Over the last several months I have discussed some cutting edge technology that comes from abroad. So, for a change of pace, let’s consider some old technology, some very old technology, innate to all of us. The incredible mechanism built into our jaws that allows us to chew. It isn’t really ‘low tech’, because these mechanisms are actually quite complicated and involve not only a highly developed group of specialized muscles, but also many aspects of the nervous system. This includes the innervation of these muscles and the sense of taste, the perception of size and place of the food morsels, as well as coordination with the impulse to swallow. All these are more or less involuntary activities carried on without our conscious input. But chewing, like breathing, is one of the few physiological activities that we can also control consciously.