It is that magical time again….the weekly Saturday News dump….where IST brings forth news that somehow did not make the nightly news.

Local–In a couple of days the Coast will be getting a new AmTrak line, the Mardi Gras Line….it will run from Mobile to New Orleans….it has been over 20 years since the Coast has had a connecting train line.

Personal–Not much exciting for this past week.  My daughter’s half sister was visiting from the Nederlands and she was ixated on all the drug ads on TV…..she got a big lick out of all the hype….they have none in Holland.

Let’s begin our weekend with the news dump…..and starting with health news….

Coffee!  My favorite beverage…..

If you’re over 40 and still treating coffee like just a morning ritual, you’re missing the bigger picture. A new study in the European Journal of Nutrition confirms what many of us intuitively understand: coffee isn’t just a performance booster—it’s a long-game strategy for aging well.

The study followed 1,161 community-dwelling adults aged 55 and older over a period of seven years. Researchers examined the impact of daily coffee intake on frailty risk, which encompasses factors such as weight loss, weakened grip strength, and reduced physical resilience. What they found was eye-opening.

Adults drinking 4–6 cups of coffee a day had up to a 64% lower risk of becoming frail. Even decaf showed benefits. The best results were observed in the 2–4 cups/day range, which was associated with a 59% lower risk of frailty over seven years. Not bad for something that costs a few bucks and fits in a mug.

https://www.si.com/everyday-athlete/news/new-study-finds-coffee-may-be-the-key-to-aging-strong-and-avoiding-frailty

Ozempic is all the rage now for those trying to shed pounds….but there could be another benefit….

Scientists have found new evidence that Ozempic-like drugs can help reverse aging — yet another health benefit added to the laundry list of off-label usages for the popular diabetes jab.

In a new, not-yet-peer-reviewed paper, research led by scientist Varun Dwaraka of the TruDiagnostic aging lab in Kentucky suggests that once-weekly shots of semaglutide, the GLP-1 drug in Ozempic and its weight loss sister drug Wegovy, can reduce one’s “biological age” by up to three years.

The basis of this study, like some others that look into anti-aging properties, is what’s known as “biological age.” As opposed to chronological age, which is how old we are in years, your biological age is basically how old your body feels — and using certain tools, researchers like Dwaraka say they can measure that. In this study, biological age was determined using so-called “epigenetic clocks,” which measure a person’s biological age via DNA methylation, or the chemical signals added or removed from DNA as we age.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/ozempic-anti-aging

Yet another study on plastics and health….

“Plastics are a grave, growing, and under-recognized danger to human and planetary health,” reads the study, which was released two days before the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), a body tasked with developing a legally binding treaty on plastic pollution.

The new study, a review of recent research on plastics, notes that the “principal driver” of the global plastics pollution crisis is the “accelerating growth” of production, which has surged “from 2 megatonnes (Mt) in 1950 to 475 Mt in 2022 that is projected to be 1200 Mt by 2060.”

“Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding US$1.5 trillion annually,” the study states. “Yet, continued worsening of plastics’ harms is not inevitable. Similar to air pollution and lead, plastics’ harms can be mitigated cost-effectively by evidence-based, transparently tracked, effectively implemented, and adequately financed laws and policies.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/plastic-pollution-crisis

Babies are in the news lately….but how do states stack up on newborns?

My state, Mississippi, is the worse for newborns….

Even if having a family has long been on your radar, practicalities still have to come into play when baby fever hits hard—including where the best place is to have said baby in these high-inflation, high-medical-bill times, per WalletHub. The site looked at all 50 states and DC across 31 metrics in four main categories: cost (everything from delivery expenses and insurance premiums to the price of child care); health care, including OB-GYNs and pediatricians per capita, infant mortality rates, and access to prenatal care; baby friendliness (think child care centers per capita and parental-leave policies); and family friendliness overall. Massachusetts tops the list for interested parents, while Mississippi brings up the rear. The 10 best and worst states to have that kid

See how all the states fare here.

My state is ALWAYS at the bottom unless it is a bad list then we seem to make it to the top.

I live in an area where the mosquito is a state bird….so when I saw this article I had to share….

Mosquitoes may have just met their match: A prescription drug already used to treat a rare genetic disease in humans can make a person’s blood poisonous to insecticide-resistant, malaria-carrying mosquitoes. New research published on July 31, 2025, in Parasites & Vectors found that the same drug, nitisinone, can even kill mosquitoes that simply land on a surface sprayed with the chemical.

The findings could open up new avenues to stop the spread of diseases like malaria and dengue, especially as more mosquito populations evolve to become resistant to traditional prevention methods. Whether people will willingly offer their bodies as mosquito blood bait, though, remains less clear.

“This study demonstrates that nitisinone exhibits a novel mode of action distinct from current [insecticides] by specifically targeting blood digestion processes,” the researchers write.

https://www.popsci.com/health/mosquito-repellent-nitisinone/

A problem is that rhinos are hunted for their horn which supposedly gives some Asia dude a rager….how to stop this senseless killing?

In 2015 alone, 1,349 rhinos were poached in Africa. In the years since, those numbers have decreased, but at least one rhinoceros is still killed every day. To tackle this problem, a group of researchers has come up with an out-of-the-box idea—we mean really out of the box.

Make their horns radioactive.

Rhino poaching is primarily motivated by the demand for their horns in countries such as China and Vietnam. The idea behind the Rhisotope Project is that buyers won’t be interested in horns injected with radioisotopes (radioactive versions of an element), and even if they are, border controls could use radiation-detection technology to detect the illegal goods.

“It was one of those three o’clock in the morning thoughts: ‘What if I put a small amount into the horn?’” explained James Larkin, a professor at University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, rhino poaching hotspot. “I realized we could probably find that sweet spot where the dose was small enough to not harm the animal, but big enough to set off a detector.”

https://www.popsci.com/environment/rhino-horns-radioactive/

A helluva idea….I saw \let these dumbasses buy a blue pill and leave the rhinos alone.

Florida’s annual snake hunt has ended and the results were promising….

A record haul marked this year’s Florida Python Challenge, with nearly 300 Burmese pythons removed from the wild, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials. The 10-day event, which ran from July 11 to 20, saw a significant jump in participation—934 hunters from 30 states and Canada descended on eight locations, including the Everglades, to curb one of Florida’s most troublesome invasive species.

The grand prize of $10,000 went to Taylor Stanberry of Naples, who tracked down 60 pythons, far outpacing the competition, reports NBC Miami. The Palm Beach Post has photos of the victorious Stanberry with her various catches, while the Naples Daily News notes that the 29-year-old is a first-time participant. Stanberry, known online as a “venomous keeper,” was joined by other notable contestants: Donna Kalil, last year’s professional category winner, increased her tally from 19 to 56 snakes. On the novice side, Krista Hoekstra led with 14 catches, while John Southworth topped the military division with five.

Size also played a role in the contest. The largest python captured measured nearly 16 feet, caught by novice Michael Marousky. Other notable lengths included 11 feet, 2 inches in the military category and just under 10 feet among professionals. The annual hunt is an attempt to combat the spread of Burmese pythons, large constrictors that have severely disrupted native wildlife in Florida. Since the introduction of paid competitions in 2017, the number of pythons removed has surged. More than 23,500 have been taken from Florida’s natural areas since 2000, with over 16,000 captured by contractors in the last seven years alone.

Finally since I am a dog person I found this article to explain a lot for me these days….

While many experts suggest that healthy social interaction is the key to a joyful, balanced, and fulfilling life, the best kinds of connections aren’t always with humans. In fact, our attachments with pets are very similar to the ones we share with our loved ones. Not only that, the relationship boasts a significant number of mental and physical benefits — from lowering cortisol levels, to promoting positive emotions, and decreasing the risk for cardiovascular disease.

People who would rather just hang out with their dogs as they get older usually have these reasons, along with a sleuth of other personal, social, and physical ones. They care less about nurturing relationships with people who lack depth or wasting time meeting new people when they have a secure, healthy, and meaningful relationship right at home with their fluffy friend.

https://www.yourtango.com/self/people-rather-just-hang-out-their-dogs-get-older-usually-have-these-reasons

Since the passing of Sue my two pups have made it easier to accept her passing…..I will forever be grateful to Sahara and Mojave….

That does it for me on this Summer Saturday….I hope everyone enjoys their day and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”