There are few things that separate us from the "lower forms," those being animals, plants, protozoa, etc. One is cigarette-smoking, which is stupid. Another is cooking, which is awesome. (Raw vegans will disagree with me.) I hesitate to use “the invention of technology” as a distinguishing characteristic of humans vs. beasts because certain members of the animal kingdom have been known to create unique tools to simplify their lives and communication.

For example, orangutans chew leaves to make sponges to soak up water in tree cavities when other sources of water dry up or are difficult to locate. The next time someone tries to tell me that we’re more creative than animals, I’m going to ask him if he can claim he invented the sponge.

I also hesitate to say that we, as humans, are smarter than those “below” us. I just found out that mushrooms are geniuses and can save the planet.

So, assuming we’re not going to be saving the planet any time soon, we will probably continue our smoking habits, and the sponge has already been invented, we have no choice but to relish in our ability to cook things. While we’re at it, let’s eat the smartest thing possible: mushrooms!

Today’s issue of Techfast featured a Breakfast Strata from Ellie Krieger, renowned chef on The Food Network. A satisfying, stick-to-your-ribs strata has the effect of making one feel as though it’s Christmas morning all morning long. (Or whichever wintry holiday you celebrate post-solstice, pre-new year.) And this broccoli and mushroom strata is no different. Plus, you’ll be ingesting the brains of the planet, and will thus glean wisdom and understanding, perhaps even enough to get your kid to let go of his cell phone for a hot second.

TMCnet’s Carrie Schmelkin wrote about this rising problem of the cell phone inhibiting our children’s social, and possibly educational, growth as “HackCollege found the following key statistics: 25 percent of students whip out their cell phone every single class period; 94 percent of students text every day; 73 percent make calls every day; 60 percent state that they sometimes feel too ‘addicted’ to their phone; and 75 percent of students sleep next to their phones.”

Regardless of whether or not this growing dependency calls for a national “Yikes!” moment, we can all consciously take a step back, acknowledge that we should be aware of this bodily dependence on our technology, and just check out the beautiful fall foliage for a second. After all, self-reflection might be another divergence in our existences versus that of orangutans’.

Yes, I am fully aware of the irony surrounding the fact that I took this picture with my cell phone.

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