Category Archives: Life Extension

Freedom is a big deal for our society. We want freedom of speech, political freedom, freedom of the press, religious freedom, and freedom of choice over anything that may concern us directly.

The level of personal freedom that is available does depend on what country you live in, and some people complain that freedom is not the same everywhere. What is certain is that most people today enjoy a greater level of freedom than previous generations.

Of course, it is not always easy to act upon the choices we are given, and sometimes people are free to choose in theory but not in practice. However, in general, we have more choices and options than those who came before us would have imagined possible. For example, a Victorian mill worker would likely be astounded by how much freedom and the rights that a worker today has.

Healthcare is another example of this shift towards more freedom. Back in the 1800s, if you were trying to avoid getting the flu or some other infectious disease, you had no real options to evade them. How infectious diseases spread and the mechanisms by which they made people sick were not understood at all.

This meant that people had no idea what they should or should not do to avoid becoming sick. At the time, sanitation and hygiene were not standard practices, and medicines such as vaccines were few and far between, the first being invented in 1796 by Edward Jenner to treat smallpox.

Of course, there were plenty of quacks and snake oil salesmen around at the time, as there are right now in our field, peddling useless tonics and remedies. However, these bogus medicines at best did nothing and at worst could cause harm. The truth is, if someone was actively trying to prevent getting the flu, which at the time was frequently deadly, there were simply no options.

Thankfully, today is a very different story and there are plenty of options to help you avoid infectious diseases. Hygiene and sanitation are now commonplace throughout the world, which helps a lot, and there are vaccines available too. While you could, of course, choose to live in filth and not get vaccinated, you do have the option to do the opposite too. This is a choice that people living in the 1800s simply could not make.

Of course, access to those things and medical care in general does depend on where you live and affects your ability to choose, but this is a different matter. The option to prevent disease exists in principle, and you may be able to use it, unlike our ancestors, who had no such option.

Therefore, it seems pretty clear that having the option to avoid diseases is a positive thing. In fact, it is hard to imagine that anyone would willingly choose to be sick if there was a choice to not be.

Of course, you could still turn down the option if so inclined, as people are not forced to undergo treatment, except in the case of the few countries where the right to refuse treatment does not exist. Normally, the opposite is true; people want the treatment and could, in theory, take it, but for some reason, there is no access to it.

Unfortunately, its not always possible to avoid disease. There are some diseases that you cannot avoid or choose to cure if you get them, because we lack the means to prevent or treat them effectively. If we had the means, then just like the things we can prevent or cure, people would have the option to use them and thus expand their possibilities and freedom to stay healthy.

The majority of diseases and ailments that we currently cannot prevent or cure are, of course, age-related diseases. Alzheimers, Parkinsons, heart disease, COPD, type 2 diabetes, fibrosis, arthritis, and sarcopenia are all conditions we cannot effectively prevent or cure. Some of these are hindrances to daily life, some rob a person of dignity and independence, and some are directly fatal.

Giving people freedom from age-related diseases is quite literally what life extension is all about. Ultimately, the goal of life extension is to make chronologically old and chronologically young people, at every physical level, indistinguishable from one another. Healthy longevity would also be a likely pleasant side effect of making an older person biologically younger.

Right now, everyone is sitting on a metaphorical fast train that is speeding towards disability, disease, loss of independence and dignity, suffering for ourselves and our loved ones, and, ultimately, death.

There are a couple of things we can do to potentially modestly slow down the train. Things such as eating a healthy diet, fasting, caloric restriction and exercising may help, but thats not going to slow down the train very much. Inevitably, it will speed onwards to a place where youre sick enough to die.

Indirectly, life extension also means having more control over how long youd like to live, because a longer life is only the logical consequence of being healthier for longer. Only wanting to live to a particular age and no further seems absurd, but it is likely strongly influenced by the knowledge that living decades longer than we do now is not yet possible.

Currently, you can choose to live a shorter time than the maximum human lifespan (how easily, dignifiedly, or pleasantly attainable this may be is a different matter, but the point is the same as beforein principle, you can choose to live a shorter time); but if you wanted to live longer than that, you couldnt, not even in principle.

However, should life extension technology become possible in the future, at the very least, you would have the option to live longer, and in a best-case scenario, youd have the option to live in perfect health for as long as you see fit. Right now, you dont have that option. In this regard, your freedom is severely limited.

This is all that life extension means: the freedom to be healthy and control over how long you want to exist.

Any discussion of extending healthy human life always descends into debating ethics, delving into the twists and turns of hypothetical dystopian futures with immortal dictators and pondering if extending lifespans is or isnt natural. People debating whether or not living longer may carry the risk of eternal boredom in the future should remember that people die of age-related diseases at a horrifying average rate of one per second.

It is difficult to say that there are worse problems than aging when in the time it took to say it, two people died of age-related diseases, quite probably after having spent the last ten or twenty years of their lives in increasing misery. No one dies just of old age, which is part of why the FDA does not acknowledge aging as an endpoint. Instead, the root causes of aging are responsible for the worlds greatest killers: heart attack, stroke, and cancer.

Letting people die from such diseases, which rejuvenation technology might potentially prevent, is not a valid approach to solving overpopulation any more than mass murder would be. Instead, it makes more sense to focus on more humane, efficient, and ecological measures to reduce the impact of population growth, such as switching to clean energy sources and making lab-grown meat an affordable and widespread reality. Attempting to solve unequal access to rejuvenation technology should not mean giving up on its development; that simply condemns everyone, rich and poor.

In general, we cannot expect everyone to join our goal to stop the train or even agree that we should. The good news is that we dont need everyone to stop the train; we only need enough people. No great revolution ever required a concerted effort of the whole worlds population, and the rejuvenation revolution will hardly be any different in this regard.

However, the relatively few people were going to need must first be found and reached out to, which is why advocacy is of the utmost importance. Whether its through your website, over the dinner table, or with a public speech, spreading the word to as many people as you can will increase the odds that someone will listen and decide to join, help us pull the trains brakes, and set a new course to a place where we have the freedom to live as healthily as we like for as long as we like.

Finally, if you want to support our advocacy and educational work, please consider becoming a Lifespan Hero or making a one-off donation. We are a US-based non-profit organization and rely on donations to bring you the latest news and educational content while we continue advocating for research to make age-related diseases a thing of the past.

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Life Extension Is Another Form of Freedom - Lifespan.io News

Vanilla Sky is despised. The prime reason might be that many viewers were taken aback when they first watched the film. The film was advertised as a romance, although its really a science fiction film. Vanilla Sky was inspired by the Spanish film Abre Los Ojos, which translates to Open Your Eyes. Lets take a look at why its one of the most underappreciated films of all time:

On the exterior, Vanilla Sky is the tale of David Aames, a magazine magnate and exec battling a nasty board of directors for management of his firm. Whether its lovers like Julie Gianni or pals like Brian Shelby, Aames treats everyone with contempt. However, one fateful night, he meets Sofia Serrano, with whom he falls in love. Shortly after this, he is engaged in a catastrophic automobile accident, resulting in his face being damaged and him slowly losing his hold on reality. Ultimately, many of the films events are revealed to be the consequence of a sleep-induced parallel world created by the enigmatic business Life Extension.

Related:The 15 Weirdest Facts About Tom Cruise

Vanilla Sky, like several other dream-based films, has multiple possibilities. There are five alternative ways to approach the movie, according to Director Crowe. The first and most straightforward answer is that David is being told the truth by Tech Support. Second, the film may represent Davids fever dream following the vehicle accident. Another possibility is that Davids hallucinations are caused by the medications he was given during his reconstructive surgery. Another hypothesis is that the incidents in the movie are actually those of Brians novel, which David commissioned. The fifth and last idea is that the entire film is a dream, as indicated by Davids automobile registration date being completely fictitious in the context of the situation.

Related:Movies With Ambiguous Endings That We Still Think About Today

One of Crowes hallmarks is his compositions. Vanilla Skys music is a blend of the directors signature 60s folk, rock, and psychedelic. It also includes alternative and zeitgeist tunes from the early 2000s. The movies score adds another degree of reference and context to the storys themes. Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized includes elements of Cant Help Falling in Love. Meanwhile, the song Good Vibrations, which comes in a pivotal sequence, was created using a collage process that combined hundreds of separate recordings into a single tune. A similar method was utilized by Radioheads Kid A, whose song Everything In Its Right Place starts the picture, as well as Nancy Wilsons instrumental music.

Related: 5 Other Movies That Became Popular For Their Soundtracks

Vanilla Sky is a tragedy, and not because Davids father did not love him as a youngster or because he does not marry Sofia. It is to the degree that modern life is a catastrophe, in which allusion and sarcasm stand in for romance and emotion, Weve gotten accustomed to thinking, like David, that we can all be the heroes of our own stories, crafting our own little worlds. Isnt this the promise of contemporary life? Simply click play and replay our life as a starring vehicle for ourselves. However, with the realization of that promise comes a loss of feeling and connection, as well as the ability to acknowledge that loss.

At Davids party, one of the finest filmmakers in the history of the industry pops up. Steven Spielberg had visited the set to discuss with Tom Cruise about their first collaboration, the then-upcoming Minority Report, which is why hes donning a Pre-Crime cap. Crowe asked Spielberg to get in there during the party scene filming. It was a quick moment that Crowe repaid when he showed up in Minority Report.

Related: Steven Spielberg never directed a Star Wars movie. WHY?

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Why Vanilla Sky is The Most Underrated Tom Cruise Movie - FandomWire

From left, Benjamin Freiberg, junior in kinesiology and health, Rebekah Petersen, sophomore in pre-athletic training, andJohnathon Lujan, junior in kinesiology and health, work on a bionic hand they, along with their classmates, built during the spring semester.

By Whitney Baxter

What do you get when you combine students from life sciences and engineering majors at Iowa State University? A collection of great minds eager to tackle innovative projects in class.

Karri Haen Whitmer, teaching professor in genetics, development and cell biology, is one of nine College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty who were selected for the new Innovation and Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellows Program. Sponsored by the Deans Office of Academic Innovation and Start Something College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the program aims to expand a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship among CALS faculty.

Fostering an environment where our students feel empowered to innovate, create and explore their interests in research, entrepreneurship or some other area and develop their skillset in interdisciplinary teamwork and collaboration is so important within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the university as a whole, said Carmen Bain, CALS associate dean of academic innovation. By offering the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellows Program to our faculty, were providing them the resources and support they need to incorporate innovation into their teaching, research or extension activities.

In her proposal, Haen Whitmer submitted an idea for a class that would bring together life sciences and engineering students to learn about bionics technologies. She has been teaching human physiology for nearly a decade and wanted to find a way to help students learn where physiological data comes from and its real-life applications.

Karri Haen Whitmer, teaching professor in genetics, development and cell biology, demonstrates how muscle response can be tracked using electromyography. Students in her experimental class spent the past semester learning about bionics technologies and using that newfound knowledge to build a bionic hand.

When I saw the IEFF request for proposals, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to obtain a support network and funds for the materials required to deliver this course, Haen Whitmer said.

This past semester, 11 students involved in the biology and honors programs enrolled in the experimental course. Working in teams, they helped lay the groundwork for what will hopefully become an official class.

The semester started with Haen Whitmer teaching the students about limb differences, prosthetics and different types of bionic arms. Taking what they learned, the students then created a bionic hand using a 3D printer in one of the Student Innovation Center labs. They also learned how to work with electrical circuit boards to operate the hand and make it move certain ways.

I like the process of learning how to assemble the hand and seeing it come together and work like it should, said Jaden Braden, sophomore in mechanical engineering.

The class is designed to attract students from a variety of majors, opening opportunities for non-engineering students to be exposed to skills taught in engineering courses.

Components of a bionic hand the students created were made by a 3D printer in the Student Innovation Center on campus.

It is time to bridge the gap between these undergraduate fields so students in life science areas have the opportunity to walk away from Iowa State with knowledge in basic coding, circuits and manufacturing, Haen Whitmer said. These abilities will enhance their marketability in a job search, and the technical knowledge will prepare them to be innovators in their own field of study.

Braden said she has enjoyed being around students who are in different majors than her own.

Not a lot of us here have a lot in common, but we can nerd out about this project, she said.

Its something everyone in the group can work on, and when we all come together, its really fun, added Zach Rapoza, sophomore in computer engineering.

Bree Beyer, sophomore in kinesiology and health, said she has appreciated how Haen Whitmer has allowed the class to make the project their own.

Shes been open-ended about the project, allowing us to direct where we want to go with it, Beyer said.

Now that the semester is over, Haen Whitmer has students lined up to continue work on the bionic hand during the summer. Shes also looking into the possibility of establishing an Enabling the Future student organization at Iowa State, through which students can donate the prosthetic limbs they create to help children and adults in need. All while waiting for the course to be approved by the college curriculum committee.

She sees the course being the first of many to bring together real-world engineering and technical skills to students who previously could not access training in these areas.

Beyond obtaining the technical skills, I want my students to walk away from this course with an innovation mindset. I want them to understand that we all begin our work as a novice the only path to expertise is through inevitable criticism and mistakes, Haen Whitmer said. Dont be afraid to pursue your creative vision, even if you dont have mastery of all the moving parts. The vision is whats critical.

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Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Students 'nerd out' as they build bionic hand - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Published:11:10 AM May 16, 2022

A bid to lengthen the life of a sand and gravel quarry in Burgh Castle is set to be decided by planners.

Folkes Plant and Aggregates says current reserves in a part of the site that has permission until 2025 are depleted, only offering "sharp" rather than "soft" sand.

Burgh Castle is a village known for its holiday parks and Roman ruins.- Credit: Eastern Daily Press 2012

However, by extending it by some four hectares northwards the operators can keep goinguntil 2035, safeguarding 13 full-time jobs.

If approved it will mean the quarry at Welcome Pit, Butt Lane,would be in continuous usefor 85 years.

Planners at Norfolk County Council are due to discuss the application on Friday, May 20.

A report says the issue is "finely balanced".

Great Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis supports the bid to extend the life of the quarry at Burgh Castle.- Credit: PA

On the one hand officials note the amount being extracted would be "negligible" and that there was "nodemonstrable need" for it.

If granted the extension would "intrude into, and further industrialise" the countryside.

And, following a call for sites several years ago the quarry was not includeddue to the narrow road network, another point that went against its case the report states.

However, the scheme did mean a reduction in lorry movements because the operators would suspend the skip, lorry and plant hire side of the business, and allowing it to carry on would save 13 full time jobs in a deprived area.

The report also notes that while there had been objections to the new extension plan, the site was not generally complained about.

None of the official bodies to do with heritage or wildlife have raised objections.

The Roman ruins at Burgh Castle are a well-known attraction. The village is also known for its holiday parks and quarry - the owners of which are now seeking an extension.- Credit: Eastern Daily Press 2016

All three parish councils in the area Belton with Browston, Burgh Castle, and Bradwell have signalled their opposition and "great concern".

A petition had been raised and letters written in support of the quarry extension which also had the backing ofGreat Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis who was keen to safeguard jobs.

The report concludes: "Whilst the proposal is finely balanced given that the site is not an allocated one and that there is no overriding need for the mineral, it is considered that there is not demonstrable harm and the proposal is considered to accord with the development plan and there are not considered to be material considerations to dictate otherwise."

The planning (regulatory) committee meets at County Hall in Norwich on Friday, May 20, at 11am.

To read the full report visit the county council's website.

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Bid to extend life of quarry in Burgh Castle Norfolk - Great Yarmouth Mercury

AMES, Iowa Matthew Helmers, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State University and director of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, has been named the inaugural recipient of the Brent and Cindy Hart Professorship in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Helmers was presented the professorship at a May 6 medallion ceremony hosted by Daniel J. Robison, holder of the Endowed Deans Chair in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The professorship is possible thanks to a gift commitment from Brent (74 agronomy) and Cynthia (77 elementary education) Hart, who are long-time supporters of Iowa State. The Harts have a strong interest in nitrogen management, carbon capture and water quality, and their giving focuses on supporting faculty research in these areas. The couple also support the work of Michael Castellano, professor in Iowa States Department of Agronomy, who focuses on soil science and fertility.

Brent Hart retired from the agricultural supply company Trammo, Inc., in 2018, after serving roles there including president and chief executive officer. Cindy Hart is a retired grade-school teacher. They maintain close ties to Iowa State from their current home in Colorado. Brent Hart still owns family farmland outside of Humboldt. They are frequent participants in RAGBRAI.

The College greatly appreciates the wonderful generosity of alumni like the Harts, whose support for research and extension makes our important and impactful work all the better! Robison said. It is so appropriate that Dr. Helmers will be the inaugural holder of the Brent and Cindy Hart Professorship. He is a nationally known leader on water quality and nutrient management issues, whose collaborative work with diverse entities is having a positive impact in Iowa and far beyond.

Helmers, an Iowa State faculty member since 2003, also holds the Dean's Professorship in Agriculture and Life Sciences. He leads research and extension activities on the impact of nutrient management practices and subsurface drainage from agricultural fields.

He serves as faculty advisor for the Iowa Learning Farms program, headquartered at Iowa State. Additional contributions include chairing the states nitrogen science team that assessed and continues to consider nutrient issues for the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, a statewide science and technology-based framework to assess and reduce nutrients to waterways. He and his colleagues have won several national awards for developing educational materials on water quality and conservation.

I am so appreciative of the generous support from Brent and Cindy Hart, Helmers said. This will allow us to attract high-quality graduate students who will help examine performance and implementation of edge-of-field conservation practices. The positive impacts from their support will be felt for years to come.

Helmers earned his bachelors degree in civil engineering at Iowa State, his masters degree in civil engineering at Virginia Tech and his doctoral degree in agricultural and biological systems engineering at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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Helmers honored with Brent and Cindy Hart Professorship - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

AgroFresh was present at Fruit Logistica 2022. According to Michael Hamby, Chief Commercial Officer, of the company, this fair is a key event for them: Fruit Logistica is an important global customer trade show for AgroFresh, allowing us to showcase our innovative products and services and connect with other industry leaders. After two years without international trade shows, our team really enjoyed the opportunity to meet in person to discuss the industrys challenges and opportunities.

As an AgTech innovator and global leader, AgroFresh is on a mission to prevent food waste by providing a range of science-based solutions, data-driven digital technologies and high-touch customer service. Fruit Logistica was the perfect forum for the company to meet with their customers fade to face and share more about the many AgroFresh solutions that can help them enhance the quality and extend the shelf life of their crops, and fight food loss and waste.

AgroFresh's team at Fruit Logistica 2022

AgroFresh showcased two of its latest innovationsThe companys booth presentations were focused on two of their latest innovations. We showcased VitaFresh Botanicals, the plant-based, edible coatings for produce freshness and shelf-life extension for a wide variety of crops from avocados to citrus to nectarines. We also did an open demonstration on FreshCloudTM, the digital platform that uses real-time data and analytics, providing end to end visibility to help customers make crucial decisions on produce quality, harvest timing, packing, storage, and market conditions.

Our products were met with a lot of enthusiasm by attendees who were interested in learning more about both solutions. We made sure to collect their information so we could organize future demo trials with our team of experts.

Regarding VitaFresh Botanicals, AgroFresh expects this product use to continue to grow as the company expands its range of plant-based coatings into more crops and regions.

VitaFresh Botanicals's presentation

VitaFresh Botanicals: a solution that helps to extend fruits shelf lifeVitaFresh Botanicals is a proprietary line of plant-based edible coatings. From citrus and avocados to mangos or nectarines, VitaFresh Botanicals are an important step forward in superior freshness, extended shelf-life, reduced food loss and waste, and superior taste. VitaFresh Botanicals coatings utilize anti-thirst technology to boost the skins natural protection, creating a double skin membrane that reduces dehydration, maintains weight and locks in produce freshness throughout the supply chain. VitaFresh Botanicals gives packers a much stronger opportunity to market the best quality produce and improve consumer satisfaction while increasing profit potential. VitaFresh Botanicals coatings offer several technical and functional benefits as well as cost-efficiencies.

At Fruit Logistica, we presented VitaFresh Botanicals benefits for avocados. Our coating helps to extend the avocado shelf life in ready to buy and ready to eat stages. The product also maximizes freshness and moisture, improves the appearance and firmness of the fruit, reduces weight loss and decreases internal browning. The results are remarkable, giving avocados two to four days longer shelf life, reducing waste by 50 percent. Our solutions are versatile, for use before or after ripening, as well as sustainably sourced and vegan certified.These solutions are available worldwide, and have seen much success in Europe, Africa and Latin America. We expect this product use to continue to grow as we expand our range of plant-based coatings into more crops and regions.

FreshCloud digital technology's presentation

FreshCloud digital technology: to make the entire supply chain more efficient and effectiveDuring Fruit Logistica, we officially launched FreshCloud in Europe, which was already a big success in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. We are excited that this technology is now available in Europe which is the beginning of a new era for the cloud-based technology on this continent.

FreshCloud is a game changer that makes the entire supply chain more efficient and effective. Its an innovative digital technology that combines unique sensor technology, internet connectivity, data analytics, disorder screenings and decades of AgroFresh plant physiology expertise to give growers, packers and retailers powerful insights into produce quality through every step of the supply chain from harvest to the retail shelves.

FreshCloud Quality Inspection is our proprietary cloud-based platform that digitizes the formerly manual quality control process by capturing, organizing and analyzing quality metrics in real time. With all necessary inspections and actions conducted on mobile devices, FreshCloud allows customers to track and score the quality metrics of their fruits instantly, providing complete visibility into and streamlining the fruit-quality inspection process. Ultimately, FreshCloud helps to reduce food waste by lowering rejections and improving the consistency of the produce. Our platform combines AI and digital insights to help our customers make real-time decisions to reduce food waste, manage supply chain challenges and ultimately deliver the highest quality and sustainable produce to the worlds markets.

AgroFresh's booth at Fruit Logistica 2022

SmartFreshWhile much of our focus at Fruit Logistica was on VitaFresh Botanicals and FreshCloud, AgroFresh also promoted its legacy product, SmartFresh: This solution revolutionized the apple industry 20 years ago with the original 1-MCP technology. Over the years, we have continued to enhance this technology, which extended to a wide variety of crops including stone fruit, kiwi and melons.

For more information:AgroFreshPatricia Borredap.borreda@agrofresh.com

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VitaFresh Botanicals and FreshCloud, two innovations that reduce food waste - FreshPlaza.com

Opposition to a long-proposedOrmond Beach airport runway extension could leave the project grounded, but the city is hosting a "community conversation"Tuesday to gauge public opinion and answer questions.

"The OB Life: Airport Focus" will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Ormond Beach Senior Center, 351 Andrews St. It will also be available to stream athttps://..opengov.com/ormondbeachfl/published/WBqzTztTe.

"We're just trying to be as transparent as possible with the community and get some good factual information out to everyone regarding the 600-foot runway extension," Mayor Bill Partington said. "Basically, the extension is going to make things quieter, safer and it's paid for with grant dollars that ifwe don'tuse them, they would go to some other community."

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The event will provide "a platform" for feedback as well as an opportunity for residents to hear directly from those involved, according to a city flyer promoting the event.

City officials say they aim to increase safety and efficiency by extending the runway 600 feet to the west. The proposed project is scaled back from an earlier plan to lengthen the runway by 1,000 feet, which would have involved a 400-foot extension to the east.

Because that additional 400 feet would have meant purchasing right-of-way from neighbors who opposed the plan, it was dropped.

But the 600 feet also remains in dispute, while some longtime residents recall a failed attemptmore than 15 years ago to get the1,000-foot extension.

Signs are up in yards across the city reading: "No airport runway extension."

Opponents include Don Miller, who's unhappy that the city closed the Bear Creek Golf Course at the end of 2020. He said part of the course will have to be used to extend the runway, although city officials have said the course closed because of financial problems involving the private operator.

Miller said he believes the 400 foot-extension to the west will be added later, giving the airport an opportunity to serve larger carriers.

Another concerned resident is Fran Canfield, HOA president of the adjacent Bear Creek 55+ community.

"We have a quiet environment to which we all enjoy when we are walking our pets and riding our bikes, and I would say over the past maybe three years now the …air traffic has increased as well as the noise, and we have become very worried and are losing confidence in our city officials because of the contradictions that keep being out for public review."

Former City Commissioner Jeff Boyle said a handful of pilots who live in the city are pushing for the expansion that the majority of residents don't support.

"Theyre asking us to subsidize an airport we dont want. Theres no public mandate other than new special interests in the city … and (residents)will tell you the city has operated with a lack of transparency, a lack of truth, direct contradictions."

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Ormond Beach airport runway extension controversy to be aired Tuesday - Daytona Beach News-Journal

University of Maine Cooperative Extension 4-H will offer a short-term online 4-H club for youth ages 1318 about basic adult life skills 45:30 p.m. Wednesdays, June 22July 27. Required registration closes June 6.

The 4-H Adulting 101 Series will introduce basic adult life skills by exploring a different topic each week, including life/work balance and stress management; saving, spending and credit; nutrition on a budget; resumes and interviews; rent and roommates; and a topic chosen by the participants. UMaine Extension 4-H staff will lead the discussions.

The club is free; limited to 20 participants. Register by June 6 on the event webpage to receive the link and at-home materials. This series is supported in part by the Maine 4-H Foundation. For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact 207.324.2814; erin.mcdonald1@maine.edu. Additional information also is available on the Extension 4-H Virtual Learning webpage.

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UMaine Extension 4-H introduces teens to adulting concepts in June - UMaine News - University of Maine - University of Maine

After several years of short-term authorization since its fiscal and accountability practices drew sharp criticism in the mid-2010s an increasingly stable VISIT FLORIDA received somewhat of a reprieve Friday.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 434 among 11 bills late Friday, pushing VISIT FLORIDAs sunset clause out five years to 2028, from the 2023 expiration date the Florida tourism marketing agency had faced.

With DeSantis signature, the agency has its first assurance since 2016 that programs, contracts, employees jobs, and purpose will not go away anytime soon.

That year, a series of revelations led Republicans and Democrats to lose faith in the nonprofit companys accountability and transparency in its quasi-governmental yet largely undisclosed programs to promote tourism to Florida. The agencys funding and staffing were gutted, and its legislative authorization was put on short-term.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers have given VISIT FLORIDA their support, stressing the importance of tourism to the states economy. Last year, the agency reported significant returnsas tourism rebounded.

The Senate initially had voted this spring to extend VISIT FLORIDA for eight years, until Oct. 1, 2031. However, Senators agreed to the Houses position that lawmakers only grant the agency a five-year extension. The Senate approved the final measure 36-3 after the House approved it 98-17.

Clearwater Republican Sen. Ed Hooper and St. Pete Beach Republican Rep. Linda Chaney sponsored the legislation.

While lawmakers agreed to extend the agency, theyre keeping the funding on a symbolic tight leash. House and Senate budget negotiators agreed to spend $50 million on the agency next year but from the nonrecurring pot of state funds. Senate appropriators in recent years have pushed for those funds to come from recurring dollars.

That funding still awaits DeSantis approval. A decision is expected in the next few weeks, by the end of June.

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Florida Politics Reporter Renzo Downey contributed to this report.

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VISIT FLORIDA gets five years added to its life assurance with Gov. DeSantis signature - Florida Politics

On his way to work every morning, consultant geriatrician Colm Byrne has a fair idea how busy his day will be at the Mater hospital on the northside of Dublin just by breathing the air.

Byrne had long suspected a link between days of particularly poor air quality in Dublin and a spike in stroke or suspected stroke admissions, so two years ago he and a team from the Royal College of Surgeons began to investigate.

The RCSI team looked at data gathered from patients admitted to hospitals between January 2013 and December 2017 for stroke or ischaemic attacks sometimes referred to as mini-stroke.

More than 10,000 people suffer strokes in Ireland every year. In Dublin alone, hospitals take in six stroke patients and four with ischaemic attacks every day. And the numbers are higher during colder winter months.

The RCSI team then mapped out air quality records for the same dates from monitoring stations around the city that report to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Factors such as temperature, humidity, date and time were taken into account. What they found was simple and clear: a statistically significant rise in stroke hospitalisations in Dublin within two days of bad air pollution.

The research we did showed about a 9 per cent increase in stroke admissions linked to days of poor air quality, says Byrne. It is significant. It is a life-or-death situation. It is a major public health issue that has been ignored.

His remarks come amid much debate around the Governments attempt to ban retail sales of turf, but not the cutting of turf by those who have cutting rights on their own bogs.

Coincidentally, around the same time the RCSI team were carrying out their research, a group of academics at NUI Galways School of Physics were examining the chemical composition of air pollutants in Ireland.

Despite a 30-year-old ban on smoky coal, homes setting solid fuel fires in Dublin and Birr, Co Offaly two urban centres of vastly differing population scales were found to be the main offenders.

Air pollution in both Dublin and Birr which has about 1 per cent of the population of the capital had a similar chemical composition. Turf, on average, was to blame for 27-30 per cent of the carbon pollution, rising to as high as 63 per cent on occasions.

In both city and town, coal was responsible for less pollution (24 per cent and 17 per cent respectively) than turf, the study published in the Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics journal reported.

Therefore, in order to reduce wintertime particulate air pollution, primary emissions from solid fuel burning, especially peat, should be the primary target of policy regulations, the researchers stated.

According to Dr Byrne, it is only a small proportion of households in Dublin causing the majority of the air pollution. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has suggested as low as 5 per cent.

It may be only a small number of people but it is having a significant public health effect, says Dr Byrne.

Nationally, 1,300 deaths a year are attributed to air pollutants. This is despite Irelands air quality being among the best in Europe and globally.

While traffic has a role to play, most are caused by solid fuel burning, says Dr Byrne.

But turf burning as well as coal, and unseasoned wood to a lesser extent is not just causing more strokes. Heart disease, respiratory illness, diabetes, dementia, Parkinsons disease and worse outcomes from Covid-19 have all been shown to be associated with poor air quality.

It is also linked to exacerbating asthma. Latest official figures show 88 people died from asthma attacks in Ireland in 2018. Then there is the terrifying impact of the condition itself for many day-to-day sufferers.

According to the Asthma Society of Ireland, there are currently 380,000 people with the condition.

It is a huge percentage of the population, says Eils N Chaithna, research manager for the society. A few years ago we were the fourth worst in the world for it. We have very high levels compared with internationally.

The result is 8,000 hospital admissions every year, with one person dying every six days.

The correlation between poor air quality and the worsening of asthma is incontrovertible, says N Chaithna.

Sufferers contacting the society report having to leave cities and towns on days of bad air pollution to take exercise.

They report increased coughing, wheezing and struggling to breathe. It is very serious, she says.

Another worry is that, despite a hereditary link to the condition not being clinically established, it does tend to run in families. We dont have the answer to why that is. Neither do clinicians. But we constantly hear personal testimonies from mums who have asthma bringing their young children out for a walk in the buggy, acutely aware of smoke billowing from chimneys around them.

They are painfully aware of the potential impact for their children. Some struggle to sleep. It is a worry for parents. It should be worrying us all.

One in five children in Ireland will have asthma at some stage, the society found in a study on the economic cost to the State of the high rates of the condition 472 million every year.

Asthma sufferers have been waiting a long time for a clampdown on turf, wood and coal burning, says N Chaithna.

With each passing year, more people are developing chronic diseases and dying as a result of burning solid fuels. We cant wait any longer. Public health has to take priority.

The society admits it does not have all the answers to urgent arguments about a ban sharpening fuel poverty in a time of soaring oil and gas costs. But it points out a higher prevalence of asthma among lower-income households.

We are not in position to present all of the solutions, that is up to the Government, says N Chaithna.

People from rural Ireland have experienced a lot of change, and they are genuinely concerned about losing rural Ireland, about it disappearing, and a turf ban is one way people see that happening.

They are rightly very protective and it does add a real complexity to the discussion. But we are concerned with making sure people remain as healthy as possible, protecting them from pollutants that can trigger asthma, cause asthma and which can be fatal.

N Chaithna is sceptical of Government plans to exempt communities of under 500 people from a ban.

There is already a patchwork approach to prohibiting smoky coal. It is very difficult to enforce. Anyone can jump in a car and go to the next town where it is permitted to sell smoky coal and bring it home. We can assume that same problem with exemptions on a turf ban.

Any prohibition must be nationwide, she insists.

During his time in office as minister for environment, Richard Bruton cited threats of legal action by commercial actors for not extending the 1990 ban on smoky coal.

The Irish Times has seen legal correspondence from three coal importers Enerco, Hayes Fuels and LCC (the latter two based in the North) objecting in the strongest possible terms to the existing ban on smoky coal as well as any extension.

The Government has previously acknowledged the partial prohibition is unlawful insofar as it does not treat fuel products which emit similar (and in some cases greater) quantities of pollutants equally, it states.

The ban of one solid fuel and not another fuel product that is a greater polluter (ie peat and wood) raises serious concerns under Irish and EU law and could be overturned if challenged in the courts, lawyers for the importers argue.

Any extension to the existing ban, which is not product-neutral, will be subject to the same serious concerns and risk of challenge.

The importers cite an EPA study, published in June 2020, known as the Sapphire report (Source Apportionment of Particulate Matter in Urban and Rural Residential Areas of Ireland) which showed the burning of peat for home heating in the towns of Killarney, Enniscorthy and Birr ... was the largest source of air pollution in these locations.

Coal was the least polluting of all three solid fuels, according to the research.

Given the Governments own advice, the importers have implored it to reform the existing ban to include all solid fuels before any move to extend it, at that stage, to 12 towns nationally.

In response, the Department of the Environment said an extended ban is fully justified by and proportionate to the aim of preserving public health and saving lives.

The evidence shows that the proposed extension will save lives in the towns concerned, an official states, before dismissing the suggestion that the Government acknowledged as unlawful the existing ban.

Indeed, it has been unquestionably highly effective, and in Dublin alone has resulted in about 350 fewer deaths a year, by reducing cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory mortality in the general population.

The Government said the Sapphire study was expanding our knowledge on other solid fuels and would inform future decisions.

Dr Byrne believes an element of populism and cultural association is driving the reticence of vocal opponents to the expanded ban.

No one likes change, he says. But it is change that needs to happen. Air pollution is a serious public health issue. Leaving out the biodiversity crisis, the climate change effect of digging up bogs, it is a public health issue.

By continuing to allow turf burning, it is not going to improve peoples homes, improve fuel poverty. We should be looking at measures that improve both air quality and fuel poverty.

There was also a cultural attachment to smoking indoors at one time. That ban was brought in and it had significant public health benefits. We need to grasp the nettle.

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'It's life or death': Turf burning in urban areas blamed for rise in stroke admissions - The Irish Times