this week’s interesting points
Falling Life Expectancy We’ve taken a rising life expectancy for granted for a long time. For too long? Despite all the many advances in things like medicine and nutrition, there’s evidence that it may have started to fall again. Why? Dunno. You tell us why-but is this like the story of the canary in the mine? with thanks to P Seymour
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a42940614/global-life-expectancy-decline-mega-event/
Hittites took the hit for Climate Change Old hands on LSS will recall our advocacy of the theories of Professor Harper and how it was climate change (with a few epidemics) that did for the Romans. Well, looks like the Hittites may have gone the same way, according to this:
Why Harry Kane and not the bloke next to him? Why are some people, just a few, so very good at what they do, be it sports, music, painting or whatever? After all we all have pretty much the same brains, nervous system and skeletons. Yet one of us ends up as Bryn Terfel, and the rest of us can’t hit a note in the shower. This article looks at footballer Harry Kane and the psychology of stepping out and performing consistently at the highest levels.
Will India ever reach the top? Until now most outsiders welcomed the rise of India. What was not to like?A post colonial democracy-of-sorts that will become the most populous nation on earth some time this year between the FA Cup Final and the 5th Test at The Oval. Or are they developing issues already, around things like openness and transparency which could nip this ascendancy in the bud? Judge for yourself:
Could vaccines prevent diabetes? Remember all those antivaxxers who marched through London to storm the BBC, only to discover it had moved? Looks like they had it wrong twice, according to this:
Don’t throw away that old Car.….reuse it. Our researchers loved this initiative from British firm Lunaz. Their aim is to put electric engines in old frames made for the days of diesel. At the moment they are concentrating on lorries and commercial vehicles, but how long before your prize Cadillac gets a new electric engine, and you still know where to put your coffee cup?
https://www.electrive.com/2021/12/02/lunaz-announces-new-ev-conversion-facility-in-buckinghamshire/
Those we have loved Fifty years ago, an elderly member of our editorial board, then 15 years of age, sneaked into a cinema in Ealing, West London to see A Clockwork Orange “It had an X certificate, meaning only people 18 and above were allowed,” he recalls, “but I put on a suit and tie, affected a breezy confidence I did not feel, and bluffed my way into the afternoon matinee. They probably needed to sell some tickets, so I got away with it” Wendy Carlos (nee Walter) reworked a lot of famous tunes in the electronic mode so in vogue back then. Here’s her take on Purcell’s Music for the funeral of Queen Mary, which of course opened the film
#life expectancy #population #health #excellence #bryn terfel #sports #india #modi #a clockwork orange #electric vehicles
Learning, Science and Society 