Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

by Cat Bohannon

Most animals are essentially lumpy donuts filled with ocean.

Stealing this for all future bios

Despite its obvious benefits, human women throughout history have mistakenly believed colostrum to be rotten milk, or what they called beestings. Some even avoided giving it to their babies. In the fifteenth century, Bartholomäus Metlinger wrote the first European textbook for pediatrics. Despite the German’s own lack of breasts, he didn’t hesitate to mansplain women’s milk and what to do with it: The first 14 days it is better that another woman suckle the child as the milk of the mother of the child is not as healthy, and during this time the mother should have her breast sucked by a young wolf.

But if a woman is stressed out all the time, with cortisol levels through the roof, her kids might likewise be more fearful, hesitating to explore new territory and learn new things.

😬

A grown man’s nipple can, under the right circumstances, deliver milk. It’s not nearly as good at it as the adult female nipple, but it can do it. Seriously. Men can—inefficiently, and with difficulty—nurse a baby.

Emotional “pain” maps in the brain in strikingly similar ways to physical pain, and aspirin, ibuprofen, and even Tylenol can work pretty well on that, too. According to a few recent studies, taking a common over-the-counter painkiller before you encounter negative events can greatly influence how emotionally pained you’ll feel (Mischkowski, Crocker, and Way, 2016).

Need to stock up so I can take a handful every morning before work 🙃