Wishing you a
Happy New Year filled with Interest.
Happy New Year filled with Interest.
It’s that time again. Sharing a few things that I’ve learned each year is always difficult. Picking out a variety and not getting too much into the weeds is tricky. The latter is tough because as I start reading more and more and the hour is gone, and then the next hour is gone.
I know that you are – like I am – overwhelmed with news and materials from myriad sources. I send thanks to loyal readers who keep Aging_With_Pizzazz as one of those sources. Admittedly, my dozen fragments are just tidbits to consider, but hopefully a bit of fun as well. I trust something will be new to you too.
“Never stop learning” is the phrase I keep in mind. My yearly dozen are short pieces and perhaps fun enough to repeat. I hope that there will be at least one of my content posts this coming year that you will share with friends, family or others. It helps me to help others to “Never Stop Learning.” If you’re on social media, it’s just a click’s effort.
I know that you are – like I am – overwhelmed with news and materials from myriad sources. I send thanks to loyal readers who keep Aging_With_Pizzazz as one of those sources. Admittedly, my dozen fragments are just tidbits to consider, but hopefully a bit of fun as well. I trust something will be new to you too.
“Never stop learning” is the phrase I keep in mind. My yearly dozen are short pieces and perhaps fun enough to repeat. I hope that there will be at least one of my content posts this coming year that you will share with friends, family or others. It helps me to help others to “Never Stop Learning.” If you’re on social media, it’s just a click’s effort.
1. Earth Overshoot Day 2023 Improved
2. Hygienic Hypothesis in Action
3. Copy and Paste
I never really thought about it much, but this inventor has provided me a valuable short-cut in my life. I couldn’t even begin to estimate how many times I have used a ‘copy and paste’ function. It’s all thanks to an American inventor who died in 2020 at the age of 74. Born in NY City, Lawrence Gordon Tesler was a computer scientist who worked in the field of human-computer interaction. He worked for many well-known companies, and for most of us he certainly DID achieve better human-computer interaction. Next time you copy and paste, perhaps remember there is a face behind that time-saving function. Thinking of you, Mr. Tesler.
4. Surprise Hurricanes –Increasing?
I had never heard of Surprise Hurricanes. They’re indeed a surprise to meteorologists. And it’s not a good surprise. These storms are fast moving with wind speeds that increase more quickly than ever before. The tools that usually track such storms and give us warning to prepare are not yet up to this task. Previously meteorologists considered a quickly-increasing storm as one in which wind speeds increased 35 miles per hour each day. Hurricane “Otis” (in Mexico during October 2023) had “rapid intensification.” In the beginning of the day, it was a typical run-of-the-mill tropical storm with wind speeds from 35 or 45 miles/hour. By that night it had rapidly intensified to a category 5 hurricane with speeds up to 165 miles/hour. According to New York Times Meteorologist, Judson Jones, they had never recorded anything like this, that it was “totally off the charts.”
Hurricanes (or cyclones in the Atlantic) need ocean water temperatures of 80 degrees. As this becomes more common with climate change, so will the hurricanes, and unfortunately, the surprise hurricanes. Evidently, in many of these cases, “sheltering in place” will become a norm. Inexpensive roof ties, to keep the roof attached to the home are a possible suggestion for safer sheltering-in-place.
Hurricanes (or cyclones in the Atlantic) need ocean water temperatures of 80 degrees. As this becomes more common with climate change, so will the hurricanes, and unfortunately, the surprise hurricanes. Evidently, in many of these cases, “sheltering in place” will become a norm. Inexpensive roof ties, to keep the roof attached to the home are a possible suggestion for safer sheltering-in-place.
5. Even MORE New Thoughts on Brain Cell Death (& Alzheimer’s)
We’ve read about the abnormal proteins amyloid and tau developing in the brain. But recently researchers (in UK and Belgium) think they’ve found how they function together. This duo influences passive cell death (necroptosis. slightly different than the controlled cell death of apoptosis), leading to problems like Alzheimer’s. After decades of seeing individual parts, they have a better idea of how the problem progresses. Work published in the journal Science shows a direct connection. In the very simplest of terms, necroptosis usually happens when cells become inflamed and die off. Again, in simple terms, when inflammation happens, the amyloid clumps in plaques and the tau forms ‘tangles.’ When both things happen, the brain produces a molecule called MEG3. The good news is that using human cells in mice brains (sorry for that image). they figured out how to block the MEG3. The brain cells survived. It offers reasonable hope for medical treatment.
6. Military Salute
7. Cholesterol & Genetic Changes
Loads of people have high cholesterol. One side of my family suffers from Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) an inherited mutation of (LDLR, APOB, or PCSK9) genes. FH affects the removal of cholesterol from the blood. That’s a bit more severe than general hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol), which is more common. Here’s where CRISPER steps in.
Announcements were made that in a New Zealand experimental lab, with a US biotechnology company, CRISPER was used for the first time on hypercholesteremia. Sometimes called “CRISPER 2.0,” it’s technically a ‘base editing’ system which switches base pairs (substituting a single letter of DNA for another), meaning that this was not gene splitting, but swapping. NPR Science Friday chose this treatment as one of the Top 10 technologies to watch. When possible, it seems a lot easier to control or maintain our cholesterol levels, but this treatment (albeit expensive) may be a good fallback in the future. It could reduce one of the prime causes of mortality in the world – heart disease.
As many of you will have read, later in the year the FDA approved the first gene ‘editing’ therapy for sickle cell disease (an excruciatingly painful condition leading to organ damage). The treatment is hopeful, while for the near-future, it will be expensive and difficult to obtain.
Announcements were made that in a New Zealand experimental lab, with a US biotechnology company, CRISPER was used for the first time on hypercholesteremia. Sometimes called “CRISPER 2.0,” it’s technically a ‘base editing’ system which switches base pairs (substituting a single letter of DNA for another), meaning that this was not gene splitting, but swapping. NPR Science Friday chose this treatment as one of the Top 10 technologies to watch. When possible, it seems a lot easier to control or maintain our cholesterol levels, but this treatment (albeit expensive) may be a good fallback in the future. It could reduce one of the prime causes of mortality in the world – heart disease.
As many of you will have read, later in the year the FDA approved the first gene ‘editing’ therapy for sickle cell disease (an excruciatingly painful condition leading to organ damage). The treatment is hopeful, while for the near-future, it will be expensive and difficult to obtain.
8. Iceland, Me and Guns
Why? Do they need to resort to mere “thoughts and prayers?” No, but in US we might consider it a paradox to have many guns with low crime. Researchers have some theories about this contradiction. Basically, it comes down to four factors. 1) Economic equality; 97% of Icelanders are considered some level of middle or working class. Thus, tension between economic classes and monetary unfairness are almost nonexistent. 2) A strong education system fosters a well-informed populace and fair wages. 3) A history of low violence and strong community bonds perpetuates the pride of continued low crime rates. 4) They have a responsible gun ownership culture. It’s a culture that supports safe firearm usage along with possession for hunting and colleting rather than violent acts. This promotes a nonviolent, socially-cohesive environment that includes gun ownership. Any number of these would be superior to thoughts and prayers alone.
Rates of Gun Ownership (per 100 people)
- United States – 120.5
- Falkland Islands – 62.1
- Yemen- 52.8
- New Caledonia – 42.5
- Serbia – 39.1 (tie)
- Montenegro – 39.1 (tie)
- Uruguay – 34.7 (tie)
- Canada – 34.7 (tie)
- Cyprus – 34
- Finland – 32.4
- Iceland – 32
- Lebanon – 31.9
9. CoQ10 – a Rose by any Other Name?
CoQ10 is an antioxidant that has been popular for decades. It’s often listed as an ‘aka’ for Ubiquinol. However, as we get older (actually starting around 40), your body has a more difficult time converting the conventional CoQ10 into Ubiquinol. It still happens; it just becomes less efficient and effective. Some of us at AgingWithPizzazz in our 2nd 50 years may wish to supplement with Ubiquinol, the more advanced form of CoQ10. (Portion of info from NIH.) I considered including a diagram of how the conversion works but didn’t want us to feel like our brains were hurting.
10. Why You May Not Like the Treadmill
Historian Cregan-Reid said the 5-6 hours a day to which Wilde was condemned “practically killed him. When he came out of prison, he died about three years later.” Wilde referred to it in his poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (available to read from the Poetry Foundation).
11. Moloch’s Trap in Today’s World
The trap (like the old demon, Moloch) convinces you to play, and that’s our undoing. The idea is that it is not the actual game that is bad but the force that entices us. It has a tremendous short-term payout for someone(s) but eventual ultimate destruction for everyone. There are modern day topics which bring this darkness to the light, for instance gene editing, as mentioned elsewhere in my dozen list, human cloning or the accelerated race for AI. These serve as suitable examples because the game itself (the technologies) have something good to offer. The trap is where they might lead us, and who will reap the short-term winnings before eventual collapse. I wonder if humanity can be smart enough to avoid the trap?
12. Cosmic Beauty of Resonant Orbits
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Finally, to leave you with an uplifting New Year feeling, I thought I’d share some music inspired by the ‘Cosmic Beauty’ of #12. I am offering you your choice. Depending on age and musical taste, pick your favorite.
Fly me to the Moon (Forgive me for not including Frank’s version, but this one’s great too.)
Rocket Man (Elton John)
Space Oddity (David Bowie sings of Major Tom)
If you don’t like any of those, here are two very different choices.
- Pual Welder performing Andromeda with BBC Orchestra:
- Or for a laugh: “Galaxy Song” By Monty Python
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References:
Surprise Hurricanes. Why Hurricane Otis Caught Many By Surprise – The New York Times (nytimes.com.
MEG3 and Brain Cell Death. Research from KU Leuven in Belgium and the Dementia Research Institute of University College London: https://press.vib.be/new-study-discovers-how-neurons-die-in-alzheimers-disease.
Cholesterol & Genetic Changes. MIT Technology Review: Editing cholesterol genes could stop the biggest killer on earth | MIT Technology Review. And Science Friday: Technology Trends to Watch in 2023 sciencefriday.com.
CoQ10. Redox status of coenzyme Q10 is associated with chronological age. Redox status of coenzyme Q10 is associated with chronological age – PubMed (nih.gov)
MEG3 and Brain Cell Death. Research from KU Leuven in Belgium and the Dementia Research Institute of University College London: https://press.vib.be/new-study-discovers-how-neurons-die-in-alzheimers-disease.
Cholesterol & Genetic Changes. MIT Technology Review: Editing cholesterol genes could stop the biggest killer on earth | MIT Technology Review. And Science Friday: Technology Trends to Watch in 2023 sciencefriday.com.
CoQ10. Redox status of coenzyme Q10 is associated with chronological age. Redox status of coenzyme Q10 is associated with chronological age – PubMed (nih.gov)
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