ICYMI

Would You Pay $850.00 a Month to Live in One of These?

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The image above shows a proposed apartment in Denver, which would cost about $850 – less than half the current median rent in the city of $1,771. Are ‘micro-apartments’ converted from offices the answer to the housing crisis? https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/real-estate/2024/10/22/empty-offices-become-tiny-apartments-housing-crisis/75784459007/

I actually visited some micros in Providence RI.

One of the nation’s most beautiful historic shopping arcades was restored as 48 affordable micro-lofts, rents starting at $550 per month, and 17 small retail spaces in Providence, Rhode Island. The Micro Lofts at the Arcade Providence, completed in 2012, helps keep young professionals and artists downtown and is a major step in revitalizing the city. Micro Lofts at the Arcade Providence – https://www.cnu.org/what-we-do/build-great-places/micro-lofts-arcade-providence

If I were a lot younger, single, had a job in a CBD and not set in my Old Man Ways I would consider micro-living. I might even try a repurposed recycled wind turbine.

wind turbine tiny house

all images courtesy of Vattenfall and Business in Wind

During Dutch Design Week 2024, Superuse and Vattenfall showcase the discarded wind turbine part they’ve transformed into a furnished tiny house powered by solar panels. The design studio and energy company convert a nacelle, which is the top part of a wind turbine or the container of the engine, into a compact and movable furnished home, and visitors to the Dutch event can see it firsthand between October 19th and 27th, 2024, in Eindhoven. discarded wind turbine vessel turns into solar-powered tiny house by superuse and vattenfall — https://www.designboom.com/technology/superuse-vattenfall-discarded-wind-turbine-solar-powered-tiny-house-dutch-design-week-2024-10-24-2024/

I keep telling The Boss all I’m trying to do is to make our retirement income last as long as we last.

Rejected. Again.

Food for Thought (and memories)

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Favorite Meals May Trigger Memories in People with Dementia

Mealtime can provide opportunities to connect with someone experiencing memory loss and tap into deeply rooted memories. “If you’re going to make your father’s favorite meal, think about how you can delve into it as an experience,” Aguirre says. Dr. Kramer notes that several senses associated with cooking and eating dishes, including smell and taste, are closely related to memory. Both the olfactory bulb, the main receiving center for smell, and the insular cortex and frontal operculum (also called the gustatory cortex), responsible for perception of taste, are closely connected to the amygdala, an area involved in emotional learning. The olfactory nerve, which conveys the sense of smell to the brain, is also close to the hippocampus, one of the most important brain structures for memory. And the combined effect of smell and taste—what neuroscientists who study this field call “flavor”—can be especially powerful at conjuring long-held memories charged with emotion, says Joel Salinas, MD, MBA, FAAN, assistant professor of neurology at NYU Langone Health and chief medical officer at Isaac Health, a clinic in New York City for brain health and memory problems.Favorite Meals May Trigger Memories in People with Dementia – https://www.brainandlife.org/articles/food-may-trigger-memories-in-people-with-dementia

Researchers Have Mapped all 139,255 Neurons in the Brain of an adult fruit fly

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An adult fruit fly’s brain is much more complex, however—and most importantly, the small insects share 60 percent of human DNA, as well 75 percent of the genes that cause genetic diseases, per a statement. As such, understanding the fly’s brain in such detail could hold implications for connections in human brains—and the neural pathways that lead to certain behaviors. Fruit flies, like humans, can get drunk, sing and be kept awake with coffee, suggesting similarities in our brains. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-unveil-the-first-ever-complete-map-of-an-adult-fruit-flys-brain-captured-in-stunning-detail-180985191/

An actuary, an underwriter and a fruit fly walk into a bar…

My Friday Reads – 09.20.24

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There’s another form of the Nobel Prize, called the Ig Nobel Prize. Don’t confuse this with the actual Nobel prizes. The Ig Nobels recognize scientific discoveries that “make people laugh, then think”.

‘The data on extreme human ageing is rotten from the inside out’ – Ig Nobel winner Saul Justin Newman – https://theconversation.com/the-data-on-extreme-human-ageing-is-rotten-from-the-inside-out-ig-nobel-winner-saul-justin-newman-239023

I started getting interested in this topic when I debunked a couple of papers in Nature and Science about extreme ageing in the 2010s. In general, the claims about how long people are living mostly don’t stack up. I’ve tracked down 80% of the people aged over 110 in the world (the other 20% are from countries you can’t meaningfully analyze). Of those, almost none have a birth certificate. In the US there are over 500 of these people; seven have a birth certificate. Even worse, only about 10% have a death certificate.

The epitome of this is blue zones, which are regions where people supposedly reach age 100 at a remarkable rate. For almost 20 years, they have been marketed to the public. They’re the subject of tons of scientific work, a popular Netflix documentary, tons of cookbooks about things like the Mediterranean diet, and so on.

Coffee prices are set to soar due to drought in this country

In Brazil, the world’s largest coffee producer, Almeida and other farmers have started grappling with the nation’s worst drought in more than seven decades and above-average temperatures. Almeida expected to harvest 120 sacks of coffee beans this harvest season, but instead managed just 100…At the same time, Vietnam, the world’s second-biggest coffee producer, is experiencing heat and drought, affecting its crops. Potential supply shortages in both countries have started driving up global coffee prices, according to the report.

“The patient requires coffee in the morning to function.” actual medical record entry from a case I worked on yesterday. Well, me too. My ability to function in the morning is going to cost more.

Does anyone remember Three Mile Island? I do. Looks like this nuclear plant may reopen.

Re-opened Three Mile Island will power AI data centers under new deal – https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/09/re-opened-three-mile-island-will-power-ai-data-centers-under-new-deal/#p3

Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island plant rose to infamy in 1979 when a partial meltdown in Unit 2 helped ignite panic over nuclear safety across the country. The new Microsoft deal would re-open the adjacent Unit 1, which was shuttered in 2019 “due to poor economics,” according to Constellation. If and when the plant reaches its planned 2028 re-opening, it would be among the first wave of shuttered nuclear plants being put back into service.

Yes, Microsoft! Might as well end this post with another Microsoft story.

Microsoft releases a new Windows app called Windows App for running Windows apps – https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/09/microsoft-releases-a-new-windows-app-called-windows-app-for-running-windows-apps/

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Going Green – Update 08.23.24

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A quick rundown: First, in the middle of the month, news broke that Superpedestrian was shutting down just 18 months after raising $125 million in fresh funding. A few days later, Micromobility.com, formerly known as Helbiz, was delisted from Nasdaq for failing to maintain a share price above $1. Then came the biggest shockwave of all: Bird, the largest e-scooter company in the U.S. with a one-time valuation of $2.5 billion, filed for bankruptcy.

E-scooter companies are going bankrupt. That should alarm you even if you hate them —https://www.fastcompany.com/91005446/e-scooter-companies-are-going-bankrupt-that-should-alarm-you-even-if-you-hate-them

TBH I never understood this e-scooter thing from the very beginning.

Maybe I’m too risk adverse.

UCLA-led research finds that scooter injuries nearly tripled across the U.S. from 2016 to 2020, with a concurrent increase in severe injuries requiring orthopedic and plastic surgery over the same period.

The study, which compared national trends in scooter and bicycle injuries during the period, also found that costs to treat those injuries rose five-fold, highlighting the financial strain these injuries pose to the healthcare system — a finding that “underscores a critical juncture for discerning the underlying causes of injuries and informing policies for injury prevention,” the researchers note.

University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences. “Hospitalizations for scooter injuries nearly tripled in the US between 2016 and 2020, UCLA-led research finds.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 January 2024 — https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/01/240109121215.htm

Turkey’s Koc Holding said it revoked an agreement with Ford Motor and South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution for a joint venture to produce battery cells for commercial electric vehicles…LGES said the three companies had mutually agreed to scrap the plan due to the current pace of consumer electrification adoption.

Ford’s joint battery cell plant in Turkey is scrapped — https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/ford-battery-plant-turkey-dropped-slow-ev-adoption

At the end of Q3 2023, Hertz told investors that significant price cutting during the year had “resulted in lower EV residual values, increasing vehicle depreciation expense and negatively impacting salvage cost.” Additionally, its rental EVs were damaged or crashed more often, and the much higher cost of repairs for Tesla vehicles—on average about 20 percent higher than other EVs—has meant that Hertz’s Teslas earn it less money per vehicle than its other rentals.

Consequently, it’s selling off 20,000 EVs over the course of this year. Currently, the company has over 700 EVs for sale, including 35 Chevrolet Bolts, four Kia EV6s, a single BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf, and then 673 Teslas—552 Model 3s and another 121 Model Ys.

Hertz is selling 20,000 used EVs due to high repair costs — https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/01/hertz-is-selling-20000-used-evs-due-to-high-repair-costs/

There is a reason for such unusually rapid depreciation. It is precisely because the device is in need of a new battery – and the cost of that battery is (in this case) in the range of $13,000-plus. Not counting the cost of the installation.

Don’t Buy a Used EV — https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2024/01/12/dont-buy-a-used-ev/

In Indonesia, nickel extraction is causing environmental and social devastation.

The dirty road to clean energy: How China’s electric vehicle boom is ravaging the environment — https://restofworld.org/2022/indonesia-china-ev-nickel/

Over the past few years, as Tesla built out its gigafactory near Berlin, it cut down around half a million trees.Kayrros, a company that analyzes satellite images using AI, made the calculation. Tesla cleared around 813 acres of forest between March 2020 and May 2023, according to the analysis. Tesla cut down 500,000 trees to build its German gigafactory

So going green is good?

Low Magnesium Levels Do What?

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Scientists from the University of South Australia measured blood samples from 172 middle aged adults, finding a strong link between low magnesium levels and high amounts of a genotoxic amino acid called homocysteine. University of South Australia. “Low magnesium levels increase disease risk.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240812123307.htm (accessed August 13, 2024).

Journal Reference:

Varinderpal S. Dhillon, Permal Deo, Michael Fenech. Low magnesium in conjunction with high homocysteine increases DNA damage in healthy middle aged Australians. European Journal of Nutrition, 2024; DOI: 10.1007/s00394-024-03449-0

Whole grains, dark green leafy vegetables, nuts, beans, bananas, avocados and dark chocolate are magnesium-rich foods.

    Everybody poops, but not every day

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    Unsurprisingly, those who reported eating a fiber-rich diet, better hydration, and regular exercise tended to find themselves in the bowel movement Goldilocks zone. Timing is everything: Study finds link between bowel movement frequency and overall health — Institute for Systems Biology. “Timing is everything: Study finds link between bowel movement frequency and overall health.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/07/240716122711.htm (accessed July 18, 2024).

    I could not resist posting about pooping.