When governments keep jumping the gun on the pandemic, they may very well end up shooting themselves and their people in the foot. But first, a surprising breakthrough on how we can ‘breathe’! LAST week, a news item that left me gobsmacked was this: it is possible for mammals to absorb oxygen via the anus! Tokyo Medical and Dental University researchers successfully delivered oxygen in gas form and as an enema in the rectums of oxygen-deprived mice, rats and pigs. As the Japan Times reported, the procedure “normalised the animals’ behaviour and prolonged their survival”. This is possible because, according to lead researcher Ryo Okabe, “The rectum has a mesh of fine blood vessels just beneath the surface of its lining, which means that drugs administered through the anus are readily absorbed into the bloodstream”.