How humans are still evolving

I should think this would be a no brainer... proving it, obviously, is the problem. But, animals with shorter life spans are obviously evolving, so why would we think humans would stop?

The findings below, though... It seems that there is so much more disease nowadays, that this seems incredible. And, sometimes human procreate before some of these negative traits are expressed... so how would that work? Unless a fertile female can smell it on a man....

Human evolution is often thought of as a process that ended millennia ago, when our ape-like ancestors morphed into Homo sapiens. But a new study has found that the process of natural selection continues, gradually weeding out life-shortening traits in modern humans, including genes that predispose people to heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and heavy smoking. Geneticists examined the genomes of 210,000 people of European descent in search of mutations associated with greater or lesser longevity. Natural selection—a basic mechanism of Darwin’s theory of evolution—is based on the principle that organisms best suited to their environments tend to survive longer, making it more likely that they’ll pass their genes on to future generations. The researchers found that the ApoE4 gene linked to Alzheimer’s is becoming less common, particularly among women. A gene mutation associated with a strong addiction to cigarette smoking in men is also on the decline, ScienceDaily​.com reports. “It may be that men who don’t carry these harmful mutations can have more children, or that men and women who live longer can help with their grandchildren, improving their chance of survival,” says the study’s co-author, Molly Przeworski. The analysis also reveals that genetic variants linked to heart disease, asthma, obesity, and high cholesterol all appear less frequently in people who live longer—an indication that humans may continue to adapt to a constantly changing environment.

Taken from the September 22, 2017 edition of The Week Magazine.

It wasn't all bad

If you watch the video on the Week's website, they state that the two haven't yet taken a blood test to confirm. But I'd suggest they look alike. But, Holy Cow! What an incredible coincidence!

Now it makes nosy me wonder how they got separated, especially given he, who stayed with his parent/s, is the older sibling... meaning, what was going on such that an older child didn't know his mother was pregnant, and what happened to that child. The story does not mention if there are other siblings, nor does it mention if the parents - adoptive and biological - knew one another.

In all cases, though, holy cow!

Philip Osborn never knew he had a sister until he moved in next door to her. After living in Florida for years, Osborn recently moved back to a Michigan retirement home to be closer to his family. His new neighbor, Marilyn Meyers, adopted at birth, had spent the past few decades searching for her biological family — so when she heard that someone with the last name Osborn had just moved in, she started investigating. After confirming small bits of family history, they were shocked to discover they were siblings. "I've always wanted to be an older brother," Osborn told Fox17. "It's divine intervention."

Taken from the September 22, 2017 edition of The Week Magazine.

Yoga’s brain boost

And yet another reason to do yoga and meditation. If only I could get off my butt. Yesterday I sent sewing, so no exercise and no steps... just back and forth between the sewing machine, the refrigerator and the toilet. Yikes.

Yoga and meditation are becoming increasingly mainstream activities in the U.S., and new research helps explain why. Daily sessions of either practice can have dramatic effects on brain function. Scientists asked 31 healthy people to engage in 25 minutes of hatha yoga, mindfulness meditation, and quiet reading in random order. Mental tasks completed before and after each session found that yoga and meditation led to greater improvements in the participants’ energy level, mood, executive function, and ability to control thoughts and emotions. “Hatha yoga and mindfulness meditation both focus the brain’s conscious processing power on a limited number of targets, like breathing and posing, and also reduce processing of nonessential information,” the study’s co-author, Peter Hall, tells ScienceDaily.com. That mental training, he said, apparently enables people “to focus more easily on what they choose to attend to in everyday life.”

Taken from the September 29, 2017 edition of The Week Magazine.

The extinction of parasites

This seemed like a worthwhile Halloween post... something to scare the shit out of us all. If you want to scare yourself, Google parasites in the images section. You will want to vomit. I therefore picked a photograph of parasite pancakes - some very creative person created the images of some parasites out of pancakes. (Is it real, or a picture, I don't know...)

In any event, all those unintended consequences of the things we do. But then again, I believe I heard there have been six major extinctions on the planet earth... so we'll be just one more as parasites either take over or allow other creatures to take over.

Humorous image taken from here.

Climate change could wipe out up to one-third of the Earth’s 3.5 million known parasite species over the next 53 years. That might sound like a good thing, but scientists warn that the extinction of pests such as tapeworms, fleas, and ticks could dramatically alter the delicate balance of ecosystems around the world, The New York Times reports. An international team of scientists mapped the global distribution and habitats of 457 different species of parasites and analyzed how climate change could affect them. Up to 30 percent of parasite species, they concluded, may be extinct by 2070. A mass die-off could produce many undesirable consequences: Where parasites help control their hosts’ populations, those populations could grow out of control, the way deer did when wolves left their habitats. Other parasites might flourish in the absence of competition. Still others could migrate to new ecosystems, invading new species. An example: the mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus spreading north into the U.S. Colin Carlson, lead author of the study, said parasites are “a huge and important part of ecosystems,” and warned that extinctions will have consequences we can’t foresee.

Taken from the same edition of The Week as yesterday - September 29, 2017.

A Viking Wonder Woman

I have Viking DNA... well, Scandinavian.... but given that most/much of my DNA is from Great Britain, it is assumed that my Scandinavian heritage is Viking.

Therefore, I can't help but think of Otzi, the prehistoric man found in the Alps. I mean, they did a DNA test on him and found 19 living descendants of his in the area. And he lived over 5,000 years ago. The woman below is from the 10th century. Wouldn't it be fun to find her living descendants? what a hoot. (And of course I want to be one of them!)

Historical accounts of female Viking warriors are often discounted as myths. But new DNA tests of a warrior buried in Sweden more than 1,000 years ago provide the first genetic evidence that some women held powerful, high-status positions in Viking culture. The 10th-century grave site, which was uncovered in the 1880s, contained a sword, arrows, a battle knife, a spear, shields, and two horses. The Viking, who stood 5-foot-6, was also buried with a set of game pieces—an indication of the deceased’s expertise in battle tactics. The archaeologists who uncovered the grave 130 years ago assumed it belonged to a high-ranking male warrior. “I think that’s a mistake that archaeologists make quite often,” archaeologist Becky Gowland tells The Guardian. “When we do that, we’re just reproducing the past in our image.” A recent DNA analysis revealed that the Viking leader lacked a Y chromosome—confirming that “he” was actually a “she.”

We also talk about Otzi here.

This article and photograph was taken from The Week Magazine, September 29, 2017 edition.

Zero Waste Daniel

This is the kind of thing I think about all the time. All those scraps from making clothing. I hate to throw anything away. I finally, after reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, started to throw the fabric scraps away, but this is a much better solution.

I saw the original video on Facebook. Now, I'm not saying I love all his stuff, but I think I would love what I create, because it would be from scraps of fabric I liked enough to buy. I always imagined skirts, because they are easier to make, but shirts are pretty cool. I also tend to use cottons rather than knits.

Check out the entire website here.

Diet soda and dementia

Ignore the bad background colors... seems to hard for me to figure out how to change the formatting, but we have discussed this subject here, Christmas 2015.

Sugar-free versions of soda may increase people’s risk of suffering a stroke or developing dementia, reports The Washington Post. Scientists at Boston University studied more than 4,000 people over a 10-year period. They found that those who consumed at least one artificially sweetened drink a day were almost three times more likely to have a stroke or be diagnosed with dementia than those who had one or fewer a week. To the researchers’ surprise, a parallel study of sugary drinks did not find a similar association. Matthew Pase, the study’s lead author, offered several caveats on the findings, most notably that the actual number of diagnoses was very low and that the results showed only correlation, not causation. He also urged people not to see the study as an incentive to switch to regular soda, noting that sugary drinks have been linked to obesity, poor memory, and accelerated brain aging. But Pase did say the findings suggested consumers should be “cautious” about their diet soda intake and switch to water or other unsweetened drinks.

Childfree women

Hmmm. what does this say about American women?

I just heard a story on the radio which I can't seem to find to link here about Japanese women who are forgoing sex altogether. They have decided they are happier on their own than teaming up with Japanese men.

I suppose that's an even stronger message to 'the powers that be'. I imagine that message is giving the negative birth-rate Japanese government conniption fits. And maybe that is why we are having reboots of movies like 'The Handmaids Tale'.

For the first time in recorded history, more than half (54 percent) of American women ages 25 to 29 are childless, according to the U.S. Census Fertility Report. A record 31 percent of women ages 30 to 34 also haven’t given birth.

Wait, why do you suppose they used the language 'childless' and then 'haven't given birth'? Those might be different things? Abortion... adoption... abstinence.... all of the above, I suppose.

And what does this do to the family tree? I guess I should know, being both a genealogist and childfree.

May 26, 2017 The Week Magazine

New fears over red meat

I don't know what to say? How about lamb and goat which are easier on the environment?

Once again researchers are raising a red flag over red meat. A National Cancer Institute study tracked nearly 537,000 adults between 50 and 71, monitoring their diet and health over the course of 16 years. They found those who routinely ate the most processed and unprocessed red meat, such as beef, lamb, and pork, had a 26 percent greater risk of dying from one of nine ailments: cancer, heart disease, lung disease, stroke, diabetes, infections, Alzheimer’s, kidney disease, and liver disease. On the other hand, replacing red meat with white meat, including fish and poultry, was linked with a 25 percent lower risk of death from most causes, The New York Times reports. The researchers speculate that iron and nitrates found in red and cured meats trigger an imbalance known as oxidative stress, which may explain the risk discrepancy, but emphasize that their findings are preliminary. “This is an observational study, and we can’t determine whether red meat is responsible for these associations,” says lead author Arash Etemadi, “But we have a 16-year follow-up.”

From the June 2, 2017 print edition of The Week Magazine.

How exercise slows aging

Rigorous exercise? Crap. So my newly resurrected 25 minutes on the treadmill with a book isn't going to cut it?

Man, and I learned this back in February 2016 and have done nothing really since then to improve my chances. In order to write this blog entry alone I am sitting at a desk and not exercising. Dang, my posts give me all the information I should need to get me exercising; here's another discussion.

If working out makes you feel younger, a new study suggests it’s no illusion—vigorous exercise can actually slow the aging process on a cellular level, turning back the clock nearly a decade. Researchers analyzed 6,000 adults based on their physical activity and biological markers of aging, Time.com reports. Most importantly, they used DNA samples to measure the length of participants’ telomeres, protein caps that protect chromosomes, like the plastic tips of shoelaces. Telomeres shrink with age—we lose bits of them every time a cell divides. “In general, people with shorter telomeres die sooner and are more likely to develop many of our chronic diseases,” says study author Larry Tucker. Taking into account risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity, the researchers found people who exercised strenuously—say, running for 30 to 40 minutes five days per week—had longer telomeres. That gave them about a nine-year “biological aging advantage” over sedentary adults; those who exercised more moderately had a two-year edge. The researchers speculate physical activity could help preserve telomeres by reducing stress and inflammation. “We all know people who seem younger than their actual age,” Tucker says. “Exercise can help with that, and now we know that part of that may be because of its effect on our telomeres.”

June 2, 2017 The Week Magazine