What's Wrong with Fat?

Yesterday I went to the What's Wrong with Fat book discussion panel. Although I haven't read the book, I found it really interesting and I would be curious to read it in the future and find out more about the topic. Body image and obesity seem to be constantly discussed in both the medical and social worlds. Medically, it is often brought up in relation to health issues. Although after attending this event I have learned that there is excess emphasis put on anti-obseisity when we should really be focusing on good health in general. Socially, we are constantly exposed to "good" and "bad" body images in the media, fashion magazines, and advertising, creating a skewed version of health.

The author, Saguy, as well as one of the other speakers, Bianca Wilson, made the point that attacking obesity could actually be a way of our culture indirectly attacking certain minorities who are more likely to be obese. And while some people don't fall into the demographic of a body type that we perceive as "healthy"this does not necessarily mean that they are in worse health than someone who does fit the stereotype. Tamara Horwich, a cardiac doctor pointed out that heaver people are actually less likely to suffer from respiratory problems, which is a benefit of excess weight that often goes unmentioned.

One of the main points I got from the presentation is that our culture puts a huge amount of emphasis on fighting obesity and being "healthy" but in doing that we are ignoring what being healthy really means. Weight isn't the only determinant of health and there is a difference being fat and obese but these groups are often merged together. Fatness is looked down upon in our culture and while it can be caused by unhealthy diet and exercise patterns, being fat does not always have a direct correlation to being unhealthy. At the same time, being skinny does not necessarily mean healthy. Especially in the media, where the body images we are shown as the image of beauty are usually edited versions of celebrities who may not even lead healthy lifestyles to begin with.

Exploratorium

I had been to the Exploratorium many times before, but last weekend was the first time I visited their new location on the pier. The new location allows for a lot more space and also has an outside area as well as a few exhibits out in front that anyone walking by can observe. I've always loved how interactive the museum is and how most of their exhibits involve everyday things.

After seeing the movie 21 a few years ago, one of my favorite parts was when the professor is talking about the situation in a game show where a contestant has to pick from 3 doors, one of which contains a prize. Once the contestant chooses a door, the host reveals that one of the other two doors does not contain the prize. It is always mathematically beneficial for the contestant to switch his choice to the remaining door. The Exploratorium has an exhibit in which you can test this theory by having one person play the host and move a disk behind one of the doors and the other person is the contestant and guesses. After trying it many times over the years, I can say that the theory discussed in 21 is definitely true.

One of the most impressive exhibits allows you to change the shutter speed on a camera which then takes a picture of a water drop falling into a cup of water.

Another of my favorite exhibits is a coil that is hot on one side, cold on the other, and the middle is hot and cold coils intertwined. When you put one hand on each side and then touch the middle of the coil, the temperature in the middle feels significantly more hot or cold than each side because of the contrast in temperatures. 

The Exploratorium takes a very hands on approach to teaching science and is completely based on demonstration and experimentation. This reminded me of many of the art projects we were exposed to in the course which explored the boundaries between everyday life and art. I would definitely recommend visiting the Exploratorium to anyone in San Francisco because it is a much more fun and interactive approach to science than most other museums.