08 MAR 2016 by ideonexus
Physical and Actuarial Escape Velocities
The escape velocity cusp is closer than you might guess. Since we are already so long lived, even a 30% increase in healthy life span will give the first beneficiaries of rejuvenation therapies another 20 years—an eternity in science—to benefit from second-generation therapies that would give another 30%, and so on ad infinitum. Thus, if first-generation rejuvenation therapies were universally available and this progress in developing rejuvenation therapy could be indefinitely maintained,...Folksonomies: longevity life-extension
Folksonomies: longevity life-extension
1 05 FEB 2016 by ideonexus
The Stress of Cold Temperatures Extends Lifespans
In 1986, John Holloszy of Washington University immersed his lab rats in shallow, cool water for four hours each day. They burned so many extra calories that they ate half again as much as control rats, but weighed less. The cold rats lived 10% longer, on average. Holloszy framed his report on this experiment not as a hormetic effect of cold exposure, but as a refutation of the “rate of living” hypothesis.
In 2006, Gordon Lithgow of the Buck Institute for Aging Research exposed lab worms...Folksonomies: longevity
Folksonomies: longevity
31 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
Cardiorespiratory Fitness (CRF) Lowers Cancer Risk
A well-established, graded, inverse association exists between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as well as all-cause mortality in numerous healthy and clinical adult populations.1- 3 Compared with those classified in the lowest CRF category (<7.9 metabolic equivalents [METs]), individuals in the highest CRF category (≥10.9 METs) have a 1.6- to 1.7-fold lower risk of CVD and all-cause mortality, respectively.4 Accordingly, measurement of CRF via for...From Time Magazine article on the study:
Here’s the best part: it doesn’t take a lot of exercise to have a big health impact, Lakoski found. “Just a small improvement in fitness made a difference in survival of those that developed cancer,” she says. Compared to men who could run 12-minute miles on the treadmill at age 50, men who ran slightly faster 11.5-minute miles had an additional 10% decrease in cancer death and an extra 25% decrease in cardiovascular death among those who developed cancer in the study.
21 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
Running In Elderly Promotes Walking-Economy of Youth
Older runners had a 7–10% better walking economy than older walkers over the range of speeds tested (p = .016) and had walking economy similar to young sedentary adults over a similar range of speeds (p = .237). We found no substantial biomechanical differences between older walkers and runners. In contrast to older runners, older walkers had similar walking economy as older sedentary adults (p = .461) and ~26% worse walking economy than young adults (p<.0001).Folksonomies: longevity
Folksonomies: longevity
07 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
How Los Angeles Regulates Air Pollution
Los Angeles is not really a city of skyscrapers. All around those skyscrapers is a flat expanse of one- and two-story buildings. This low-density urban development means you have to drive to get around in LA. Los Angeles’ sprawl is considered a classic case of failed urban planning.Los Angeles’ sprawl is considered a classic case of failed urban planning. Its public transportation has not been developed or utilized to its fullest potential. This has caused an inevitable increase in car o... 1 
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notesDespite increased traffic.
17 SEP 2013 by ideonexus
Healthy Lifestyle Changes Increase Telomerase Length by 10%
Methods
This follow-up study compared ten men and 25 external controls who had biopsy-proven low-risk prostate cancer and had chosen to undergo active surveillance. Eligible participants were enrolled between 2003 and 2007 from previous studies and selected according to the same criteria. Men in the intervention group followed a programme of comprehensive lifestyle changes (diet, activity, stress management, and social support), and the men in the control group underwent active surveillance ...Small sample size, but first evidence that healthy living can actually reverse the aging process somewhat.
13 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Gary Gygax Explains Dice
As the DM, the tools of your trade are dice — platonic solid-shaped or just about any other sort. The random numbers you generate by rblling dice determine the results based on the probabilities determined herein or those you have set forth on your own. In case you are not familiar with probability curves, there are two types which are determined by your dice: linear (straight line),'which has equal probability of any given integer in the number group, and bell (ascending and descending lin... 1 notes
notesProbability, percentages, averages, there's a lot of math in this introduction to the most important tool of the gamer.
What does it mean that the average role of a 1d6 is 3.5 but the probability of any number coming up is 16.7?
03 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
The Effects of Aging and How Exercise Counteracts Them
• Motor neurons die, particularly from age 60 onward. This causes connections between muscle fibers to wither — and that, in turn, eventually leads to loss and shrinking of muscle fibers. As a result, muscles get smaller and a person gets weaker, says Sandra Hunter, an associate professor of exercise science at Marquette University in Milwaukee. "Physical activity can offset some of that," she says. "But there is this biological aging process going on — the neurons will die regardle...A bullet point list of some of the physiological effects of aging and how exercise reverses these trends.
28 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
Programmers Get Better with Age
This kind of data is hard to come by, but thanks to almighty Stackoverflow ands their wise decision (thanks Joel), to make this data publicly available we can mine this data to our collective benefit.
With a simple bash script to download the data, a small Java program to extract the stats and Google Docs to make the graphs, I was able to produce some interesting stats.
I pulled in data of about 70.000 developers whose Stackoverflow reputation is over 100. On average 53% of them have their ... 1 notes
notesAn ingenious conclusion arrived at by mining data on Stack Overflow finds that developers answer more questions as they get older and contribute more to the community.
03 JAN 2011 by ideonexus
ReWriting Principle: Kill Your Darlings
Mostly when I think of pacing, I go back to Elmore Leonard, who explained it so perfectly by saying he just left out the boring parts. This suggest cutting to speed the pace, and that’s what most of us end up having to do (kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings)...I got a scribbled comment that changed the way I rewrote my fiction once and forever. Jotted below the machine-generated signature of the editor w...Folksonomies: writing
Folksonomies: writing
1 Stephen King's formula for producing a second draft involves cutting 10 percent of it in order to improve the pace of the text, meaning you must cut parts that you personally really like.
