Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Venom and hot peppers offer a key to killing resistant bacteria

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 92 posts

Re: Venom and hot peppers offer a key to killing resistant bacteria

#11

Post by silveira »

charliebwrites wrote: post #4

If you’ve ever wondered why the symbol of health is a snake spiraling a staff (the Greek god Asclepius’s staff to be specific), it’s because in Ancient Greece they used small amounts of snake venom to treat serious illnesses We’ve come full circle

It seems that it's quire more complicated than that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caduceus_as_a_symbol_of_medici...

Re: Venom and hot peppers offer a key to killing resistant bacteria

#13

Post by cjbgkagh »

charliebwrites wrote: post #4

If you’ve ever wondered why the symbol of health is a snake spiraling a staff (the Greek god Asclepius’s staff to be specific), it’s because in Ancient Greece they used small amounts of snake venom to treat serious illnesses We’ve come full circle

I’m partial to the Guinea worm medical symbol theory, though happy to be convinced otherwise.

Re: Venom and hot peppers offer a key to killing resistant bacteria

#14

Post by tmoertel »

pelf wrote: post #9
boringg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We also recently (we think) discovered why acupuncture works. That form of medicine from 4000 years ago...

Do you happen to have a source for that? I’d love to check it.

It's the New York Times article that's linked to in this HN post about “the Interstitium”:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48095536

Re: Venom and hot peppers offer a key to killing resistant bacteria

#15

Post by koolba »

charliebwrites wrote: post #4

If you’ve ever wondered why the symbol of health is a snake spiraling a staff (the Greek god Asclepius’s staff to be specific), it’s because in Ancient Greece they used small amounts of snake venom to treat serious illnesses We’ve come full circle

I thought it’s a stick to pull out a tape worm. You wrap it around the worm and keep twisting to get it out.

Re: Venom and hot peppers offer a key to killing resistant bacteria

#16

Post by jolt42 »

charliebwrites wrote: post #4

If you’ve ever wondered why the symbol of health is a snake spiraling a staff (the Greek god Asclepius’s staff to be specific), it’s because in Ancient Greece they used small amounts of snake venom to treat serious illnesses We’ve come full circle

I always assumed what I felt was obvious: Numbers 21:4-9, where God instructs Moses to make a bronze serpent and place it on a pole to heal Israelites dying from poisonous snake bites.

Re: Venom and hot peppers offer a key to killing resistant bacteria

#17

Post by kelipso »

boringg wrote: post #6
charliebwrites wrote: post #4

If you’ve ever wondered why the symbol of health is a snake spiraling a staff (the Greek god Asclepius’s staff to be specific), it’s because in Ancient Greece they used small amounts of snake venom to treat serious illnesses We’ve come full circle

We also recently (we think) discovered why acupuncture works. That form of medicine from 4000 years ago...

There’s also electroacupuncture, which is gaining popularity in physical therapy clinics in the US.

> Like traditional acupuncture, electroacupuncture uses needles placed in the same spots. Then, a small electrode is attached to the needles. A small amount of electricity runs through the electrode and gives a slight vibration or soft hum during treatment. (1)

Since they use the same spots as traditional acupuncture even now, I would think traditional acupuncture does work to some degree.

(1) https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/cbd-cbn-what-is-differ...

Re: Venom and hot peppers offer a key to killing resistant bacteria

#18

Post by om2 »

tmoertel wrote: post #14
pelf wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you happen to have a source for that? I’d love to check it.

It's the New York Times article that's linked to in this HN post about “the Interstitium”: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48095536

That article doesn’t explain why acupuncture works, just gives a hint of a possible mechanism. It also doesn’t contain any evidence that acupuncture works at all (other than as a placebo).

Re: Venom and hot peppers offer a key to killing resistant bacteria

#19

Post by sandworm101 »

charliebwrites wrote: post #4

If you’ve ever wondered why the symbol of health is a snake spiraling a staff (the Greek god Asclepius’s staff to be specific), it’s because in Ancient Greece they used small amounts of snake venom to treat serious illnesses We’ve come full circle

I was taught that the symbol came from Egypt, specifically a reference to standard guinea worm treatment whereby the worm was extracted from under the skin by winding it around a stick.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracunculiasis

Post reply on HN