“If you feel like you are insignificant, try spending a night with a mosquito in the room.” ~various They are hard to avoid, in nature and in the news, and they are a cause of annoyance at best, and of a serious health caution at worst. Mosquitoes, or to be more...
I know I am not the only one puzzled by two seemingly contradictory properties that are claimed for Immortelle oil (Helichrysum italicum). Side note: you may know this as Helichrysum oil, but I am averse to co-opting a botanical name when there are several really...
There are several boswellic acids (BAs) found in some Frankincense species (notably Boswellia serrata and B. sacra), and the BAs are credited with possessing, among others, antitumoral properties, with 11-keto-β-boswellic acid being one of the most useful...
Among the many different species of Lavender, and one of the most interesting, is Lavandula stoechas subsp. luisieri (Rozeira) Rozeira, which is found only in Portugal and southwest Spain, and is often referred to as Seville Lavender. It is similar in appearance to...
Volatile compounds, or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are ubiquitous. They are in plants, the air we breathe, everything we eat and drink, and every fluid and tissue in our body. Volatile compounds are used for either same-species or cross-species communication by...
Personal note: I’ve been working on this article on and off since 2016 when I first came across the concept of smell training as a treatment for smell loss. And while the work has been delayed, at the same time I witnessed the evolution of a clinically approved and...
The claim that Lavender essential oil has been linked to pre-pubertal breast growth in children has been making the rounds since 2007. The most recent publication of cases, in 2019, catapulted this claim back into the spotlight, unfortunately with more sensationalism...
You probably know the difference between in vitro and in vivo research. The in vitro model is laboratory-based; experiments occur in test tubes or Petri dishes. The in vivo model, in contrast, uses living organisms (animals or humans) to test the actions of molecules...
Shannon Becker, PhD RA On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 – a virus that was first seen in the Chinese city of Wuhan, and subsequently appeared in virtually every country in the world. The designation means...
By Robert Tisserand Note: below is a link to a full article, along with an Executive Summary in six languages. Nature is complex. A single essential oil can contain dozens of constituents, each one of which, alone, has certain properties. How do we make sense of such...
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