Another weekend begins and the news is not all that good if you are a struggling American trying to make ends meet….so let me try to take your mind off of the bad news….

Local–We have been fortunate for the last 5 days or so our low temps at night have been in the mid 70s which is wonderful for this time of the year….but starting Sunday the heat and humidity will return.

Personal–My primary care doctor is not happy with my blood work….she says I need to eat more fish…cool but I do not like fish….so there is a problem to sort out….and to give up butter….seriously?

I shall start where I normally start….with health news….

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is one of the world’s most common viruses, thought to be lurking in 95 percent of adults. For most people, it causes no obvious symptoms.

But EBV is more than a short-term infection.

Once it enters the body, EBV can stay for life, and it has been linked to several cancers, multiple sclerosis, and other severe health complications.

Now, scientists have given us a promising new way to fight it.

A team from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and the University of Washington in the US developed antibodies that target two proteins on the surface of EBV particles back in February.

These proteins help the virus unlock access to our B cells, a type of white blood cell that plays a central role in the immune system.

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-create-new-antibody-for-virus-that-infects-95-of-people

More cancer research that we may never hear about again.

Want to live to 150?

A Chinese biotech company says that kind of lifespan may eventually be within reach, and the product at the center of its claim sounds surprisingly ordinary: a pill derived from grape seeds.

The company, Lonvi Biosciences, is developing a longevity supplement based on a compound called procyanidin C1, or PCC1. Its CEO has gone so far as to call the approach the “Holy Grail,” while the possibility of humans living to 150 has helped the story spread rapidly online.

It sounds like the kind of anti-aging promise that would be easy to dismiss. Except there is real science behind PCC1.

In a 2021 study published in Nature Metabolism, researchers found that the compound could target senescent, or “zombie,” cells and extend survival in old mice. These damaged cells accumulate as we age and have become an increasingly important target in longevity research.

But getting from longer-lived mice to humans celebrating their 150th birthdays requires some enormous leaps. There are no human trials showing that PCC1 extends lifespan, and since the original excitement, another issue has emerged that makes the evidence worth looking at much more carefully.

So, how much of the 150-year promise is grounded in longevity science, and how much is getting ahead of what researchers actually know?

Scientists Say a Pill Could Help Humans Live to 150. Here’s What the Research Actually Shows

I do not know if I would want to live that long….how about you?

I admit it I love my coffee….

Coffee and tea contain antioxidants, some of which have been shown to lead to an environment which makes it harder for cancer to develop.

Coffee has natural substances that might help protect your cells and reduce inflammation. It can also improve insulin sensitivity, which helps the body regulate blood sugar better. These factors could be how coffee affects cancer risk, but more research is needed to understand the full impact of coffee on cancer.

We don’t have a Cancer Prevention Recommendation about drinking coffee because we need more evidence. More research is needed to understand:

https://www.wcrf.org/preventing-cancer/topics/coffee-tea-and-cancer/

Coffee is a whole lot cheaper than cancer drugs….take my word for it.

The US is seeing a rise in the cases of rabies….

This summer brought more than intense waves of heat: The CDC is flagging a nationwide jump in rabies cases in animals, with a corresponding rise in people potentially exposed. In a health alert sent to doctors and health departments, the agency urged quick evaluation of anyone bitten or scratched by animals and prompt use of post-exposure shots when warranted, per NBC News. Rabies, usually spread through bites or scratches from infected wildlife like bats, raccoons, skunks, and foxes, is almost always deadly once symptoms appear, but it’s nearly always preventable if treated early. The Washington Post reports that there are fewer than 10 rabies deaths in the US annually.

The warning follows a North Carolina incident in which three baby goats at a mobile petting zoo tested positive, prompting recommendations for rabies shots for more than 260 people, per NBC. From July through August, rabies-related inquiries to the CDC rose 17% over last year, and at least eight states reported errors in how treatment was given, heavier use of vaccines, or both. The agency’s advice: Stay away from wild and sick animals, keep pets current on their shots, immediately wash any bite or scratch with soap and water, and seek medical care fast. Hawaii remains the only rabies-free state.

Since I have both coons and possums on my property it is something I need to watch.

I know that most of us know all about the dangers of fentanyl but there maybe something worse…..

San Francisco officials didn’t learn a new, ultra-potent opioid had arrived in the city from lab tests or drug busts. They learned it from the autopsy of a 16-year-old. In the New York Times, Jenna Russell reports on the April death of Dante Lacourte, whose mother assumed fentanyl was to blame—until the coroner’s report named something she’d never heard of: cychlorphine. It’s a synthetic opioid estimated to be about 10 times stronger than fentanyl, invisible to standard test strips, and often requiring multiple doses of Narcan to counteract, if it can be reversed at all.

Russell traces cychlorphine’s path from a Belgian lab in the 1960s to San Francisco’s streets today, where it’s quietly appearing in counterfeit pills sold to teens and people with high fentanyl tolerance. The piece follows Dante’s yearslong struggle with anxiety, depression, and addiction; his parents’ attempts to get him treatment; and the police investigation that led to arrests of alleged pill suppliers. It also details how cities are scrambling to spot and track new synthetic drugs—sometimes only after a body is on the table. It’s not just a Bay Area problem: Overdoses linked to cychlorphine stretch from Tennessee all the way to the Yukon, per the CBC.

Now for the ‘foodies’….

Fads in food come and go….Nouvelle cuisine, fusion, slow food, etc etc.

Personally I just want a good meal for a good price not one where once I finish eating I need to go to Burger King to fill satisfied.

This is a new ‘oral sensation’….

Texture is having a crunchy, gooey moment in the food and beverage industry. For many people, the way a menu item or packaged snack feels in the mouth has become as big a draw as flavor, although consumers don’t always recognize the part texture plays in their cravings for crispier takeout, frothier coffees, and juicier candies, according to industry experts. The importance of “mouthfeel,” a food science term for oral sensation, has inspired new products like Starbucks’ Aerocano, an air-whipped iced espresso; PowerCrunch, a wafer-like protein bar; and Trolli Gummi Popz, which are frozen but still soft and chewy, reports the AP.

Texture “has evolved from a complementary feature to a defining aspect of food quality,” says Puratos, a Belgian company that develops commercial-grade ingredients for chocolate and baked goods. “It is reshaping how consumers evaluate food and make purchasing decisions.” The trend is global. Stretchy yogurt is a fast-growing trend in China, while Swedish confectioner Cloetta just released Sprinkled Foamies, which have a crunchy coating and a marshmallow center. Parisian bakers are experimenting with new pastries like the crookie, a crispy croissant with a melty chocolate chip cookie inside. “It’s not just about flavor anymore. People are thinking about the whole experience,” said Tana Davila, chief marketing officer at Dutch Bros Coffee. The drive-thru chain lets customers customize drinks with toppings like a sweet, creamy whipped foam and juice-filled balls that pop when bitten.

Texture is so integral to the act of eating that people often describe how a food feels when they’re asked how it tastes, said Patrick Kalotis, executive VP of texture and healthful solutions at Ingredion, an Illinois-based ingredient provider. “You know, ‘This drink is fizzy’ or ‘I love the creaminess of the yogurt,'” Kalotis said. “They think they’re talking about taste, and of course the texture helps propagate the taste, but they’re actually describing texture.” Food manufacturers have long played with consistency. Pillowy Japanese mochi and stretchy Turkish ice cream date back centuries. Bubble tea, with its chewy tapioca boba pearls, was invented in Taiwan in the 1980s. In the 1990s, high-end European restaurants whipped up culinary foams flavored with truffle oil or lobster broth.

Sounds like a fad to me.

Now for my favorite subject….history….getting stoned in the Stone age…..

There is no fossil left over from the first person who got high. Somewhere deep in prehistory, a human or an earlier ancestor must have discovered that eating, chewing or drinking the right plant could make pain recede, sharpen the senses, or give you a good buzz. It likely happened accidentally at first. What happened next — whether people returned to the substance, shared it, or built rituals around it — has largely vanished with them.

Sometimes, thinking about these things has given us some extravagant ideas. I mean, really out there. The writer and psychedelic advocate Terence McKenna famously proposed his “stoned ape” hypothesis, arguing that encounters with psilocybin mushrooms helped propel the evolution of human perception, language and culture.

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/earliest-human-drug-use-ever-found/

Since I am an old fart I found this one interesting….

Suzanne Noble isn’t whispering about senior sex; she’s podcasting about it—and doing so to an audience that’s getting younger. Writing at the Washington Post, Grey Battle follows Noble, now 65, whose Sex Advice for Seniors started as candid, often postcoital conversations between her and then-partner Peter Marriott and has since exploded on TikTok, where her followers have tripled to about 160,000. She’s part of a small but growing class of “sexfluencers” over 60—along with 82-year-old author Joan Price and the four-man TikTok collective known as the Old Gays—who are pushing back on the idea that desire expires with age.

he Post reports that much of their message is about health and ageism, not titillation: painful sex and erectile dysfunction can flag broader medical issues, yet older patients—especially women—often get brushed off by doctors and harassed online. Experts and influencers interviewed say the taboo is less about sex than about seeing “wrinkly people” as sexual at all. Still, younger viewers are tuning in, sometimes for guidance, sometimes to troll. For a nuanced look at what Price calls “a late-in-life sexual revolution” and its backlash,

read the full piece at the Washington Post.

Old farts just want to get their freak on.

Finally since I am a dog lover and think my 2 pups are amazing I could not resist this story….

If you’ve ever silently wondered where your dog would land on an IQ chart, New York Times columnist Frank Bruni just road-tested that idea—and then dismantled it. Bruni recounts bringing his mixed-breed dog, Regan, to Duke University’s Canine Cognition Center, where researchers study what dogs actually understand. A simple treat-in-a-bowl experiment initially made Regan look, well, not so sharp. But the researchers argue that the test was really revealing something else: dogs’ instinct to trust and follow humans.

Bruni uses that moment to question how we label both dogs and people as “smart.” Classic breed rankings are based on obedience, which may measure compliance more than mental ability. Duke’s research suggests traits like persistence, confidence, and sensitivity to human cues can matter more than raw problem-solving power—especially for working dogs like guides or bomb sniffers. In Regan’s case, a tweak of the test “revealed she hadn’t been forgetting where the treat was,” as it initially appeared, writes Bruni. “She’d been choosing to trust, heed and please the human, an indisputably smart decision in the larger, long-term, all-important context of safety and survival.” As researcher Brian Hare puts it, that’s a sign of “genius.”

Read the full column.

I have a little something for Donny and his Gang of Minions

That will do it for this Saturday….I say go out and enjoy the day with family and friends and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”