This Week I Learned: Female Hunters, Drugs, Cancer
Time to rethink the early civilization gender roles
This week I went in a few different directions. I first got a little nostalgic and decided to look back 9,000 years in human history. However, items two and three are closer to my heart (and modern times) in that I feel health and wellness are among the most important things in our lives.
Hunter-gatherer myth
When growing up and learning about ancient civilizations, most of us heard about hunter-gatherer societies. Men went out to hunt animals, while women gathered fruits and vegetables. Thus beginning the societal norms for men and women that have persisted in modern times.
But new findings from Peru have given scientists evidence that for some societies in the Americas, between 30–50% of hunters were women.
This study specifically identifies a 9,000-year-old burial site. When combined with other findings, it gives reason to believe that the sexual division of labor was more equitable than previously thought.
Decriminalizing drugs
If you missed this headline from the 2020 election cycle, I could hardly blame you. The state of Oregon voted to decriminalize the personal use of all drugs. Instead of facing jail time for using heroin, mushrooms, or methamphetamine, people will instead be issued a fine or sent for a health evaluation at a drug treatment center.
This brought back vague memories of mine when I first heard, many years ago, about Portugal doing the same thing in an effort to stop their growing drug addiction problem. Many things can be taken from Portugal’s decision over the past 20 years:
- The drug-induced death rate has plummeted to five times lower than the E.U. average and stands at one-fiftieth of the United States’.
- The percentage of people in prison for drug reasons has decreased from 44% in 1999 to 24% in 2013.
- Eliminating criminal penalties for drug use has made it easier for people to seek treatment.
Population-level cancer screening test
Much of our societal discussion around cancer and cancer treatment is that of finding a cure. There’s the conspiracy theory that if there is indeed a cure for cancer, is it being hidden for profit reasons?
New developments have shown success at clinical trials using a blood test of cell-free DNA to detect more than 50 different types of cancer at different stages of severity. The study did find that the accuracy in detecting cancer improved the further along it was.
The takeaway that sticks with me is the researchers’ statement that this method of testing is putting us on track for population-level screenings. Meaning this could make it easier to detect early on-set cancers because testing could be done before symptoms show.
