People are living longer so Alzheimer’s disease is becoming more common. But there are things you can do to reduce the risk of dementia, says Amy Fenton It is estimated that, by 2025, more than a million people in Britain will suffer from Alzheimer’s. Its symptoms include memory loss, confusion and language breakdown, and it is incurable. Is there anything individuals can do to avert this bleak prognosis? According to Professor Clive Ballard, the director of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, and his colleague Dr Susanne Sorensen, the head of research, some simple changes to your lifestyle could delay and even prevent the onset of the condition. ‘A large number of studies have shown that a number of factors may affect your chances of developing dementia, so it is never too early, or too late, to make a few changes,’ Ballard says. Train your brain When it comes to retaining brain agility, the ‘use it or lose it’ principle holds true. Games such as Brain Age on Nintendo DS can help us to increase brain flexibility and activity, which some scientists believe can ward off the onset of Alzheimer’s. But you don’t have to invest […]
Dramatic evidence of the break-up of the Arctic ice-cap has emerged from research during an expedition by the Canadian military. Scientists travelling with the troops found major new fractures during an assessment of the state of giant ice shelves in Canada’s far north. The team found a network of cracks that stretched for more than 10 miles (16km) on Ward Hunt, the area’s largest shelf. The fate of the vast ice blocks is seen as a key indicator of climate change. One of the expedition’s scientists, Derek Mueller of Trent University, Ontario, told me: ‘I was astonished to see these new cracks. ‘It means the ice shelf is disintegrating, the pieces are pinned together like a jigsaw but could float away,’ Dr Mueller explained. According to another scientist on the expedition, Dr Luke Copland of the University of Ottawa, the new cracks fit into a pattern of change in the Arctic. ‘We’re seeing very dramatic changes; from the retreat of the glaciers, to the melting of the sea ice. ‘We had 23% less (sea ice) last year than we’ve ever had, and what’s happening to the ice shelves is part of that […]
WASHINGTON — If Congress were to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, crude oil prices would probably drop by an average of only 75 cents a barrel, according to Department of Energy projections issued Thursday. The report, which was requested in December by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, found that oil production in the refuge ‘is not projected to have a large impact on world oil prices.’ But the report also finds that opening ANWR could have other benefits, particularly in Alaska, where tapping the resources in the Arctic refuge could extend the lifespan of the trans-Alaska pipeline. It estimates that if Congress agreed to open ANWR this year, Alaskan oil could hit the market in about 10 years. ‘I’m coming away from it saying that this is yet another an indicator that opening ANWR is important to this country and to our energy future,’ said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. The report was unveiled Thursday by the Department of Energy’s research arm, the Energy Information Administration and came a day after the Department of Interior said that 60 percent of federal lands that hold potential sources of natural gas and oil are closed to […]
Almost every scandal produces unlikely heroes, workaday or even flawed men and women who don’t make headlines but perform courageous acts of conscience, often behind the scenes and in the face of enormous pressure. Several such characters emerged recently from what has otherwise been a disgraceful chapter of American history involving the abuse of foreign detainees held by U.S. forces in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq. An extensive report released last week by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General is the first official document to lay out in exhaustive detail the extent of the fissures created within the administration because of disagreements over interrogation and detention policies. The report depicts the struggles of several Justice Department and FBI officials to thwart interrogation tactics they considered ineffective at best and illegal at worst. In the process, they stuck their necks out by clashing with military and CIA interrogators and Defense Department and CIA higher-ups, and they pressed their case at the White House, even when that task seemed futile. It was Pasquale D’Amuro, chief of counterintelligence at the FBI, who first directed FBI agents based in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002 to have nothing to do with interrogations that […]
When most people think of the Dalai Lama, they think of his saffron and maroon robes, his shiny shaven head, the mala beads around his wrist, his puckish smile and cosmic insight. He is, after all, the incarnation of the god of compassion. Yet part of the drama and power of his life is that while his head may be in the clouds, for more than half a century his feet have been firmly planted in the unforgiving realm of realpolitik. Over the years, as I’ve reported from El Salvador to Lebanon, from Ethiopia to Sri Lanka, I’ve come to see the Dalai Lama as one of the most realistic, far-sighted politicians in the world. Soon after violence erupted in Tibetan areas in China last March, restless young Tibetan exiles began clamoring for dramatic protests against the Chinese government. The countdown to the Beijing Olympics in August was their chance, they said, to force China to end almost 60 years of oppression in Tibet. People around the world joined in their call for action. But the Dalai Lama continued to urge patience, dialogue and tolerance. An agreement reached by people who are jealous, territorial or angry, he often says, […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
