Moving Outward

Who is Getting Hospitalized for Covid-19?

In the United States, it is pretty clear who is getting hospitalized for Covid-19. Which group would you rather be in: Unvaccinated (blue line) Fully vaccinated (green line) [Data from USA Center for Disease Control (CDC)]

We are Living in an Ancient Greek Myth

One of the Greek myths that has come down to us from antiquity is the story of the Lernaean hydra. The hydra was a serpent-like monster that had many heads. If you cut off one hydra head, two more would grow in its place. Pictures of the hydra appear on ceramic vases that were created around 500 BC. Various heroes fought the hydra, but this only led to the hydra becoming ever more fearsome as its…

Why do memories fade as people age?

I am sure you have noticed, in others if not in yourself, that it gets harder to remember names, places, facts, and procedures as people get older. Why is that? Clearly something changes, something physiological. Perhaps if we could identify what changes, we could slow or even reverse that change, enabling us to retain our mental powers far longer than is common today. Some groundbreaking…

What’s the REAL Cause of Alzheimer’s Disease?

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), first identified by Alois Alzheimer in 1901, is a devastating malady that gradually robs people of their minds, ultimately resulting in death. Gradually losing one’s mind it horrific enough. Even worse is being aware that it is happening, and that neither the cause nor a cure for it is known. Lack of knowledge regarding the cause of AD is not due to a lack of trying.…

Out of Africa — the Omicron Variant

While Americans were celebrating their Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, giving thanks for the blessings that had received during the previous year, the newly named Omicron variant of the SARS-Cov-2 virus pushed the dangerous Delta variant out of the headlines as it spread across eight nations in Africa and from there to Israel and other nations around the world. It set off alarm bells because…

How Much Protection Do Covid-19 Vaccines Provide?

The purpose of the vaccines currently being used as a defense against Covid-19 is to improve outcomes for vaccinated people who encounter the SARS Cov-2 virus. Possible outcomes are: Complete avoidance of infection after exposureAsymptomatic infectionInfection with light symptomsInfection with concerning symptomsInfection requiring mechanical ventilationInfection causing death If a vaccine can…

How our immune system protects us against cancer

Your immune system is your primary defense against disease—it fights infections caused by pathogenic organisms such as bacteria and viruses. In addition, it fights against your own cells that have “gone rogue” by becoming cancerous. There are several different parts of the immune system, each designed to give you protection against a specific range of threats. One such part consists of the…

For several decades now, medical researchers have been conducting experiments to determine what interventions, if any, can extend healthy lifespan in humans. Thanks to improvements in the treatment of infectious diseases and other health measures, we are living longer today than our grandparents did, on average. For example, I have already outlived my father, as well as one of my grandfathers.…

Pouring Gasoline on the Fire

Back in the early days of television, in the 1950s, popular television shows, such as ‘I Love Lucy’ were sponsored by products such as cigarettes and hair styling products. Lucy spoofed the sponsor of some other shows with her famous Vitameatavegamin skit. That fictional product was uncannily similar to an actual product that was heavily advertised on many popular shows, named Geritol, which was…

17 years ago, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer

Happily, I had good medical insurance and received some of the best treatment available at that time. The fact that I am writing this article today is a testament to the success of that treatment. I am very thankful for the treatment I received, called brachytherapy. My treatment involved the complete destruction of my prostate gland by use of high intensity subatomic radiation. My cancer was…

Is it too late for me? Maybe not.

When I was in my mid-twenties, early in my career as a design engineer, I had a coworker named Vince. He was in his mid-forties and had been around the block a couple of times. I was promoted to group leader early on, while he was treading water, career-wise. This, combined with some other things in his life convinced him that his chance had passed and that he would probably make no more progress…

Turning Back the Clock

As long as there have been humans, the story has been the same: We are bornWe grow to adulthoodWe reach the peak of our powers, both mentally and physicallyWe begin a long slide to physical infirmity and diminished mental capacityThings inexorably get worse We die Not a happy prospect, when you think about it. It’s no surprise that most people would not like to think about it. As long as there…

Do Vaccine Mandates Work?

Even as thousands of Americans die every day of Covid-19, many people resist being inoculated with a life-saving vaccine. In many cases this is due to misinformation circulating among people, and in other cases people fear getting a shot more than they fear dying of Covid-19. The people in the first category need to receive better information. Those in the second category need to have a better…

Can Lost Hearing be Regained?

Almost sixty years ago, I was a student at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, a thousand miles from my home in New Jersey. Going home for a short Thanksgiving break was not feasible, so my father’s cousin and boyhood friend Bill invited me to share the Thanksgiving holiday with his family in Kentucky. It was a great visit. Bill made sure that I would have a great time. Bill’s wife…

Improving My Odds of Avoiding Covid-19

If you want to avoid contracting and dying from Covid-19, it makes sense for you to move your body from wherever you are to a place where the case-fatality rate is low. There are a lot of countries to choose from, since you are probably okay if you do not reside in one of the twenty countries with the highest deaths per 100,000 population. Unfortunately for me, I live in one of those twenty…

Why are Older People more likely to Die of Covid-19 than Younger People?

Vaccinations against Covid-19 were first made available to high risk people. These included medical workers who came into close contact with people with an active infection. Also included in the high risk category have been older people, with the risk being highest for the oldest and going down from there. What makes older people more likely to contract severe disease than younger people? What…

We’ve been Wrong about How Covid-19 Spreads

Ever since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have known that it is a highly contagious disease. It first came to the attention of the world when hundreds of people on the Diamond Princess cruise ship became ill and nine passengers died. The ship had taken on an infected passenger who had  recently been in Wuhan, China. Even though that passenger left the ship at its next port of call,…