title: Cupping therapy

text: The American Cancer Society notes that "available scientific evidence does not support claims that cupping has any health benefits" and also that the treatment carries a small risk of burns. A review of literature in 2011 determined that "the effectiveness of cupping is currently not well-documented for most conditions", and that systematic reviews showing efficacy for the treatment of pain "were based mostly on poor quality primary studies." This was further supported by a review in 2014 which demonstrated that previous evidence supporting cupping has resulted from "unreasonable design and poor research quality". There is a lack of evidence to support the use of cupping therapy for acne. Additionally, cupping is often practiced along with other acupuncture therapies and therefore cannot exclusively account for resultant positive benefits. Many reviews suggest that there is insufficient scientific evidence to support the use of cupping techniques to combat relevant diseases and chronic pain. Cupping has been characterized as quackery.


title: Cupping therapy

text: The lack of apparent benefits of cupping treatments are discussed by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst in their 2008 book "Trick or Treatment".


title: Cupping therapy

text: As a pseudoscientific detoxification ritual, proponents of cupping falsely claim that it can remove unspecified toxins from the body. Proponents also falsely claim that cupping "improves blood flow" to help sore muscles. James Hamblin notes that a bruise caused by cupping "is a blood clot, though, and clotted blood is definitionally not flowing."


title: Cupping therapy

text: Critics of alternative medicine have spoken out against cupping therapy. Harriet Hall and Mark Crislip have characterized cupping as "pseudoscience nonsense", "a celebrity fad", and "gibberish", and observed that there is no evidence that cupping works any better than a placebo. Pharmacologist David Colquhoun writes that cupping is "laughable... and utterly implausible." Practicing surgeon David Gorski observes, "...it's all risk for no benefit. It has no place in modern medicine, or at least shouldn't."


title: Cupping therapy

text: In 2016, the Cambodian Ministry of Health warned that cupping could be a health risk and particularly dangerous for people with high blood pressure or heart problems. According to the NCCIH "Cupping can cause side effects such as persistent skin discoloration, scars, burns, and infections, and may worsen eczema or psoriasis".


title: Cupping therapy

text: Cupping may cause breaks in the capillaries (small blood vessels) in the papillary dermis layer of the skin, resulting in the appearance of petechiae and purpura. These marks are sometimes mistaken for signs of child abuse when cupping is performed on children.


title: Cupping therapy

text: Cupping therapy adverse events can be divided into local and systemic adverse events. The local adverse events may include scar formation, burns, linear bruising or streaks (wet cupping), skin ulcers, undesired darkening of the skin, panniculitis, erythema ab igne, induction of the Koebner phenomenon in susceptible individuals with psoriasis, and pain at the cupping site. A theoretical risk of infection exists but there are no reports of this as of 2012.


title: Cupping therapy

text: Cupping practitioners use cupping therapy for a wide array of medical conditions including fevers, pain, poor appetite, indigestion, high blood pressure, acne, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, anemia, stroke rehabilitation, nasal congestion, infertility, and dysmenorrhea.


title: Cupping therapy

text: Proponents claim cupping has a therapeutic effect and removes unspecified "toxins", stagnant blood, or "vital energy" when used over acupuncture points with the goal of improving blood circulation.


title: Cupping therapy

text: While details vary between practitioners, societies, and cultures, the practice consists of drawing tissue into a cup placed on the targeted area by creating a partial vacuum – either by the heating and subsequent cooling of the air in the cup, or via a mechanical pump. The cup is usually left in place for somewhere between five and fifteen minutes.


title: Cupping therapy

text: Cupping therapy types can be classified using four distinct methods of categorization. The first system of categorization relates to "technical types" including: dry, wet, massage, and flash cupping therapy. The second categorization relates to "the power of suction related types" including: light, medium, and strong cupping therapy. The third categorization relates to "the method of suction related types" including: fire, manual suction, and electrical suction cupping therapy. The fourth categorization relates to "materials inside cups" including: herbal products, water, ozone, moxa, needle, and magnetic cupping therapy.


title: Cupping therapy

text: Further categories of cupping were developed later. The fifth relates to area treated including: facial, abdominal, female, male, and orthopedic cupping therapy. The sixth relates to "other cupping types" that include sports and aquatic cupping.


title: Cupping therapy

text: Dry cupping involves the application of a heated cup on the skin of the back, chest, abdomen, or buttocks. The cooling of the air is then thought to create a suction effect. Bamboo and other materials are sometimes used as alternatives to glass cups.


title: Cupping therapy

text: Fire cupping involves soaking a cotton ball in almost pure alcohol. The cotton is clamped by a pair of forceps and lit via match or lighter, and, in one motion, placed into the cup and quickly removed, while the cup is placed on the skin. The fire heats up the air in the cup which, after cooling reduces in volume creating a negative pressure inside the cup. The cup is then quickly placed onto the body and the negative pressure "sucks" the skin up. Massage oil may be applied to create a better seal as well as allow the cups to glide over muscle groups (e.g. trapezius, erectors, latissimus dorsi, etc.) in an act called "gliding cupping" or "sliding cupping". Dark circles may appear where the cups were placed because of capillary rupture just under the skin. There are documented cases of burns caused by fire cupping.


title: Cupping therapy

text: Wet cupping is also known as Hijama ( lit. "sucking") or medicinal bleeding, where blood is drawn by local suction from a small skin incision.


title: Cupping therapy

text: The first reported usages are found in the Islamic hadith, sayings attributed to or describing the actions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Hadith from Muhammad al-Bukhari, Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj Nishapuri and Ahmad ibn Hanbal support its recommendation and use by Muhammad. As a result, wet cupping has remained a popular remedy practiced in many parts of the Muslim world.


title: Cupping therapy

text: In Finland, wet cupping has been done at least since the 15th century, and it is done traditionally in saunas. The cupping cups were made of cattle horns with a valve mechanism in it to create a partial vacuum by sucking the air out. Cupping is still practiced in Finland as part of relaxing and/or health regimens.


title: Cupping therapy

text: In Chinese, cupping is known as "pulling-up jars" (). According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), cupping is done to dispel stagnation (stagnant blood and lymph), thereby improving "qi" flow, in order to treat respiratory diseases such as the common cold, pneumonia and bronchitis. Cupping also is used on back, neck, shoulder and other musculoskeletal conditions. Its advocates claim it has other applications as well. Cupping is not advised, in TCM, over skin ulcers or to the abdominal or sacral regions of pregnant women.


title: Cupping therapy

text: Cupping has gained publicity in modern times due to its use by American sport celebrities including National Football League player DeMarcus Ware and Olympians Alexander Naddour, Natalie Coughlin, and Michael Phelps. Medical doctor Brad McKay wrote that Team USA was doing a great disservice to their fans who might "follow their lead", calling cupping an "ancient (but useless) traditional therapy." Steven Novella noted "It is unfortunate that elite athletics, including the Olympics, is such a hot bed for pseudoscience."


title: Cupping therapy

text: There is a description of cupping in George Orwell's essay "How the Poor Die", where he was surprised to find the antiquated practice applied to him in a Paris hospital. In the 1964 Hollywood film, "Zorba the Greek" cupping is depicted with the character Zorba, played by Anthony Quinn, performing it on the character played by Lila Kedrova.


title: Cupping therapy

text: Perceived benefits of cupping have often been perpetuated by celebrities and athletes who use these therapeutic interventions in their daily lives. Professional swimmer Michael Phelps received publicity during the 2016 Olympics for the purple bruises evident on his back resulting from cupping. He has been known to "do it before every meet he goes to" in order to "speed up recovery". Celebrity endorsements such as these may bias individuals to feel benefits from the practice.


title: Cupping therapy

text: The origin of cupping is unclear. Iranian traditional medicine uses wet-cupping practices, with the belief that cupping with scarification may eliminate scar tissue, and cupping without scarification would cleanse the body through the organs.


title: Cupping therapy

text: In ancient Greece, Hippocrates (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) used cupping for internal disease and structural problems, and Roman surgeons used it for bloodletting. The method was highly recommended by Muhammad and hence well-practiced by Muslim scientists who elaborated and developed the method further. Consecutively, this method in its multiple forms spread into medicine throughout Asian and European civilizations. In China, the earliest use of cupping that is recorded is from the Taoist alchemist and herbalist Ge Hong (281–341 AD). Cupping was also mentioned in Maimonides' book on health and was used within the Eastern European Jewish community. William Osler recommended its use for pneumonia and acute myelitis in the early twentieth century.


title: Cupping therapy

text: The practice has been used in hospitals in China since the 1950s as a traditional Chinese medicine modality. cupping was most popular in China.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: The Siamese fighting fish ("Betta splendens"), commonly known as the betta, is a freshwater fish native to Southeast Asia, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is one of 73 species of the genus "Betta," but the only one eponymously called "betta", owing to its global popularity as a pet; "Betta splendens" are among the most popular aquarium fish in the world, due to their diverse and colorful morphology and relatively low maintenance.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Siamese fighting fish are endemic to the central plain of Thailand, where they were first domesticated at least 1,000 years ago, among the longest of any fish. They were initially bred for aggression and subject to gambling matches akin to cockfighting. Bettas became known outside Thailand through King Rama III (1788-1851), who is said to have given some to Theodore Cantor, a Danish physician, zoologist, and botanist. They first appeared in the West in the late 19th century, and within decades became popular as ornamental fish. "B. splendens" long history of selective breeding has produced a wide variety of coloration and finnage, earning it the moniker, "designer fish of the aquatic world".


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Bettas are well known for being highly territorial, with males prone to attacking each other if housed in the same tank; without a means of escape, this will usually result in the death of one or both fish. Female bettas can also become territorial towards one another in confined spaces. Bettas are exceptionally tolerant of low oxygen levels and poor water quality, owing to their special labyrinth organ, a characteristic unique to the suborder "Anabantoidei" that allows for the intake of surface air.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: In addition to its worldwide popularity, the Siamese fighting fish is the national aquatic animal of Thailand, which remains the primary breeder and exporter of bettas for the global aquarium market. Despite their abundance as pets, "B. splendens" is listed as "vulnerable" by the IUCN, due to increasing pollution and habitat destruction.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Outside Southeast Asia, the name "betta" is used specifically to describe "B. splendens," despite the term scientifically applying to the entire genus, which includes "B. splendens" and at least 72 other species. "Betta splendens" is more accurately called by its scientific name or "Siamese fighting fish" to avoid confusion with the other members of the genus.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: English-speakers sometimes mispronounce betta as "bay-tuh", after the second letter in the Greek alphabet. However, it is believed the name is derived from the Malay word "ikan betta", with "ikan" meaning "fish" and "bettah" referring to an ancient warrior tribe, which is pronounced "bet-tah". Alternative sources suggests the name "Betta splendens" is formed from two languages, consisting of Malay for "enduring fish" and the Latin word for shining.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Another vernacular name for Siamese fighting fish is "plakat", often applied to the short-finned ornamental strains, which is derived from the Thai word "pla kat" (Thai: ปลากัด), which literally means "biting fish". This name is used in Thailand for all members of the "Betta" genus, which share similar aggressive tendencies, rather than for any specific strain of the Siamese fighting fish. Thus, the term "fighting fish" is used to generalise all "Betta" species besides the Siamese fighting fish.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Siamese fighting fish were originally given the scientific name "Macropodus pugnax" in 1849—literally "aggressive fish with big feet", likely in reference to their elongated pelvic fins. In 1897 they were identified with the genus "Betta" and became known as "Betta pugnax", referring to their aggressiveness. In 1909, the species was finally renamed "Betta splendens" upon the discovery that an existing species was already named "pugnax".


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: "B. splendens" usually grows to a length of about . Although aquarium specimens are widely known for their brilliant colours and large, flowing fins, the natural coloration of "B. splendens" is generally green, brown and grey, while the fins are short; wild fish exhibit strong colours only when agitated. In captivity, Siamese fighting fish have been selectively bred to display a vibrant array of colours and tail types.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: According to Witte and Schmidt (1992), "Betta splendens" is native to Southeast Asia, including the northern Malay Peninsula, central and eastern Thailand, Kampuchea (Cambodia), and southern Vietnam. Based on Vidthayanon (2013), a Thai ichthyologist and senior researcher of biodiversity at WWF Thailand, the species is endemic to Thailand, from the Mae Khlong to Chao Phraya basins, the eastern slope of the Cardamom mountains (Cambodia), and from the Isthmus of Kra. Similarly, a report from Froese and Pauly (2019) identifies "Betta splendens" as native to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. They are also found throughout the neighbouring Malay Peninsula and in adjacent parts of Sumatra, likely due to human introduction.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Wherever they are found, "Betta splendens" generally inhabit shallow bodies of water with abundant vegetation, including marshes, floodplains, and paddy fields. The historic prevalence of rice farming across Southeast Asia, which provided an ideal habitat for bettas, led to their discovery and subsequent domestication by humans. The combination of shallow water and high air temperature causes gases to rapidly evaporate, leading to a significant deficit of oxygen in the betta's natural habitat. This environment likely led to the evolution of the lung-like labyrinth organ, which allows Siamese fighting fish—like all members of the suborder Anabantoidei—to breathe directly from the air. Subsequently, bettas can live and even thrive in harsher environments than other freshwater fish, which in turn leaves them with fewer natural predators and competitors.In the wild, bettas thrive at a fairly low population density of 1.7 individuals per square meter.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: The tropical climate of the betta's natural habitat is characterized by sudden and extreme fluctuations in water availability, chemistry, and temperature. Water pH can range from slightly acidic (pH 6.9) to highly alkaline (pH 8.2), while air temperatures drop as low as 15 °C (59 °F) and rise as high as 40 °C (100 °F). Consequently, Siamese fighting fish are highly adaptable and durable, able to tolerate a variety of harsh or toxic environments; this accounts for their popularity as pets, as well as their ability to successfully colonize bodies of water all over the world.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Wild bettas prefer to live in bodies of water teeming with aquatic vegetation and surface foliage, such as fallen leaves and water lilies. The abundance of plants provides security from predators and a buffer between aggressive males, who coexist by claiming dense sections of plants as territory. Such vegetation also offers protection to females during spawning and to fry during their earliest and most vulnerable stages.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: The betta's worldwide popularity has led to its release and establishment in similarly tropical areas, including southeast Australia, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, southeast United States, and Singapore.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: In January 2014, a large population of bettas was discovered in the Adelaide River Floodplain in the Northern Territory, Australia. As an invasive species they pose a threat to native fish, frogs and other wetland wildlife. Bettas have also become established in subtropical areas of the United States, namely southern Texas and Florida, although an assessment by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined they were no threat to natural ecosystems.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Due to their popularity, Siamese fighting fish are highly abundant in captivity. In the wild, betta habitats are threatened by chemical and agricultural run off, in addition to the contamination of human medication residue into aquatic ecosystems from the sewage system. Such contamination can also alter the reproductive behavior of the species by decreasing hate rate and increasing the likelihood of fathers eating their own eggs. Due to the expansion of palm oil plantation in Southeast Asia, wild bettas are also facing habitat loss. The primary threats are habitat destruction and pollution, caused by urban and agricultural development across central Thailand. Wild specimens are categorized by the IUCN as vulnerable, indicating the species is likely to become endangered without conservation efforts.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: "Betta splendens" is naturally carnivorous, feeding on zooplankton, small crustaceans, and the larvae of aquatic insects such as mosquitoes, as well as insects that have fallen into the water and algae. Contrary to some marketing materials in the pet trade, bettas cannot subsist solely on vegetation or the roots of plants.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Bettas can be fed a varied diet of pellets, flakes, or frozen foods like brine shrimp, bloodworms, daphnia and many others. Due to their short digestive tracts—a characteristic of most carnivores—bettas have difficulty processing carbohydrates such as corn and wheat, which are commonly used as fillers in many commercial fish foods. Thus, regardless of the source, a proper betta diet should consist mostly of animal protein.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Bettas are susceptible to overfeeding, which can lead to obesity, constipation, swim bladder disease, and other health problems; excessive food may also pollute the water. It is generally advised to feed a betta at least once daily, with only the amount of food it can eat within 3–5 minutes; leftover food should be removed.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Some sources recommend that bettas undergo a "fast" for at least one day to allow food to be fully processed. Bettas can go up to two weeks without eating, and it is not uncommon for them to have no appetite for one or two days, especially following stressful episodes such as a water change or being introduced into a new tank.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: If interested in a female, male bettas will flare their gills, spread their fins and twist their bodies in a dance-like performance. Receptive females will respond by darkening in color and developing vertical lines known as "breeding bars". Males build bubble nests of various sizes and thicknesses at the surface of the water, which interested females may examine. Most do this regularly even if there is no female present.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Plants or rocks that break the surface often form a base for bubble nests. During courtship, the male betta may exhibit aggressive behavior towards the female by acts of chasing or nipping at her fins. The act of spawning itself is called a "nuptial embrace", for the male wraps his body around the female; around 10–40 eggs are released during each embrace, until the female is exhausted of eggs. With each deposit of eggs, the male releases milt into the water, and fertilisation takes place externally. During and after spawning, the male uses his mouth to retrieve sinking eggs and place them in the bubble nest; during mating some females assist their partner, but more often will simply devour all the eggs she manages to catch. Once the female has released all of her eggs, she is chased away from the male's territory, as she will likely eat the eggs. If she is not removed from the tank, she will most likely be killed by the male.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: The eggs remain in the male's care. He carefully keeps them in his bubble nest, making sure none fall to the bottom, repairing the bubble nest as needed. Incubation lasts for 24–36 hours; newly hatched larvae remain in the nest for the next two to three days until their yolk sacs are fully absorbed. Afterwards, the fry leave the nest and the free-swimming stage begins. In this first period of their lives, "B. splendens" fry are totally dependent on their gills; the labyrinth organ, which allows the species to breathe atmospheric oxygen, typically develops at three to six weeks of age, depending on the general growth rate, which can be highly variable. "B. splendens" can reach sexual maturity in as early as 4–5 months. Typically, the morphological differences between males and females can be noticed around two months after hatching. During development, betta fry can be fed either commercial artificial feeds, or live moving prey, which tends to be favored more. Examples of live feed for betta fry include baby brine shrimp, water fleas, and mosquito larvae. Although common fed to fish fry, boiled egg yolks are not preferred by the fish.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Information on precisely how and when Siamese fighting fish were first domesticated and brought out of Asia is sparse. Genetic analysis implies domestication at least 1,000 years ago. Additional evidence from DNA sampling suggests bettas may have been bred for fighting since the 13th century. Over time, this led to the diverse genetics of modern domestic and wild bettas.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Some people in Malaysia and Thailand are known to have collected wild bettas at least by the 19th century, observing their aggressive nature and pitting them against each other in gambling matches akin to cockfights. In the wild, betta spar for only a few minutes before one fish retreats; domesticated betta, namely Plakat bettas, are bred specifically for heightened aggression, and can engage for much longer, with winners determined by a willingness to continue fighting; once a fish retreats, the match is over. Fights to the death were rare, so bets were placed on the bravery of the fish rather than its survival. Due to the difference in genetics from domesticated bettas being originally bred for fighting, captive ornamental species tends to be more aggressive that wild betta species.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: The popularity of these fights garnered the attention of king of Siam (Thailand) who regulated and taxed the matches and collected fighting fish of his own. In 1840, he gave some of his prized fish to Danish physician Theodore Edward Cantor, who worked in the Bengal medical service. Nine years later, Cantor published the first recorded article describing these fish, giving them the name "Macropodus pugnax". In 1909, British ichthyologist Charles Tate Regan found there was a related species already named "Macropodus pugnax", and thus renamed the domesticated Siamese fighting fish, "Betta splendens," or "splendid fighter".


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: "Betta splendens" first entered the Western aquarium trade in the late 19th century; the earliest known arrival is 1874 in France, when French aquaria expert and ichthyologist Pierre Carbonnier began importing and breeding several specimens. In 1896, German tropical fish expert Paul Matte brought the first specimens into Germany from Moscow, most likely from the strain developed by Carbonnier. This indicates bettas were already somewhat established in France and Russia by the turn of the 20th century. Fighting fish were also present in Australia by 1904, based on an article written by British-born zoologist Edgar Ravenswood Waite and published by the Australian Museum in Sydney. Waite indicates that Australian specimens were brought from Penang, Malaysia, near the border with Thailand. He also makes reference to two articles about "fighting fish" published by Carbonnier in 1874 and 1881. Bettas may have first entered the United States in 1910, via importers in California; there is also evidence they were imported in 1927 from Cambodia.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: While it is unclear when bettas became popular in the aquarium trade, the early 20th century marked the first known departure from centuries of breeding bettas for aggression, to instead selecting for colour, finnage, and overall beauty for ornamental purposes. In 1927, an article was published in Germany describing the long, flowing fins of the "veiltail" breed, which indicates an emphasis on aesthetic beauty. In the 1950s, an American breeder created a larger and longer-finned veiltail, while around 1960, Indian breeders discovered a genetic mutation that allowed for two caudal fins, producing the "doubletail" variety. Within that decade, a German breeder created the "deltatail" characterised by its broader, triangular fins.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: In 1967, a group of betta breeders formed the International Betta Congress (IBC), the first formal interest group dedicated to Siamese fighting fish. The IBC aimed to breed varieties that would be healthier and more symmetrical in fins and body shape, with an emphasis on animal welfare.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: As tropical fish, bettas prefer a water temperature of around , but have been observed surviving temporarily at extremes of to . When kept in colder climates, aquarium heaters are recommended, as colder water weakens their immune system and makes them susceptible to certain diseases.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Bettas are also affected by the pH of the water: a neutral pH of 7.0 is ideal, but slightly higher levels are tolerable. Due to their labyrinth organ, bettas can endure low oxygen levels, but cannot survive for long in unmaintained aquaria, as poor water quality makes all tropical fish more susceptible to diseases like fin rot. Thus, notwithstanding the betta's well known tolerance of still water, a mechanical filter is considered necessary for their long-term health and longevity. Similarly, live aquatic plants provide a supplemental source of filtration, in addition to crucial enrichment to the betta.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Despite frequently being displayed and sold in small containers in the pet trade, bettas do best in larger environments; while they can survive in cups, bowls, and other confined spaces, they will be much happier, healthier, and longer-lived in a larger aquarium. Although some betta enthusiasts claim there is a minimum tank size, determining a strict baseline is somewhat arbitrary and subject to debate. The general consensus is that the ideal tank should be no less than 9–19 litres (3–5 US gallons), though a tank of just 4 litres (1 gallon) can also suffice if it is cleaned regularly—at least every other day for small, unfiltered tanks—and maintained at an acceptable temperature of 24–26 °C (75–78 °F).


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Although male bettas are solitary and aggressive towards one another, they can generally cohabit with many types of fish and invertebrates if there is adequate space and hiding places. However, compatibility varies based on the temperament of the individual betta, and it is advised to carefully supervise the betta's interaction with other fish. Tankmates must be tropical, communal, nonterritorial, and not have a similar body type or long flowing fins; coldwater fish like goldfish have incompatible temperature requirements, while aggressive and predatory fish are likely to nip at the betta's fins or erode their slime coat. Species that shoal, such as tetras and danios, are considered most ideal, since they usually keep to themselves and can endure the territorial nature of bettas with their numbers. Brightly coloured fish with large fins, such as male guppies, should be avoided, as they may invite fin nipping by the male betta. Potential tankmates should usually be added before the male betta so they can establish their respective territories beforehand, rather than compete with the betta.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Female bettas are less aggressive and territorial than males, and thus can live with a greater variety of fish; for example, brightly coloured or large-finned fish will not usually disturb a female. Generally, female fighting fish can also tolerate larger or more numerous tankmates than males. However, like male bettas, a female's tolerance of other fish will vary by individual temperament.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: It is not recommended to keep male and female bettas together, except temporarily for breeding purposes, which should always be undertaken with caution and supervision.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Bettas are fairly intelligent and inquisitive, and thus require stimulation; otherwise they can become bored and depressed, leading to lethargy and a weaker immune system. Decorations such as plastic or live plants, rocks, caves, driftwood, and other ornaments provide crucial enrichment—provided they do not have rough textures or jagged edges, which can damage their delicate fins. In the wild, Siamese fighting fish spend most of their time concealing themselves under floating debris or overhanging plants to avoid potential predators. Floating plants and leaves can help bettas feel more secure, while also giving males an anchor from which to build their bubble nests. Abundant vegetation of any kind is generally recommended to provide maximum security and to cater to the betta's instinct to claim protective territory.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Indian almond leaves are increasingly popular for providing something closer to the natural foliage under which bettas would hide in the wild. Their tannins allegedly confer several health benefits, including treating certain ailments like fin rot and bladder disease, and stabilising the pH of the water.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: When properly kept and fed a correct diet, Siamese fighting fish generally live between three and five years in captivity, though in rare cases may live as long as seven to ten years. One study found that bettas kept in tanks of several gallons and provided with proper nutrition and "exercise"—in the form of being chased around by a stick for a short period—lived over nine years; by contrast, a control group of bettas confined to small jars lived far fewer years. A larger tank with proper filtration, regular maintenance, and an abundance of decor and hiding spaces, along with a rich, protein-based diet, increases the likelihood of a long lifespan.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Like all tropical fish in captivity, bettas are susceptible to several kinds of diseases, usually caused by bacterial, fungal, or parasitic infections. Most illnesses result from poor water quality and cold water, both of which weaken the immune system. The four most common illnesses are white spot, velvet, fin rot, and dropsy; with the exception of the latter, which is incurable, these ailments can be treated with a combination of over-the-counter fish medication, increased water temperature, and/or regular water changes.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: When kept in communal tanks, fin nipping from other fish can lead to the onset of fin rot in betta fish, and this can make it more difficult to diagnose.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Over a century of intensive selective breeding has produced a wide variety of colours and fin types, and breeders around the world continue to develop new varieties. Often, the males of the species are sold preferentially in stores because of their beauty relative to the females, which almost never develop fins or vibrant colours as showy as their male counterparts; however, some breeders have produced females with fairly long fins and bright colours.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: "Betta splendens" can be hybridised with "B. imbellis", "B. mahachaiensis", and "B. smaragdina", though with the latter, the fry tend to have low survival rates. In addition to these hybrids within the genus "Betta", intergeneric hybridisation of "Betta splendens" and "Macropodus opercularis", the paradise fish, has been reported.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Wild bettas exhibit strong colours only when agitated. Over the centuries, breeders have been able to make this coloration permanent, and a wide variety of hues breed true. Colours among captive bettas include red, orange, yellow, blue, steel blue, turquoise/green, black, pastel, opaque white, and multi-coloured. Recent evidence suggest blue-colored males may show higher levels of aggression than red-colored males. On the other hand, female bettas may have a preference for red-colored mates as opposed to their blue counterparts.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: The betta's diverse colours are due to different layers of pigmentation in their skin. The layers, from deepest within to the outermost, consists of red, yellow, black, iridescent (blue and green), and metallic (not a colour itself, but reacts with the other colours). Any combination of these layers can be present, leading to a wide variety of colours within and among bettas.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: The shades of blue, turquoise, and green are slightly iridescent, and can appear to change colour with different lighting conditions or viewing angles; this is because these colours (unlike black or red) are not due to pigments, but created through refraction within a layer of translucent guanine crystals. Breeders have also developed different colour patterns such as marble and butterfly, as well as metallic shades like copper, gold, or platinum, which were obtained by crossing "B. splendens" to other "Betta" species).


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Some bettas will change colours throughout their lifetime, a process known as marbling, which is attributed to a transposon, in which a DNA sequence can change its position within a genome, thereby altering a cell. Koi bettas have mutated over time and in some case change colours or patterns throughout their lifetime (known as true Koi), due to the defective gene that causes marbling not being repaired in the color layers after some time.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Siamese fighting fish display complex behavioural patterns and social interactions, which vary among individual specimens. Research indicates they are capable of associative learning, in which they adopt a consistent response following exposure to new stimuli. These characteristics have made bettas subject to intensive study by ethologists, neurologists, and comparative psychologists.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Males and females flare or puff out their gill covers (opercula) to appear more impressive, either to intimidate other rivals or as an act of courtship. Flaring also occurs when they are intimidated by movement or a change of scene in their environments. In captivity, bettas can be seen flaring at their own reflection because they don't pass the mirror test for self-recognition. Both sexes display pale horizontal bars if stressed or frightened. However, such colour changes, common in females of any age, are rare in mature males due to their intensity of colour. Females often flare at other females, especially when setting up a pecking order. Flirting fish behave similarly, with vertical instead of horizontal stripes indicating a willingness and readiness to breed.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: "Betta splendens" enjoy a decorated tank, as they seek to establish territory even when housed alone. They may set up a territory centered on a plant or rocky alcove, sometimes becoming highly possessive of it and aggressive toward trespassing rivals; consequently, bettas, if housed with other fish, require at least 45 litres (about 10 gallons). Contrary to popular belief, bettas are compatible with many other species of aquarium fish. Given the proper parameters bettas will only be aggressive towards smaller and slower fish than themselves, such as guppies.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Betta aggression has historically made them objects of gambling; two male fish are pitted against each other to fight, with bets placed on which one will win. Combat is characterised by fin nipping, flared gills, extended fins, and intensified colour. The fight continues until one participant is submissive or tries to retreat; one or both fish may die depending on the seriousness of their injuries, though bettas rarely intend to fight to the death. To avoid fights over territory, male Siamese fighting fish are best isolated from one another. Males will occasionally respond aggressively even to their own reflections. Though this is obviously safer than exposing the fish to another male, prolonged sight of their reflection may lead to stress in some individuals. Not all Siamese fighting fish respond negatively to other males, especially if the tank is large enough for each fish to create their own designated territory.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: In general, studies have shown that females exhibit similar aggressive behaviours to males, albeit less frequently and intensely. An observational study examined a group of female Siamese fighting fish over a period of two weeks, during which time they were recorded attacking, flaring, and biting food. This indicated that when females are housed in small groups, they form a stable dominance order, or "pecking order". For example, the fish ranked at the top showed higher levels of mutual displays, in comparison to the fish who were of lower ranks. The researchers also found that the duration of the displays differed depending on whether an attack occurred. The results of this research suggest that female Siamese fighting fish warrant as much scientific study as males, as they seem to have variations in their behaviours as well.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: There has been much research in the courtship behaviour between male and female Siamese fighting fish. Studies generally focus on the aggressive behaviours of males during the courtship process. For example, one study found that when male fish are in the bubble nest phase, their aggression toward females is quite low. This is due to the males attempting to attract potential mates to their nest, so eggs can successfully be laid. It has also been found that in determining a suitable mate, females often "eavesdrop" on pairs of males that are fighting. When a female witnesses aggressive behaviour between males, she is more likely to be attracted to the male who won. In contrast, if a female did not "eavesdrop" on a fight between males, she will show no preference in mate choice. In regards to the males, the "loser" is more likely to attempt to court the fish who did not "eavesdrop", while the "winner" showed no preference between females who “eavesdropped” and those who did not.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: One study considered the ways in which male Siamese fighting fish alter their behaviours during courtship when another male is present. During this experiment, a dummy female was placed in the tank. The researchers expected that males would conceal their courtship from intruders; instead, when another male fish was present, the male was more likely to engage in courtship behaviours with the dummy female fish. When no barriers were present, the males were more likely to engage in gill flaring at an intruder male fish. The researchers concluded that the male was attempting to court the female and communicate with its rival at the same time. These results indicate the importance of considering courtship behaviour, as the literature has suggested there are many factors that can dramatically affect the ways in which both male and females can act in courtship settings.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Studies have found that Siamese fighting fish often begin with behaviours that require high cost, and gradually decrease their behaviours as the encounter proceeds. This indicates that Siamese fighting fish will first begin an encounter using much metabolic energy, but will gradually decrease, as to not use too much energy, thus making the encounter a waste if the fish is not successful. Similarly, researchers have found that when pairs of male Siamese fighting fish were kept together in the same tank for a three-day period, aggressive behaviour was most prevalent during the mornings of the first two days of their cohabitation. However, the researchers observed that the fighting between the two males decreased as the day progressed. The male in the dominant position initially had metabolic advantage; although as the experiment progressed, both fish became equal in regards to metabolic advantages. In regards to oxygen consumption, one study found that when two male bettas fought, the metabolic rates of both fish did not differ before or during the fight. However, the fish who won showed higher oxygen consumption during the evening following the fight. This indicates that aggressive behaviour in the form of fighting has long-lasting effects on metabolism.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Siamese fighting fish are popular models for studying the neurological and physiological impact of certain chemicals, such as hormones, since their aggression is the result of cell signalling and possibly genes.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: One study investigated the effect of testosterone on female Siamese fighting fish. Females were given testosterone, which resulted in changes to fin length, body coloration and gonads that resembled typical male fish. Their aggressive behaviour was found to be elevated when interacting with other females, but reduced when interacting with males. The researchers then allowed the females to interact with a control group of unaltered females; when the female fish stopped receiving testosterone, those who were exposed to the normal females still exhibited male-typical behaviours. In contrast, the female fish who were kept isolated did not continue to exhibit the male typical behaviours after testosterone was discontinued.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Another study exposed male Siamese fighting fish to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The researchers were curious if exposure to these chemicals would affect the ways in which females respond to the exposed males. It was found that when shown videos of the exposed males, the females favoured those who were not exposed to the endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and avoided those males that were exposed. The researchers concluded that exposure to these chemicals can negatively affect the mating success of male Siamese fighting fish.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: A psychology study used male Siamese fighting fish to investigate the effects of fluoxetine, an SSRI used primarily as an antidepressant in humans. Siamese fighting fish were selected as prime models due to having comparable serotonin transporter pathways, which accounts for their aggression. It was found that when exposed to fluoxetine, male Siamese fighting fish exhibited less aggressive behaviour than is characteristic of their species. Similarly, research has found that bettas are responsive to serotonin, dopamine, and GABA.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Betta fish can exhibit unusual sleep behaviors, often resulting in new betta owners assuming that their betta fish has died. In an aquarium, betta fish sleep anywhere in the tank they feel comfortable, including at the bottom on the substrate, floating at the mid-level, or at the surface. Betta fish will sleep on their side, upside down, with their nose pointing up, or with their tail pointing up. They are also known to curl up or wedge between tight spaces, such as behind a heater. One of the more unusual sleep behaviors that betta fish exhibit is their ability to sleep out of the water, resting on a leaf or any other flat object protruding from the water. This is made possible by the betta's labyrinth organ, which acts like a human lung, pulling oxygen from the air instead of from the water. When betta fish sleep, their bright colors will often fade, and when combined with their unusual napping positions, they can appear dead. Predatory fish will often avoid eating a dead fish because of the risk of contracting diseases and parasites, making this an excellent defensive mechanism.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Despite its commercial popularity, little is known about the "Betta splendens" genome. Current understanding is so limited that there is little evidence for the genetic basis of basic traits, including sex determination. A 2021 review article argued for increased scientific investigation into the genome of the Siamese fighting fish, and listed several areas of interest which are paraphrased below:


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Additionally, betta fish have been used in several studies to assess the impacts of various environmental contaminants, including oil. Improved understanding of the betta genome would allow for more accurate generalisations from these studies. Lastly, the betta fish is an excellent candidate for a model organism, particularly for aggression and pigmentation development, due to their extreme phenotypes in these areas.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Currently, the complete "B. splendens" chromosomal and mitochondrial genomes have been sequenced. Both genomes have yet to be annotated, though a roadmap for future efforts has been outlined. Notably, the mitochondrial genome for the peaceful betta, "P. imbellis", has also been sequenced, potentially allowing for meaningful comparison between species in the future.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: There are many species in the genus "Betta", the majority of which are very morphologically similar. Within Thailand alone there are twelve nominal species with new species being discovered every 5–10 years. Past efforts to differentiate "Betta" species have been based on observable morphology, but given their visible similarity, this approach has masked much of the cryptic diversity in the genus. Recent speciation efforts have included use of DNA barcoding to differentiate species, specifically comparing the CO1 gene of the mitochondrial genome, resulting in new theories about the relatedness between species and allowing for the construction of new phylogenetic trees.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: The morphological similarity between species that can be distinguished genetically suggests that species radiation with cryptic diversity occurred in the "Betta" lineage. Current theories about the species radiation and speciation take into account the geographic considerations of their native habitat of Thailand, and suggest that the speciation is best described by a model of either allopatric or parapatric speciation.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: "B. splendens" are known for their intense aggression, which has resulted from intense selective pressures imposed upon them from many generations of artificial selection. Fighting strains of "B. splendens" have been bred for aggression for over six centuries due to the culture surrounding fighting betta fish and betting money on the results. This has genetically differentiated them from their wild-type counterparts - fighting strains of "B. splendens" have been shown to be significantly more aggressive than wild bettas, and in addition show differential responses in cortisol production in new environments.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: The extreme genetically-driven aggression in fighting strains of "B. splendens" and their differences from the still-observable wild-type makes them an excellent candidate for a model organism through which to study the genetic basis for aggression.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: At present, use of the betta fish as a model organism for studying aggression is in its beginning phases. Little is known about the genetic basis of aggression in betas, though differential degrees of aggression have been observed in different domesticated betta populations.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: There is evidence that the genetic basis for aggression in betta fish is not exclusively sex-linked - a recent study found that female bettas of the fighting strain show significantly higher levels of aggression than their female wild-type counterparts, despite the fact that historically only male bettas have been used in fights and thus artificially selected for aggression. However these results are of limited usefulness, given the lack of scientific consensus on the nature of sex determination in bettas.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: A recent study found that a fighting pair of bettas will synchronise their gene expression profiles, with particular emphasis on 37 co-expression gene modules, some of which were only synchronised after a certain duration of time had been spent fighting.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Work to identify the genetic basis for aggression has also been performed more generally in other model species, such as zebrafish. These studies have identified dozens of candidate genes in their respective model organisms which could serve as starting points for research into aggression in betta fish. However, more progress must be made on the annotation of the betta genome before this is feasible.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Due to the incredible variation in pigmentation of adult bettas and visible pigment in developing embryos, bettas are an attractive model organism for studying the genetic basis for coloration. Additionally, producing a specific color on demand would be of great interest to the commercial betta fish industry, as the price of a fish is largely determined by its coloration. Prices for attractively coloured fish can be high - single fish with the colours of the Thai flag was sold for over $1,500.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: The genetic basis for the synthesis and regulation of pigmentation in teleost fish is generally poorly understood, and bettas are no exception. Most work in this area has been done on other model organisms such as zebrafish or African cichlid fish, however as with aggression, work done with other model organisms to identify candidate genes will be tremendously helpful in identifying the genetic basis of pigmentation in bettas.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: In 1990, genetic differences (polymorphisms at several loci) were found between four different color varieties of bettas, though the variations were noted to be small. Later experiments confirmed the presence of genetic variation in hatchery stocks in Thailand, with low average numbers of alleles per locus and high heterozygosity rates.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Notable color phenotypes in "B. splendens" include the marbled phenotype and the color changing phenotype, the latter of which changes color over the course of its lifetime. While theories for the genetic basis of these phenotypes exist, scientific evidence for the genetic basis of these phenomena are slim to nonexistent.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Some of the few candidate genes identified in the literature specific to bettas are immune related genes, which were found in the first whole-body transcriptome of "B. splendens" obtained by high-throughput sequencing.


title: Siamese fighting fish

text: Today, Southeast Asia dominates the industry of breeding and distribution of Siamese fighting fish globally.  Initially, male and female fry are raised together in communal tanks up until males begin to display aggression at about 4-5 months of age. Males are then kept isolated in a half-pint liquor flask, where hundreds of these pints may be arranged tightly packed on the ground in the breeding facility. Daily feeding of usually bloodworms are dispensed into each flask. At the shoulder of each flask, there typically a cut to allow water to flow out for an easy water change. Meanwhile, females may be kept in communal tanks until shipping day. Roughly 100,000 male bettas are shipped each week from Thailand to countries around the world.


title: Paul Young

text: Paul Antony Young (born 17 January 1956) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & the Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, he became a teen idol with his solo success in the 1980s. His hit singles include "Love of the Common People", "Wherever I Lay My Hat", "Come Back and Stay", "Every Time You Go Away" and "Everything Must Change", all reaching the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart. Released in 1983, his debut album, "No Parlez", the first of three UK number-one albums, made him a household name.


title: Paul Young

text: His smooth yet soulful voice belonged to a genre known as "blue-eyed soul". At the 1985 Brit Awards, Young received the award for Best British Male. Associated with the Second British Invasion of the US, "Every Time You Go Away" reached number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in 1985. It also won Best British Video at the 1986 Brit Awards.


title: Paul Young

text: In July 1985, Young appeared at Live Aid held at Wembley Stadium, London, performing the Band Aid hit "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (having sung the opening lines on the original single release) and his own hits "Come Back and Stay" and "Every Time You Go Away", with Alison Moyet joining him on stage to perform "That's The Way Love Is". Since the mid-1990s, Young has performed with his band Los Pacaminos.


title: Paul Young

text: Paul Young was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. He has an older brother, Mark, and a younger sister, Joanne. As a youth, after school, he played football for the Vauxhall Motors factory where he worked and in his spare time played in several bands as a bass guitarist.


title: Paul Young

text: The first group for which he became lead singer was Kat Kool & the Kool Kats. In the late 1970s, he joined Streetband, who had one top 20 hit in the UK, with the humorous, novelty track "Toast". In December 1979, Streetband disbanded.


title: Paul Young

text: The ex-Streetbanders added new recruits Dave Lathwell on guitar and Baz Watts on drums and became Q-Tips. In addition, a four piece brass section was created by Steve Farr (baritone saxophone), Richard Blanchard (tenor saxophone), Stuart Van Blandamer (alto saxophone) and Tony Hughes (trumpet), who all hailed from the North London and Hertfordshire area, while organist Ian Kewley lived in Essex. Q-Tips' name derived from a well-known brand of cotton buds.


title: Paul Young

text: Q-Tips's first rehearsals took place in November 1979. Their first concert was on 18 November 1979 at the Queens Arms Hotel in Harrow. This was followed by another at the Horn of Plenty in St Albans - a regular gig for Streetband during 1978 - and a total of 16 in their first month of existence. Some personnel changes occurred during the first six months, with Blanchard and Lathwell leaving the band.


title: Paul Young

text: By 1 April 1980, the band had recorded two tracks, "SYSLJFM (The Letter Song)", and "Having a Party", both recorded at the Livingstone Studios in Barnet. Constant touring and concert appearances had built a strong fan base by mid-1981, when the small amount of soul music covers were outnumbered by the band's own tracks. The professionalism of the band had attracted the attention of several record labels, with the late Mickie Most (RAK Records) confirming on BBC Radio 1's "Round Table" programme that Q-Tips "...are easily the best live band working at the moment". In August 1980, the British music magazine "NME" reported that Q-Tips had released their debut, eponymous album.


title: Paul Young

text: In time, Garth Watt Roy replaced John Gifford on guitar, and Blandamer was replaced by Nick Payne. This line-up remained for the rest of the band's career. They appeared on BBC Television's "In Concert", "Rock Goes to College" and "The Old Grey Whistle Test" in the latter part of 1981. Other television appearances included children's Saturday morning TV. Q-Tips opened for the J. Geils Band, the Knack, Thin Lizzy, Bob Marley and the Average White Band.


title: Paul Young

text: The band toured with After the Fire, and supported the Who on their 12-date UK tour in 1980. In 1981, Q-Tips played the Montreux Jazz Festival. With poor record sales after the release of two albums and seven singles, the Q-Tips broke up in early 1982 when Paul Young signed a solo recording contract with CBS. In late 1982 and early 1983, the brass section and drummer of Q-Tips toured with Adam Ant on the UK and US legs of his "Friend or Foe" tour, and some remained for Ant's 1984 "Strip" tour.


title: Paul Young

text: The Q-Tips disbanded in 1982, and Young was signed by Columbia Records as a solo performer. Together with ex-Q-Tips member, songwriter and keyboard player Ian Kewley, Young began writing and recording songs for his debut album, the breakthrough No Parlez.


title: Paul Young

text: Young's new backing band The Royal Family included keyboardist Kewley, fretless bass player Pino Palladino, guitarist Steve Bolton, drummer Mark Pinder, and backing singers Maz Roberts and Kim Leslie AKA The Fabulous Wealthy Tarts. His first two singles, "Iron Out the Rough Spots" and a cover of "Love of the Common People", had no success, but the third, a cover of the Marvin Gaye song "Wherever I Lay My Hat", reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in the summer of 1983, the first of 14 British Top 40 singles. The song was included on the soundtrack of the 1992 British comedy film "Peter's Friends".


title: Paul Young

text: Similar success followed all over Europe. In the UK, follow-up single "Come Back and Stay" reached No. 4, and a re-release of "Love of the Common People" made it to No. 2 and even received radio airplay in the United States (thanks to its soundtrack inclusion in John Hughes's film "Sixteen Candles"), and his debut album "No Parlez" was certified platinum in various countries.


title: Paul Young

text: The year 1984 was difficult for Young, as his first heavy promotional and live concert tour of America strained his vocal cords severely, to the extent that he was forced to rest his voice and did not sing for much of the year. He recovered sufficiently to become involved with the Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", an all-star charity project put together by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure for Ethiopian famine relief. Young sang the opening lines of the song as a replacement for David Bowie.


title: Paul Young

text: He returned to the UK Top Ten with a version of Ann Peebles' "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down". The latter appeared on his second album, "The Secret of Association", released in 1985, which secured his future success in the United States, Japan and Australia. The album went to No. 1 in the UK. However, he continued to have occasional voice and throat difficulties. That year, Young scored the biggest worldwide hit of his career with "Every Time You Go Away", a cover of a song from the 1980 Hall & Oates album "Voices". "Every Time You Go Away" topped the pop charts in the U.S., and was his biggest success in the U.S. He performed the song during the London segment of the Live Aid concert.


title: Paul Young

text: During parts of 1987, Young toured extensively as the opening act for Genesis on their "Invisible Touch Tour". Playing more than 35 dates in 13 countries, Young showcased his hits including "Everything Must Change", "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down", "Come Back and Stay" and "Everytime You Go Away". This tour concluded on July 1-4, 1987 with four sold out shows featuring more than 350,000 fans at Wembley Stadium (1923) in London.


title: Paul Young

text: In 1990, he released a cover of The Chi-Lites' "Oh Girl", which peaked at No. 8 on the "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: Paul Young

text: He continued to have a successful career, with some highlights such as singing the Crowded House track "Don't Dream It's Over" at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute in 1988, producing a popular duet, "Senza una donna (Without a Woman)," with Italian blues singer Zucchero in 1991, and singing "Radio Ga Ga" with the surviving members of Queen in 1992, at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert soon after Freddie Mercury died. In 1991, he recorded a duet with Irish group Clannad for the Blake Edwards film "Switch", a cover of the Joni Mitchell song, "Both Sides Now".


title: Paul Young

text: "Don't Dream It's Over", "Senza una donna (Without a Woman)" and "Both Sides Now" were featured on his first greatest hits album "From Time To Time – The Singles Collection", released in 1991. The album included the hit singles from Young's first four solo albums, the three above-mentioned songs, and a previously unreleased selection called "I'm Only Foolin' Myself".


title: Paul Young

text: In 1992, Young formed a new group Los Pacaminos based on the sounds of Ry Cooder's "Chicken Skin Music” era and the Tex-Mex group the Texas Tornados, and they first performed low-key events in bars and clubs before progressing to theatres. In 1993, Young was dropped from his contract with the CBS/Sony Records label, and afterward, released fewer solo albums. He reformed the Q-Tips for a short series of concerts that year. He contributed to the Vangelis album "Voices" in 1995. Young sang the British national anthem, "God Save the Queen", at Wembley Stadium before England's Euro '96 semi-final match against Germany.


title: Paul Young

text: In 1996, Young was again performing solo and preparing for his next album, "Paul Young", which was released the following year on East West Records. In November 2001, when Young was on the final night of the Here and Now tour, Michael Aspel awarded him his This is Your Life book. The show went out on BBC One on 5 December that year. 2006 saw the release of "Rock Swings – On the Wild Side of Swing". In September 2006, he appeared in the BBC1 cooking show "Celebrity MasterChef", and won his show, allowing him a place in the semi-finals. A year later, he was a contestant on another cooking show, ITV's "Hell's Kitchen".


title: Paul Young

text: Although his musical career had begun to decline, Young began to make more appearances in the media. He appeared as a guest on shows including "The Wright Stuff", "This Morning" and "The One Show". In 2010, Young recorded and released a new track "Come Back", a duet he did with electronic dance music act Chicane. The single was a sample of Young's 1983 hit "Come Back and Stay", and charted at 151 on the UK Singles Chart. The single was recorded onto Chicane's 2010 album "Giants". After a lengthy absence of recorded material, Young released an album of vintage soul songs in 2016 called Good Thing produced by Arthur Baker, and began a lengthy period of tours and festival appearances. He still is touring around the world with his band.


title: Paul Young

text: Young first formed Los Pacaminos in 1993. The reason for the group forming was Young's desire to get back to basics, as he explains "I was between record labels and writing material for a new album but I wanted to play live again. I've always loved the Tex-Mex sound and knew a few musicians who had a similar passion for this type of music. So I asked them to join me in forming a band.


title: Paul Young

text: The group’s early performances were in bars and clubs, performing a mixture of their own material and covers. The album "Los Pacaminos" was released in 2002.


title: Paul Young

text: Upon the release of the album, the band established themselves as a professional line-up, consisting of:


title: Paul Young

text: The band continued to perform and record throughout Europe and the UK. In 2014, the band released their second album "A Fistful of Statins".


title: Paul Young

text: Other media released by the band include an EP and a live album. In 2015, member Matt Irving died. The band, however, continues to tour and record.


title: Paul Young

text: Paul Young’s earliest collaboration was in the late 1970s on Streetband’s first album "London" when Ian Dury made a guest appearance on the track "Mystery". Then, in between the Q-Tips and his solo deal, Paul sang backing vocals on the Squeeze single "Black Coffee in Bed" with Elvis Costello. Young's best known musical collaboration (apart from Los Pacaminos) was with his early collaboration with bassist Pino Palladino. Palladino, who had collaborated with Tears for Fears, Go West and Gary Numan, featured on four of Young's albums: "No Parlez", "The Secret of Association", "The Crossing" and "Paul Young". Young released a version of the song "Both Sides, Now" with Irish group Clannad for the 1991 motion picture "Switch".


title: Paul Young

text: Young met his wife, former model Stacey Smith, on his video for "Come Back and Stay" in 1983. They married while they were living in Los Angeles in November 1987. They had three children: daughters Levi (born March 1987), Layla (born August 1994), and son Grady Cole (born January 1996). Young and Smith split up in May 2006 and then reconciled in March 2009. On 26 January 2018, it was announced that Stacey Young had died of brain cancer, aged 52. Paul lives in London.


title: Paul Young

text: Young is a close friend of singer and former Spandau Ballet front man Tony Hadley. The two toured Australia and New Zealand during October and November 2008.


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: William Thomas Sadler (born April 13, 1950) is an American stage, film, and television actor. His television and motion picture roles have included Chesty Puller in "The Pacific", in "", Sheriff Jim Valenti in "Roswell", convict Heywood in "The Shawshank Redemption", Senator Vernon Trent in "Hard to Kill", Death in "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" and "Bill & Ted Face the Music", and Colonel Stuart in "Die Hard 2". He played Matthew Ellis in "Iron Man 3", "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", and "WHIH Newsfront". He also recurs as John McGarrett in the 2010 remake of the 1968 television series "Hawaii Five-O", and the Boston boxing promoter and suspected drug dealer Gino Fish in the Jesse Stone television film series, opposite Tom Selleck. He also played Don in the 1992 movie "Trespass" starring Ice Cube, Ice-T and Bill Paxton.


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: Sadler was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Jane and William Sadler. From an early age, he took to performing in front of an audience. Playing a variety of stringed instruments, he found hometown success during his high-school years at Orchard Park High School. He took on the persona of Banjo Bill Sadler, a banjo-playing singer who cracked jokes while playing.


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: After graduating from high school, he enrolled in SUNY Geneseo; then spent two years at Cornell University, where he earned his master's degree in acting with a minor in speech communications. He is a certified speech teacher and practiced in accents.


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: Sadler took his first post-school role in Florida and soon relocated to Boston, moving in with his sister while scrubbing the floors of a lobster boat by day and performing his acting roles at night.


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: A chance meeting with an old schoolmate on a trip into the city resulted in Sadler's casting in an off-off-Broadway production of Chekhov's "Ivanov".


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: After a brief turn at the Trinity Square Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, Sadler moved back to New York and rented an apartment in the East Village, beginning twelve years in which he appeared in over 75 productions, including originating the role of Sgt. Toomey in the Broadway run of Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues", opposite Matthew Broderick in 1985.


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: Sadler is best known for his roles in the 1990 action film "Die Hard 2" as Colonel Stuart, as Heywood in the 1994 prison drama "The Shawshank Redemption", Death in the 1991 comedy "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey", and as Brayker in "Demon Knight".


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: When he first auditioned for a role in "Die Hard 2", he was told he was too young. With a make-up artist friend's help, Sadler re-auditioned as a 70-year-old, and won the part. In addition to appearing in "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" as Death, Sadler also appears as himself, with his real-life wife and 5-year-old daughter, in scenes where families around world respond to Bill and Ted's actions. He reprised his Death role in the 2020 sequel "Bill & Ted Face the Music".


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: Sadler was also a regular on the television series "Roswell" as Sheriff Jim Valenti, and in "Wonderfalls" as Darrin Tyler.


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: His other film credits include "Trespass", "K-9", "Project X", "Disturbing Behavior", "Kinsey", "The Battle of Shaker Heights", "Purple Heart", "Jimmy and Judy" and "August Rush".


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: Sadler's TV guest appearances include "In the Heat of the Night", "Roseanne", "Tru Calling", "Tour of Duty", "", "Numb3rs", and "". He had a recurring role on "" as .


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: He appeared in three episodes as Sloan in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"'s final two seasons. In 2007, he played Carlton Fog on ABC's "Traveler", and in 2008 he appeared in both NBC's "Medium" as well as Fox Television's "Fringe". The 1989 pilot episode of the HBO horror anthology series "Tales from the Crypt" featured Sadler in its lead role. In March 2011, Sadler made a guest appearance in NBC's "Chase".


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: Sadler portrayed Julius Caesar in the contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" on Broadway alongside Denzel Washington at the Belasco Theatre. Recently, he finished shooting with American independent filmmakers Dylan Bank and Morgan Pehme on the film "Nothing Sacred". Sadler portrayed the robot Victor in the 2010 video game, "". Sadler played Lee Underwood in "Greetings from Tim Buckley", a film on Tim and Jeff Buckley, which premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: In 2015, Sadler was part of the Texas Frightmare Weekend, and starred in "Ava's Possessions", which was screened at SXSW.


title: William Sadler (actor)

text: On September 8, 2021, it was announced that Sadler was cast in the Stephen King adaptation of "Salem's Lot" in an undisclosed role.


title: Goliath birdeater

text: The Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) belongs to the tarantula family Theraphosidae. Found in northern South America, it is the largest spider in the world by mass () and body length (up to ), and second to the giant huntsman spider by leg span. It is also called the Goliath tarantula or Goliath bird-eating spider; the practice of calling theraphosids "bird-eating" derives from an early 18th-century copper engraving by Maria Sibylla Merian that shows one . Despite the spider's name, it rarely preys on birds.


title: Goliath birdeater

text: These spiders can have a leg span up to , a body length of up to and can weigh up to . Birdeaters are one of the few tarantula species that lack tibial spurs, located on the first pair of legs of most adult males. They are mostly tan to light brown and golden-hued.


title: Goliath birdeater

text: Unlike other species of spider/tarantula, females do not eat the males during mating. Females mature in 3–6 years and have an average lifespan of 15 to 25 years. Males die soon after maturity and have a lifespan of three to six years. Colors range from dark to light brown with faint markings on the legs. Bird-eaters have hair on their bodies, abdomens, and legs. The female lays 100 to 200 eggs, which hatch into spiderling within 6–8 weeks.


title: Goliath birdeater

text: In response to threats, Goliath birdeaters stridulate by rubbing setae on their pedipalps and legs. Also, when threatened they rub their abdomen with their hind legs and release hairs that are a severe irritant to the skin and mucous membranes. These urticating hairs can be harmful to humans.


title: Goliath birdeater

text: Like all tarantulas, "T. blondi" spiders have fangs large enough () to break the skin of a human. They carry venom in their fangs and have been known to bite when threatened, but the venom is relatively harmless and its effects are comparable to those of a wasp's sting. Tarantulas generally bite humans only in self-defence, and these bites do not always result in envenomation (known as a "dry bite”).


title: Goliath birdeater

text: Despite its name, the Goliath birdeater only rarely actually preys on birds; in the wild, its diet consists primarily of other large arthropods, worms, and amphibians. However, because of its size and opportunistic predatory behavior, this species commonly kills and consumes a variety of insects and small terrestrial vertebrates. They do not consume their prey in the open; rather, they drag it back to their burrow and begin the digesting process. They do this by liquifying the insides of their prey and proceed to suck it dry. In the wild, "T. blondi" has been observed feeding on rodents, frogs, toads, lizards, and even snakes.


title: Goliath birdeater

text: The Goliath birdeater is native to the upland rain forest regions of Northern South America: Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, northern Brazil, and southern Venezuela. Most noticeable in the Amazon rainforest, the spider is terrestrial, living in deep burrows, and is found commonly in marshy or swampy areas. It is a nocturnal species.


title: Goliath birdeater

text: The Goliath birdeater is an edible spider. The spider is part of the local cuisine in northeastern South America, prepared by singeing off the urticating hairs and roasting it in banana leaves. The flavor has been described as "shrimp-like".


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Biagio Anthony Gazzara (August 28, 1930 – February 3, 2012) was an American actor and director of film, stage, and television. He received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Drama Desk Award, in addition to nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and three Tony Awards.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Born to Italian immigrants in New York City, Gazzara studied at The New School and began his professional career with the Actors Studio, of which he was a lifelong member. His breakthrough role was in the Broadway play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1955–56), which earned him widespread acclaim. A memorable performance as a soldier on trial for murder in Otto Preminger's "Anatomy of a Murder" (1959) transitioned him to an equally successful screen career. As the star of the television series "Run for Your Life" (1965–1968), Gazzara was nominated for three Golden Globes and two Emmy Awards. He won his only Emmy Award for the television film "Hysterical Blindness" (2002).


title: Ben Gazzara

text: He was a recurring collaborator of John Cassavetes, working with him on "Husbands" (1970), "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" (1976) and "Opening Night" (1977). His other best-known films include "The Bridge at Remagen" (1969), "Capone" (1975) "Voyage of the Damned" (1976), "Saint Jack" (1979), "Road House" (1989), "The Spanish Prisoner" (1997), "The Big Lebowski" (1998), "Buffalo '66" (1998), "Happiness" (1998), "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1999), "Summer of Sam" (1999), "Dogville" (2003) and "Paris, je t'aime" (2006). He also had a successful and prolific film career in Europe, particularly Italy, where he worked with preeminent directors like Giuseppe Tornatore, Giuliano Montaldo, Marco Ferreri, and Lars von Trier.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara was known for his gritty, naturalistic portrayals of intense, often amoral characters. According to "The Hollywood Reporter", "Gazzara positioned himself for 'creative elbow room,' seeking edgy characters in non-mainstream productions or infusing mainstream productions with idiosyncratic supporting turns."


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara was born in New York City, the son of Italian immigrants Angelina (née Cusumano) and Antonio Gazzara, a laborer and carpenter, each of Sicilian origin—Angelina from Castrofilippo and Antonio from Canicattì in the province of Agrigento. He was raised in a monolingual, Italian-speaking household, and did not learn English until he went to school.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara grew up in New York's Kips Bay neighborhood; he lived on East 29th Street. He participated in the drama program at Madison Square Boys & Girls Club located across the street. He attended New York City's Stuyvesant High School, but finally graduated from Saint Simon Stock in the Bronx. Years later, he said that the discovery of his love for acting saved him from a life of crime during his teen years.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: He went to City College of New York to study electrical engineering. After two years, he relented. He took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator and afterward joined the Actors Studio.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: He received acclaim for his off-Broadway performance in "End as a Man" in 1953. The production was transferred to Broadway and ran until 1954.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: In 1954, Gazzara (having modified his original surname from "Gazzarra") made several appearances on NBC's legal drama "Justice", based on case studies from the Legal Aid Society of New York. He also guest-starred on shows such as "Medallion Theatre" and "The United States Steel Hour".


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara became a Broadway sensation when he portrayed the role of Brick in Tennessee Williams's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1955–56) opposite Barbara Bel Geddes, directed by Elia Kazan. Gazzara turned down the role in the film version. The studio planned to offer the role to James Dean, but the part was given to Paul Newman after Dean's death.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: He had a Broadway flop with "The Night Circus" (1958) and continued to guest-star on shows like "Playhouse 90", "Kraft Television Theatre", "Armchair Theatre" and "DuPont Show of the Month".


title: Ben Gazzara

text: His second film was a high-profile performance as a soldier on trial for avenging his wife's rape in Otto Preminger's courtroom drama "Anatomy of a Murder" (1959).


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara told Charlie Rose in 1998 that he went from being mainly a stage actor who often would turn up his nose at film roles in the mid-1950s to, much later, a ubiquitous character actor who turned very little down. "When I became hot, so to speak, in the theater, I got a lot of offers," he said. "I won't tell you the pictures I turned down, because you'll say, 'You are a fool'—and I was a fool."


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Back in the US he did a TV movie, "Cry Vengeance!" (1961), and was second-billed in "The Young Doctors" (1961). He was also the mystery guest on "What's My Line" (6 September 1961).


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara became well known in several television series, beginning with "Arrest and Trial", which ran from 1963 to 1964 on ABC.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: He also appeared in the TV special "A Carol for Another Christmas" (1964) and had a short Broadway run in "A Traveller without Luggage" in 1964. He also guest-starred on "Kraft Suspense Theatre".


title: Ben Gazzara

text: He gained fame in the TV series "Run for Your Life" which ran from 1965 to 1968 on NBC, in which he played a terminally ill man trying to get the most out of the last two years of his life. For his work in the series, Gazzara received two Emmy nominations for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" and three Golden Globe nominations for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama."


title: Ben Gazzara

text: When the series ended Gazzara had a cameo in "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" (1969) and a lead in the wartime action film "The Bridge at Remagen" (1969).


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Some of the actor's most formidable characters were those he created with his friend John Cassavetes in the 1970s. They collaborated for the first time on Cassavetes's film "Husbands" (1970), in which he appeared alongside Peter Falk and Cassavetes.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara starred in a television movie, "Pursuit" (1972), the directorial debut of Michael Crichton. He also made the television movies "When Michael Calls" (1972), "Fireball Forward" (1972), and "The Family Rico" (1972).


title: Ben Gazzara

text: He made "The Sicilian Connection" (1972) in Italy, and did a science fiction film "The Neptune Factor" (1973). There were more television films "You'll Never See Me Again" (1973) and "Maneater" (1973).


title: Ben Gazzara

text: He starred in the television miniseries "QB VII" (1974), which won six primetime Emmy Awards. The six-and-a-half-hour series was based on a book by Leon Uris and co-starred Anthony Hopkins. He then played gangster Al Capone in the biographical film "Capone" (1975). Cassevetes was in the support cast.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara appeared on Broadway in "Hughie" (1975) then worked again for Cassavetes as director in "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" (1976), in which Gazzara took the leading role of the hapless strip-joint owner, Cosmo Vitelli. He starred in an action movie, "High Velocity" (1976), and was one of many stars in "Voyage of the Damned" (1976).


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara returned to Broadway for a production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" with Colleen Dewhurst in 1976.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: A year later, he starred in yet another Cassavetes-directed movie, "Opening Night", as stage director Manny Victor, who struggles with the mentally unstable star of his show, played by Cassavetes's wife Gena Rowlands. He made an acclaimed TV movie "The Death of Richie" (1977).


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara's career received a boost when Peter Bogdanovich cast him in the title role of "Saint Jack" (1979). His increased profile helped him be cast in the male lead of "Bloodline" (1979) and the Korean War epic "Inchon" (1980) co-starring Laurence Olivier and Richard Roundtree.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara made some films in Europe: "Tales of Ordinary Madness" (1981), "The Girl from Trieste" (1982), "A Proper Scandal" (1984), "My Dearest Son" (1985). He starred with Rowlands in the critically acclaimed AIDS-themed TV movie "An Early Frost" (1985), for which he received his third Emmy nomination.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: He had a villainous role in the oft-televised Patrick Swayze film "Road House," which the actor jokingly said is probably his most-watched performance.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara appeared in 38 films, many for television, in the 1990s. He worked with a number of renowned directors, such as the Coen brothers ("The Big Lebowski"), Spike Lee ("Summer of Sam"), David Mamet ("The Spanish Prisoner"), Walter Hugo Khouri ("Forever"), Vincent Gallo ("Buffalo '66"), Todd Solondz ("Happiness"), John Turturro ("Illuminata"), and John McTiernan ("The Thomas Crown Affair").


title: Ben Gazzara

text: In his seventies, Gazzara continued to be active. In 2003, he appeared in "Nobody Don't Like Yogi", an off-Broadway show about Yogi Berra which had a solid run and was in a revival of "Awake and Sing!" (2006).


title: Ben Gazzara

text: He was in the ensemble cast of the experimental film "Dogville", directed by Lars von Trier of Denmark and starring Nicole Kidman, as well as the television film "Hysterical Blindness" (he received an Emmy Award for his role). In 2005, he played Agostino Casaroli in the television miniseries, "Pope John Paul II". He completed filming his scenes in the film "The Wait" in early 2012, shortly before his death.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: In addition to acting, Gazzara worked as an occasional television director; his credits include the "Columbo" episodes "A Friend in Deed" (1974) and "Troubled Waters" (1975). Gazzara was nominated three times for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play—in 1956 for "A Hatful of Rain", in 1975 for the paired short plays "Hughie" and "Duet", and in 1977 for a revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", opposite Colleen Dewhurst.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara was married three times, first to actress Louise Erickson (1951–1957). He married actress Janice Rule on November 25, 1961 in San Francisco. They had a daughter named Elizabeth. He married model Elke Krivat in 1982 and remained married to her until his death. Gazzara adopted his wife's daughter Danja from her prior relationship. Following his separation from his first wife, Gazzara was engaged to stage actress Elaine Stritch and later disclosed a love affair with actress Audrey Hepburn. He and Hepburn co-starred in two of her final films, "Bloodline" (1979) and "They All Laughed" (1981).


title: Ben Gazzara

text: In 1968, during filming of the war movie "The Bridge at Remagen", co-starring Gazzara and friend Robert Vaughn, the Soviet Union and its allies invaded Czechoslovakia. The cast and crew were detained for a time; filming was later completed in West Germany. During their departure from Czechoslovakia, Gazzara and Vaughn assisted with the escape of a Czech waitress whom they had befriended. They smuggled her to Austria in a car waved through a border crossing that had not yet been taken over by the Soviet army in its crackdown on the Prague Spring.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara was the honorary starter of the 1979 Daytona 500, the first flag-to-flag Daytona 500 broadcast live on CBS. He was also featured in a 1994 article in "Cigar Aficionado", in which he admitted smoking four packs of cigarettes a day until taking up cigar smoking in the mid-1960s.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Beginning in the late 1970s, Gazzara held permanent residence status in Italy. He maintained a second home in Umbria, where he lived while working in Europe.


title: Ben Gazzara

text: Gazzara was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1999. He suffered a stroke in 2005. On February 3, 2012, he died of pancreatic cancer at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York. He was cremated.


title: Michael Pollan

text: Michael Kevin Pollan (; born February 6, 1955) is an American author and journalist, who is currently the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.


title: Michael Pollan

text: Pollan is best known for his books that explore the socio-cultural impacts of food, such as "The Botany of Desire" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma".


title: Michael Pollan

text: Pollan was born to a Jewish family on Long Island, New York. He is the son of author and financial consultant Stephen Pollan and columnist Corky Pollan. Pollan received a B.A. in English from Bennington College in 1977 and an M.A. in English from Columbia University in 1981.


title: Michael Pollan

text: In "The Botany of Desire", Pollan explores the concept of co-evolution, specifically of humankind's evolutionary relationship with four plants—apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes—from the dual perspectives of humans and the plants. He uses case examples that fit the archetype of four basic human desires, demonstrating how each of these botanical species are selectively grown, bred, and genetically engineered. The apple reflects the desire for sweetness, the tulip for beauty, marijuana for intoxication, and the potato for control.


title: Michael Pollan

text: Throughout the book, Pollan explores the narrative of his own experience with each of the plants, which he then intertwines with a well-researched exploration into their social history. Each section presents a unique element of human domestication, or the "human bumblebee" as Pollan calls it. These range from the true story of Johnny Appleseed to Pollan's first-hand research with sophisticated marijuana hybrids in Amsterdam, to the alarming and paradigm-shifting possibilities of genetically engineered potatoes. Pollan is critical of industrial monoculture claiming it leads to crops less able to defend themselves against predators and requiring large amounts of pesticides and fertilizers which upsets the natural ecosystem.


title: Michael Pollan

text: In "The Omnivore's Dilemma", Pollan describes four basic ways that human societies have obtained food: the current industrial system, the big organic operation, the local self-sufficient farm, and the hunter-gatherer. Pollan follows each of these processes—from a group of plants photosynthesizing calories through a series of intermediate stages, ultimately into a meal. Along the way, he suggests that there is a fundamental tension between the logic of nature and the logic of human industry, that the way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world, and that industrial eating obscures crucially important ecological relationships and connections. On December 10, 2006, "The New York Times" named "The Omnivore's Dilemma" one of the five best nonfiction books of the year. On May 8, 2007, the James Beard Foundation named "The Omnivore's Dilemma" its 2007 winner for the best food writing. It was the book of focus for the University of Pennsylvania's Reading Project in 2007, and the book of choice for Washington State University's Common Reading Program in 2009–10.


title: Michael Pollan

text: Pollan's discussion of the industrial food chain is in large part a critique of modern agribusiness. According to the book, agribusiness has lost touch with the natural cycles of farming, wherein livestock and crops intertwine in mutually beneficial circles. Pollan's critique of modern agribusiness focuses on what he describes as the overuse of corn for purposes ranging from fattening cattle to massive production of corn oil, high-fructose corn syrup, and other corn derivatives. He describes what he sees as the inefficiencies and other drawbacks of factory farming and gives his assessment of organic food production and what it's like to hunt and gather food. He blames those who set the rules (e.g., politicians in Washington, D.C., bureaucrats at the United States Department of Agriculture, Wall Street capitalists, and agricultural conglomerates like Archer Daniels Midland) of what he calls a destructive and precarious agricultural system that has wrought havoc upon the diet, nutrition, and well-being of Americans. Pollan finds hope in Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm in Virginia, which he sees as a model of sustainability in commercial farming. Pollan appears in the documentary film "King Corn" (2007).


title: Michael Pollan

text: Pollan's book "", released on January 1, 2008, explores the relationship with what he terms "nutritionism" and the Western diet, with a focus on late 20th century food advice given by the science community. Pollan holds that consumption of fat and dietary cholesterol does not lead to a higher rate of coronary disease, and that the reductive analysis of food into nutrient components is a mistake.


title: Michael Pollan

text: Throughout the book, Pollan questions the view that the point of eating is to promote health, pointing out that this attitude is not universal and that cultures that perceive food as having purposes of pleasure, identity, and sociality may end up with better health. He explains this seeming paradox by vetting, and then validating, the notion that nutritionism and, therefore, the whole Western framework through which we intellectualize the value of food is more a religious and faddish devotion to the mythology of simple solutions than a convincing and reliable conclusion of incontrovertible scientific research.


title: Michael Pollan

text: Pollan spends the rest of his book explicating his first three phrases: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." He contends that most of what Americans now buy in supermarkets, fast food stores, and restaurants is not in fact food, and that a practical tip is to eat only those things that people of his grandmother's generation would have recognized as food.


title: Michael Pollan

text: In 2009, "" was published. This short work is a condensed version of his previous efforts, intended to provide a simple framework for a healthy and sustainable diet. It is divided into three sections, further explicating Pollan's principles of "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." It includes his rules ("i.e.," "let others sample your food" and "the whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead").


title: Michael Pollan

text: In "", published in 2013, Pollan explores the methods by which cooks mediate "between nature and culture." The book is organized into four sections corresponding to the classical elements of Fire (cooking with heat), Water (braising and boiling with pots), Air (breadmaking), and Earth (fermenting). The book also features Samin Nosrat, who later became known for the bestselling cookbook "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat", and as "the chef who taught Michael Pollan how to cook." A 2016 Netflix documentary series created by Alex Gibney is based on the book, starring Michael Pollan and Isaac Pollan.


title: Michael Pollan

text: In 2018, Pollan wrote "How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence," a book about the history and future of psychedelic drugs. The book became a No. 1 "New York Times" best-seller. He argues that psilocybin and LSD are not drugs that make people crazy, which he calls the biggest misconception people have about psychedelics, but rather drugs that can help a person become "more sane" by, for example, eliminating a fear of death. While promoting his book on TV, he explained that along with LSD and psilocybin, his research included ingesting ayahuasca and 5-MeO-DMT, and that he experienced a dissolution of ego. Based on his 2018 book Pollan leads the way in the Netflix docuseries "How to Change Your Mind" exploring the history and uses of psychedelics, including LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and mescaline.


title: Michael Pollan

text: His book "This Is Your Mind on Plants" was released on July 6, 2021, and explores in particular opium, caffeine, and mescaline. Pollan is trying to start a post war on drugs conversation that better takes into account how different one drug is from another and figures out cultural containers for each of them, to use them safely and productively. The book ends with a ceremony around the use of San Pedro (Echinopsis Pachanoi), a relatively fast growing Andean cactus that contains mescaline.


title: Michael Pollan

text: Pollan is a contributing writer for the "New York Times Magazine" and a former executive editor for "Harper's Magazine". His first book, "Second Nature: A Gardener's Education", was published in 1991.


title: Michael Pollan

text: Pollan has contributed to "Greater Good", a social psychology magazine published by the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. His article "Edible Ethics" discusses the intersection of ethical eating and social psychology.


title: Michael Pollan

text: In his 1998 book "A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder", Pollan methodically traced the design and construction of the out-building where he writes. The 2008 re-release of this book was re-titled "A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams."


title: Michael Pollan

text: Pollan wrote and narrated an audiobook, Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World, for "Audible.com"


title: Michael Pollan

text: In 2014, Pollan wrote the foreword in the healthy eating cookbook "The Pollan Family Table". The book is co-authored by his mother, Corky Pollan, and sisters, Lori Pollan, Dana Pollan, and Tracy Pollan.


title: Michael Pollan

text: Pollan also co-starred in the documentary, "Food, Inc." (2008), for which he was also a consultant. In 2010 Pollan was interviewed for the film "Queen of the Sun: What are the bees telling us?", a feature-length documentary about honey bees and colony collapse disorder. He was also interviewed for "Vanishing of the Bees", a documentary also about colony collapse, directed by Maryam Henein and George Langworthy. In 2015, a documentary version of Pollan's book "In Defense of Food" premiered on PBS. In 2016, Netflix released a four-part documentary series, which was based on Pollan's book, "Cooked" (2013), and was directed by Alex Gibney.


title: Michael Pollan

text: In 2015, Pollan received the Washburn Award from the Boston Museum of Science, awarded annually to "an individual who has made an outstanding contribution toward public understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in our lives" and was named as a fellow at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.