Today I attended another campus lecture voluntarily. (Although I do have stuff I should probably be doing, it's just not the same as when I never had the chance to do even one voluntary thing a week, let alone two!)

This lecture was Dr. Ralph Blomster* discussing folk medications, specifically herbals. It was basically an overview of commonly used herbs, their uses, and effectiveness according to research. (I got there a bit late, so I missed hearing about boneset, mullein, and tansy.) I knew most of them already, as that is one of my personal interests. However, one research result that I hadn't heard was that wild yams don't do anything. Nevertheless, the surprising part was hearing a biochemist say that all the other things did have clinical effects.

Now, if only I could find an herb that promotes motivation for tedious paperwork...

*Appropriately, this means "flowers" in Norwegian.