Science says you can be 30 years younger, read on! As a runner I keep my eyes out for uplifting articles on the effects of exercise. So recently I was greatly uplifted by this one: “Regular Exercise May Keep Your Body 30 Years ‘Younger”. And no, it wasn’t an ad, it was published in August in the Journal of Applied Physiology, by researchers at Ball...
In the category of believe it or not: “Zoo Weans Animals Off Fruit Because Its Increased Sugar Makes Them Fat and Rots Their Teeth” . BTW the zoo is in Melbourne, Australia. Are these Aussies crazy politically correct, or just plain crazy? Full disclosure: I’m a card (viz. passport) -carrying Australian. As in Fosters, Australian for beer. G’ day ...
It's estimated that 20% of Americans have a mental disorder of some kind; BTW that’s 44 million people. Around 70% of youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental disorder and at least 20% live with a serious mental illness. Another 20% of State prisoners has mental disorder. Nearly 1 in 2 people – that’s all of us now - will suffer f...
If you’re a teen, or even a tween, not to mention over the hill in your 20s, you will know that vaping is cool; in fact way cool dude. The King of the Hill in this neck of the cottonfields is Juul, the maker of the market-leading e-cigarette. Of course, it was too good to last. The spoilsports in the FDA not to mention States legal eagles are conc...
Facial recognition is hot now. The software is now so good it’s being used for crime prevention and apprehension by law agencies. This is leading to a revolution in law and order as we speak. Did you see the research that links particular types of wrinkles to heart disease? Apparently, these wrinkles are a good predictor. So, what I’m wondering is ...
I’m sure you noticed the recent report about drinking alcohol. It’s based on an article in the Lancet, the British medical journal. Its well-known to be an authoritative source so that gives the report a high level of street cred. In sum, the article concludes that there’s no safe level of alcohol. No matter how little you drink, it carries a defin...
Yep I know that I’m raising yet another hair-(sorry) brained idea, but consider it wishful thinking on the part of a hair-deficient yet hopeful male (viz. me). My idea is that climate change will make males like me hairier. That’s why so many males don’t care about – indeed heartily wish for – climate change; the more the merrier. What evidence, yo...
Paleo, keto, Mediterranean, Dr. Atkins, Weight-Watchers. So many diets, so little time to lose weight! What’s a girl to do? Your company might help you out by making you a vegetarian, as the phenom WeWork has done recently. The company will no longer serve any type of meat nor reimburse you for a burger. Tough right? It’s officially now a vegetaria...
I suppose you have seen the latest techno-phenomenon, namely electric scooters ("Electric scooters are invading. Bird's CEO leads the charge"). Now you can go to work on them by just getting their app and unlocking the contraption. They are supposed to be leading to reductions in traffic and maybe they even are. When I go to China I see the doc...
Mindfulness is hot. Google is a big proponent of mindfulness training, so that gives it the ultimate good management seal of approval? Nothing to question, right? You know I’ve got to respectfully disagree. So what if a couple of respected researchers have evidence that mindfulness training reduces motivation? Check this out: “Hey Boss, You Don’t...
So the movie “2001 – A Space Odyssey” has just been re-released. I saw it when it was first released and I didn’t understand it even then. No doubt I will be none the wiser this time around. But one thing still sticks in my mind; HAL, the mission computer had a bad case of mental ill-health. “2001” was a prescient work in so many ways. I think th...
I recently read an obituary of someone the town in which I live. He had died from complications of Alzheimer’s at the age of 73. What had caught my attention and stimulated my curiosity was that he had been a runner. I’m a runner too so I read the lengthy obituary just out of curiosity about the rest of his life, and yes, what sort of life had ...
Did you get the flu? I was so lucky, I got it twice! So lots of stuff about influenza in the news. Other than that, how could you ever get excited about it? Influenza is a virus. Everyone knows that too. Nothing exciting there either, right? But what if there were many more of the little critters than we had imagined? What if they were literall...
So many articles about how good exercise is for you that it’s become positively nauseating. Even a confirmed curmudgeon like me can’t find anything wrong with it. Yet the CDC says that only 20% of adults actually meet their do-good exercise guidelines (both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity). That means that 80% of Americans don’t do en...
Here’s some really bad news. Pfizer has just terminated its work in developing a drug to cure Alzheimer’s. Obviously Pfizer has thrown in the towel. Here’s some more grim news: Axovant has just announced that’s its Alzheimer’s drug just failed its trials. There have been a long series of failures in this area (“The List of Failed Alzheimer’s Drug T...
A true shock! Alcohol causes cancer. No, it’s not a fake news story. It’s been validated by respected cancer researchers internationally as well as UK government committees. It causes cancer in at least 7 sites - oropharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon, rectum and breast. And it’s likely that it also causes cancer of the skin, prostate and panc...
We’re so worked up about obesity (rightly so, though) that we forget about all the many other things that are out to get you. Count amongst these your trusty computer and your indispensable smartphone. The big problem is that we are either hunched over our computers at work or over our smartphones everywhere else. I’m sure you all know the problem ...
Obesity is old news these days. But what about our pets? It’s now become the topic du jour. naturally they’re getting fatter, just like we humans. The scientists are getting in the act, coz pet obesity (hereafter PO) is now big business, and of course we need to work out its genetics. Now the race is on to find healthier lifestyles for them, like g...
Did you see the truly amazing news that there’s now a drug that can actually cure all cancers no matter their location? And it’s been approved by the fusty old FDA so it really must work! Yep, it only works in about 4% of the population who have the right genetic makeup. But the writing is on the wall. Soon scientists are going to figure out all th...
Did you see the news piece about pollution at the bottom of the Marianas Trench? It’s the deepest place on Earth. Turns out that the crustaceans at the very bottom are 50 times more contaminated by toxic pollution byproducts than fish in the most polluted Chinese rivers. So congratulation humans! We have succeeded magnificently in polluting absolut...
