but that it takes basically a different pathway. I think that would be the best way to explain it. It takes a different pathway so that the drugs you use to treat pain in somebody, say, with brown hair or black hair, might not work as effectively in somebody with red hair. Or a different, you know, they might be more sensitive to other drugs.

Not necessarily less or more, but that it takes basically a different pathway. I think that would be the best way to explain it. It takes a different pathway so that the drugs you use to treat pain in somebody, say, with brown hair or black hair, might not work as effectively in somebody with red hair. Or a different, you know, they might be more sensitive to other drugs.

Not necessarily less or more, but that it takes basically a different pathway. I think that would be the best way to explain it. It takes a different pathway so that the drugs you use to treat pain in somebody, say, with brown hair or black hair, might not work as effectively in somebody with red hair. Or a different, you know, they might be more sensitive to other drugs.

Yeah, yeah. So one of the interesting things with hair is it's really, it's almost kind of a biomarker, right? Because it is so intimately tied up with your hormones, right? it's changing throughout your life. People's hair actually, it gets thicker and thicker, like it actually gets, the diameter increases up through your 20s, usually, in men, before slowly decreasing.

Yeah, yeah. So one of the interesting things with hair is it's really, it's almost kind of a biomarker, right? Because it is so intimately tied up with your hormones, right? it's changing throughout your life. People's hair actually, it gets thicker and thicker, like it actually gets, the diameter increases up through your 20s, usually, in men, before slowly decreasing.

Yeah, yeah. So one of the interesting things with hair is it's really, it's almost kind of a biomarker, right? Because it is so intimately tied up with your hormones, right? it's changing throughout your life. People's hair actually, it gets thicker and thicker, like it actually gets, the diameter increases up through your 20s, usually, in men, before slowly decreasing.

Of course, with a lot of men, the hair going away entirely.

Of course, with a lot of men, the hair going away entirely.

Of course, with a lot of men, the hair going away entirely.

Well, here's the good news. The purpose it's serving, actually, I think is really amazing and one of the least gross and distasteful things possible. Mucus, when I started this project, was not one that I was extremely interested in. You know, I'm not one to incline necessarily to the gross-out material.

Well, here's the good news. The purpose it's serving, actually, I think is really amazing and one of the least gross and distasteful things possible. Mucus, when I started this project, was not one that I was extremely interested in. You know, I'm not one to incline necessarily to the gross-out material.

Well, here's the good news. The purpose it's serving, actually, I think is really amazing and one of the least gross and distasteful things possible. Mucus, when I started this project, was not one that I was extremely interested in. You know, I'm not one to incline necessarily to the gross-out material.

But I was interested in it because I had heard that they had this amazing lab up at MIT called the Biogel Lab, the only woman-run lab at MIT. It was really basically devoted to the study of mucus. So I went up there and visited this lab. And it turns out, mucus is one of the most important things, if not the most important thing that your body produces.

But I was interested in it because I had heard that they had this amazing lab up at MIT called the Biogel Lab, the only woman-run lab at MIT. It was really basically devoted to the study of mucus. So I went up there and visited this lab. And it turns out, mucus is one of the most important things, if not the most important thing that your body produces.

But I was interested in it because I had heard that they had this amazing lab up at MIT called the Biogel Lab, the only woman-run lab at MIT. It was really basically devoted to the study of mucus. So I went up there and visited this lab. And it turns out, mucus is one of the most important things, if not the most important thing that your body produces.

You know, we often just think of blowing your nose, that's what mucus is, right? But really, it lines the nose, the mouth, the eyes, the lungs, the entire digestive tract, all told your body's making like a gallon of mucus a day, basically. And as for what it actually does, you probably think of it the way I was taught to think of it, as a filter.

You know, we often just think of blowing your nose, that's what mucus is, right? But really, it lines the nose, the mouth, the eyes, the lungs, the entire digestive tract, all told your body's making like a gallon of mucus a day, basically. And as for what it actually does, you probably think of it the way I was taught to think of it, as a filter.