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Harvard scientists find eight surprising social factors that raise your risk of an early death - including living in an unclean neighborhood, not seeing your children or being disrespected
- Massachusetts-based scientists tracked 8,250 adults for four years in a study
- In this period, they spotted eight factors that could predict a shorter lifetime
- READ MORE: Drinking tea could help you live longer, British data shows
Your friends and family not spending enough time with you is not only annoying, but could also shorten your lifespan.
A joint research team from Harvard University, Mass General Hospital and the University of California, San Francisco, found eight key factors that can predict how much time left a person has to live.
These included loneliness and not seeing children on the one hand, as well as living in a dirty neighborhood or feeling like you are being treated with less respect by others.
Researchers point out that while many look just at medical factors, social health can also play a key role in longevity.
They warned that loneliness was reducing lifespan because it was linked to higher levels of stress, which raise the risk of many chronic diseases. Others were linked to trouble accessing good healthcare and a balanced diet.
Shown above are the eight factors that scientists said could predict a shorter life. These were being lonely (1), living in an area with dirty streets (2), having little control over your finances (3), meeting children less than once a year (4), not working for pay (5), avoiding children (6), not volunteering (7) and being treated with less courtesy or respect (8)
Dr Sachin Shah, a physician-scientist and faculty member at Harvard, who led the research, said: 'We often overemphasize the importance of medical conditions when thinking about longevity.
'[But] this research demonstrates that our social lives are as important as medical conditions.'
He added: 'From our data, we developed a 10-question survey that uses age, gender, and social characteristics to predict longevity. This survey also predicts other outcomes important to older adults, like living independently.'
Among the eight facts were living in a dirty area, meeting with children less than once a year, and failing to stay involved in the communtiy through activities such as volunteering (list below).
A study of half a million people in the UK found those who consumed two or more cups a day were up to 13 percent less likely to die from any cause.
In the study, published this week in the journal PNAS, researchers analyzed results from the University of Michigan-run Health and Retirement study - which includes 20,000 people aged 50 years and over.
The team used the results to build a 10-question survey that can predict longevity — dubbed the social frailty index.
This asks people about their age and gender and whether they have any children, before moving on to ask whether they feel isolated and how often they interact with others.
Several studies have found that loneliness poses a similar risk to factors including smoking, obesity, and lack of exercise for shortening someone's life.
Researchers say this is because people who are lonely have higher stress levels — or higher levels of the body's stress hormone cortisol.
Scientists warn that this raises the risk of a myriad of health problems including heart disease, Alzheimer's, and high blood pressure.
Other studies have also pointed to not being in employment as raising a person's risk of a shorter life.
Reasons for this include higher stress levels, but also being less able to afford good healthcare or a balanced diet.
It was not clear why other factors, such as having unclean streets, could lead to an earlier death.
But this may be because they are an indicator of socioeconomic status and, as a result, access to healthcare or a more balanced diet.
What were the eight factors predicting an earlier death?
- Poor neighborhood cleanliness;
- Low perceived control over finances;
- Meet with children less than once a year;
- Not working for pay;
- Not active with children;
- Not volunteering;
- Feeling isolated;
- Being treated with less courtesy or respect.
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Longevity
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Despite an expected backlash, vocal objections and possible threats, it’s time to raise America’s Social Security retirement age to 70 years with no early retirement option. There are important reasons for America to raise Social Security’s retirement age to 70 and do away with early retirement with reduced benefits, which about half of the recipients are currently choosing before reaching full retirement age. The first has to do with the fact that Social Security is projected to be insolvent by 2035. In its 2022 annual report, the Social Security Board of Trustees concluded that if no changes are made, the program will not be able to meet its financial responsibilities by 2035. A second reason for raising the retirement age to 70 centers on the increasing life expectancies of Americans that have occurred over the recent past. When Social Security was passed in 1935, average life expectancies at birth for males and females in the U.S. were approximately 60 and 64 years, respectively, and the age to receive full benefits was set at 65 years. Nearly nine decades later, life expectancies at birth for males and females have increased by approximately 14 years, i.e., to 73 and 79 years, respectively. Moreover, U.S. life expectancies of men and women at older ages have increased significantly as well. In 1935, life expectancies at age 65 for men and women were approximately 12 and 14 years, respectively. In 2021 life expectancies for men and women at age 70 were approximately 14 and 16 years, respectively. Source: Center for Disease Control (CDC). In other words, due to the increases in life expectancies at older ages, raising Social Security’s retirement age for full benefits to 70 years would still provide men and women with more years in retirement than was envisaged when the program was established in 1935. On average, men and women in the U.S. reaching age 70 today can expect to live until ages 84 and 86, respectively, and those averages are expected to continue rising. In addition to raising Social Security’s retirement age to 70, the early retirement option at age 62 with reduced benefits should be discontinued. More than half of those applying for Social Security retirement choose to start their benefits before reaching their full retirement age. After deciding on early retirement, an individual’s Social Security benefits are provided at reduced levels for the remainder of the person’s life. Many of those early retirees who elected to receive reduced benefits often find themselves in difficult financial circumstances later in life as they end up with insufficient funds. Raising the retirement age to 70 without the early retirement option would permit men and women more time to save for their retirement as well as provide them with full rather than reduced benefits in old age. In addition, working longer offers health benefits. Remaining in the labor force encourages people to remain physically active and socially engaged. Some have argued that raising Social Security’s retirement age would be unfair to some Americans because life expectancies vary with socioeconomic status. In brief, they stress that those at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, such as janitors in Oklahoma, have significantly lower life expectancies at age 65 than those at the higher end, such as lawyers in New York. Those differences in life expectancy by socioeconomic status, however, were also the case when Social Security was first established. Moreover, Social Security’s retirement age does not differentiate between men and women. Although women at age 65 years were expected on average to live several years longer than men, the ages to receive full benefits have continued to remain the same for both sexes. Social Security’s retirement age also does not differentiate between major racial and ethnic groups. Despite the recognized sizable differences in the life expectancies between America’s major social groups, the age to receive Social Security benefits has been the same across the different groups. Raising Social Security’s retirement age to 70 would provide an exemplary model for other countries. With the demographic aging of populations coupled with increasing longevity, countries worldwide are facing fewer people in the labor force per retired person and rising costs for the growing numbers of persons receiving retirement benefits. A retirement age of 70 for both men and women would increase the size of the labor force, especially in those countries where the statutory retirement age is 65 years or less, such as France, Japan, Russia, and Sweden. Raising the retirement age to 70 also reduces the size of the retired population, the years in retirement and the cost of government retirement programs. If Social Security’s retirement age is not raised, possible options to address the program’s expected insolvency include reducing benefits and increasing employment taxes. Those alternative options, however, are likely to be less acceptable than gradually raising the retirement age to 70. While cutting benefits has been proposed by some congressional Republicans, such reductions would create financial problems for many retirees as well as be highly unpopular among the American public. Similarly, increasing employment taxes for Social Security is not likely to be well received by the business community, workers and congressional Republicans. It should also be noted that the Social Security retirement age has been raised gradually over the recent past. For those born in 1960 or later, for example, Social Security’s retirement age to receive full benefits is now 67 years. In coming years, lawmakers should remember that an increase in the retirement age to 70 with no early retirement option would address Social Security’s expected insolvency, compensate for increased longevity and expand the size of the labor force. It would also provide more time to save for retirement, preserve intergenerational equity and provide larger monthly benefits to retirees in old age. Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division and author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Births, Deaths, Migrations and Other Important Population Matters.”
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Longevity
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University of Virginia scientists have identified a promising approach to delay aging by detoxifying the body of glycerol and glyceraldehyde, harmful by-products of fat that naturally accumulate over time.
The new findings come from UVA researcher Eyleen Jorgelina O’Rourke and her team. They are seeking to identify the mechanisms that drive healthy aging and longevity. Their new work suggests a potential way to do so by reducing glycerol and glyceraldehyde’s health-draining effects.
“The discovery was unexpected. We went after a very well-supported hypothesis that the secret to longevity was the activation of a cell-rejuvenating process named autophagy and ended up finding an unrecognized mechanism of health and lifespan extension,” said O’Rourke, of UVA’s Department of Biology and the UVA School of Medicine’s Department of Cell Biology.
O’Rourke said an exciting aspect of the discovery is that the keys to switch on the longevity mechanism are two enzymes that have been well studied because they detoxify the body of ethanol, the alcohol found in beer and bourbon.
“This existing knowledge greatly facilitates our search for drugs that can specifically activate this anti-aging process,” she said.
Anti-Aging Approach
In their search for the secrets to slow aging, O’Rourke and her graduate student Abbas Ghaddar and postdoctoral student Vinod Mony turned to microscopic worms called “C. elegans.” These soil dwellers share more than 70% of our genes and are an invaluable tool for biomedical research. Two Nobel prizes in medicine were awarded to discoveries made using this worm exclusively.
Prior aging research in worms, mice and human cells made O’Rourke and other researchers suspect that the key to extending lifespan was to activate autophagy, a process that renews broken and old parts in our cells. But O’Rourke and her collaborators were surprised to find that wasn’t necessary. The scientists improved the worms’ health and lifespan by 50% with no increase in autophagy at all.
They did this by capitalizing on a mechanism they discovered and named AMAR, the Sanskrit word for immortality. AMAR, in this instance, stands for “Alcohol and aldehyde-dehydrogenase Mediated Anti-aging Response.”
The scientists found that they could prompt an anti-aging response by putting the spurs to a particular gene, called adh-1. Doing so prompted the gene to produce more of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase that prevents toxicity caused by glycerol and, indirectly, glyceraldehyde. The result was that the worms lived longer, healthier lives.
Findings in lab models such as worms and mice don’t always hold true in people, of course. So the researchers took several more steps to see if their lead was as promising as it appeared. First, they confirmed that the enzyme had similar beneficial effects on lifespan in another lab model, yeast.
Then they scoured through research looking at gene activity in creatures, including humans, who had undergone fasting or calorie restriction because both are known to extend health span and lifespan. Sure enough, the scientists found increased levels of the anti-aging enzymes in all the mammals tested, including humans.
The scientists suspect that human levels of glycerol and glyceraldehyde naturally increase over time because they are toxic byproducts of fat, which we store more of as we age. Thus, AMAR may offer a way to head off the fat-derived toxicity, extend the number of years we live in good health, and maybe help us shed some extra pounds, too.
“We hope to attract interest in developing therapeutics that target AMAR,” said O’Rourke, who is part of UVA’s Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center. “With age-related diseases currently being the major health burden for patients, their families and the healthcare system, targeting the process of aging itself would be the most effective way to reduce this burden and increase the number of years of independent healthy living for all of us.”
Findings Published
The researchers have published their findings in the scientific journal Current Biology. The team consisted of Ghaddar, Mony, Swarup Mishra, Samuel Berhanu, James C. Johnson, Elisa Enriquez-Hesles, Emma Harrison, Aaroh Patel, Mary Kate Horak, Jeffrey S. Smith and O’Rourke. The researchers have no financial interests in the work.
The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, grants RO1GM075240, RO1GM127394 and DK087928, and National Research Service Award F30AG067760. Additional funders include the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Jeffress Trust, the W.M. Keck Foundation, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation and UVA’s Society of Fellows, Medical Scientist Training Program and a cell and molecular biology training grant.
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Longevity
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DES MOINES, Iowa – Bessie Hendricks of Iowa lived through the roaring '20s, the Great Depression, two World Wars, the dawn of the internet age and a global pandemic.At age 115, she was believed to be the oldest person in the U.S. when she died Tuesday at a senior living facility in Lake City.Hendricks, who was born Nov. 7, 1907, taught at a one-room schoolhouse in her home state. She raised five children, two of whom she outlived.Back when she turned 112, Hendricks told the Fort Dodge Messenger the secret to her longevity: Work hard, stay away from doctors, and make sure to enjoy sweets, like a piece of pie or slice of birthday cake.April: Japan's Kane Tanaka, the world’s oldest person, dies at 119 'It's worth living longer': 105-year-old Louisiana woman sets world record in 100-meter dash Hendricks' death leaves Edie Ceccarelli of California as the oldest living American, according to the Gerontology Research Group in Los Angeles. She is set to turn 115 on Feb. 5.Centenarians, supercentenarians in the USCentenarians are people who live past 100 years old, according to the Exceptional Longevity Laboratory at Iowa State University. According to 2010 census data, 53,364 centenarians were living in the United States, or about 0.017% of the country's population.Want to live past 100? Centenarians share their secrets Factors influencing longevity include genetics; environmental support, including family support and health care; a lower-stress lifestyle; and the ability to get outside and connect with nature, says Peter Martin, a professor at Iowa State whose research specializes in life span development and longevity..Hendricks was a supercentenarian, a person who lives past 110. As of the 2010 census, there were 330 supercentenarians across the country, which is just 0.6% of the centenarian population.While living past 110 is rare, Martin said, it's a true testament to one's endurance and outlook on life."After 115 it gets very difficult," he said. "Every year is really a gift that you get that you could not have expected to get."What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day Hendricks' funeral will be Saturday at the Lampe and Powers Funeral Home in Lake City. Funeral director Dana Morris said the service will include a tribute to Hendricks' life, including readings of memoirs written by her deceased daughter.Follow Francesca Block on Twitter at @francescablock3.This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: America's oldest person, Bessie Hendricks, dies at 115 in Iowa
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Longevity
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Illustration: PASIEKA/Getty ImagesLongevity evangelists are injecting people with experimental gene therapies. There are no guarantees—and no refunds.Who Wants to Live Forever?Research is underway to answer one of humankind’s oldest questions: how to transcend the limits of aging.Your Ovaries Hold a SecretThe Mysterious Shrinking BrainAs far as we know, it went something like this.One morning in September 2020, a van collected five elderly guests from a Marriott hotel in San Diego, California. It drove south, crossing the border into Mexico, and stopped in front of the mirrored windows of the Regenerative Medicine Institute in Tijuana. Among the passengers was MJ, who had recently been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, which is often followed by dementia. “My mind was not what it should be,” she says. “I was having a lot of trouble with dates and the time.”The guests were helped out of the van and taken in twos into a room with two beds. “We really had no idea what to expect,” MJ tells me. She is in her early eighties and lives in a retirement community with her husband in Kansas. They make a sweet couple. To protect MJ’s privacy, I’m using only her initials. “I thought they were gonna give me a shot of some kind,” she says. MJ had been told she was taking part in a trial for a new Alzheimer’s treatment—a gene therapy, developed by the US biotech company BioViva.Before arriving in Tijuana, MJ had had very little contact with the trial’s doctor. “He came in and had these two syringes in his hand,” she says. “He put one syringe up my nostril. I felt like he was sticking it up to my brain.” The doctor squeezed the syringe and the treatment was over. “We were put back in this very nice car and brought back up to the hotel, and they said: ‘We’ll be in touch.’”There are 5 million adults in the US living with dementia, with a further 50 million across the world. By 2050, it’s estimated that this number will have roughly tripled. Alzheimer’s is the most common form, and research into treatments is known as “the graveyard of drug development.” Despite the billions of dollars spent and thousands of trials performed, there is no cure, and the few drugs that exist only slow its progress. But new treatments claim to be unearthing untold benefits if you know where to look—and are willing to take a risk.MJ was willing to take that risk. To participate in the BioViva trial, she had paid only for her travel to Mexico, expenses, and some initial tests and scans—an organization called Maximum Life Foundation (MLF) had covered the treatment costs. Founded by David Kekich, a well-known figure among researchers and activists who believe lifespan can be greatly expanded, MLF says its aim is to “reverse the human aging process by 2033.” It plans to do so by funding experimental technologies involving genomics, proteomics, regenerative medicine, nutraceuticals, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. “When people get diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, everything stands still, it’s a death sentence,” Kekich told me in April 2020. “That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.” Kekich died the following year, though not of dementia. His body was cryogenically frozen, in case he can one day be revived.In the BioViva trial, MJ and the other patients had two “anti-aging” genes delivered into their brains, with a virus used for transport. Rather than treat dementia directly, these genes supposedly instruct brain cells to create two enzymes—telomerase and Klotho—that play a role in controlling cellular aging. The idea is that boosting levels of these enzymes helps rejuvenate cells in the brain, turning back the clock and erasing age-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s.When the trial’s results were published in November 2021, BioViva boasted that it had done just that. “Despite decades of effort and billions of dollars devoted to dementia research, we have seen very little progress … until now,” founder CEO Liz Parrish declared in a press release. Working at the fringes of medicine, she claimed her company had succeeded where countless others had failed—by reversing the effects of aging.Gene therapies, which modify a patient’s cells, are at the forefront of medical research. Testing is highly regulated. In the US only a few dozen have been authorized, for treating serious conditions such as cancer, vision loss, or muscular dystrophy. But in 2015, the same year it was founded, BioViva became the first company in the world to try to use a gene therapy to reverse aging, injecting a treatment it had developed into a single person. The patient? Liz Parrish, the company’s founder and CEO. This wasn’t part of a clinical trial, and it didn’t happen in the US; this wild, one-person experiment took place at a clinic in Bogota, Colombia, far from the oversight of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Shortly afterward, on Reddit’s Futurology forum, Parrish announced that she had received this treatment in South America. She also announced that BioViva would be working to bring life-extension therapies like these to the general public. Parrish had seemingly uncovered the fountain of youth—or at least had convinced her followers of as much.After her self-experiment, Parrish carved out a successful career promoting the potential of gene therapies for life extension, speaking at events across the world (including at WIRED’s own health summit). I first saw her in person at one of these events: the Longevity World Forum in Valencia in 2019. I would have guessed her to be in her late thirties, although by then she was almost 50. When we chatted afterward, she insisted I squeeze her arm to feel the toned muscles underneath—the product, she said, of an experimental, and as yet unapproved, gene therapy for follistatin, a protein involved in muscle growth, which she received alongside the therapy for telomerase, one of the enzymes given to MJ. A press release issued in 2016 stated that her experiment had wound back the clock 20 years, while a paper published last year claims that, thanks to subsequent gene therapy treatments, Parrish now apparently has a biological age of 25. She is, in fact, 52.Parrish bemoans the lethargy with which these longevity treatments are making their way to the public. Regulatory authorities are the enemy of progress, she claims; they need to stand aside and let those who are willing try anti-aging treatments. This is not only pragmatic, according to Parrish, it is ethical. Millions of people die every year of something that might potentially be cured: aging.Parrish has codified her philosophy into something she calls “best choice medicine.” In the US, federal and state “right-to-try” laws allow doctors to offer experimental, unproven treatments to terminally ill patients. Parrish wants to see the same provisions extended to unapproved anti-aging gene therapies. When we met at her home in Bainbridge Island, Washington, last summer, she told me that the elderly should be allowed to put their lives on the line to improve their children’s chances of reaching a healthy old age. It’s the Silicon Valley “move fast and break things” mantra brought to medicine.There has never been a shortage of medical salespeople with dubious credentials who claim to have discovered some potion or process to reverse aging. Humans have obsessed over finding a cure for aging for pretty much as long as they have been getting old. The idea that many age-related diseases could be expressions of a single underlying process—one that might be treatable—is powerful, intoxicating.At least some of Parrish’s claims are based on established science. Every time our cells divide, our telomeres—the protective caps on our chromosomes, the cell’s DNA molecules—shorten. This gives our cells a limited lifespan: when the telomeres get too short, the cell can no longer survive. Sometimes, instead of dying, these cells fall into a moribund state called senescence. The gradual build-up of senescent cells is a hallmark of aging, and the damage they inflict is being investigated as the underlying cause of a wide range of seemingly different age-related diseases, from dementia to arthritis.But some of our cells, such as stem cells, do not have this limiting factor. They express the gene for telomerase, and so produce this enzyme, which repairs telomeres, extending the lifespan of the cell. Artificially introduce that gene to other cells, and it might not only slow their aging, but even push those that are senescent back into healthy life by resetting their chromosomal clock.Work carried out by Maria Blasco, director of the Spanish National Cancer Research Center in Madrid, shows that mice given injections of transporter viruses loaded with telomerase genes not only experience healthier aging with less disease, but also live longer—a heady 25 percent longer. Findings like this are fueling a tremendous interest in the potential for gene therapies to allow us to live longer, healthier lives. But science moves slowly—too slowly, apparently, for Parrish.In December 2018, a little over three years after she was injected with telomerase gene therapy in Bogata, Colombia, Parrish spoke at People Unlimited, a membership organization in Scottsdale, Arizona, “for people passionate about radical life extension.” It owes its existence to Charles Brown, a nightclub entertainer who claimed to have been rendered immune to death by “cellular awakening”—a quasi-religious experience he described as a “piercing through to the core of the cells and atoms of the body, which awaken the DNA.”Brown died in October 2015, of complications arising from Parkinson’s and heart disease, but his adherents still come together every week to support one another in their quest to live forever. Ideas of cellular awakening passed away with Brown; these days the group invites speakers from across the world to discuss the latest longevity science has to offer—Parrish among them.Speaking via video-link, she revealed that BioViva was engaged in human trials of anti-aging medicine. Her company had struck a partnership with Integrated Health Systems (IHS), a network of doctors in clinics outside the US that would carry out experimental gene therapies and share the data generated with BioViva to accelerate the development of these therapies. “Three steps to a healthier you,” Parrish told the group. She rattled off a list of treatments on offer: klotho gene therapy for cognition, follistatin gene therapy for muscle growth, telomerase gene therapy for anti-aging.Patients apply for treatments via the IHS website. When they do, they’re told that safety is not guaranteed—and that neither, crucially, is efficacy. One thing is though: Prices start at $75,000. No refunds.When I asked Parrish if promoting these unlicensed treatments was necessary, she was clear. “This is new technology that needs to get to humans. These terminally ill patients need access.” I asked her if the terminal illnesses included aging. “Yeah, well,” she replied, “that’s the number one killer on the planet.”Longevity science, like all of medicine, moves slowly. There are good reasons for this. Stem cells aren’t the only ones that express high levels of telomerase. The most notable exceptions are cancer cells. By manufacturing high amounts of telomerase, cancerous cells suspend the natural limit to replication. This allows them to grow and spread. It’s a fair guess that this is why our cells have the limit in the first place: As they age, cells accumulate mutations that could be harmful to you. Making sure they die or are subsumed before they collect too many mutations is, quite likely, a safety measure. Injecting someone with a gene therapy that gets rid of this could be disastrous if their cells have other defects that allow them to become cancerous.Operating outside of the FDA’s reach, Parrish, BioViva, and its partners have adopted a shroud of secrecy. IHS is registered in the British Virgin Islands, a jurisdiction that does not require companies to disclose their directors or shareholders. And IHS doesn’t list an address or a phone number on its website. “They seem really cryptic,” says Leigh Turner, a bioethicist at the University of California, Irvine. “The details that have come out have not been reassuring in terms of the credentials and qualifications of clinicians involved, the clinical facilities that people go to, or the protocols that are in place.”The murkiness extends to the relationship between BioViva and IHS. Parrish insists they are separate, independent entities. She says she has no idea who runs IHS, despite their partnership. Yet the two companies seem to be incredibly, confusingly interlinked.Enquiries to the IHS email address result in replies from BioViva. When I track down one of the doctors in the IHS network, Leonardo Gonzales of the Zelula Institute in Bogota, Colombia, he tells me that Parrish personally recruited him. Another of its doctors, Patrick Sewell, who injected MJ with the experimental gene therapy in Tijuana, is credited as BioViva’s director of clinical affairs in the press release announcing the results of MJ’s trial. That experiment was originally scheduled to take place in Mexico City, at the clinic of doctor Jason Williams, before the pandemic complicated air travel. Williams—who also administered the gene therapy to Parrish back in 2015—is the cofounder of BioViva, and its chief medical officer.Shortly after I raised these connections with Parrish last year, Williams’s profile vanished from the staff page on the IHS website, and numerous videos on BioViva’s YouTube page featuring him and Parrish together were made private. BioViva and Parrish failed to provide an attributable response to a number of questions on issues raised by our reporting.Turner, the bioethicist, has history with Williams. In 2013, Turner wrote to the FDA with his concerns about Precision StemCell, a company based in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where Williams—a radiologist by training—was administering unlicensed procedures to patients, extracting stem cells from their fat tissue and injecting these back into the body, including into the spine. Applications ranged from sports injuries to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—a progressive and deadly disease of the nervous system.When representatives from the patient advocacy group ALS Worldwide visited the clinic, they were alarmed by what they said were dangerous interventions performed incompetently in unsanitary conditions. The group later warned members: “Patients and caregivers are urged to avoid any further procedures conducted by Williams or his colleagues in any locale.” Williams strongly disputed the assessment, but soon after, under pressure from the FDA, he relocated to Colombia. “A great country with very nice people,” he told his patients, where “they are very open to stem cells and gene therapy.”The evidence Parrish has offered in support of human telomerase therapy has been questioned by other scientists. The paper detailing the results of the Tijuana experiment—supposedly the world’s first ever effective treatment for dementia—was published not in Nature or Science, but the little-known Journal of Regenerative Biology and Medicine, one of 22 launched in just the past four years by publisher Maples Scientific. Recent papers in the journal include “Control of Mind Using Nanotechnology” and “Zorbing in Impaired Children: An Innovative New Alternative for Better Self-Consciousness.” Joel Osorio, editor-in-chief of the journal, has an anti-aging clinic in Cancun, Mexico, where he sells a penis enhancement injection called the I-Guana Shot. Maples Scientific did not respond when approached for comment.Everything is wrong with the methodology of this paper, says Charles Brenner, a specialist in age-related diseases at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope in Los Angeles, California. “It’s not established that telomerase activity limits human healthspan, and cognitive impairment is not very well understood.” Despite this, the paper sets out a very firm hypothesis: Increase telomerase in patients with signs of cognitive decline, and very quickly they will show signs of improvement.From here, the actual substance of the paper is lacking, says Brenner. The absence of a control group means that no conclusions can be drawn—any recorded changes could be attributed to other factors—and the impact of any change in telomerase activity was not properly investigated, he says. “The experiment that was done is not capable of producing meaningful results. I wouldn’t expect it to work, and I doubt that it does.”Brenner also points to the known risks associated with this area of research, such as the viruses used in gene therapy producing adverse immune responses—which in extreme cases can be fatal—as well as the cancer risk from elevating telomerase expression.Parrish’s own claimed rejuvenation is equally problematic. According to Brenner, the concept of “biological age,” determined by looking for certain signals and substances inside the body, is more of a research tool under development than an accepted measurement of anything useful. Besides, Bill Andrews, a telomerase specialist who prepared the gene therapy for Parrish’s 2015 experiment in Colombia and who has been instrumental in BioViva’s work, tells me that even he couldn’t support the results she had claimed after receiving the gene therapy. He believes Parrish probably took only a thousandth of an effective dose.Nor is there any reliable evidence of Parrish’s purported 20-year reduction in biological age. The 2016 press release detailing her treatment says that the results were independently verified. But both the organizations that undertook this—a UK charity called the Biogerontology Research Foundation and the Healthy Life Extension Society, a European nonprofit—have links to Parrish. That press release was written by BioViva’s chief technology officer, Avi Roy—who was serving as president of the Biogerontology Research Foundation at the time. Parrish has also served on the board of the International Longevity Alliance, an umbrella organization that counts the Healthy Life Extension Society as a member. To date, the results of Parrish’s experiment, and the procedure carried out on MJ and her covolunteers, have never truly been independently verified.It's easy to get swept up in the idea that aging might be curable. And it’s no surprise that longevity medicine is also a profitable hunting ground for quacks. “Some really do think that they’re offering meaningful interventions,” says Turner. “Where this starts to get problematic is when they’re driven entirely by enthusiasm.”Parrish—who often describes her interest in aging medicine as humanitarian—has no medical qualifications. Yet she is unapologetic about her gung-ho attitude to medicine. “I believe I’m on the right side of history,” she says. “The truth is, to treat very serious diseases, we are going to have to take risks. What I would say is: Was anyone hurt? I seriously doubt it.”If you can convince people that aging is a disease, it’s no surprise that some will clamor for a cure—and pay whatever they can for it. This, if anything, ought to underline exactly why medicine carried out under stringent regulations really is the best choice. “We need to protect patient populations,” says Brenner.For now, the medical establishment has little to offer those who are diagnosed with age-related diseases such as dementia. And warranted skepticism toward last-ditch efforts to cure them can come off like cynicism. MJ has no regrets about participating in the experiment in Tijuana. “I think somebody has got to go out there and try these things and see if they actually work,” she tells me. “By the time we got home, I really did feel sharper. Now I’m fading, and I can tell I’m fading. I wanna go back for another shot. I’m ready.”This story is partially adapted from Buying Time: Exposing the Quest to Cure Ageing, a six-part series about BioViva and its founder Liz Parrish. It was produced by Vespucci. Listen now on Audible.
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Longevity
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VIDEO: Wharton professor on how to really achieve your goals 02:40 - Source: CNN CNN — Looking for New Year’s resolutions that can extend your life? Master these three science-based healthy habits during 2023, and you’ll reduce stress, improve your sleep, raise your immunity, lower inflammation, increase muscle strength and mobility, boost your brain power and mood, battle disease and more — all keys to a long, happy life. Years ago a doctor told me, “If there’s one thing in life you can do to live a longer, healthier life, it’s exercise.” The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agrees and has statistics to prove it. “People who are physically active for about 150 minutes a week have a 33% lower risk of all-cause mortality than those who are physically inactive,” our nation’s top health organization says. Let’s break that down: If you get up and move for 21.43 minutes each day of the week, you cut your risk of dying from anything by one-third. Just walking at a moderate pace has been shown to improve cognitive function, control weight, reduce the risk for disease and strengthen bones and muscles. There are exercise options for people with disabilities as well. Some benefits of exercise are immediate: After finishing 30 minutes of physical activity, you’ll have less anxiety, lower blood pressure and more sensitivity to insulin, and you’ll sleep better that night. Accomplish the recommended 150 to 300 minutes a week for adults of moderate-intensity exercise — such as brisk walking, dancing, bicycling, doubles tennis and water aerobics — and the benefits go up. Within a few months, you’ll see improvement in your blood pressure, heart and lung functions as well as a lowering of risk for depression, anxiety, type 2 diabetes and bladder, breast, colon, kidney, lung and stomach cancers, according to the CDC. Not to mention exercise can offer the benefits of stress reduction, better sleep and a more robust sex life. If you need some ideas on how to get started, sign up for CNN’s Fitness, But Better newsletter series. The seven-part guide will help you ease into a healthy, expert-backed workout routine. You could add up to 13 years to your life if you eat few red and processed meats and more fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts, according to research published in 2022. The largest gains in longevity were found from eating more legumes, which include beans, peas and lentils; whole grains, which are the entire seed of a plant; and nuts such as walnuts, almonds, pecans and pistachios, according to the study. If you need help with recipes and food choices, there are several excellent plant-based diets you can follow. The DASH diet, or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, has been shown to reduce high blood pressure, and it gets top reviews. So does the MIND diet, or Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, which focuses on food to slow cognitive decline, and the flexitarian diet, a vegetarian diet flexible enough to allow some meat. Not sure which one to choose? Year after year, nutritional experts give the gold medal to the Mediterranean diet. Science has shown meals from the sunny Mediterranean can reduce the risk for diabetes, high cholesterol, stroke, dementia, memory loss, depression and breast cancer. The plan has also been linked to stronger bones, a healthier heart and microbiome, and longer life. Oh, and weight loss, too. The Mediterranean way of eating is plant-based, so you’ll eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds. Use all kinds and colors of veggies to get the broadest range of nutrients, phytochemicals and fiber. Cook, roast or garnish them with herbs and a bit of extra-virgin olive oil. You’ll eat less red meat, sugar and saturated fat and more omega-3-rich fish (twice a week) and olive oil. Think of chicken, beef and pork as a “seasoning” to a dish instead of the main course. (It’s better for the planet, too. To learn more on how to lessen your impact on the planet, sign up for CNN’s seven-part Life, But Greener newsletter.) Add whole grains and fruit to every meal, but use nuts and seeds as a garnish or small snack due to their high-calorie and fat content. And here’s the real secret to the success of the Mediterranean diet — it’s not a diet at all. It’s a lifestyle, with the greatest emphasis placed on exercising, mindfully eating with friends and family, and socializing over meals. As for exercise, it doesn’t have to be in a gym. “The Mediterranean lifestyle is walking with friends and family,” registered dietitian Kelly Toups said in an earlier interview. “Instead of thinking of exercise as something that you have to do, just walk or dance or move in joyful ways.” Want to learn more? You’ll find amazing recipes, shopping guides and tips on starting to eat the Mediterranean way in our eight-part Eat, But Better: Mediterranean Style newsletter. You may choose to do more exercise or eat healthier, but your body is going to demand sleep. The quantity and quality of it, however, is under your control. Depending on your age, you are supposed to get between seven and 10 hours of sleep each night. Getting less has been linked in studies to high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, weight gain, a lack of libido, mood swings, paranoia, depression and a higher risk of diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, dementia and some cancers. Not convinced? Sleeping less than the recommended amount each night on a regular basis may double your risk of dying. In a longitudinal study of 10,308 British civil servants, researchers found that those who reduced their sleep from seven to five hours or fewer a night were almost twice as likely to die from all causes, especially cardiovascular disease. Oh, and your chances of developing a major disease or medical condition skyrocket if you don’t get enough sleep. That’s because during sleep, your body is literally repairing and restoring itself on a cellular level. You can train your brain (and your willpower) to get more restful sleep — it’s all in CNN’s seven-part Sleep, But Better newsletter series. You can find additional tips on how to harness and reduce stress by signing up for CNN’s Stress, But Less newsletter. It just takes one small step to get started. Then congratulations are in order! You’re well on your way to a happier, healthier life. These actions will also help reduce stress, improve your mood and invigorate your sex life. (For more hints on the latter, check out this gallery.) And remember that you don’t have to make all these changes at once. Choose one thing — exercise, sleep or diet — to tackle first. And allow yourself some time to establish these habits — here’s how.
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Longevity
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A field in Utting am Ammersee in Germany is planted to display a dove of peace, based on an artwork by Pablo Picasso, and a world map. Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images A field in Utting am Ammersee in Germany is planted to display a dove of peace, based on an artwork by Pablo Picasso, and a world map. Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images People around the world are living longer and having fewer children. Those are just a few of the trends the United Nations described in a report on the world's population. While the average life expectancy is projected to rise from 72.98 in 2019 to 77.2 in 2050, the rate of growth will continue to slow down across the globe, according to the report released Tuesday. The world reached 7 billion people in 2011 and the U.N. predicts it will not reach 9 billion for another 15 years. While the milestone is notable, the exact size of the global population is less critical than the dynamics of where people are living, working and moving, says Jack Goldstone, a professor of public policy at George Mason University. "I think what's important about 8 billion is that were going to be connected, and so we have to get used to the idea that what happens in other places will directly affect our quality of life here," Goldstone tells NPR's Morning Edition. This decelerated growth in population is explained by a number of factors, including more readily available birth control and better education. Some countries have birth rates so low the U.N. predicts they will not be able to maintain their populations. Life expectancy for the least developed countries lagged seven years behind that of the most developed countries as of last year. The U.N. cautions that countries with older populations will need to develop better systems to take care of their elders, including social security and universally available health care. Goldstone says that despite finite resources and climate change, the world could still manage with a population of 9 or even 10 billion as long as it's paying attention to "what people are doing, how they live and which specific areas or groups are growing the fastest." The report also forecasts a reordering of the most populous countries. China will be overtaken by India as the number one most populous country in 2023 and remain so through 2050, the report predicts. The United States will be displaced by Nigeria for the third most populous country in that same time period. Migration, and especially international migration, is a major factor in population changes, according to the report. All countries – whether experiencing "inflows or outflows" of migrants — should do whatever they can to create order and stability in these changes, say the authors. Writing in an opinion piece in USA Today, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres cautioned that inequalities in the world population will continue to be a threat to the overall stability and longevity of the world's population. "Divisions are causing delays and deadlock on issues from nuclear disarmament to terrorism to global health," Guterres wrote. "But I never bet against human ingenuity, and I have enormous faith in human solidarity." Guterres applauded the progress of science and public health around the globe, but warned that the "human family" risks great peril if it continues to grow more divided. There will be more famines if climate change is not slowed, says Goldstone, adding that the big priority should be helping countries that will face growth in energy — and those that are big burners now — get on a cleaner fuel path. "The sooner we can get into that clean, lower-cost future, the better for the world," he adds.
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Longevity
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(Bloomberg) -- Swiss biotech firm Rejuveron Life Sciences AG has attracted backing from sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Co. to help bankroll its development of drugs targeting the effects of aging, people familiar with the matter said.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Rejuveron has raised about $75 million from a series B funding round and convertible loan deal, the people said. Investors in the fundraising include Catalio Capital Management, the life sciences-focused firm backed by hedge fund billionaires Stan Druckenmiller and Alan Howard, the people said.
German entrepreneur Christian Angermayer, a founding investor in Rejuveron, is also providing more funds alongside Mubadala’s asset management arm Mubadala Capital and various family offices, the people said. The fundraising values Rejuveron at nearly $400 million, the people said.
Rejuveron is developing therapies to prevent or reverse diseases of aging and extend people’s lifespans. It’s running clinical trials for treatments targeting retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare eye diseases that cause progressive vision loss, as well as sarcopenia, a condition that causes muscle loss as a person gets older.
The company is planning to acquire a stake in Boost Neuroscience, a Catalio-backed company developing brain synapse regeneration technologies pioneered by Nobel Prize winner Thomas Sudhof, according to the people. Rejuveron also plans to set up an office in the nascent health-care hub of Abu Dhabi to support its expansion in the Middle East, the people said.
“The MENA region has already seen several major announcements to propel longevity research and development,” Rejuveron said in response to Bloomberg queries. “We believe that taking our place in this thriving ecosystem will help our development goals and invigorate healthcare delivery that is much needed to advance the cause of preventative medicine.”
Representatives for Angermayer’s family office, Apeiron Investment Group, and Catalio declined to comment.
“We are excited about what the team at Rejuveron is building and are thrilled to be partnering with Catalio and Apeiron to support its mission to bring innovations that will help people lead healthier and longer lives by focusing on key diseases with the highest economic burden on societies,” Alaa Halawa, who helps lead Mubadala Capital’s US ventures team, said in a statement.
Read More: The $7.6 Trillion Quest for a Modern Fountain of Youth
--With assistance from Archana Narayanan.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
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Longevity
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Aug. 1, 2023 -- Most people hear âfirm handshakeâ and automatically think âbusiness world.â A cursory search reveals articles with titles like âSeven Super-Revealing Things Your Handshake Says About Youâ (Forbes) and âHow a Handshake Can Tell You Everything You Need to Know About a Personâ (Inc.).
But those in the know understand what your handshake really reveals: Your current health, possible future illnesses, and how long you might live. In fact, grip strength may be the most revealing health measurement your doctor has never taken.Â
On a typical visit to your doctor, Â you expect them to record your temperature, weight, heart rate, and blood pressure. Those measurements are called âvital signsâ for a reason. They offer a quick snapshot of your current condition, along with hints about your future health.
But thereâs a fair argument to be made to include grip strength in that group. Grip-strength testing is easy, fast, and noninvasive. It can be monitored over time. All it requires is a handgrip dynamometer, a tool that may cost less than the doctorâs stethoscope, and a chair.Â
What does grip strength reveal? The amount of force you can generate with your hand is a valid proxy for total-body strength. And total-body strength is one key to healthy aging.
âMany studies have looked at strength as a predictor of positive health and weakness as a predictor of negative health outcomes,â said Mark Peterson, PhD, associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation research at the University of Michigan, whoâs worked on dozens of those studies.
Among the health risks associated with low grip strength:
- Type 2 diabetesÂ
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Dementia and Alzheimerâs disease
- Depression
- Functional disabilityÂ
- Osteoporosis
- Premature death from any cause
The predictive merits of grip strength have been documented across continents and cultures. Although most of those studies have focused on older adults, they arenât the only age group researchers have looked at.Â
âWe have several papers on the value of grip strength for predicting diabetes and cardiovascular disease in children and adolescents,â Peterson said.Â
Why grip strength? How could the amount of force generated by such small muscles in the hand and forearm be connected to so many life-and-death consequences?
Survival of the Strongest
The first thing to understand about grip-strength testing is that itâs only partially about grip. Itâs mostly about strength. Thatâs what attracted Peterson to this line of research.Â
âIâm a former strength coach, so I wanted to make a case for why strength was important across populations, not just athletes,â he said. Â âI strongly believe in strength preservation and healthy living as a predictor for longevity.â
Consider a classic study of Swedish army recruits. Because of Swedenâs post-World War II conscription policy, virtually every young male in the country underwent a physical examination to see if they were fit for military service -- an exam that included a grip-strength test.Â
That gave the researchers a database with more than a million participants. They followed up on them decades later through publicly available records.
What they found: The men with the weakest grip strength in their late teens were 20% more likely to have died by their mid-50s, compared to those with moderate to high grip strength. Even suicide rates were 20% to 30% higher for the weakest recruits.Â
Thereâs a brutal Darwinian logic to the idea that a stronger person with a more powerful grip would enjoy a longer, healthier life. To our ancient ancestors, stronger hands meant you were probably better at everything that aided survival: hunting, fighting, building shelter, and bearing and rearing children.Â
Those with such an advantage would be more desirable to potential mates. They would then conceive more children, and those children would be stronger and healthier, thanks to both genetics and nutrition.
Fast-forward to the 21st century where we must force ourselves to engage in physical activity even though science shows us again and again why itâs so important for health and longevity. The old rules still apply: Strength aids survival.Â
Grip Strength and the Aging Process
Some of the earliest grip-strength studies used it as a proxy for nutritional status in elderly men and women. Nourishment, in turn, predicted their ability to survive an illness or surgery.Â
And this makes sense: If an older person isnât eating enough to maintain their health and vitality, their strength would decline. Declining strength would make them more susceptible to infections, hospitalizations, and postsurgical complications, leading to longer hospital stays, loss of independence, and ultimately a higher risk of death from any cause.
Along those lines, Petersonâs research team at the University of Michigan found that low grip strength is correlated with faster aging at the cellular level.
The study looked at DNA methylation, which Peterson describes as âa reflection of someoneâs exposure to life events.â
For example, someone who smokes will have altered methylation patterns, compared to someone who doesnât. Same with someone whoâs had more exposure to environmental pollution.Â
Accelerated DNA methylation âmeans youâre essentially at higher risk for what are traditionally considered age-related chronic conditions,â Peterson said. Â Those conditions include Alzheimerâs, type 2 diabetes, chronic inflammation, and a higher risk of premature mortality.
As you may recall, those things are also linked to low grip strength, which we now know is linked to higher DNA methylation and faster biological aging.Â
But thereâs still a missing piece of the puzzle: Why, exactly, would the strength of your grip be associated with so many health outcomes?Â
Grip Strength and Muscle Function
âDeclining muscle function is the first step of the disabling process,â said Ryan McGrath, PhD, assistant professor of health, nutrition, and exercise sciences at North Dakota State University. âThatâs what you can measure with a handgrip test. It helps you identify individuals at risk for the next step of the process, which is declines in physical performance.â
McGrath got involved in grip-strength research as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, where he worked with Peterson. Like his mentor, he has published lots of studies using data obtained with a handgrip dynamometer.Â
âIt can be a nice tool for assessing muscle function and muscle strength,â he explained. Â Because the test is so easy to administer -- you sit in a chair with your arm at your side and your elbow bent 90 degrees, and squeeze the device as hard as you can -- researchers can work with large groups of people and come away with statistically powerful data.
âThereâs a lot of health outcomes itâs associated with, which is one of its greatest strengths and at the same time one of its key limitations," McGrath said.Â
He compared the dynamometer to a tire gauge. Just as a tire gauge can alert you to a loss of air pressure without revealing the source of the leak, a dynamometer canât tell you why your grip strength is deflated.Â
âItâs hard to specify the prognostic value,â he said. Â âYou donât know the next steps to take. As a standalone measurement, thatâs a concern.â
Thatâs why his current research goes beyond simple tests of maximum grip strength to more sophisticated measurements of the rate of force development (how fast you can express strength), repeatability (how much your strength declines from your first to your second or third squeeze), and asymmetry (how big a gap there is between your right-hand and left-hand strength).
Any of those measures could detect a potential neural or neuromuscular issue.Â
In a 2020 study, for example, McGrath and his team at NDSU showed that older adults with both weakness and asymmetry in grip-strength tests were nearly four times more likely to experience functional limitations. Those limitations could affect their ability to do anything from routine chores to keeping themselves clean and fed.
That brings us to perhaps the most important question: once you have grip-strength data on a patient, client, or yourself, what do you do with it?
Waging War on WeaknessÂ
Defining weakness is easy. Using dynamometer readings, the generally accepted cutoffs for low grip strength are 26 kilograms for an adult male and 16 kilograms for a female. (Itâs better to use kilograms instead of pounds, as youâll see in a moment.)
But thatâs way too simple, Peterson said.Â
For one thing, your age matters. Grip strength typically peaks for men in their late 20s and declines rapidly in middle age and beyond. For women, it plateaus in their 20s and gently declines until their 50s. So at a minimum, you should consult the age-based standards youâll find included with a dynamometer.Â
Another caveat: Peterson said grip strength tests arenât very meaningful for people who actively train for strength, though he suggests dedicated athletes make up a relatively small percentage of the population â even as low as 10%.
The size of the person taking the test is also important.
âYou absolutely must account for body mass in the context of understanding how grip strength, or any strength measure, is reflective of health and function,â Peterson said.Â
To calculate your strength-weight ratio, (which Peterson calls ânormalized grip strength"), simply divide your grip strength in kilograms by your body weight in kilograms. For men, a ratio greater than 0.70 puts you in the higher percentiles. For women itâs 0.50. (You can find a complete chart of normalized grip strength percentiles here.)Â
And if the results suggest that the person in question is objectively weak? âFor me, thatâs easy,â Peterson said. âThey need to do exercise.â
Common sense suggests doing a lot of forearm exercises for grip strength. Not so, said  Peterson. The strength of your hand and forearm muscles reflects what they can do along with all your other muscles moving together.
A 2019 study found that, for older adults, a variety of exercise programs can lead to modest but meaningful increases in participantsâ grip strength â and they donât necessarily have to include actual gripping exercises. The programs ranged from tai chi to water aerobics to walking, stretching, and all kinds of resistance training.Â
Petersonâs advice to everyone is pretty straightforward: Get stronger. It doesnât really matter how you do it or how much strength you ultimately gain. Even a little more strength means a little less weakness and a little more life.
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Longevity
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David Masopust has long imagined how to push immune systems to their limits—how to rally the most powerful army of protective cells. But one of the big mysteries of immunology is that so far, nobody knows what those limits are. So he hatched a project: to keep mouse immune cells battle-ready as long as possible. “The idea was, let’s keep doing this until the wheels fall off the bus,” says Masopust, a professor of immunology at the University of Minnesota.
But the wheels never fell off. He was able to keep those mouse cells alive longer than anyone thought possible—indeed, much longer than the mice themselves.
When your body first detects foreign bacteria, cancer, a virus, or vaccine, the immune system’s T cells log the presence of that invader, kill the cells it’s infected, and form new T cells that carry the memory of how to fight it. Should the same intruder return later on, that protective T-cell army will swell to meet it.
But researchers have noticed that if you stimulate these T cells too many times, they’ll get exhausted—they’ll become less responsive to threats and eventually die. “It was a concern,” says Masopust. “Raising too large of an army would turn the army into a bunch of zombie soldiers.” Immunologists have considered this a fundamental limit on T cells’ capacity to fight threats. Masopust, however, wasn’t sold. “We wanted to test this principle.”
His team’s experiment began by dosing mice with a viral vaccine that stirs up T cells. About two months later, they gave them another shot to rally the cells again for stronger immune memory. Then a third boost two months later. At this point, the immunized mouse T cells were absolutely amped. “They were too good at destroying whatever I gave them,” Masopust says. “The viruses get snuffed out too quickly.”
This didn’t satisfy Masopust, so his team took cells from the immunized mice’s spleens and lymph nodes, expanded the cell populations in test tubes, injected about 100,000 into new mice, and began immunizing them the same way. Once again, the mice got three shots over about 6 months. And once again, the T-cells kept fighting.
So the scientists repeated the process again, taking the cells from this second generation of mice and injecting them into a third. And a fourth. And ultimately a seventeenth. They had created a kind of relay, in which the immune cells passed from one generation of mice to another eventually outlived the original mice. (They also outlasted the gigs of the first two researchers assigned to the project.) In results published on January 18 in Nature, Masopust’s team reports keeping this T-cell army alive and active for 10 years—longer than four mouse lifespans. It’s the first evidence of such extreme longevity.
“T cells are born to be sprinters, but can be trained to become marathon runners” thanks to repeated exposure to a challenge—like a virus—followed by rest periods, Masopust says. The genetic changes exhibited by these cells after 10 years of this “training” may well describe what an extraordinarily fit T cell looks like. Masopust thinks that researchers can glean lessons from this experiment in order to treat cancer, create better vaccines, and understand or even slow human aging: “It’s spun off into so many different interesting questions that transcend immunology.”
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Longevity
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Read next
- Silicon Valley billionaires have long been experimenting with ways to extend the human lifespan.
- But the quest for longevity has gone mainstream as more people seek ways to reverse the aging process.
- Here are some of the top longevity trends right now, according to industry experts.
People are implementing a range of behavioral and lifestyle practices in the hopes of reversing aging. Some of the most popular practices include…
Source: Insider
Cold exposure
There is a growing body of scientific evidence that supports cold exposure as an anti-aging hack.
Whether you take a plunge into a pool of ice cold water, or try cryotherapy — which involves spending a few minutes in a below freezing chamber — cold exposure has benefits that may help slow down the clock.
Dr. Anant Vinjamoori, Chief Medical Officer of Modern Age, a New York-based healthcare company focused on longevity, told Insider that cold exposure produces effective results in the short and long term.
A plunge into an ice cold bath results in "a surge in the production of neurotransmitters such as epinephrine and dopamine" which have immediate rejuvenating and energizing effects, he said.
"Over the medium to long term, there is some evidence that cold exposure may reduce systemic inflammation, which is known to be a driver of many chronic diseases," Vinjamoori added.
Fasting
In 2019, Jack Dorsey said that he only eats one meal a day and fasts all weekend — which might be bordering on an eating disorder, experts say.
However, research does suggests that time-restricted eating patterns can result in health benefits for those with diabetes and obesity or even enhance the body's defenses against oxidative stress.
"For me, the primary benefit of time-restricted eating is regulating circadian rhythms. Sleep quality almost always improves by limiting the consumption of calories in the evening hours," said Modern Age's Dr. Vinjamoori.
Red light therapy
Red light therapy uses LED lights or lasers to expose the body to red light— the longest wavelength of light on the visible spectrum. There is research to suggest that exposing oneself to red light for 5 to 20 minutes may increase production of adenosine triphosphate, which is a compound that provides and stores energy for the cells.
"While more research is needed to understand the full benefits and mechanisms of red light therapy, there is evidence to suggest it may be beneficial in improving certain skin conditions including acne, aging, hair loss, wound care, and sun damage," dermatologist Laura Buford previously told Insider.
It's not uncommon for those who are serious about longevity to have a medicine cabinet full of supplements. Take a look at some of trending supplements right now…
NMN
Nicotinamide Mononucleotide, or NMN, is a supplement that can help boost levels of a critical coenzyme in the body called NAD+.
NAD+ plays an important role in facilitating metabolic processes and maintaining healthy cellular function.
Harvard Medical School professor David Sinclair — who has studied the relationship between NAD+ and aging — said in an interview with the YouTube channel Reverse Aging Revolution that the human body uses NAD+ as "a measure of adversity." As humans get older, NAD+ levels decrease, which mean the body's defense enzymes and repair enzymes take a hit and humans "succumb to aging" Sinclair said.
Since NAD+ is a large molecule, it's difficult to take it directly. Sinclair recommends taking its building blocks like B3, Nicotinamide riboside (NR) or NMN.
"What we've discovered in people, in clinical trials, is that the closer you get to the NAD itself, the better the boost in NAD that you get," Sinclair said, which is why he recommends NMN.
Ashwagandha
Ashwagandha is an herb that's long been used for anti-aging in Ayurveda, an ancient system of holistic medicine originating in India.
The herb, often classified as an adaptogen, has a host of health benefits that range from easing anxiety and stress to soothing arthritis to boosting cognitive function. Modern Age's Dr. Vinjamoori said that ashwagandha has been shown in research studies to reduce cortisol, a hormone associated with stress, and improve sleep in people without insomnia.
Recent research has also shown that ashwagandha could be a promising agent in anti-aging treatments. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine in 2020 found that ashwagandha may help maintain the length of the key proteins at end of chromosomes known as telomeres. Telomeres are often shortened in the process of DNA replication which has been pointed to as the main factor that "speeds up cell ageing and promotes degeneration processes" the study noted.
As people get more serious about their anti-aging regimens, they're turning to prescription pills, too…
Metformin
Metformin, a pill prescribed for diabetes, is increasingly being used by biohackers as a way to improve how humans age, and slow the onset of diseases like cancer, cognitive decline, and vision loss, Insider reported.
The drug helps regulate blood sugar and decrease appetite, essentially giving the metabolism a boost and stimulating a cellular clean-up process known as autophagy, Insider reported.
In his book Lifespan, Harvard professor David Sinclair, said he takes a gram of metformin every morning along with his yogurt in the hope that it will regulate his metabolism and help his organs remain younger and healthier, Insider reported.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also said his personal anti-aging regimen includes metformin.
Hormone therapy
The body's balance of hormones can shift with age and spur a variety of age-related conditions like weight gain, mood swings, fatigue, and lower sex drive, two longevity focused doctors told Insider. As a result, they've seen an increasing patient interest in hormone therapy.
Modern Age's Dr. Vinjamoori told Insider that testosterone replacement has gained popularity among men and women as its become clear that optimal testosterone levels can impact mood, libido, and even metabolism.
"The importance of testosterone for women, in particular, is underappreciated— testosterone is actually the most abundant hormone in a woman's body and is the first hormone to decline with age," Vinjamoori told Insider.
It's not just testosterone, but also sex hormone like estrogen and progesterone that are being sought out by patients. Vinjamoori said the options for hormone therapy range from pills to creams to patches to pellets. "The approach can be highly personalized to you and your needs."
Rapamycin
Rapamycin is immunosuppressive drug used to help treat some cancers. It's also used in kidney transplants to help the an organ recipient's body accept new kidneys, Insider reported.
The pill can slow down cellular growth and reproduction which means it might be a way for "aging bodies turn down troublesome age-related inflammation" which can contribute to age-related diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's, Insider reported.
Insider reported that researchers have already seen rapamycin slow aging in flies, crustaceans, yeast, mice. In humans, studies have shown that it may help improve immune function, especially in older adults, Insider said.
Despite its potential to be a "fountain of youth" no one has really nailed down the right way to regulate the drug for aging, Insider said.
Matt Kaeberlein, a longevity researcher studying rapamycin's effects on humans, previously told Insider "the doses that people are taking off-label are all over the place," adding that, "it's the wild west."
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Longevity
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- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman takes the diabetes drug metformin to slow down aging.
- His anti-aging regimen also includes healthy eating, exercising, and getting enough sleep.
- He's secretly invested in Retro Biosciences, a startup whose mission is to "add 10 years to healthy human lifespan."
Metformin is a decades-old drug that is prescribed to millions of people with diabetes, CNBC reported. The World Health organization lists the drug as an essential medicine that every strong modern healthcare system should have.
Altman isn't alone hoping the medicine will help him live longer. Many Silicon Valley "biohackers" are taking metformin as part of their anti-aging regimens. Some research suggests the pill, which costs about $0.10 to $0.20, can slow down the effects of aging by reducing cognitive decline and vision loss, and preventing cancer and dementia.
In addition to the drug, Altman's said his anti-aging regimen includes "trying to eat healthy, exercise, and sleep enough," per the MIT Technology Review.
It's not the first time he's mentioned his health routine. In a 2018 blog post, he detailed his efforts. He wrote that he avoids eating sugar or anything extra spicy, as those foods can "aggravate" his digestion or cause inflammation. He added that he does drinks protein shakes, even which he "hates" them, and drinks "one big" espresso shot when he wakes up.
He also lifts heavy weights three times a week, along with the occasional session of high intensity interval training, an exercise program that helps him "feel the best overall," per the blog post.
His sleep routine involves a "cold, dark, quiet room," which he wrote increases sleep quality. He sometimes uses a Chili Pad if the room isn't cold enough. Altman also wrote that he takes a "low dose of sleeping pills" or a "very low dose of cannabis" whenever insomnia hits.
When he does get sick and spirals, he calls his mom, dermatologist Connie Gibstine, according to The New Yorker.
"I have to reassure him that he doesn't have meningitis or lymphoma, that it's just stress," Gibstine told The New Yorker.
His longevity efforts may one day include a therapy from Retro Biosciences, a startup whose mission is to "add 10 years to healthy human lifespan." The company uses genetic engineering and plasma replacement to make cells younger, per the MIT Technology Review.
Altman secretly poured $180 million dollars into Retro Bioscience's death-delaying treatment, the MIT Technology Review reported. He is part of a group of wealthy tech billionaires — like Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, and Twitter's Jack Dorsey — who are investing in biotech startups working on life-extension treatments.
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Longevity
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By Jessica Hall
The age group with the biggest increase in death by suicide was those 65 years and older, with an 8.1% jump in deaths
Suicide rates in the U.S. rose to their highest level ever last year, with the oldest adults having the high rates of suicide among any age group, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A record 49,449 Americans took their own lives in 2022, up 2.6% from the previous year, based on provisional data from the CDC. The age group with the biggest increase in death by suicide was those 65 years and older, with an 8.1% jump in deaths.
The provisional data come from U.S. death certificates, but the data may change slightly as death information is reviewed in the months ahead.
The increase in suicide comes as the U.S. surgeon general has declared loneliness a deadly epidemic. Adding to that, the number of people living alone has surged to about 29% of the U.S. population.
Read: 'There's a lot of lonely people out there.' Is loneliness killing you?
By another measure, the oldest adults suffered the most. Adults aged 85 and older have the highest rate of suicide, at 22.4 incidents per 100,000 people, followed by those 75 years old to 84 years old, at 19.6 incidents per 100,000, according to the CDC.
Many middle-aged and elderly people experience problems like losing a job or losing a spouse, Debra Houry, the CDC's chief medical officer, told the Associated Press. It's important to reduce the stigma and other obstacles to them getting assistance, Houry said.
Last year, for example, the first national mental-health crisis hotline was created. Similar to dialing 911 to reach police and first responders, people can dial 988 to be connected to trained mental-health counselors.
According to the National Council on Aging, older adults tend to plan suicide more carefully and they are more likely to use more lethal methods. Among people who attempt suicide, one in four seniors will succeed, compared to 1 in 200 youths.
Also, even if a senior fails a suicide attempt, they are less likely to recover from the effects, the NCOA said.
Older men were particularly at risk for suicide. Men aged 75 and older had the highest rate (42.2 deaths per 100,000) compared to other age groups. Non-Hispanic white men had the highest suicide rate (50.1 per 100,000) compared to men of other races and ethnicities in the same age group, the CDC said.
The recorded increase in suicide among older adults came as the World Health Organization said that social isolation and loneliness have a serious impact on older people's longevity, their physical and mental health, and their quality of life.
The effect of social isolation and loneliness on mortality has been compared to that of other well-established risk factors for mortality such as smoking, obesity and physical inactivity, the WHO said.
Read:Once you hit this age, you're far more likely to feel lonely
In addition to loneliness, the NCOA cited the following issues as risk factors for suicide in older adults: grief over lost loved ones, loss of self-sufficiency, chronic illness and pain, cognitive impairment and financial troubles.
To put the national tragedy of suicide in perspective, the CDC said there was one death by suicide every 11 minutes in 2021. In total, 12.3 million adults thought seriously about suicide that year, with 3.5 million adults making a plan and 1.7 million adults attempting suicide.
Read:Americans are lonelier than ever -- and that's bad for your health
In 2022, the demographic with the greatest number of total deaths by suicide was those aged 25 to 44 years old, at 16,843 deaths.
White people had the great number of suicides in 2022, at 37,459 deaths, up 2.1%. Men also suffered worse than women, with 39,255 deaths by suicide versus 10,194 deaths among women. Young people, or those 10 to 24 years old, showed an 8.4% drop in suicides, though suicide is the second leading cause of death for this age group, the CDC said.
The rise in suicides overall coincides with an increase in suicide by guns.
According researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, gun suicides reached a new all-time high of 26,993 people in 2022, increasing 1.6% from a previous record in 2021.
"While the increase in gun homicides has gained public awareness, less attention has been paid to the growing epidemic of gun suicides -- which historically make up the majority of gun deaths," Johns Hopkins researchers said. "The gun suicide rate has steadily increased, nearly uninterrupted, since 2006."
Some states -- including Massachusetts, Michigan and Maine -- are working to reduce suicide among middle-aged adults. Massachusetts and Maine are implementing gatekeeper training, which teaches community members how to identify people at risk for suicide and refer them to care. Massachusetts is also training providers to identify and support at-risk middle-aged adults.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts is working to increase access to and education on the benefits of firearm storage safes and trigger locks, and to promote lock bags, locked cabinets and safe disposal of over-the-counter drugs among middle-aged males.
-Jessica Hall
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
08-16-23 1230ETCopyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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Longevity
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Study: Senior women were less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment or dementia if they did more daily walking and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Photo credit: iStock/PeopleImages Senior women were less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment or dementia if they did more daily walking and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, according to a new study led by the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego. In the Jan. 25, 2023 online edition of Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, the team reported that, among women aged 65 or older, each additional 31 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with a 21 percent lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Risk was also 33 percent lower with each additional 1,865 daily steps. Andrea LaCroix, Ph.D., M.P.H., Distinguished Professor “Given that the onset of dementia begins 20 years or more before symptoms show, the early intervention for delaying or preventing cognitive decline and dementia among older adults is essential,” said senior author Andrea LaCroix, Ph.D., M.P.H., Distinguished Professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UC San Diego. While there are several types, dementias are a debilitating neurological condition that can cause loss of memory, the ability to think, problem solve or reason. Mild cognitive impairment is an early stage of memory loss or thinking problems that is not as severe as dementias. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, dementia affects more than 5 million people in this country. That number is expected to double by 2050. More women live with and are at higher risk of developing dementia than men. “Physical activity has been identified as one of the three most promising ways to reduce risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Prevention is important because once dementia is diagnosed, it is very difficult to slow or reverse. There is no cure,” said LaCroix. However, because few large studies have examined device measures of movement and sitting in relation to mild cognitive impairment and dementia, much of the published research on the associations of physical activity and sedentary behavior with cognitive decline and dementia is based on self-reported measures, said first author Steve Nguyen, Ph.D., M.P.H., postdoctoral scholar at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health. For this study, the researchers sampled data from 1,277 women as part of two Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) ancillary studies — the WHI Memory Study (WHIMS) and the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health (OPACH) study. The women wore research-grade accelerometers and went about their daily activities for up to seven days to obtain accurate measures of physical activity and sitting. The activity trackers showed the women averaged 3,216 steps, 276 minutes in light physical activities, 45.5 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and 10.5 hours of sitting per day. Examples of light physical activity could include housework, gardening or walking. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity could include brisk walking. The study findings also showed that higher amounts of sitting and prolonged sitting were not associated with higher risk of mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Steve Nguyen, Ph.D., M.P.H., postdoctoral scholar Together, this information has clinical and public health importance as there is little published information on the amount and intensity of physical activity needed for a lower dementia risk, said Nguyen. “Older adults can be encouraged to increase movement of at least moderate intensity and take more steps each day for a lower risk of mild cognitive impairment and dementia,” said Nguyen. “The findings for steps per day are particularly noteworthy because steps are recorded by a variety of wearable devices increasingly worn by individuals and could be readily adopted.” The authors said further research is needed among large diverse populations that include men. Co-authors include: John Bellettiere, UC San Diego; Kathleen M. Hayden and Stephen R. Rapp, Wake Forest University School of Medicine; Chongzhi Di, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center; Priya Palta, Columbia University Irving Medical Center; Marcia L. Stefanick, Stanford University School of Medicine; JoAnn E. Manson, Harvard Medical School; and Michael J. LaMonte, University at Buffalo – SUNY. This research was funded, in part, by the National Institute on Aging (P01 AG052352, 5T32AG058529-03) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01 HL105065). The Women’s Health Initiative was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (75N92021D00001, 75N92021D00002, 75N92021D00003, 75N92021D00004, 75N92021D00005). Stay in the Know Keep up with all the latest from UC San Diego. Subscribe to the newsletter today. Email Please provide a valid email address.
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Longevity
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CNN — In molecular biologist David Sinclair’s lab at Harvard Medical School, old mice are growing young again. Using proteins that can turn an adult cell into a stem cell, Sinclair and his team have reset aging cells in mice to earlier versions of themselves. In his team’s first breakthrough, published in late 2020, old mice with poor eyesight and damaged retinas could suddenly see again, with vision that at times rivaled their offspring’s. “It’s a permanent reset, as far as we can tell, and we think it may be a universal process that could be applied across the body to reset our age,” said Sinclair, who has spent the last 20 years studying ways to reverse the ravages of time. “If we reverse aging, these diseases should not happen. We have the technology today to be able to go into your hundreds without worrying about getting cancer in your 70s, heart disease in your 80s and Alzheimer’s in your 90s.” Sinclair told an audience at Life Itself, a health and wellness event presented in partnership with CNN. “This is the world that is coming. It’s literally a question of when and for most of us, it’s going to happen in our lifetimes,” Sinclair told the audience. Can we cure aging? 04:31 - Source: CNN “His research shows you can change aging to make lives younger for longer. Now he wants to change the world and make aging a disease,” said Whitney Casey, an investor who is partnering with Sinclair to create a do-it-yourself biological age test. While modern medicine addresses sickness, it doesn’t address the underlying cause, “which for most diseases, is aging itself,” Sinclair said. “We know that when we reverse the age of an organ like the brain in a mouse, the diseases of aging then go away. Memory comes back; there is no more dementia. “I believe that in the future, delaying and reversing aging will be the best way to treat the diseases that plague most of us.” In Sinclair’s lab, two mice sit side by side. One is the picture of youth, the other gray and feeble. Yet they are brother and sister, born from the same litter – only one has been genetically altered to age faster. If that could be done, Sinclair asked his team, could the reverse be accomplished as well? Japanese biomedical researcher Dr. Shinya Yamanaka had already reprogrammed human adult skin cells to behave like embryonic or pluripotent stem cells, capable of developing into any cell in the body. The 2007 discovery won the scientist a Nobel Prize, and his “induced pluripotent stem cells,” soon became known as “Yamanaka factors.” However, adult cells fully switched back to stem cells via Yamanaka factors lose their identity. They forget they are blood, heart and skin cells, making them perfect for rebirth as “cell du jour,” but lousy at rejuvenation. You don’t want Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” to become a baby all at once; you want him to age backward while still remembering who he is. Labs around the world jumped on the problem. A study published in 2016 by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, showed signs of aging could be expunged in genetically aged mice, exposed for a short time to four main Yamanaka factors, without erasing the cells’ identity. But there was a downside in all this research: In certain situations, the altered mice developed cancerous tumors. Looking for a safer alternative, Sinclair lab geneticist Yuancheng Lu chose three of the four factors and genetically added them to a harmless virus. The virus was designed to deliver the rejuvenating Yamanaka factors to damaged retinal ganglion cells at the back of an aged mouse’s eye. After injecting the virus into the eye, the pluripotent genes were then switched on by feeding the mouse an antibiotic. “The antibiotic is just a tool. It could be any chemical really, just a way to be sure the three genes are switched on,” Sinclair said. “Normally they are only on in very young developing embryos and then turn off as we age.” Amazingly, damaged neurons in the eyes of mice injected with the three cells rejuvenated, even growing new axons, or projections from the eye into the brain. Since that original study, Sinclair said his lab has reversed aging in the muscles and brains of mice and is now working on rejuvenating a mouse’s entire body. “Somehow the cells know the body can reset itself, and they still know which genes should be on when they were young,” Sinclair said. “We think we’re tapping into an ancient regeneration system that some animals use – when you cut the limb off a salamander, it regrows the limb. The tail of a fish will grow back; a finger of a mouse will grow back.” That discovery indicates there is a “backup copy” of youthfulness information stored in the body, he added. “I call it the information theory of aging,” he said. “It’s a loss of information that drives aging cells to forget how to function, to forget what type of cell they are. And now we can tap into a reset switch that restores the cell’s ability to read the genome correctly again, as if it was young.” While the changes have lasted for months in mice, renewed cells don’t freeze in time and never age (like, say, vampires or superheroes), Sinclair said. “It’s as permanent as aging is. It’s a reset, and then we see the mice age out again, so then we just repeat the process. “We believe we have found the master control switch, a way to rewind the clock,” he added. “The body will then wake up, remember how to behave, remember how to regenerate and will be young again, even if you’re already old and have an illness.” Studies on whether the genetic intervention that revitalized mice will do the same for people are in early stages, Sinclair said. It will be years before human trials are finished, analyzed and, if safe and successful, scaled to the mass needed for a federal stamp of approval. While we wait for science to determine if we too can reset our genes, there are many other ways to slow the aging process and reset our biological clocks, Sinclair said. “The top tips are simply: Focus on plants for food, eat less often, get sufficient sleep, lose your breath for 10 minutes three times a week by exercising to maintain your muscle mass, don’t sweat the small stuff and have a good social group,” Sinclair said. All these behaviors affect our epigenome, proteins and chemicals that sit like freckles on each gene, waiting to tell the gene “what to do, where to do it, and when to do it,” according to the National Human Genome Research Institute. The epigenome literally turns genes on and off. What controls the epigenome? Human behavior and one’s environment play a key role. Let’s say you were born with a genetic predisposition for heart disease and diabetes. But because you exercised, ate a plant-focused diet, slept well and managed your stress during most of your life, it’s possible those genes would never be activated. That, experts say, is how we can take some of our genetic fate into our own hands. The positive impact on our health from eating a plant-based diet, having close, loving relationships and getting adequate exercise and sleep are well documented. Calorie restriction, however, is a more controversial way of adding years to life, experts say. Cutting back on food – without inducing malnutrition – has been a scientifically known way to lengthen life for nearly a century. Studies on worms, crabs, snails, fruit flies and rodents have found restricting calories “delay the onset of age-related disorders” such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, according to the National Institute on Aging. Some studies have also found extensions in life span: In a 1986 study, mice fed only a third of a typical day’s calories lived to 53 months – a mouse kept as a pet may live to about 24 months. Studies in people, however, have been less enlightening, partly because many have focused on weight loss instead of longevity. For Sinclair, however, cutting back on meals was a significant factor in resetting his personal clock: Recent tests show he has a biological age of 42 in a body born 53 years ago. “I’ve been doing a biological test for 10 years now, and I’ve been getting steadily younger for the last decade,” Sinclair said. “The biggest change in my biological clock occurred when I ate less often – I only eat one meal a day now. That made the biggest difference to my biochemistry.” Sinclair incorporates other tools into his life, based on research from his lab and others. In his book “Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To,” he writes that little of what he does has undergone the sort of “rigorous long-term clinical testing” needed to have a “complete understanding of the wide range of potential outcomes.” In fact, he added, “I have no idea if this is even the right thing for me to be doing.” With that caveat, Sinclair is willing to share his tips: He keeps his starches and sugars to a minimum and gave up desserts at age 40 (although he does admit to stealing a taste on occasion). He eats a good amount of plants, avoids eating other mammals and keeps his body weight at the low end of optimal. He exercises by taking a lot of steps each day, walks upstairs instead of taking an elevator and visits the gym with his son to lift weights and jog before taking a sauna and a dip in an ice-cold pool. “I’ve got my 20-year-old body back,” he said with a smile. Speaking of cold, science has long thought lower temperatures increased longevity in many species, but whether it is true or not may come down to one’s genome, according to a 2018 study. Regardless, it appears cold can increase brown fat in humans, which is the type of fat bears use to stay warm during hibernation. Brown fat has been shown to improve metabolism and combat obesity. Sinclair takes vitamins D and K2 and baby aspirin daily, along with supplements that have shown promise in extending longevity in yeast, mice and human cells in test tubes. One supplement he takes after discovering its benefits is 1 gram of resveratrol, the antioxidant-like substance found in the skin of grapes, blueberries, raspberries, mulberries and peanuts. He also takes 1 gram of metformin, a staple in the arsenal of drugs used to lower blood sugars in people with diabetes. He added it after studies showed it might reduce inflammation, oxidative damage and cellular senescence, in which cells are damaged but refuse to die, remaining in the body as a type of malfunctioning “zombie cell.” However, some scientists quibble about the use of metformin, pointing to rare cases of lactic acid buildup and a lack of knowledge on how it functions in the body. Sinclair also takes 1 gram of NMN, or nicotinamide mononucleotide, which in the body turns into NAD+, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. A coenzyme that exists in all living cells, NAD+ plays a central role in the body’s biological processes, such as regulating cellular energy, increasing insulin sensitivity and reversing mitochondrial dysfunction. When the body ages, NAD+ levels significantly decrease, dropping by middle age to about half the levels of youth, contributing to age-related metabolic diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. Numerous studies have shown restoring NAD+ levels safely improves overall health and increases life span in yeast, mice and dogs. Clinical trials testing the molecule in humans have been underway for three years, Sinclair said. “These supplements, and the lifestyle that I am doing, is designed to turn on our defenses against aging,” he said. “Now, if you do that, you don’t necessarily turn back the clock. These are just things that slow down epigenetic damage and these other horrible hallmarks of aging. “But the real advance, in my view, was the ability to just tell the body, ‘Forget all that. Just be young again,’ by just flipping a switch. Now I’m not saying that we’re going to all be 20 years old again,” Sinclair said. “But I’m optimistic that we can duplicate this very fundamental process that exists in everything from a bat to a sheep to a whale to a human. We’ve done it in a mouse. There’s no reason I can think of why it shouldn’t work in a person, too.”
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Longevity
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January 05, 2023 05:35 PM Bessie Hendricks, the oldest person in the United States, died at the age of 115 in an Iowa nursing home. Born on Nov. 7, 1907, Hendricks became the oldest American in January 2022 and was the matriarch of a massive family of five children, nine grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren, and 42 great-great-grandchildren. BIDEN AGREES QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS AGE ARE 'TOTALLY LEGITIMATE' Hendricks was a school teacher and had been residing at Shady Oaks Care Center in Lake City, Iowa. She was a member of a rare group of supercentenarians — individuals 110 years old or older. Roughly 300 supercentenarians were identified in the U.S. census back in 2010. She married Paul Hendricks in the 1930s. He later passed on their 65th wedding anniversary. Her exceptionally long life spanned 21 U.S. presidents, two world wars, the pandemic of 1918, the Great Depression, the COVID-19 pandemic, the birth of the internet, and a trove of other historical events. In 2018, she received recognition from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for working with the department for a whopping 80 years. She credited hard work for her longevity, and she was an avid crocheter and Iowa Hawkeye fan, per the Hill. We love our customers! At 110 years old, Bessie Hendricks has been working with USDA for over 80 years! Our Farm Service Agency county office staff in Iowa presented her with a certificate of appreciation. pic.twitter.com/Wmavs1qI5k— Dept. of Agriculture (@USDA) October 4, 2018 Tributes for Hendricks began pouring in on her Facebook fan page, with users giving their condolences to her family. "Rest in Peace Bessie Hendricks. My deepest condolences and sympathy to all her loved ones. She will be missed by all of us," one user wrote. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER With Hendricks's passing, the mantle of oldest American now reportedly gets passed to Edie Ceccarelli of California, who will turn 115 years old on Feb. 5. Currently, the oldest verified person in the world is French-born Lucile Randon at 118 years old, according to Guinness Book of World Records. Funeral proceedings for Hendricks are set to be livestreamed and will take place at Lampe and Powers Funeral Home in Lake City at 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 7. She died Tuesday, according to officials.
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Longevity
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'We have 30 extra years': A new way of thinking about aging
As one of three co-teachers of a Stanford Graduate School of Business course on the rapidly growing importance of older consumers and workers, Rob Chess likes to say that his colleague Laura Carstensen, the founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, is the expert on aging; his fellow lecturer in management, Susan Wilner Golden, has the entrepreneurial angle covered; and he represents the demographic in question. "I just got my Medicare card," he says with a chuckle.
A serial entrepreneur who has founded and led several successful biotech companies, Chess is having a bit of fun at his own expense. But the growing cohort of older adults he belongs to—and the opportunity it represents—is no joke.
Thanks to advances in medicine and public health, people are living longer, healthier lives. The world's population of people 60 and older is growing five times faster than the population as a whole. Global life expectancy has doubled since 1900, and experts say that children born in developed countries now have a good chance of living to 100. A "silver tsunami" is already sweeping the U.S. labor force: the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 36% of people ages 65–69 will remain on the job in 2024—up significantly from the 22% who were working in 1994.
These longer-lived, longer-working individuals generate an ever-bigger slice of global GDP and control an expanding tranche of global wealth. In her recent book Stage (Not Age), Golden estimates that the "longevity economy" is worth more than $22 trillion—$8.3 trillion in the United States alone. That may be a conservative figure: AARP (the organization formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons) estimates that people over 50 already account for half of consumer spending worldwide, or $35 trillion. (This range of figures may have to do with how "older adult" is defined: The term is variously used to refer to people over the ages of 65, 60, or—sorry, Gen Xers—50.)
Yet the longevity market remains untapped by many businesses, which continue to ignore older consumers in favor of younger ones. "People 50 and older hold the vast majority of wealth in the country, but we're producing products and services for people who don't have nearly as much money to spend," Carstensen says.
Firms that do attempt to court older adults often fail to understand them. The situation reminds Chess of the computer industry in the early 1980s. At the time, he recalls, most people were focused on hardware. As a result, those who saw the potential market for software reaped outsize rewards. "The people who recognized that early ended up being massive winners," Chess says. He sees a similar opening in the longevity market. "most people's instincts are to focus younger, when the opportunity really is to focus older."
Of course, older people do more than just buy stuff. Carstensen contends that virtually every aspect of our lives will be affected by our increasing longevity. "The world we live in was literally built by and for young people," she says; yet for the first time in history, it now contains comparable numbers of toddlers and octogenarians.
As people enjoy longer, healthier lives, many will have to rethink their educational, career, and retirement paths. Organizations, meanwhile, will have to reconsider how they recruit, retain, and manage employees. That will require us to grapple with deeply ingrained ageism—a prejudice that Jeffrey Pfeffer and Ashley Martin, GSB professors of organizational behavior, describe as "the last acceptable ism."
The rewards for doing so, however, are potentially vast. "This is a unique and unprecedented opportunity," Carstensen says. "We have 30 extra years. How could we use those years to improve quality of life at all ages?"
Mature markets
Engaging with older adults as consumers and workers can be complicated, partly because they are so diverse, ranging from people in their 60s who experience mental and physical decline to "super-agers" who are still working full-time or running marathons well into their 80s. "The population 65 and over is more heterogeneous than any other age group," says Carstensen, a professor of psychology at Stanford who has cotaught the GSB course on longevity for several years. "We can make some really good, informed guesses about what 5-year-olds are like. Try to do that for 80-year-olds; it doesn't work."
Instead of segmenting older people into age brackets, Golden suggests looking at what stage of life they're at. This may challenge many assumptions about how our lives will unfold. She argues that the linear three-stage model of "learn, earn, retire" is based on outmoded ideas about lifespan and "health span": If you're going to live to 80 or 90 in relatively good health, it makes no sense to assume that your formal education should end in your teens or twenties or that you should retire at 65.
Instead, many older people will likely cycle through a variety of nonsequential and potentially overlapping stages: working for a while, taking a break to raise kids, going back to work in a new role, taking another break to care for parents, retraining and reentering the workforce, taking another break to pursue other interests or additional education, and so on. An 80-year-old and a 40-year-old may occupy the same stage, and a 70-year-old may occupy several different stages simultaneously.
Consider Golden's own trajectory thus far: She earned a master's in public health and a doctorate in health services, taught at Boston University Medical School, and had a successful career in venture capital before leaving the workforce to raise her daughter and care for her mother. She then returned to school at age 60, becoming a fellow at the Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute while her daughter was a freshman in college.
Yet while older people appreciate not being crammed into a one-size-fits-all approach, openly acknowledging their age can be touchy. As Chess points out, older adults don't like to be treated as such. "People who are 70 or 80 don't want to be marketed to as 70 or 80," he says. Consequently, he advocates for "stealth design": crafting products and services with older consumers in mind, but keeping the demographic targeting on the down-low. Ideally, this appeals to older folks without alienating younger ones who might be turned off by products and services that they associate with their parents and grandparents.
Chess points to how BMW used research by MIT's AgeLab to redesign the controls of some of its high-end sedans. Though you might guess from the automaker's ads that its cars are meant for 30- or 40-somethings, the average Beemer buyer is 55 or older. Heterogeneity notwithstanding, most people experience joint stiffness and loss of visual acuity as they age. BMW's new controls, which feature bright primary colors and larger, easy-to-manipulate dials, are more user-friendly for older drivers yet still enjoyable for younger ones.
Similarly, in recent years Merrill Lynch has revamped its approach to wealth management, moving from traditional retirement planning to a stage-based approach that employs teams of advisors to serve multiple generations within the same family. The company also pioneered the use of specially trained "financial gerontologists" to assist clients with issues like cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. As Carstensen and Golden detailed in a 2019 article in Harvard Business Review, this shift in strategy improved customer acquisition, retention, and satisfaction.
Especially as careers last longer, older people can play a valuable role in designing and marketing products for their age-mates: identifying features that might attract folks in their 60s or 70s, for instance, or pointing out when a product intended for Millennials might appeal to Baby Boomers as well. "The common theme in the longevity industry is 'designed with, not for,'" Golden says.
Distribution can also be challenging. Golden says there is a dearth of marketplaces for longevity-related services like caregiving and continuous learning. Chess points out that customer acquisition costs can be high in areas like home healthcare and end-of-life care, where need is difficult to predict and repeat customers are few and far between. "You don't buy a funeral more than once," he says.
Some of these challenges can be addressed by creating new marketplaces or taking advantage of existing distribution channels. For example, the startup Wider Circle (founded by Darin Buxbaum and Moshe Pinto, MBA '07), which builds social groups to reduce isolation and loneliness among seniors, sells its services through Medicare Advantage plans. Insurers that offer these supplemental plans like the groups because they produce health benefits and boost customer loyalty, thereby reducing costs and increasing revenues. Wider Circle, meanwhile, gains access to a large pool of potential users.
Gray areas
If increasing longevity has the potential to remake the world of products and services, it has similar implications for the workplace. For example, age-diverse teams will become more common. And that is good for many reasons. Research by organizations such as AARP, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Economic Forum indicates that multigenerational teams perform better and create stronger talent pipelines.
That's not to say there won't be problems. With four or even five generations working together in close quarters, the potential for intergenerational conflict will inevitably increase. According to Carstensen, more research is needed to understand the optimal composition of mixed-age teams so that managers can create environments where age diversity improves performance rather than generating friction. "The devil is in the details," she says.
Businesses will also need to revamp their benefits, compensation, and HR policies to attract and retain employees who are more likely to take career breaks. Research by ManpowerGroup indicates that 57% of male Millennials and 74% of female Millennials already anticipate taking such a break to provide childcare or eldercare or to support a partner.
In 2008, Goldman Sachs and Sara Lee introduced corporate "returnships"—return-to-work programs for people with previous experience who have spent time outside the workforce. Since then, more companies, including heavy hitters like Amazon, Apple, and Facebook, have launched similar efforts. They remain in the minority, however. Carol Fishman Cohen, the co-founder of iRelaunch, a platform that promotes midcareer reentry programs, notes that fewer than 10% of Fortune 500 companies had one in 2021.
As that changes, however, the benefits should be felt across generations. "I always thought that having older people in the workforce was going to be the best thing to happen to young parents," says Carstensen. "They both want the same thing: flexibility"—namely, the ability to enter, exit, and reenter the workforce as they please.
Retiring stereotypes
Fully embracing older adults in the workplace will also require confronting an old bias: age discrimination. Jeffrey Pfeffer, who is widely credited with inventing the field of organizational demography, wrote a prescient 1979 paper about the impact that an aging workforce could have on organizations. While acknowledging that a "general prejudice against age" was evident in many aspects of American culture at the time, he speculated that the situation might improve as the average age of the workforce increased.
Four decades later, unfortunately, that prejudice shows little sign of abating. "I think there's actually more ageism," says Pfeffer, who has written about the age discrimination he began experiencing in his professional life when he entered his 60s. (He's now 76.) "It's perfectly acceptable to make comments about age that you would never make about any other social category," Pfeffer says.
The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 protects people who are 40 or older, yet it remains difficult to enforce. A survey by AARP found that 61% of adults over age 45 had either seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace. Nearly one-fifth of the more than 61,000 charges filed before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2021 were age-related, with research suggesting that many more cases go unreported.
Ashley Martin has found that even people who strongly advocate for gender and racial equality in the workplace still engage in "succession-based ageism," the belief that older workers should step aside to make room for others. Otherwise fervent egalitarians legitimize this bias by arguing that older workers prevent younger people, women, and members of marginalized groups from moving up—even though older workers are a disadvantaged group.
Because it is more widely tolerated than other forms of prejudice, ageism may prove particularly difficult to root out. Age is rarely addressed in diversity trainings or mentioned in corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. According to Martin, fewer than 20% of diversity statements recognize age. "The fact that we're not talking about [ageism] enough makes it such that we're not going to find productive ways in which to solve it," she says.
Yet the tools to combat ageism may already exist. Martin's research indicates that age-related bias tends to abate when people come to understand that older adults aren't necessarily staying on the job simply because they enjoy working but also because many cannot afford to retire. This, in turn, suggests that ageism may be amenable to targeted interventions—though Martin is quick to point out that all-purpose DEI initiatives are unlikely to solve the problem. Rather, organizations need to understand the specific attitudes their employees hold about older adults, and how (or even if ) those attitudes affect the workplace. "In order for diversity trainings to be effective, you really need to understand people's beliefs in the first place," she says.
Pfeffer, meanwhile, argues that legal pressure should be used to persuade organizations to take ageism seriously. "I'm a huge believer in litigation," he says, adding that much of the progress made in the fight against racial and sexual discrimination was accomplished through the courts. "The point is just to raise the cost of this form of discrimination."
Carstensen thinks that the problem of ageism is best addressed by building a world where people of all ages can be fully engaged with and integrated into the workplace, the home, and the broader community. "We have so many things we could do to make life better, and not just for old people: for children, for their parents, for workers and employers," she says. Businesses can play a vital role in that process if they have the foresight to make longevity part of their overall strategy.
And given the speed at which demographic change is occurring, they had best begin doing it soon. "As important as it is now," says Chess, "it'll be vastly more important in 2030."
Provided by Stanford University
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Longevity
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- The classic notion of retirement planning is a measure of savings and time.
- "Longevity" planning is a more complete framework, said Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab.
- Americans overlook many important aspects of old age. They include transportation, social life and small tasks that may be difficult or impossible. Many of them carry a financial cost.
The following is an excerpt from "This week, your wallet," a weekly audio show on Twitter produced by CNBC's Personal Finance team. Listen to the latest episode here.
Americans are living longer — and it's changing the nature of retirement planning.
The classic retirement framework aims for seniors to have enough money to fund their lifestyle in old age. While not incorrect, the framework is "incomplete," Joseph Coughlin, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab, told CNBC.
"Longevity planning" is a better way for society to think about old age — especially since the future is "much grayer than it's ever been before," he said.
There's a roughly 50% chance that Americans who are 65 years old today will make it to 85 — a period that lasts about 8,000 days, or a third of their adult life, Coughlin said.
Instead of a short period earmarked purely for leisure and travel, retirement in the future will be increasingly dynamic one, in which people might have different part-time gigs and find other ways to stay happy and engaged.
"Leisure is a story we wrote for retirement when it was short," said Coughlin, author of "The Longevity Economy: Unlocking the World's Fastest-Growing, Most Misunderstood Market." "Life is the new story we need to write when it becomes so much longer."
"This is an entirely new longevity frontier," he added.
Within that framework, there are some big questions people planning for their retirement years should be asking — but which are often overlooked.
Here are three of them, according to Coughlin.
This question gets to what makes you smile — and how you're going to get that thing.
Imagine it's a hot summer night and you're craving an ice cream cone. Ice cream, in this case, is what makes you happy. But do you have the transportation to get to the store, without asking a neighbor or adult child, for example?
In other words, can you get the ice cream when you want it?
Seventy percent Americans over age 50 live in suburban and rural areas, where public transit may be spotty or inexistent, Coughlin said.
The answer has financial implications, too: Transportation is the second-largest cost in retirement for Americans over age 65 , Coughlin said. (The first is housing, and health care is third.)
Seniors may need to pay for transit not just to do things they enjoy, but also to travel to the doctor and the grocery store, for example.
Yes, your bank account and financial portfolio are important in retirement — but so is your "social portfolio," Coughlin said.
Ensuring we have enough friends, who we can socialize and have lunch with, who we can learn from, have fun with and lean on when life "goes to heck," is an important part of longevity planning, he said.
This is something in which retirees should plan to continually invest in old age, Coughlin said. As one woman in her 80s told Coughlin, there's a certain "attrition" to your friendships as you age.
The lightbulb represents all the things — big and small — we might take for granted in retirement.
Take maintaining a home, for example. There may be a time when climbing a ladder to change a lightbulb seems hazardous or impossible, Coughlin said.
Home maintenance is among the "hidden costs" of retirement, he added. (Transportation is another, he said.)
"There will be a whole cost in retirement to outsource all that help you may need to stay independent and well," Coughlin said.
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To some people, $3 million will sound like a lot. You probably think $3 million is enough to retire if you’re among that crowd. But retiring with $3 million at 65 can last depending on your longevity, lifestyle and other factors. Let’s break down what you need to consider when determining how much you can afford.
A financial advisor can help you create a financial plan for your retirement needs and goals.
5 Factors to Consider When Panning Your Retirement
Knowing how much you need to retire can be challenging because there are so many variables. Here are five common things you’ll have to consider:
Life expectancy: People live longer than they used to thanks to advances in medical technology and improved nutrition. Life expectancy has dropped slightly in the age of COVID – for women, the age dropped from 79.9 in 2020 to 79.1 in 2021, and for men, it dropped from 74.2 to 73.2 in the same period. However, those numbers may tick up again as COVID recedes. With people living longer, planning for the long term is best.
Inflation: Many things are uncertain, but one thing isn’t — inflation will likely persist even during so-called normal economic times. While the COVID pandemic era has seen historically high inflation, the Federal Reserve targets a modest 2% inflation. However, inflation in January 2023 was at 6.4%. Therefore, you must plan accordingly.
Cost of living: Like inflation, the cost of living increases over the years. However, cost of living can vary widely depending on certain factors like where you live. For example, some states have more retirement-friendly taxes. This is also why some empty nesters decide to move to cheaper places.
Health care expenses: Health care costs tend to increase with age as seniors often need more medical care than younger people. Therefore, retirees must include increasing healthcare costs in their retirement plans.
Social Security: Social Security benefits can provide a source of income in retirement. However, the amount of Social Security benefits you receive will depend on your work history and the age at which you start collecting benefits. Use our Social Security calculator to estimate your benefit.
By considering these five factors when planning for retirement, you can better estimate your future income needs and develop a plan to achieve your retirement goals.
How Much Do You Need to Retire Comfortably?
In the previous section, we briefly overview some things you must consider as you plan for retirement. Now, we should estimate the real amount of money you need to retire. In doing so, we will see whether $3 million will be enough.
Of course, discussing these things in broad terms and calculating them are two entirely different things. Fortunately, retirement calculators let you plug in many of the things we discussed earlier. SmartAsset’s retirement calculator asks you important questions, like where you live, when you plan to take Social Security and the retirement income you want. It then estimates how much you will need to retire and how much you must save per month to achieve that goal.
Retirement calculators can go a long way in helping you understand how the real numbers look. However, you should also meet with a financial advisor to build a customized plan.
Strategies to Maximize Retirement Savings
Saving $3 million for retirement savings is an ambitious goal. Still, depending on what you plug into the calculator (and the plan you put together with a financial advisor), it might be necessary. In that case, there are steps you can take to maximize your retirement savings.
One of the most essential concepts here is to use compound interest to your advantage. Compounding means you will continue to earn interest on the interest you earned in the past. In other words, the more time that passes, the more quickly your portfolio grows. Thus, the longer you have, the greater the effect of compounding. Even if you can only save a small amount each month, starting early can make a big difference in the long run.
It’s also a good idea to max out retirement accounts like a 401(k) or an IRA. You can contribute up to $22,500 per year to a 401(k) and up to $6,500 per year to an IRA (as of 2023). Maxing out these accounts can help you save more money on taxes and grow your retirement savings faster.
You should also diversify your investments by investing in stocks, bonds and real estate. Doing so has several advantages, such as these assets often have different volatility profiles. But they can also have different tax advantages, so investing in more than one can gives you an edge.
Bottom Line
Knowing if $3 million will be enough to retire at 65 can seem daunting. There are factors to consider, like inflation, cost of living, life expectancy and health care expenses. However, plugging numbers into a retirement calculator can help you see where you stand. You should also meet with a financial advisor to build a custom plan. If you need to save more, you can maximize your retirement accounts. Also, be sure to save early and diversify your investments.
Tips for Retirement Savings
A financial advisor can guide you through major financial decisions, like determining your investing strategy. Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
Deciding how to invest can be a challenge, especially when you don’t know how much your money will grow over time. SmartAsset’s investment calculator can help you estimate how much your money will grow to help you decide which type of investment is right for you.
Photo credit: ©iStock.com/pixdeluxe, ©iStock.com/Anchiy, ©iStock.com/Zoran Zeremski
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Japanese scientists may have unraveled the secret of aging resistance in naked mole-rats
Naked mole-rats have the longest life span among all rodents and can resist aging and the age-related diseases. However, the precise mechanisms underlying this ability are largely unclear.
In a new study, Japanese researchers have identified a unique species-specific "natural senolytic" or senescent cell-removal mechanism in NMRs, involving serotonin metabolism and the INK4a-RB signaling axis. Their findings provide useful insights into ways to resist aging and age-related diseases, including cancer. The study is published in The EMBO Journal.
Heterocephalus glaber or naked mole-rats (NMRs)—a mammal species native to Eastern Africa—are the longest-living rodents with an exceptionally long lifespan of over 37 years with a unique ability to delay aging and resist age-related diseases, such as cancer. For these reasons, NMRs have attracted a lot of attention, with researchers hoping to unravel the mechanisms contributing to their longevity.
Previous studies have explored the role of DNA repair mechanisms, protein stability, and translation accuracy (precise conversion of RNA to proteins) in this regard, but the molecular mechanisms/factors behind their aging resistance remain largely unclear. Moreover, the contribution of cellular senescence to their aging resistance is poorly understood.
Cellular senescence (cellular aging) is characterized by the irreversible arrest of cell division, which progresses with age. Senescent cells are less prone to cell death and accumulate in the tissues as they age, promoting chronic inflammation and compromising the function of these tissues. While cellular senescence plays an important role in aging, little is known about its function in NMRs.
To this end, a team of researchers from Japan led by Professor Kyoko Miura from the Department of Aging and Longevity Research, Kumamoto University, conducted a series of experiments in vitro and in vivo to understand how cellular senescence occurs in NMRs and if there are any species-specific mechanisms that contribute to suppress accumulation of senescent cells and their delayed aging.
The Department of Aging and Longevity Research, Kumamoto University is the only center in Japan which breeds NMRs and conducts research on their resistance to aging and cancer. Explaining the rationale behind their study, Professor Miura, states, "Senolysis or the targeted removal of senescent cells has been shown to inhibit aging-related decline in mice."
"However, whether the findings in mice are generalizable, remains an open question. In this study, we discovered an NMR-specific 'natural senolytic' mechanism that may provide an evolutionary rationale for removing senescent cells as a therapeutic strategy to prevent aging."
The research team used low concentrations of doxorubicin (DXR)—a DNA damaging agent— to induce cellular senescence in NMR- and mouse-derived skin fibroblasts in vitro.
They observed that induction of cellular senescence led to cessation of cell proliferation due to arrest of the cell cycle with the activation of INK4a and RB (important factors for induction of cellular senescence), in both NMR- and mouse-fibroblasts. However, only NMR cells gradually and significantly activated cell death, suggesting that senescent cell accumulation in NMRs may be suppressed through their removal.
Through further experiments, the researchers observed that there was an accumulation of serotonin (a neurotransmitter that sends signals between nerve cells) in the non-senescent NMR-fibroblasts, but not in the mouse-fibroblasts.
Upon senescence induction, in NMR cells, serotonin was metabolized by monoamine oxidase (MAO; an enzyme highly activated in senescent NMR fibroblasts after induction of cellular senescence) and converted to 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA; a metabolite), releasing large amounts of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).
The team proposed that oxidative stress due to the intracellular production of H2O2 predisposed the senescent NMR fibroblasts to the cell death pathway, thus leading to senolysis (selective removal of senescent cells). This was confirmed by the observation that the addition of MAO inhibitors and antioxidants inhibited cell death in NMR fibroblasts.
To confirm if a similar mechanism was also prevalent in vivo, the team induced cellular senescence in the lungs of mice and NMRs using bleomycin (a DNA damaging agent). They observed that cell death, likely due to an acute response to DNA damage, initially increased on day two in both mouse and NMR lung cells. However, after an initial rise on day two, a fall in cell death was observed and by day 21, cell death had increased again, only in NMR lung cells.
Furthermore, treatment with the MAO inhibitor significantly suppressed cell death but increased the number of senescent cells only in NMR lung on day 21. This suggests that MAO plays a role in inducing cell death and reducing the number of senescent cells following the induction of cellular senescence in NMR lung cells. These results are consistent with the in vitro findings and suggest that MAO contributes to suppress the accumulation of senescent cells in NMR tissues.
"Further studies focusing on the senescent cell removal mechanism in NMR tissues are needed to understand which kind of senescent cells should be removed, when, and how. Such studies may aid the development of safer and targeted senolytic drugs," says Prof. Miura while discussing future steps.
Overall, these findings suggest that INK4a-RB-mediated cell death may facilitate the removal of senescent cells in NMRs, helping them resist aging-related degeneration. We are confident that by highlighting a natural senolytic mechanism in this long-lived species, this study would contribute to the development of anti-aging strategies and targeted therapies against age-related diseases such as cancer.
More information: Yoshimi Kawamura et al, Cellular senescence induction leads to progressive cell death via the INK4a‐RB pathway in naked mole‐rats, The EMBO Journal (2023). DOI: 10.15252/embj.2022111133
Journal information: EMBO Journal
Provided by Kumamoto University
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Reaching the age of 90, 95 or 100, known as exceptional longevity, was more likely for women who maintained their body weight after age 60, according to a multi-institutional study led by University of California San Diego. Older women who sustained a stable weight were 1.2 to 2 times more likely to achieve longevity compared to those who experience a weigh loss of 5 percent or more.
Reporting in the Aug. 29, 2023 online issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, researchers investigated the associations of weight changes later in life with exceptional longevity among 54,437 women who enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative, a prospective study investigating causes of chronic diseases among postmenopausal women. Throughout the follow up period, 30,647, or 56 percent of the participants, survived to the age of 90 or beyond.
Women who lost at least 5 percent weight were less likely to achieve longevity compared to those who achieved stable weight. For example, women who unintentionally lost weight were 51 percent less likely to survive to the age of 90. However, gaining 5 percent or more weight, compared to stable weight, was not associated with exceptional longevity.
“It is very common for older women in the United States to experience overweight or obesity with a body mass index range of 25 to 35. Our findings support stable weight as a goal for longevity in older women,” said first author Aladdin H. Shadyab, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UC San Diego.
“If aging women find themselves losing weight when they are not trying to lose weight, this could be a warning sign of ill health and a predictor of decreased longevity.”
The findings suggest that general recommendations for weight loss in older women may not help them live longer. Nevertheless, the authors caution that women should heed medical advice if moderate weight loss is recommended to improve their health or quality of life.
The data expands on the growing research linking the relationship between weight change and mortality. Notably, this is the first large study to examine weight change later in life and its relation to exceptional longevity.
Co-authors include: Matthew A. Allison and Andrea Z. LaCroix, UC San Diego; JoAnn E. Manson, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Deepika Laddu, University of Illinois Chicago; Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Linda Van Horn, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; Robert A. Wild, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center; Hailey R. Banack, Dalla Lana School of Public Health; Fred K. Tabung, Ohio State University; Bernhard Haring, University of Wurzburg and Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Yangbo Sun, University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Erin S. LeBlanc, Kaiser Permanente; Jean Wactawski-Wende, University at Buffalo – SUNY; Meryl S. LeBoff, Harvard Medical School; Michelle J. Naughton, Ohio State University; Juhua Luo, Indiana University Bloomington; Peter F. Schnatz, Reading Hospital/Tower Health; Ginny Natale, Stony Brook University; and Robert J. Ostfeld, Montefiore Health System.
This research was funded, in part, by the National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (75N92021D00001, 75N92021D00002, 75N92021D00003, 75N92021D00004 and 75N92021D00005).
Disclosure: Robert J. Ostfeld, MD, MSc, declares research grants from Purjes Foundation and Greenbaum Foundation, and is an advisory board member of Mesuron, Inc. with stock option interest.
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glad177
Journal
Journal of Gerontology
Method of Research
Observational study
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Association of later life weight changes with survival to ages 90, 95, and 100: The Women’s Health Initiative
Article Publication Date
29-Aug-2023
COI Statement
Robert J. Ostfeld, MD, MSc, declares research grants from Purjes Foundation and Greenbaum Foundation, and is an advisory board member of Mesuron, Inc. with stock option interest.
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Longevity
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In humanity's quest to live longer, healthier lives, technology — particularly artificial intelligence — is playing an ever-bigger role and expanding into more areas of health care.
A California-based medical technology company named Prenuvo, for instance, offers full-body MRI scans that leverage AI to screen patients for over 500 conditions — including tumors, aneurysms and cysts — in less than an hour.
Now, Prenuvo is announcing a partnership with Cenegenics, a Las Vegas-based company that offers "personalized performance health age management" for its patients. It will monitor their bloodwork for over 90 biomarkers in an attempt to slow the biological aging process.
With the partnership, patients of Cenegics will have access to Prenuvo’s full-body AI scans, which will help fill in any gaps and provide doctors with a better picture of patients’ health.
"We are driven by a shared vision of enhancing both healthspan and lifespan in our pursuit of transforming the health care paradigm from reactive to proactive," said Prenuvo co-founder and CEO Andrew Lacy in a press release announcing the partnership.
"By combining Prenuvo’s advanced diagnostic-quality imaging capabilities with Cenegenics’ steadfast dedication to healthy longevity, we’re helping patients get data-driven insight into their baseline health and make lifestyle modifications before it’s too late."
Cenegenics' patients will have access to Prenuvo’s whole-body scans at participating locations, including in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, New York, Dallas, Chicago and Boca Raton.
Cenegenics has collected more than 25 years of longitudinal data on its patients, CEO Kristy Berry told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement.
"The biomarkers found in our blood provide amazing insights about our health, wellness and the likelihood of disease due to cellular inflammation," Berry said.
"Our biomarkers tell the tale of a lifetime of decisions we have made with regard to nutrition, exercise and sleep."
"As we age, our biomarkers tell the tale of a lifetime of decisions we have made with regard to nutrition, exercise and sleep."
Cenegenics aims to help patients "reverse their biological age" by working with their performance health team to achieve biomarker results that are equal to a person many years — sometimes decades — younger than they are. This is achieved through a strict program of nutrition, exercise, sleep, nutraceuticals and prescription medicines, Berry explained.
Now, with the Prenuvo partnership, Cenegenics will fill in any gaps in patient data through the use of AI scanning.
"We are actively exploring how AI can assist in the recommendations our physicians make to reverse biological age," Berry said. "We see AI as a valuable addition to the experience and expertise we have accumulated over our history and look forward to the additional insights it can provide."
A focus on early disease detection
Prenuvo’s AI technology aims to improve patient outcomes by catching warning signs that are too small to be detected even by the best medically trained eye, Lacy, the CEO, told Fox News Digital in an email.
"Everything we know about disease is based on diagnosing it at a chronic or advanced stage," he said.
With AI, he added, "we are working toward identifying the early beginnings of disease with the hope that we can intervene even earlier than we thought possible."
Prenuvo’s scans are trained to detect the early stages of disease progression in every organ, from measuring the curve angles of every vertebra of the spine to evaluating the cortical ridges outside the brain, Lacy explained.
"We believe that using AI to quantify very small changes over time will enable us to determine normal aging and how the people we scan are tracking, organ by organ," he said.
On average, Prenuvo scans alert one in every 20 patients to a life-saving diagnosis.
Mona, a mom of two children under 2 years old in the East Bay of California, is one example. (She did not share her last name.)
A couple of weeks after having her second baby, she was feeling a lot of fatigue and continued to gain weight.
"We are investing carefully in AI in innovative and scientifically based ways."
"Something just felt off," she said in a video interview provided by Prenuvo.
With a recommendation, she got a full-body MRI scan at one of Prenuvo’s locations. The young mother was shocked when the results showed that she had thyroid cancer.
"It just wasn’t even on my radar," the mom said.
Because her cancer was caught early, it was treatable. After surgery and lifestyle changes, she is now cancer-free and thriving.
Another patient was Ryan Crownholm, a former military member who ran a demolition company in Los Angeles. He’d been exposed to toxins over the years and chose to get a Prenuvo scan.
"I really had no expectations of finding anything," he said in an interview with Prenuvo.
Crownholm was stunned when his doctor called to tell him the scan had detected a large mass on his kidney. He’d had no symptoms at all.
After a biopsy, the doctors determined it was stage 3 cancer.
"For me, to catch it so early, it’s been a blessing," he said. "It was as simple as having my kidney removed and going on with my life."
‘Investing carefully’
As AI continues to grow in popularity, Lacy pointed out that there can be risks of inaccurate claims about what the technology can do.
"While there is a lot of excitement in the field of AI to replace the diagnosis that radiologists make, what we are most actively excited about … is how AI can help us understand early signs of disease progression and quantify a person’s health trajectory," he said.
In the health care arena, he stressed, it’s essential to use these technologies to add value and diagnostic accuracy.
"We know this will take time, so we are investing carefully in AI in innovative and scientifically based ways."
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A British woman is letting the whole world know how she's lived to be 100 years old — and how other people can, too.Her most memorable tip for longevity? "Avoid talking to strange men and you'll be just fine," Olive Westerman told SWNS during a high tea in her honor in Chester, England, recently.ADDITIONAL EXERCISE POTENTIALLY LINKED TO LONGER LIFESPANS AND LOWER DEATH RATES: STUDYWhen she was asked for more advice on how to live a long life, she said, "Simply be happy and content to be alive, and make the most of what you have."The centenarian told others that she was lucky to have enjoyed a happy marriage. Olive Westerman of England has just turned 100 years old. (SWNS)She said her late husband, Sam, was someone with "a kind and gentle nature."She also said she was lucky to be able to live overseas with him — and that their favorite spot together was Singapore."I actually can't believe I'm now 100, but it feels amazing." He was reportedly a writer and travel clerk — and the couple lived in Singapore for three years."It was such an interesting and exciting place to be, and so different from England, she said, as SWNS reported. Visitors tour around the Rain Vortex inside the Jewel area at Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore in August 2019. It's the world's tallest waterfall at 130 feet in height and surrounded by a four-story terraced forest. (iStock)The couple did not have children — so they spent a lot of their time traveling all over the world. WWII VETERAN CELEBRATES 100TH BIRTHDAY, REVEALS HIS SECRETS OF LIFETIME OF INSPIRATIONHer other key to staying young, she told others, was working with young children.She worked in a children's nursery for years. Olive Westerman is shown on her 100th birthday. She celebrated her landmark birthday with an afternoon tea with fellow care home residents. (SWNS)"Over the years I have spent a lot of time working with children, and this will certainly help to keep you young at heart," she said.She also said, "I actually can't believe I'm now 100, but it feels amazing. I was absolutely thrilled to receive a card from King Charles and Camilla." "Over the years I have spent a lot of time working with children, and this will certainly help to keep you young at heart," said Olive Westerman, who has lived to be 100 years old and shared her thoughts recently. (iStock)Westerman of South Kirby, West Yorkshire, lives in a home care center. SISTER ANDRE, WORLD'S OLDEST PERSON, DIES AT AGE 118She turned 100 on January 16 at Deewater Grange residential home, SWNS said. "I love all centenarian interviews and stories. They have so much wisdom to share and so many interesting stories." Others have been commenting on Westerman's longevity — and on her remarks about "avoiding strange men.""Good advice, especially these days," wrote one reader in online comments. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER"You don't have to travel to another galaxy to find strange men. And God bless her on reaching 100!"Said another, "Amazing! I love all centenarian interviews and stories. They have so much wisdom to share and so many interesting stories."CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPWrote another person in The New York Post's online comments section, "The real secret to long life — keep breathing!" Maureen Mackey is managing editor of lifestyle for Fox News Digital.
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The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill Adequately preparing for a financially secure retirement has long been an uphill battle for many Americans due to changing demographics, increasing longevity, and other factors. The COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, and an unsteady and uncertain economic environment have presented further significant challenges for many seeking to save. Passage of commonsense, bipartisan retirement-focused legislation before the end of the year is urgent to help ease that burden. Helping Americans build savings for a secure retirement is among the most important roles of the U.S. capital markets. Policymakers must continue to address the challenge of encouraging and facilitating saving and investing for retirement across our society. There is a ripe — but time-sensitive — opportunity currently laying at the feet of Congress in the form of several pieces of bipartisan, commonsense legislation that would provide increased flexibility and options for retirement savers and would improve retirement security for all Americans. These improvements to the retirement system are the logical next move to build upon the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act in 2019, which become law in 2020. A number of provisions included in these bills (HR 2954, S 4353, and S 4808) would significantly enhance and support increased retirement savings. The legislation under consideration takes important steps toward enhancing the private retirement system and increasing retirement savings, including provisions that will incentivize small businesses to offer retirement plans, enable older Americans to save more and hold on to their savings longer, and help young people to save while paying off student loan debt. As an industry, we support provisions that would expand coverage through increasing the employer credit and another that allows student loan payments to count as elective deferrals. Changes and increases to catch-up contributions would help individuals make up for any time lost from investing for their future by allowing for a higher catch-up contribution for savers while indexing catch-up contributions to inflation. In concert, a provision increasing the required minimum distribution (RMD) age would enable older Americans to save more and hold on to their savings longer. The American retirement system has helped millions of Americans prepare for a secure future, and the private sector has played an important role in providing and administering retirement plans. We commend and appreciate policymakers’ long-standing commitment to improving retirement security for all Americans and for their work on this important legislation. It would be a missed opportunity not to move this commonsense policy across the finish line for the sake of American retirement savers. Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr.is President and CEO of SIFMA. Mr. Bentsen is also Chair of the International Council of Securities Associations (ICSA), Co-Chair of the British American Finance Alliance (BAFA) and Chairman of Engage China. From 1995 to 2003, Bentsen served as a Member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas, Tags retirement savings
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Longevity
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Studies estimate Medicare for All would save $650 billion and 68,000 lives per year
69% of the U.S. supported providing Medicare to every American
WASHINGTON, May 17 – At a time when more than 1 million people in the United States have lost their lives to the coronavirus pandemic – at least one third of which have been linked to lack of health insurance – and 15 million Americans are at risk of losing Medicaid coverage, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) today came together with 14 of their colleagues in the Senate and more than 110 in the House of Representatives to reintroduce the Medicare for All Act, historic legislation that would guarantee health care as a fundamental human right to all people in the U.S. regardless of income or background.
Sanders, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Jayapal are joined on the 2023 legislation by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
“The American people understand, as I do, that health care is a human right, not a privilege,” said Sanders. “It is not acceptable to me, nor to the American people, that over 85 million people today are either uninsured or underinsured. As we speak, there are millions of people who would like to go to a doctor but cannot afford to do so. That is an outrage. In America, your health and your longevity should not be dependent on your bank account or your stock portfolio. After all the lives that we lost to this terrible pandemic, it is clearer now, perhaps more than it has ever been before, that we must act to end the international embarrassment of the United States being the only major country on earth to not guarantee health care to all.”
“We live in a country where millions of people ration lifesaving medication or skip necessary trips to the doctor because of cost,” said Jayapal. “Sadly, the number of people struggling to afford care continues to skyrocket as millions of people lose their current health insurance as pandemic-era programs end. Breaking a bone or getting sick shouldn’t be a reason that people in the richest country in the world go broke. There is a solution to this health crisis — a popular one that guarantees health care to every person as a human right and finally puts people over profits and care over corporations. That solution is Medicare for All — everyone in, nobody out. I’m so proud to fight for this legislation to finally ensure that all people can get the care they need and the care they deserve.”
“Every American has the right to health care, period. If you’re sick, you should be able to go to the doctor without being worried about the cost of treatment or prescription medicine. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that doesn’t guarantee all its citizens access to health care,” said Dingell. “The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t create the flaws in our health care system, but it brought to light many of the shortcomings that have caused unnecessary and preventable hardship for countless American families for decades. We’ve been fighting this fight since the 1940s, when my father-in-law helped author the first universal health care bill. It’s time to get this done.”
“Health care should be a right for all, not a luxury for some,” said Blumenthal. “In the United States of America, millions of Americans go to sleep at night worried about a procedure they can’t access or a treatment their family can’t afford. Our status quo is unacceptable. Regardless of age, income, or zip-code, access to quality, timely medical care should be guaranteed for all who need it. I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this landmark legislation.”
“Despite the progress we’ve made in the past decade, millions of Americans still struggle to afford the quality health care they deserve,” said Booker. “Health care is a human right, and it is unacceptable that the wealthiest nation on the planet lags behind other countries in guaranteeing access to quality and affordable care for all its citizens. It’s time to put an end to the medical bankruptcies and exorbitant health care costs that burden families across the nation and work toward Medicare for All. I am proud to join in reintroducing this bill that will build a health care system that ensures that no one is left behind.”
“The American health care system leaves millions of individuals without coverage and it needs fundamental change. In the richest country in history, your health should not be determined by your income or zip code,” said Gillibrand. “I am proud to join my colleagues in the fight for Medicare for All, which would guarantee high-quality health care for every American and enshrine into law that health care is a right, not a privilege.”
“New Mexicans should never have to choose between putting food on their table and accessing health care,” said Heinrich. “That’s why I am proud to cosponsor the Medicare for All Act to expand health care coverage and provide access to hospital services, emergency services, prescription drugs, oral health, vision, and audiology services to all Americans.”
“Everyone should be able to get the health care they need, regardless of their income or insurance status,” said Hirono. “As we continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, adopting Medicare for All is an important thing we can do to help expand access to comprehensive health care for all communities. I am proud to support this bill and other legislation to help people across the country access quality, affordable health care.”
“Health care should be a right for every single American, not a privilege reserved for the healthy and the wealthy,” said Merkley. “Our current health care system is incredibly complex, fragmented, and expensive, and Americans could have so much more peace of mind if we had a simple, seamless system where, solely by virtue of living in America, you know that you will get the care you need. It’s time to simplify health care and lower patients’ costs, and embrace Medicare for All.”
“Every American deserves access to high quality, affordable health care, regardless of their zip code or tax bracket,” said Senator Padilla. “Health care is a human right and no American should go bankrupt because of medical costs. Congress can and must do better to ensure that everyone has equitable access to care, and that starts by passing Medicare for All.”
“Health care is a basic human right – no one should ever go broke because of a medical bill or have to ration life-saving medications to make ends meet,” said Warren. “Medicare for All works to guarantee that every American will be able to afford and access the health care that every person deserves.”
“Medicare for All will help every Vermonter access essential health care, regardless of means. That’s worth fighting for, and I’m proud to join Sen Sanders to reintroduce this essential and lifesaving legislation,” said Welch. “No person should ever have to worry that they can’t afford the medical care they need — period.”
Today in the U.S., 68,000 Americans die each year because they cannot afford the health care they desperately need, millions more suffer unnecessarily because of delayed treatment, and more than 85 million Americans are uninsured or under-insured because of high deductibles and premiums. In addition, health care spending in the U.S. constitutes over 18 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Yet health outcomes, life expectancy, and infant mortality rates in the U.S. remain much worse than many other major countries. The U.S. has the highest infant mortality rate of almost any other major country on earth.
While estimates show 44 percent of the adult population, some 112 million Americans, are struggling to pay for the medical care they need, the seven major health insurance companies in America made over $69 billion in profits last year – up 287 percent since 2012. As millions of American families face bankruptcy and financial ruin because of the outrageously high cost of health care, the CEOs of 300 major health care companies collectively made $4.5 billion in total compensation in 2021. While one out of four Americans cannot afford the life-saving medicine their doctors prescribe, last year ten of the top pharmaceutical companies in the United States made over $112 billion in profits, and the top 50 executives in these companies made a combined $1.5 billion in total compensation.
Implemented over four years, the Medicare for All Act would provide comprehensive health care coverage to all with no out-of-pocket expenses, insurance premiums, deductibles, or co-payments. This includes coverage for primary care, vision, dental, prescription drugs, mental health, substance use disorder, long-term services and supports, reproductive health care, and more. The legislation would create a more streamlined and cost-effective system, allow patients not to worry if their doctor is “in-network,” and substantially reduce the cost of prescription drugs by allowing the federal government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, Medicare for All would save the American people and the entire health care system $650 billion each year. A study by Yale epidemiologists, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet, estimates that Medicare for All would save some 68,000 lives per year simply by guaranteeing health care to all as a right. A study by RAND found that moving to a Medicare-for-all system would save a family with an income of less than $185,000 about $3,000 a year, on average.
In 2020, 69 percent of the American people supported providing Medicare to every American.
Nearly 200 national, state, and local organizations endorsed the Medicare For All legislation, including: National Nurses United, American Medical Student Association, People’s Action, Public Citizen, Social Security Works, National Organization of Women, SEIU, AFA – CWA, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE), United Mine Workers of America, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, Center for Popular Democracy, and National Domestic Workers Alliance.
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Longevity
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Around the 1960s, there was a notable trend in the regions bordering the Mediterranean Sea, including Spain, France, Italy, and Greece. This trend raised the eyebrows of many researchers and people worldwide.But which trend am I speaking about? Residents in the above mentioned areas lived longer, and the regions had lower rates of chronic diseases than elsewhere. Consequently, many studies commenced immediately, revealing a positive relationship between the Mediterranean diet and human health. Since then, the Mediterranean style diet has spread globally, with users reaping significant health benefits. So, hereunder, I will take you through everything you need to know about this diet. What is a Mediterranean Diet?Mediterranean Diet Food List Olive oilFishNuts Fruits and vegetablesLegumesHerbs and SpicesWine Snacks for Mediterranean DietFoods to Avoid When on the MDMediterranean Diet Health BenefitsImpact of MD on Metabolic HealthImpact of MD on Cardiovascular DiseaseImpact of MD on Reproductive HealthTransgenerational effects of MDMD against autoimmune diseaseImpact of MD on mental HealthComparing MD with Other DietsKetogenic dietAtkins dietDASH dietPaleo diet Mediterranean Diet Meal Plan SampleMediterranean Diet Easy RecipesMediterranean grilled pork roastGreek beef pitasKey TakeawayResources
What is a Mediterranean Diet?Simply defined, a Mediterranean diet(MD) refers to traditional foods that were originally used in the Mediterranean regions. Some foods making a Mediterranean style diet include olive oil, fish, nuts, fruits & vegetables, legumes & beans, herbs & spices, and wine.Additionally, processed food, refined grains, and added sugars are banned from this diet.As a result, the Mediterranean diet has been a great companion for people seeking weight loss and prevention of type 2 diabetes, heart attack, stroke, and premature death.Mediterranean Diet Food List We have already mentioned the types of food that make a Mediterranean diet. Let’s now look deeply into these dietary guidelines.Fig 1: Mediterranean Diet PyramidImage Source: Google ScholarOlive oilOlive oil is rich in healthy fat, known as monounsaturated fat (MUFA). This fat helps reduce bad cholesterol in the body, which otherwise can lead to clogged or blocked blood vessels.In addition, MUFA help in the development and maintenance of body cells.Unlike monounsaturated fats, trans and polyunsaturated fatty acids are prone to oxidation due to their chemical structure.Other healthy fats you can include in your MD include extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil.FishFish is another major component of a Mediterranean diet. Why does MD include fish?● Fish contains Omega 3 fatty acid, responsible for good heart health, according to Mayo Clinic● Unlike red meat, fish has anti-inflammatory effects● Fish helps lower tension in blood vessels, thus helping them relax for proper functioningTypes of fish and seafood you can include in your Mediterranean diet include salmon, mackerel, tuna, trout, sardines, shrimp, crab, oysters, clams, and mussels.Nuts Nuts are high in monounsaturated fats, omega-3, and fiber. Additionally, nuts are low in saturated fat (unhealthy fat).Some nuts, nut butter, and seeds acceptable in MD include walnuts, almonds, hazel nuts, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, peanut butter, and almond butter.Fruits and vegetablesFruits & veggies are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and water. These nutrients help promote gut health, prevent oxidation, and control cholesterol absorption in the intestines.Hereunder are good examples of fruits and vegetables forming the Mediterranean diet.Vegetables: kale, broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, cauliflower, onions, carrots, cucumbers, Brussels, potatoes, sprouts, turnips, and sweet potatoes.Fruits: oranges, bananas, apples, grapes, pears, strawberries, melon, dates, figs, and peaches.LegumesLegumes play a major role in a traditional Mediterranean diet, especially now that meat consumption is rare in this diet.Additionally, legumes are rich in proteins, iron, fiber, and vitamin B.The high fiber levels in legumes are responsible for:● Reducing insulin resistance● Preventing absorption of bad cholesterol● Reducing the time food spends in the digestive tract, thus lowering the risk of cancer formationsGood examples of legumes include beans, chickpeas, peas, lentils, peanuts, and pulses.Herbs and SpicesBesides herbs helping make food tasteful in the MD, here are some more benefits of these food additions:● Act as anti-inflammatory agents and antioxidants● Improve insulin sensitivity● Preventing dyslipidemia● Slows down aging● Enhance the freshness and taste of olive oil● Reduces your salt intake, thus lowering the sodium levels in your foodHere are several examples of herbs and spices used in MD: oregano, cumin, parsley, garlic, rosemary, basil, sage, mint, pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Wine Wine is rich in polyphenols that help reduce oxidative stress and ischemic disease risks. In particular, red wine contains more healthy nutrients than other alcoholic beverages.However, don’t celebrate your love for wine yet since you can only reap the health benefits of wine when you take a moderate amount. The recommended wine intake is two glasses for men and one glass for women (1 glass = 150 ml).Also, it will be good to note here that wine is optional in the MD. Moreover, you can avoid wine if you can’t control your intake, when pregnant or when taking drugs that can interact with alcohol.Other alternatives to wine include clean drinking water, coffee, tea, and fruit juice. However, remember to take beverages with added sugar or extra cream in moderation.Other Mediterranean diet foods include:1. Whole grains: brown rice, oats, barley, corn, rye, pasta, whole wheat bread, and buckwheat2. Poultry: turkey, chicken, and duck3. Dairy: Greek yogurt, milk, and cheese4. Eggs: chicken, duck, and quail eggsSnacks for Mediterranean DietWhat if you get hungry between meals? Here are healthy snacks you can enjoy in your MD:● Chia pudding● A handful of nuts● Fruits such as grapes and mixed berries● Yogurt● Sliced apple with almond butter● Hard-boiled egg with pepper and salt● Guacamole with sliced bell peppers● Fresh fruit with cottage cheeseFoods to Avoid When on the MDHere below are processed foods and ingredients you should stay away from when you are on MD:1. Added sugar: often found in candies, soda, baked goods, ice cream, syrup, and table sugar2. Refined grains: white bread, crackers, chips, pasta, and tortillas3. Refined oils: canola oil, grape seed oil, soybean oil & cottonseed oil4. Trans fat: found in fried foods, margarine, and other processed foods5. Processed meat: deli meats, processed sausages, beef jerky, and hot dogs6. Highly processed foods: granola bars, convenience meals, fast food, and microwave popcornMediterranean Diet Health BenefitsFig 2: Beneficial Effects of MDImage source: Google ScholarImpact of MD on Metabolic HealthSome of the metabolic conditions that can be prevented or controlled by this healthy diet include:● Type 2 diabetes● Liver disease● Obesity● Metabolic syndromeImpact of MD on Cardiovascular DiseaseAs we had earlier mentioned, a Mediterranean diet helps promote heart health. Moreover, MD helps lower the risk of heart disease and other related conditions such as high blood pressure and stroke.Impact of MD on Reproductive HealthHealthy eating is essential for reproductive health. Obesity, for example, is well known to cause infertility in both men and womenTherefore, eating a low-fat diet such as MD can help protect you from obesity which is among the top causes of infertility.In addition, other unhealthy diets can tamper with the ovarian tissue in women leading to infertility. Also, high cholesterol diets can lead to poor sperm production in men. Transgenerational effects of MDHere are the benefits of a Mediterranean diet during pregnancy and lactation:● Lower risk of congenital heart defects in newborns● Lower rates of neural tube defects● Reduced risks of diabetes and hypertensive pregnancy disorders● Low miscarriage rates● Children born to mother who adheres to MD are less likely to get behavioral problems MD against autoimmune diseaseA chronic autoimmune disease arises when the immunity system damages vital body cells.That said, one of the autoimmune conditions that MD helps prevent is multiple sclerosis. Impact of MD on mental HealthSeveral studies reveal a positive relationship between MD and mental health. For example, MD has been seen to promote mental health even in the aged populations. Also, MD helps prevent disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.Comparing MD with Other DietsThe Mediterranean diet belongs to a class of its own. However, this diet has always been compared with the other four common diets: Ketogenic, Atkins, DASH, and Paleo.Now, let’s briefly see each of these four diets and how they compare to MD.Ketogenic dietA keto diet is a popular diet low in carbohydrates, high in total fat, and recommends lean protein.Fig. 3: Keto Food PyramidImage source: Google ScholarThis diet is an internal medicine that enhances easy blood sugar control and faster weight loss. However, unlike MD, you have to tread carefully with a keto diet. Moreover, you will need to consult your health care provider on your KETO requirements. Also, staying on the keto diet for prolonged periods can be risky.On the other hand, MD is the best diet since you can take it for a lifetime without necessarily consulting anyone.Atkins dietThe Atkins diet somehow mimics the keto diet we have just spoken about. However, the Atkins diet is lenient compared to keto; it doesn’t restrict protein intake.Unlike a Mediterranean diet, Atkins will allow you to take fatty meat, high-fat dairy products, and butter. Like the keto diet, Atkins is not recommended for extended periods.DASH dietThe DASH diet contains low-fat dairy products, veggies, and fruits.Unlike MD, DASH acts like family medicine and emphasizes low intakes of saturated fats and cholesterol towards achieving its primary goal of lowering blood pressure.Paleo diet Like the other diets we discussed, a paleo diet positively contributes to weight loss, diabetes prevention & management, and general wellbeing.This diet emphasizes consuming wild meat, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Some foods you will avoid when on this diet include refined sugars, processed foods, cereals, legumes, and grains.Fig. 4: Paleo DietImage Source: Google ScholarThe main difference between Paleo and MD is that MD encourages fiber intake along with its other dietary requirements. On the other hand, Paleo discourages fiber intake due to the possible added sugar.Mediterranean Diet Meal Plan SampleHeaderBreakfastLunchDinnerMondayGreek yogurt, strawberries, and chia seedsWhole grain sandwich, hummus, and vegetablesFruit salad and tuna salad containing greens and olive oilTuesdayOatmeal with blueberriesCaprese Zucchini noodles with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, balsamic vinegar, and olive oilGrilled chicken with a salad of cucumbers, olives, farro, tomatoes, and feta cheeseWednesdayMushrooms, omelet, tomatoes, and onionsFresh vegetables, whole grain sandwich, and cheeseMediterranean lasagnaThursdayYogurt, nuts, and sliced fruitsChickpeas with quinoa saladBrown rice, broiled salmon, and vegetablesFridayWhole wheat toast, sautéed vegetables, and eggsTurkey sausage, stuffed zucchini boats with pesto, bell peppers, and cheeseBaked potato and grilled lambSaturdayOatmeal with raisins, apple slices, and nutsWhole grain sandwich and vegetablesMediterranean pizzaSundayOmelet, vegetables, and olivesRice, hummus, feta, falafel bowl tomatoes, and onionsGrilled chicken, sweet potato fries, vegetables, and fresh fruitsMediterranean Diet Easy RecipesThere are many Mediterranean recipes you can easily prepare at home, at the workplace, or when out camping without breaking the bank. Here are two MD sample recipes:Mediterranean grilled pork roastPreparation time: 85 minutesServings: 6What you will need:● 4lb boneless pork loin roast● Five peeled garlic cloves● Two lemons● 1/3 cup fresh rosemary leaves● ¼ cup fresh sage leaves● ¼ cup coarsely ground black pepper● One tablespoon saltInstructions:1. Ensure your pork roast is dry2. Mix the other ingredients3. Season your pork with the mixture you have made4. Place the meat on the grill to cook under indirect heat5. close the grill door and grill until the internal temperature of the pork reads 145°F.6. Once done, remove your meat from the grill, and allow it to rest for about ten minutes before slicing it to serve with other MD accompanimentsGreek beef pitasTotal time: 25 minutesServings: 4What you will need:● 1 pound 90% lean ground beef● One chopped small onion● Three minced garlic cloves● 1 cup low-fat plain Greek yogurt● One teaspoon of dried oregano● ¾ teaspoon salt● One chopped medium tomato● ½ cup peeled and chopped cucumber● Four whole warmed pita loaves of bread● One teaspoon of dill weedInstructions:1. Cook beef, garlic, and onion in a skillet at medium heat for about ten minutes2. Add oregano and ½ teaspoon of salt and stir3. In a small bowl, mix cucumber, tomatoes, yogurt, and ¼ teaspoon of salt4. Over each pita bread, spread ¾ cup of the beef mixture and top it up with three tablespoons of yogurt sauceKey TakeawayAre you interested in trying the traditional Mediterranean diet we discussed above? You can begin by following the below tips:● Build your meals around whole grains, legumes, and vegetables● Take fish twice a week● Prepare food using olive oil and not butter● Use fresh fruit in dessertsAdditionally, living in the Mediterranean style includes physical exercises and sharing meals with loved ones.Resources1. Mediterranean Diet2. Impact of Mediterranean Diet on Longevity and Chronic Diseases3. Impact of MD on Metabolic Health and General Wellbeing4. Paleo Diet Effects on Microbiota and Related Diseases5. Mediterranean Diet and Heart health6. The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid7. Facts about Monounsaturated Fats8. Mediterranean Diet – A Practical Guide9. Mediterranean Diet Defined10. The MD Diet Pyramid and New Way of Life11. The Mediterranean Diet12. A Comprehensive Overview of Mediterranean Diet and Its Effects on Health13. Tesco Dried Oregano About the Author Catherine Snowden "Catherine Snowden" is a highly sought-after executive chef. She is also the founder of fascinatingsky.com, where she works with a team of seasoned chefs to provide you with detailed articles related to cooking. For example, she covers topics on recipes, cookware and grills. So, check out her posts if you want to try new mouthwatering recipes or want to buy an awesome grill or cookware.
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Longevity
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There is a group of people that longevity researchers call "SuperAgers," who are in their 80s and beyond, but have the cognitive function of those decades younger.Conversely, it's possible for your brain to be older than your chronological age, which is what we want to avoid.As a neuroscience researcher and author of "The Age-Proof Brain," I've found that it's our behaviors, not just our genes, that have a powerful impact on our brain's destiny. So what sets SuperAgers apart from people who have weak memory skills? According to a 2021 study that followed SuperAgers over the course of 18 months, one key differentiator was that they kept learning new things throughout their life.SuperAgers learn something new every dayThink of the brain like a bank account. We make "deposits" — or new connections between our brain cells — by learning. Our memories are housed in these connections.As we age, we naturally lose some of those connections. It's like making a withdrawal every year. But the more deposits we make throughout our lives, the less our net worth is affected by these withdrawals.One study found that adults with more years of education had more active frontal lobes when they took memory tests. Activity in the frontal lobe is associated with better memory.But higher education isn't the only way to maintain memory. In another study, even if individuals had lower levels of education, if they attended lectures, read, wrote and read often, they had memory scores on par with those with more education.Which types of learning are best for brain health?Keeping your brain healthy is not all about Sudoku, Wordle or crossword puzzles. Those can have cognitive benefits, but you are mostly exercising with the knowledge and skills you already have.What does make significantly new connections in the brain is learning new skills and information. And the process should be challenging: SuperAgers embrace — and sometimes crave — that feeling of frustration when they learn something outside of their expertise.'Cross-train' your brainApproach learning the way you would with fitness training. You wouldn't go to the gym and only work out your forearms. Eventually, you would look like Popeye.The same goes for the brain. Learning a new language, for example, works out different parts of the brain than a new sport or instrument does.You can cross-train your brain by mixing mental and physical learning activities. Get out your calendar and plan different types of activities using this plan:Day 1: Learn something mentally stimulating, such as listening to a podcast or taking an online course.Day 2: Do something that requires learning through movement, such as a new sport, dance or yoga pose.Day 3: Be social. Grab coffee with a friend or go to a dinner party. Yes, social interaction is a form of learning that has been associated with staving off dementia.No matter what it is, learning new things keeps your brain young. So if you discovered something you didn't know before from reading this article, you're already helping your brain age at a slower pace.Marc Milstein, PhD, is a brain health expert and author of "The Age-Proof Brain: New Strategies to Improve Memory, Protect Immunity, and Fight Off Dementia." He earned both his PhD in Biological Chemistry and his Bachelor of Science in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from UCLA, and has conducted research on genetics, cancer biology and neuroscience. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.Don't miss:A neuroscientist shares the brain exercise she does for a stronger memory — and the mistake that can ‘harm’ itA Harvard nutritionist shares the 6 best brain foods: ‘Most people aren’t eating enough of’ theseA Harvard nutritionist shares the No. 1 vitamin that keeps her brain 'young and healthy'—and foods she eats 'every day'Want to earn more and work less? Register for the free CNBC Make It: Your Money virtual event on Dec. 13 at 12 p.m. ET.
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Longevity
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(NEXSTAR) – Where you live has a big impact on how long you live, a recent analysis of major U.S. metro areas finds. While people born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, can expect to live around 83 years on average, natives of Jackson, Mississippi, have lives that are 8.6 years shorter, according to a MoneyGeek report. The report analyzed 119 metro areas with populations of 250,000 or more using data from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute’s county health rankings. Researchers found the coastal lifestyle appears to be good for longevity: 6 of the top 10 metros for life expectancy are in California or Florida. This study isn’t the first to connect location with longevity. Researchers at Stanford and MIT found that moving to the Northeast, California and parts of Florida even after age 65 could grow people’s remaining life expectancy by as much as 5 percent. Researchers found “the areas with the least favorable effects on life expectancy are concentrated in the deep South and Southwest.” Those results are echoed in MoneyGeek’s analysis, where the bulk of metro areas with lowest life expectancies are in southern states. See the 25 metro areas with the lowest life expectancies in the chart below. The age refers to the average life expectancy at birth for people born in the metro area. RankMetro areaAvg. life expectancy1Jackson, MS74.42Mobile, AL74.43Birmingham-Hoover, AL74.64Montgomery, AL74.75Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX75.26Memphis, TN-MS-AR75.57Knoxville, TN75.58Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR75.69Spartanburg, SC75.910Chattanooga, TN-GA76.011Jacksonville, FL76.112Scranton–Wilkes-Barre, PA76.113Greenville-Anderson, SC76.214Roanoke, VA76.215Lynchburg, VA76.316Savannah, GA76.317Amarillo, TX76.318Lafayette, LA76.419Shreveport-Bossier City, LA76.420Tulsa, OK76.421Lubbock, TX76.422Springfield, MO76.523Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC76.524Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL76.525Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV76.6 Meanwhile, the cities with the best life expectancies were: Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Urban Honolulu, HI See the full ranking of all 120 metro areas analyzed here.
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Longevity
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How Our Genes Shape Our Lifespans: The role of Genetics and Supplements
Most of us wish to live long and healthy lives to see our children thrive and grow up. Even the majority of those without children want to get the most out of life while we can, whether it be in our career, social circles, helping others, or through continuous self-improvement. Our DNA, the genetic blueprint that makes us unique as individuals, plays a crucial role in shaping our health and determining how long we may live. Understanding the impact of genetics on longevity can empower one to make informed choices and take proactive steps to lead healthier lives.
This article will explore how one’s DNA and genetics can influence their lifespan, highlight the importance of identifying and managing any deficiencies, and how personalised supplement plans could perhaps support your journey towards a longer, healthier life.
Our genes contain valuable information about our health. Some individuals may have inherited genetic variations that make them more susceptible to certain health conditions. Heart disease and diabetes are two common examples. Although inheriting “bad genes” does not guarantee a person will develop a particular disease or ailment, many experts believe they may indeed increase the risk of one developing a certain condition later in life. It can be argued that awareness of these genetic factors is important, as it could prompt one to adopt healthier lifestyle choices earlier and undergo regular health checkups to intercept any potential issues early that they may be genetically predisposed to.
It is also evident that at times medical practitioners come across people who have different genetic variations that affect how their bodies process specific nutrients, leading to deficiencies or imbalances in their bodies. Difficulty absorbing vitamin D, or the various B vitamins, which are essential for overall health are examples of this. If not intercepted early enough and managed, these deficiencies could impact such things as the immune system, bone health, and energy levels, which could all potentially affect how long one lives.
Personalised medicine has opened the door for medical practitioners to tailor health interventions to individual needs. Personalised supplement plans, based on DNA testing, offer unique insights into one’s genetic predispositions and potential nutrient deficiencies. This has allowed healthcare professionals to design supplement plans that could address a person’s specific needs based on their unique genetic makeup, support their overall health and wellbeing, which could likely increase their chances of “sticking around” for longer, and improving their overall healthspan.
People with genetic variations that impact their vitamin D metabolism (the process by which the body changes food and drink into energy) may benefit from supplements to maintain adequate levels in their body to help them potentially function better, or even potentially ward off illnesses. Scientists argue that Vitamin D is vital for bone health, immune function, and overall wellbeing. Therefore people with genetic variations that may reduce their absorption of this key vitamin may benefit from supplements to help them reduce fatigue, limit bone pain, muscle weakness, sleep, or even hair loss for example.
Genetic factors could also influence how the body processes the various B vitamins, which usually affect energy levels and cognitive function. A deficiency in any of the B vitamins could lead to a number of health issues, which include fatigue, weakness, iron deficiency, skin problems, and neurological issues. Although Vitamin B is found in a variety of foods, which include whole grains, meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, legumes, nuts, and leafy green vegetables, and maintaining a balance diet helps with maintaining Vitamin B, some people may benefit from taking vitamin B supplements if they have certain medical conditions or follow restrictive diets.
Some people may also have genetic variations or conditions that affect their ability to convert omega-3 fatty acids into energy or utilise them effectively in their bodies. Based on research, it is widely believed that Omega 3 is helpful for the body in areas such as heart health, reducing inflammation, eye health, brain health, mood, good for joints, and keeps skin hydrated.
Some of the greatest sources of omega-3 fatty acids come from “fatty fish,” such salmon, mackerel, and sardines. For those who are allergic to, or do not eat fish, plant-based sources of omega-3 are also available, such as in flaxseeds, chia seeds, and walnuts. In cases where it is more of a “lifestyle challenge” to obtain enough omega-3 fatty acids, and plan your diet appropriately at times… I’m thinking busy mums and/or those with a hectic working life or commitments here… supplements such as fish oil capsules or algae-based supplements (for vegetarians and vegans too) could be considered to help.
A deficiency in antioxidants could also have impacts on one’s health, such as oxidative stress, which could lead to chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or even neurodegenerative diseases. Antioxidants are also important to help the body maintain a healthy immune system. A poor or weakened immune system could result in one becoming more susceptible to infection. Scientists also argue oxidative stress is linked to premature aging, as it can damage skin cells, and result in the formation of wrinkles in the skin. It has also been stated that colourful plant-based foods, such as berries, leafy greens, and vegetables, are especially high in antioxidants, so maintaining a healthy balanced diet is also influential in reducing oxidative stress. Reducing exposure to environmental toxins and managing stress have also been found to help with maintaining the balance of antioxidants in the body.
It can be argued that personalised supplement plans could play an increasingly vital role in one’s longevity journey, whether it be to maintain energy levels at work or keep up with our kids, ensuring that we receive the nutrients we need to support our health and longevity.
Genetic predispositions and the way the body digests, absorbs, transports, utilises, and eliminates nutrients from the food we consume can significantly influence one’s wellbeing and overall health. Therefore, with the right knowledge, actions, and as ever-improving technologies becoming available to detect deficiencies, a person can take even more charge of their health.
It is always important to consult with a healthcare professional, or seek help from a registered dietitian for personalised advice and recommendations, however in many cases personalised supplement plans offer an effective way to address and manage genetic factors that could impact our health and wellbeing in the long run.
It is clear is that understanding our individual DNA holds the key to unlocking one’s potential for their best quality of life, and will likely help us all to optimise good health for as long as possible. The more people can take control of their “unique building blocks” embedded in DNA, the better chance they’ll likely have of living longer, happier, healthier lives.
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Longevity
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An anti-aging gene discovered in a population of centenarians has been shown to rewind the heart's biological age by 10 years. The breakthrough, published in Cardiovascular Research and led by scientists at the University of Bristol and the MultiMedica Group in Italy, offers a potential target for patients with heart failure.Associated with exceptional longevity, carriers of healthy mutant genes, like those living in blue zones of the planet, often live to 100 years or more and remain in good health. These individuals are also less prone to cardiovascular complications. Scientists funded by the British Heart Foundation believe the gene helps to keep their hearts young by protecting them against diseases linked to aging, such as heart failure.
In this new study, researchers demonstrate that one of these healthy mutant genes, previously proved particularly frequent in centenarians, can protect cells collected from patients with heart failure requiring cardiac transplantation.
The Bristol team, led by Professor Paolo Madeddu, has found that a single administration of the mutant anti-aging gene halted the decay of heart function in middle-age mice. Even more remarkably, when given to elderly mice, whose hearts exhibit the same alterations observed in elderly patients, the gene rewound the heart’s biological clock age by the human equivalent of more than ten years.
Professor Madeddu, Professor of Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine from Bristol Heart Institute at the University of Bristol and one of the study’s authors, explained: "The heart and blood vessel function is put at stake as we age. However, the rate at which these harmful changes occur is different among people. Smoking, alcohol, and sedentary life make the aging clock faster. Whereas eating well and exercising delay the heart’s aging clock.
"In addition, having good genes inherited from parents can help to stay young and healthy. Genes are sequences of letters that encode proteins. By chance, some of these letters can mutate. Most of these mutations are insignificant; in a few cases, however, the mutation can make the gene function worse or better, like for the mutant anti-aging gene we have studied here on human cells and older mice."
The three-year study was also performed in test tube human cardiac cells in Italy. Researchers from the MultiMedica Group in Milan led by Professor Annibale Puca, administered the gene in heart cells from elderly patients with severe heart problems, including transplantation, and then compared their function with those of healthy individuals.
Monica Cattaneo, a researcher of the MultiMedica Group in Milan, Italy, and first author of the work, said: "The cells of the elderly patients, in particular those that support the construction of new blood vessels, called 'pericytes', were found to be less performing and more aged. By adding the longevity gene/protein to the test tube, we observed a process of cardiac rejuvenation: the cardiac cells of elderly heart failure patients have resumed functioning properly, proving to be more efficient in building new blood vessels."
Centenarians pass their healthy genes to their offspring. The study demonstrates for the first time that a healthy gene found in centenarians could be transferred to unrelated people to protect their hearts. Other mutations might be found in the future with similar or even superior curative potential than the one investigated by this research. Professor Madeddu and Professor Annibale Puca of the MultiMedica Group believe this study may fuel a new wave of treatments inspired by the genetics of centenarians.
Professor Madeddu added: "Our findings confirm the healthy mutant gene can reverse the decline of heart performance in older people. We are now interested in determining if giving the protein instead of the gene can also work. Gene therapy is widely used to treat diseases caused by bad genes. However, a treatment based on a protein is safer and more viable than gene therapy.
"We have received funding from the Medical Research Council to test healthy gene therapy in Progeria. This genetic disease, also known as Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome, causes early aging damage to children's hearts and blood vessels. We have also been funded by the British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK to test the protein in older and diabetic mice, respectively."
Annibale Puca, Head of the laboratory at the IRCCS MultiMedica and Professor at the University of Salerno, added: "Gene therapy with the healthy gene in mouse models of disease has already been shown to prevent the onset of atherosclerosis, vascular aging, and diabetic complications, and to rejuvenate the immune system.
"We have a new confirmation and enlargement of the therapeutic potential of the gene/protein. We hope to test its effectiveness soon in clinical trials on patients with heart failure."
The study is funded by the British Heart Foundation and the Italian Ministry of Health.
Paper
'The longevity-associated BPIFB4 gene supports cardiac function and vascularization in aging cardiomyopathy' by Annibale Puca et al. in Cardiovascular Research [open access] Further information Each day, your heart beats around 100,000 times, pumping about eight pints of blood around your body. By the time you are 20, the heart’s function can begin to decline as part of normal aging. As you get older, activities like running or playing tennis become more difficult. However, some 100-year-olds, like those living in Okinawa, a cluster of islands in southern Japan and other blues zones of the planet appear to have unlocked the secret to a long and healthy life, with some of them seemingly having a heart younger than their age.
Professor Madeddu and his team have discovered that a naturally occurring variant of the BPIFB4 gene, which is more common in people who live to 100 or more, could help keep the heart young. A gene variant is a permanent change in the DNA sequence that makes up a gene. Source: British Heart Foundation
About Bristol Heart InstituteThe Bristol Heart Instituteis a Specialist Research Institute at the University of Bristol. We are a world-leading centre for translational cardiovascular research and the leading academic cardiac surgery centre in the UK.
We specialise in preventing, predicting, detecting, reducing and treating cardiovascular disease, bringing together scientists and clinicians from across the University and the NHS in Bristol, and training the next generation of cardiovascular scientists and clinical academics.
We harness the expertise of Bristol's translational science community and benefit from close proximity to outstanding medical facilities, such as the Bristol Heart Institute Clinical Facility at University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW).
In this way, we make the journey from bench to bedside, from scientist to patient, in our fight against heart disease, still the UK’s number one killer.
About the British Heart FoundationIt is only with donations from the public that the BHF can keep its life saving research going. Help us turn science fiction into reality. With donations from the public, the BHF funds ground-breaking research that will get us closer than ever to a world free from the fear of heart and circulatory diseases. A world where broken hearts are mended, where millions more people survive a heart attack, where the number of people dying from or disabled by a stroke is slashed in half. A world where people affected by heart and circulatory diseases get the support they need. And a world of cures and treatments we can’t even imagine today. Find out more at bhf.org.uk
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Longevity
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The average life expectancy in the U.S. has dipped to 76.4 years, according to December data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — but many medical professionals believe people can extend their longevity by adopting certain lifestyle habits.
Dr. Brett Osborn, a board-certified neurosurgeon in West Palm Beach, Florida, is also the founder of a preventative health care and anti-aging facility, Senolytix.
He works with patients to help them achieve a healthy weight, adopt better wellness habits and reduce their risk of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.
"My motto is, you are never too young or too old for good health," he said.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Osborn shared the five daily health habits he recommends to his patients to help them live longer, healthier lives.
1. Assume responsibility for your own health
While it’s important to consult with a health care professional as needed, Osborn emphasized that people should listen to their own bodies and identify potential risks.
"In general, standard health surveillance for the average American is poor," said Osborn, who holds a certification from the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. "We simply are not aggressive enough in checking for and catching risk factors of fatal diseases."
Most people aren’t proactive in discovering risks for themselves, he said — relying too much on their doctors or online health information.
"Don’t think that your doctor is going to find all your risk factors and save you from a heart attack or stroke — more often than not, that doesn’t happen," he warned. "These are silent killers that can do their damage before someone experiences symptoms."
"Don’t think that your doctor is going to find all your risk factors and save you from a heart attack or stroke — more often than not, that doesn’t happen."
Given the prevalence of both high blood pressure and insulin resistance, Osborn recommends that everyone self-monitor at home for the early signs of these potentially deadly problems.
"People who wait for their annual check-up to find out what’s going on with their health are making a terrible mistake," he said. "A lot can go wrong in the year or two between visits to the doctor, and lack of persistent attention or procrastination can kill you."
2. Take these 6 blood tests — and take them seriously
The best way to prolong your life is to lower the risk of heart attack and stroke, according to Osborn — and the first step in doing so is identifying the risk factors.
"It is nearly impossible to achieve optimal health without taking intermittent snapshots of the inner workings of your body to guide you, which can be provided by laboratory testing that will accurately identify any and all risk factors," Osborn said.
"Taking these tests early — and taking the results seriously — can save your life."
Osborn recommends implementing six blood tests to help prevent age-related diseases.
1. Lipid Profile. This test provides a rough idea of the ratio of "good" to "bad" cholesterol, he said.
2. Vertical Auto Profile (VAP). This is a cholesterol, lipid and lipoprotein test that measures all the components of a standard lipid profile and also delves further, segmenting cholesterol into sub-types.
"I would strongly consider VAP testing in lieu of the standard lipid profile if you have high blood pressure, diabetes or a family history of heart disease or stroke," Osborn said.
"You may be surprised to learn that what was once deemed ‘normal’ in the standard lipid profile is far from it."
3. C-Reactive Protein (CRP). Patients with obesity and metabolic syndrome have elevated CRP levels, which is a risk factor for coronary heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and atherogenic dyslipidemia, Osborn explained.
4. Homocysteine. "Elevations in homocysteine are associated with a variety of diseases, including heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and osteoporosis," Osborn said.
5. Hemoglobin A1C. This test measures how well blood sugar levels have been controlled over weeks or months.
"This test doesn’t lie," Osborn said. "It is an average, a wide-angle lens, not an instantaneous snapshot like a fasting glucose level. You want this level to be as low as possible."
6. Vitamin D3. There is evidence that Vitamin D3 deficiency is associated with stroke, insulin resistance, Alzheimer’s dementia, coronary artery disease and cancer, according to Osborn.
"Get this tested and intervene if necessary, as failure to do so will predispose you to a variety of diseases," he warned.
3. Embrace these 10 supplements
Although supplements are not to be used as primary treatments for ailments, Osborn said, they can be used as a complement to a well-rounded diet and exercise regimen.
"Supplements will not remedy your elevated blood sugar, blood pressure, gouty arthritis and hypertension — only you can. There is no easy way out," Osborn said.
"The right supplement regime, however, can optimize your health so that your hard work is maximized to its fullest potential, and should be treated as equally important as the right food choices and fitness routines," he added.
Osborn recommends these top 10 nutritional supplements to help prevent free radical damage, oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, the main factors of age-related disease:
- Omega-3 fatty acids
- Resveratrol
- Green tea extract
- Vitamin D3
- Curcumin
- B-complex
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Magnesium
- Probiotics
"Supplements will not remedy your elevated blood sugar, blood pressure, gouty arthritis and hypertension — only you can. There is no easy way out."
Osborn opts to skip multivitamins, he said, because "the dosages of the individual components are fairly low."
4. Work your brain
Although it’s not a muscle, Osborn emphasized that the brain benefits from exercise, both mentally and physically.
"Physical exercise and critical thinking both forge neural pathways in the brain," he said.
"There is a component of learning while exercising or working through mental challenges like puzzles, and this process of learning literally rewires the brain."
"As we age, keeping the brain active through physical activity helps to prevent the progression of age-related atrophy," he added.
Physical activity helps to form synapses, which are connections between neurons that help to reduce inflammation, reverse age-associated spatial memory loss and enhance learning, Osborn explained.
It also helps to prevent diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, he added.
"There is also evidence that augmented blood flow to the brain during exercise promotes neurogenesis (formation of new neurons in the brain)," he added. "Exercise can enhance both learning abilities and memory."
Beyond physical activity, learning a new skill can also "turbo-charge" the brain, Osborn said.
5. Know your food’s glycemic index
Measuring your food’s glycemic index (GI) is a way of rating the impact it has on blood sugar and insulin, Osborn explained.
This knowledge can then be used to find and avoid hidden sugars.
Kidney beans, for example, have a glycemic index of 23, peanuts are rated at 7 and white rice is 89.
"Simply put, the sweeter the food, the higher the GI value," Osborn said.
After eating low-GI foods, glucose increases only mildly, which means there is less insulin produced.
"Tight glycemic control is primarily a function of several interrelated factors, such as ingestion of low-GI foods, lean body mass and daily exercise," Osborn explained.
"While low-glycemic index carbohydrate consumption facilitates weight loss, eating your daily vegetables has far greater, life-extending effects," he added.
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Longevity
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The Rejuvenation Revolution: A Look At Tomorrow’s Solutions For Living Longer
Advancements in biotechnology and a greater understanding of genetics, cellular biology, and biochemistry have recently turned age rejuvenation from a distant dream into an actual tangible field of scientific examination. In labs across the world, scientists are now unlocking the secrets of aging and striving to reverse its effects. This fight to uncover the mysteries of aging will inevitably, result in scientists finding new ways to extend human lifespans and prolong ill health, if not indefinitely, in the not-too-distant future.
At the cellular level, one’s body experiences wear and tear as we all continue to grow older. Imagine your cells as batteries. Just as batteries weaken and lose power over time, our cells lose their vitality, resulting in aging, and need recharging.
Just imagine a well-functioning machine that gradually accumulates rust and experiences wear and tear over time. Our bodies, just like machines rust, show signs of aging as cellular function declines.
This article will summarise the most promising age rejuvenation therapies progressing through scientific labs and clinical trials, with the aim of one day soon becoming available to the general public. It will also shed some light on who are the key players and organisations working on these new technologies and when they might be within our grasp.
Soon there may very well be a number of options when we “pull up” to the doctor to refuel or recharge ourselves, allowing us to continue to navigate the journey of life with a greater sense of vitality and good health.
Here are ten examples of age rejuvenation therapies currently being explored by numerous organisations:
1. Telomere Extension:
Telomeres are protective caps that lie at the ends of our DNA strands. Think of telomeres, like the plastic tips of shoelaces that stop the laces from fraying. Over time, as our cells divide, telomeres shorten, leading to cellular aging and malfunction. Telomere extension therapies seek to lengthen these caps, which many experts argue could rejuvenate cells and delay the aging process in the body.
Telomere Extension - a quick dive into when it could potentially become available to the general public to treat aging.
When could it become widely available? Likely a decade or more away due to the potential risks associated with inducing cell immortality.
What could delay availability? Concerns about cancer risks (as telomere extension might make cells cancer-prone) could be a significant hold-up.
Where is it currently up to? In the research phase, not available for general use, however some medical tourism options might be available in less regulated regions of the world (
2. Senolytics:
As we age, some cells in our bodies become senescent. These are cells that no longer function properly but refuse to die, releasing inflammatory substances that can harm neighbouring cells.
Senolytics are drugs that target and destroy these malfunctioning cells.
Dr. Judith Campisi is a leading researcher in the field of cellular senescence at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and has made remarkable contributions to the understanding of the role of senescent cells in aging and disease.
Dr. Jan van Deursen, from the Mayo Clinic, was among the first to show that removing senescent cells could delay aging-associated disorders in mice.
Unity Biotechnology, which was co-founded by Dr. Judith Campisi and Dr. Jan van Deursen, is a company dedicated to developing senolytic therapies to treat age-related diseases. They currently have a number of drugs in their pipeline and being trialled, which ultimately aim to selectively eliminate senescent cells.
Senolytics - a quick dive into when it could potentially become available to the general public to treat aging.
When could it become widely available? Several years, depending on the success of ongoing clinical trials. Some drugs such as Dasatinib, Quercetin and Fisetin are approved for other indications, but not specifically for aging.
What could delay availability? Drug safety concerns or unanticipated side effects could delay progress. Promising clinical trial results could accelerate FDA approvals though.
Where is it currently up to? Currently undergoing clinical trials. Not currently available for broad public use specifically for aging, but there are options available such as Dasatinib, Quercetin, and Fisetin, for example, which are available in supplement form. Please always consult a medical professional before considering these options.
3. NAD+ Boosters:
NAD+ is a molecule present in every cell of our bodies and has a crucial role in energy production and DNA repair for example. Aging reduces NAD+ levels, which impacts cellular health and vitality. NAD+ boosters aim to increase these levels and rejuvenate cells.
It has been reported that Dr. David Sinclair, a professor at Harvard Medical School and well known for his research on aging and epigenetics, has taken a keen interest in the effects of NAD+ and its potential benefits for longevity.
Elysium Health, co-founded by MIT based Dr. Leonard Guarente, offers a product named Basis, which contains nicotinamide riboside (NR) and pterostilbene. NR is a precursor to NAD+. According to Elysium, Basis has been clinically proven to increase and sustain NAD+ levels.
NAD+ Boosters - a quick dive into when it could potentially become available to the general public to treat aging.
When could it become widely available? Currently available as dietary supplements.
What could delay availability? Long-term effects are still under study, so that may delay regulatory approvals.
Where is it currently up to? Available as supplements, but not as approved drugs for aging.
4. mTOR Inhibitors:
The mTOR protein plays a significant role in cell growth and metabolism. However, scientists argue that excessive mTOR activity can accelerate aging. For example, mTOR inhibitors help modulate this protein's activity, promoting longevity and staving off age-related diseases.
Dr. Michael Hall’s discovery of TOR (Target Of Rapamycin) in 1991, and his foundational work led to an expansive field of research on the mTOR pathway and its implications in aging and disease in more complex organisms, including humans.
In the field of biogerontology, Dr. Mikhail Blagosklonny's work has also been foundational in establishing mTOR as a key player in the aging process and in exploring the potential of mTOR inhibitors like rapamycin as therapeutic agents against aging and age-related diseases.
mTOR Inhibitors - a quick dive into when it could potentially become available to the general public to treat aging.
When could it become widely available? A few years, given that drugs like rapamycin are already being studied for other uses.
What could delay availability? Potential side effects could slow down the application to anti-aging.
Where is it currently up to? Drugs such as rapamycin are approved for other conditions, but not specifically for aging.
5. Stem Cell Therapy:
Stem cells have the amazing ability to develop into various cell types, such as muscle cells to brain cells. As one ages our body's stem cell count declines. Stem cell therapy, therefore, aims to introduce healthy stem cells to rejuvenate tissues and organs.
Dr. Shinya Yamanaka was awarded a Nobel Prize for his discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are adult cells that are genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell like state. He continues to lead research efforts in this field.
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has also been at the forefront of stem cell research, providing grants and funding for numerous stem cell-related projects and research endeavours.
Stem Cell Therapy - a quick dive into when it could potentially become available to the general public to treat aging.
When could it become widely available? Some treatments available now, but wider applications might take several more years.
What could delay availability? Ethical concerns and potential for tumour development.
Where is it currently up to? Some treatments, like for specific injuries or diseases, are available.
6. Gene Therapy:
Our genes dictate how our bodies function. However, some genes when activated or deactivated, can influence the aging process more so than others. Gene therapy involves modifying or manipulating these genes to counteract the effects of aging.
Dr. Jennifer Doudna and Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020 for the development of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology, which has revolutionised the field of gene therapy.
Dr. George Church's lab at Harvard was among the first to develop CRISPR as a gene-editing tool in eukaryotic cells. His lab has continued to refine and expand upon these techniques, leading to the advancement of gene therapies and edits.
Rejuvenate Bio, which was spun out of Dr. Church’s lab a Harvard Medical school has been developing on gene therapies with the potential to reverse aging and extend healthy lifespan. Their approach focuses on treating multiple age-related diseases simultaneously rather than addressing them one by one.
Gene Therapy - a quick dive into when it could potentially become available to the general public to treat aging.
When could it become widely available? A decade or more, given the complexities of genetic modifications.
What could delay availability? Ethical, safety, and technical challenges of editing genes.
Where is it currently up to? Some gene therapies approved for specific diseases, but broad anti-aging applications are in early research.
7. Dietary Interventions:
It has long been argued that diet significantly affects health and lifespan. Dietary interventions, such as caloric restriction, have shown promise in extending lifespan and reducing age-related diseases in various organisms.
Dr. Valter Longo is a prominent figure researching the impacts of diet on longevity. His approach, which blends rigorous scientific investigation with actionable dietary advice, has earned him a reputation as one of the leading figures in the field of aging and nutrition.
Dietary Interventions – if you are keen to dive in, yes, many options are currently available. However, please always consult a medical practitioner or registered dietician for advice on an appropriate dietary intervention that might help you.
8. Autophagy Enhancers:
Autophagy is a cellular process where cells degrade and recycle their own components, helping maintain cellular health and function. Enhancing this process could ensure cells function optimally and reduce age-related damage.
Nobel Prize winner Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi is a distinguished Japanese cell biologist recognised for his groundbreaking research on the mechanisms of autophagy. His work has been instrumental in shedding light on a fundamental cellular process. His research on autophagy has paved the way for a deeper understanding of cellular health, aging, and disease mechanisms, making him a monumental figure in the realm of cell biology.
Autophagy Enhancers - a quick dive into when it could potentially become available to the general public to treat aging.
When could it become widely available? Several years to a decade. Specific treatments for anti-aging through autophagy enhancement are still in the research phase, despite some existing compounds known to induce autophagy.
What could delay availability? Risks associated with overstimulation of autophagy still require detailed observation and analysis. Targeting autophagy enhancement to the right tissues or cells is crucial to avoid unintended effects.
Where is it currently up to? It is an active area of research. Recognition through Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi's Nobel Prize has helped accelerate its progress. It is believed certain compounds (e.g., rapamycin) and dietary practices (such as fasting) likely stimulate autophagy. However, their application for anti-aging continues to be studied.
9. Proteostasis Modulators:
Proteostasis refers to the processes by which cells maintain the health and quality of their proteins. Ensuring proper protein folding and function is crucial for cellular health. Proteostasis modulators enhance these processes, which could increase cellular health and assist with longevity.
Dr. Andrew Dillin, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has made significant contributions to understanding the molecular pathways of proteostasis, especially in the context of aging.
Dr. Richard Morimoto, based at Northwestern University, Morimoto's research focuses on the heat shock response, a crucial aspect of the proteostatic system, and he investigates how cells respond to environmental and physiological stress.
.
Proteostasis Modulators - a quick dive into when it could potentially become available to the general public to treat aging.
When could it become widely available? Several years to a decade, depending on research progression and clinical trial outcomes.
What could delay availability? The proteostasis network comprises chaperones, proteasomes, autophagy components, and several other proteins. Each of these can potentially interact with numerous others, making the mapping and understanding of these interactions quite a difficult task. While the potential benefits are immense, especially in diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, the challenges inherent in unravelling and modulating the complex proteostasis network could considerably delay the development of safe and effective drugs.
Where is it currently up to? The technology is currently in the research phase and not publicly available.
10. Young Blood Plasma Transfusions:
There is a growing interest in the rejuvenating properties of young blood. Some studies suggest that transfusing plasma from younger donors can rejuvenate older individuals, although the exact mechanisms and potential benefits continue to remain under close investigation.
Neuroscientist Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray from Stanford University is a leading figure in the study of young blood transfusions. His lab's research on parabiosis (connecting the circulatory systems of young and old mice) demonstrated rejuvenative effects on the brains of the older mice.
Alkahest, which was spun off from Dr Wyss-Coray’s research, continues to focus on identifying specific factors in plasma that can combat aging. Rather than using full plasma transfusions, they aim to harness these factors for targeted therapies.
Ambrosia Health, founded by Jesse Karmazin, is one of the most publicised companies offering young blood plasma transfusions. Although they temporarily stopped their treatments due to FDA concerns, they are now continuing to pursue these treatment initiatives.
Dr. Irina Conboy from UC Berkeley, also conducts research into the effects of young blood and the factors responsible for its rejuvenating properties.
Elevian is also developing drugs that mimic the effects of beneficial factors found in young blood. It can be argued that while Elevian's work is deeply rooted in the concept of "young blood" rejuvenation, the company's approach isn't about transfusing young blood into older individuals, but instead, they aim to develop drugs that can target specific factors, such as GDF11 (a protein that declines with age), to potentially replicate the benefits observed in parabiotic experiments.
Young Blood Plasma Transfusions - a quick dive into when it could potentially become available to the general public to treat aging.
When could it become widely available? A few years, depending on the outcomes of clinical trials.
What could delay availability? Ethical considerations of sourcing young blood and potential unforeseen side effects.
Where is it currently up to? Some clinics offer it, but it is not widely accepted or regulated.
While some rejuvenation therapies are in their infancy, others are much closer to coming to market. However, what is clear is that we stand on the brink of a revolution in how we approach aging over the next decade or two. As scientists uncover more about the intricacies of aging and human biology and are supported by more sophisticated learning models and systems, they will inevitably uncover even more paths to combat aging and new therapies.
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Longevity
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Revealed: Men age FASTER than women - and they're biologically 'FOUR years older by the time they're 50'Experts measured people's biological age — how much they're cells have agedThey founds men were biologically older than women born in the same yearThe difference remained when factoring in smoking, obesity and alcohol use Published: 11:43 EDT, 10 October 2022 | Updated: 11:44 EDT, 10 October 2022 Men technically age faster than women, experts have claimed. Anti-ageing researchers found men in their fifties were biologically four years older than their female counterparts, on average.And the gap already exists in 20-somethings, according to the first study of its kind. Scientists compared the chronological age of thousands of volunteers — how many birthdays they've had — against their biological one.This was done by using tests that estimate the body's decline based on subtle markers on your DNA.Although the study uncovered the ageing gap, the Finnish academics believe it has narrowed over time.The claimed this is probably because smoking rates have plummeted in men. The amount of men who smoke in Finland has fallen from 37 per cent in the 1970s to 17 per cent now, while the prevalence has stayed the same in women (around 15 per cent).BMI was another one of the main factors behind the gender difference in ageing, the team from the University of Jyväskylä said. Mend tend be more overweight than women.Anti-ageing experts from Finland said men aged from their fifties to seventies had aged up to four years more quickly than their female counterparts. This was calculated by comparing their chronological age — how old you are on your birth certificate — to their biological age, an estimate of how the body's cells have aged Graph shows: How many biological years older men were than their female counterparts when they were 21 to 42 (left) and 50 to 76 (right) What are epigenetics and do 'age clock' tests actually work?What are epigenetics?DNA is widely considered to be the instruction manual needed to build you.For comparison, epigenetics are the notes scrawled in the margin.How can epigenetics tell how old you are? The traditional view of ageing is that it’s caused by a slow build-up of damage at a cellular level. Just like a car, bits of us get broken or wear out. It can be difficult to put a number on this.That's where epigenetics comes in. Clock tests measure so-called DNA methylation levels.This is the extent to which special molecules, called methyl groups, have latched on to the DNA in your cells.These have been described as being like barnacles attaching themselves to the hull of a ship and slowing it down.Should I get a test?If you're interested in how quickly you're ageing, epigenetic tests could be for you.But if you're looking for a mystic ball to predict how long you'll live, you may be left feeling disappointed.Dr Andrew Steele, a computational biologist and author of a new book on longevity, said: 'There are lots of variations on these tests, and scientists are still debating which ones are most useful and for what. 'Honestly, although the results might be scientifically interesting, I think for now people are better off saving the money on a biological age test, and spending it on vegetables or a pair of running shoes! 'But this is a fast-moving field and I’m confident that won’t be the case forever — one day getting your biological age measured, and even being prescribed drugs to help slow it down, might well be part of a regular check-up at the doctor.' The findings, published in The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, could help explain why women tend to live longer than men.Women in Britain have a life expectancy of 83, compared to just 79 for men. In the US, women tend to live around five years longer (80).The research tracked biological ages in 2,240 twins, who were split into two separate groups depending on their age. One was divided in volunteers aged between 21-42, while the others looked at those between 50-76.Some 151 of the twin pairs studied were brother and sister — allowing researchers to control for their genetics and lifestyles growing up.They estimated their biological clocks using epigenetics clocks, which measure so-called DNA methylation levels.This is the extent to which special molecules, called methyl groups, have latched on to the DNA in your cells.These have been described as being like barnacles attaching themselves to the hull of a ship and slowing it down.The research used four different epigenetic clocks in a bid to get the most accurate prediction of biological age possible.They also measured participants' years in full-time education, body mass index, and levels of smoking, drinking and physical activity to see which factors may affect the speed of their ageing.Results suggested men were older than women in all the groups when using all the clocks, bar one. The difference — which was evident in young adulthood — got bigger as they aged, jumping from up to 1.2 years to up to 4.3.The gap remained when the team factored in all mediating factors, suggesting that something genetic in women was keeping them younger. Anna Kankaanpää, a doctoral researcher and lead author of the study, said: 'We found men are biologically older than women of the same chronological age, and the difference is considerably larger in older participants.'We observed a sex difference in ageing pace, which was not explained by lifestyle-related factors. 'In our study, we also used a quite rare study design and compared ageing pace among opposite-sex twin pairs. 'A similar difference was also observed among these pairs of twins. 'The male sibling was about one year biologically older than his female co-twin. 'These pairs have grown in the same environment and share half of their genes. 'The difference may be explained, for example, by sex differences in genetic factors and the beneficial effects of the female sex hormone oestrogen on health.' Advertisement Read more: Do Epigenetic Clocks Provide Explanations for Sex Differences in Life Span? A Cross-Sectional Twin Study | The Journals of Gerontology: Series A | Oxford Academic
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Longevity
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Subject: The secret to living a long lifeBy Brett Milano - Harvard CorrespondentHint: It’s got nothing to do with more exercise and less red meatLiving past 100 could soon become a reachable goal, said Nir Barzilai of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine this week. Delivering Thursday’s keynote speech at Harvard’s Nutrition and Obesity Symposium on Longevity and Aging, Barzilai challenged the common wisdom that the secret to a long life is a healthy lifestyle. The real secret, he said, lies in the genes, and the key is research. Organized by Professor of Medicine Steven Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School, the two-day symposium at Longwood Medical Center examined the scientific, nutritional, and health-related aspects of aging, with panels including “Caloric Restriction in Non-Human Primates” and “Microbial Strategies for Healthful Longevity.” Jan Vijg of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine gave the opening keynote on Wednesday, and Barzilai followed with Thursday’s keynote, titled “How to Die Young at a Very Old Age.”Barzilai’s work examines the difference between chronological and biological age — literal years vs. the relative health of the body. The subjects who show the greatest discrepancy hold the key to genetic research that could make aging a treatable condition. And those cases aren’t always found where one might expect.He cited the famous example of the Kahns of Manhattan, who were the world’s longest-lived quartet of siblings — all have died since 2005, the youngest at age 101. None were especially health conscious: Irving still worked a high-stress Wall Street job after turning 100, and one of his sisters was a smoker for 90 years (outliving all the doctors who advised her to quit, Barzilai noted). A larger study of centenarians showed the Kahns weren’t unique: Of the group studied, half were overweight, 60 percent of the men smoked, less than 50 percent exercised, and only two percent were vegetarian. “As a group, they didn’t do anything that we tell our patients to do,” Barzilai said. Further research showed that none of these centenarians had a “perfect genome;” many carried a genetic risk for Parkinson’s and other diseases. Yet they did have a “longevity gene” that resisted the aging process. The exact makeup of this gene remains elusive, but science has so far discovered apparent clues — for instance, lower occurrences of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) molecule and above-average height. Animal studies have since confirmed that longer life and improved cardiac function can be induced with changes in IGF level.“We need to be careful what we wish for because longer life without extended health is harmful. We should stop trying to make ourselves live longer, but we will get the bonus of living longer if we live healthier.”— S. Jay Olshansky, University of Chicago professor Similar research is now being done with a variety of proteins. Yet Barzilai said that aging research still faces major obstacles. One is that scientists tend to work with young laboratory animals, rather than ones that have evinced longevity. Another is that the FDA doesn’t classify aging as a preventable disease — which means health-care providers won’t pay for the research and pharmaceutical companies won’t commit to it. Still there is reason for optimism. “We can take the sperm of a 70-year-old man, take the egg of a 15-year-old woman, and create a baby and when it is formed, the age of the parents is erased. We have figured out how to do that, now we will figure out how to erase the cellular aging in ourselves,” said Barzilai. Quoting the old Jim Croce hit, he said that “saving time in a bottle” can indeed be a reality. In a later panel on Thursday, University of Chicago professor S. Jay Olshansky dealt with a more specific health problem: The rise of childhood and adult obesity has already led to a slight decline in U.S. life expectancy. It now has the same negative effect on average as that of accidents and may soon equal that of cancer and heart disease. Coupled with the rise in opioid deaths, the result may be the first generation of U.S. citizens with a shorter life expectancy than its parents.One solution, he suggested, is to focus on health rather than longevity. “We need to be careful what we wish for because longer life without extended health is harmful. We should stop trying to make ourselves live longer, but we will get the bonus of living longer if we live healthier.”Olshansky closed by unveiling a new project: a chart that handicaps the likelihood of each current presidential candidate surviving an entire term beyond the 2020 election year, based on projected lifespan and health span. Thirty-seven-year-old Pete Buttigieg led the pack with a 99.0 rating and most placed in the 90s; the sharpest drop-off came between 70-year-old Elizabeth Warren at 91.8 percent and 73-year-old Donald Trump at 84.8 (Both Bernie Sanders, 77, and Joe Biden, 76, placed below Trump). The only candidate with a less than 70 percent rating was recent entrant 89-year-old Mike Gravel at 48.3.Source: Harvard Gazette If you enjoy our selection of content please consider following Universal-Sci on social media:
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Longevity
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Retirement planning a daunting exercise for most Americans, who are exhorted to save as much as possible for their golden years. But there's another essential piece to retirement that most people struggle to understand and that threatens their long-term financial security, according to recent research.
That little-understood cornerstone of retirement planning is accurately estimating your longevity, or understanding how long you're likely to live once you hit retirement age, according to recent findings from Annamaria Lusardi, an expert on financial literacy and a professor at Stanford University as well the TIAA Institute.
The research found that only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults have a solid grasp of how long 65-year olds live on average, as well as the likelihood of living to 90 years old versus dying by age 70. Although such calculations may sound morbid, they are vital to planning for a secure old age because workers will need to make their dollars last for retirements that are longer than in previous generations, thanks to longer lifespans.
Many Americans tend to believe they'll die earlier than is statistically likely, which means they might not be saving enough for retirement, Lusardi and Surya Kolluri, the head of the TIAA Institute, told CBS MoneyWatch. (You can check your own longevity literacy by answering Lusardi and the TIAA Institute's questions at the bottom of this article.)
"It's a critical part of retirement planning," Lusardi said. "The first thing you need to do to start from the back, meaning you have to consider, 'How long do I have to provide for' ... then you can decide, 'How much can I save for retirement?'"
She added, "You can't provide for 30 years of retirement with 15 years of savings."
Family history versus statistics
Often, people base their decisions about their likely retirement spans based on their parents' or grandparents' experiences, Kolluri noted. But that doesn't take into account the critical changes in life expectancy that have occurred during the past several decades, with advancements in treating chronic diseases and medical services that are keeping Americans healthier for longer.
Some people focus on personal experience, he noted, like, "'Hey my grandma passed away at such an age, men at my family pass away at such an age,' while ignoring in that analysis that time has passed, medicine has changed," Kolluri said.
Of course, no one can know how long they'll live. But workers can examine data and statistics to help guide their savings decisions by creating expectations for their lifespans, Lusardi noted.
"We can make an educated choice, and certainly that is our main message about the data," she added.
Social Security and longevity
Another area where longevity literacy can have an impact is on Social Security, given that Americans can choose when to start claiming the benefit, beginning at age 62 or waiting until they are 70. There's a financial incentive to wait as long as possible, since your monthly benefit will grow the longer you wait, with payments maxing out at age 70.
Yet only 6% of U.S. workers claim at age 62, when they will receive their smallest possible benefit amount.until they turn 70 to claim Social Security, while 30%
To be sure, many workers take Social Security as soon as they can at age 62 because they have no other financial choice. But some Americans may be claiming the entitlements at that age because they misjudge their potential longevity, estimating they might die earlier than is statistically likely.
"It might not matter as much if you don't choose the right checking account, but if you don't withdraw [Social Security] well, that can be a problem," Lusardi said. "If people don't have a good assessment about how long they will live and they underestimate it, it might lead them to withdraw too early."
Prior research found that the typical worker is leaving $182,000 in lifetime discretionary income on the table by— income that many retirees could dearly use given that most Americans haven't saved enough for their golden years. The author of that analysis, Boston University economics professor Laurence J. Kotlikoff, noted that Americans "jinx themselves" by underestimating their lifespans, and then claim too early.
Planning to live to 90?
The longevity researchers note that a 65-year-old woman has a 40% chance of living to age 90, while that falls to 30% for men of the same age. Does that suggest that women, in particular, should plan for retirements that will last into their ninth decade?
"We think so," Lusardi said. "The message here is if you want the stability of income, you might have to think quite long — many people live longer than just the average."
You can test your own longevity literacy with the quiz below, developed by Lusardi and the TIAA Institute.
1. On average in the U.S., how long will a 65-year-old man live?
A. About 14 more years (age 79)
B. About 19 more years (age 84)
C. About 24 more years (age 89)
D. Don't know
2. On average in the U.S., how long will a 65-year-old woman live?
A. About 17 more years (age 82)
B. About 22 more years (age 87)
C. About 27 more years (age 92)
D. Don't know
3. In the U.S., what is the likelihood that a 65-year-old man will live at least until age 90?
A. About 10% (1 in 10)
B. About 30% (3 in 10)
C. About 50% (5 in 10)
D. Don't know
4. In the U.S., what is the likelihood that a 65-year-old woman will live at least until age 90?
A. About 20% (2 in 10)
B. About 40% (4 in 10)
C. About 60% (6 in 10)
D. Don't know
5. In the U.S., what is the likelihood that a 65-year-old man will not live beyond age 70?
A. Under 5%
B. Between 5% and 10%
C. Over 10 %
D. Don't know
6. In the U.S., what is the likelihood that a 65-year-old woman will not live beyond age 70?
A. Under 5%
B. Between 5% and 10%
C. Over 10 %
D. Don't know
(The correct answers for questions 1-5 are b; the correct answer for question 6 is a.)
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Longevity
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Huge strides in life expectancy worldwide are bringing new challenges that come with increased longevity, the Dutch health minister told VOA this week.
“If you look at it from a global perspective, we’ve seen that over the past 25 years, on average we added more than five years of global life expectancy,” Ernst Kuipers, Dutch minister of health, welfare and sport, noted during a stop in Washington.
Looking at it another way, the former internist continued, “It actually means that for more than 20 years in a row, every week we added more than a day to the life expectancy of our world population. That is huge!”
Kuipers and a Dutch delegation co-led by the country’s minister of economy are in the U.S. to take part in a trade fair focused on international health and life sciences in Boston.
The Dutch are known to be the tallest people in the world and rank high in the world longevity list. Kuipers looked at the global picture when discussing the worldwide jump in life expectancy in the past quarter century.
While clean water supply, improved hygiene, sanitation conditions, access to vaccines, medicines and medical treatments have contributed to rising life expectancy in low-income countries, breakthroughs in many areas of life sciences have helped prolong life in higher-income countries, he pointed out.
“For example, new drugs in cancer treatment, newly developed interventions to treat cardiovascular diseases, and also improvement in public health.”
The good news about longevity aside, the former doctor pointed out some of the challenges that come with longer lifespans.
“We have an aging population [in the Netherlands], like in most places. People tend to get older, but they live longer usually with certain [health] conditions, with reduced mobility, etc., very similar to here,” Kuipers said.
Kuipers said his country is also experiencing a shortage in health care personnel, even as the number of working men and women affiliated with the health care industry takes up an increasing percentage of the workforce.
“If you look at the Netherlands, at the moment, one out of every six people with a job works in health care,” he said. That figure includes not just nurses or physicians, but also those serving the health care industry in human resources, finance and legal matters.
If the current pattern continues, one in five Dutch jobs will be related to health care by the year 2030, and that number will increase to one in four by the year 2040. Kuipers said this pattern will be very, very difficult, if not impossible, to sustain, “simply because we’re also going to need people in other areas of society.”
Given that health care is very labor intensive, Kuipers said governments and societies have no choice but to think of ways to meet the demands in a different, yet still effective way, to successfully cope with changing demographics.
In addition to the shortage of manpower, increased life expectancy also requires more money to care for the elderly, causing each country and government to think harder about budget priorities.
“Like the U.S., we have many burning issues, whether it’s energy transmission, preparation for climate change, infrastructure, you name it – the question of how to deliver and provide high-quality, good-access care to everyone while also limiting the increase in budget, that is very, very relevant, like it is here,” the Dutch minister said.
The Netherlands has universal health insurance and caps most people’s out of pocket expenses at 385 euros a year, a little more than 400 U.S. dollars a year.
“So far we [the country as a whole] can still afford this,” he said, “but it’s a continuous debate.”
The problem is especially acute in the case of certain very expensive drugs, the cost of which is increasing “very, very rapidly” and putting the “solidarity underlying our system” under pressure, the minister said.
He cited “orphan drugs,” which are needed by only a small number of people but are often a matter of life and death for those patients.
Kuipers and the Dutch delegation are among over 10,000 health science professionals and government officials from around the world who gathered in Boston this week to exchange ideas and find out the latest in health science at a biotech trade fair put together by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.
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Longevity
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While no one has a definitive answer to the question “How long will you live?”, coming up with an educated, realistic estimate goes a long way toward building a retirement plan that assures income security. Unfortunately, most U.S. adults lack what a new survey calls “longevity literacy,” a deficiency that can be a major retirement planning pitfall. Here’s what you need to know.
Do you have questions about retirement planning? Speak with a financial advisor today.
How Many People Lack ‘Longevity Literacy’
Less than 40% of adults were able to correctly estimate how long, on average adults are likely to live once they hit 65, according to new research by the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center at the George Washington University School of Business and the TIAA Institute. The study’s authors defined the problem as “low longevity literacy” and found a link between longevity literacy and overall retirement readiness.
“Longevity literacy is particularly important since retirement income security inherently involves planning, saving and preparing for a period that is uncertain in length,” Surya Kolluri, head of the TIAA Institute, said in a statement. “Our research clearly demonstrates a lack of longevity literacy among the vast majority of U.S. adults.”
How Far Off the Mark Most People Are
The study’s results reflect answers to three multiple-choice questions, with only 12% of adults answering all three of the following questions correctly and 31% of adults responding with either a “don’t know” or an underestimate of life span for each question.
On average how long will a 65-year-old live? 65% of respondents (age 18 and up) missed the answer, which is 84 years for men, 87 years for women.
What is the likelihood that a 65-year-old will live at least until age 90? 68% of respondents answered incorrectly. The answer is 30% for men, 40% for women.
What is the likelihood that a 65-year-old will not live beyond age 70? 54% of the respondents didn’t know the answer, which is 5%-10% for men, less than 5% for women.
Demographic Differences in Longevity Literacy
Longevity literacy varied by sex, race and generation, the study found. For example, women did better than men. “Women correctly answered a greater number of longevity literacy questions, while men answered a greater number of questions with either a ‘don’t know’ response or a response in the wrong direction of the retirement planning horizon – 32% of men show weak longevity literacy, compared with 29% of women,” the report stated.
Whites and Asians had higher longevity literacy than Blacks and Hispanics. The latter two groups “have essentially equal levels of longevity literacy, but it tends to be significantly lower than that of Asians and Whites,” the report stated. “Fewer than 10% of Blacks and Hispanics demonstrate strong longevity literacy. Approximately 40% of each has weak longevity literacy and one-quarter of each responded ‘don’t know’ to each question.”
The study revealed generational differences, including that 37% of Gen Z have weak longevity literacy compared with 34% of Gen Y (millennials), 30% of Gen X; and 28% of Baby Boomers. The study also found that strong longevity literacy was found in 10% of Gen Z, 12% of Gen Y, 11% of Gen X and 13% of Baby Boomers.
Longevity Literacy Can Lead to Retirement Income Security
Among people with good longevity literacy, 72% saved for retirement on a regular basis and half had calculated how much money they needed to save for their retirement. Further, 69% were very or somewhat confident that they’d have enough money to live comfortably in retirement.
Once in retirement, the study found people with a strong awareness of longevity issues tended to be doing better. Fully 77% of people with strong longevity literacy were more likely to say their retirement lifestyle was as good or better than they expected before retirement, while 62% of people with low longevity literacy reported doing that well.
Respondents with lower levels of longevity literacy scored worse on all questions, including questions about confidence. A big issue the researchers identified was that those respondents didn’t understand the term “life expectancy” and how it affects retirement planning and investing. The survey authors recommended that financial planners and others need to explain this terminology to make sure people understand the implications of longer lifespans in retirement.
These results all point to what financial planners call “longevity risk” in retirement, which comes down to the likelihood that a retiree will run out of money in retirement.
Bottom Line
Strong longevity literacy, knowing how long you’re likely to live and how long a spouse might survive you, is an important factor in planning your retirement investments and lifestyle. People who have a better understanding of those issues tend to feel more prepared for retirement and to enjoy their lifestyle in retirement. By contrast, not grasping longevity literacy can constitute a major pitfall to retirement income security.
Tips for Retirement Planning
A financial advisor can help you build a retirement income plan for the future. Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
Check out SmartAsset’s retirement calculator to figure out how your retirement savings thus far stacks up.
Photo credit: ©iStock.com/davidf, ©iStock.com/real444, ©iStock.com/monkeybusinessimages
The post How Long Will You Live? Most People Don’t Account for This Retirement Data appeared first on SmartReads by SmartAsset.
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Longevity
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Looking for a healthy, inexpensive protein that can boost your immune system and help you live longer? Grab some legumes the next time you're at the grocery store.According to a 2022 study published in the journal PLOS Medicine, swapping out red meats and processed foods for legumes, whole grains, vegetables can increase life expectancy by more than a decade for people in their 20s or 30s.Legumes: The most underrated longevity foodMany people don't instantly think of legumes when it comes to longevity foods. But as a nutritionist, I eat them every day as part of my vegan diet to keep my body strong and help fight off sickness.The most common varieties of legumes are beans, including black beans, lentil beans, soybeans, fava beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), kidney beans, edamame and lima beans.Here are some key health benefits of legumes:Protein: Legumes are an excellent source of protein, which is essential for many biological functions. One cup provides five to 10 grams of protein.Fiber: Legumes are an important source of dietary fiber — one cup contains four to 14 grams. Fiber helps strengthen the immune system, lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation, manage blood sugar and weight, and enhance gastrointestinal health.Minerals: Legumes contain minerals like potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc. These play essential roles in processes like oxygen utilization and immune function.Antioxidants: Beans contain several polyphenol compounds (a.k.a. healthy plant chemicals), including tannins, phenolic acids and flavonoids. These are potent antioxidants that repair cells and tissue.All of these nutritional characteristics can protect against chronic diseases, research shows.In fact, the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association recommend eating legumes as an alternative to animal proteins to help lower the risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.How to add more legumes into your dietAs a busy professional, I love that I can create a variety of delicious, nutrient-packed meals with legumes.You can buy prepackaged dry legumes at most supermarkets and health food stores. It might seem like a lot of preparation is needed, but most of that time is just the soaking process, which requires no additional work on your part.You can also cook legumes in large batches and store them in sealed containers in the fridge or freezer:Thoroughly cook dried beans.Rinse and soak them for at least five hours.Drain the soaking water and cook the beans in fresh, boiling water (212 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least 10 minutes.Do not cook dried beans in slow cookers or crockpots, as the temperature doesn't get high enough to deactivate the lectins, a potentially toxic chemical found in raw beans.Canned beans are already cooked, so all you have to do is toss them into your soup, chili, pasta, sauce, burrito or vegetable sauté.Easy recipes1. Go meatless by swapping hamburgers for legume-based burgers.When mixed up with spices and fun flavors, homemade bean and lentil burgers can be just as tasty as their meat counterparts. Whether you use black beans, white beans, or lentils, you can't go wrong with a legume patty on a whole wheat bun.2. Substitute mayonnaise for creamy hummus.With the help of a food processor or blender, homemade hummus is easier to whip up than you think, and it makes a healthier, more fiber-filled sandwich spread than mayonnaise.3. Mash legumes to turn them into easy dips. Thanks to the neutral taste of legumes, spices can really elevate them into any kind of party dip you're looking to create. From cheesy to savory to sweet, the possibilities are endless.4. Ditch the chips for bean crisps.If you're stuck in an afternoon slump, crunchy, oven-roasted beans can make for a satisfying, energizing snack. Lupini beans, fava beans, and chickpeas all get crispy in the oven and are easy to make in big batches for portioning throughout the week.5. Stir them into soups for added fiber.Lentil soup is a hearty meal for lunch or dinner come winter. For some more variety, you can also try making other legume-based soups, such as split pea soup, pasta e fagioli, or white bean and escarole soup.6. Hide beans in brownies.If you've got a sweet tooth, black bean brownies are a delicious dessert that packs a punch of fiber into every serving.Samantha Heller, MS, RD, CDN, is a registered dietitian and exercise physiologist. She is a senior clinical nutritionist at NYU Langone Health in New York City. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook.Don't miss:A Harvard nutritionist shares the 6 best brain foods: ‘Most people aren’t eating enough of’ theseA doctor shares the 5 ‘superfoods’ she always adds to her diet ‘for a strong immune system’Nutritionist shares her top 5 ‘healthy’ fast food orders—they include Taco Bell, Chick-fil-A and Panda Express
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Longevity
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Feeling unhappy, depressed or lonely could speed up the ageing processes more than smoking or even certain diseases, researchers have suggested.While everyone has an age based on their date of birth – their “chronological age” – they also have what is known as a “biological age”, based on the ageing of the body’s functions, influenced by genetics, lifestyle and other factors. Studies have previously suggested the higher the biological age, the higher the risk of various diseases, and the risk of death.Now researchers say they have created a digital model of ageing, revealing the importance of psychological health.“Your body and soul are connected – this is our main message,” said Fedor Galkin, a co-author of the study and lead scientist at the Hong Kong startup Deep Longevity.Writing in the journal Aging-US, researchers at Deep Longevity, Stanford University, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, report how they built an “ageing clock” based on data collected from 4,846 adults in 2015 as part of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).This included 16 blood biomarkers, including cholesterol and glucose levels, participants’ sex and information such as their blood pressure, body mass index and measures of lung function.The team then compared the chronological age of individuals predicted by the model with their actual age. The results suggested a difference, on average, of almost 5.7 years over or under the participant’s true age.The team found that when the model was applied to CHARLS data from a further 2,617 Chinese adults with ageing-associated diseases, those with a history of stroke, liver disease and lung conditions were predicted to be older than 4,451 healthy adults matched to them by chronological age, sex, and living area.The average effect of these conditions did not add more than 18 months to the predicted age. However, the team found other influences on the pace of ageing.“We demonstrate that psychological factors, such as feeling unhappy or being lonely, add up to 1.65 years to one’s biological age,” they write.While Galkin said the figure is an estimate, not least as the model assumes that different feelings such as hopelessness or fearfulness are independent of each other, the study highlights the importance of psychological state in how fast we age.“Taking care of your psychological health is the greatest contributor that you can have to slowing down your pace of ageing,” he said.The team also report that people who smoke are predicted to be 15 months older than their non-smoking peers, while being married reduces biological age by around seven months. People living in rural areas are predicted to be almost five months older than their urban peers. Andrew Steptoe, professor of psychology and epidemiology at University College London, said the study is one of a number in recent years to use blood-based and biometric data to compute a “biological ageing clock”.The latest work, he added, found that feelings revolving around depression, loneliness and unhappiness are associated with more advanced biological ageing.“The results are interesting and add to existing evidence from North America and Europe that factors such as stress and low socioeconomic position are related to accelerated ageing,” said Steptoe.But, he said, it is unlikely isolation and loneliness are truly worse risk factors for health than smoking, while the study only looked at data collected at one point in time.“The researchers did not follow up participants to show that those with psychological distress actually aged more rapidly,” he said. “It will be important in the future to test whether these predictions are fulfilled by repeating testing over a number of years.”
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There are some daily practices that may increase your chances of living to 90 and beyond – and a healthy diet is one of the most important factors on the list.In his new book, "The Blue Zones American Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100," Dan Buettner "identified the world's longest-lived areas (blue zones) and studied the patterns and lifestyles that seem to explain their populations' longevity."Blue zones are defined by Buettner as populations with the highest rates of living to 100 – or becoming centenarians – and the highest middle-age life expectancies. Across the world, these groups include communities in Japan, Italy, Greece, Costa Rica and even a Seventh Day Adventist community in California."The people in the blue zones live up to a decade longer than average Americans and spend a fraction of what most [of] the rest of us do on health care," Buettner wrote.Of course, there are multiple factors to consider. Many of these communities have more opportunities to walk from place to place and tend to stress much less than most Americans. But, after analyzing over 150 dietary surveys that capture "the daily eating habits of people in the blue zones over the past 80 years," these were the most common foods included in their diets.'The five pillars of a longevity diet'Buettner found that 65% of dietary intake in blue zones came from complex carbohydrates, and these foods are "the five pillars of a longevity diet on four continents":Whole grains like corn, rice and oats (complex carb)GreensTubers, including potatoes and yams (complex carb)NutsBeans (complex carb)2 quick recipes that use the healthiest foodsHere are two recipes you can try that include a combination of the foods that the healthiest communities eat:SuccotashSuccotash is a staple dish in Native communities that dates back to the 1620s. Though commonly paired with fish and other meats, this version of the meal is completely plant-based.2 pounds of cooked, hulled corn8 ounces of dried cranberry beans (or Jacob's cattle beans or other similar beans), soaked and cooked until tenderSaltYou can add in turnips, carrots, squash, cabbage, onions and more.Hoppin' John With Carolina Gold Rice and Sapelo Red PeasThough Carolina Gold rice is a West African strain, this dish was first made by enslaved people in America. Carolina Gold rice was widely used for many years, "only to all but completely disappear after the Great Depression." Thankfully, it is now sold in grocery stores and online.1 cup of Sapelo red peas1 teaspoon of salt½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper1 teaspoon of smoked paprika3 cups of water2 cups of Carolina Gold riceWant to earn more and work less? Register for the free CNBC Make It: Your Money virtual event on Dec. 13 at 12 p.m. ET to learn from money masters how you can increase your earning power.Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletterWhat do you think of Make It content? Take this survey to share your thoughts.
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Longevity
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Scientists have called for a major clinical trial of a substance added to many energy drinks after studies in animals showed that supplementation may slow the ageing process and promote healthier lives.
Researchers found that levels of the micronutrient, taurine, fell substantially with age, but that topping them up to more youthful levels boosted the health of mice and monkeys and even extended the lifespans of mice.
It is unclear whether humans might benefit in the same way – or whether the required high doses are even safe – but scientists believe the evidence is strong enough to warrant a large-scale trial, particularly given that taurine occurs naturally in the body and is already used as a supplement at lower doses.
“Taurine abundance declines with age and reversal of this decline makes animals live longer and healthier lives,” said Dr Vijay Yadav, who led the research at Columbia University in New York. “At the end of the day, these findings should be relevant to humans.”
Prof Henning Wackerhage, a molecular exercise physiologist on the team at the Technical University of Munich, said a trial would compare how humans fared after taking daily taurine or placebo supplements. “It will probably be very difficult to look at whether they live longer, but at least we can check if they live healthier for longer, and that of course is the goal for medicine.”
Yadav’s team homed in on taurine as a potential driver of the ageing process in 2012 when an analysis of blood compounds found that levels of the amino acid dropped dramatically with age in mice, monkeys and humans. By the age of 60, taurine levels in a typical person slumped to one-third of that seen in five-year-olds, they found.
The discovery prompted the team to test the impact of extra taurine on middle-aged mice. “Whatever we checked, taurine-supplemented mice were healthier and appeared younger than the control mice,” Yadav said, noting they had denser bones, stronger muscles, better memory and younger looking immune systems. “Taurine made animals live healthier and longer lives by affecting all the major hallmarks of ageing.”
Beyond improving health, mice on taurine lived longer – on average an extra 10% for males and 12% for females, amounting to an additional three to four months, the equivalent of seven or eight human years. A comparable dose for humans would be three to six grams a day.
The scientists next looked at whether boosting taurine benefited animals that were much closer biologically to humans. A six-month trial in middle-aged macaques found that a daily taurine pill appeared to boost health by preventing weight gain, lowering blood glucose and improving bone density and the immune system.
Other evidence suggests taurine supplementation may have some effect in humans. Yadav and his team analysed medical data from 12,000 Europeans aged 60 and over. Those with higher taurine levels had less obesity, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, and lower levels of inflammation. Strenuous sessions on an exercise bike were found to boost taurine levels, the researchers report in Science.
Without a major trial to demonstrate the safety or any benefits of taurine supplements, the scientists are not recommending people boost their intake through pills, energy drinks or dietary changes. Taurine is made naturally in the body and is found in meat and shellfish diets, but the healthiest diets are largely plant-based. Some energy drinks contain taurine, but the scientists warn they also contain other substances that may not be safe to consume at high levels.
“What we really need now is a human intervention study,” Wackerhage said, adding: “We are raring to go.”
In an accompanying article, Joseph McGaunn and Joseph Baur at the University of Pennsylvania agree. Taurine supplementation in baby formula and energy drinks has thrown up few safety concerns, but they add that potential risks should still be considered given the lack of long-term human trials. “Like any intervention, taurine supplementation with the aim of improving human health and longevity should be approached with caution.”
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Longevity
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With our health systems strained by the concurrent outbreaks of monkeypox, polio and COVID-19, chronic diseases are not receiving the attention they deserve. But as we continue to face ongoing infectious disease threats, we need to build resilient health systems that are equipped to face both public health emergencies and ongoing population health challenges. Pre-pandemic, chronic disease was already a serious problem in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in six adults has a chronic disease, and four in 10 adults have two or more chronic diseases. These include diabetes, heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, stroke and chronic kidney disease. Chronic diseases represent seven of the top 10 causes of death in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has starkly affected chronic disease directly and indirectly through disruption to preventive care and disease management and by contributing to high morbidity and mortality rates. Heart disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease and obesity are all conditions that increase the risk for severe illness from COVID. We have also witnessed the birth of new chronic disease in “long COVID,” which affects nearly one in five Americans. A growing number of studies has shown that COVID can increase a person’s risk of diabetes, even months after infection. A Lancet study found that people who were infected with COVID were about 40 percent more likely to develop diabetes up to a year later than others in the control groups. For every 1,000 people studied in each group, roughly 13 more individuals in the COVID group were diagnosed with diabetes. Even people who had mild infections and no previous risk factors for diabetes had increased odds of developing the chronic condition. Several studies have also highlighted how the pandemic has created a barrier to preventive cancer care. A 2021 study published on the pandemic’s impact on cancer services in Louisiana and Georgia found there were nearly 30,000 fewer cancer pathology reports than in 2019, representing a 10 percent decline. Many reported delaying or missing preventive care appointments due to fear of exposure to the virus in 2020. Without responding to the dual crisis of infectious disease threats like COVID and chronic disease, each will continue to amplify the negative effect of the other. This will only put further strain on our health systems, ultimately creating barriers or reduced care capacity for other health care issues. Our health care system needs to align incentives to encourage payers, providers, employers and individuals to better prevent, detect, treat and manage chronic diseases before they become acute, costly problems. This begins with increasing access and removing barriers to primary care doctors and complete integrated preventive care. Primary care doctors are critical to helping patients prevent and navigate chronic disease and providing referrals to other specialists who can assist with their conditions. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, one-fourth of adults and nearly half of adults under 30 don’t have a primary care doctor. This care disparity is worse for minorities. A 2020 poll by the African American Research Collection found that Black, Native and Latino Americans reported having less access to a primary care doctor than their white counterparts. One positive impact of the pandemic has been the uptake of telemedicine, particularly for those in rural areas or health care “deserts.” New technological advances can also expand the role that telemedicine plays in at-home care delivery. Remote patient-monitoring devices allow providers to monitor patient progress remotely and receive alerts if there is an issue. To continue to reap the benefits of telemedicine, we need to make the emergency authorizations permanent and ensure payment parity for providers. Equitable access to the internet for all Americans is also necessary to reduce care disparities. Standardized, interoperable health care data systems will also help providers reduce inefficiencies and improve the health system’s ability to proactively identify risk and coordinate care. By investing in emerging technology tools such as big data analytics and genomic testing, providers can conduct early outreach and consistently follow-up, monitor and manage patients more effectively in their homes, while cultivating a deeper understanding of how, why and where chronic diseases develop. By investing in resilient health systems to address public health emergencies and chronic disease, we can encourage healthy longevity for all. Dr. William Haseltine is president of ACCESS Health International and will be moderating two expert panels at the Metabesity 2022 conference on how lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic can prepare us to address the ongoing epidemic of chronic diseases.
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Longevity
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Most people are lucky to live to 100, but two women lived far beyond that, joining the ranks of the world's oldest people — and they're both from France.Jeanne Calment is believed to be the world's oldest person on record, gracing the Earth for 122 years. And recently, a French nun named Sister André was the oldest person in the world until Jan. 17, when she passed at the age of 118.It's hard to pinpoint what exactly helps people live beyond age 100, considering the varying behaviors of supercentenarians, says Jean-Marie Robine, an expert demographer who studies the relationship between health and longevity. But there are certain factors that may give France the upper-hand on longevity, says Robine, who is also a research director at the Institut National De La Sante et de La Recherche Medicale (INSERM) in France.Here are some reasons why people from The Hexagon tend to have some bonus years.Why the French tend to live longer than residents of other countries1. Education is free"The most educated people have a longer life expectancy," says Robine. "They value more longevity [and] more good health. They have better knowledge about what to do [and] what not to do if you want to stay healthy." People who have received more education also have a better understanding of which foods to eat for longevity and which exercises to include in their daily life to increase their healthspan, according to Robine.2. Access to healthcare is freeThe countries with the highest life expectancies, including France, Japan and Denmark, all provide free healthcare. "And this is an important difference," says Robine, when comparing life expectancies of different countries, "and here we lose countries like the U.K., the Netherlands and the United States."3. Better dietary choicesResidents of the South of France, where Jeanne Calment and Sister André were both born, adhere to a Mediterranean diet, says Robine. A Mediterranean diet prioritizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seafood and healthy fats — while limiting, or cutting out, consumption of red meat, dairy and sweets.When you compare the North of France to the South of France, there's a two-year difference in life expectancy, which can be partly attributed to diet. Weather is also an important factor, as the winters and summers in the South of France are less harsh than in the North, he adds.In relation to diet in other countries, Robine says, "people are eating too [much] fat and salt."Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletterDon't miss:6 daily practices this 82-year-old triathlete and neurosurgeon uses to lengthen his healthspanThese are the best companies to work for in France in 2022, Glassdoor research finds
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Longevity
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A 63-year-old longevity doctor has claimed his body is biologically 20 years younger than his actual age and has revealed his secrets to staying young.
Dr. Mark Hyman, from Massachusetts, is an expert at fueling his body with the right ingredients to keep him feeling and looking youthful.
The 63-year-old has claimed by incorporating exercise and the right diet into your life you can shed decades off your appearance - and even live longer.
He frequently shares his tips and tricks to his more than 2.3 million Instagram followers, and has revealed everything from the foods you should be eating to his top five 'core longevity principles' - including building a community and managing your stress levels.
The diet of youth! The longevity expert claims following a Pegan diet can help you live longer
First up, the doctor and best-selling author of the book, Young Forever, recommends you incorporate the right foods into your diet.
Dr. Hyman follows a Pegan diet, which focuses highly on whole foods, or foods that have undergone little to no processing before making it to your plate.
He claimed that following this diet has helped him achieve the 'best health of my life.'
The Pegan diet is made up of primarily vegetables and fruit, these foods should compromise 75 per cent of your total intake.
Foods that are low on the glycemic index are included in the Pegan diet, meaning those looking to stay looking youthful should eat berries and non-starchy vegetables.
According to Healthline, the fruits that should be included in your diet that have a low GI index are berries, cherries, oranges, dried apricots, grapefruit, pears, apples, plums and peaches.
The longevity doctor advises his patients to eat a lot of plants because they can increase your life span.
He explained that 'about three-quarters of your plate should be covered in veggies' and said that you should 'aim for deep colors.'
Some of the vegetables that can help you achieve longevity are broccoli, carrots and peas.
Dr. Hyman also suggests you should 'load up' on foods that contain healthy fats.
'Whole foods such as nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocados, pasture-raised eggs, and small wild fatty fish such as sardines, mackerel, herring, anchovies and wild salmon contain healthy fats,' the longevity expert said.
He also revealed what oils you should be incorporating into your meals and cooking.
'For oils, use extra virgin olive oil (at low or no heat), avocado oil (for higher-heat cooking), and organic virgin coconut oil,' the 63-year-old expert revealed.
For snacking, the expert recommends adding nuts into your diet because they help with 'weight loss' and 'diabetes.'
Dr. Hyman said: 'Add nuts and seeds. They help with weight loss, diabetes, and heart disease and provide minerals, protein, good fats, fiber and more.'
He suggests you reach for 'almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pumpkin, hemp, chia, and sesame seeds.'
As far as meat goes, the doctor recommends you treat it like a 'condiment' and never as a 'main course,' and noted that your 'servings should be palm-sized.'
He went on to explain that plant-based meals are fine, however you should not opt for fake meats or processed powders.
Dr. Hyman added that eating fish was the key to staying youthful.
'Eat fish that is low in mercury and toxins, high in good fats, and wild-caught or sustainably raised,' he said before suggesting you stick to 'sardines, herring, anchovies, mackerel, and salmon.'
As part of his Pegan diet, he also eats only whole grains and avoids gluten.
He recommends his clients eat low-glycemic, gluten-free grains such as 'black rise, quinoa, teff, buckwheat, or amaranth.'
He also advises his millions of followers to try 'heirloom grains like Himalayan Tartary, einkorn, emmer, and farro.'
Dr. Hyman advised people to cut out dairy, sugar, foods that spike insulin, and most grain, bean, and seed oils.
His top 11 superfoods that he says helps him stay forever young and fight inflammation are olive oil, berries, fatty fish, broccoli, peppers, avocado, bone broth, turmeric, dark chocolate and mushrooms.
The longevity expert frequently shares all of his favorite recipes on his website.
Speaking to Insider, the doctor shared he loved beginning his morning with a smoothie that was packed with antioxidants.
His smoothie includes berries, collagen, almond butter or nuts, chia seeds, hemp seeds and zucchini.
'This kind of smoothie will leave you feeling great all morning long,' he said.
Sleep solves all! A good night's rest may have you looking 20 years younger
In addition to following a good diet, Dr. Hyman recommends prioritizing your sleep schedule.
He emphasized the importance of getting a good night's rest, and suggested you get at least 10 to 15 minutes of sunlight in the morning to help your circadian rhythm and allow you to sleep better at night.
'Lack of sleep drives most of the hallmarks of aging, especially inflammation, mitochondrial damage, and altered hormonal and nutrient-sensing pathways,' he explained.
Dr. Hyman added that you should 'aim for eight hours of good quality sleep.'
You can get a good night of rest by 'sticking to a sleep schedule, avoiding screens before bed, and creating a dark and quiet space,' according to the doctor.
Move your body! Exercise can help you stay youthful
His next secret to looking 20 years younger is exercising and moving your body regularly.
He explained that 'preserving muscle, building muscle, and optimizing function are the keys to the fountain of youth.'
Dr. Hyman recommends weight training at least three days of the week to help your mind and body remain sharp.
He suggested you try using resistance bands and performing body-weight exercise.
The longevity expert explained that any form of strength training will help you build and maintain your muscles.
This workout will also 'increase your mitochondria, which in turn will increase your energy, fat burning, and longevity.'
He added that you should focus on three types of workouts throughout the week: aerobic conditioning, strength and muscle mass, and flexibility and agility.
'Exercise strengthens our memory and makes us sharper, happier, and more resilient. Studies show that vigorous exercise is a better anti-depressant than Prozac,' the doctor said.
Rely on your friends and don't stress! Invest in your relationships and lower your stress levels
Next up, the doctor and longevity expert recommends you form a good community to stay young and lower your stress levels.
He said: 'The most powerful way to stay healthy and connect to your purpose is to be part of some type of community.'
The longevity expert said you could participate in a 'book club' or 'bowling buddies,' before explaining that those who are 'connected to others live longer.'
He advised his followers to invest more time in relationships to feel better about their bodies and minds.
He added that by cultivating deep and quality relationships, you can thrive in life.
Dr. Hyman said another key to a youthful life was managing stress.
He explained that chronic stress can lead to chronic diseases.
He added that stress can affect your mood, sex drive, weight and more.
To help you manage your cortisol levels, he said you should try online guided meditations, yoga, journaling and talking to your friends.
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Longevity
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The first global study to investigate how gender equality may be associated with life expectancy has found that both women and men live longer as it improves.
However, variations between countries grouped into regions according to socioeconomic development and geographic proximity suggest that while mainly benefitting women's lives and health at first, progress in gender equality helps men to live longer too, eventually narrowing the gender gap in life expectancy.
Lead author Dr Cat Pinho-Gomes, Honorary Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health, UK in partnership with Imperial College London, said the results -- published in the lead up to International Women's Day -- suggest that addressing longstanding gender inequality and empowering women might help extend longevity for both women and men.
"Many of the factors that determine how long you will live -- like working and living conditions, exposure to pollution, access to health care, education, income, and social support -- are layered with gender differences around the world," she said.
"As countries make greater progress towards gender equality and women are afforded the opportunity to participate more fully in in political, economic, and social life, the whole of society reaps the rewards."
According to the latest report by the World Economic Forum, global events such as the rising cost of living, the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate emergency and large-scale conflict and displacement are stalling progress towards gender parity. This may, in turn, jeopardise socioeconomic development and improvement in living and working conditions, curbing the gains in life expectancy that have occurred over the past decades.
To investigate whether gender equality was associated with life expectancy (LE) for women and men and assess the gender gap in life expectancy across the globe, the researchers used a modified global gender gap index (mGGGI), based on the index developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), and applied it across 156 countries between 2010 and 2021.
The WEF's Global Gender Gap Index benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment). For this study, the health dimension was excluded because it includes healthy life expectancy, which was the subject of this study.
Among the three dimensions included in this study (i.e., political, economic, and educational), gender equality in education had the strongest association with longer LE for both women and men.
"This suggests investing in education is paramount, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where many girls are still denied access to education and resources are limited," added Dr Pinho-Gomes.
"Even high-income countries -- where substantial progress has been made to address gender inequalities in recent years -- investing in gender equality may still benefit life expectancy, particularly for men. This study confirmed what we had already seen for countries in the EU using a different index, reinforcing the validity of our findings."
"The weaker association between gender equality in the political domain and the gender gap in LE raises concerns about how gender equality is being implemented by political systems worldwide," she said.
"As we've seen from the recent resignations of high-profile female politicians, women still experience significant challenges in this field, including discrimination, balancing private, family and political life, gaining support from political parties, and securing campaign funding."
Overall, in 2021, each ten percent increase in the mGGGI was associated with a 4.3-month increase in women's LE and a 3.5-month increase in men's LE, leading to an 8-month wider gender gap, but there was considerable variation between geographical regions.
"Our study has important implications for policy makers across the globe, particularly as the world gradually recovers from the myriad shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a gendered impact across multiple domains of life," added Dr Pinho-Gomes.
"This International Women's Day, let's not forget that the evidence demonstrates that enhancing women's representation across multiple sectors contributes to wealthier and, hence, healthier societies for all."
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Longevity
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María Branyas Morera, 115, is the world's oldest person as of January 2023.Guinness World RecordsGuinness World Records confirmed Spanish resident María Branyas Morera as the world's oldest person.Morera said one key to longevity is to stay away from toxic people.Research has indicated toxic relationships can impact mortality and cause health problems.The world's oldest person's key to a long life is simple: cut out toxic people.Guinness World Records confirmed María Branyas Morera, 115, as the world's oldest person on January 19.Born in San Francisco, Morera moved to Spain when she was eight. She lived through both World Wars and the 1918 flu pandemic before retiring in a nursing home 22 years ago.Morera attributes her longevity to "order, tranquility, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity, and staying away from toxic people," according to the Guinness World Records' website. She sometimes posts words of wisdom on her Twitter account, managed in part by her daughter."I think longevity is also about being lucky," Morera said, according to Guinness World Records. "Luck and good genetics."Science says toxic relationships are bad for your physical healthThough research has consistently showed maintaining social relationships are an important part of living a long life, keeping toxic people around may do more harm than good."One of the biggest indicators that your relationship is negatively affecting your emotional health, is that it is impacting an area of your life [such as] work, friendships, family, health, finances, spirituality, or downtime," Carolyn McNulty, a licensed mental health counselor, previously told Insider.A study from 2020, which interviewed more than 3,000 middle-aged and elderly people, found constant criticism from one's partner had the most significant impact on one's quality of health and mortality.Researchers said their findings suggest "relationship quality" had a bigger impact on a person's mortality risk compared to whether or not they had a partner — suggesting that being on your own might be healthier than keeping an overcritical spouse.Other studies have linked toxic relationships to depression and high blood pressure, and licensed therapist Shannon Thomas previously told Insider her clients in abusive relationships typically come in with digestive issues and memory problems.Read the original article on Business Insider
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Longevity
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University of Virginia scientists have identified a promising approach to delay aging by detoxifying the body of glycerol and glyceraldehyde, harmful by-products of fat that naturally accumulate over time.
The new findings come from UVA researcher Eyleen Jorgelina O’Rourke, PhD, and her team, who are seeking to identify the mechanisms driving healthy aging and longevity. Their new work suggests a potential way to do so by reducing glycerol and glyceraldehyde’s health-draining effects.
“The discovery was unexpected. We went after a very well-supported hypothesis that the secret to longevity was the activation of a cell-rejuvenating process named autophagy and ended up finding an unrecognized mechanism of health and lifespan extension,” said O’Rourke, of UVA’s Department of Biology and the UVA School of Medicine’s Department of Cell Biology. “An exciting aspect of the discovery is that the key to switch on this longevity mechanism is the activation of two enzymes that are very well studied because of their role in ethanol detoxification. [Ethanol is the alcohol contained in beer and bourbon]. This existing knowledge greatly facilitates our search for drugs that can specifically activate this anti-aging process.”
Anti-Aging Discovery
In their search for the secrets to slow down aging, O’Rourke and her graduate student Abbas Ghaddar and postdoc Vinod Mony turned to microscopic worms called C. elegans. These soil dwellers share more than 70% of our genes and are an invaluable tool for biomedical research; two Nobel prizes in medicine were awarded to discoveries made using this worm exclusively.
Prior aging research in worms, mice and human cells made O’Rourke and others in the field suspect that the key to extending lifespan was to activate autophagy, a process that renews broken and old parts in our cells. But O’Rourke and her collaborators were surprised to find that wasn’t necessary – the scientists improved the worms’ health and lifespan by 50% with no increase in autophagy at all.
They did this by capitalizing on a mechanism they discovered and named AMAR, the Sanskrit word for immortality. AMAR, in this instance, stands for “Alcohol and aldehyde-dehydrogenase Mediated Anti-aging Response.” In short, the scientists found that they could prompt an anti-aging response by putting the spurs to a particular gene, adh-1. Doing so prompted the gene to produce more of an enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase, that prevented the toxicity caused by glycerol and, indirectly, glyceraldehyde. The result was that the worms lived longer, healthier lives.
Findings in lab models such as worms and mice don’t always hold true in people, of course. So the researchers took several more steps to see if their lead was as promising as it appeared. First, they confirmed that the enzyme had similar beneficial effects on lifespan in another lab model, yeast. Then they scoured through research looking at gene activity in creatures, including humans, who had undergone fasting or calorie restriction because both fasting and calorie restriction are known to extend healthspan and lifespan. Sure enough, the scientists found increased levels of the anti-aging enzymes in all the mammals tested, including in humans.
The scientists suspect that our levels of glycerol and glyceraldehyde naturally increase over time because they are toxic byproducts of fat, which we store more of as we age. Thus, AMAR may offer a way to head off the fat-derived toxicity, extend the number of years we live in good health, and maybe help us shed some extra pounds, too.
“We hope to attract interest in developing therapeutics that target AMAR,” said O’Rourke, who is part of UVA’s Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center. “With age-related diseases currently being the major health burden for patients, their families and the healthcare system, targeting the process of aging itself would be most effective way to reduce this burden and increase the number of years of independent healthy living for all of us.”
Findings Published
The researchers have published their findings in the scientific journal Current Biology. The team consisted of Abbas Ghaddar, Vinod K. Mony, Swarup Mishra, Samuel Berhanu, James C. Johnson, Elisa Enriquez-Hesles, Emma Harrison, Aaroh Patel, Mary Kate Horak, Jeffrey S. Smith and O’Rourke. The researchers have no financial interests in the work.
The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, grants RO1GM075240, RO1GM127394 and DK087928, and National Research Service Award F30AG067760. Additional funders include the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Jeffress Trust, the W.M. Keck Foundation, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation and UVA’s Society of Fellows, Medical Scientist Training Program and a cell and molecular biology training grant.
To keep up with the latest medical research news from UVA, subscribe to the Making of Medicine blog at https://makingofmedicine.virginia.edu.
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Longevity
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Lower Body Temperature Supports Healthy Aging
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Researchers from the University of Cologne’s CECAD Cluster of Excellence in Aging Research have uncovered one of the mechanisms by which a lower body temperature increases life expectancy. The study is published in Nature Aging.
Lower temperature, longer lifespan
When exposed to extremely cold temperatures, the human body starts to lose heat faster than it’s produced – this is hypothermia, a condition that can be dangerous or even fatal. A moderate decrease in body temperature, however, can elicit positive health effects in organisms across the animal kingdom, particularly when it comes to aging.
Two cornerstone studies led by Walford and colleagues in the 1960s–1970s discovered that a 5 and 6 °C drop in body temperature increased the lifespan of Cynolebias, a short-lived fish, by 43 and 75%, respectively. In laboratory experiments, when the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is developed and aged at 15 °C – considered a “low” temperature – it outlives wild-type worms that are developed and aged at 25 °C, a “high” temperature. In humans, a 2019 study led by Professor Julie Parsonnet at Stanford University found that the average American’s body temperature has declined since the Industrial Revolution. As Parsonnet describes, in the 160 years that have passed since this period, individuals have “gotten taller, gotten fatter, they’ve gotten colder and they live longer.”
While various studies – conducted across many species – have demonstrated associations between lower body temperature and longevity, sometimes referred to as the “temperature law”, the molecular mechanisms underpinning the associations are yet to be deciphered.
The new study, led by Professor David Vilchez, principal investigator in the faculty of medicine at CECAD, proposes one possible mechanism behind the association, which centers around protein clearance.
Cold temperatures enhance protein clearance
Aging is considered a primary risk factor for neurological disorders characterized by pathological protein aggregation, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Vilchez and colleagues turned to C. elegans and human cell models of Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease to explore how body temperature impacts the effectiveness of proteasomes, protein complexes that degrade damaged or unrequired proteins via proteolysis. The research team focused specifically on the proteosome activator PA28γ/PSME3 in human cells, and its worm orthologue – PSME-3 – in C. elegans.
“We find that cold temperature (15 °C) selectively induces the trypsin-like activity of the proteasome in C. elegans through PSME-3,” the authors write. “Notably, exposure of human cells to moderate cold temperature (36 °C) also activates trypsin-like activity through PA28γ/PSME3, reducing disease-related protein aggregation and neurodegeneration.”
The data suggests that the cold temperatures increase proteosome activity, enabling the clearance of the harmful protein aggregations. “Taken together, these results show how over the course of evolution, cold has preserved its influence on proteasome regulation – with therapeutic implications for aging and aging-associated diseases,” says Vilchez.
Regardless of the temperature conditions, Vilchez and colleagues found that by genetically over-expressing the proteosome activator, the proteasome activity could be further boosted. This may provide novel therapeutic targets for aging and aging-associated diseases at the normal body temperature of 37 °C, the research team suggests. “We believe that these results may be applied to other age-related neurodegenerative diseases as well as to other animal species,” Vilchez concludes.
Reference: Lee HJ, Alirzayeva H, Koyuncu S, Rueber A, Noormohammadi A, Vilchez D. Cold temperature extends longevity and prevents disease-related protein aggregation through PA28γ-induced proteasomes. Nat Aging. 2023. doi:10.1038/s43587-023-00383-4.
This article is a rework of a press release issued by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Material has been edited for length and content.
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Longevity
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Diverse pathways to longevity in mammals uncovered
Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, have discovered gene expression signatures of longevity across 41 mammalian species and compared them with biomarkers of lifespan-extending interventions and mammalian aging. This work revealed distinct and universal molecular mechanisms of longevity and provided new ways to identify lifespan-extending interventions. Results are published in Cell.
"There are multiple mechanisms for longevity, some of which can be induced by simple interventions, while others have developed through evolution over millions of years," said first author Alexander Tyshkovskiy, Ph.D., of the Division of Genetics. "We believe that if we truly want to extend human lifespan, we should target molecular mechanisms that not only drive extended lifespan in short-lived mammals, like mice, but are also conserved in species with very long lives."
Mammals exhibit substantial variation in longevity across species, with large animals typically living longer. However, there are exceptions to this rule. Lifespan within species is also malleable. Dozens of interventions have been shown to extend the lifespan of mice, such as growth hormone receptor knockout, rapamycin, and calorie restriction.
However, intraspecies lifespan is usually negatively correlated with size. Smaller organisms of the same species tend to live longer, as demonstrated by higher average lifespan of small dog breeds and dwarf mice. This suggests that the mechanisms associated with longer lifespan can be different across and within species. However, to date, comprehensive comparison of various molecular features of longevity has been lacking.
"This study revealed the great diversity of mechanisms that control lifespan within and across species," said Vadim Gladyshev, Professor of Medicine, the corresponding author in this study, in whose lab at the Brigham this study was conducted. "It also provided new molecular tools for aging research and exposed the untapped potential for identifying new ways to extend lifespan and healthspan."
In this work, the researchers used high-throughput techniques to identify genes whose activity is associated with maximum lifespan of mammalian species in multiple organs, including liver, kidney and brain. Similar mechanisms of long-lived mammals were observed across tissues, such as upregulation of DNA repair and downregulation of insulin signaling and energy metabolism.
Comparison of these signatures with the effects induced by established lifespan-extending interventions in mice revealed that there are multiple distinct molecular strategies of lifespan regulation within and across species. For example, long-lived species like whales tend to exhibit "upregulation" or higher expression of genes involved in certain branches of the innate immune response, which may be an adaptive mechanism to decrease the amount of damaged or precancerous cells accumulating with age.
In contrast, established lifespan-extending interventions in mice tend to downregulate these genes, reducing chronic inflammation and its detrimental effect in old mice.
However, the researchers also found that certain molecular mechanisms were associated with increased longevity in both long-lived species and mice with extended lifespan. One such mechanism was the downregulation of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), a signaling molecule involved in cell growth, glucose, and lipid metabolism.
While activity of IGF-1 is well known to affect lifespan, the researchers were surprised to observe a consistent pattern across many organs and species. Similarly, they found longevity to be reliably associated with the upregulation of genes that control protein synthesis in mitochondria, organelles that produce energy to fuel various cellular processes.
To examine the interplay between molecular mechanisms of longevity and aging, the authors conducted a meta-analysis of 92 publicly available datasets corresponding to aging-associated gene expression profiles of three species, including mice, rats, and humans. Interestingly, age-related changes of gene expression turned out to be similar across different organs and species.
Besides, they were counteracted by lifespan-extending interventions, such as calorie restriction, rapamycin and certain genetic manipulations. However, surprisingly, features of long-lived mammals showed a positive correlation with aging signatures. This suggests that not all age-related changes in the organism are detrimental, which is further supported by the case of IGF-1, downregulated not only in long-lived mammals but also in aged animals.
These and other findings described in the article indicate that while some molecular mechanisms of longevity are universal for the naked mole rat and calorie restricted mice, others exhibit fundamental differences. The authors propose that molecular changes induced by simple lifespan-extending interventions in mice but not in long-lived mammalian species, such as the inhibition of certain innate immune response pathways, represent partially effective strategies that promote longevity by regulating the organism's response to damage already accumulated with age.
While reducing immune reactions may benefit aging organisms with developed chronic inflammation, an activated immune response in early life may provide additional advantages by slowing down the accumulation of damaged cells and delaying the onset of chronic inflammation. In contrast, common biomarkers of longevity, such as enhanced mitochondrial function and suppression of IGF-1 activity, likely reflect fundamental mechanisms that protect against the accumulation of primary age-related damage.
Supporting this hypothesis, compounds targeting inflammatory response successfully improved survival of cells from short-lived species like mice and rats but showed reduced efficacy in cells from long -lived species. On the other hand, compounds that affected insulin signaling and mitochondrial translation exhibited similar survival improvements for cells from both short-lived and long-lived species.
Finally, the researchers examined if the discovered longevity biomarkers can be practically applied to identify novel lifespan-extending interventions in mammals. In a pilot screen, they used publicly available database to find chemical compounds that induce gene expression changes associated with longevity in human cells. They also subjected mice to these compounds for 1 month, examining gene expression profiles of the drugs in mouse liver and kidney after this treatment.
The researchers selected one of the compounds, mTOR inhibitor KU0063794, that showed strong positive association with the signatures of longevity both across and within species, and treated old mice with this drug. The compound indeed extended remaining lifespan and improved physical activity of the animals. This indicates that molecular biomarkers of long-lived animals can streamline the process of identifying new longevity interventions. Currently, the researchers are testing other candidate compounds predicted with their screening platform.
"Molecular data can significantly facilitate the search for new medications and interventions that promote longevity," Tyshkovskiy said. "Conducting longevity studies for drugs require substantial investments of time and financial resources. Using molecular screening methods, we can save valuable time and funds, identifying promising candidates for further investigation."
More information: Alexander Tyshkovskiy et al, Distinct longevity mechanisms across and within species and their association with aging, Cell (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.05.002
Journal information: Cell
Provided by Brigham and Women’s Hospital
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Longevity
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Given today's ongoing high inflation, many Americans worry they may not have put away enough money for retirement. They fear that sharp increases in food and energy prices and transportation and medical care costs could significantly affect their retirement savings.Yet there's another important factor to consider: your life expectancy.A new report from the TIAA Institute and George Washington University reveals that more than half of American adults don't know how long people generally tend to live in retirement, which given their possible longevity could have them failing to save enough money to last as long as they themselves do. 'Longevity literacy' needed in retirement planningStudies have shown financial literacy among women consistently lags that of men, yet the report found the "longevity literacy" of women is greater than men, with 43% of women demonstrating strong longevity knowledge, compared to 32% of men. It's a "striking result," said George Washington University economist Annamaria Lusardi, director of the school's Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center. "We might actually need to provide help to women, because they are aware, for example, of the fact that they live long but they might not know about how to deal with their living long."More from Personal Finance:Here's the inflation breakdown for December 2022 — in one chartAmericans lean more on credit cards as expenses stay high3 key moves to make before the 2023 tax filing season opensIn consequence, greater education about retirement planning will be especially important for women, she said.On average, American men and women retire in their mid-60s. Yet many of them may not realize that at age 60, on average, men may live another 22 years and women could live 25 years longer, according to the Social Security Administration's calculations. To make your retirement money last, it is important to use a three-pronged approach, said Surya Kolluri, head of the TIAA Institute. "Some combination of Social Security, a guaranteed lifetime income [product], and then investments on top of that" might be a good way to hedge the risk of inflation and rocky financial markets, he said. Inflation adjustments up 401(k), IRA contribution limitsNatalia Gdovskaia | Moment | Getty ImagesInflation adjustments for 2023 have also increased the amount of money that you can save in retirement accounts. This year, you can put up to $22,500 in a traditional or Roth 401(k), plus a $7,500 "catch-up" contribution if you're 50 or older for a total of $30,000.You can also put up to $6,500 in a traditional or Roth IRA. With a $1,000 catch-up contribution, you could save a total of $7,500 if you're 50 or older. Here are the key ages in retirement planningAs you near retirement, or if you're already retired, there are key milestones to keep in mind for accumulating and withdrawing the money you'll need for your later years. Considering you may live into your mid-80s, here are some other important ages to keep in mind: At 50, you can add even more money to your retirement accounts.At age 59½, you can start to make withdrawal money in IRAs and 401(k) plans. If you take it out earlier, you'll likely pay a 10% tax penalty.Between 62 and 70, you can claim Social Security benefits — but if you start taking it at 62 you'll get 30% less than you would at your full retirement age (which varies depending on the year of your birth). On the other hand, you'll see an 8% annual increase in your benefit for every year after your full retirement age that you wait to claim your benefits, up to age 70.At age 65, you should apply for Medicare — or you may have to pay a penalty if you're not covered by another health plan.And, turning 73 has become a very important birthday. As of Jan. 1, a new law requires you to start making withdrawals — or taking "required minimum distributions" from IRAs and 401(k)s — by April 1 after the year you reach age 73. The age for taking RMDs will increase to 75 in 2033.SIGN UP NOW for Money 101, an eight-week learning course to financial freedom, delivered weekly to your inbox. For the Spanish version, Dinero 101, click here.
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Longevity
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PFAS foam gathers at the Van Etten Creek dam in Oscoda Township, Mich., near Wurtsmith Air Force Base, on June 7, 2018. Photo: Jake May/The Flint Journal (AP)Researchers have determined that the country is dotted with tens of thousands of locations that may be contaminated by PFAS, which are per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances—aka forever chemicals that do not disintegrate over time in nature or in the human body. Now, they’re mapping those sites to help regulators better direct resources toward cleanup efforts.OffEnglishA new study published today in Environmental Science & Technology Letters estimates that there are over 50,000 PFAS-contaminated sites throughout the United States. The researchers argued that in the absence of testing data, they can presume contamination based on three categories of facilities that are very likely to be contaminated with PFAS chemicals.“What we’re arguing is, if you don’t have high quality data you should approach these sites assuming that there is PFAS contamination,” Alissa Cordner, Associate Professor of Sociology at Whitman College and a senior author of the study, told Earther.The team looked at publicly available data on industrial facilities, locations where firefighting foams have been used, and sites related to PFAS-containing waste. They identified 57,412 sites of presumptive PFAS contamination throughout the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This included 4,255 wastewater treatment plants, 3,493 current or former military sites, 49,145 industrial facilities, and 519 major airports.“While it sounds scary that there are over 57,000 presumptive contamination sites, this is almost certainly a large underestimation,” said Phil Brown, director of Northeastern University’s Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute and co-author on the paper, in a statement. “The scope of PFAS contamination is immense, and communities impacted by this contamination deserve swift regulatory action that stops ongoing and future uses of PFAS while cleaning up already existing contamination.”Despite the growing alarm and awareness of the chemicals, it’s difficult to understand the scale of PFAS contamination in the country. Cordner explained that one main motivation for the study is how little federal data there is on PFAS contamination. It is expensive to test for PFAS contamination, so smaller government agencies or local and state organizations may not always have the funds to do a thorough analysis. But a map of specific locations that are likely contaminated can give agencies a way to approach testing in a more targeted and efficient manner. PFAS is a growing concern in America. They’re a group of over 12,000 chemicals that are widely used in both consumer and industrial products. They’re also in plastics and in cosmetics—especially in items like waterproof mascara. The chemicals are also found in fracking sites. These chemicals persist in the environment and in human bodies and do not break down over time. Researchers have linked the exposure of these chemicals to cancer, infertility, and even liver health issues. The chemicals can contaminate the air and soil, and travel via water. The researchers compiled the data into an interactive map that shows tens of thousands of dots all over the U.S. that represent the presumptive contamination sites. Many are especially clustered around major cities like Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Boston.A map of presumptive PFAS contamination sites in the U.S. Screenshot: PFAS ExchangeDespite the growing concern, there is little regulation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed water health advisories for four PFAS, including updating advisories for PFOA and PFOS at “near zero” levels. 19 states have placed some limits on PFAS levels in drinking water, but there is still no federal limit.Cordner hopes that this data will push policymakers and different environmental agencies to create more PFAS regulations and boost public awareness of these chemicals. “We also think the model can be useful to folks who maybe aren’t regulators or researchers, but are concerned about PFAS contamination in their communities,” she said. “[The map] can help them identify likely sources near them, and then they can ask questions about what those companies are doing.”
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Environmental Science
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Okinawa's ants show reduced seasonal behavior in areas with more human development
Insects have an important role in maintaining the health of ecosystems, but our understanding of how human activities affect their populations is limited. This gap in knowledge is worrying because of the decline of insect populations and the severe consequences on ecosystems and agriculture.
Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), working with collaborators in Ireland, have led a project to understand how land-cover changes affect the seasonal behavior of ant communities in Okinawa.
After collecting and identifying a whopping 1.2 million ants in different environments across Okinawa Island, they found that ant communities in areas with more human development lose their natural seasonal behavior and are more unpredictable when compared to sites with greater forest cover. Their results have been published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
In natural environments, especially those with very distinct seasons, insects in general are more active in spring and summer, and less active in winter. This pattern repeats every year. However, this study shows how changes to land cover by humans can disrupt these patterns, which are linked to important ecosystem services that people depend on.
Every two weeks, worker ants were collected from traps across 24 sites in the Okinawa Environmental Observation Network (OKEON), managed by the Environmental Science and Informatics Section at OIST. Researchers identified the different ant species and counted how many of each they found. Using these data, they calculated how much ant communities were varying over time, and they modeled relationships with land cover characterized by site using remote sensing imagery. After finding that communities were changing less over time for developed areas than forested ones, they delved deeper and found that the seasonality of these communities in particular was diminished.
"In forest areas, these natural seasonal cycles are preserved; however, in areas with more human development activities, these patterns become disrupted and degraded," Prof. Evan Economo, head of OIST's Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, explained. "This results in a certain unpredictability regarding which species are active and a reduction in the natural cycles observed throughout the year."
The seasonal patterns of insect communities are linked to the important roles they play in the ecosystem, including decomposition, nutrient cycling, water purification, and seed dispersal. Ants hold a key position because of their large numbers and the multiple functions they perform.
For Prof. Jamie Kass, a former OIST researcher who is now at Tohoku University, understanding how insect behavior changes over time is key. "If we only record their activities a few times a year, we risk missing important seasonal changes. Most studies do not consider this aspect, which makes our research unique. We show that human activities may be disrupting the normal seasonal behavior of insect communities, and this is an important but underexplored result of serious environmental changes worldwide."
More information: Jamie M. Kass et al, Breakdown in seasonal dynamics of subtropical ant communities with land-cover change, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1185
Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Provided by Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
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Environmental Science
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Researchers at the University of Notre Dame are adding to their list of consumer products that contain PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a toxic class of fluorine compounds known as “forever chemicals.”
In a new study published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, fluorinated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic containers — used for household cleaners, pesticides, personal care products and, potentially, food packaging — tested positive for PFAS. Following a report conducted by the EPA that demonstrated this type of container contributed high levels of PFAS to a pesticide, this research demonstrates the first measurement of the ability of PFAS to leach from the containers into food as well as the effect of temperature on the leaching process.
Results also showed the PFAS were capable of migrating from the fluorinated containers into food, resulting in a direct route of significant exposure to the hazardous chemicals, which have been linked to several health issues including prostate, kidney and testicular cancers, low birth weight, immunotoxicity and thyroid disease.
“Not only did we measure significant concentrations of PFAS in these containers, we can estimate the PFAS that were leaching off creating a direct path of exposure,” said Graham Peaslee, professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Notre Dame and an author of the study.
It’s important to note that these types of containers are not intended for food storage, but there is nothing preventing them from being used for food storage at the moment. Although not all HDPE plastic is fluorinated, the researchers noted, it’s often impossible for a consumer to know whether a container has had that treatment. And indeed, Peaslee added, if substances like pesticides are stored in these containers, and then are used on agricultural crops, these same PFAS will get into human food sources that way.
In 2021 the EPA announced its PFAS Strategic Roadmap — promising to act on widespread exposure to PFAS. The plan includes developing a more comprehensive understanding of the health and environmental effects of PFAS exposure, preventing further contamination of air, land and water and addressing the need for cleanup of PFAS already in the environment.
PFAS is often used in association with stain- or water-resistant products. For the study, Peaslee and graduate student Heather Whitehead tested HDPE containers that were treated with fluorine to create a thin layer of a fluoropolymer, as a means to impart chemical resistance and improve container performance over long storage periods. While these materials generally stay in the container wall, the manufacturing process can generate lots of smaller PFAS molecules, which are not polymers. Experiments were designed to measure the ability of these chemicals to migrate from the container to samples of different foods and solvents.
Analysis of the containers found parts-per-billion levels of PFAS that could migrate into both solvents and food matrices in as little as one week.
“We measured concentrations of PFOA that significantly exceeded the limit set by the EPA’s 2022 Health Advisory Limits,” said Peaslee. “Now, consider that not only do we know that the chemicals are migrating into the substances stored in them, but that the containers themselves work their way back into the environment through landfills. PFAS doesn’t biodegrade. It doesn’t go away. Once these chemicals are used, they get into the groundwater, they get into our biological systems, and they cause significant health problems.”
Peaslee and Whitehead measured PFAS concentrations in olive oil, ketchup and mayonnaise that had been in contact with the fluorinated containers for seven days at various temperatures. Based on the amount found in the different food samples, the study estimates enough PFAS could be ingested through food stored in the containers to be a significant risk of exposure.
Contact: Jessica Sieff, assistant director of media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu
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Environmental Science
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Laboratories for chemistry, physics and biology, are usually contained in science classrooms at most schools, but finding an on-campus lab was a challenge for Waukegan High School environmental science teacher Kate Krischke-Grobart.Taking her classes on field trips to observe environmental impacts was one way Krischke-Grobart gave her students hands-on experience. Then she found a spot on the Washington campus about the size of half a soccer field, which was used to deposit snow cleared from parking lots.That space will become the school’s outdoor classroom, and be used for more than environmental science classes.“It’s also compatible with literature and history,” Krischke-Grobart said. “It’s a space to give the kids experiential exposure in environmental science.”The outdoor classroom and other innovations Krischke-Grobart uses with her students helped her become one of 14 teachers nationwide to earn the Presidential Innovation Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.One reason Krischke-Grobart earned the award was her effort to create a multidisciplinary facet to teaching environmental issues, according to information provided by the EPA. She used field trips to teach students about a variety of things which impact the environment.Krischke-Grobart “demonstrated leadership by integrating environmental education into multiple subjects and using topics like climate change, waste management, water quality, wildlife conservation, STEM education and school gardens,” the EPA said in a news release.Though she learned she won by reading an email in May while her students were taking a final exam, she said she could not let people know until the official announcement was made by the EPA on July 7. She almost gave it way.“At first it was surreal. I couldn’t believe I won,” Krischke-Grobart said. “I literally jumped for joy in the classroom. I told them I got some amazing news, but did not tell them what it was.”Along with the award itself, Krischke-Grobart and the other winners will be honored at a ceremony Aug. 4 in Washington. She said she will be making a sightseeing trip out of the occasion with her husband and two children. She gets to take one person to the presentation.“I’m bringing my (7-year-old) daughter,” Krischke-Grobart said. “I want her to see her mom and a woman can win an award like this. My husband suggested I bring her. It’s going to be very exciting.”Dan Hill, the high school’s co-principal who oversees the Washington campus, said a Presidential Award winner is a first for any teacher he has overseen in his eight years as a principal. He was impressed with Krischke-Grobart’s approach to making the outdoor classroom a reality.“She did it all on her own,” Hill said. “She started working with outside agencies, and teachers of other subjects. She worked with teachers of literature and history. She takes students out in the field on field trips to experience the environment. That’s leadership.”As she planned the outdoor classroom, Krischke-Grobart said she approached a language arts teacher. One of the things studied in American literature is the work of Henry David Thoreau, who is well-known for writing about nature. Going there is a natural for those students, too.Local history has its environmental impact. Krischke-Grobart said she teaches how pollution from Waukegan’s early factories built around a century ago were responsible for the city’s five EPA Superfund sites. Teaching about the coal ash ponds at the now closed NRG coal fired power plant makes it relevant for civics classes.When done, Krischke-Grobart said the outdoor classroom will have a rain garden, a hydro pond to test water quality, lab tables to conduct experiments, boulders and rocks to study geology and more. It is unique among the sciences.“We’re looking at things which have been going on for thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions of years,” Krischke-Grobart said. “You can’t take a field trip to a savanna every day.”
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Environmental Science
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Recreational fishermen could be 'untapped allies' in the fight against climate change, research says
Nature lovers tend to be categorized as either "appreciative" or "extractive." The first group includes people like hikers and bird watchers, while the second includes hunters, fishermen and fisherwomen.
A recent study by Northeastern marine biologists says there's an overlap between the two groups that could be the start of a new conversation about protecting the environment—and combating climate change.
The paper, published in Sustainability, looks at the pro-environmental behaviors and attitudes of three groups of people: citizen scientists who count rather than catch fish, recreational fishermen and people who fell into neither group.
It's one of the first times scientists have studied the environmental attitudes of recreational rather than commercial fishermen, lead author Marissa Varade says.
She says citizen scientist fish counters exhibited higher levels of pro-environmental behaviors than either recreational fishermen or individuals who were neither fishermen nor citizen scientists.
But the paper also showed that fishermen who invested more heavily in their sport—in terms of gear and time—exhibited greater pro-environmental behaviors than less specialized fishermen and non-fishers.
"There are lots of different factors that motivate people to have pro-environmental attitudes," says Brian Helmuth, Northeastern professor of marine and environmental science at the Marine Science Center and Center for Coastal Sustainability in Nahant.
"If we only look at this through the lens of an academic, we're going to miss a lot of the reasons why people care about nature," says Helmuth, who also contributed to the study.
"There are all sorts of potential allies out there in finding solutions to climate change. Recreational fishers are one of those that's still largely untapped."
Reframing climate change
The study surveyed self-reported behaviors and attitudes among 400 people in Massachusetts, says Varade, who did the research as a graduate student and currently works for Northeastern's Three Seas program.
The paper also examined the participants' attitudes toward climate change, which the researchers say "is likely to make certain offshore species more difficult, expensive and dangerous to catch" as fish populations move offshore and into deeper waters.
Citizen scientists showed the most concern about climate change, researchers say.
But respondents "overall" showed more concern for the category "environment" than "climate change," according to the study.
"Overall, the environment was a bigger concern for everyone than climate change," Varade says. "Climate change can be a really polarizing word and concept."
The researchers say that framing the conversation as a discussion about healthy ecosystems "may be more effective with some stakeholders than those focused solely on climate change."
"This really shows the importance of starting conversations with where people are—not starting from your own assumptions, or the academic view," Helmuth says, adding, "Can you develop solutions that incorporate what people care about?"
Meet people where they are
The study shows the importance of "meeting people where they are as opposed to forcing one dialogue on everyone," Varade says.
She says citizen scientists fish monitors count fish at places including herring runs.
But recreational fishermen also contribute to citizen science by reporting their catch on smartphones, which helps fisheries management assess population numbers and health.
The more "highly specialized" fishermen are more likely to participate in these behaviors than less serious fishers, Varade says.
Specialized fishermen "dedicate a lot of time, money and effort into participating on a regular basis," Varade says. They invest in gear, spend more time on the water and subscribe to fishing magazines.
People who spend time outdoors feel a special connection to the environment, Varade says.
She says the study "reemphasized research that has previously shown that increased participation in these types of nature based activities can be a really important way to build pro environmental behaviors and climate concerns among participants."
More information: Marissa L. Varade et al, Catching versus Counting: Comparing the Pro-Environmental Attitudes, Behaviors, and Climate Concerns of Recreational Fishers and Citizen Scientists, Sustainability (2022). DOI: 10.3390/su15010307
Provided by Northeastern University
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Environmental Science
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Researcher develops new methods to measure 'forever chemicals' in both the atmosphere and in aerosol particles
From regulators to researchers and most industries in between, all eyes are on PFAS. PFAS, per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of highly fluorinated human-made compounds that have been used for decades in everything from nonstick cookware and personal care products to fire-fighting foams and school uniforms. Their commonality and extreme resistance to environmental degradation has made them ubiquitous in ground water, soil, and worst of all humans. Linked to a slew of health risks including liver toxicity, bladder cancer, and decreased immune response to vaccinations, exposure to PFAS is concerning. So, how can we eliminate these "forever chemicals?"
Historically, PFAS substances have only been characterized in water and soil, but the emission of these compounds during chemical manufacturing, use, and disposal results in their emission into the air. Ryan Sullivan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, has been developing new methods to measure PFAS in both the atmosphere and in aerosol particles to answer outstanding questions regarding PFAS atmospheric components that lead to human exposure. His group is also developing new approaches to destroy forever molecules that are not removed by conventional water treatment plants.
The research is published in the journal Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts.
"In remediation, our end goal is what we call full mineralization, where all fluorine is removed from the molecule. Historically, researchers have had some success with mineralization, but there has always been a percentage of the fluorine unaccounted for. Sometimes researchers get stuck at partially fluorinated products that are still PFAS. Our work uses a non-targeted approach so that we can better quantify these missing molecules and figure out just how close we are to full PFAS remediation."
One promising technology for PFAS remediation is reduction via hydrated electrons. The process involves shining a UV light on salt water to break electrons away from the sulfite salt. Fluorine molecules are highly electron hungry so when the dissolved electron joins its bond, the very stable carbon-fluorine can finally be broken, releasing a harmless fluoride ion.
By using a non-targeted analysis during this process, Sullivan's group identified novel PFAS molecules that had not previously been found during UV/sulfite reduction treatment.
"By having a complete understanding of this complex chemistry, we can optimize the engineered treatment conditions, fill holes in the known chemical mechanisms, and push closer to achieving full mineralization."
In order to better understand these contaminants, Sullivan has also developed a way to measure PFAS directly in the gas phase, and in aerosol particles. This avoids the existing need to collect large samples of air first before extracting PFAS prior to analysis.
"If the government were to issue regulations around PFAS emissions from manufacturing plants it will be crucial to measure their concentration going into the atmosphere to determine if they are compliant with the allowed emissions," he explained.
Moving forward, Sullivan's team will explore the chemistry and transport of PFAS in aerosols suspended in the atmosphere.
More information: Bailey B. Bowers et al, Nontarget analysis and fluorine atom balances of transformation products from UV/sulfite degradation of perfluoroalkyl contaminants, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts (2023). DOI: 10.1039/D2EM00425A
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Environmental Science
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Want a FREE PDF version of This News Story? Complete the form below and we will email you a PDF version of "“Forever” Chemicals Found in School Uniforms" Company Type* Job Function* Would you like to receive further email communication from Technology Networks? Technology Networks Ltd. needs the contact information you provide to us to contact you about our products and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For information on how to unsubscribe, as well as our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy, check out our Privacy Policy A new study has found that schoolchildren across the United States and Canada could be exposed to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – “forever” chemicals – via their school uniforms. The research, led by the Green Science Policy Institute is published in Environmental Science and Technology.The PFAS problem PFAS chemicals – sometimes referred to as “forever” chemicals – have received increased research attention over recent decades due to their potential adverse effects on health and the environment. “PFAS are industrial chemicals that contain multiple bonds between carbon and fluorine atoms,” says Dr. Arlene Blum, executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute. “The strong carbon-fluorine bonds give PFAS useful chemical properties for making products oil-, stain-, and water-repellent or non-stick. But these bonds also make them extremely persistent—they never break down in the environment.”“Some PFAS have been associated [with] diverse health harms, including cancer, obesity, fertility problems and pregnancy complications. They’ve also recently been linked to more severe COVID-19 outcomes,” adds Blum.Alongside her colleagues at the Green Science Policy Institute, Blum is working tirelessly to conduct and communicate peer-reviewed research about chemicals of concern, including PFAS. Part of this work includes identifying where these chemicals can be found in consumer products. Last year, the institute published the first study exploring total fluorine or PFAS in cosmetics across the United States and Canada.In its latest publication, the institute has turned its attention to school uniforms.PFAS detected in all stain-resistant school uniforms The research group tested nine different school uniform brands in their study. “We can screen products for total fluorine using particle-induced γ-ray emission (PIGE) spectroscopy. This gives you the surface concentrations of both PFAS, which contains fluorine bonded to carbon, and inorganic fluoride salt. Inorganic fluoride is not usually found in textiles,” explains Blum. Additional methods, such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) can also be used to perform analyses.Blum and colleagues detected PFAS in all the school uniforms classed as “stain-resistant” from the nine brands that were tested, with most products having concentrations of PFAS that matched the levels identified in outdoor clothing.A variety of different PFAS chemicals exist, of which some have been studied more than others. In this particular project, the researchers found fluorotelomer alcohols to be the most predominant type of PFAS in the school uniforms. “Fluorotelomer alcohols can biodegrade PFOA, PFNA and other perfluorinated carboxylic acids that are known to be harmful,” says Blum. “Although textiles are usually treated with large molecules called polymers which are not very bioavailable, they may also contain two to five percent unreacted smaller PFAS molecules, residuals and other impurities which are readily available for uptake and also very mobile in the environment.”Why is PFAS in school uniforms?Why are school uniforms being treated with such chemicals? Blum suggests its likely due to marketing, as companies can declare their brand as “stain-resistant”. However, it’s likely to have “limited effectiveness in practice” according to Blum.The Green Science Policy Institute has chosen to not name the brands that are included in their analyses of consumer products. “As scientists, we do not name the brands we tested, which are a random sample of a much larger market. Plus, our results suggest that “stain-resistant” uniforms from all brands likely contain PFAS – not just from the brands we tested,” Blum says of this decision.Reducing PFAS exposure Parents may ask how they can keep their child protected from PFAS chemicals. Blum says that concerned parents should check their children’s school unforms in search of a “stain-resistant” label. “If there is one, they should ask school administrators to update their uniform policies and when purchasing new uniforms, specify PFAS-free uniform options. For already-purchased uniforms, multiple washes should reduce the amount of potentially harmful small PFAS left over from manufacturing and processing,” she advises. Used uniforms, perhaps handed down, could be a better option for children than purchasing brand new “stain-resistant” clothing. The findings from this study are published as a new legislation aiming to phase out PFAS use in textiles progresses in New York and California. But are we currently doing enough to prevent or limit PFAS exposure?“We need to stop using the whole class of PFAS in products where they aren’t essential. Bills that phase out all PFAS in non-essential product categories (like textiles) are a good approach,” says Blum. She adds that manufacturers should not wait for mandates to stop the unnecessary use of PFAS chemicals. “To protect public health and their workers, they should stop unessential uses of PFAS in products and look for alternatives for essential uses,” she adds.The Green Science Policy is contacting manufacturers to advise them on how and why they could stop the use of all PFAS in school uniforms, outdoor clothing and other products. For more information on PFAS chemicals – and to learn how you can reduce your exposure – you can watch the following video produced by the Green Science Policy institute:Dr. Arlene Blum was speaking to Molly Campbell, Senior Science Writer for Technology Networks.Reference: Xia C, Diamond M, Peaslee G et al. Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances in North American school uniforms. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2022. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c02111.
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Environmental Science
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On climate change adaptation, consult the original experts: Indigenous people
This spring, the Northeast and Midwest saw record-breaking heat. California’s recently ended drought was the worst in over 1,200 years. And temperatures topped 110° during the Pacific Northwest’s now infamous 2021 heat dome, with over 250 heat-related deaths documented.
As climate change advances, drought and extreme heat plague vast areas of the country. While the Biden administration has taken important steps to address climate change, a key group has been left out of the conversation: Indigenous people.
The original Americans — particularly those of us from the desert southwest — have a millennium’s worth of knowledge to offer on heat and drought mitigation practices, as well as lessons on overall sustainability. The administration should seek to establish a formalized relationship between the National Climate Task Force and Indigenous Nations of America.
My people (Yaqui/Hiaki/Yoeme) historically roamed the area between northern California and the Mexican Yucatan. However, most of our population is concentrated in the Sonoran Desert regions of Arizona and Mexico. This is an ecosystem that we and other groups managed to sustainably cultivate for thousands of years, despite annual rainfall often not exceeding 12 inches.
I was born and raised on tribal lands. My youth was steeped in teachings from community leaders and elders about connectedness and stewardship of the desert we call home. And while many of these teachings took me years to fully understand, I quickly learned to value water as sacred and finite — an easy task when days in triple-digit temperatures outnumber days of rain.
Today, having lived away from my tribal community for more than a decade to train as a scientist and physician and studying environmental science, I have noted major knowledge gaps in the contemporary teaching of climate science. Indigenous knowledge could lend critical insight and perspectives on sustainability. In fact, the value brought to the table by the peoples who first cultivated and adapted to the Americas cannot be overstated.
In the southern Arizona deserts, where the intensity of direct sun prevents many plants from flourishing, Indigenous farmers adapted by planting crops in areas shaded by mesquite trees. The Zuni peoples of New Mexico, like many other tribes throughout the southwest, mastered the construction of adobe homes that stayed warm in winter and cool in summer.
The Tohono O’odham mitigated heat and water waste by using passive rainwater irrigation and selecting environmentally appropriate crops. This included desert-adapted vegetables such as the tepary bean, a high-protein legume suited to the desert, thanks to leaves that fold to withstand direct sunlight.
The Haudenosaunee people’s agricultural innovation of planting corn, beans, and squash within the same plot, meticulously timed and ordered, created optimal conditions for the staples known as the “Three Sisters.” Corn is planted first to provide shade and structure, followed by squash, whose large leaves further shade the ground, retain soil moisture, and prevent weed formation. Finally, beans are planted to provide nitrogen, fertilize the soil, and stabilize the plot structure by growing along the corn stalks. Completing the regenerative cycle, certain crops are allowed to die and return to the soil to replenish nitrogen stores and serve future generations. In addition to optimizing farm space, this method also conserves water.
These time-honored practices could inform climate adaptation today. And, by acting quickly, we can fulfill the promise of Debra Haaland’s historic appointment as Secretary of the Interior. Like many, I hoped that her status and personal connection would manifest more direct collaboration with Indigenous groups, but that has yet to materialize.
One step in the right direction would be to allow Haaland to broker formalized collaboration between the National Climate Task Force and tribal nations such as her own Laguna Pueblo peoples. Collaboration with the National Council of American Indians, which has a committee dedicated to climate change, would be another way to bring the perspectives and voices of Native people to the national stage.
Failure to include Indigenous perspectives in climate action risks further silencing of Native American voices, a history we should not repeat. We should act now, while we still have the time, support, and people in place to do so.
Marcos A. Moreno M.D. is a resident physician in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University. An enrolled Member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe from the Pascua Yaqui Reservation in Southern Arizona, Moreno is also a Climate Health Equity Fellow with the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Environmental Science
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Half a century ago, the first genetically modified organism ushered in a new era of biological innovation. To mark this anniversary, here are eight milestone GMOs. Many have had, or are poised to have, a dramatic impact on our lives.
1. Escherichia coli
In November 1973, geneticist Stanley Cohen and colleagues reported that they had built a plasmid, a ring of DNA, that carried a gene from another organism into an E. coli cell — the birth of genetic engineering (SN: 6/1/74). The team later showed that such modified cells could produce the protein associated with a foreign gene. E. coli has since been modified to mass-produce therapeutic drugs, break down plastics and more. “The most important GMO is the microbes that are used to make insulin,” says geneticist Matthew Cobb of the University of Manchester in England. In 1978, facing problems with insulin derived from pigs and cows, scientists engineered E. coli to make human insulin for treating diabetes (SN: 9/16/78). The lifesaving drug hit the market in 1982 (SN: 10/9/82).
2. Transgenic mice
Mouse models are a go-to for scientists who want to study human disease in a controlled way in the lab. In 1974, biologists Rudolf Jaenisch and Beatrice Mintz laid the groundwork for these models by injecting DNA from simian virus into mouse embryos, which were later born with viral DNA in their genomes. In papers published in 1980 and 1981, a team led by biologists Jon Gordon and Frank Ruddle incorporated viral DNA into mouse genomes so that it was passed on to subsequent generations (SN: 9/13/80). The star rodents were called “transgenic” mice. Since then, transgenic and knockout mice, where a single gene is broken or removed, have been developed to mimic and study human diseases from Alzheimer’s to alcoholism to depression and cancer.
3. Bt tobacco and more
In 1987, geneticist Mark Vaeck and colleagues reported that they had genetically engineered tobacco to produce Bt toxins. These toxins, made by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, affect only certain insects, including several common agricultural pests. Pesticides derived from the toxins take time and money to spray, but the new tobacco plant had built-in protection. Estimates suggest that more than 1 billion hectares of Bt crops — corn, cotton, soybeans and more — have been grown since, with no known safety issues for consumers. These crops have improved yields while reducing the need for pesticides. They “are grown on massive scales, in many countries around the world,” says Emma Kovak, a food and agriculture analyst at the Breakthrough Institute, an environmental think tank in Berkeley, Calif. “They’ve had a massive impact.”
4. Flavr Savr tomato
The impact of the Flavr Savr tomato, introduced in 1994, is largely symbolic (SN: 5/28/94). Its genome was modified to block the production of an enzyme responsible for fruit softening, thus keeping the fruit firm longer. High production and distribution costs ultimately doomed the Flavr Savr, but it was the first genetically engineered crop to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and to be commercially sold. GM crops have boomed since the Flavr Savr flopped. In 2019, more than 190 million hectares were planted with GM crops. Such crops include potatoes, squash, sugar beets, papayas and corn.
Some people also trace a rise in GMO opposition back to the Flavr Savr tomato, Kovak says. The tomato went through intense safety tests, but people opposed to GMO foods more generally, then and now, point to potential health and environmental risks.
5. Biofortified rice
More than 2 billion people worldwide face micronutrient deficiencies. Traditional breeding and genetic engineering can amp up those nutrients, and rice has been an obvious target. “More than half of the world’s population, including many of those living in poverty, rely on rice for most of their daily calories,” says B.P. Mallikarjuna Swamy, a rice biofortification researcher at the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, Philippines.
Golden rice, developed in the late 1990s by a team led by biologists Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer, contains genes from a daffodil and a soil bacterium that enable it to produce a precursor to vitamin A. Food safety regulators have approved it in the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and it was recently approved for commercial use in the Philippines. Despite its promise, though, golden rice has not yet seen widespread adoption due to regulatory hurdles and GMO opposition.
6. AquAdvantage salmon
The FDA approved AquAdvantage salmon for human consumption in 2015 — making the salmon the first GMO animal to be OK’d as human food in the United States. Canada followed in 2016. With a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon, AquAdvantage salmon reach full size in half the time of traditional farm-raised Atlantic salmon. Fast-growing farmed salmon could have widespread appeal, but there are concerns that if the engineered salmon escape, they could push out wild salmon. For now, AquAdvantage salmon are only trickling into the U.S. supply chain.
7. American chestnut
Some researchers are turning to GMOs for conservation. The American chestnut, which once dominated the eastern seaboard, offers an early example of what such efforts might look like. These “redwoods of the East” were severely reduced by the mid-1900s by a parasitic fungus introduced from imported trees. Historical efforts to develop a blight-resistant chestnut using traditional breeding haven’t panned out, but the Darling chestnut might be the answer. This genetically engineered tree is more resistant to the fungal blight disease thanks to a wheat gene that breaks down the harmful chemical the pathogen produces. The tree has been under review by regulatory agencies since January 2020. After approval, the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse plans to start distributing it to restoration programs and the public.
8. Mosquitoes
Genetically modifying animals that spread disease, including mosquitoes, could save a lot of lives; malaria alone kills hundreds of thousands of people each year. “We’re already using genetically modified mosquitoes for disease control,” says biologist Vanessa Macias of the University of North Texas in Denton. Tests in 2021 in Florida, for example, released male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes genetically engineered so female offspring die before adulthood (SN: 5/14/21). The goal? Reduce the population of insects that spread the Zika and dengue viruses. Modified mosquitoes have also been released in Brazil, the Cayman Islands, Panama and India.
Other research teams are adding genes that make mosquitoes resistant to a pathogen, says Macias, thereby preventing disease spread. And advances in gene editing mean it’s now possible to use what are known as gene drives to spread genetic modifications through entire populations (SN: 12/2/15). Yet open questions remain, including whether it is ethical or wise to transform entire animal populations (SN: 6/3/22). “We’re talking about unknown unknowns,” Macias says.
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Environmental Science
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Open AccessArticle by 1,2,*, 1,2, 1,2, 1,2, 1,2, 1,3, 1,2, 1,2, 4, 3, 5, 6,7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 8, 16, 17,18,19, 20,21,22, 23, 24,25, 26,27, 28,29, 20,30,31, 32, 3, 24, 33 and 34add
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Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Poole BH12 5BB, UK 2
Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Poole BH12 5BB, UK 3
Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Poole BH12 5BB, UK 4
Department of Archaeology and Art History, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea 5
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32603, USA 6
Department of Environment and Society, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA 7
The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA 8
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK 9
School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton, University Road, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK 10
Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, MAS/TPM, 2600 AA Delft, The Netherlands *
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Academic Editors: Andrea Zerboni, Francesco Carrer, Filippo Brandolini and Guido S. Mariani Received: 20 July 2022
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Revised: 10 August 2022
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Accepted: 12 August 2022
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Published: 17 August 2022 Human beings are an active component of every terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. Although our local impact on the evolution of these ecosystems has been undeniable and extensively documented, it remains unclear precisely how our activities are altering them, in part because ecosystems are dynamic systems structured by complex, non-linear feedback processes and cascading effects. We argue that it is only by studying human–environment interactions over timescales that greatly exceed the lifespan of any individual human (i.e., the deep past or longue durée), we can hope to fully understand such processes and their implications. In this article, we identify some of the key challenges faced in integrating long-term datasets with those of other areas of sustainability science, and suggest some useful ways forward. Specifically, we (a) highlight the potential of the historical sciences for sustainability science, (b) stress the need to integrate theoretical frameworks wherein humans are seen as inherently entangled with the environment, and (c) propose formal computational modelling as the ideal platform to overcome the challenges of transdisciplinary work across large, and multiple, geographical and temporal scales. Our goal is to provide a manifesto for an integrated scientific approach to the study of socio-ecological systems over the long term.
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Show Figures This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Share and Cite MDPI and ACS Style Silva, F.; Coward, F.; Davies, K.; Elliott, S.; Jenkins, E.; Newton, A.C.; Riris, P.; Vander Linden, M.; Bates, J.; Cantarello, E.; Contreras, D.A.; Crabtree, S.A.; Crema, E.R.; Edwards, M.; Filatova, T.; Fitzhugh, B.; Fluck, H.; Freeman, J.; Klein Goldewijk, K.; Krzyzanska, M.; Lawrence, D.; Mackay, H.; Madella, M.; Maezumi, S.Y.; Marchant, R.; Monsarrat, S.; Morrison, K.D.; Rabett, R.; Roberts, P.; Saqalli, M.; Stafford, R.; Svenning, J.-C.; Whithouse, N.J.; Williams, A. Developing Transdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainability Challenges: The Need to Model Socio-Environmental Systems in the Longue Durée. Sustainability 2022, 14, 10234.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610234 AMA Style
Silva F, Coward F, Davies K, Elliott S, Jenkins E, Newton AC, Riris P, Vander Linden M, Bates J, Cantarello E, Contreras DA, Crabtree SA, Crema ER, Edwards M, Filatova T, Fitzhugh B, Fluck H, Freeman J, Klein Goldewijk K, Krzyzanska M, Lawrence D, Mackay H, Madella M, Maezumi SY, Marchant R, Monsarrat S, Morrison KD, Rabett R, Roberts P, Saqalli M, Stafford R, Svenning J-C, Whithouse NJ, Williams A. Developing Transdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainability Challenges: The Need to Model Socio-Environmental Systems in the Longue Durée. Sustainability. 2022; 14(16):10234.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610234 Chicago/Turabian Style
Silva, Fabio, Fiona Coward, Kimberley Davies, Sarah Elliott, Emma Jenkins, Adrian C. Newton, Philip Riris, Marc Vander Linden, Jennifer Bates, Elena Cantarello, Daniel A. Contreras, Stefani A. Crabtree, Enrico R. Crema, Mary Edwards, Tatiana Filatova, Ben Fitzhugh, Hannah Fluck, Jacob Freeman, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Marta Krzyzanska, Daniel Lawrence, Helen Mackay, Marco Madella, Shira Yoshi Maezumi, Rob Marchant, Sophie Monsarrat, Kathleen D. Morrison, Ryan Rabett, Patrick Roberts, Mehdi Saqalli, Rick Stafford, Jens-Christian Svenning, Nicki J. Whithouse, and Alice Williams. 2022. "Developing Transdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainability Challenges: The Need to Model Socio-Environmental Systems in the Longue Durée" Sustainability 14, no. 16: 10234.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610234 Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here. Article Metrics Article Access Map by Country/Region
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Environmental Science
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Exotic tree species in the forest mean loss of grazing land for reindeer
Semi-domesticated reindeer avoid winter habitats with exotic lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), introduced from Northern America. Reduced food supply and dense stands probably contribute to the reindeers' avoidance behavior of areas with tall P. contorta-trees. This is reported by researchers from Umeå University and the Swedish University of Agriculture, SLU in the journal Forest Ecology and Management.
P. contorta [TH1] has been planted mainly in northern Sweden since the 1960s, as it is expected to grow faster than the native pine (P. sylvestris). However, it has been reported that both plants and animals can be negatively affected in stands with P. contorta. Reindeer herders have also reported that reindeer do not find enough forage in these stands, and that these stands can be an obstacle for their movements. Based on the reindeer herders' observations, the research group analyzed the reindeer's habitat selection in detail.
"Using GPS data from reindeer collected by reindeer herders in the herding district Vilhelmina norra, we analyzed how the reindeer moved in the landscape during three different winters. We investigated which areas the reindeer preferred to stay in and which they avoided. We were interested in investigating whether we could find the same behavioral pattern observed by reindeer herders," says Tim Horstkotte, research engineer at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science (EMG) at Umeå University.
Using data on the reindeer's movement patterns over three winters, the research group investigated the reindeer's behavior on the herding district's winter pastures. They also investigated whether the amount of terricolous lichen differs in different forest types, as well as on which soil types the box pine grows.
Results consistent with observations
The study shows that tree height was an important factor in how much more reindeer avoid stands with P. contorta compared to stands with our native pine.
"If the P. contorta trees were higher than 3 meters, our results show that the reindeer avoided these areas relative to other forest types. Where the P. contorta trees were lower, the reindeer's choice of forest type was not affected—regardless of whether there was P. contorta in the stand or not," says Tim Horstkotte.
"It is also important to highlight that we also saw that there was less terricolous lichens in the P. contorta stands, even though P. contorta is often planted on dry land that is actually favorable for these lichens. This may indicate that planting P. contorta affects lichen occurrence negatively, even if the soil conditions should be favorable."
P. contorta is a challenge for many
Jörgen Sjögren, researcher at SLU in Umeå and who also participated in the study, emphasizes the importance of this type of investigations:
"Today, P. contorta in Sweden is planted on an area that covers just over 600,000 hectares. For having such a huge area with a tree species that does not originate on this side of the Atlantic, we know surprisingly little about the ecological consequences. This study contributes significantly to the state of knowledge."
The researchers point out that planting P. contorta on land that is suitable for terricolous lichens contributes to a reduction in winter grazing for the reindeer. Within the entire reindeer husbandry area in Sweden, access to winter pastures with a high presence of terricolous lichens is a bottleneck. This, in combination with other external pressures on reindeer herding, including climate change, makes the conditions for reindeer herding more difficult.
More information: Tim Horstkotte et al, Semi-domesticated reindeer avoid winter habitats with exotic tree species Pinus contorta, Forest Ecology and Management (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121062
Journal information: Forest Ecology and Management
Provided by Umea University
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Environmental Science
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Paths for reducing harmful air pollution in South Asia identified
Fine particulate matter comes from wood burning, power generation, motor vehicles and other combustion sources that emit tiny particles into the air. At only 2.5 micrometers or smaller, these particles are small enough to be inhaled and cause lasting damage to the heart and lungs. Known as PM2.5, exposure to these particles is a leading mortality risk factor in India and the surrounding region of South Asia.
A new study by researchers in Randall Martin's lab in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis evaluated the contribution of various emission sectors and fuels to PM2.5 mass for 29 states in India and six surrounding countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
The results, published July 7 in Environmental Science & Technology, identify primary organics—organic particles emitted directly into the atmosphere from various sources—as the main drivers of high concentrations of PM2.5 over South Asia. The paper also illuminates potential pathways to reduce PM2.5 mass and improve population health across South Asia.
"Countries in South Asia have substantial emissions and associated air pollution and mortality burden," said first author Deepangsu Chatterjee, a doctoral student in energy, environmental & chemical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering. "Our study shows that over 1 million deaths in South Asia attributable to ambient PM2.5 in 2019 were primarily from residential combustion, industry and power generation. Solid biofuel is the leading combustible fuel contributing to the PM2.5-attributable mortality, followed by coal and oil and gas."
"Air pollution, both indoors and outdoors, is the leading risk factor for death in South Asia," said co-author Michael Brauer, professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and the University of British Columbia. "Understanding the major contributing sources is a critical first step towards management of this serious problem."
A major challenge in evaluating the impacts of PM2.5 is understanding how it is produced and distributed over time. Chatterjee and Martin, the Raymond R. Tucker Distinguished Professor in McKelvey Engineering, combined global emission inventories, satellite-derived fine surface particulate matter estimates and state-of-the-art global scale modeling capabilities to develop regional simulations. They also accounted for long-range transport to understand how different emission sectors and fuels contributed to PM2.5 and associated mortality rates.
"Advances in modeling atmospheric composition with constraints from satellite remote sensing enabled our assessment of the sources of PM2.5 across South Asia," Martin said. "That helped draw our attention to large contributions from burning biofuel and coal."
Chatterjee also noted that PM2.5 mass composition in South Asia is driven by primary organics across major contributing sectors. The team's PM2.5 composition analysis can be particularly useful to develop mitigation strategies associated with particular species.
A few other notable features include high contribution from coal in central and eastern India, higher household air pollution in north-east and central India, biofuel contributions in Bangladesh and open fires in Myanmar.
"This study shows that the air pollution problem in South Asia is not just an urban scale problem, so policies targeted at urban scale development will not be enough to mitigate the national level PM2.5 exposure," Chatterjee said.
Chatterjee, Martin and their co-authors suggest several strategies for future interventions throughout South Asia, including policies encouraging the replacement of traditional fuel sources with sustainable sources of energy.
"Policies in India in the past five to 10 years have worked toward identifying and improving air pollution concerns and associated health burden and mortality risks. Seeing these policies be effective is motivating for the South Asian population to keep moving the needle and develop strategic policies to curb the growth of air pollution," Chatterjee said. "Our paper provides detailed sector-, fuel- and composition-based information for different states in India along with surrounding countries, which could be useful for local policymakers to eliminate PM2.5 sources associated with their specific region."
More information: Deepangsu Chatterjee et al, Source Contributions to Fine Particulate Matter and Attributable Mortality in India and the Surrounding Region, Environmental Science & Technology (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c07641
Journal information: Environmental Science & Technology
Provided by Washington University in St. Louis
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Environmental Science
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Naturally fire-prone ecosystems tend to have more species of birds and mammals, study reveals
Wildfires. Many see them as purely destructive forces, disasters that blaze through a landscape, charring everything in their paths. But a study published in the journal Ecology Letters reminds us that wildfires are also generative forces, spurring biodiversity in their wakes.
"There's a fair amount of biodiversity research on fire and plants," said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist with UC CooperativeExtension who is based at UC Santa Barbara's Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, and is the study's lead author.
Research has shown that in ecosystems where fire is a natural and regular occurrence, there can be more species of plants—a greater "species richness"—due to a variety of factors, including fire-related adaptations. But, he said, there hasn't been nearly as much research in the way of animal biodiversity and fire.
"If you look at how fire operates across the planet, fire actually eats plant productivity," Moritz said. Productivity, which is a measure of how quickly biomass is generated within a given ecosystem, is also a driver of species richness at broad spatial scales. "When fires occur they can take a bite out of that bottom line," he added.
If fire regularly consumes some of the base of an ecosystem's food chain, how does that ripple up to affect the biodiversity at higher levels?
That was the question Moritz investigated during a project supported by UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis & Synthesis; he later recruited collaborators Enric Batllori from Universitat de Barcelona and Benjamin M. Bolker from McMaster University in Canada. For several years they combed through global datasets on various factors such as plant biomass, fire observations and species richness patterns.
While it might be natural to assume that plant biomass regularly consumed by fire would in turn lead to lower animal biodiversity, they found that for birds and mammals, fire is associated with increased diversity. In fact, they say, the effect of fire on biodiversity in the case of birds rivals that of the ecosystem's productivity. And in the case of mammals, fire's influence was even stronger than that of productivity.
"It's counterintuitive," Moritz said. In the short term, fire's consumption of plant material (also known as "net primary productivity") could result in less food for the animals that consume plants and make it more difficult to survive and reproduce. But in the longer term, he said, there may be evolutionary effects that unleash adaptations and formations of new species.
The researchers also looked at the effect of fire on amphibian species, however, the connection between fire and biodiversity in their case was difficult to make, possibly because amphibians live in wetter environments where fires may not be a regular occurrence.
So what accounts for the net positive effects of fire on mammal and bird diversity? The study is a correlative one, Moritz said, so more granular examinations have to be made to find out for sure. But it's likely that fire selects for species that can adapt to and quickly recover from a burn, and fire often creates environmentally complex habitats that meet different species' requirements.
"We know that fire creates a lot of heterogeneity and opens up all these niches," Moritz said, and this resource availability might create favorable environments for some organisms to flourish alongside or over others. For example, animals that have strategies to survive fires or reproduce faster might do better in a fire-prone environment, as could those that make use of different habitats that emerge in the wake of a blaze.
Despite the connection between fire and species richness, the authors are careful to point out it does not mean fire is good for all ecosystems. In places where fire is not a natural occurrence, its presence "is more of a modern threat than an important process to maintain," they said. And for places where fire is a natural part of the ecosystem, climate change-driven and intentional deforestation fires "may be quite different from natural fire regimes."
Nevertheless, they say, these findings indicate that fire plays an underappreciated role in the generation of animal species richness and biodiversity conservation. Furthermore, the study adds nuance to the Latitudinal Biodiversity Gradient, a global pattern of terrestrial biodiversity in which the world's most biodiverse areas are located nearest to the equator, with levels of biodiversity generally decreasing toward the poles.
"This is a pattern that people have known for decades and have argued quite a bit about in terms of what drives it," Moritz said. "And it turns out, it's hard to figure out. And it looks like fire plays a far more important role than we've ever really understood."
More information: Max A. Moritz et al, The role of fire in terrestrial vertebrate richness patterns, Ecology Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1111/ele.14177
Journal information: Ecology Letters
Provided by University of California - Santa Barbara
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Environmental Science
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Fine particulate matter found to catalyze oxidative stress in the lungs
A new study conducted by a team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) reveals that the adverse health effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are attributable to the conversion of peroxides into more reactive species such as the hydroxyl radical (OH) rather than the direct chemical production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as previously thought.
In the scientific literature, the total production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as H2O2 is commonly used as proxy for the toxicity of air pollutants and their ability to induce oxidative stress and inflammation. The research team led by Thomas Berkemeier from the MPIC in Mainz found that ROS concentrations in the epithelial lining fluid (ELF) of the human respiratory tract may be primarily determined by the release of endogenous H2O2 and the inhalation of ambient gas-phase H2O2, while the chemical production of H2O2 through inhaled PM2.5 is less important.
"Based on our simulations, we think that the overall concentrations of these reactive species in the lungs are large anyway, and not directly dependent on levels of air pollution," says Dr. Thomas Berkemeier, head of the Chemical Kinetics & Reaction Mechanisms group at the MPIC. They used a computer model to understand the relevant physical, chemical, and biological processes, and quantify the health effects of different types of air pollutants.
"Our new model simulates the chemical reactions that happen in the respiratory tract. For the first time, we included production, diffusion, and removal of hydrogen peroxide from cells and the blood stream into our computer model. This was quite challenging, because it is not so easy to put these processes in biological tissues into equations," explains Thomas Berkemeier.
New research directions
"The findings of this study suggest that the current paradigms for assessing the differential toxicity of individual PM2.5 components need to be critically reassessed," says Prof. Dr. Ulrich Pöschl, Head of the Multiphase Chemistry Department at the MPIC. The study proposed that the chemical production of superoxide and H2O2 in a cell-free assay may not be a suitable metric for assessing the differential toxicity of individual PM2.5 components, and some acellular oxidative potential assays may not capture the actual deleterious effects of PM2.5.
Fine particulates might act through Fenton chemistry
However, the production of hydroxyl radicals (OH) was strongly correlated with Fenton chemistry of PM2.5 in the model calculations. "The model simulations suggest that PM2.5 mostly acts by conversion of peroxides into highly reactive OH radicals. Thus, PM2.5 is not so much the fuel, but rather the catalyst of the chemical reactions that cause damage to cells and tissues," says Berkemeier explaining the role of inhaled particles in the model.
Additionally, PM2.5 may stimulate the production of superoxide from endogenous sources, which further contributes to the adverse health effects of air pollution.
The study underscores the importance of continued research to better understand the chemical mechanisms underlying the health effects of air pollution and to develop effective strategies to mitigate these effects. The authors believe that this study will contribute significantly to this important research effort. Their findings are published in Environmental Science: Atmospheres.
Air pollution is a major health risk that affects millions of people worldwide, but the underlying chemical mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) typically contains chemical components that can trigger oxidation reactions. When inhaled and deposited in the human respiratory tract, they can induce and sustain radical reaction cycles that produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the epithelial lining fluid (ELF) that covers the airways and alveoli in human lungs.
Numerous studies have shown that excess concentrations of ROS like hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and hydroxyl radicals (OH) can cause oxidative stress injuring cells and tissues in the respiratory tract.
More information: Eleni Dovrou et al, Influence of ambient and endogenous H2O2 on reactive oxygen species concentrations and OH radical production in the respiratory tract, Environmental Science: Atmospheres (2023). DOI: 10.1039/D2EA00179A
Provided by Max Plank Institute for Chemistry
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Environmental Science
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As New York City was bombarded with dangerous air and smoke conditions that turned the skyline orange, some residents and environmental experts questioned if the city's leader acted quickly enough to warn people about the dangers of the "smoke wave."
The city's Office of Emergency Management issued warnings on its social media pages and city alert system starting Tuesday afternoon and Mayor Eric Adams put out a news release about the dangerous air quality around 11:30 p.m.
Some environmentalists said that the late notice was unacceptable given that the city's environment was already showing poor visibility and unhealthy air earlier in the morning.
"There is supposed to be emergency planning for situations like this," Rebecca Bratspies, the director of CUNY Law School's Center for Urban Environmental Justice Reform, told ABC News. "I was expecting the city to read the same news forecasts I had that this was happening Monday and Tuesday. They should have had a plan."
Adams defended his administration's approach to alerting New Yorkers about the dangers of the situation during a news conference with reporters Wednesday morning. He contended that there were no late notifications as the city's agencies, such as the health department and OEM, were going through the rapidly changing information.
"The clouds you see over New York City was a fire thousands of miles away. This is the challenge…and there are going to be more issues like this, and there's no blueprint or playbook for these types of issues," he said.
"We've done tabletops in this administration. You want to be as prepared as possible, but there is no planning for an incident like this," Adams added.
Bratspies, who is a board member of the city's Environmental Justice Advisory Board, countered the mayor's claim noting that the city has delivered air quality alerts in the past and has access to the latest forecast models.
"Air masses don't appear all of a sudden. They move slowly and you can predict how bad it will be long before it hits," she said.
Holly Porter-Morgan, a professor of environmental science at LaGuardia Community College, told ABC News that she too thought the city didn't do a good job informing the public as soon as there was an indication that the Air Quality Index reached dangerous levels.
Every minute that New Yorkers were exposed to that toxic air, particularly the elderly, immunocompromised and children, does more harm, she said.
"Whenever our air quality index goes above 100 there should be some sort of statement going out," Porter-Morgan said. "There should be some directive for people, because people don't know what to do."
Porter-Morgan said that even though wildfire smoke is new to the northeast, Adams and other leaders in the area can take a look at the environmental policies in West Coast states for guidance.
Alistair Hayden, an assistant professor of practice at the Department of Public and ecosystem health at Cornell University, told ABC News that while local, state and federal governments must enact policies to prepare and protect the public from "smoke waves," there is still a lot of work to be done to properly make those alerts.
"One thing I have heard from local governments is they don't know where to get the best air quality data. There are not excellent tools to zoom down and know what exactly is going on in your community," he said. "The research is just getting to those points now where we can use those tools, but it's still not where we need it to be."
Hayden, who worked in California's Office of Emergency Services, acknowledged informing and alerting the public to environmental disasters or emergencies is complicated, as data changes constantly.
"Warning is always a tricky business because across disasters we've seen if you alert too early and it changes people lose trust in the alerts," he said.
But in the meantime, Hayden said those governments can start to implement plans for these smoke waves and use the playbook for other similar situations.
For example, he said cities could use the cooling center plans, and designate certain buildings where vulnerable people can stay for clean air during the day.
Ultimately, Hayden said that public officials across the country need to take heed of what's going on on the east coast and start coming up with policies to prevent people from getting hurt by the negative effects of climate change.
"People don't realize how many people die in a smoke wave. This is a really important piece that we need to include in our policy at all levels," he said. "I think we need to respond to 'smoke waves' with the same type of urgency of other disasters."
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Environmental Science
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Tourists help scientists reveal microplastic pollution on remote Arctic beaches
Tourists acting as citizen scientists have helped a research team detect microplastics on remote Arctic beaches. The global scale of plastic production means that these tiny fragments of plastic are now ubiquitous, and scientists fear that ocean currents will cause plastic to accumulate in the Arctic, damaging ecosystems. But our knowledge of the scale and type of plastic pollution in the Arctic is incomplete. Researchers recruited holidaymakers to carry out sample collection during cruises, hoping to fill in some of the gaps in their knowledge.
"Plastic pollution is now ubiquitous. It is found on land and in soil and most rivers of the world," said Dr. Bruno Walther of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, author of the study published in Frontiers in Environmental Science. "It is even found in the polar oceans and the deepest ocean trenches."
Plastic gets everywhere
The Svalbard archipelago is Europe's northernmost landmass—beautiful, remote, and at risk from microplastics transported by ocean currents. Four tourist cruises visiting Svalbard in 2016, 2017, 2021 and 2022 collected sediment samples: all cruises except 2022 also surveyed macroplastic debris (between 2.5 and 10cm in size) for a different study. Initially, single samples were taken from beaches using simple metal tools and sent to the scientists with metadata and photographs to record sampling locations. Later this was expanded to cover whole beaches with sampling grids.
"Citizen science is possible even in remote Arctic beaches," said Walther. "This helps to cut down on traveling time, CO2 emissions and costs for scientists, and it helps to engage citizens in a global environmental issue."
These samples were dried out, weighed, and measured. Each sample was filtered to capture particles 1mm or larger in size. This boundary was selected on the basis that smaller particles don't easily become airborne, an assumption that the scientists tested by keeping a bowl of purified water next to their worksurface and filtering it to search for microplastics after their analysis was complete: no microplastics had drifted from the laboratory's air into the water.
To avoid plastic contamination, the scientists ran an air purifier, wore cotton lab coats, avoided synthetic clothing, and covered samples with aluminum lids. Identified plastic particles were examined under a microscope and then analyzed using spectroscopy.
Warning signs
The scientists found that microplastics of the size they were searching for were not widespread but were very concentrated: the estimated overall level of plastic pollution was comparable to areas formerly believed to be much more polluted than Arctic beaches. Two specific sources of plastic pollution were identified in their samples: polypropylene fibers that likely formed part of a fishing net, and polyester-epoxide particles that probably came from a ship's color coating or equipment.
"Plastic debris from fisheries is the most direct point of entry to the marine realm, and is often particularly important in remote areas," said author Dr. Melanie Bergmann of the Alfred Wegener Institute. "There is an active fishing fleet operating in the waters surrounding Svalbard but also in the North Sea and north Atlantic. Some of the waste that they emit drifts to the beaches of Svalbard."
The netting appeared to have fragmented very quickly due to the conditions on the beach: repeated freeze cycles, high humidity from fog, and up to 24 hours of sunlight a day in summer. If this rapid fragmentation occurs at other locations, it could introduce tiny, elusive microplastics into the environment very quickly.
"We still need more sampling in the Arctic, in more places and in more regular time intervals to monitor the situation," said Walther.
"It should be noted that we only analyzed microplastics particles larger than 1mm," cautioned Bergmann. "This was because of the citizen science approach and to avoid potential airborne contamination by small particles. But our previous studies on Arctic water, ice, and sediment samples have shown that more than 80% of the particles were much smaller. So, we probably would have found more particles, if we had looked for smaller particles, too."
More information: Citizen scientists reveal small but concentrated amounts of fragmented microplastic on Arctic beaches, Frontiers in Environmental Science (2023). DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2023.1210019
Provided by Frontiers
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Environmental Science
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Recently, morning omelets and holiday dinners have gotten more expensive. One likely cause is bird flu, outbreaks of which led to the deaths of millions of chickens and turkeys from infection or culling in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and which still demands rigorous monitoring of wild populations. Now, reporting in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, researchers have developed a method that detected infectious bird flu virus in wetlands frequented by waterfowl.
Wild birds represent a significant reservoir of avian influenza virus. While some viral strains don't cause disease, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) form can spread quickly and is often fatal. It spreads from wild birds that shed the pathogen through their feces into the environment, including the wetlands they inhabit. Detecting bird flu in these waters has proven challenging because infectious virus concentrations are often too low to be detected by most methods, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of viral transmission. To address this problem, Laura Hubbard at the U.S. Geological Survey and colleagues devised a multistep process to concentrate and identify infectious virus in environmental samples.
They tested their protocols on surface water samples taken twice in the spring of 2022 from four wetlands and a lake in Iowa. The team identified strains of infectious virus in samples from all four wetland sites in April, but not from the lake. Detection rates were significantly lower, however, when they tested the water samples for viral RNA (11.1%) using standard diagnostic protocols than when the same samples were inoculated into eggs and avian influenza virus was isolated and confirmed (66.7%). The researchers say these results highlight the need for improved RNA detection techniques to reduce the risk of false negatives.
Sequencing showed that most of the detected viral strains present in the water samples had low pathogenicity. One sample included HPAI, however, marking the first time this strain has been detected in a U.S. waterway, the researchers say. Just five weeks later, though, they did not detect avian influenza virus in any samples from the same sites despite previous research that demonstrated viral persistence for months in similar environments. The researchers suggest that the apparent absence of virus could be due to many environmental factors, including fewer waterfowl being present in May and substantially warmer water temperatures influencing virus survival.
Although further research is required to better understand the persistence and potential transmissibility of bird flu in wetlands, the researchers say the detection of HPAI virus and other strains highlights possible risks to wild and domestic fowl, other animals and even humans, who use these waterways recreationally. They also suggest that regular monitoring and early detection could help mitigate costly viral transmission and the rising cost of eggs and poultry.
The authors acknowledge funding from the U.S. Geological Survey through the Biological Threats and Environmental Health Programs of the Ecosystems Mission Area and from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Influenza Division.
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Environmental Science
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Can a New Forest Alliance Change Nature Finance for the Better?
Conserving tropical forests is not cheap. Even though studies have shown that every $1 spent protecting or restoring tropical forests can return up to $7 in economic benefits, deforestation continues in most tropical rainforest countries.
In Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Indonesia, which together hold over 50% of the world’s tropical rainforests, financial incentives still drive agricultural and extractive industry-related deforestation. While it will be necessary to firmly enforce existing laws to control this problem, designing novel economic initiatives to encourage forest conservation and restoration will also be paramount.
A new alliance from these three countries is being touted as an “OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) for forests,“ given the potential power it could have in setting the prices and limiting the supply of credits from forest conservation and restoration systems. If successful, this type of agreement and coordinating body could be a game-changer for the DRC, Brazil, and Indonesia. However, there are no real specifics for how this system would work, and the rules for what will emerge from this alliance have yet to be written. It is vital, not just for these three countries, but for the whole world, that this system be equitable and effective at reducing deforestation.
Building on Previous Deforestation Mitigation Initiatives
Over the past few years, there have been extensive efforts to pay landholders and countries to reduce and avoid deforestation. The funding sources for these programs vary, from government programs to NGO-driven conservation campaigns, and more recently, carbon credit systems that allow polluters to “offset” their emissions by paying for conservation and carbon sequestration elsewhere. Many of these credits are traded through mandatory programs run by governments, but others are issued on voluntary markets, which have been beset with scandals and verification challenges in recent years.
One major funding source for reducing deforestation in tropical countries has been Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation programs, also known as REDD+. Emerging in the mid-2000s as a way for wealthy countries and corporations to fund forest conservation and reduce deforestation, REDD+ systems have been increasingly formalized through international treaties like the Paris Agreement, with the focus moving from individual project-based financing to broader countrywide agreements, known as jurisdictional REDD+. REDD+ systems are viewed as important in preventing climate change and nature loss, but they have faced issues in the past with actually ensuring forest integrity over time and protecting the rights of local communities in and around forests.
As voluntary carbon markets struggle and international bodies look to continue formalizing REDD+ structures, a new alliance between Indonesia, the DRC, and Brazil, aims to be a game-changer in the field of forest funding. The three countries, who finalized over a decade of negotiations this past November, have agreed to coordinate on conserving forests within their borders and limiting potential leakage between them. While other organizations of forest states, such as the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, have tried such arrangements before, the inclusion of Brazil in this agreement would ensure immense bargaining power for this new forest alliance when it comes to selling carbon credits. This could further impact existing voluntary carbon markets’ viability, and accelerate the trend of tropical forest countries taking direct control or an ownership stake in carbon credit projects as exemplified by recent action in Zimbabwe. But exactly what might happen as this alliance moves forward is still unknown.
Rewriting the Power Balance
Ruben Lubowski, an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the chief carbon and environmental markets strategist at Lombard Odier Investment Managers, has extensive experience researching and advising on REDD+ initiatives. He believes that this agreement could be potentially transformative, with the chance to rewrite the power balance in deforestation-reduction funding.
“The idea that these governments think of this as an economic opportunity is positive. For a long time, many people have argued that both Indonesia and Brazil could become ‘green superpowers’ with a comparative advantage for producing green commodities, not to mention carbon sequestration credits. Thinking of this as a green development strategy and as a strategic option for the countries makes a lot of sense,” he said. As the major players in this space, he added, these countries “have real leverage politically in this emerging carbon market and net-zero world.”
Right now, buyers are dictating terms to setting the prices when it comes to carbon payments and other incentives for reducing deforestation and nature-based services. But it’s entirely possible that countries like these could use their influence to hold richer countries to more ambitious climate goals, and things like loss and damage.
This power, however, could potentially create issues if used for rent seeking, or exploiting the system for financial gain at the expense of smaller actors.
“When I think of OPEC, I think of monopolies and manipulating the price of a commodity, and that could be problematic,” Lubowski said. OPEC’s price manipulation of oil is legendary and has hardly had a positive effect, either on environmental outcomes or on the stability of many OPEC countries. In a worst-case scenario, the three forest alliance nations could use their leverage to disadvantage other carbon credit producers through strategic increases and decreases in prices, which could reduce stable funding for conservation and restoration in smaller countries.
But with some experts estimating that a carbon price of around $100 per metric ton is required to meet net-zero targets, and with volatility and issues with maintaining credit quality, supply-side pressure could be useful for achieving this goal. By coordinating, these countries can potentially issue carbon credits on a truly massive scale. But how the projects that account for these credits would work is another story. One popular option is a jurisdictional, or “sovereign credit” framework, for issuing deforestation reduction credits, due to its lower possibility of leakage and individual project problems. Organizations like the Coalition for Rainforest Nations are already driving wider adoption of sovereign credits, which is already beginning to impact existing carbon credit markets. Lubowski suggested such a framework would likely be applied to the forest alliance, since coordination will be occurring on a national level.
“The jurisdictional approach solves many problems around leakage and permanence, and would be very in line with a jurisdictional strategy,” he said. But while this approach would be more effective at reducing emissions on a large scale and measuring performance across the whole forest area, “Indigenous groups are rightly skeptical of offers and agreements from the government,” Lubowski noted.
Indeed, building a system that also accounts for Indigenous and local land rights is perhaps the most contentious matter when it comes to successful implementation of a forest alliance. Agricultural and extractive deforestation have devastating effects on Indigenous communities and others who live in and around the forests, as the recent attempted genocide of the Yanomami at the hands of gold miners in the Brazilian Amazon demonstrates. But conservation efforts, and especially payment for reduced deforestation schemes, have their own history of sidelining, under-paying, or even displacing Indigenous groups. Brazil, Indonesia, and the DRC have all had issues in this regard, with ruling politicians often serving as the determining factor for how deforestation reduction and respect for Indigenous rights are handled. If the new forest alliance is to be successful in reversing deforestation, it will have to ensure that the Indigenous communities are active participants.
Finally, to be successful, the new forest alliance will need to create transparent guidelines for tracking and crediting carbon sequestration and other forest ecosystem services, transparently manage prices in order to support the overall market, and move the world in a direction of higher carbon prices and clearer pathways for issuing high quality credits. Then it could potentially transform the wider carbon market and REDD+ systems for the better. Doing this will require deliberate planning, international buy-in, and above all, careful consultation with the Indigenous groups that live in the forests targeted for conservation.
The stakes are high, and the outcome of this agreement could help define the legacies of these three countries and their political leaders on a global level. As the alliance becomes further formalized, international organizations committed to reducing deforestation and all players in the existing carbon market should pay attention. If it is successful, the forest alliance could shape the global landscape of carbon conservation for decades to come.
Ezekiel Maben is a student in Columbia University’s MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program.
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Environmental Science
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A vast methane leak has been discovered at the deepest point in the Baltic Sea, and masses of bubbles of the greenhouse gas are rising far higher into the water column than scientists had expected.
Researchers found the enormous leak 1,300 feet (400 meters) beneath the water's surface during an expedition to the Landsort Deep — the Baltic's deepest spot — in August. The area leaking methane is roughly 7.7 square miles (20 square kilometers), equivalent to about 4,000 soccer fields.
"It's bubbling everywhere, basically, in these 20 square kilometers," Marcelo Ketzer, professor of environmental science at Linnaeus University in Sweden and project leader, told Live Science.
In shallower, coastal seabeds, methane bubbles up from decaying organic matter, while in deeper water, it tends to disperse via diffusion — meaning no bubbles are needed — and most of the diffuse methane remains in the deepest water. But the new leak doesn't follow this pattern.
"By discovering this [leak], we realized that there's a totally different mechanism supplying methane to the bottom of the Baltic," Ketzer said.
The team was also stunned to observe how far the methane bubbles rose in the water column toward the sea surface. Methane usually dissolves in water, so as bubbles rise, they decrease in size until there's nothing left.
Ketzer the maximum height they would expect methane bubbles to reach was around 165 feet (50 meters) from the ocean floor. Yet at the Landsort Deep, the team observed methane bubbles reaching 1,250 feet (380 m) into the water column — just 65 feet (20 m) from the surface.
"So that's completely new," Ketzer said.
He believes this is due — at least in part — to a weaker than average microbial filter, a layer of bacteria that live in sediments and "eat" up to 90% of the methane produced by decaying matter. This filter can be several feet thick in the ocean, but in the Baltic Sea, it is a few centimeters thick, Ketzer said.
Human activity is also altering the way this filter operates, according to Kretzer.
Fertilizers from land that reach the sea boost algae blooms. When the algae die, they add organic matter to sediments. The methane-eating bacteria also like to munch on this material, enabling more methane to escape toward the surface. Furthermore, the researchers think the Landsort Deep leak may be caused by large amounts of sediment deposited there by bottom currents.
"How much we are responsible for weakening this filter and allowing more methane to pass is something that we don't know, but it's something that we'd like to investigate," said Ketzer.
In addition, water at the bottom of the Baltic contains high levels of methane, so the bubbles may have to travel higher in the water column to dissolve — although this doesn't fully explain how they are getting so close to the surface.
Ketzer's team is preparing a second expedition to the Landsort Deep to find out if any bubbles make it to the surface and release methane into the atmosphere.
Methane leaks like this are potentially important sources of greenhouse gas that scientists need to account for. Ketzer estimates there could be half a dozen other deep sea methane fields bubbling away in the Baltic.
"We are continuing to find new locations where seepage is occurring," Anna Michel, associate scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who was not involved in the project, told Live Science in an email. "It will be interesting to see if exploration of other parts of the Baltic Sea reveals additional sites of methane seepage."
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Rachel Parsons is a London-based multimedia journalist, writer, photographer and videographer. Her work focuses on climate, environment, human ecology and anthropological intersections. It has been published in Scientific American, Context, New Scientist, DeSmog and others. She is the creator and host of the solo travel series The Peregrine Dame. Rachel holds an MSc in Anthropology, Environment and Development from University College London and a BA in journalism from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.
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Environmental Science
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Toxic PFAS chemicals have been detected in seven out of 10 insecticides tested in the US, according to new research. Six contained what the study’s lead author characterized as “screamingly high” levels of PFOS, one of the most dangerous PFAS compounds.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has known about the findings for more than 18 months but appears to have not yet investigated the products or taken any action against the manufacturer.PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, can be taken up by crops. Such high levels in pesticides creates a health risk if spread on fields where food is grown, public health advocates say.“We know PFOS is a carcinogen, we know it’s a deadly chemical and there’s no safe level in drinking water,” said Kyla Bennett, a former EPA official and science policy director with the non-profit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which issued a press release on the study. “Our soil and water are now contaminated.”In a statement, the EPA told the Guardian it’s reviewing active ingredients used in pesticides – those which kill pests – to determine if any are PFAS. However, PFOS could be an inert ingredient.Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a class of about 12,000 chemicals typically used to make thousands of products water-, stain- and heat-resistant. They do not naturally break down and accumulate in humans and the environment. A growing body of evidence links them to serious health problems such as cancer, birth defects, liver disease, kidney disease, autoimmune disorders, high cholesterol and decreased immunity.Researchers from Texas Tech University checked 10 insecticides that were being used on cotton, but can also be used on food and other crops. The peer-reviewed study, published in Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters, found PFAS in seven of these “widely used” insecticides, said environmental toxicologist and lead author Steve Lasee, who was at Texas Tech University at the time of the study. He is now an independent consultant with Lasse Research and Consulting and a research fellow for the EPA.Testing revealed PFOS at a level as high as 19m parts per trillion (ppt) in one insecticide. The EPA hasn’t set limits for PFAS in pesticides, but in June it lowered its advisory health limit in drinking water to 0.02 ppt, a level so low as to suggest no amount of exposure to the compound is safe.Lasee said he presented his findings in March 2021 to staff members at the EPA’s Office of Research and Development and at a conference attended by environmental science professionals and EPA staff. He said he received an email from leadership in one of EPA’s divisions asking him to present his study to more EPA staff, but never heard anything beyond that.Lasee said he named the insecticide’s active ingredients but he never received requests for the brand names, meaning the EPA could not know which companies had sold tainted products.The EPA did not respond to direct questions about the study’s findings or about Lasee’s presentation to the agency.Lasee said the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) contacted him after his presentation to say it was interested in learning more about the research. A DEP spokesperson told the Guardian that the agency has been testing some pesticides for PFAS and has “discontinued use” of those that contain the chemicals. The agency is reviewing the information in the Texas Tech study and determining what’s next, the spokesperson said.It’s unclear what purpose PFAS in insecticides may serve, but Lasee said they could be used as a dispersing agent, to help the pesticide spread evenly.The study was published amid increased scrutiny of PFAS in pesticides because of the potential for widespread food and water contamination. Multiple studies have established that crops uptake PFAS and can be ingested by humans. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began monitoring PFAS in food in 2019 and has detected them in fruits and vegetables, but has not set any limits.The EPA earlier this year found PFAS added to plastic barrels and containers used to store pesticides can leach into the products. An EPA spokesperson said the agency alerted companies that they may be in violation of the law.However, Lasee said the type of PFAS compounds he found are different from those that leached from plastic containers, and the level of PFAS the Texas Tech study is several orders of magnitude higher, suggesting that the chemicals are from a different source.In September, the EPA proposed banning some PFAS that can be used as inert ingredients that were approved for use in pesticide products, but it said active ingredients are being reviewed. “EPA will share results of that investigation as soon as possible”, an agency spokesperson said.The agency also updated a webpage with information about PFAS in pesticides in September that claims PFOS is not used in the products. “The EPA Office of Pesticide Programs previously determined that there were no pesticide active or inert ingredients with structures similar to prominent PFAS such as PFOS,” it reads.That could be contradicted by Lasee’s research. The reason for the presence of PFOS in the insecticides is unclear. It could be the result of chemical companies illegally adding the compound, Bennett said. It could also be that a different PFAS compound is added to the fertilizer, then breaks down into PFOS after the pesticide is manufactured. The EPA did not reply to specific questions about the statement on its site.Bennett said there is little consumers can do to immediately protect themselves beyond eating organic food, but she noted that many people don’t have access to or can afford organic products.That leaves it up to the EPA to take swifter and more forceful action to get PFAS out of pesticides, Bennett added.“We have to get the EPA to stop allowing PFAS in pesticides,” she said. “We’ve got a toxic chemical in them that doesn’t need to be there, and pesticides are bad enough on their own without adding another carcinogen.”
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Environmental Science
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A circular economy to tackle space junk
Southampton researchers have developed the world's first robust method for estimating the value and mass of space junk.
A fully circular economy for space—removing space junk and reusing or recycling it—is a viable possibility to safeguard the future for satellites and space exploration, according to new research from the University of Southampton.
The research estimates there is billions, potentially trillions, of dollars' worth of recyclable materials, in the form of space junk (mission debris and defunct satellites), orbiting the Earth. Knowing what is 'out there' will enable viable solutions to the growing problem to be effectively and justifiably pursued.
Space junk is a form of pollution that poses a threat to future space exploration and satellites—which we rely heavily on here on Earth.
As of January 2021, the US Space Surveillance Network reported 21,901 artificial objects in orbit around Earth, including almost 4,500 functioning satellites. But these are just the objects large enough to be tracked. There is also estimated to be more than 128 million pieces of debris smaller than 1cm, more than 900,000 pieces measuring 1cm to 10cm, and 34,000 pieces larger than 10cm.
Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science, and Applied GIS and Remote Sensing Master's graduate Ryan Leonard have developed a method to estimate the value and mass of orbital debris—providing a case for a circular economy.
"If the financial value of retrieving space debris is high enough, investment into the technology to do so is justified," said Professor Williams.
Through their research, Professor Williams and Mr. Ryan calculated the reuse of space junk could have a net value of between $570 billion and $1.2 trillion.This amounts to somewhere between 5,312 and 19,124 tons of scrap metal. Active debris removal (ADR)—such as the plasma thruster invented by the University of Southampton's Dr. Minkwan Kim, which is designed to safely deorbit end-of-life satellites—is one possible solution.
Professor Williams added, "The development of in-orbit services, such as extending the life of inactive satellites, or the advancement of ADR, will be crucial to solve the orbital debris problem. But, with this, a future circular economy for space may be financially viable, with potentially beneficial consequences for risk reduction; resource efficiency; additional high-value employment; and climate-change knowledge, science, monitoring and early warning data."
The research findings are published in the journal Waste Management.
More information: Ryan Leonard et al, Viability of a circular economy for space debris, Waste Management (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2022.10.024
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Environmental Science
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Unlocking the ocean's secret: Natural carbon capture
Scientists around the world are racing to develop new methods for combating the rising levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere that are driving climate change and threatening the health of our planet.
Ocean carbon capture, which involves using natural ocean processes to trap and store greenhouse gases out at sea, is one promising method. Two L.A. researchers—Will Berelson of USC and Jess Adkins of Caltech—are looking to harness this technology to address the problem.
"Behind every potential solution for a more sustainable world lies a story of hard work and collaboration," USC President Carol L. Folt said. "This promising research to reduce carbon emissions between USC and Caltech will help us all achieve a more sustainable future—starting right here in Southern California."
We met up with Berelson, professor of earth sciences, environmental studies and spatial sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and Adkins, the Smits Family Professor of Geochemistry and Global Environmental Science at Caltech, at the docks of AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles—one of the largest harbors in the world and a leading gateway for international trade in North America.
How does the shipping industry play a role in climate change?
Berelson: At seaports around the world, huge quantities of goods arrive daily that feed the global economy. Those goods are transported across the ocean on container ships, cargo ships and other vessels that burn diesel fuel. Collectively, all the ships in the world are contributing about 3% of the carbon dioxide that's being added to our atmosphere every year.
Adkins: Over 90% of the products we use in our daily lives traveled on a ship at some point. If we're going to think about how to deal with our CO2 problem as a society, we have to be mindful of the fact that we can't electrify all parts of the industry. Shipping is a good example of an industry that doesn't electrify well. It's hard to imagine ships running off batteries, even though we must, as a society, get ourselves onto renewable energy.
How do carbon emissions affect our oceans?
Berelson: As carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves in ocean water, it increases its acidity thus causing ocean acidification. The rising annual rate of CO2 emissions leads to a corresponding increase in ocean acidification, resulting in dramatic impacts on marine ecosystems like corals and other organisms that use calcium carbonate to build shells.
People care about corals for their beauty, but these organisms are also crucial to biodiversity and sustaining the populations of fish and other marine life that live in and among the coral communities.
Adkins: Exactly. As you acidify the ocean, you make it harder for the main components of the ecosystem to grow. But another reason we should care about ocean acidification over and above the photographic megafauna that are corals is the algae out in the middle of the ocean and far away from the coast. They are the primary producers and bottom of the marine food chain where sunlight is first turned into organic matter and then becomes food for the rest of the system, humans included.
How does the ocean naturally capture carbon?
Adkins: The planet has been capturing carbon for billions of years. As the ocean absorbs excess carbon, the CO2 reacts with calcium carbonate, or limestone, that naturally occurs at the sea floor—this reaction makes the neutral salts of bicarbonate and calcium ions.
Berelson: The natural reaction that happens in the ocean is exactly what happens when you treat an upset stomach. The analogy we like to use is that when you have excess acid in your tummy, you take a little antacid tablet, which is effectively ground up calcium carbonate, to neutralize the acid.
What are you working on now?
Berelson: An idea came about during our research on how the ocean naturally mitigates excess CO2. We discovered that if we could accelerate the dissolution of limestone, it could be a way to mitigate CO2 at a larger scale. We're developing a startup company that could one day build machinery that would allow this reaction to happen at a fast enough scale and at the right quantity to make a greater impact on CO2 reduction.
Adkins: Right. Although the ocean naturally captures carbon, it does so at a slow rate. We want to find ways of speeding up the neutralization of that extra CO2. All we have to do is follow the natural process of what happens when, say, volcanoes erupt and release CO2 into the atmosphere.
What inspired this collaboration?
Adkins: We've known each other for decades as friends in the field and have always talked about finding something to work on together. But it was our shared concern about ocean acidification and the idea that we might be able to make a breakthrough that brought us together to think about joining labs.
Berelson: True, we initially bonded over our common interest in chemical oceanography. That and all things having to do with major league baseball.
Provided by University of Southern California
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Environmental Science
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Invisible specks of eroded plastic from long-forgotten toothbrushes, sweet wrappers and stocking-filler toys are everywhere. They live in our laundry bins, the Mariana trench and the human bloodstream. Microplastic particles can be small enough to infiltrate biological barriers such as the gut, skin and placental tissue. We are all now partially plastic – but how worried should we be, and is there any way to minimise our exposure?
At the moment, says Stephanie Wright, an environmental toxicologist at Imperial College, London, a lack of epidemiological and in-human data means we don’t yet know the harmful effects of microplastics, but “I would say reducing particle exposure in general (including microplastic) is likely to be beneficial”. But avoiding the stuff is a tall order, considering it’s in the “air, drinking water, dust and food”.
Food and drink sealed in plastic has long been associated with cleanliness, purity and protection from contamination, but we now know that some of the highest exposures to microplastics, says Wright, “are likely to come from processed and packaged foods and drinks”. The shedding of plastic is increased when containers are exposed to heat. “Hot water in plastic-lined cups and takeaway containers also release micro- and nanoparticles, in some cases trillions per litre, although whether these are true plastic particles is unknown.”
Wright says that to reduce exposure to microplastics, “I would start by not heating anything in plastic, or consuming hot liquid that has come into contact with plastic”. This includes microwaving food in Tupperware or ready-to-heat products such as boil-in-the-bag rice and “food-grade nylon used for food packaging, as liners for baking pans in restaurants and commercial kitchens and in slow cookers in household kitchens”.
When it comes to water, she chooses tap over bottled: “Some bottled waters – including glass bottles – contain thousands of microplastic particles per litre.” And, ideally, she would take it filtered. When I mention filtering to Mark Taylor, chief environmental scientist at the Environmental Protection Authority in the Australian state of Victoria, he points out that home water filters are usually plastic, too: “Ultimately it will start to shed because it will degrade.”
This gives me the perfect opportunity to gloat about my glass and stainless steel filter jug, but then I remember that the charcoal refills come in plastic pouches. When you start observing your plastic use, it’s hard not to spiral. “I think we can stress ourselves out over all of these things and put too much focus on it,” says Taylor. “The reality is people are living longer than they’ve ever lived before. Some people in a [global] population of 8 billion, of course, will be affected and may well die as a result of microplastics exposure.” The way forward, he says, is “balancing the risk of microplastics versus practical actions and lifespan”.
Having extensively studied microplastic exposure in homes – which is where Taylor says we absorb the most plastic contamination – he knows it’s impossible to avoid the stuff and so there’s no point worrying over every bit of plastic we meet. Instead, he says, “we can look at minimising inessential uses”.
At one end of the scale sits a plastic heart valve, which is essential. Whereas fruit sealed in plastic is unnecessary. “You can think about the furnishings and the clothes that you acquire, and buy more natural fabrics,” says Taylor. “Instead of having a polyester carpet, you could have a wool carpet.” Natural fibres are often more expensive, but second-hand is always an option, and if it’s not something you can change, don’t sweat it. “You can think about buying natural clothing – they do produce microfibres, but they’re not microplastics and they break down. If you’ve got kids, do you need to have plastic spoons and plates?”
On a personal level, he says, he makes choices based on unnecessary exposure, but also as an act of consumer protest – “every little action matters”. It is often hard to find out the composition of plastic products – they don’t come with ingredients lists like food – but he recalls looking for a new watch strap and discovering one contained perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). “I went: well, I won’t be buying that. It is associated with testicular and kidney cancer, low birth weight in newborns and just a ton of things.” PFAS are among the many commonly used chemicals in plastics that are endocrine disruptors, which some scientists believe are to blame for declining global sperm counts.
He actively avoids buying food such as fruit and veg wrapped in plastic, or adorned with “those stupid little food stickers”. His household uses glass instead of plastic in the kitchen. “I wear predominantly, but not entirely, natural fibres, because my work jacket is made of polyester. But I prefer either cotton or wool.” He concedes, however, “I have a wooden floor with varnish, which I know will slough off.”
Keeping a clean house is something anyone can do to reduce exposure. “The carpets, the curtains, the sofa, most of those are probably not made from fully natural fabrics, and they degrade and their fibres accumulate,” he says. All that dust and fluff that balls up like tumbleweed under sofas, or twinkles in sunbeams after you plump a cushion, will contain plastic fibres. This is why the vacuum cleaner is about more than being house-proud.
He says: “It’s very clear, whether you’re dealing with microplastics or trace metals such as lead, zinc, cadmium and arsenic that migrate into a home, that regular vacuuming is really effective at reducing the load.” If you don’t vacuum, the dust remobilises and, adds Taylor, “deposits in open water vessels, on your fruit, on people’s hands, kitchen utensils”.
He recommends – if you can afford it – robot vacuum cleaners, “that go around the floor and just keep on top of the worst of it when you’re out at work. Or preferably, if you’ve got a hard floor, wet mopping.” With carpets, vacuuming has the added benefit of capturing loose fibres soon to be shed from everyday wear and tear.
Malcolm Hudson, an associate professor in environmental science at the University of Southampton, is very keen that we don’t panic about our current exposure to microplastics. Instead, he’d rather we divert that energy into helping to stop the planet accumulating yet more plastic. At the current rate of production, more than 10bn tonnes of mismanaged plastic waste will be dispersed in the natural environment by 2050.
He certainly isn’t panicking right now. “I’m sitting at home in my office and I’m probably breathing in some plastic fibres from the clothes that I’m wearing, and from the carpet on the stairs just outside my office,” he says. “And I’ve probably ingested some plastic in my lunch, which is an unsettling thought but it’s probably not doing me a great deal of harm,” he says. He doubts, at this point, whether trying to limit plastic exposure will make much difference to his health right now.
“We’ve evolved to deal with inhalation and ingestion of impurities,” he says. “That’s why we have complex respiratory systems and all sorts of trapping devices to stop particles going into our lungs. It’s why we have an immune system that’s set up to deal with small foreign bodies. It’s why we have a digestive system that doesn’t let larger impurities get into our system – they just pass through.”
But in another few decades, “if the environment continues to get more contaminated, I think you have got potentially a harmful issue.” This is partly due to the sheer volume of microplastics that will have accumulated by then, and we know that the greater the exposure, the greater the risk. “There was a study from a few years ago that showed that people who work in textile factories in Bangladesh have been exposed to very high levels of airborne microplastic fibres and they do get respiratory disease.”
The other reason the health risks will grow with time is because the older the particles are, the more toxic they can become. They can harbour pathogenic microbes and take on other pollutants such as heavy metals. “And then,” says Hudson, “if you swallow that microplastic, you’re swallowing a small dose of another harmful chemical as well.” These chemicals include, “polyaromatic hydrocarbons, plasticisers like phenol A that are used in things like furnishings and packaging – they can have hormone mimicking or carcinogenic properties. Heavy metals like copper, vanadium, mercury, lead. Cadmium contaminated sediments have already become associated with plastics.”
Meanwhile, avoiding traffic-heavy roads is always recommended, where microplastics are part of the toxic soup of pollution, although Hudson reckons they’re probably the least of your worries next to car fumes and tyre particles. Plastic comes off road markings and wears off brakes, says Hudson, “made from composite synthetic polymers”. Roads are, adds Wright, “a hypothesised source of microplastic particle emissions to the air due to litter being worn down and run over”.
But it’s hard and time-consuming to prove the effects of any one pollutant on health. “In a study, isolating the impact of microplastics versus all the other contaminants such as air pollution would be really difficult,” says Taylor. But rather than sit back and say there’s no hard evidence they cause harm to humans, he says he would rather, “apply the precautionary principle: in the history of environmental toxicology, early concerns were usually born out. So let’s take an approach that minimises – I don’t think we can eliminate – the risk.”
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Environmental Science
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You read that correctly. A team of scientists just tested wild boar meat from Southern Germany and found that radioactivity in the boars stemmed from nuclear weapons testing, rather than the Chernobyl power plant disaster of 1986.
The Chernobyl disaster occurred due to a power plant meltdown in Pripyat, Ukraine, which resulted in a huge amount of radiation escaping into the surrounding atmosphere. The radiation contaminated the surrounding forest, farmland, and living things from livestock to humankind. Radioactivity from the disaster spread as far west as France, and many farm animals in affected areas were born with deformations in the following years.
Enter the radioactive boars of Bavaria. Though not livestock, the wild boar (Sus scrofa) were affected by Chernobyl’s radiation, leaving scientists to conclude that the animals were contaminated by that event alone. But new research published in Environmental Science & Technology suggests that nuclear weapons testing is a contributing factor, though it’s not possible to know which nation or group is responsible.
“There is an enormous upward draft after an explosion; by the time the fallout falls down to Earth, the radioactive material has evenly distributed in the higher atmosphere,” Steinhauser said. “So, it is almost impossible to attribute the fallout to a certain test or country.”
Most of the radioactive cesium floating around Europe is cesium-137, but some of it is the long-lived isotope cesium-135. Both are produced by nuclear fission, the same process used to produce both nuclear power and nuclear weapons. (Fission is not to be confused with nuclear fusion, the process that powers the Sun, some thermonuclear weapons, and which scientists have long pursued as a ridiculously bountiful energy source if properly harnessed.)
Levels of cesium-137 have generally decreased across Europe, but not in the hairy, tusked pigs of Southern Germany. “It is that unique feature that has led to the creation of the term ‘wild boar paradox,’” Steinhauser said. “They are the only animal with a distinct appetite for deer truffles. It has to be an underground source, otherwise Chernobyl would be the dominant source of cesium.”
While other animals’ radioactivity has decreased, boars have kept their numbers afloat due to their truffle heavy diet; buried underground, these truffles act as a repository for “downward migration” cesium-137, the researchers wrote.
The research team measured boar meat samples collected across southern Germany using a mass spectrometer. They found that the ratios of radioactive cesium in the meat suggested 10% to 68% of the animals’ contamination was due to nuclear weapons testing, not nuclear reactors. 88% of the 48 samples testing were above the regulatory limit for radioactivity in Germany, and all samples were above Japan’s regulatory limit.
“The 88% of 48 samples is not representative of the population because we had asked the hunter to get us as highly contaminated samples as possible,” Steinhauser said. “Many hunters (from what we’ve learned) know exactly that a certain boar ‘from this part of the forest at this time of the year’ will be above the limit.”
Steinhauser added that the boars’ diet defines their radioactivity over the course of the year. In the winter, when food is scarce and the animals dig for deer truffles (Elaphomyces), they’ll be more radioactive than when food is plentiful in summer or fall. So as long as you steer clear of the swine in your diet, there’s no reason their radioactive diet should affect you.
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Environmental Science
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Microplastics — small plastic pieces less than five millimeters in length — are becoming a ubiquitous ecological contaminant. Studies suggest that on their own, these tiny bits are potentially harmful, and it’s unclear what effect they could have on pollutants that latch onto them. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters show that, when attached to microplastics, UV filters used in products such as sunscreens can make chromium metal more toxic.
Because microplastics can accumulate other environmental contaminants on their surfaces, such as heavy metals or organic molecules, they could pose even more of a problem for wildlife, plants or humans than originally thought. Previous research has shown that heavy metals can easily attach to microplastics, and that this combination could potentially harm aquatic life. But beyond just sticking to other contaminants, microplastics and the cocktail of substances on them could interact with each other, altering their chemical properties. For example, certain metals, such as chromium (Cr), might take on different oxidation states while on the surfaces of microplastics. And although Cr(III) is relatively safe, Cr(VI) is toxic. So, Kelvin Sze-Yin Leung and colleagues wanted to investigate, for the first time, how the oxidation state of Cr could change when bound to microplastics, and how this could be affected by a common organic contaminant: UV filter molecules.
The researchers created mixtures of Cr and polystyrene microplastic particles both with and without benzophenone-type UV filters. The team found that microplastics could aggregate even more Cr in the presence of a UV filter. In addition, the oxidation state of Cr was higher in the mixtures containing the filters. Finally, the team tested whether this increased oxidation state translated to environmental toxicity for a population of microalgae. The microalgae’s growth was inhibited when exposed to the mixture containing the filter molecule, suggesting that Cr was now in its more toxic form. According to the researchers, this means that microplastics can aid in transforming pollutants into a more harmful form — a previously unproven interaction.
The authors acknowledge funding from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and the Hong Kong Baptist University Seed Fund.
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Environmental Science
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JUNEAU, Alaska -- People in Alaska's capital have lived for more than a decade with periodic glacial dam outbursts like the one that destroyed at least two homes over the weekend.
But the most recent flood was surprising for how quickly the water moved as the surging Mendenhall River devoured riverbanks, undermining and damaging homes, and prompted some residents to flee.
Here are some issues surrounding glaciers and the floods that result from the bursting of snow-and-ice dams.
WHAT CAUSED THE FLOODING IN JUNEAU?
The water came from a side basin of the spectacular but receding Mendenhall Glacier that is known as the Suicide Basin. The glacier acts as a dam for precipitation and melt from the nearby Suicide Glacier that collects in the basin during the spring and summer. Eventually the water gushes out from under the Mendenhall Glacier and into Mendenhall Lake, from which it flows down the Mendenhall River.
Such glacial dam outbursts have been occurring in the area since 2011, but often the water releases more slowly, typically over a few days, said Eran Hood, a University of Alaska Southeast professor of environmental science.
Lake and streamflow levels reached record highs during Saturday's flooding in Juneau, which is home to about 30,000 people and has numerous homes and popular hiking trails near the meandering Mendenhall River.
IS CLIMATE CHANGE TO BLAME?
Climate change is melting glaciers. A study released this year suggested significant melting by the end of this century amid current climate change trends, and a separate report indicated that glaciers in parts of the Himalayas are melting at unprecedented rates.
But the relationship between the changing climate and glacial outburst floods like the one in Juneau is complicated, scientists say.
The basin where the rain and meltwater collect was formerly covered by Suicide Glacier, which used to contribute ice to the Mendenhall Glacier. Smaller glaciers, like Suicide Glacier, respond more rapidly to changes in climate and the retreat of Suicide Glacier exposed the basin, Hood said.
But the floods that occur “really have nothing to do with climate change and glacier melt directly,” he said.
“The phenomenon itself is caused by climate, but the individual floods don't have anything to do with climate because they're basically just the case where water is filling up a basin and then draining at some point during the summer,” he said.
HOW UNUSUAL ARE THESE FLOODS?
These events aren't new and happen in places around the world, threatening about 15 million people globally, according to researchers. There's an Icelandic term for them, jökuhlaups.
But they're not something many in the U.S. think about — even in Alaska, which is home to the bulk of U.S. glaciers, many of them remote.
One challenge with glacial dam outbursts is that the severity and timing can vary from year to year, researchers said.
Celeste Labedz, an environmental seismologist at the University of Calgary, said glaciers are dynamic. For example, as the long-retreating Mendenhall Glacier continues to melt, a process aided by the warming climate, it's possible it will someday no longer block the basin and flooding from that basin will no longer be a concern. But there's also potential for new basins to form, she said.
“As a glacier is thinning and retreating and changing, you can see some floods are going to stop happening and new ones are going to start happening. It's a variable system,” Labedz said.
WHAT HAPPENS AS GLACIERS MELT?
In addition to flooding risks, glacial loss can mean diminished water supplies in parts of the world and could affect such things as agriculture and tourism.
Alaska is a bucket-list destination for visitors drawn by wild landscapes such as mountains and craggy glaciers that spectacularly calve into lakes or the ocean.
Glaciers cover about 33,000 square miles (85,000 square kilometers) of the state, and annual ice loss from glaciers in Alaska would be enough to cover Texas in 4 inches (10 centimeters) of water, said Christian Zimmerman, director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Science Center.
Retreat of glaciers can also affect ecosystems, including salmon habitat, something researchers are hoping to better understand.
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Environmental Science
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Fire, other ravages jeopardize California's prized forests
On a steep mountainside where walls of flames torched the forest on their way toward Lake Tahoe in 2021, blackened trees stand in silhouette against a gray sky.
"If you can find a live tree, point to it," Hugh Safford, an environmental science and policy researcher at the University of California, Davis, said touring damage from the Caldor Fire, one of the past decade's many massive blazes.
Dead pines, firs, and cedars stretch as far as the eye can see. Fire burned so hot that soil was still barren in places more than a year later. Granite boulders were charred and flaked from the inferno. Long, narrow indentations marked the graves of fallen logs that vanished in smoke.
Damage in this area of Eldorado National Forest could be permanent—part of a troubling pattern that threatens a defining characteristic of the Sierra Nevada range John Muir once called a "waving sea of evergreens."
Forest like this is disappearing as increasingly intense fires alter landscapes around the planet, threatening wildlife, jeopardizing efforts to capture climate-warming carbon and harming water supplies, according to scientific studies.
A combination of factors is to blame in the U.S. West: A century of firefighting, elimination of Indigenous burning, logging of large fire-resistant trees, and other management practices that allowed small trees, undergrowth and deadwood to choke forests.
Drought has killed hundreds of millions of conifers or made them susceptible to disease and pests, and more likely to go up in flames. And a changing climate has brought more intense, larger and less predictable fires.
"What's it's coming down to is jungles of fuels in forest lands," Safford said. "You get a big head of steam going behind the fire there, it can burn forever and ever and ever."
Despite relatively mild wildfire seasons the past two years, California has seen 12 of its largest 20 wildfires—including the top eight—and 13 of the most destructive in the previous five years. Record rain and snowfall this year mostly ended a three-year drought but explosive vegetation growth could feed future fires.
California has lost more than 1,760 square miles (4,560 square kilometers)—nearly 7%—of its tree cover since 1985, a recent study found. While forest increased in the 1990s, it declined rapidly after 2000 because of larger and more frequent fires, according to the study in the American Geophysical Union Advances journal.
A study of the southern Sierra Nevada—home to Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks—found nearly a third of conifer forest had transitioned to other vegetation as a result of fire, drought or bark beetles in the past decade.
"We're losing them at a rate that is something that we can't sustain," said Brandon Collins, co-author of that report in the journal Ecological Applications and adjunct forestry professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "If you play it out (over) the next 20 to 30 years at the same rate, it would be gone."
Some environmentalists, like Chad Hanson of the John Muir Project sponsored by the nonprofit Earth Island Institute, said there's a "myth of catastrophic wildfire" to support logging efforts—and he has often sued to block plans to remove dead trees or thin forests.
Hanson said seedlings are rising from the ashes in high-severity patches of fire and the dead wood provides habitat for imperiled spotted owls, Pacific fishers and rare woodpeckers.
His research found forests always had dense patches of trees and some severe fires, Hanson said, contending that increasingly large ones result from weather and climate change, made worse by logging practices.
"If everything people are hearing was true there would be a lot more reason for concern," he said. "But the public is being gaslighted."
However, others are concerned failure to properly manage forests can result in intense fire that could harm wildlife habitat, the ability to store climate-warming carbon in trees and the quality of Sierra snowmelt that provides about 60% of the water for farms and cities.
Burn scars are more prone to flooding and erosion, and runoff becomes tainted with ash and sediment.
"Areas where mixed conifer burned at high severity, those are all areas that are vulnerable to total forest loss," said Christy Brigham, chief of resources management and science at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks. "We have no idea what that means for wildlife habitat, for water cycling, for carbon storage. And that's not even getting into the things we love about forests."
After wildfires in 2020 and 2021 wiped out up to about a fifth of all giant sequoias—once considered almost fireproof—the National Park Service last week embarked on a controversial project to help the mighty trees recover with its largest planting of seedlings a single grove.
CHANGING FOREST LANDSCAPE
Many researchers say the canopy of the Sierra Nevada has changed dramatically since heavy Gold Rush logging.
Before the mid-1800s, fire sparked by lightning or set by Indigenous people burned millions of acres a year. It kept undergrowth in check, allowing low-intensity flames to creep along the forest floor and remove smaller trees competing with big ones.
"The inviting openness of the Sierra woods is one of their most distinguishing characteristics," John Muir said, describing how a horse rider could easily pass through the trees.
But after settlers drove out Native Americans and logged forests, fighting fires became the mission to protect the valuable trees—and, increasingly, homes built deeper into wildlands. In 1935, the U.S. Forest Service established a policy to knock down any fire by 10 a.m. the next morning.
That has allowed forests to become four to seven times more densely wooded than they once were, Safford said. While many larger, fire-resilient trees like ponderosa and Jeffrey pines were logged for lumber, smaller trees that are not so fire resistant have thrived. They compete for water and their low branches allow fire to climb into the canopy of taller trees, fueling devastating crown fires.
"John Muir would not recognize any of this," Safford said, gesturing at a stand of tightly packed dead trees during the tour last October. "He wouldn't even know where he was."
A TINDERBOX TAKES OFF
The Caldor Fire, which destroyed 1,000 structures while burning across the Sierra Crest and into the Tahoe basin, torched forest that hadn't seen flames in over a century, Safford said. Years of drought fueled by a warmer climate had made it a tinderbox.
Swaths of Eldorado National Forest burned at such intensity that mature pines went up in flames and their seeds were killed. Unlike species such as giant sequoias and lodgepole pine that drop their seeds in fire, the dominant pines of the Sierra can't reproduce if their seeds burn.
Manzanita and mountain whitethorn—chaparral typical at lower elevations in California—take root in ashes and can dominate the forest.
Studies have found that repeated fires or other disruption provoke such shifts in ecosystems.
A March study of 334 Western wildfires found increasing fire severity and drier conditions after fire made the dominant conifer species less likely to regenerate and it concluded the problem is apt to worsen with climate change.
Along U.S. Highway 50, where the Caldor Fire had continued burning out of control toward Lake Tahoe, Safford parked his SUV and scrambled up a rocky knoll to point out a slope barren of trees. Forest there had been burned in 1981 and was replaced with chaparral.
The Caldor blaze, allegedly caused by a reckless father and son, is likely to reinforce that condition, Safford said. And whether the severe burn recovers will depend largely on whether another fire tears through in coming years, he said.
TOOLS FOR TREATING FORESTS
To tackle the problem of huge wildfires, the federal government, which owns nearly 60% of California's 51,560 square miles (134,00 square kilometers) of forest, agreed with the state in 2020 to jointly reduce fuels on 1,560 square miles (4,040 square kilometers) a year by 2025.
While a fraction of the land needing treatment, it's considered a promising development after years of inaction, though not without controversy.
Fire scientists advocate more deliberate burning at low-to-moderate severity to clear vegetation that makes forests susceptible to big fires.
But the Forest Service has historically been risk averse, said Safford, the agency's regional ecologist for two decades before retiring in 2021. Rather than chance that a fire could blow up, officials have generally snuffed flames before they could deliver benefits of lower-intensity fire.
Weeks before the Caldor Fire, the Forest Service had been monitoring a lightning fire south of Lake Tahoe, while dealing with more pressing ones. But when the small fire took off, causing millions of dollars in damage, politicians blasted the agency for not doing more. Officials quickly said they would no longer let some naturally ignited fires burn that season.
With more than $4 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Forest Service plans to ramp up forest thinning in places where the wildfire threat to communities and infrastructure is most immediate.
That will include cutting smaller trees, as well as setting intentional fires to clear accumulated forest litter.
BATTLELINES OVER THINNING
Last fall when Safford led two graduate students up a rutted fire road through charred forest, they came upon a patch of life where large pines and cedars towered overhead and seedlings sprouted.
A "nirvana" is what Safford called it. Smaller fire-intolerant trees had been harvested and other vegetation removed before the fire. The space between the trees allowed the fire to creep along the ground, only charring some trunks.
A coalition of Sierra-based conservation groups wrote congressional leaders in 2021 urging more federal funding for fire resilience. Their letter cited "broad consensus among fire scientists, land managers, firefighters" to increase thinning and prescribed fire.
Susan Britting, executive director of one of the groups, Sierra Forest Legacy, acknowledged any cutting triggers skepticism because loggers historically took the largest, most marketable trees. But she said thinning trees up to a certain diameter is acceptable, though she prefers prescribed burning.
"In my experience, things like logging, tree removal, even reforestation, those things happen," Britting said. "The prescribed fire that needs to happen ... just gets delayed and punted and not prioritized."
The goal of prescribed burns is illustrated by a large green island on a fire severity map of the nearly 350-square-mile (906 square kilometers) Caldor blaze. The green area, representing low fire severity, corresponded to where a fire was set among older trees in 2019.
The chance of a deliberate burn escaping its perimeter—as happened last year in New Mexico's largest fire in state history—remains a big challenge to the strategy.
While managed fire and prescribed burns are widely supported by scientists and environmental groups, thinning is controversial and often faces court challenges.
In a 2020 letter to Congress that opposed logging, The John Muir Project's Hanson and more than 200 climate and forest scientists said some thinning could reduce fire intensity but those operations often take larger trees to make it economically worthwhile.
Safford—now chief scientist at Vibrant Planet, an environmental public benefits corporation—acknowledged larger trees have been logged in the past but said that's not now envisioned in thinning projects aimed at making forests healthier.
Even with chainsaws, we won't be able to cut our way out of the problem, he said. Two-thirds of the rugged Sierra is inaccessible or off-limits to logging, so fire will have to do much of the work.
But there's a backlash against fire as as a management tool. Homeowners are anxious prescribed fires will jump perimeters and destroy houses. Similar fears lead fire agencies to tame moderate fires that can clear forest floors.
"It's the classic wicked problem where any solution you derive has huge implications for other sides of society and the way people want things to be," Safford said. "So I'm afraid what's going to happen is at some point we'll burn all of our forests."
Journal information: Ecological Applications
© 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Environmental Science
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“Elevated Levels of Ultrashort- and Short-Chain Perfuoroalkyl Acids in US Homes and People”
Environmental Science & Technology
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have become ubiquitous throughout the environment, and increasing evidence has demonstrated their deleterious effects. A group of smaller, fluorinated compounds are becoming replacements for these “forever chemicals,” though research suggests the smaller versions could also be harmful. Now, a study in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology reports that the levels of these substances in many indoor and human samples are similar to or higher than those of legacy PFAS.
Though PFAS have seen widespread use in consumer goods, including food packaging, period products and toilet paper, some governments are beginning to regulate their use. The most common are PFOS and PFOA — each are built with eight-carbon-long backbones and are considered to be perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs). “Short-chain” PFAAs, containing fewer than eight carbons, and “ultrashort-chain” PFAAs, with just two to three carbon atoms, have been thought to be suitable replacements for PFOS and PFOA. However, recent research has shown that their small size makes it easy for them to move throughout water supplies, and in vitro and in vivo tests have suggested that they could be more toxic than the longer compounds. So, Amina Salamova, Guomao Zheng and Stephanie Eick wanted to see if ultrashort PFAAs are accumulating in homes and in human bodies and understand how they might be getting there.
Over 300 samples of dust, drinking water, serum and urine were collected from 81 people and their homes in the U.S., then analyzed for 47 different PFAAs and their precursors. Of these fluorinated compounds, 39 were detected, including ultra-short and short-chain compounds. For instance:
- PFOS and PFOA were frequently detected in dust, drinking water and serum, but were less abundant than the shorter-chain PFAAs.
- In most dust, drinking water and serum samples, two-carbon-long trifluoroacetic acid was the most predominant PFAA, often followed by three-carbon long perfluoropropanoic acid.
- But in urine samples, the 5-carbon long perfluoropentanoic acid was the most abundant PFAA present.
The researchers explain that the smaller PFAAs could slip through filters into drinking water or accumulate easily in household dust. Interestingly, dust samples from homes without carpets and homes that were vacuumed regularly contained substantially lower levels of PFAAs. From the data, the team determined that dust and water intake only contributed only about 20% of the total PFAA burden in these people. This result suggests that these compounds must primarily originate from other sources — many PFAA precursors can be found in consumer products, and some evidence suggests that they can break down into shorter-chain compounds in the environment or in the body. The researchers say that further investigation into ultra-short PFAA levels, their sources and their effects on human health is needed.
The authors acknowledge funding from Indiana University and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.
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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive press releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
Note: ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies.
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Environmental Science
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Researchers have used a common and widespread species of blue-green non-toxic algae to power a microprocessor continuously for a year - and counting - using nothing but ambient light and water. Their system has potential as a reliable and renewable way to power devices.
Cambridge researchers have developed a battery system (roughly the size of an AA battery) with a type of algae called Synechocystis that naturally takes in solar energy by photosynthesis. Remarkably, this produces a small electrical current that interacts with the aluminum electrode attached to the system and powers the microprocessor.
Not only does the system operate on what is essentially biological and very renewable energy, it is made largely of recyclable materials, meaning it could be easily replicated and scaled to be much larger. According to researchers - whose study was published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science - this sort of technology would be particularly useful for isolated devices that need can't be powered by the electrical grid.
“The growing Internet of Things needs an increasing amount of power, and we think this will have to come from systems that can generate energy, rather than simply store it like batteries,” says biochemist Christopher Howe, joint senior author of the paper. He added: “Our photosynthetic device doesn’t run down the way a battery does because it’s continually using light as the energy source.” That being said, it can still produce energy after the sun has gone down, just not as much.
This union of algae and tech could be used in a myriad of applications and could play a vital role in future initiatives to power essential technology in remote locations, like a desalination unit in a remote seaside village.
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Environmental Science
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Natural gas stoves and ovens can leak harmful chemicals inside homes even when they're not in use.About 47 million U.S. households use such appliances, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.A study published Thursday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology found at least 12 hazardous air pollutants emitted from gas stoves in California, including benzene — a chemical known to cause cancer in some people with long-term exposure.The researchers behind the study — a group from the nonprofit energy research institute PSE Healthy Energy — took gas samples from 159 residential stoves in 16 counties throughout California. They found benzene in 99% of the samples. They also calculated a household's benzene exposure based on the size of the kitchen, the room’s ventilation level, how much of the chemical was present and whether the stoves were leaking when they were turned off. The results showed that the leakiest stoves exposed people to indoor concentrations of benzene that were up to seven times the safe exposure level set by the California Environmental Protection Agency. Over time, such exposure might increase a person's risk of blood disorders or reproductive issues, although scientists are still learning about how benzene affects health. The chemical has more conclusively been linked to leukemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The World Health Organization has said there’s no safe level of benzene exposure when it comes to cancer risk. But benzene isn't the only worrisome chemical that comes from stoves, nor are the emissions limited to California. Decades of research has suggested that gas stoves are a source of indoor air pollution. "Anywhere natural gas is leaked, hazardous air pollutants are likely being released, as well," a co-author of the new study, Kelsey Bilsback, a senior scientist at PSE Healthy Energy, said on a media call. Previous research has shown that gas stoves in California homes emit nitrogen oxides, which can irritate the eyes, the nose, the throat or the lungs and can cause some people to feel tired, dizzy or short of breath. Another co-author of the study, Drew Michanowicz, previously identified 21 hazardous air pollutants from gas stoves and outdoor gas lines at Boston homes. Several of the pollutants were volatile organic compounds: a large group of chemicals, including benzene, that may increase the risk of certain cancers, birth defects or cognitive impairment among people with long-term exposure.But Michanowicz said some of the lowest concentrations of pollutants in California were still about 10 times higher than the averages from his Boston study. The researchers aren’t sure why concentrations vary from one location to the next."We think it has something to do with where the gas is being sourced from," said Eric Lebel, another study co-author. "California has two major pipelines where it imports gas from: one coming from the Rockies and then one coming in from the north from Canada."Bilsback said benzene can enter a gas supply at different points in the system because of how it is stored or transported. From there, it could be released into the kitchen through a leaky stove.The presence of benzene in California homes was consistent regardless of their gas providers or brands of appliances, Lebel said. But stoves in the North San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys had the highest levels, followed by those in greater Los Angeles."Benzene emissions from a gas stove, even while it’s off, can produce in some cases concentrations of benzene in your house that are equivalent to living with a smoker," Lebel said.The American Gas Association, however, said in a statement that the new study relied on questionable assumptions about air flow that were inconsistent with typical U.S. homes.“It is difficult to draw any conclusions from measurements from 159 homes in one state when there are more than 77 million residential, commercial and industrial natural gas customers in all fifty states,” the association said.Andrea De Vizcaya Ruiz, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of California, Irvine, who wasn't involved in the study, said that people can get exposed to small amounts of benzene when they fill up their cars' gas tanks or sit by a fireplace but that exposure to high amounts over long periods of time is worrisome. "It’s one of the most direct chemicals that induces cancer, because it transforms the cells in the bone marrow," she said.Pregnant women, infants and young children may be particularly susceptible to adverse health outcomes from long-term benzene exposure, De Vizcaya Ruiz said. But Lebel said it can be hard to tell whether your home has a leak. Gas companies add compounds to gas that give off a rotten egg smell so major leaks don't go undetected, but the scent usually isn't noticeable unless gas is leaking at high concentrations. In that case, De Vizcaya Ruiz said, people may also start to vomit, feel drowsy or confused or develop headaches."If you ever smell gas, you should immediately leave your house, call the gas company," Lebel said.De Vizcaya Ruiz said opening windows can better ventilate rooms in the short term, which helps mitigate potential exposure, but it won’t eliminate the risk or the root cause. People in California may want to consider calling their gas companies as a precaution to make sure there’s no leak, she added.One of the simplest fixes, Lebel said, is to replace a gas stove with an electric one."Just having a gas appliance in your house can be a potential health risk," he said. "Eliminating gas altogether is the only sure way to completely eliminate that risk."
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Environmental Science
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Framework helps local planners prepare for climate pressures on food, energy & water systems
As the world faces increasingly extreme and frequent weather events brought on by climate change—such as droughts, floods, heatwaves, and wildfires—critical civic resources such as food, water, and energy will be impacted. Local and regional planners need to anticipate those impacts and evaluate what measures can be taken to prepare.
Now, a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional team of researchers has built a detailed framework to provide guidance to these planners. After two years of in-depth consultation with stakeholders in various affected communities, the team prepared a set of analytical tools that can be used to forecast the kinds of strains on resources that may be coming in the next few decades—and how best to address them.
The "toolkit" they developed, called the C-FEWS framework (for Climate-induced extremes on Food, Energy and Water Systems) is being published in a series of papers in a special edition of Frontiers in Environmental Science. Charles Vörösmarty, professor of environmental sciences at the City University of New York, is lead author of the introductory paper describing this new framework, and Jerry Melillo, distinguished scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, Mass., is second author. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation.
The work focuses on two specific U.S. regions, the Northeast and the Midwest, which together account for about 40 percent of the nation's population and GDP. Melillo says that in developing the framework, "we've held a number of meetings with regional stakeholders, trying to develop a sense of what they really care about, and then seeing how our modeling framework can be used to help them think through those issues."
The framework "provides guidance for evaluating options and making decisions related to specific local conditions," Melillo explains. "We are particularly interested in how people respond to climate change in these two U.S. regions given their various interests—and the focus was on the nexus of food, energy, and water."
One disaster affects many interconnected systems
Three critical needs—food, energy, and water—often interact in a disaster, complicating planning, yet are often treated separately in developing policies and contingency plans. Part of the motivation for this work was to bring together people with expertise in different areas to work toward a more integrated understanding of the challenges and potential solutions.
"It's not hard to see that there are intersections between food, energy, and water that could create some pinch points or constraints in the behavior of one part of the system versus another," says Vörösmarty. "We need to look at how these systems are interacting when they all get hit at the same time by these climate changes."
The team looked at two broad categories of infrastructure systems that are affected by weather extremes: "gray" infrastructure, including sewage and water delivery systems and power plants, and "green" infrastructure such as floodplains, cropland and forests. They studied the past 40 years of data on how these systems have been affected by weather extremes, in order to calibrate their models to reflect likely future impacts.
As examples of how the new analysis works, the team looked at several specific cases. One dealt with the way typical coal- or gas-fired power plants use river water for cooling. As temperatures rise, the warmer water becomes less efficient at cooling, and power plant output goes down—just when it's needed for air-conditioning demand. But analysis showed that with the addition of cooling towers, already used in some plants, this efficiency decline could be almost eliminated.
Even though it's a global climate that's changing, the manifestations of those changes are national, if not regional, if not state level, in their scope," Vörösmarty says. "We're learning how to tackle a regional perspective where we are focusing on these macro-scale dynamics.
Changes over the past four decades in Midwestern and Northeastern forests, which provide a range of services that affect the energy and water balances of the two regions, is the focus of another article in this special edition of Frontiers in Environmental Science.
Since 1980, that study found, these regions' forests functioned as a net atmospheric carbon sink; the Midwestern trees stored more carbon than Northeastern trees, but both helped to mitigate climate change and create new wood biomass for future fuel and wood products. Runoff from forests also provided more than 4.6 billion cubic meters of water for potential use by humans during the study period, with the Northeastern forests providing about 2.4 times more water than the Midwestern forests.
But climate variability, particularly as influenced by heat waves, impacts the ability of these forest ecosystems to sequester CO2 and provide runoff, reports the study, which was led by David Kicklighter, a research associate with Melillo at the MBL. Therefore, when planners are developing policies for climate stabilization, energy production and water security, "it will be important to consider how evolving forest infrastructure modifies ecosystem services and their response to extreme climate events over time," they write.
An adaptable framework
The authors hope this type of localized analysis and planning can serve as a model to be adapted to other regions or nations. Other articles in this special edition address climate-induced pressures on food, energy, and water systems in other places, such as Mexico and Bangladesh.
"What we're trying to do," Melillo explains, "is to provide policymakers with a tool to think quantitatively about how best to manage these systems, with some optimum goal of minimizing unintended consequences, and promoting intended consequences… We're trying to provide a clear picture of appropriate policy levers for doing this management."
More information: Charles J. Vörösmarty et al, The C-FEWS framework: Supporting studies of climate-induced extremes on food, energy, and water systems at the regional scale, Frontiers in Environmental Science (2023). DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2023.1069613
Provided by Marine Biological Laboratory
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Environmental Science
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Blue flames rise from the burner of a natural gas stove June 11, 2003 in Orange, California.Photo: David McNew (Getty Images)Natural gas stoves commonly emit toxic chemicals into homes, even when the appliances are not in use. A study published today in Environmental Science & Technology found that, when researchers took samples from gas stoves in California, nearly all of them were leaking harmful levels of benzene, which is known to cause cancer in humans. The amount emitted from some stoves was up to seven times California’s recommended safe exposure limit. OffEnglishResearchers with nonprofit policy research institute PSE Healthy Energy took samples from 159 residential gas stoves in 16 counties throughout California. They took samples from stoves fed by three major gas utilities in the state: San Diego Gas and Electric, Pacific Gas and Electric, and Southern California Gas Company. They found benzene in 99% of the samples.The level of pollution from the stoves varied from sample to sample and from county to county, but Los Angeles had the highest level of indoor pollutants. North San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valley homes had benzene levels 30 times higher than the California average.“While these leaks are often too small to smell, they can still impact air quality and increase human health risks in our homes,” said lead author Eric Lebel, senior scientist at PSE Healthy Energy, in a press release. “We found that just having a gas stove can create benzene concentrations in the kitchen comparable to secondhand smoke.”The researchers estimated that California stoves are leaking the same amount of benzene annually as 60,000 light-duty gas-powered cars, according to the study. But these emissions “are currently not included in any statewide inventories,” the abstract notes.G/O Media may get a commission“Natural gas leaks are a source of hazardous air pollutants that have largely been overlooked,” Drew Michanowicz, PSE Healthy Energy senior scientist, said in a press release. “Policies that phase out gas appliances are not only good for our climate, our study shows that these policies also provide important public health benefits by improving indoor and outdoor air quality.”This study comes a month after California’s Air Resources Board voted to phase out the sale of natural gas space and water heaters by 2030. The state has also voted to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035 to lower emissions. Various cities across the U.S. are also moving to ban gas hookups as part of a larger strategy to address climate change and lower air pollution. Other research has found similar issues with gas stoves. As one writer put it in 2020, “Gas Stoves Are the Scariest Thing in the Kitchen.” A study earlier this year found that gas stoves, even when off, leak the greenhouse gas methane into homes.
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Environmental Science
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Study finds Antarctica's glacial border migrates for miles with the tide
The grounding line of the southern Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica can shift up to 15 km with changing tides, new analysis shows. The research, published today in The Cryosphere, examines the key region where land-based Antarctic ice spills over into the surrounding ocean. Observing and understanding the dynamics of this region can help scientists predict Antarctica's response to climate change, and so how much global sea levels will rise.
"We typically think of ice sheet change as being very slow, taking place over decades, centuries or even millennia. But our findings highlight that there are some processes operating over minutes to hours that may have significant impacts," says Bryony Freer, lead author and glaciologist at the British Antarctic Survey and the Centre for Satellite Data in Environmental Science at the University of Leeds.
The location of Antarctica's grounding line—the boundary between the land-based section of the ice sheet and the floating ice shelf—helps control ice stability. During a rising tide, extra buoyancy lifts more of the ice shelf off the seabed and the grounding line temporarily moves inland. It returns to its seaward position at low tide.
Earlier measurements of such grounding line movement were restricted to small regions over short timescales. In the new study, the researchers monitored a large chunk of the Ronne Ice Shelf grounding line (220 km) for nearly five years.
Using lasers bounced off the ice from the orbiting satellite ICESat-2, the team could measure to within a few centimeters the height of the ice surface and how it rose and sank with daily tides. They used this information to calculate the changing position of the grounding line.
The 15 km shift in the grounding line position between high and low tide described in the new paper is the one of the largest observed anywhere in Antarctica. It shows the grounding line can move at more than 30 km per hour, flushing ocean water several kilometers further inland under the ice sheet.
This exposure to sea water could help the ice melt more quickly from below. In less stable Antarctic regions, such as the Thwaites Glacier, this process is known to have driven long-term historic grounding line retreat.
Grounding line movement depends on the tidal range, the shape of the seafloor and the strength of the ice. The new study found the grounding line in some regions moved inland much faster during a rising tide than it later returned as the tide dropped—a particularly exciting finding, according to the researchers. This is because it suggests that sea water may become trapped under the ice as the grounding line readvances and so takes longer to be flushed out, perhaps increasing the rate at which the ice sheet melts from below.
"It's vital that we improve both our observations and modeling of these tidal processes, to better understand how they operate and work out the likely implications for long-term ice sheet change," Freer says.
The researchers recommend that any future satellite-derived measurements of grounding line position should be timestamped to the nearest hour, along with tide height and phase. They also want to repeat the analysis across more of Antarctica.
Helen Amanda Fricker, ICESat-2 Science Team Leader and Professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, and paper co-author, says, "This work showcases how the unprecedented sampling in both space and time of ICESat-2 can reveal new information about dynamic features on ice shelves. It is critical that we continue these measurements with future missions."
More information: Modes of Antarctic tidal grounding line migration revealed by Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) laser altimetry, The Cryosphere (2023).
Journal information: The Cryosphere
Provided by British Antarctic Survey
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Environmental Science
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Nature has remained in balance for a long time, but climate change due to modern human activities is disrupting the balance of the natural system. The disruption makes it more difficult for humans -- who must work with nature to survive -- to predict the future. Moreover, developing countries with limited understanding and preparation for climate change are more vulnerable to climate change-driven social and economic damage. Recently, a research team from POSTECH corrected the biases of future regional climate model projection data to better understand seasonal changes in the streamflow regime in Pakistan's four main rivers in mid and late 21st Century.
POSTECH'S research team led by Professor Jonghun Kam (Division of Environmental Science and Engineering) and post-graduate researcher Shahid Ali assessed the past and future changes in streamflow timing of the four major river basins of Pakistan including Upper Indus, Kabul, Jhelum, and Chenab River basins. The research team used observational data and bias-corrected hydrological projections. This study was recently published in the Journal of Hydrology.
Hydrology mainly deals with the cycle of water on Earth and the use of surface water. As the science explores the complexity of the natural water flow, various assumptions, statistics, and mathematical techniques, instead of reproduction in the lab, are used to study precipitation, runoff, infiltration, and streamflow and provide basic knowledge and data for the use of water resources. However, climate change and human activities are changing the water cycle itself, rendering it difficult to solve future problems with past knowledge and data.
Pakistan is a representative example of a country suffering severe seasonal changes in streamflow, causing a lack of available water resources for agriculture. To make it worse, the Indus River was inundated over the downstream regions of Pakistan last year, causing catastrophic effects on regional communities. However, understanding of future seasonal changes in streamflow over Pakistan remains limited.
The researchers simulated the VIC-river routing model forced by surface and runoff data from six regional climate models. They later corrected the minimum and seasonality bias against observational records. To quantify seasonal changes in the hydrologic regime, they computed half of the annual cumulative streamflows (HSCs) and the dates of reaching to the first quartile (25th percentile), that is, center-of-volume dates (CVDs) from observed and bias-corrected simulated streamflow data.
Observational records (1962-2019) showed a significant decreasing trend in CVD by a range between -4.5 and -12.6 days across the three river basins, except for Chenab River basin. Bias-corrected hydrologic projections showed decreased CVD by −4.2 to −6.3 days during the observational period. The four study river basins showed that the decreased CVDs range from −5 to −20 days in the near future (the 2050 to 2059 average) and −11 days to −37 days in the far future (the 2090 to 2099 average).
Professor Kam explained, "In late winter, accelerated snow melting processes over mountainous regions in Pakistan can cause changes in available water resources for crop planting in spring. This study highlights diversity in the hydrologic response to a similar magnitude of surface warming in the future climate projection." He added, "there is an urgent need to prepare basin-specific water resources management and policies in order to adapt to climate change."
This study was supported by the Mid-Career Researcher Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) Program of the National Institute for International Education (NIIED), a branch of the Ministry of Education in the Republic of Korea.
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Materials provided by Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH). Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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Environmental Science
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Carbon nanotube membrane unleashes the power of permanganate for superior micropollutant removal
With the rapid development of industrialization, water pollution is becoming more and more serious. The traditional water treatment method can't effectively remove organic pollutants, so advanced oxidation technology has become a possible solution.
As a potential chemical oxidant, permanganate (KMnO4) has been widely studied for water decontamination due to its high efficiency, cost-effectiveness and high stability. However, the poor stability and limited oxidation potential (1.68V) of KMnO4 restrict its applications.
To overcome these problems, researchers have tried various innovative approaches to boost the reactivity of KMnO4. Unfortunately, because of the addition of toxic and expensive chemicals and the occurrence of secondary pollution, these routes strongly impede the scientific progress of KMnO4 oxidation toward practical applications. In recent years, metal-free carbon materials, especially carbon nanotubes (CNT), have emerged as an attractive additive to KMnO4 oxidation due to their environmental friendliness.
CNT is an excellent electron transfer mediator, had been proved as a 'bridge' to facilitate the electron delivery from organic molecules (electron donor) to persulfate (electron acceptors). This may lead to oxidative decomposition of organic contaminants (OCs), rather than converting from KMnO4 to reactive manganese species.
In order to overcome the mass transfer limitation, researchers from Donghua University and Harbin Institute of Technology designed and established a flow-through KMnO4/CNT system.
This study titled "Insights into the electron transfer mechanisms of permanganate activation by carbon nanotube membrane for enhanced micropollutants degradation" was published online in Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering .
In this study, the research team designed a catalytic CNT membrane for KMnO4 activation toward enhanced degradation of micropollutants. The treatment effect of the system was optimized by selecting appropriate operating parameters.
Analysis of experimental data and theoretical calculations revealed the reaction mechanism and compared the utilization efficiency of permanganate in different systems. In addition, using advanced analytical methods, the degradation pathways of the target substances were revealed and the toxicity of the intermediates was evaluated.
Their results revealed that the flow-through KMnO4/CNT system outperformed conventional batch reactor. Under optimal conditionals, a > 70% removal (equivalent to an oxidation flux of 2.43 mmol/[h·m2]) of 80 μmol/L sulfamethoxazole (SMX) solution can be achieved at single-pass mode.
The experimental analysis and DFT studies verified that CNT could mediate direct electron transfer from organic molecules to KMnO4, resulting in a high utilization efficiency of KMnO4.
Furthermore, the KMnO4/CNT system had outstanding reusability and CNT could maintain a long-lasting reactivity, which served as a green strategy for the remediation of micropollutants in a sustainable manner. This study not only demonstrated the potential application of CNT as electronic media in advanced oxidation processes. Moreover, the system design was robust and efficient, and provided a new solution for green environment remediation.
More information: Xufang Wang et al, Insights into the electron transfer mechanisms of permanganate activation by carbon nanotube membrane for enhanced micropollutants degradation, Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s11783-023-1706-0
Provided by Higher Education Press
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Environmental Science
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image: John Graham view more Credit: Indiana University The United States government has set an ambitious national goal of reaching 50 percent penetration of plug-in electric vehicles by 2030, but a new study from researchers at Indiana University’s Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs shows that the U.S. is unlikely to meet this goal unless electric vehicles become more affordable for consumers. The study, “Affordable Electric Vehicles: Their Role in Meeting the U.S. Contribution to the Paris Climate Goals,” was recently published in the journal Frontiers. The research was conducted by Professor John D. Graham and Eva Brungard, who is a research assistant at IU and has held internships at both an electric vehicle manufacturer and trade association. “We need to focus policy makers, automakers, and electric utilities on how to stimulate consumer demand for—and automaker offerings of—affordable electric vehicles,” said Graham, who also authored the 2021 book The Global Rise of the Modern Plug-In Electric Vehicle: Public Policy, Innovation, and Strategy (Elgar Publishing). In 2021, President Joe Biden pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions economy-wide by 2050, a commitment that is now a formal U.S. submission under the 2015 Paris Accords of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. As it stands, transportation is the largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and 58 percent of transportation emissions come from light-duty passenger vehicles, such as cars and light trucks. Reaching Biden’s goal to cut emissions requires a transition from internal combustion engines to zero emission vehicles, such as plug-in electric vehicles, but a number of factors are slowing that transition, among them the price of PEVs. PEVs tend to cost $10,000-$20,000 more than their internal combustion engine counterparts, a price point that is slowing customer acceptance. Surging prices of raw materials used in making batteries and electric motors also have hindered a reduction in the price gap. Graham and Brungard found that the midpoint of prices of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2021—both PEVs and ICE vehicles—to be roughly $45,000. Of the 108 total PEV models offered to U.S. consumers in 2022, only 17 featured a base price below $46,000. Few of those affordable models are appealing to consumers. The good news is that the number of affordable PEVs on the market are increasing, but the dominate U.S. producer of electric vehicles, Tesla, is not prioritizing affordable models. Without more rapid penetration of plug-in vehicles into the affordable end of the new vehicle market, Biden’s goals could be impossible. However, the commercialization of plug-in models in Europe provide hope for reaching the benchmarks, but it will require sufficiently favorable public policies to spur greater consumer acceptance. “Instead of relying on unrealistic mandates from California and other states, the federal government needs a comprehensive electric-vehicle policy—performance standards and incentives—similar to what has been adopted in the European Union,” Graham said. Journal Frontiers in Environmental Science Method of Research Computational simulation/modeling Subject of Research Not applicable Article Title Affordable Electric Vehicles: Their Role in Meeting the U.S. Contribution to the Paris Climate Goals Article Publication Date 7-Sep-2022 COI Statement The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
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Environmental Science
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From the depths of the seas to snow on mountains and even the air above cities, microplastics are turning up increasingly often. Now, in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology Letters, researchers have analyzed microplastics in clouds above mountains. They suggest that these tiny particles could play a role in cloud formation and, in turn, affect weather.
Microplastics -- plastic fragments smaller than five millimeters -- originate from a myriad of items used daily, such as clothing, packaging and car tires. As research in the field evolves, scientists are not only detecting microplastics in the atmosphere but also investigating how they may play a role in cloud formation. For example, a group of researchers recently detected plastic granules, which had water-attracting surfaces, in Japanese mountaintop clouds. So, to learn more, Yan Wang and colleagues set out to look for microplastics in mountain clouds, used computer models to figure out how they could have gotten there, and tested how the particles could have impacted -- and been impacted by -- the clouds.
Wang and the team first collected 28 samples of liquid from clouds at the top of Mount Tai in eastern China. Then they analyzed the samples and found:
To investigate where the plastic particles in the clouds originated, Wang and the team developed computer models that approximated how the particles traveled to Mount Tai. These models suggested that airflow from highly populated inland areas, rather than from over the ocean or other nearby mountains, served as the major source of the fragments. In laboratory experiments, the researchers demonstrated that microplastics exposed to cloud-like conditions -- ultraviolet light and filtered cloud-sourced water -- had smaller sizes and rougher surfaces than those exposed to pure water or air. Additionally, particles impacted by the cloud-like conditions had more lead, mercury and oxygen-containing groups. These results suggest that clouds modify microplastics in ways that could enable the particles to affect cloud formation and the fate of airborne metals. The researchers conclude that more work is needed to fully understand how microplastics affect clouds and the weather.
The authors acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
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Environmental Science
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Assessment of methane emissions from onshore LNG facilities
Scientists at NPL have performed measurements using its DIAL facility to better quantify the oil and gas industry's contribution to global methane emissions. Results from the study have been published in Environmental Science & Technology.
The NPL Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) is a remote sensing, self-contained, mobile laboratory which monitors meteorological parameters and ambient gas concentrations. The system is able to monitor atmospheric pollutants remotely, at ranges of up to ~500m, and works in real-time to collect measurements directly traceable to primary standards of gas concentration.
Methane concentrations in the atmosphere have more than doubled over the last 150 years and mitigation of methane emissions will play a vital role in enabling climate change mitigation strategies. According to a Climate and Clean Air Coalition publication, 23% of all anthropogenic methane emissions are from the oil and gas sector which has 72% reduction potential, higher than any other sector.
In order to characterize the climate impact of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, the emissions across the whole supply chain need to be well understood.
To achieve these goals, this study focused on collecting high quality data from several LNG facilities based exclusively on a direct emission measurement approach. The DIAL enabled quantification of emissions from the key functional elements (FEs), allowing emission factors (EFs) to be determined for each FE using activity data. Among the benefits in obtaining data with this level of granularity is the possibility to compare the emissions of similar FEs on different facilities including FEs present in both liquefaction and regasification sites.
A fundamental advantage of this FE-level approach is that emissions from noncontinuous sources can be identified and separated, enabling the comparison of emissions at FE-level and total emission from different sites that would otherwise be challenging and potentially inaccurate.
Some of these noncontinuous sources can be considered as super emitters when compared to the total site emission; therefore, it is critical to be able not only to quantify the emissions but also to localize these sources allowing operators to carry out maintenance and repairs and improve operating procedures to avoid a repeat of the issue in the future.
This work further underlines the importance of cooperation with the site operators to understand onsite processes and the operational status of each FE during the measurement period, particularly for the noncontinuous sources such as flares and ship loading/unloading, identifying whether operations are typical.
The data and comparisons reported in this paper are novel and showcase the value of the FE-level measurement approach. However, it is critical in the future to continue this type of focused emission monitoring campaigns to measure emissions from FEs under different operational statuses that are representative of the facilities' different activities over the year.
This is vital not only to reconcile results obtained with facility-level and component-level approaches but also to develop a Tier 3 inventory approach for the LNG industry that would lead to more accurate revised worldwide methane emission inventories.
Therefore, additional measurements at both regasification and liquefaction facilities are needed to complement this work and contribute to the design of emission factors, particularly for noncontinuous operations such as truck loading, ship loading, and unloading.
More information: Fabrizio Innocenti et al, Comparative Assessment of Methane Emissions from Onshore LNG Facilities Measured Using Differential Absorption Lidar, Environmental Science & Technology (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c05446
Journal information: Environmental Science & Technology
Provided by National Physical Laboratory
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Environmental Science
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James Lovelock dies aged 103: 'Climate prophet' who first proposed the Gaia hypothesis passes away surrounded by family on his birthdayJames Lovelock has died on his 103rd birthday, his family have revealedHe died last night surrounded by his family from complications releated to fallHe first proposed the Gaia hypothesis in the 1970s, which saw Earth itself as a complex, self-regulating system that created and maintained the conditions for life on the planet Published: 10:49 EDT, 27 July 2022 | Updated: 11:07 EDT, 27 July 2022 James Lovelock, the environmental scientist who first proposed the Gaia hypothesis, has died on his 103rd birthday.Lovelock's wife and children said Wednesday that he died the previous evening 'in his home surrounded by his family,' from complications related to a fall. The family said until six months ago Lovelock 'was still able to walk along the coast near his home in Dorset and take part in interviews, but his health deteriorated after a bad fall earlier this year.'His contribution to environmental science included developing a device to measure ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere and pollutants in air, soil and water.The Gaia hypothesis, first proposed in the 1970s, saw the Earth itself as a complex, self-regulating system that created and maintained the conditions for life on the planet. Lovelock said human activity has thrown the system dangerously out of kilter. James Lovelock, the environmental scientist who first proposed the Gaia hypothesis, has died on his 103rd birthday Advertisement
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Environmental Science
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Scientists raise concerns about popular COVID disinfectants
The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted the unnecessary use of antimicrobial chemicals linked to health problems, antimicrobial resistance, and environmental harm, warn more than two dozen scientists in Environmental Science & Technology.
Their critical review details how quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) are increasingly marketed and used in home, health care, education, and workplace settings despite the availability of safer alternatives and in some cases limited evidence of reduced disease transmission.
"Disinfectant wipes containing QACs are often used on children's school desks, hospital exam tables, and in homes where they remain on these surfaces and in the air," said Courtney Carignan, a co-author and assistant professor at Michigan State University. "Our review of the science suggests disinfecting with these chemicals in many cases is unhelpful or even harmful. We recommend regular cleaning with soap and water and disinfecting only as needed with safer products."
Human studies have found associations between QACs and asthma, dermatitis, and inflammation. Laboratory animal studies also raise concerns about potential links to infertility, birth defects, and more. Further, there has been evidence dating back to the 1950s that QACs contribute to antimicrobial resistance, making certain bacteria species resistant both to QACs themselves and to critical antibiotics.
"It's ironic that the chemicals we're deploying in vain for one health crisis are actually fueling another," said Erica Hartmann, a co-author and professor at Northwestern University. "Antimicrobial resistance was already contributing to millions of deaths per year before the pandemic. Overzealous disinfection, especially with products containing QACs, threaten to make it worse."
QACs are increasingly used in disinfectant solutions, wipes, hand sanitizers, sprays, and foggers, and are also being incorporated into personal care products, textiles, paints, medical instruments, and more. Since the pandemic, levels of these chemicals in the environment and our bodies have increased in parallel.
One of the most common QACs is benzalkonium chloride, but others can be identified on ingredient labels with names that end in "ammonium chloride" or similar. However, disclosure and regulation of QACs varies widely. For example pesticide labels are required to list QACs but paint labels are not. Most QACs are not regulated at all, nor are they comprehensively screened for health hazards.
The scientists recommend eliminating uses of QACs that are either unnecessary or where their effectiveness has not been demonstrated. For example, disinfection with QACs often has no benefit over cleaning with plain soap and water. Other recommendations include requiring full disclosure of QACs in all products and closely monitoring their levels in people and the environment.
"Drastically reducing many uses of QACs won't spread COVID-19," said Carol Kwiatkowski, a co-author and scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute. "In fact, it will make our homes, classrooms, offices, and other shared spaces healthier."
More information: Erica Hartmann et al, Quaternary Ammonium Compounds: A Chemical Class of Emerging Concern, Environmental Science & Technology (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c08244
Journal information: Environmental Science & Technology
Provided by Green Science Policy Institute
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Environmental Science
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Biologists made multiple record-breaking discoveries when they tracked down the heaviest Burmese python known to be found in Florida. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida announced Wednesday it found the 215-pound female Burmese python measuring nearly 18 feet in length in December. Wildlife biologists at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida announced Wednesday, June 22, 2022, that it found in December a 17.7-foot and 215-pound female Burmese python captured by tracking a male scout snake in Picayune Strand State Forest, a region of the western Everglades in Florida. (Conservancy of Southwest Florida via AP) “This season we tracked a male scout snake named Dionysus, or Dion [with a radio transmitter implanted inside] to a region of the western Everglades that he frequented for several weeks,” said Ian Bartoszek, wildlife biologist and environmental science project manager for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. “We knew he was there for a reason, and the team found him with the largest female we have seen to date.” CASEY DESANTIS UNVEILS NEW INITIATIVE TO PROTECT FLORIDA PARENT FREEDOMS Inside the female python, the biologists also found a record 122 developing eggs. The Burmese python is known as an invasive species for its rapid reproduction and depletion of surrounding wildlife. “The removal of female pythons plays a critical role in disrupting the breeding cycle of these apex predators that are wreaking havoc on the Everglades ecosystem and taking food sources from other native species,” Bartoszek said. “This is the wildlife issue of our time for southern Florida.” Bartoszek explained that the pythons have been known to eat white-tailed deer, in addition to 24 species of mammals, 47 species of birds, and two other reptile species. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER After being established in 2013, the conservancy’s python program has removed more than 1,000 pythons from approximately 100 square miles in southwestern Florida.
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Environmental Science
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Plants do not suffer in silence. Instead, when thirsty or stressed, plants make “airborne sounds,” according to a study published today in Cell1.
Plants that need water or have recently had their stems cut produce up to roughly 35 sounds per hour, the authors found. But well-hydrated and uncut plants are much quieter, making only about one sound per hour.
The reason you have probably never heard a thirsty plant make noise is that the sounds are ultrasonic — about 20–100 kilohertz. That means they are so high-pitched that very few humans could hear them. Some animals, however, probably can. Bats, mice and moths could potentially live in a world filled with the sounds of plants, and previous work by the same team has found that plants respond to sounds made by animals, too.
Crying crops
To eavesdrop on plants, Lilach Hadany at Tel-Aviv University in Israel and her colleagues placed tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants in small boxes kitted out with microphones. The microphones picked up any noises made by the plants, even if the researchers couldn't hear them. The noises were particularly obvious for plants that were stressed by a lack of water or recent cutting. If the sounds are pitched down and sped up, “it is a bit like popcorn — very short clicks”, Hadany says. “It is not singing.”
Plants do not have vocal cords or lungs. Hadany says the current theory for how plants make noises centers on their xylem, the tubes that transport water and nutrients from their roots to their stems and leaves. Water in the the xylem is held together by surface tension, just like water sucked through a drinking straw. When an air bubble forms or breaks in the xylem, it might make a little popping noise; bubble formation is more likely during drought stress. But the exact mechanism requires further study, Hadany says.
The team produced a machine-learning model to deduce whether a plant had been cut or was water stressed from the sounds it made, with about 70% accuracy. This result suggests a possible role for the audio monitoring of plants in farming and horticulture.
To test the practicality of this approach, the team tried recording plants in a greenhouse. With the aid of a computer program trained to filter out background noise from wind and air-conditioning units, the plants could still be heard. Pilot studies by the authors suggest that tomato and tobacco plants are not outliers. Wheat (Triticum aestivum), corn (Zea mays) and wine grapes (Vitis vinifera) also make noises when they are thirsty.
Chattering grasses?
Previously, Hadany’s team has also studied whether plants can ‘hear’ sounds, and found that beach evening-primoses (Oenothera drummondii) release sweeter nectar when exposed to the sound of a flying bee2.
So are plant noises an important feature of ecosystems, influencing the behaviour of plants and animals alike? The evidence isn’t yet clear, according to Graham Pyke, a retired biologist at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, who specializes in environmental science.
He’s sceptical that animals listen to the moans of stressed plants. “It is unlikely that these animals are really able to hear the sound at such distances,” he says. He thinks the sounds would be too faint. Further research should shed more light on the matter. But Pyke says he’s perfectly willing to accept that plants ‘squeal’ when stressed.
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Environmental Science
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New research led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has confirmed that coastal water pollution transfers to the atmosphere in sea spray aerosol, which can reach people beyond just beachgoers, surfers, and swimmers.
Rainfall in the US-Mexico border region causes complications for wastewater treatment and results in untreated sewage being diverted into the Tijuana River and flowing into the ocean in south Imperial Beach. This input of contaminated water has caused chronic coastal water pollution in Imperial Beach for decades. New research shows that sewage-polluted coastal waters transfer to the atmosphere in sea spray aerosol formed by breaking waves and bursting bubbles. Sea spray aerosol contains bacteria, viruses, and chemical compounds from the seawater.
The researchers report their findings March 2 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The study appears in the midst of a winter in which an estimated 13 billion gallons of sewage-polluted waters have entered the ocean via the Tijuana River, according to lead researcher Kim Prather, a Distinguished Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry, and Distinguished Professor at Scripps Oceanography and UC San Diego's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. She also serves as the founding director of the NSF Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment (CAICE).
"We've shown that up to three-quarters of the bacteria that you breathe in at Imperial Beach are coming from aerosolization of raw sewage in the surf zone," said Prather. "Coastal water pollution has been traditionally considered just a waterborne problem. People worry about swimming and surfing in it but not about breathing it in, even though the aerosols can travel long distances and expose many more people than those just at the beach or in the water."
The team sampled coastal aerosols at Imperial Beach and water from the Tijuana River between January and May 2019. Then they used DNA sequencing and mass spectrometry to link bacteria and chemical compounds in coastal aerosol back to the sewage-polluted Tijuana River flowing into coastal waters. Aerosols from the ocean were found to contain bacteria and chemicals originating from the Tijuana River. Now the team is conducting follow-up research attempting to detect viruses and other airborne pathogens.
Prather and colleagues caution that the work does not mean people are getting sick from sewage in sea spray aerosol. Most bacteria and viruses are harmless and the presence of bacteria in sea spray aerosol does not automatically mean that microbes -- pathogenic or otherwise -- become airborne. Infectivity, exposure levels, and other factors that determine risk need further investigation, the authors said.
This study involved a collaboration among three different research groups -- led by Prather in collaboration with UC San Diego School of Medicine and Jacobs School of Engineering researcher Rob Knight, and Pieter Dorrestein of the UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science, both affiliated with the Department of Pediatrics -- to study the potential links between bacteria and chemicals in sea spray aerosol with sewage in the Tijuana River.
"This research demonstrates that coastal communities are exposed to coastal water pollution even without entering polluted waters," said lead author Matthew Pendergraft, a recent graduate from Scripps Oceanography who obtained his PhD under the guidance of Prather. "More research is necessary to determine the level of risk posed to the public by aerosolized coastal water pollution. These findings provide further justification for prioritizing cleaning up coastal waters."
Additional funding to further investigate the conditions that lead to aerosolization of pollutants and pathogens, how far they travel, and potential public health ramifications has been secured by Congressman Scott Peters (CA-50) in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Omnibus spending bill.
Besides Prather, Pendergraft, Knight and Dorrestein, the research team included Daniel Petras and Clare Morris from Scripps Oceanography; Pedro Beldá-Ferre, MacKenzie Bryant, Tara Schwartz, Gail Ackermann, and Greg Humphrey from the UC San Diego School of Medicine; Brock Mitts from UC San Diego's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Allegra Aron from the UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science; and independent researcher Ethan Kaandorp. The study was funded by UC San Diego's Understanding and Protecting the Planet (UPP) initiative and the German Research Foundation.
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Environmental Science
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Natural gas stoves and ovens can leak harmful chemicals inside homes even when they're not in use.About 47 million U.S. households use such appliances, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.A study published Thursday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology found at least 12 hazardous air pollutants emitted from gas stoves in California, including benzene — a chemical known to cause cancer in some people with long-term exposure.The researchers behind the study — a group from the nonprofit energy research institute PSE Healthy Energy — took gas samples from 159 residential stoves in 16 counties throughout California. They found benzene in 99% of the samples. They also calculated a household's benzene exposure based on the size of the kitchen, the room’s ventilation level, how much of the chemical was present and whether the stoves were leaking when they were turned off. The results showed that the leakiest stoves exposed people to indoor concentrations of benzene that were up to seven times the safe exposure level set by the California Environmental Protection Agency. Over time, such exposure might increase a person's risk of blood disorders or reproductive issues, although scientists are still learning about how benzene affects health. The chemical has more conclusively been linked to leukemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The World Health Organization has said there’s no safe level of benzene exposure when it comes to cancer risk. But benzene isn't the only worrisome chemical that comes from stoves, nor are the emissions limited to California. Decades of research has suggested that gas stoves are a source of indoor air pollution. "Anywhere natural gas is leaked, hazardous air pollutants are likely being released, as well," a co-author of the new study, Kelsey Bilsback, a senior scientist at PSE Healthy Energy, said on a media call. Previous research has shown that gas stoves in California homes emit nitrogen oxides, which can irritate the eyes, the nose, the throat or the lungs and can cause some people to feel tired, dizzy or short of breath. Another co-author of the study, Drew Michanowicz, previously identified 21 hazardous air pollutants from gas stoves and outdoor gas lines at Boston homes. Several of the pollutants were volatile organic compounds: a large group of chemicals, including benzene, that may increase the risk of certain cancers, birth defects or cognitive impairment among people with long-term exposure.But Michanowicz said some of the lowest concentrations of pollutants in California were still about 10 times higher than the averages from his Boston study. The researchers aren’t sure why concentrations vary from one location to the next."We think it has something to do with where the gas is being sourced from," said Eric Lebel, another study co-author. "California has two major pipelines where it imports gas from: one coming from the Rockies and then one coming in from the north from Canada."Bilsback said benzene can enter a gas supply at different points in the system because of how it is stored or transported. From there, it could be released into the kitchen through a leaky stove.The presence of benzene in California homes was consistent regardless of their gas providers or brands of appliances, Lebel said. But stoves in the North San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys had the highest levels, followed by those in greater Los Angeles."Benzene emissions from a gas stove, even while it’s off, can produce in some cases concentrations of benzene in your house that are equivalent to living with a smoker," Lebel said.Andrea De Vizcaya Ruiz, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of California, Irvine, who wasn't involved in the study, said that people can get exposed to small amounts of benzene when they fill up their cars' gas tanks or sit by a fireplace but that exposure to high amounts over long periods of time is worrisome. "It’s one of the most direct chemicals that induces cancer, because it transforms the cells in the bone marrow," she said.Pregnant women, infants and young children may be particularly susceptible to adverse health outcomes from long-term benzene exposure, De Vizcaya Ruiz said. But Lebel said it can be hard to tell whether your home has a leak. Gas companies add compounds to gas that give off a rotten egg smell so major leaks don't go undetected, but the scent usually isn't noticeable unless gas is leaking at high concentrations. In that case, De Vizcaya Ruiz said, people may also start to vomit, feel drowsy or confused or develop headaches."If you ever smell gas, you should immediately leave your house, call the gas company," Lebel said.De Vizcaya Ruiz said opening windows can better ventilate rooms in the short term, which helps mitigate potential exposure, but it won’t eliminate the risk or the root cause. People in California may want to consider calling their gas companies as a precaution to make sure there’s no leak, she added.One of the simplest fixes, Lebel said, is to replace a gas stove with an electric one."Just having a gas appliance in your house can be a potential health risk," he said. "Eliminating gas altogether is the only sure way to completely eliminate that risk."
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Environmental Science
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U.S. August 24, 2022 / 2:34 PM / CBS News Cities on Fire: The Urban Heat Island Effect Cities on Fire: The Urban Heat Island Effect 09:13 This summer's deadly heat waves have left people throughout the U.S. and Europe desperate for relief. It's urban centers that have felt the intense temperatures the most — and where experts say it's only expected to get worse. That's because of something called the urban heat island effect. "Simply put, it means that urban centers are hotter than the surrounding suburban areas," Liv Yoon, a postdoctoral research scholar at Columbia University's Climate School, told CBS News. She explained that the effect is like a "dome overarching the city" that's created by carbon emissions, air getting trapped amid tall buildings, and a lack of open space and greenery, among other things. "All of that is building and building and it has nowhere to escape," she said. This image shows how the temperature can differ between rural, industrial, downtown, park and suburban areas on the same day. Climate Central This dome effect can cascade over entire cities, although it also impacts specific neighborhoods within that urban area very differently. According to the recently launched heat.gov website, neighborhoods in the same city can have temperatures differing by roughly 15º to 20ºF at the same time depending on their levels of tree cover and and other factors. Pretty much every metropolitan area experiences this effect to some degree. About 85% of the U.S. population currently lives in metro areas, and a the heat island effect is felt most intensely in New Orleans, New York City, Houston, San Francisco and Newark, New Jersey, according to a 2021 report by the nonprofit Climate Central. "Today, there are over 200 to 250 million people that experience temperatures of over 35ºC [95ºF] every summer, living in about 318 urban areas" across the U.S., environmental scientist and climate resilience specialist Deborah Brosnan said. "So, it's a lot of people experiencing it." Yoon, the heat island researcher, is part of a project participating in a nationwide campaign by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to "make heat visible." Teams in various U.S. cities — including Yoon's in New York City — have been tracking temperatures to show the impact of excessive heat and the heat island effect. A map of their findings in New York shows how by the afternoon and evening, the heat index is substantially higher in the neighborhoods of Washington Heights, Harlem and the South Bronx when compared to the Upper East Side, Central Park and the Upper West Side. "Within a city, just because there's a heat wave going on, no one's experiencing that the same exact way everywhere," Jeremy Hoffman, an environmental science professor and scientist at the Science Museum of Virginia, told CBS News.In his own research in Richmond, Hoffman's team found a 16ºF difference between the coolest and warmest places — less than 3 miles apart — at the exact same time during a heat wave.The phenomenon isn't confined to summer heat waves. It's year-round. "Urban areas tend to be several degrees warmer than their outlying rural areas throughout the year," Hoffman said. "That tends to be actually kind of a good thing for our energy needs in the wintertime, but in the summertime … when it's on our hottest days with the brightest sunshine, the least amount of wind and the least amount of cloud cover, these conditions tend to become the recipe for these extreme temperature difference to become the most stark." Yvette Johnson, 54, sits next to a fan outside her family's home in Houston on June 10, 2022, when Texas was under a heat wave alert. BRANDON BELL / Getty Images "Incompatible with human life" Ben Zaitchik, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Johns Hopkins University, told CBS News that urban heat lingers, and is usually maximized, at night. The sustained high temperatures prevent people from getting relief when their bodies desperately need it.The negative impact extends beyond sheer discomfort. Areas with extreme and prolonged heat see increased cases of kids with asthma going to the emergency room, older adults with chronic lung issues having complications, and decreased worker productivity because of heat exhaustion, Zaitchik said. It can also be deadly."There's a literal, physiological limit, which is that once you get above a certain threshold of temperature and humidity, you can't sweat," he said. The body's internal temperature is about 98.6ºF, but without the ability to sweat, the body can't cool down, and body temperature can rapidly increase to 106ºF or more within 10 minutes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "At that point, you're really kind of incompatible with human life," he said. According to the CDC, high temperatures can lead to heart and lung complications, renal failure and kidney stones, and can even impact fetal health and lead to preterm birth.Every year in the U.S., the heat causes an average of more than 700 deaths, more than 67,500 emergency department visits and more than 9,200 hospitalizations. Those who are Black or Native American have the highest rates of death, according to CDC tracking from 2004 to 2018. This table shows the number of heat-related deaths by race and ethnicity and the level of urbanization from 2004 to 2018 in the U.S. Those who are Black or Hispanic are shown to have the highest rates of death. Heat-Related Deaths — United States, 2004–2018/CDC Yoon has seen these health issues in New York, where she specifically researches the social inequities associated with extreme heat. She said that areas with more extreme heat tend to see the most heat-related deaths and illnesses, and also tend to be communities with lower income that are historically redlined. Even in neighborhoods where the heat difference isn't necessarily drastic, the impact can be more intense because there are fewer buffers. On the Upper East Side, for example, Yoon found that more people are likely to have climate-controlled homes or offices and have jobs consistent with good quality health care. That's not the case just a few miles away in the Bronx. "People are supposed to seek refuge from the heat indoors," Yoon said. "But if you live in dilapidated housing or public housing, they're notorious for their lack of cooling infrastructure. You just have nowhere to go, so extreme heat becomes even more of a problem." Most of those who live in the Bronx are people of color, according to the U.S. Census, and the issues the borough experiences with heat echo those in similar communities nationwide. Brosnan said that areas of lower socioeconomic status and higher populations of people of color usually have "significantly higher" heat indexes. They also usually have more air pollution, fewer green spaces, are often closer to traffic or factories, and have less cooling infrastructure. "If you're a single mother, if you're from a minority race, you are more likely to experience heat stress and to be affected by extreme heat or heat waves than people in more affluent or larger percentage White areas," she said. "And that's the real issue, is that the impact of rising temperatures is borne disproportionately by the poor and minorities and those who can least afford to pay for them.""Very high level of danger"Since 1970, 96% of the 246 locations analyzed by Climate Central have seen increases in their average summer temperatures. "Now versus just 50, 60 years ago," Hoffman said, "our summers are much hotter, much more intense." The hotter temperatures are not just a danger to public health, but to infrastructure as well, he said. It's particularly noticeable in regions that were historically cooler but over the past few years have been sweltering under unprecedented heat. "There is a very high level of danger right now, for vulnerable groups in particular," Weather Channel meteorologist Carl Parker told CBS News. When last year's Pacific Northwest heat wave hit, he said as an example, only two-thirds of households in the region had air conditioning. As of 2020, 12% of U.S. households didn't have air conditioning, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and of those who do, just 66% have central AC. Described by the National Weather Service as "oppressive and unprecedented heat," the wave brought record-breaking temperatures to the region, resulting in buckled highways and numerous deaths. That area was among many that experienced yet another deadly surge in heat this summer."Now, suddenly, you're looking at days on end with temperatures above 100 degrees," Parker said. "That's when it gets really dangerous, when you don't have this sort of built-in infrastructure. And then even when you do have this infrastructure, sometimes it will fail." "Roads begin to buckle," Hoffman said. "Airlines can't operate because they're unable to take off in such warm air.""We see things like rolling blackouts," he added, "because so many people are needing to push their air conditioning beyond what they're kind of used to dealing with." And when the infrastructure crumbles, it only compounds on the existing issues, Zaitchik said, pointing to last August's deadly Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm that trampled numerous states. "When you look at New Orleans, where it hit landfall, the heat killed more people than the storm itself," he said, "because the storm knocked out power and then it got really hot and then people died." "No city is immune" The past few years have shown that excessive heat is a nationwide — and global — issue. Utah residents recently had more than two weeks straight of triple-digit temperatures, and last month, the U.K. hit its hottest day on record at more than 104ºF. "No city is immune to this," Yoon said. "...It's becoming more of a problem. One, temperatures are getting hotter, but two, more and more people are congregating in urban centers. So, it's becoming more of an issue everywhere." Parker told CBS News that by mid-century, major cities such as Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tampa and New Orleans, will see a month or more with heat index values of 105ºF or greater. That's less than 30 years from now. And these urban areas, where the heat is most intense, are only growing. "As bad as it will be, in general, it's going to be that much worse in these urban areas. … By the middle of the century, somewhere between 60 and 70% of the world's population will be in urban areas," Parker said. "… And that's gonna mean a lot of dangerous weather for millions and millions of people." Population density will only add to the heat. And a recent report by the nonprofit research firm First Street Foundation found that a "heat belt" will soon emerge in the U.S., stretching from the Gulf Coast to Chicago and encompassing nearly one-third of U.S. adults. "We're already operating on a knife's edge in a lot of ways," Parker said. "... So the big question will be adaptation — do city planners really start thinking about what they need to do to make cities more livable as temperatures are rising?" Since 1970, 96% (235) of 246 U.S. locations had an increase in their summer average temperature and 81% (200) had 7 or more summer days above normal since 1970, according to Climate Central. Climate Central "Billions" will be exposed to hotter temperatures Research from 2019 found that, within 30 years, the heat island effect will raise city temperatures about half of whatever they experience from climate change — and in some places, twice the amount. That means if a city's temperature increased by 2 degrees because of climate change, it can expect an additional degree of warming because of the heat island effect. "This previously unexamined extra warming will expose billions of urban dwellers, primarily in the tropical global South, to greater extreme heat risks," the researchers said. Minimizing greenhouse gas emissions is the primary way to reduce global warming as a whole. In July, President Biden announced $2.3 billion in funding to help in disaster response and expand home energy assistance and offshore wind opportunities. He also signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides almost $400 billion to fund energy and climate projects to help reduce carbon emissions by 40% in 2030. But these actions will only work to help prevent more warming in the future; they won't erase the damage that's already been done. Experts say that means that the world must prepare for a new reality, and now. "Unless cities can adapt … we will reach a situation where, at least in some cities, some of the densest cities, that it will be unsafe for people to live there during the summer," Brosnan told CBS News. Cities impacted by the urban heat island effect must develop three main components of heat resiliency, Brosnan said: create more green spaces to provide shade and help absorb the heat; retrofit buildings to be more economical and efficient in keeping people cool during extreme heat; and finally, better assist communities during times of extreme heat by providing water, cooling centers, assistance and anything else residents might need to survive. "It's a long-term investment and it's a cost," Brosnan said, noting that all of these things will require lots of money and manpower. "The benefit is in human survival." In: Climate Change urban heat island Heat Wave New York Li Cohen Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending reporter for CBS News, focusing on social justice issues. 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Environmental Science
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Plumbing Parts May Leak Dangerous Chemicals Into Drinking Water
Rubber plumbing seals may release harmful additives into drinking water, where they can transform into chlorinated byproducts.
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Some of the additives used to make flexible rubber plumbing parts could be leaking into our drinking water, a new study suggests. Small amounts of these additives were found during the testing of real-world drinking water samples, with additional tests showing that commercial rubber O-rings can release some of these additives when exposed to water and disinfectants.
The research is published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
Rubber as a source of pollution
To enhance the physical properties of rubber for commercial products, manufacturers routinely mix in additives. While these additives are good for the rubber, research has shown that some of these compounds – such as 1,3-diphenylguanidine (DPG) and N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N'-phenyl-1,4-benzenediamine (6PPD) – can leech into the environment and cause harm over time.
For example, as tires wear on the roads, small pills of rubber can be shed that eventually enter the waterways. This is a concern as previous research has shown that these kinds of polymer additives can present a danger to aquatic life.
More recently, the same chemicals have been detected in urban drinking water, though it was unclear how they might have got there. Now, researchers believe that the source of the chemicals could be the rubberized seals and stoppers used in plumbing equipment.
Rubber additives found in real-world drinking water samples
In this latest study, researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, collected tap water samples from 20 local buildings and screened them for the presence of DPG, 6PPD and any related by-products.
They found parts-per-trillion levels of DPG in all 20 samples, with 6PPD and 3 chlorinated DPG byproducts also being spotted at similar levels in select samples.
Samples taken from faucets with aerators contained the highest total amounts of these compounds, leading the researchers to theorize that the rubber O-rings and gaskets inside of faucet aerators and connection seals might be the source of the chemical contamination.
To explore this further, the researchers collected rubber O-rings and gaskets from seven commercial devices and had them sit in water both with and without chlorinated disinfectant for up to two weeks. They found that most of the seals – except for those that were silicone-based – did release some amounts of DPG and 6PPD additives when soaked in water.
Chlorinated forms of DPG at levels consistent with those found in the earlier drinking water samples were also observed in the disinfectant-treated water exposed to the rubber parts.
“Many types of rubber include various chemical additives as accelerators in the production process,” said senior author Shane Allen Snyder, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Nanyang Technological University, speaking to Technology Networks. “What we have discovered is that when certain additives, particularly DPG, are exposed to chlorine in water, chlorinated byproducts can and do form rapidly.”
“Our initial work focused on the release of DPG from car tires or what we collectively call tire wear particles (TWPs), which can be found in urban environments, including air, soil and water, where DPG is subsequently leached,” Snyder explains. “We were quite surprised – and we believe this is the first report that demonstrates it – that DPG is also a component in various seals, gaskets and other fixtures used in household plumbing, such that when chlorinated water passes across these ‘rubber’ surfaces, the same chlorinated byproducts associated with leaching from car tires into water also are formed.”
Byproducts could be a health concern
While past research has focused on the dangers that rubber additives present when they are released during tire wear, this latest study suggests that household devices such as faucet aerators might also be a major contributor to this type of pollution.
The study authors note that these rubber additives are not currently regulated, though they may be of concern. One of the byproducts detected had previously been reported to be potentially genotoxic, which raises public health concerns.
“The exposure to these chlorinated byproducts may be a concern for public health. Our previous work demonstrated that, in human cells, the chlorinated byproducts from DPG are significantly genotoxic and induce gene expression patterns that can be linked to carcinogenic pathways,” Snyder said. “We have performed additional toxicological tests that again suggest that these substances can induce damage to human DNA.”
Based on their findings, the researchers hope that action can be taken to curb any risk presented by these additives. For example, cities that utilize urban run-off in their drinking water supply should be careful to monitor for the presence of these compounds originating from tire wear and rubberized plumbing components.
“We understand that some tire manufacturers are aware of the risks of DPG and are considering alternative chemistries that hopefully do not result in the formation of toxic byproducts when exposed to chlorinated water,” Snyder adds.
“We believe that more research is needed to better understand the widespread nature of rubber materials within devices used in household plumbing and share this information with various organizations that offer certifications for products in contact with drinking water (i.e., the National Sanitation Foundation in the USA),” Snyder continues. “This work demonstrates that even in highly purified centralized water systems, risks to consumers may not be fully considered since household plumbing is not often evaluated as a source of organic contaminants.”
Reference: Snyder SA, Marques Dos Santos M. Occurrence of polymer additives 1,3-Diphenylguanidine (DPG), N-(1,3-Dimethylbutyl)-N′-phenyl-1,4-benzenediamine (6PPD), and chlorinated byproducts in drinking water: Contribution from plumbing polymer materials. Environ Sci Technol Lett. 2023. doi: 10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00446
Shane Allen Snyder was speaking to Alexander Beadle, Science Writer for Technology Networks.
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Environmental Science
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Peter Phillips has spent a lot of time in blackwater.He paddled 2,000km over50 days along the Murray River during the 2016 floods. Most of that was in blackwater, an event often caused by flooding when high levels of organic material are washed into the river systems, and which “basically sucks all the oxygen out of the water” as it decays.He knows what it looks like, smells like, even tastes like.But the Echuca environmental science teacher said this time things are “unusual”. The blackwater is different and “smells like there is sewage in it”.The fish and animals are dying en masse. It is a toxic, painful death.“The fish deaths in the Murray at Echuca are unusual. It does not appear to be a case of the ‘usual’ blackwater,” he said.Phillips believes the low levels of dissolved oxygen (DO), which caused “massive fish kills” along parts of the river system, are from sewage leaks upstream.“The fish are definitely suffering and many have died,” he said. “There are sightings of [crayfish] crawling out of the river.”“One person said even the turtles are dying and they don’t even breathe the water. I think it’s a really high bacterial load, just a really unhealthy soup.”Rescued Murray crayfish will be released once water quality in the Murray River improves. Swan Hill, NSW. Photograph: The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI)In response to community concerns about contamination in the water after widespread flooding across the state, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria has launched a “high quality” sample analysis program. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter The state’s chief environmental scientist at EPA Victoria, Prof Mark Taylor, said the EPA’s advice remains: stay out of the water.“When the whole land is inundated, it will inundate, release and mobilise sewage, which is why we’re measuring for E. coli,” he said.Taylor said this is new territory and a national first for the EPA.“I do believe no other EPA has gone out and done this sort of work like this before in Australia,” he said.The EPA’s warning comes as experts flag warming temperatures combined with flood waters could be the perfect storm for a Japanese encephalitis outbreak.Before he was a high school teacher, Phillips was a biologist and is currently doing his PhD on the interaction between hydrology, geomorphology and ecology during flood events.Phillips suspects major flooding in Shepparton in northern Victoria contributed to significant fish deaths over hundreds of kilometres, including his home town in Echuca.“When the fish deaths started to happen, the water was actually quite milky brown, and that’s sediment rather than tannins that are associated with blackwater events, hence the colour,” he said.Based on the data from DO meters at hydrological stations at McCoy’s Bridge and the Barmah-Millewa forest, Philips could pinpoint the sudden drops in DO levels with the arrival of the flood water from Shepparton.Biologist and environmental science teacher Peter Phillips sampled the blackwater in the 2016 flood. He says this time things are ‘unusual’.“There was major flooding there for seven days from 16 October. Over 1,000 homes were inundated, exposing the flood waters to sewage,” he said.“Perhaps this would be enough, even if the sewage treatment plant was not affected.”The general manager of Goulburn Valley Water, Daniel Flanagan, said the widespread nature and impact of this flood was unlike anything he’d seen before.He said part of their storage network was inundated and affected by flooding, particularly in Shepparton.“So with that being inundated, obviously there is some leakage from that sewerage network.”However, Flanagan said the sewage treatment plants in Shepparton and Mooroopna were not inundated by floods.“But because of all of the flow coming into our sewage treatment plant, we had to do what we call an emergency discharge, but at a water quality which is referred to as Class C,” he said.“It’s been through the full treatment process before we discharge that.”According to Phillips, there have been “massive fish kills” all along the Goulburn, Broken and Murray rivers and their anabranches as the flood water travelled north from Victoria and into New South Wales.“The most sensitive fish are Murray cod – they are usually the first to die and they haven’t been in this case.”Phillips said the first has been “a flood specialist” called yellowbelly, also known as golden perch.Phillips’s kayak on the Murray River in 2016. Photograph: Peter Phillips“So to see the yellowbelly die in supposed blackwater is really quite unusual. It’s their medium, it’s the thing they’re adapted to.”He said the cod are dying too, but after the yellowbelly, and there would be about 15 yellowbelly to one cod in the Murray River at Echuca.“It’s different in a few other places but it’s unusual,” Phillips said.“The smell has been noticed and the fish deaths, yes, yellowbelly seem to be the ones going first. It seems to be a consistent thing.”Taylor said the EPA are working with the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) and using “super high-quality, ultra-trace detection” after they received some additional government funding.Regional sample locations include townships such as Echuca, Swan Hill, Shepparton, and Rochester.He said the EPA are sampling for a range of unusual contaminants such as endocrine disruptors, personal and pharmaceutical care products, along with pesticides and other trace elements.“But some of those elements or compounds are likely to have leaked from sewage treatment systems or flushed off from agricultural sites,” he said.“We think about the people who live in rural areas and they’ve all got onsite septic tanks and seepage trenches.”Taylor said they know, from the analysis of both sediment and water from ongoing operations, it is likely there’ll be “higher levels of E. coli” bacteria, which is an indicator pathogen.But he said the good news is that as the flood water recedes and the pathogens are deposited on the surface, the UV will “ultimately terminate the prevalence of the E. coli”. In NSW, to report areas where fish may be struggling or fish deaths have occurred, call the NSW Fisheries hotline on 1800 043 536. In Victoria, community members can report fish deaths to the EPA’s pollution hotline on 1300 372 842.
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Environmental Science
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Millions of students in the U.S. and Canada are being exposed to toxic “forever chemicals” through the uniforms they wear every day, a new study finds. The exposure to these compounds — also called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — lies in the “stain-resistant” technology often marketed as an advantage in the fabrics. The scientists behind Wednesday’s study, published in Environmental Science & Technology, said they detected PFAS in uniforms from all the popular brands that they tested. “PFAS don’t belong in any clothing, but their use in school uniforms is particularly concerning,” senior author Marta Venier, a professor of environmental chemistry at Indiana University, said in a statement. “School uniforms are worn directly on the skin for up to eight hours per day by children, who are particularly vulnerable to harm.” Venier added. Known for their ability to persist in the human body and the environment, PFAS are notorious for their presence in firefighting foams and industrial discharge. These cancer-linked compounds are also key ingredients in many household items, such as nonstick pans, cosmetics and waterproof hiking clothes. But most school uniforms tested in Wednesday’s study contained PFAS concentrations as high as those in outdoor apparel, the researchers found. In total, the scientists said they analyzed 72 children’s textiles marketed as stain-resistant in the U.S. and Canada in 2020 and 2021. While they predominantly focused on uniforms, they also sampled other fabrics that come into contact with children, such as snowsuits, bibs, sweatshirts and stroller covers. PFAS are often added to textiles due to their ability to prevent stains, making them particularly useful for school uniforms, according to the study. The scientists first screened for total fluorine, which is an initial indicator of the possible presence of PFAS. They then performed targeted analyses for 49 types of PFAS, of which there are thousands. The researchers detected PFAS in all products from both the U.S. and Canadian markets, determining that the most common offender was a “fluorotelomer alcohol” known as FTOH. Total PFAS levels of school uniforms were significantly higher than those of bibs, hats, stroller covers and swimsuits, but comparable to those found in outdoor apparel, the authors determined. Uniforms made of 100-percent cotton tended to have higher concentrations of PFAS than those of synthetic blends, according to the study. Cotton, which naturally attracts water, likely needs additional PFAS treatment to reach a desired stain-resistant state, the authors explained. “What was surprising about this group of samples was the high detection frequency of PFAS in the garments required for children to wear,” study co-author Graham Peaslee, a professor of physics at Notre Dame, said in a statement. “Children are a vulnerable population when it comes to chemicals of concern, and nobody knows these textiles are being treated with PFAS and other toxic chemicals,” Peaslee added. About a quarter of U.S. and Canadian school-aged children were wearing uniforms as of 2018, the authors noted, citing data from Statista. That same year, about one-fifth of U.S. public schools required students to wear uniforms, the researchers added, referring to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics. PFAS in treated uniforms could end up in children’s bodies through skin absorption, as well as from eating with unwashed hands and hand-to-mouth behaviors often exhibited by younger children, the scientists warned. The main type of PFAS found in the uniforms, FTOH, also poses an inhalation risk, according to the study. PFAS-treated uniforms remain a source of potential contamination in the environment when they are worn, laundered, discarded or recycled, the authors explained. Part of the problem, according to Peaslee, is that “there is no consumer option to purchase clothing that can be washed instead of clothing that comes coated with chemicals to reduce stains.” Peaslee, whose novel method for detecting fluorine was integral to the study, called for increasing textile labelling so that consumers can make the informed decision “to pick garments that were not treated with chemicals for their children.” Both New York and California have recently advanced bills that would phase out PFAS from textiles, including school uniforms, the authors noted. New York’s S6291A and California’s AB-1817 have both passed through their state legislatures and are awaiting signature from their respective governors. “I don’t know any parent who values stain repellency over their child’s health,” co-author Miriam Diamond, a professor of environmental chemistry at the University of Toronto, said in a statement. Co-author Arlene Blum, executive director of Berkeley, Calif.-based Green Science Policy Institute, echoed these sentiments, stressing that manufacturers should “prevent harm by moving away from PFAS as soon as possible.” “To protect our children and future generations, the whole class of PFAS should be eliminated from school uniforms and all other products where they are not essential,” Blum added.
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Environmental Science
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In this post we are going to discuss: The benefits of solar energy in schools.Solar energy is a promising and highly valuable resource for the future, with the increasing trend to this type of energy, some schools are looking to use this energy source more effectively. The question is, why are schools looking for this transition? and how can solar energy be used in schools ?In 2020, the USA recorded a total of 7300 k-12 schools using solar panels to generate electricity, with an annual growth of 24% from 2017 to 2020. Installing solar panels in schools could help in :Help districts to reduce their electricity bills costs.Offer a clean environment for students.Raising awareness of renewable energy.Leverage savings from reduced electricity costs for community development and campuses improvements.Reduce carbon footprint.Benefits of Solar Panels in Schools: How Students benefit from solar energyCase Study 1#:The first study was published by Mark Hooft in 2005, and it analyzed the effect of Ohio schools going solar on student perceptions of the quality of learning.Is solar energy for home really worth it ?This study Focuses on the exploitation of technology tools presented by two large solar arrays installed and connected to a classroom to collect real time data. Solar energy projects in schools have a long history, In 2000, an Ohio middle school was the third sample to use solar panels as part of a scientific research process in projects such as Energy Smart Schools.How solar energy availability problems affect productionThe ultimate objective of the above projects is to increase the awareness of solar power, as the cooperation between schools and local institutions has had a positive impact on reducing the cost of electricity and has also helped to reduce the cost of studies. Case Study 2#:Another study has been published in the international journal of environmental & science education, It analyzes how students understand the complex concepts of science education, and how this will affect their future decision-making.Koulaidis and Christidou (1999) stated that students were more likely to refer to the sun as a source of heat, rather than a source of light energy. In addition, students showed a high level of confusion in distinguishing the causes of global warming.7 Short term benefits of solar energy revealedStudy outcomes revealed some familiarity with photovoltaic terms understanding. However, there is contradictions in the form of energy received from the sun. This is one of the most important benefits of using PV energy in schools, teaching the principles of solar energy as an alternative source of energy that we should use in the future because of the advantages it offers over fossil fuels.How Does Solar Energy in Schools Benefit community ?Using Solar energy systems in educational institutions like universities and schools' roofs will help with the following : Make the university and school community more sustainable : using sunlight to generate electricity will help reduce primary resources' waste, limit the effect of greenhouse gases pollution.Take advantage of energy excess to power public lighting.Enhance air quality and protect human health.Ensure access to power at affordable prices for everyone.Create a stable social economy and provide viable solutions.Meet the students needs, so they can feel safe and satisfied.The majority of school expenses are devoted to electricity and heating. By substituting fossil-based energy sources with solar energy, the benefits will multiply, including a decrease in school greenhouse gas emissions and a reduction in the maintenance costs associated with conventional energy generators.Benefits of solar energy in schools to power distribution systemUrban communities, including schools, receive energy through ground networks; however, some of this energy is generated as heat during transmission. In order to maintain grid stability, we had to greatly reduce the amount of energy transmitted through the grid by installing solar power generation sources on the roof of the school.Photovoltaic VS concentrated solar power which one is betterThe lifespan of transmission lines and transformers can be increased by reducing loads, for example, if a transformer has a lifespan of 20 years, it can be extended by 5 years by reducing operating loads. This will not only result in money savings in utilities, but will also boost productivity and profitability. The term availability of supply is mandatory in the legislation of electricity companies. In spite of this, this term is not always upheld due to major forces or unexpected circumstances. In the event of a hurricane or other such event, the risk of power outage is high, as appeared differently in relation to the case where the power supply is located solely on the roof.Frequently Asked QuestionsWhy schools don't have solar panelsMost schools often suffer from insufficient funding and try to save as much money as possible. This is why solar panels, mostly very expensive, cannot be installed. In this case schools should look for ideal financing programs or wealth parent opportunities to support them by preparing and providing the school estimated consumption and the available space to determine how many solar panel your school need.How many solar panels does a school needThe answer is : it depends on you school power consumption. Usually, Schools need between 900 and 1250 polycrystalline solar panels and between 750 and 980 monocrystalline solar panels.Solar panels for schools costThe cost of rooftop solar panels is 3$ to 5$ per watt, totaling 0.9 million dollar to 1.5 millions per school with a usage of 300kW.ConclusionBenefits of solar energy in schools are numerous including :Reduced electricity bills costs.Increase sustainability potential by creating greener buildings.improve schools economic rates.Spreading awareness of energy independence.These are the reasons for schools to go solar, and for university and school communities to learn more about climate change and energy crisis.References :Alsamamra, H., & Shoqeir, J. (2021). Solar Photovoltaic Systems on Public Schools Buildings: A Case Study in Palestine.Hooft, M. V. T. (2005). The effect of the “Ohio Schools Going Solar” project on student perceptions of the quality of learning in middle school science. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 37(3), 221-243.Limiansih, K., & Fauziana, U. A. (2020, February). The development of the pictorial stories about solar panels for elementary schools. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1470, No. 1, p. 012036). IOP Publishing.Ibrik, I. (2019). Techno-economic impact of Grid-connected rooftop solar PV system for schools in Palestine: a case study of three schools. 670216917.Kishore, P., & Kisiel, J. (2013). Exploring High School Students' Perceptions of Solar Energy and Solar Cells. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 8(3), 521-534.Solar Power Wikipedia
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Environmental Science
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A bus stop in Sattel, Switzerland, where the rain melted what snow had fallen, Jan. 11, 2023. (Andrea Mantovani/The New York Times)SATTEL, Switzerland — It was the last thing Simon Bissig, a ski resort director, wanted to see as he trudged into the Swiss Alps guesthouse on a January day. The bright wooden lodge should have been crowded with parents sipping hot drinks as they cheered on children gliding down the slopes.Instead, it was empty, and in place of frosty windows, the panes were lashed with rain.Where guests would have dined, an unlikely crisis session was being held. Marketing advisers reviewed plans for what had become a gnawing, existential question: What could be done with a ski resort without enough snow?Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times“I think we have to see that something is dying,” said Michelle Furrer, the manager of the guesthouse, which is on the same slope as the ski resort, Sattel-Hochstuckli, that Bissig runs. “We have to accept that, and then we can try to build — to find something else.”It is hard for employees at the resort and many villagers in the town of Sattel, just under 30 miles from Zurich, to acknowledge that the days of skiing there may be numbered.As the planet warms, Europe has faced a bruising year of climate crises. In the summer, many regions suffered severe drought and record heat. Already this year, some areas have seen the highest-recorded winter temperatures — so warm that many ski resorts could not even make snow.For Switzerland, whose glaciers and snowpack form a crucial storehouse for European water supplies, the effect has been especially alarming. The country is warming at more than double the rate of the global mean and its glaciers lost 6% of their volume in the last year alone, according to Swiss federal authorities and a glacier monitoring group.The changes pose a risk to some parts of a Swiss ski industry that by some estimates generates around $5.5 billion a year. But in a country where nearly everyone skis, the loss of snow is more than an economic or environmental danger. It is a threat to national identity.“Skiing here was something like the people’s sport,” Bissig said. “And you feel that, little by little, that is diminishing. It’s very sad.”For years, people in places like Sattel, where the tallest peaks are about 5,250 feet above sea level, thought they would be spared the worst snow loss. Now, climate scientists say places below 6,500 feet will most likely face a future without snow if current warming rates continue. Even those higher up, a recent study suggested, could probably survive as tourist destinations only with the help of the energy- and water-intensive production of artificial snow.When recent temperatures made even fake snow a challenge, social media was flooded with videos of crowds of tourists skiing down narrow strips of artificial snow on green Alpine slopes. Local tabloids skewered Swiss resorts for desperate measures, including bringing in snow by helicopter and offering alternative entertainment, like hiking with goats.Last week, a new wave of precipitation augured snowier weeks ahead for higher Alpine resorts. But the problems are not over. Sattel-Hochstuckli, which used to average 12 to 25 inches of snow by now, has only 3 inches, and much of that is being washed away by rain.At Sattel-Hochstuckli, Bissig opened the summer toboggan chutes for the Christmas tourist season. Elsewhere in Sattel, residents are developing yearlong tourism strategies.For decades, Herrenboden, a rustic wooden lodge nestled between the slopes, had been a winter-only ski chalet. But Silvan and Julia Betschart, who run it, have turned the three-generation family hotel and restaurant — decorated with sheep skins and deer antlers — into a year-round destination, catering to hikers in warmer months.Silvan Betschart refuses to let the warm winter frighten him and is still skeptical that the main cause is climate change. “We have had periods of bad winters,” he said. “I was born in a snowless winter, and this year my daughter was. The snow comes back.”But climate scientists say there is a clear decline in snow.“Statistically, it’s a super strong pattern: We are getting more and more years with less and less snow,” said Sabine Rumpf, a professor of environmental science at the University of Basel.Her team has conducted satellite research showing that nearly 10% of snow cover was no longer present in the summer months on Alpine regions at 5,577 feet above sea level.Sonia Seneviratne, at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Zurich, said last summer was particularly unsettling because some glaciers lost up to 20 feet of ice. If global leaders do not act to limit warming to a threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius, she said, the deterioration will quicken.“The best case is that winters like this come again every so often,” she said. “The worst case is that in the future, this will look like a really good winter.”Swiss resort managers who use fake snow bristle at criticism over their sometimes high-energy-use efforts to cope with the lack of snow. Gstaad, a popular ski destination between Geneva and Bern, faced days of disparaging headlines and critiques from Green Party politicians after using a helicopter to transport snow and re-cover a ski run washed out by rain.Matthias In-Albon, CEO of Gstaad, said that the route was critical for keeping many mountain slopes connected, and that many places in Alpine areas use helicopters year-round for bringing in food and supplies. One lift of snow was “elaborate,” he agreed, but the bigger problem was the expectations of customers in the modern era of mass tourism.In previous decades, In-Albon said, skiers accepted that holiday trips were at the mercy of the weather.“People were used to finding rocks on the piste from time to time, or that all slopes were not open at Christmas,” he said. “Nowadays, guests expect all slopes open for Christmas. If you don’t do that, then the customers will book in another destination.”In the Alps, rural mountain communities have become dependent on that business, he said, working at ski lifts and hotels to supplement farming or other traditional incomes the rest of the year. “We have a micro-economy here that works, thanks to the winter tourism,” In-Albon said.The economic impact is already being felt at Sattel-Hochstuckli, where Bissig said the resort could lose half of its profits this year if enough snow does not fall.Furrer, the guesthouse manager, has been allowing guests to cancel reservations. Most of the hotel rooms are empty, and she dreads the morning phone calls to her staff.“I have to call them and say, ‘Don’t come, we don’t have enough customers,’” she said. “It makes my heart break.”She has been applying for government aid for employees when a business is in trouble.Sports events have suffered, too. In Germany’s Alps, the Alpine skiing World Cup canceled some events because unseasonable winter rain had ruined prepared ski runs.In the Bavarian village of Ruhpolding, the tourism director, Gregor Matjan, helped the town save its longtime tradition of a Biathlon World Cup, a race mixing cross-country skiing with rifle shooting.This year, biathlon attendees slopped through mud to watch competitors whip along a track made of “farmed snow” — snow stored and packed from the previous winter and covered in reflective tarp. Because the covered piles require no electricity for cooling, he said, it is a relatively environmentally friendly option.“This year was really exceptional, but we know that due to climate change, years like this will come more often,” he said. “So we have to find ways to deal with the economic impact.”Some, like Thomas Schmid in Sattel, have opened businesses that embrace the coming change.Schmid, a professional asset manager, sold off his father’s traditional Alpine cattle herd and bought goats, shocking some of his neighbors. But goats, he said, with their small hoofs and lighter weight, cause less damage to Alpine vegetation more exposed without winter snow cover. And goats can resist the varying temperatures better than cows.He and his sisters have now opened a restaurant and shop, Blüemlisberg, and are experimenting in making goat-milk chocolates and ice cream. They invite tourists’ children to come play with the goats, and hikers to end mountain treks at their restaurant with goat cheese fondue.“I’m from here — it hurts me, too, to think we cannot ski here anymore,” Schmid said. “But people are starting to come to terms with this. The climate is changing. So we have to, too.”© 2023 The New York Times Company
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Environmental Science
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Subsets and Splits
List Unique Topics
Simple retrieval of unique topics from the dataset, useful for basic exploration but lacks deeper insights.