But are you aware of health benefits of prebiotics? In a nutshell, prebiotics are food to help probiotics grow and multiply. They are food for your ‘good bugs’.

A quick review of probiotics will help in understanding prebiotics. The advantage of beneficial living organisms in food, particularly lactic acid bacteria, has been known for centuries. In fact, Roman historian, Plinius, in 76 BC, recommended fermented milk for treating gastroenteritis. In early 1900’s, a Russian zoologist, Elie Metchnikoff, wrote about health benefits of “friendly bacteria” and hypothesized that consumption of fermented milk products were responsible for long, healthy lives that Bulgarian peasants enjoyed.

Probiotics means “pro-life”. The digestive tract is home to over 400 species of microorganisms. Some are ‘good bugs’ and are ‘bad bugs’ or unhealthy bacteria. Probiotics are ‘good bugs’. Two of most common strains are lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. It is believed that if a positive balance of good bacteria is maintained, bad bacteria are less able to cause disease and irritation.

Here are some health benefits to taking probiotics: - inhibits growth of ‘bad bugs’, or bacteria that cause disease - synthesizes vitamins, primarily B vitamins - increase availability of nutrients - decrease lactose intolerance - decrease symptoms of GERD (gastro-esophageal reflux disease) - decrease prevalence of allergies - boosts immune response

As mentioned earlier, prebiotics are food for probiotics. Consequently, more you can feed and care for your ‘good bugs’, healthier you can be!

Fine! Each to his own.

But, someone dealing with paralysis, for example, has hope for a productive future. Cybernetics, which is introduction and implementation of hardware or non-organic components, into body, has enormous potential. Micro processors and less invasive wireless technologies ( no need for physical connection ), result in remote control of peripheral devices. A robotic arm, to mention a simple application that everyone is familiar with, can be controlled to manipulate external world, or perform relatively simple tasks like switching on kettle. Simpler again, and often more important, would be to scratch oneself, when itchy. If you ever wore a cast, you'll know what is meant by that.

Artificial limbs are fairly common, and can range in complexity or performance. It is fairly safe to say that we all know someone who depends on these (though it might not be obvious ).

The artificial eye is a breakthrough and is here, and though it requires refinement, it will improve. And why wouldn't it? We all know of cameras and how their images are transportable. The thing here is to allow a blind person, for example, to access what a camera sees, where eye has been irreversibly damaged or impaired. The optic nerve, however, may be just fine, so an interface between a camera and it, is one approach, and approach that has returned some results.

Artificial hearing, in its earlier form, was known as a hearing aid, and is around a long time, and implants within head, dramatically increases its potential,. It is this type of hardware implants that cybernetics encompasses. A merging of biological and electronic environments, if you will.

People who suffer physical injury or disease, that render them into a limited field of possibility, will be initial beneficiaries. Apparently, there is an area of brain called paroidal reach region, that can function, where complete paralysis exists. It runs through plan before a physical act occurs. Some believe that where this region is functional, external manipulation is possible. A processor is implanted; it picks up on electrical firing activity produced, and communicates this information wirelessly, to an external device.