May 5, 2022 02:14 PM
(This post was last modified: May 5, 2022 02:42 PM by C C.)
People with highest levels of antioxidants less likely to develop dementia, finds study
https://www.news-medical.net/news/202205...study.aspx
INTRO: People with higher levels of antioxidants in their blood may be less likely to develop dementia, according to a study published in the May 4, 2022, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found that people with the highest levels of the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin and beta-cryptoxanthin in their blood were less likely to develop dementia decades later than people with lower levels of the antioxidants. Lutein and zeaxanthin are found in green, leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach, broccoli and peas. Beta-cryptoxanthin is found in fruits such as oranges, papaya, tangerines and persimmons... (MORE - details)
We are the only humans in the universe
https://bigthink.com/13-8/humans-universe/
EXCERPTS: . . . In science we cannot really rule out what can exist, so long as it satisfies the laws of physics as we know them. But we can use the laws of physics and chemistry to infer what might exist [...] So what can we expect to find as we scan the vast collection of worlds and search for living creatures? While no one can answer that, we can lay down a couple ground rules.
Rule number one: Life will be carbon-based. Why? Because carbon is the easygoing atom, with a chemical versatility no other element can match. Carbon has four unpaired outer electrons. It can form tight chemical bonds by sharing these electrons with other chemical elements. A potential alternative is silicon, but its biochemistry would be severely limited in comparison, with bonds roughly half as strong as carbon’s. Life needs versatility to thrive.
Rule number two: Life needs liquid water. Yes, you can find frozen bacteria in the permafrost, but they are not living. Since life is, in essence, a network of complex biochemical reactions that move compounds this way and that, it needs a solvent — a medium where the reactions can unfold. Composed of oxygen and hydrogen, two of the most abundant chemical elements everywhere in the universe, water has a clear advantage. Plus, it has the very unique property that ice floats — water in its solid state is less dense than in its liquid state.
[...] Given these two constraints, the essence of life should be simple. It will include carbon, water, and some other stuff (at a minimum, nitrogen).
The details, though, are not simple. Each planet that may contain life will have its own history. As a consequence, life there will also have its own history — a history contingent on the history of the host planet. A planet’s properties shape life on it. In turn, anything that lives on a planet will shape the planet’s properties. [...] As the conditions on the planet change, many times due to the very presence of life on the planet, life will adapt in unique ways. It will never look the same on different worlds.
As a consequence, and despite life’s common carbon-water essence, there will not be identical life forms on different planets. The more complex the life form, the lower the odds that it will be replicated elsewhere, even approximately.
If the flying spaghetti monster exists, it will exist on only one world. In the same way, we exist on only one world. We are the only humans in this universe. And if we consider what we have learned from the history of life on Earth, chances are that intelligent life is extremely rare. While intelligence is clearly an asset in the struggle for survival among species, it is not a purpose of evolution; evolution has no purpose.
Until it becomes intelligent, life is happy just replicating. With intelligence, it will be unhappy just replicating. This, in a nutshell, is the essence of the human condition... (MORE - missing details)
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Given the occurrence of parallel evolution and convergent evolution on Earth, it seems unlikely that roughly similar forms wouldn't repeat on some exo-planets with similar environments. (Though it's a tad ludicrous how easily we believe complex life could arise abundantly in the galaxy, when it took so long here and might have required a series of unique circumstances, to boot). Even other forms with human-like upright bipedalism might arise, but as with penguins -- technological intelligence is not an essential accompanying feature.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/202205...study.aspx
INTRO: People with higher levels of antioxidants in their blood may be less likely to develop dementia, according to a study published in the May 4, 2022, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found that people with the highest levels of the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin and beta-cryptoxanthin in their blood were less likely to develop dementia decades later than people with lower levels of the antioxidants. Lutein and zeaxanthin are found in green, leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach, broccoli and peas. Beta-cryptoxanthin is found in fruits such as oranges, papaya, tangerines and persimmons... (MORE - details)
We are the only humans in the universe
https://bigthink.com/13-8/humans-universe/
EXCERPTS: . . . In science we cannot really rule out what can exist, so long as it satisfies the laws of physics as we know them. But we can use the laws of physics and chemistry to infer what might exist [...] So what can we expect to find as we scan the vast collection of worlds and search for living creatures? While no one can answer that, we can lay down a couple ground rules.
Rule number one: Life will be carbon-based. Why? Because carbon is the easygoing atom, with a chemical versatility no other element can match. Carbon has four unpaired outer electrons. It can form tight chemical bonds by sharing these electrons with other chemical elements. A potential alternative is silicon, but its biochemistry would be severely limited in comparison, with bonds roughly half as strong as carbon’s. Life needs versatility to thrive.
Rule number two: Life needs liquid water. Yes, you can find frozen bacteria in the permafrost, but they are not living. Since life is, in essence, a network of complex biochemical reactions that move compounds this way and that, it needs a solvent — a medium where the reactions can unfold. Composed of oxygen and hydrogen, two of the most abundant chemical elements everywhere in the universe, water has a clear advantage. Plus, it has the very unique property that ice floats — water in its solid state is less dense than in its liquid state.
[...] Given these two constraints, the essence of life should be simple. It will include carbon, water, and some other stuff (at a minimum, nitrogen).
The details, though, are not simple. Each planet that may contain life will have its own history. As a consequence, life there will also have its own history — a history contingent on the history of the host planet. A planet’s properties shape life on it. In turn, anything that lives on a planet will shape the planet’s properties. [...] As the conditions on the planet change, many times due to the very presence of life on the planet, life will adapt in unique ways. It will never look the same on different worlds.
As a consequence, and despite life’s common carbon-water essence, there will not be identical life forms on different planets. The more complex the life form, the lower the odds that it will be replicated elsewhere, even approximately.
If the flying spaghetti monster exists, it will exist on only one world. In the same way, we exist on only one world. We are the only humans in this universe. And if we consider what we have learned from the history of life on Earth, chances are that intelligent life is extremely rare. While intelligence is clearly an asset in the struggle for survival among species, it is not a purpose of evolution; evolution has no purpose.
Until it becomes intelligent, life is happy just replicating. With intelligence, it will be unhappy just replicating. This, in a nutshell, is the essence of the human condition... (MORE - missing details)
- - - - - -
Given the occurrence of parallel evolution and convergent evolution on Earth, it seems unlikely that roughly similar forms wouldn't repeat on some exo-planets with similar environments. (Though it's a tad ludicrous how easily we believe complex life could arise abundantly in the galaxy, when it took so long here and might have required a series of unique circumstances, to boot). Even other forms with human-like upright bipedalism might arise, but as with penguins -- technological intelligence is not an essential accompanying feature.
