Category Archives: Immortality Medicine

Aloe vera is famous for being the go-to natural product for burns, abrasions, scrapes, and cuts, according to theIranian Journal of Medical Sciences. Its therapeutic use for skin lesions and diseases can be traced back to 1500 B.C., and it's remained popular in countries like Greece, Mexico, and China ever since.

The ancient plant has been shown to heal skin conditions like psoriasis, ulcers, herpes, and bedsores. It can soothe a nasty burn after it's happened, reducing the chances of getting a blister. It's also commonly used for sunburn rashes. The application of aloe gel can be used as a complementary treatment for all kinds of skin wounds. Aloe vera is packed full of immune-boosting nutrients like polysaccharides, amino acids and zinc, which preserve the moisture and integrity of your skin.

Aloe works its magic by reducing inflammation, per a paper published in Surgical Science. In turn, it can relieve pain, itching, burning, and redness. It promotes the synthesis of cytokines, which speed up the healing process and help your body fight infections. What's more, through stimulating the production of collagen and removing dead tissue, aloe vera encourages the skin to repair itself.

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The Real Effects Aloe Vera Has On Your Body - Health Digest

Every person who has ever felt pain has their origin story, and I certainly have mine.

While performing a bench press more than a decade ago when I was in medical school, I heard a loud click and felt my whole body go limp, and the weights came crashing down. As pain gripped my entire body in a vise, I was rushed to emergency room where I got intravenous painkillers and was told the pain would eventually disappear.

But it didnt. And what Ive learned about pain since has me seriously questioning how we diagnose and treat it.

Im a doctor now, and in researching a book on pain, Ive begun to understand that the reason the acute pain from my back injury turned into unrelenting chronic pain was likely in my brain. What determines the transformation of transient aches into ceaseless agony is not only explained by anatomy but often by psychology. Our perception of painand our fear of itcan play a huge role in clinical outcomes. However, far from minimizing peoples experiences, this understanding is opening the door to treatments that might finally (and durably) help the millions living in unending torment.

Im now a doctor, and our traditional approach in medicine has been to find mechanical and anatomic explanations for chronic pain; I was told from the MRI of my back that I had abnormalities so profound for a young person (I was just 20 years old), I had become the dreaded interesting case discussed at the radiology departments weekly conference. My bones were degenerating, and I had multiple damaged discs in my spine. Without any visible scars or deformities that were outwardly apparent, the MRI scans were the only evidence for what turned my acute injury into never-ending torment.

Chronic pain is usually defined as pain that affects someone frequently for three months or more, and mine exceeded that defined period by many years. I was reluctant to take painkillers and focused all of my energies on physical therapy. My pain has improved over time, but my origin storythe injury and the resulting abnormalities that showed up on the MRIhas had little to do with the pain I felt years afterward. The classic idea is that if the injury is bad enough, it will stay on, Vania Apkarian, one of the worlds leading pain researchers, told me. But the injury itself has no value.

MRIs, while reliable indicators of injury, are not reliable indicators of pain. A review of studies that involved scanning images from about 3,000 people with no symptoms of back pain found that in 20-year-olds without any back pain, 37 percent had disc degeneration, and 30 percent had disc bulges. These abnormalities should cause pain, but for these people, they didnt. These abnormalities that show up in medical scans only increase with age, as 96 percent of 80-year-olds had disk degeneration and 84 percent had bulges. Even in people whose backs hurt, MRI abnormalities have shown absolutely no correlation with their painin other words, an MRI doesnt help us figure out what hurts and what doesnt. These data upended my narrative.

This is a really big deal: millions of people in the U.S., alone get MRIs and CT scans for back pain, which is the most common cause of disability around the world. Most of these tests are inappropriate since guidelines now recommend against the routine use of imaging for people with back pain. Yet a recent study showed that only 5 percent of MRIs ordered by clinicians for back pain were appropriate, and of those who received MRIs, 65 percent received potentially harmful advice emanating from the scansincluding calls for back surgery.

Spine surgery is one of the most commonly performed procedures in the United States and around the world, but it can have devastating effects: in one study of people who had chronic back pain, of the people who had spine fusion surgery, only 26 percent returned to work compared with 67 percent of people who didnt have surgery. The people who chose surgery were more likely to develop complications and permanent disability than the people who didnt. I could have been one of those people: when I took my MRI films to Ather Enam, a renowned surgeon, he told me that an operation might leave my back worse off. I could do the surgery, but a spine thats been touched by a surgeon is never the same again, he said.

So if anatomy doesnt explain why pain turns chronic, what does? Turns out that at least part of the cause was in my head.

One of the major reasons why pain becomes immortal in our bodies is how we feel in our minds. People who fear being in pain or are anxious about it are up to twice as likely to develop chronic pain after undergoing an operation. A study from Finland published this April showed that the presence of psychological distress significantly affected the presence or absence of back pain in those with degenerated spines. In fact, one small study showed that past traumatic events such as being robbed, bullied or sexually assaulted, were the strongest predictors of back pain turning chronic in the studys 84 participants; even the early fear of pain becoming permanent becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Although in clinical medicine and societal discourse, mind and body, sensation and emotion, biology and psychology, are often considered as distinct, human nature begs to differ. In fact, these dichotomies collapse most dramatically when it comes to pain. As acute pain turns chronic, Apkarians research shows it activates parts of the brain more responsible for emotions than physical sensations.

A recent clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: Psychiatry indicates the power of therapies that target how we feel about hurting. In the study, led by Yoni Ashar and Tor Wager, the scientist who discovered the neurologic signature of pain in the brain, patients with chronic low back either received usual care mostly involving pain medications and physical therapy, were told they were getting a placebo (which can be quite effective for back pain) or received pain reprocessing therapy, which teaches people that the brain actively constructs chronic pain in the absence of an active injury and that simply reframing the threat pain represents can reduce or eliminate it. Such therapy defangs chronic pain of its sharpest weaponfear. The results were quite remarkable: Of those people who received pain processing therapy twice-weekly for a month, 52 percent were pain-free at one year, compared with 27 percent of those receiving placebo and 16 percent receiving usual care. Patients also experienced improvements in disability, anger, sleep and depression.

Embracing the complexity of pain, especially chronic pain, can open the door to new and innovative ways to ensure that even if we hurt, we dont suffer. Therapies like pain reprocessing therapy embrace pain for what the science reveals it to beas much an emotional and traumatic construct as a physical sensation. Such a holistic embrace of pains nature, far from making us not take it seriously, should spur efforts even further to make sure everyone in agony receives kindness and respect, as well as access to more than pills and surgical procedures on their path to healing.

This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

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Its Time To Rethink the Origins of Pain - Scientific American

Celebrites are sending well-wishes to the Queen amid escalating concerns surrounding her health.

Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday (8 September) that the Queen is under medical supervision at Balmoral.

It was then revealed that family members, including Princes Charles, William and Harry, had cancelled engagements to be with her.

Following further evaluation this morning, the Queens doctors are concerned for Her Majestys health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision, a Palace spokesperson said, adding: The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral.

In response to the news, which comes three months after the Queens platinum jubilee celebrations. figures from the world of television are rushing to wish the Queen a speedy recovery.

No one more likely to be so loved, admired and respected than Her Majesty The Queen and although she cannot be immortal, I think we have always hoped she might be, Good Morning Britain co-host Susanna Reid said.

Her former presenting partner, Piers Morgan, added: I cant even imagine Britain without this Queen. Very unsettling day.

Sheila Hancock appeared on Channel 4 series Stephs Packed Lunch as newas of the Queens poor health broke, and stated: Shes been so much part of my life. During the war when I was a child and every stage of my life the queen has been here.

The Queen is currently under medical supervision

(Getty Images)

I wish them all so much health and hope she gets better. Im sure she will be getting the best care in the world.

Lord Sugar added: Sorry to hear the breaking news that Her Majesty the Queen is now under doctor supervision. I am sure the whole nation will join me in wishing her well for a speedy recovery.

Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham wrote: My thoughts and strength to you Maam.

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Queen Elizabeth II: Celebrities send well-wishes as world waits for update on health - The Independent

Todays stories include Why are Some People Obsessed with UFOs to Human Brain Cells Made Fewer Genetic Mistakes than Neanderthals to How Many People Can the Earth Handle? and much more.

How asteroids bombarded Earth and built the continents, reports Big Think. New research presents significant evidence to demonstrate that the oldest continental remnants were formed after massive asteroid impacts. The breakthrough adds legs to a long-standing theory and holds implications for how life may develop on other planets.

The Eighth Continent: What the Moon can tell us about Earth, reports Miriam Kramerfor Axios SpaceWhen you look at the Moon, youre looking at not just a neighbor in space, but kind of an extension of the Earth, NASA Moon scientist Noah Petro tells Axios. I like to kind of glibly think of the Moon as the eighth continent of the Earth.

Scientists Uncover New Physics in the Search for Dark Matter, reports SciTechDailyIts been something like a detective story, said Wolfgang Mittig, a Hannah Distinguished Professor in Michigan State Universitys Department of Physics and Astronomy and a faculty member at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB. We started out looking for dark matter and we didnt find it, he said. Instead, we found other things that have been challenging for theory to explain.

BBC Video: Why are some people obsessed with UFOs? According to experts, like Professor of Religion Studies, Diana Pasulka, UFO sightings tend to increase during times of upheaval and crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a surge in this mysterious phenomenon in the US. But what makes some believe in UFOs more than others?

This Jellyfish Can Live Forever. Its Genes May Tell Us How. A new study followed as a Turritopsis dohrnii rejuvenated itself, uncovering developmental patterns for further inquiry, reports Veronique Greenwood for New York Times Science. They have a secret that sets them apart from the average sea creature: When their bodies are damaged, the mature adults, known as medusas, can turn back the clock and transform back into their youthful selves.

Axolotls can regenerate their brains these adorable salamanders are helping unlock the mysteries of brain evolution and regeneration, reports Ashley Maynard for The Conversation.

How many people can Earth handle? asks BBC Future. BBC Future takes a look at one of the most controversial issues of our time. Are there too many of us? Or is this the wrong question? Back in 1993, a team of American researchers studied the human genome for clues to its deep past, and discovered the tell-tale signature of a major population bottleneck a moment when humanity shrank so drastically, all subsequent generations outside Africa were significantly more closely related.

Human brain cells made fewer genetic mistakes than Neanderthals Despite the fact that both species shared a similarly large neocortex, scientists still have many questions about how closely the function of their brains resembled our own, reports Big Think. A recently published study reveals that several amino acids in the human brain which only emerged after humans split away from Neanderthals make our chromosomes far less prone to errors as they separate into identical pairs.

Astronomers spot 2 intriguing Super Earths around ultracool starThe newly discovered planets orbit an ultracool dwarf star and one is in the habitable zone, making it a prime target for further investigation, reports Space.com.

What happened to the worlds ozone hole? asks KIra Walker for BBC Future. Back in the 1990s, the hole in the planets ozone layer was a pressing global crisis if we had ignored it, today there would be several.

The medical power of hypnosis Hypnosis is emerging as a powerful medical treatment for pain, anxiety, PTSD and a range of other conditions. Can it shake off its reputation as a stage magicians trick? asks BBC Future.

The Alien Octopus Hypothesis Could one of Earths most intelligent species be an alien, seeded on the planet by an interstellar genetic code? Scientists speculate that the clue might be found in the ancient precursor to life, RNA, reports The Daily Galaxy.

The Mind of a Whale How can we make sense of the biggest brains on the planet? asks Hakai Magazine.

Indigenous Americans ruled democratically long before the U.S. did The Muscogee promoted rule by the people long before the U.S. Constitution was written, reports Science News.

This bridge in northern Pakistan is a surreal spanThe Hussaini Hanging Bridge provides a precarious pathway in a mountain landscape where nature rules, reports National Geographic.

Five Ancient Societies that Collapsed When the Water Ran DryFrom Mesa Verde to the Mayans, these ancient societies collapsed without water, reports Discover Magazine.

A doomsday glacier the size of Florida is disintegrating faster than thoughtThwaites Glacier, known as the doomsday glacier for the risk it poses to global sea levels, is retreating faster than previously thought, study shows, reports the Washington Post.

Why Are Pakistans Floods So Extreme This Year? One third of the country is underwater following an intense heat wave and a long monsoon that has dumped a record amount of rain, reports Scientific American.

Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff

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The Moon: Earths Eighth Continent to This Jellyfish is Immortal (Planet Earth Report) - The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel

Charles Guiteau, the man known to American history as the assassin of President James Garfield, may have been both innocent and guilty at the same time.

Guiteau himself famously said as much while he was being tried, convicted and ultimately executed. When prosecutors and public critics labeled Guiteau as a murderer, he didn't deny that he had shot Garfield twice on July 2, 1881; one bullet only grazed the president's arm, but a second burrowed itself deep into the right side of his back. Yet Guiteau's contention was that he was merely an attempted murderer, not a successful one.

"Yes, I shot the president," Guiteau argued, both in court and to anyone else who would listen, "but his physicians killed him."

Both morally and legally, one can plausibly argue that Guiteau was wrong. Medically, however, he was almost certainly correct.

Charles Julius Guiteauwas born on Sept. 8, 1841 in Freeport, Illinois to a family of FrenchHuguenot ancestry. Like many would-be assassins before and since, Guiteau's life was marked by frustration and failure. Based on his behavior, psychologists speculate that he could have been a psychopath and suffered from associated conditions like narcissistic personality disorder, schizophrenia and perhaps even neurosyphilis. Guiteau had trouble paying attention, displayed unearned feelings of grandiosity and entitlement, and frequently gave rein to a volatile and violent temper. As a result of these qualities, he failed at everything from being a college student at the University of Michigan (he couldn't focus on his studies) to being a member of a religious commune (the Oneida Community found Guiteau so off-putting that he was nicknamed "Charles Gitout").

Although Guiteau eventually became a lawyer in those days, anyone could apply to take the bar exam, and it was much easier to pass he only argued one case before a court. During this same period, his marriage to librarian Annie Bunn fell apart because of his physical abuse and dishonesty, particularly when it came to financial matters. Bunn successfully filed for divorce (very rare in the 1870s), and Guiteau began a life of wandering around America as a self-proclaimed religious prophet. Because he struggled with writing, however, Guiteau's "ideas" were mainly plagiarized from Oneida founder John Humphrey Noyes.

For the last two months of Garfield's life, he was only "fed" by having egg yolks, beef bouillon, whiskey, milk and opium drops inserted up his anus.

Over time, Guiteau began to focus less on religion than on politics, and aligned himself with the Republican Party.This is where Garfield enters the picture. Although Guiteau had initially supported former President Ulysses S. Grant in his bid for an unprecedented third term even managing to focus long enough to write a brief "speech" that he passed around at the 1880 Republican National Convention he switched his support to Garfield after the Ohio congressman unexpectedly won the Republican presidential nomination. To show his support, Guiteau swapped the name "Grant" with "Garfield" in his earlier speech and went around the country sharing it with anyone who would listen. (He may have even openly delivered it on street corners, although if so this only happened one or two times.) After Garfield was elected, Guiteau became convinced that he alone had been responsible for the president's victory.

As a result, Guiteau began a months-long personal mission to be appointed to a consulship in either Vienna or Paris. Bumming around Washington DC and staying one step ahead of the law (he survived during this time by being a thief), Guiteau obsessively stalked both Garfield and anyone else he thought might give him his dream job. For a while, the Garfield administration reacted to Guiteau in the same way as the faculty at the University of Michigan and the religious members of the Oneida Community first by politely tolerating him, and then by blowing him off. When both of those tactics failed, Secretary of State James G. Blaine finally snapped at Guiteau, "Never speak to me again on the Paris consulship as long as you live!"

That, in sum, is why Guiteau shot Garfield in the back on July 2, 1881. After 80 days of clinging to life, Garfield died a horribly painful death.

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Many scholars have since argued that Guiteau's obvious mental health problems should have mitigated his sentence, and indeed Guiteau's own lawyers were among the first in American history to issue a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Because the public was outraged at the assassination, however, experts agree that this argument was doomed to be rejected at trial. For his part, Guiteau believed he was a brilliant man who had saved America and insisted that he had only wounded Garfield, not killed him.

When it came to the latter assertion, Guiteau actually had a valid point.

The underlying issue is that the doctors who probed Garfield's body refused to wash their hands. Even though doctors had known about hand-washing since the 1840s, many American physicians were put off by the idea that a doctor's hands could ever be unclean, or were simply unaware of the strong evidence that had-washing works. The doctors who attended to Garfield, led by a former Civil War surgeon named Dr. D. Willard Bliss (the first 'D' actually stood for 'Doctor,' his given name), insisted on probing the bullet wound in the president's back without first washing their hands. Dozens of medical professionals not one of them washing their hands poked and prodded Garfield's open wound. Even their instruments were not sterilized, despite British surgeon Joseph Lister proving by the mid-1860s that sterilization was important. (These ideas had also either not reached American doctors or, when that happened, been rejected by them.) To add figurative salt to the wound, Garfield's doctors declined to use ether as anesthetic (this practice had existed since the 1840s), meaning the president was in horrible pain every day as they gradually expanded his three-inch bullet wound into a 1 foot, 8 inch long incision that oozed pus.

While it is tempting to condemn Garfield's doctors as cruel or incompetent, their biases against hand-washing and sterilization were ubiquitous among American physiciansuntil the mid-1890s, when American doctors began by and large accepting the need for hand-washing and sterilization. While their views can be characterized as ignorant, the willful nature of that ignorance was simply part of the zeitgeist. What's more, unlike Guiteau, the doctors almost certainly had Garfield's best interests at heart, even recruiting inventor Alexander Graham Bellto build a primitive metal detector in the hope of locating the path of the bullet.

Garfield was ahead of his time, having won the presidency because of a half-improvised speech where he implored Republican delegates to... "join us in lifting into the serene firmament of the Constitution, to shine like stars for ever and ever, the immortal principles of truth and justice: that all men, white or black, shall be free, and shall stand equal before the law."

Characteristically, however, Bell's attempt to save Garfield's life was hampered by egotism and bad luck. Dr. Bliss refused to let Bell pass the device over the entirety of Garfield's body, as he had already stated it was somewhere on the right side of the president's body. In fact, the bullet had passed through Garfield'sfirst lumbar vertebra of his spine on his right side and passed through to his left side, ultimately lodging in his abdomen.What's more, even if Bell had been allowed to pass his device all over Garfield's body, it likely would not have mattered. The entire time, Bell's invention produced so much static that doctors could not determine if it actually found the bullet. It later came out that the president's mattress had metal coils, which had likely rendered the device ineffective.

Barring any definitive way of locating the bullet, the doctors continued probing and prodding until the president eventually succumbed to an infection. When he eventually passed away on Sept. 19, 1881, the cause of death was septic blood poisoning worsened, no doubt, by the doctors' decision to limit his solid food intake in case the bullet had pierced his intestines. For the last two months of Garfield's life, he was only "fed" by having egg yolks, beef bouillon, whiskey, milk and opium drops inserted up his anus. During that time, he lost roughly 80 pounds.When he finally died, the catalyst was a rupturing of his splenic artery and a heart attack. The passionate abolitionist's final words were, "This pain. This pain."

Medical historianDr. Ira Rutkow perhaps has the final word on this subject, telling The New York Times in 2006 that Garfield's doctors "basically starved him to death" and that "Garfield had such a nonlethal wound" that in early 21st century America "he would have gone home in a matter or two or three days." Guiteau, to no one's surprise, was sentenced to death and hanged on June 20, 1882.

If there is any way to end this tragedy on an upbeat note, it is by pointing out that Garfield still left an impressive legacy behind him. It is a testament to his intelligence, work ethic and political idealism that one can safely say America would have been a better place if he had lived. In many ways, Garfield was ahead of his time, having won the presidency because of a half-improvised speech where he implored Republican delegates to create a better nation after the Civil War, which had ended only 15 years earlier.

Then, after the storms of battle, were heard the calm words of peace spoken by the conquering nation, saying to the foe that lay prostrate at its feet: "This is our only revengethat you join us in lifting into the serene firmament of the Constitution, to shine like stars for ever and ever, the immortal principles of truth and justice: that all men, white or black, shall be free, and shall stand equal before the law."

If Garfield had survived Guiteau's assassination attempt, he could have used his power no doubt significantly enhanced by the near-unanimous public sympathy at his disposal to make that dream into a reality. Instead his doctors refused to wash their hands or sterilize their instruments, and starved him while shoving food, liquor and opium into his rectum.

The rest, as they say, is history.

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This president was shot in the back, but the doctors are the ones who killed him - Salon

Yes, it is exactly like being institutionalised and thats why its so hard... Michael Holding confirmswhile speaking toDH about the effect of sport itself and why the decision to step away weighs heavily on those at the crossroads.

While institutionalised seems like a stretch at first given the inescapable understanding of the word, Holdings rationale grows on you for it dives into a rarely-addressed aspect of sport being overwhelming at the beginning, the middle and especially at the end.

... all you have done all your life is play a sport or choose something to be professional at. When that journey ends, its really hard for some people to shake off their past and move into a new phase, Holding says from the Caribbean.

Seamlessly, Holding traverses to a cold morning in 1989 in Derby when he decided to call it quits. I played first-class cricket for a bit after my last Test in 1987, but I knew I had to end it when I woke up, drew the thick curtains in the room at the ground, and hoped it was raining. I knew I was done then. I went to the coach right then and told him Im done, he says. As for commentary, I had a personal reason to quit. I dont want to get into that, but I also didnt like the direction in which the sport was going so I had to, says Holding, who retired from the commentary box after a 31-year run last year.

Read | As Serena leaves, Nadal loses, Federer absent, is era over?

Holding seems to have had it all together when making these decisions until he lets slip that he retired a couple of years later than he would have liked in both cases. This is a norm because athletes very rarely know when to stop or how to stop.

Save for anomalies such as Ian Thorpe, Eric Cantona, and, more recently Ashleigh Barty, the majority find the end too depressing, often prolonging careers long enough to prompt a not-so-gentle prod from those on the outside - ahem, Sachin Tendulkar or Kapil Dev.

And some athletes find it hard to even address the elephant in the room. This is why Serena Williams, by her own admission, stayed away from the word retirement in her tell-all story in Vogue. Instead, arguably the greatest female tennis player of all time said: Evolve away from tennis.

Williams said while other tennis players have had a sense of relief or joy in retiring, it has not been the same for her, as she has been agonising over leaving her tennis racket behind. I dont want it to be over, but at the same time Im ready for whats next, Williams wrote.

Serena has been in the business of professional tennis for 27 years, and at 41 she has little choice but to frame the glory days of an athletic past for nostalgia.

Of course, there have been athletes who have mitigated the effects of time and age by playing at the highest level with a high success rate, but that only lasts so long despite science playing a key role in extending lives and careers. Eventually, though, they all come face to face with what lies beyond the curtains.

I was lucky because I interacted with a lot of people in my life and I wasnt addicted to the spotlight, says Holding. I know people its very hard for, and some of those people retired ages ago. Being a star is a big part of their identity so they find it hard to cope, but its prudent to look at it (sport) as a phase in our life and not our life.

Also, how could I think I was a great or a star when I had Sir Vivian Richards in my team, he adds before letting out a baritone-complementing laugh.

Eddie Streem, a sports psychologist out of Edinburgh, insists that the issue with retirement cant be reduced to an athletes want for fame and money. He maintains that the actual concern is the routine, at least that is what his upcoming study is looking to ascertain.

Athletes are all about routines. They are addicts to it, he says. In fact, there have been studies in the past which show that areas of the brain that light up during a sports routine are not too different from those that light up when you smoke. Smoking is a routine too, just a really bad one (laughs).

Also Read |Despite loss in US Open, Frances Tiafoe gives weary American fans hope

Athletes get that high from sports instead. They really dont have to do drugs because their brain is capable of replicating what they could feel if they were on drugs. We had done some tests on an ultra-marathon runner recently, and we found out that they actually experience out-of-body experiences and some even hallucinate.

What Streem is trying to say in his own peculiar way is that a routine can be addictive and stepping away from the routine can be hard. Roger Federer?

Suzanne Coshs 2013 paper noted another important aspect of the hardships of retirement. The paper published in the Australian Journal of Psychology noted that athletes felt something akin to depression even when they maintained their routine. Coshs paper suggested, instead, that the high of competition and the sense of purpose it brings plays a bigger role.

I think both those factors play a part, says Ashish Ballal, the former Indian hockey goalkeeper. Of course, its hard, especially for people who have played for over twenty years. In most cases, they dont know anything else. I played for a little over a decade and I felt that way for a while, but I had plans in place.

In my case, I was unceremoniously dumped by the federation so there was no real retirement, but we had just won an Asian Games gold so I had no regrets. As for the routine, most of us from that team have maintained our training routines. See, Dhanraj Pillai for instance, he still lives as he used to when he played.

Frankly, shelf life is more often dictated by external factors rather than how the athletes themselves feel, he adds.

When asked to explain, Ballal cites Serenas example, saying she could have played on for a while longer had she not paid heed to the naysayers. Ballal went so far as to say that some athletes take care of themselves so well these days that they can push 50 at the international level.

For me, the end came when I hurt my wrist, says Aparna Popat, a former national badminton champion. In a way, I was prepared for it. I knew but it was hard to get back into society. You live on a different paradigm, almost, when youre an athlete.

What helped me was that I didnt attach my identity to my performance. Once that distinction is made, expectations are lower and come time to retire, it doesnt weigh you down.

The hardest thing to digest is when you realise that the sport doesnt need you anymore. Thats depressing. Perhaps why they say an athlete dies twice in his/her life: once when they retire and once when they actually die.

Perhaps an athletes pursuit of greatness is but a poorly veiled quest for eternal relevance, immortality. Only, no one wins. Maybe a little bit of delusion is not so bad after all.

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To quit or not to quit: The hardest question for sporting greats - Deccan Herald

Mary Elizabeth Alexandra the Queen is the ruler of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the Commonwealth of Nations. Since her coronation in 1952, Elizabeth II reigned longer than any other British monarch, including Queen Victoria. Since 1952, she had been the queen of the United Kingdom and more than a dozen other countries, including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The entire nation honored her 70th year on the throne for four days in June of this year.

Queen Elizabeth II passes away at 96

According to a royal statement, Queen Elizabeth II passed away at the age of 96. Her health was deteriorating and she had remained under extensive medical supervision. However, it has been widely reported that Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla visited her at Balmoral Castle. Her grandson Prince William also tagged along with Prince Edward, Princess Anne, and Prince Andrew.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby tweeted, Our prayers are with Her Majesty The Queen today. And today Queen Elizabeth IIs death leaves a major gaping hole in the royal family.

Related: Her Majesty Has Run Out of Patience- Queen Elizabeth Hates Meghan Markle For Taking Harry Away From Royal Family, Brands Her as a Traitor

As reported by a member of the royal family with knowledge of the couples itinerary, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit Scotland while they are in the United Kingdom. Many people have questioned why she was not recognized sooner. Given their skewed relationship, there could be a variety of explanations.

Meghan Markle accused the British royal family of racism, dishonesty, and suicide ideation. The 39-year-old woman with an African-American mother and a white father was ignorant before marriage in 2018. She wasnt prepared for her 2018 wedding. Royal family members were worried about Archies skin, she stated. To top it all off, Meghan criticized them for being impolite and untrustworthy.

According to an interview she gave to CBS late Sunday night, Meghan revealed that her parents are against Harry joining the royal family. A discussion with Oprah as moderator, the couple discussed their rocky relationship with the Royal family. The Duchess revealed that before her sons birth, some people in the family were talking about how black his skin will be.

Also Read: Shes had it ever since: Private Chef Reveals Queen Elizabeths Secret Diet That Has Made Her a True Immortal Among Mortals

Politicians from throughout the UK had wished her a speedy recovery. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had expressed the publics worries, claiming they were extremely extremely concerned about the Queens health. Wales first minister, Mark Drakeford, sent his best wishes to the Queen. New British Prime Minister Liz Truss remarked, My sympathies are with Her Majesty The Queen and her family at this time.

Truss, who took office on Tuesday and paid a visit to the queen, tweeted, The whole country will be extremely disturbed by the news from Buckingham Palace this lunchtime. Adding, At this difficult time, the people of the United Kingdom, including myself, are thinking of Her Majesty The Queen and her family.

Meghan Markle recently revealed that she had found one of her old journals during The Cut interview. She said that when she and Harry left their royal duties in January 2020, they were not forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), giving her the freedom to say or write whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. Roya Nikkhah, Royal Editor at The Sunday Times says she may create her own memoir using this material.

Even though Meghan Markle knew that Harrys cousin, Princess Eugenie, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, lived in Frogmore Cottage after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to the United States, Nikkhah was startled that Meghan Markle left behind such a personal artifact in the form of the journal.

According to The Daily Express, the royal family is now concerned that Markle will publish a book containing the journal entries.

Source: Marie Claire

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As The Royal Family Deals With Devastating Racism Accusations From Meghan Markle, 96-Year-Old Queen Elizabeth II Now Under Extensive Medical Care as...

Space.com

Harvest Moon tonight! See the full moon rise near Jupiter and Neptune (Sept. 10)

by Brett Tingley

The full moon will be joined in the night sky by Jupiter and Neptune on Saturday (Sept. 10).

September's full moon is also called theHarvest Moonin the Northern Hemisphere, as this full moon falls near theautumnal equinox, which traditionally marks the beginning of the harvest season. The full moon this month will also appear in the sky close to two of its celestial companions in our solar system, Jupiter and Neptune.

WIRED

As the Planet Warms, Canada Faces an Influx of Climate Refugees

by Hanna Hett

As droughts, deteriorating farmland, and rising sea levels push people around the world from their homes, advocates in Canada are calling on the federal government to support those who areand will bedisplaced by the climate crisis.

In August, Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac), a body of more than 100 environmental groups across the country, sent aletterto Prime MinisterJustin Trudeauand Immigration Minister Sean Fraser asking them to grant permanent residency to all 1.7 million migrants in Canada, including half a million undocumented people. This regularization process is key to climate justice, explained Caroline Brouillette, national policy manager for CAN-Rac.

Fighting the climate crisis is not only about reducing our emissions, its about how we care for one anotherand thats why were asking for this, she said.

Climate change is already a factor causing people to immigrate to Canada, said Syed Hussan, the executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC), which worked with CAN-Rac to send the letter. But while climate migrants come to the country as workers, students, or refugees, they may not even be able to describe their experiences having resulted from climate change.

He said many migrants understanding of climate change is that it causes poverty. Climate change is actually closely linked to economic deterioration, Hussan explained.

UnofficialNetworks.com

Ingenious "Wind Turbine Wall" Could Power Your Entire Home

by Pat Donahue

We are all familiar with traditional wind turbines. They are often found in remote areas sitting on bare ridgelines or near the coast where the wind is consistently strong. Entrepreneur Joe Doucet has developed an incredible wind turbine wallthat could work wonders in urban environments.

The wall features a grid of independent axes with square panes that spin. The current iteration is a 25x8 wall with 25 axes. This makes it an excellent option for urban environments where space is limited. According to an article in Fast Company, one of these walls should be enough to provide 10,000-kilowatts of electricity per year. This is enough electricity to cover the needs of an average household.

Doucet is thinking big with this project. His vision is to use larger-scale wind turbine walls on the side of buildings and along highways. It is easy to build a wind turbine wall on a larger scale. The challenge is using materials to keep the weight down as to not put too much strain on the structure it is mounted on.

Science.org

Exceeding 1.5C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points

by David I. Armstrong McKay, etal

Climate tipping points (CTPs) are a source of growing scientific, policy, and public concern. They occur when change in large parts of the climate systemknown as tipping elementsbecome self-perpetuating beyond a warming threshold. Triggering CTPs leads to significant, policy-relevant impacts, including substantial sea level rise from collapsing ice sheets, dieback of biodiverse biomes such as the Amazon rainforest or warm-water corals, and carbon release from thawing permafrost. Nine policy-relevant tipping elements and their CTPs were originally identified by Lentonet al. (2008). We carry out the first comprehensive reassessment of all suggested tipping elements, their CTPs, and the timescales and impacts of tipping. We also highlight steps to further improve understanding of CTPs, including an expert elicitation, a model intercomparison project, and early warning systems leveraging deep learning and remotely sensed data.

[...]

We identify nine global core tipping elements which contribute substantially to Earth system functioning and seven regional impact tipping elements which contribute substantially to human welfare or have great value as unique features of the Earth system (see figure). Their estimated CTP thresholds have significant implications for climate policy: Current global warming of ~1.1C above pre-industrial already lies within the lower end of five CTP uncertainty ranges. Six CTPs become likely (with a further four possible) within the Paris Agreement range of 1.5 to

[...]

Our assessment provides strong scientific evidence for urgent action to mitigate climate change. We show that even the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to well below 2C and preferably 1.5C is not safe as 1.5C and above risks crossing multiple tipping points. Crossing these CTPs can generate positive feedbacks that increase the likelihood of crossing other CTPs. Currently the world is heading toward ~2 to 3C of global warming; at best, if all net-zero pledges and nationally determined contributions are implemented it could reach just below 2C. This would lower tipping point risks somewhat but would still be dangerous as it could trigger multiple climate tipping points.

BIG THINK.COM

A surprisingly strong link between altitude and suicide in the U.S.

by Ross Pomeroy

KEY TAKEAWAYS

CNET

James Webb Telescope Snares Eye-Popping View of Tarantula Nebula

by Amanda Kooser

Another day, another mind-blowing view of the cosmos courtesy of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The latest entry in Webb's run of jaw-dropping images shows how the next-generation observatory is able to reveal exquisitedetails of the Tarantula Nebula, a scenic region of gas, dust and hot young stars.

JWST sees the universe in infrared light, letting it peer deep into space objects. The Tarantula Nebula images are an excellent example of this. "A range of Webb's high-resolution infrared instruments, working together, reveal the stars, structure, and composition of the nebula with a level of detail not previously possible,"NASA saidin a statement on Tuesday.

The nebula's formal name is 30 Doradus, but its spindly "legs" of dust and gas filaments (notably seen in this Hubble view) earned it the spidery nickname. The nebula -- located 161,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy -- is a fiesta of star formation, home to thousands of up-and-coming stars that are among the hottest and most massive ones we've ever seen.

Neuroscience News

A Single Protein Could Unlock Age-Related Vision Loss

Research led by Sanford Burnham Prebys professor Francesca Marassi, Ph.D., is helping to reveal the molecular secrets of macular degeneration, which causes almost 90% of all age-related vision loss.

The study, published recently in the Biophysical Journal, describes the flexible structure of a key blood protein involved in macular degeneration and other age-related diseases, such as Alzheimers and atherosclerosis.

Proteins in the blood are under constant and changing pressure because of the different ways blood flows throughout the body, says Marassi.

For example, blood flows more slowly through small blood vessels in the eyes compared to larger arteries around the heart. Blood proteins need to be able to respond to these changes, and this study gives us fundamental truths about how they adapt to their environment, which is critical to targeting those proteins for future treatments.

There are hundreds of proteins in our blood, but the researchers focused on vitronectin, one of the most abundant. In addition to circulating in high concentrations in the blood, vitronectin is found in the scaffolding between cells and is also an important component of cholesterol.

Vitronectin is a key player in many age-related diseases, but for Marassis team, the most promising target is macular degeneration, which affects as many as 11 million people in the United States. This number is expected to double by 2050.

The Conversation

Heat pumps can cut your energy costs by up to 90%. Its not magic, just a smart use of the laws of physics

by Alan Pears

Heat pumps are becoming all the rage around a world that has to slash carbon emissions rapidly while cutting energy costs. In buildings, they replace space heating and water heating and provide cooling as a bonus.

A heat pump extracts heat from outside, concentrates it (using an electric compressor) to raise the temperature, and pumps the heat to where it is needed. Indeed, millions of Australian homes already have heat pumps in the form of refrigerators and reverse-cycle air conditioners bought for cooling. They can heat as well, and save a lot of money compared with other forms of heating!

Even before the restrictions on Russian gas supply,many European countrieswere rolling out heat pumps even in cold climates. Now,government policies are accelerating change. The United States, which has had very cheap gas in recent years, has joined the rush: President Joe Biden hasdeclaredheat pumps are essential to the national defence and ordered production be ramped up.

Brighter Side of News

Groundbreaking study identifies the genetic cause of ADHD

by D. Halperin

Israeli scientists have cracked code to better understand the genetic causes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

ADHD is one of the most common neurological disorders that usually first show up during childhood. This disorder in particular is characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and difficulty focusing. But what causes it?It is obvious that there is a genetic predisposition to it. But how exactly does it work? Which genes are affected?

Womens Health

Research reveals plant-based milk with most nutritional value - and it's a shocker

by Lauren Clark

From oat to almond and soy to hemp, alternative milks have long been ingratiating themselves with our fridges. Reasons for swapping dairy for aplant-basedalternative are often concerns about allergies or intolerances, an effort to be more sustainable or a preference for the taste.

However, some alt-milks are more nutritious than others - and research has indicated that the most nourishing of them all is probably not the one you're sipping on right now. Indeed, astudyfrom the US-based Institute of Food Safety and Health have revealed that pea milk is the most mineral-packed of them all.

Indeed, the researchers found that only pea and soy milk had higher levels ofmagnesium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium than even cow's milk. Of these two, pea milk was the highest - with 50 per cent more phosphorus, zinc and selenium. Although, soy milk did contain greater levels of magnesium.

Popular Science

A close look at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch reveals a common culprit

by Lauren J. Young

For decades, our oceans have been filling up with trash. The North Pacific Garbage Patch, also called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, has accumulated approximately 80,000 tons of plastic wasteand thatestimate continues to climb. Most of the litter in the ocean is delivered by rivers that carry waste and human pollution from land to sea. But the origins of floating debris in offshore patches havent been fully understood. A recent study published inScientific Reportshas identified one important source of the trash: the fishing industry.

Between 75 to 86 percent of the plastics floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch come from offshore fishing and aquaculture activities, according to an analysis of the trash collected by nonprofit project the Ocean Cleanup. Major industrialized fishing nations, including Japan, China, South Korea, the US, Taiwan, and Canada, were the main contributors of the fishing waste. These findings highlight the contribution of industrial fishing nations to this global issue, says Laurent Lebreton, lead study author and head of research at the Ocean Cleanup.

COSMOS

NASA is about to try changing the direction of an asteroid

by Matthew Agius

The asteroid Dimorphos is about to have an earthly visitor a US$300 million spacecraft that NASA will crash into the space rocks surface in a matter of weeks.

DART short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test is a spaceship that has one purpose: to be destroyed in the name of science.

And while theArtemis project is making headlinesas the US space agency prepares to send people back to the moon and eventually to trial humans living on the surface for short periods DART represents the first test of a technique that could help protect Earthlings from hypothetical asteroid impacts.

While our planet has done well in recent times to avoid catastrophic impacts from celestial objects (its only been65 million yearssince the dinosaurs forgot to repel an incoming object) DART is a step towards determining whether deflecting an asteroid is possible.

UNDARK MAGAZINE

In the Great Lakes, the Pandemic Disrupted Sea Lamprey Control

by Rebecca Redelmeier

ITS A GRAY MORNINGon Lake Ontario when Will Sampson, a sports fishing guide and recreational angler, sees one of the fishing reels on his fathers boat jerk. He reels it in. On the other end of the line is a Chinook salmon that he estimates weighs 22 pounds a great catch, save for one wriggling detail: Latched into the salmons side dangles a two-foot long sea lamprey, suction-cup mouth clinging on, one eye peeking around its hosts fin. In its lifetime, that sea lamprey could kill up to 40 pounds of fish; the hooked Chinook was its latest target.

Here, just off the Toronto harbor front and 27 miles to Niagara Falls, the Sampsons have gotten to know the Great Lakes infamous eel-like invasive fish well. Out of every 10 big fish they catch, they say usually at least four will have clear signs of a lamprey bite, some with multiple wounds at different stages of healing. For the father-son duo, the lamprey on the mornings Chinook is just another sign that this summer, the blood-sucking fishs population has ballooned.

Its a scenario that scientists are concerned about, too. During the 1940s and 1950s, when the regions sea lamprey populations reached their peak, they decimated fisheries, wiping out livelihoods and wreaking havoc on the lakes ecosystem. Since then, the species has been the subject of a robust cross-border control program. But that program was disrupted significantly during 2020 and 2021 amid pandemic restrictions.

SYFY Wire

SCIENTISTS UNLOCK THE KEY TO IMMORTALITY IN JELLYFISH

by Cassidy Ward

Weve known for some time that Turritopsis dohrnii, otherwise known as the immortal jellyfish, was out there living its best life over and over again by intermittently switching between its adult and larval stages. When the stresses of being an adult become too much for it to bear, it simply turns back the clock to become a juvenile and starts the whole process over again. While disease or predation can and does end the life of individual jellies, they dont succumb to the same biological ticking clock as the rest of us.

While weve been able to observe this behavior in immortal jellyfish, so far it has been unclear what biological mechanisms contribute to their everlasting life. Now, scientists from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Oviedo have identified the genes responsible, opening the door to future research. Their findings werepublished in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Zeroing in on what makes the immortal jellyfish special required a comparison of their genome with that of a close relative. Scientists compared their DNA with that of Turritopsis rubra, a jellyfish which is similar to the immortal jelly but, importantly, cannot regenerate. By comparing the genomes, they were able to identify specific sequences which the immortal jelly uses to revert from its adult medusa stage back to its larval stage, a process known as transdifferentiation.

The comparison revealed genes involved in DNA replication and repair, telomere maintenance,stem cellproduction, communication between cells, and reduction of the oxidative cellular environment, according toa press release from the University of Oviedo. All of those processes are associated with the healthy, or unhealthy, aging of humans.

The Conversation

Most human embryos naturally die after conception restrictive abortion laws fail to take this embryo loss into account

by Kathryn Kavanagh

Many state legislatures are seriously considering human embryos at the earliest stages of development forlegal personhood.Total abortion bansthat consider humans to have full rights from the moment of conception have created aconfusing legal domainthat affects awide range of areas, including assisted reproductive technologies, contraception, essential medical care and parental rights, among others.

However, an important biological feature of human embryos has been left out of a lot of ethical and even scientific discussion informing reproductive policy most human embryos diebefore anyone, including doctors, even know they exist. This embryo loss typically occurs in the first two months after fertilization, before the clump of cells has developed into afetuswith immature forms of the bodys major organs. Total abortion bans that define personhood at conception mean that full legal rights exist for a 5-day-old blastocyst, a hollow ball of cells roughly0.008 inches (0.2 millimeters)across with a high likelihood of disintegrating within a few days.

As anevolutionary biologistwhose career has focused on how embryos develop in a wide variety of species over the course of evolution, I was struck by the extraordinarily high likelihood that most human embryos die due to random genetic errors. Around60% of embryos disintegratebefore people may even be aware that they are pregnant. Another 10% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, after the person knows theyre pregnant. These losses make clear that the vast majority of human embryos dont survive to birth.

Zooniverse

Set sail with two new Zooniverse projects this week - Civil War Bluejackets and Spider Crab Watch. Read on to learn how you can help out these nautical researchers, and earn your sea legs to boot.

So many science articles; so little time and space. Happy researching!

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OND: Harvest moon, climate refugees, wall wind turbine, JWST and more - Daily Kos

While "The Rings of Power" has a large ensemble, the characters that are the most interesting so far are the young people who are growing into their responsibilities. Even though Galadriel and Elrond have lived for generations, they're struggling to accept their new roles as leaders. The young boy Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) begins his adventure after discovering a mysterious sword that's cursed with dark magic. It will be interesting to see how the series emphasizes its coming-of-age elements.

If you're looking for the quintessential fantasy coming-of-age series, you really can't go wrong with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Like "The Rings of Power," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" found the perfect mix of compelling characters, exciting action, necessary humor, and genuine emotion. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" tells the story of Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a high school student who secretly works to protect the world from vampires, monsters, and other dark creatures. Buffy is trained by her Watcher, Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), who also works as a librarian at her high school.

Although Buffy's responsibilities make it hard for her to adjust socially, she is able to form a friendship with the shy geek Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and the goofball slacker Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon). Buffy shares her secret with her two friends, and they begin helping her on her adventures. Buffy also forms a romantic relationship with the vampire Angel (David Boreanaz), who has been given a soul.

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10 Fantasy Shows Like Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power You Should Check Out - /Film

Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump's son-in-law, said during a livestream this week that he was keeping trim in the event that medical science allows him to "live forever."

During the stream, Kushner said that he had made it a "priority" to exercise more after leaving the White House, where he served as a senior adviser to Trump.

"I think that there's a good probability that my generation is, hopefully with the advances in science, is either the first generation to live forever or the last generation that's going to die," Kushner said. "So we need to keep ourselves in pretty good shape."

Speaking to The Daily Beast's Zachary Petrizzo and Matt Wilstein, an unnamed source close to Kushner said the comments were in jest.

"It's like a tongue-in-cheek joke to make the larger point that he wants to work out and be in good shape because people are living longer lives," the source told The Daily Beast.

Kushner has been promoting his new book, "Breaking History," a memoir of his time in the White House.

During a series of media appearances this week, he defended his father-in-law over the FBI's raid of Mar-a-Lago. He told Fox News that while Trump had a "peculiar" way of governing, the former president probably did what he thought was "appropriate" with the sensitive government documents found at his Florida residence.

Representatives for Kushner did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

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Jared Kushner is keeping fit because he thinks he might live forever - Business Insider