Joint sufferers have recently been using Glucosamine Hydrochloride and Cat’s Claw (the herb) to relieve suffering of damaged cartilage, material that protects our joints as a shock absorber. This combination promotes cartilage formation and renewal in as little as one week.

And, while beauty industry is all aflutter with liposome technology for anti-aging skin care products, a sweet surprise for arthritis and muscle pain sufferers is fact that these liposomes work in same fast-absorbing, deeply penetrating manner when incorporated in joint and muscle pain creams. Liposome delivery systems are biodegradable, non-toxic and prevent oxidation, due to fact that they enable water-soluble and water-insoluble materials to be used together in a formulation without use of surfactants or other emulsifiers.

More and more consumers are becoming aware that in purchasing pharmaceutical products, one is paying for “altered molecules”, and their safety is subsequently being challenged. Many of us are no longer prepared to accept complications that come with technology that has not proven itself. Remember old adage, “buyer beware”. New is not always better. Of course, old is not always better either. But, for my money I’ll opt for safe products--those that have been around for centuries, and new ones that have a proven track record.

Theory theory says children collect evidence -- in form of gestures and expressions -- and use their everyday understanding of people to develop theories that explain and predict mental state of people they come in contact with.

Simulation theory states that we place ourselves in another person's "mental shoes", and use our own mind as a model for theirs.

But two theories are not mutually exclusive. If mirror neuron system is defective or damaged, and our ability to empathise is lost, observe-and-guess method of theory theory may be only option left. Some scientists suspect this is what happens in autistic people, whose mental disorder prevents them from understanding intentions and motives of others.

The idea is that mirror neuron systems of autistic individuals are somehow deficient, and that resulting "mind-blindness" prevents them from simulating experiences of others. For them, experience is more observed than lived, and emotional undercurrents that govern so much of our behaviour are inaccessible. They guess mental states of others through explicit theorising, but end result is a list of actions, gestures and expressions void of motive, intent, or emotion.

One recent experiment by Hugo Theoret and colleagues at University of Montreal showed that mirror neurons normally active during observation of hand movements in non-autistic individuals are silent in those who have autism.