Stem Cell Ruling Will Slow Research--But Not Stop It
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth issued a ruling that undoubtedly stunned many boomers who've been hoping that treatments based on embryonic stem cells might eventually spare them from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other age-related diseases.
Lamberth's ruling (here's the full text) essentially blocks the Obama Administration from providing federal funding for research involving embryonic stem cells. Read more...
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On Our Radar: Mad Men, Jacqueline Bisset and Pumping Iron at 73
Sharpen your pencils (or open your iPads)--a new bit of medical lingo is making its way into our lives. It's sarcopenia, a condition in which older people experience significant muscle loss. The New York Times reports that what has, in the past, been shrugged off as an inevitable part of the aging process, is now on the cusp of becoming a diagnosis akin to osteoporosis.
"In the future, sarcopenia will be known as much as osteoporosis is now," said Dr. Bruno Vellas, president of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics.
Researchers involved in the effort say doctors and patients need to be more aware that muscle deterioration is a major reason the elderly lose mobility and cannot live independently.
Study: Dramatic Rise in 50+ Social Media Use
In the past year, I've gotten Facebook friend requests from my 74-year-old father, 60-year-old aunt, a friend's 75-year-old mother and dozens of high school and college friends and assorted ex-work colleagues, all of whom are in their early to mid-50s.
So it's no surprise to hear that the fastest growing group on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks is people over 50. Read more...
Peace Corps Calls for Videos to Mark 50th Birthday
In 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy's campaign proposals included one particularly novel idea. He wanted to recruit an army of volunteers who would counter the threat of international communism not with guns, but by working in impoverished and developing countries to improve the lives of people there. In a Nov. 2, 1960 speech in San Francisco, Kennedy described his vision for what he called a "peace corps."
"We cannot discontinue training our young men as soldiers of war," Kennedy told the audience, according to a New York Times account. "But we also need them as ambassadors of peace. This would be a volunteer corps--and volunteers would be sought among talented young women as well--and from every race and walk of life." Read more...
Older Workers Fill Jobs in Place of Teens
I don't need the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to tell me that more older Americans are working right now than teenagers.
I can just go to Target.
One look at the red-shirted employees manning the checkout counters at my local store is all I need to see that the number of people over 65 currently employed has overtaken the number of workers 16 to 19.
Read more...
Eco-Saturday: Oil-Eating Microbes, Wearable Batteries and a Tiger Cub Rescue
As the date of the final kill of BPs crippled Macondo Well draws closer, scientists say they've discovered a new oil-eating microbe living large in the Gulf of Mexico. "Scientists discovered the new microbe while studying the underwater dispersion of millions of gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf following the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig," the Associated Press reports.
A more skeptical view on the effects of the BP disaster from Mother Jones, which reports clean-up workers in far-off Pensacola, Fla. discovered two tons of oil in a single night. Read more...
You're Never Too Old to Join This Marching Band
Sometimes second acts are something new and different.
But who says there's no going back? Definitely not members of the Get a Life Marching Band, whose trombone, tuba and trumpet players, dancers and color guard are happily reliving their high school or college marching band days. Read more...
On Our Radar: Online Swapping, Roseanne Cash and Private Jets for Pets
If you're in the market for a great summer read, try Composed, the new memoir by Roseanne Cash. Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times calls the book "witty, poignant, heartbreaking and disarmingly honest."
Maybe you're looking for that inspirational push to try something really, really different, there's the story of Angela Miller, who went from literary agent to goat farmer. Talk about a detour. Read more...
Nano "Cluster Bomb" Could Fight Cancer, Extend Lives
As boomers get older, we tend to worry more about the Big C--and unfortunately, those fears are justified. As this 2007 article from the scientific journal Nature details, scientists have discovered that the biological processes of cancer and aging, while different and separate, are woven from similar molecular threads.
But maybe we don't have to be so fatalistic: A breakthrough announced this week by scientists at Israel's Tel Aviv University holds out the possibility of dramatically improving the chances of surviving many types of cancers that have been difficult to treat. Read more...
Turn Trash to Treasure with Online Swapping
It's undeniable that the recession has created a more conscious
consumer. Coming off a binge of consumption, more people are simplifying
their lives and looking for new ways to save money. The age-old
practice of bartering has recently seen resurgence online where people
are trading everything from books, to cars, to manual labor.
"Swapping is a very natural behavior that occurs in all of our everyday lives, traditionally with our family and friends offline," says Jeff Bennett, CEO of the one million-member online trading site Swaptree.com. "With the web becoming an increasingly social place, we're now seeing a real emergence online." Read more...
