The Dump is back after a week off to cover other news…..and we begin with the news that everyone is looking for (at least that is my belief but I could be mistaken for I am never wrong).

Locally–Today is the first full day of Summer although down here we have been pushing triple digit heat for about a month so all we forward to looking at is hotter and hotter temps…..we are so lucky like that……the warnings are that the heat index will hit 110 today and the rest of the next several days…..as I am writing this post, 4 am, it is 90 on the heat index….hurray for Summer (sarcasm)….

Personal—I had my infusion yesterday and I feel like crap…..this happens every time but thankfully it only last a couple of days….that is so far.

Time to jump into the grits and the gravy for this Saturday.

We begin with a bit of health news….

As the population gets older the chance for dementia increases….but there could be some help….

Eating your greens—and plenty of berries—could help sharpen your mind well into older age, new research shows. A large, long-term study found that even starting the so-called MIND diet later in life can significantly lower a person’s risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia, NBC News reports. Presented at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual meeting, research led by University of Hawaii at Manoa and University of Southern California scientists found that middle-aged and older adults who followed the MIND diet—a combination of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet, which aims to lower blood pressure—developed dementia at lower rates than those who did not.

Like the Mediterranean diet, the MIND diet is rich in leafy greens, olive oil, and whole grains, but because of its focus on the brain, it gives special weight to foods like berries, which have been linked to brain health. Individual foods are scored based on type and frequency of consumption, with a higher overall score linked to a lower risk of dementia. For example, having two or more servings of berries per week scores higher than having one or none.

Researchers used data from the Multiethnic Cohort, which started in the early 1990s and followed adults from five racial/ethnic groups. At the start, participants who most closely adhered to the MIND diet had a 9% lower dementia risk, with an even greater reduction—13%—for Black, Latino, and white participants. Those who improved their MIND diet scores over a decade saw their risk drop by 25% compared to those who adhered less strictly to it over the years—even if they had not originally adhered to the diet closely, CBS News reports.

Since I do like my greens and berries it could explain why my mind is still running strong even at 78.

Keeping with the food meme…..I like spicy food my favorite peppers are jalapeno and Thai bird…..but lately when I have bought some jalapenos they have been boring and no heat….why is that?

My mom eats a hot pepper with pretty much every meal. When I was growing up, it was usually a jalapeño — she would chop it up and mix the pieces into a salad or bite directly off the pepper. But over the years, she has gradually transitioned to spicier chile options, like serranos and habaneros.

This isn’t just because her spice tolerance has increased; it’s also because she’s found that store-bought jalapeños lack the heat they once had. My mom isn’t alone in this observation. Many chile consumers have taken notice, and as someone who has a low threshold for spice, I can now handle most raw jalapeños from the grocery store.

If you’ve been wondering whether these popular peppers have lost their intensity, experts can confirm that this isn’t just in your head; many jalapeños in the U.S. are less spicy than they were a few decades ago. In this week’s episode of the podcast The Sporkful, guest host Willa Paskin of Decoder Ring does a deep dive into why jalapeños have become less potent over the years — and humans are to blame.

https://www.foodandwine.com/why-jalapenos-have-become-less-spicy-11740201

I guess I need to start growing my own peppers again.

I eat a big breakfast every morning because growing up it was preached that it was the most important meal of the day…..now we have more news about the meal….

As egg prices cool off, bacon is now sizzling, with nearly 20% price hikes since last year. According to grocery price data from NIQ, the average price of pork bacon jumped 18% between May 2023 and May 2024, with a 5.7% increase from April to May alone, reports NBC News. And while bacon prices already have a reputation for volatility, industry observers suggest this latest spike may not be temporary.

Jim Eadie of Swineweb.com points to a mix of factors behind the rise: tariffs, higher wages, supply and demand shifts, and increased production costs. “It’s just the cost of doing business,” Eadie said. The AP lays out other possible contributors, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which jacked wheat and corn prices, making it more expensive to raise pigs.

California’s Proposition 12, which requires minimum living standards for farm animals, is also cited as a contributor. In the Golden State, a pound of bacon can top $7. In contrast, Dallas shoppers are paying just over $4 for the same amount. Meanwhile, egg prices are now trending down. May saw a 6.6% drop from April, though prices remain up 41% from a year ago.

So how does all of this affect the price of that coveted breakfast staple, the BEC (bacon-egg-cheese) sandwich? Bloomberg notes that the price of the sandwich has reached record highs, and can serve as a gauge of sorts on “inflation, supply and demand, and the complexities of financial markets.

Does not change my mind.

A danger waiting in the wings….(no pun intended)….

The US has fought to keep the New World screwworm, a parasitic fly whose larvae “eat animals alive,” out of North America since the 1950s—and has been wildly successful. That success is now in jeopardy. As Sarah Zhang reports for the Atlantic, the USDA’s effective process involved raising actual screwworms in factories, sterilizing them with radiation, and dropping as many as 150 million of them a week by plane at-risk areas. The flies were pushed back to Mexico and, finally, the Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia, where in 2006 a sort of aerial border was formed. The land is just 100 miles wide there, and tens of millions of irradiated screwworms continue to descend upon it weekly. But in 2022, that barrier was breached.

The reasons are a little murky but include COVID-related hiccups with cattle inspections and at the one fly factory in Panama that still breeds them, plus a surge in migrant activity. By 2024 the parasite had moved more than 1,600 miles north through eight countries to southern Mexico, prompting US authorities to halt live-cattle imports from that country. Only about 700 miles remain before the screwworm reaches Texas, and our chances of stopping it aren’t great.

The Panama facility that produces sterile flies has ramped up output from 20 million to 100 million weekly, but that falls short of what’s needed. Texas ranchers and lawmakers are now urging the USDA to build a new fly factory, but that could take years. Drugs to treat screwworm are no longer licensed domestically, and routine branding and tagging practices could expose animals to infection. Per the Atlantic, “Every cut, every scratch, every navel of a newborn calf threatened to turn fatal in the pre-eradication era.” (The full story is as fascinating as it is chilling, and explains why that if this comes to pass, already high beef prices could skyrocket.)

For news now we have all sorts of ‘solutions’ for our ever expanding plastic waste problem and so far it is still with us so this new approach does not make me confident for the time being….

Researchers in Japan say they have developed a plastic that dissolves in seawater within hours, marking a potential milestone in the fight against ocean pollution. Scientists at the Riken Center for Emergent Matter Science and the University of Tokyo recently showcased the material, which disappears from a container of salt water in about an hour with some stirring, reports Reuters. The material breaks down a lot faster than other biodegradable plastics and leaves no residue, the team says.

Project leader Takuzo Aida says the plastic matches traditional materials in strength but stands out for its rapid decomposition and environmentally-friendly breakdown process. In seawater, the plastic simply dissolves into its component parts, which bacteria are able to further process, meaning no microplastics are left behind. On land, a 2-inch piece dissolves in soil after about 200 hours, Aida says. “Basically, it’s a glassy type of plastic,” he tells Sky News Australia. “It’s transparent and looks very like the ordinary type of plastics you see every day. However, unlike the traditional petroleum-based plastics, it’s made from natural resources, or substances that haven’t been used in plastics before.”

The research team is now exploring optimal coating techniques to maintain the plastic’s usability for commercial applications—a process still in development. Aida says there is growing interest from companies in the packaging sector, though commercialization plans have not yet been finalized. “Children cannot choose the planet they will live on. It is our duty as scientists to ensure that we leave them with the best possible environment,” Aida says.

Will it ever make it into the system?

Would you like to live a 1000 years?  Well someone has the answer….

What if you could live forever, staying healthy and young for centuries? Scientists and tech pioneers now believe this dream could become reality.

In Silicon Valley, entrepreneurs like Bryan Johnson follow intense routines, like his ‘Blueprint’ plan, to slow or reverse aging, and companies like Altos Labs are testing treatments that have already extended the lives of mice.

Experts say we’re on the cusp of technologies that could make immortality possible, and they’ve even set dates for when this future might arrive.

hree visionaries stand out in this quest: futurologist Dr. Ian Pearson, Google‘s Ray Kurzweil, and biomedical researcher Aubrey de Grey.

Pearson predicts that by 2050, the wealthy will use advanced tech to live forever, perhaps by uploading their minds to computers or android bodies.

Kurzweil believes that by 2029, artificial intelligence (AI) will match human intelligence, starting a merger between humans and machines that leads to immortality by 2045.

De Grey argues that medical advances could make aging a curable disease by 2050, allowing people to live to 1,000 or beyond.

Each of the next three breakthroughs offers a different path to immortality. They’re not just about living longer – they’re about changing what it means to be human.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14696355/Longevity-experts-humans-living-1000.html