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Grad Stories ’17: A Chemical Reaction – St. Ambrose University

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Allie Daniels was in fourth-grade when she discovered her passion for chemistry, and now, armed with a St. Ambrose education, she is encouraging other girls to pursue their science dreams.

"Continue to discover new things daily. Look at the world around you and ask why. Look for answers. Once you set goals for yourself, there is nothing that can hold you back," Allie said.

"Women are an integral part of science. Whether it be research, teaching or being a doctor or astronaut, the possibilities are endless," she added, and based on experience, she knows.

On May 13, Allie will graduate cum laude with a St. Ambrose Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry, with minors in biology, forensic science and justice. This fall she will join a prestigious five-year program at the University of Tennessee in pursuit of a doctoral degree in Analytical Chemistry.

It wasn't until Allie was in fourth grade that she learned about chemistry. "I vividly remember experiments like the classic erupting volcano and counting the number of water drops I could get to stay on a penny before the surface tension caused the water to run off the penny," she said.

"Experiments like these had me in awe. I began to do my own experiments at home."

Her interest and passion grew when she attended the SAU Chemistry for Kids summer camp in 2005.

"I spent those four days in Lewis Hall learning all about what chemistry really is," Allie recalled. "I remember making batteries out of a banana, doing paper chromatography to figure out who wrote a secret message, doing tests to discover what the identity of a powder was, and, on the last day, using all the skills I had learned to solve a real mystery. From that week on, I was in love with chemistry."

When Allie looks back on the camp, she speaks of the significance of one professor and how he made her decision to attend SAU an easy one.

"I remember Dr. (Andrew) Axup was wearing his signature rainbow lab coat as he showed us what a chemical reaction' consisted of on that first day: bubbles, heat and fizzing. I was thoroughly amazed. Little did I know, the same professor who had introduced me to real life chemistry that week would be the first professor I ever had in college."

She feels blessed to have attended St. Ambrose.

"Professors in the chemistry department have done all in their power to make sure I am successful in graduate school. Whether it was answering my countless questions and helping me think through problems, or staying until 7 p.m. so I could be in the lab, my professors have always gone above and beyond to make my experience at Ambrose the best it could be," she said.

Allie knows a large part of the next five years will revolve around research, something some find daunting.

Not Allie.

"The chemistry program at SAU has continuously challenged me to think critically and solve problems. I have had the opportunity to do research through the Introduction to Chemical Research class, the Undergraduate Summer Research Institute at SAU, and my senior research project through the chemistry and honors programs. Research is at the heart of chemistry, and my time at Ambrose has made me love lab work," Allie said.

"I was also able to be a tutor and a Supplemental Instruction leader at Ambrose, which really prepared me to teach and gave me a love for teaching chemistry."

In addition, Allie was a member of the Honors Program, Mock Trial, Bridge Bible Fellowship, Campus Ministry, Phi Eta Sigma, Dance Marathon, as well as various intramural sports. Before graduation, she served as secretary for the Chemistry Club and the College Republicans.

Her endless passion for chemistry is evident in her words.

"I've learned that with research, things don't always go as planned. The most challenging aspect for me was staying positive when I often became frustrated with results I was, or wasn't, getting," she said.

"But to me, there is nothing more rewarding than working extremely hard at solving a problem that has been holding you back and rising above that. It's like Edison and the light bulb. You can fail thousands of times, but it only takes that one success to take you to heights you didn't think you could reach."

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Grad Stories '17: A Chemical Reaction - St. Ambrose University

Chemistry onstage makes Faith Hill and Tim McGraw a top tour – The Spokesman-Review

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Fri., May 12, 2017, 5:30 a.m.

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw kiss after a performance at the 52nd annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas in April. (Chris Pizzello / Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

By Kristin M. Hall Associated Press

LAS VEGAS The love story of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill started on a tour two decades ago and that sparkling chemistry onstage has made them one of the genres biggest headliners.

The country couple with movie star glamour has sold over 63 million albums in the U.S. between their two careers, has earned two Grammys for duets they sang together and has three children. This year, they are releasing their first-ever duet album together and started their third installment of their highly successful Soul2Soul World (it launched April 7).

I havent been on a stage like this in 10 years and that is no lie, Hill said of the tour. I can tell you right now I am fired up.

During an Associated Press interview with the couple before their rehearsal at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas earlier this spring, Hill and McGraw were giddy with anticipation.

Shes ready to turn it loose, McGraw said.

Age is not an issue, added Hill, who together with her husband will be turning 50 during the tour that runs through October.

The Mississippi-born Hill and the Louisiana-born McGraw fell in love when she opened for him on his 1996 Spontaneous Combustion tour and they married that year.

In 2000, the first Soul2Soul tour grossed $48.8 million, making it the best grossing country tour in North America that year, according to Pollstar. The Soul2Soul II tour was even more successful, grossing $88.8 million in 2006, and made it the third highest grossing North American tour that year.

McGraw credited their success on the road to the fact that they are very different singers who push each other to expand their ranges onstage.

Faith, I would say, is more of an R&B, sort of gospel-inspired singer, McGraw said. And I think I am more a 70s rock, arena rock, Merle Haggard meets arena rock kind of singer. She brings me a little bit more to the R&B side, and I bring her more to the arena rock side, and I think it creates a sort of magic.

Their first duet together, Its Your Love, was on McGraws 1997 Everywhere album, which was followed by Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me, from Hills multiplatinum album Faith. Since then, they have had several popular duets, including their latest, Speak to A Girl, which jumped into the Top 10 of Billboards Hot country songs chart after they performed it on the ACM Awards.

But they say they dont always agree in music, or in marriage, but McGraw said commitment is key.

Look, there is no secret, Hill said. Either you like one another or you dont. You want to stay married or you dont. You work at it, or you dont. Simple as that. It is not always easy and there are moments that are rocky.

But you dont walk away, McGraw said.

I would rather live a life in rocky road ice cream than vanilla any day of the week, Hill said. Honestly, vanilla gets boring after a couple of days.

A smiling McGraw adds: So I am not vanilla!

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Chemistry onstage makes Faith Hill and Tim McGraw a top tour - The Spokesman-Review

Anatomical Gifts Program will honor donors at service – The Dartmouth

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by Debora Hyemin Han | 5/12/17 2:05am

The Geisel School of Medicine'sAnatomical Gifts Program will hold a memorial service on May 25.

Source: Courtesy of James Reed

While technology and computer simulations have become more efficacious in modeling the human body, many medical schools continue the tradition of using human cadavers for anatomical instruction. Dartmouths Geisel School of Medicine is just one of the schools that continue to place value on cadaver-based teaching, and each spring, Geisels Anatomical Gifts Program conducts a memorial service honoring the anatomical donors whose bodies are used in the first-year anatomy class.

According to director of the anatomy laboratory James Reed, Geisel first-years take three terms of anatomy before they finish the first year, working in small groups on one cadaver throughout that time. Reed said that using human bodies to teach anatomy is the best way to teach the subject, as it allows students to examine normal human variation something that simulations have yet to truly emulate. He said that it is important for students to know not only the standard structures of the human body, but also whether a deviation from that standard structure is actually normal human variation or pathology, which is best learned by interacting with actual bodies.

The Anatomical Gifts Program, overseen by Geisels Department of Anatomy, receives applications from donors who reside in and pass away in New Hampshire and Vermont to be included in the anatomical lab, according to Reed. There are 1,600 bodies in Geisels program currently, and the average age of the donors at death is in the mid 80s, though the donors may be as young as 21 as long as they die of natural causes. The program requires that donors bodies be intact namely, that they do not die of traumatic accident or have an autopsy post-death and do not have infectious or rare diseases. In addition, because Reed and Anatomical Gifts Program administrative director Hanna Riendeau embalm the bodies, the donors must not have had vascular issues and circular diseases or have undergone recent surgeries. Reed said that in order to protect the dignity of the donors, anatomical tissue is not transported outside the facility once they arrive.

Reed said that most donors participate in the program for altruistic reasons, such as giving back to Dartmouth. The program has accepted Dartmouth alumni, former professors and former doctors from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital and Veterans Affairs in the past. This year, Reed said there was a high number of local people who signed up to be in the program, exemplifying how strong the Dartmouth-Upper Valley connection is. He noted that this strong connection is one reason why Geisel has not had to outsource for cadavers very often.

Briana Goddard Med20, who interviewed donors families in preparation for the memorial service, said that many said the donors had a love of education and wanted to help contribute to medical education.

Diana Funk Med20 said that knowing that the people who are in the program truly wanted to be there was what allowed her to overcome the initial shock of working on a human body.

That was really [a] meaningful sentiment that I think helped a lot of people through their initial fear and grief: knowing that every single one of them wanted to be there to teach us, she said.

John Damianos 16 Med20 agreed that he had to strike a balance between respecting the humanity of the donors who may still have living family members and being cognizant that the donors made the conscious decision to be teachers even after death. Damianos said that knowing the donors desired to be used for the purpose of teaching allowed him to avoid being too gingerly in dissecting the bodies.

He added that the medical school made a concerted effort to put the cadaver-based instruction into perspective, especially as it fits into the larger medical journey, through sessions on the psychology of illness and a panel on the anatomical donations. The panel included a retired Geisel faculty member whose body will be donated to the Anatomical Gifts Program once he passes.

During the panel, Damianos said it was impressed upon him and his peers that the donor is their first patient, that the body is not just cells, tissues and organs to dissect, but a person with scars and tattoos, and whose brains were formed by the memories and experiences they had in their lifetime. According to Riendeau, students are given the names of the donors as well as a brief background, which gives students context for their subjects.

Damianos said incorporating the different bio-psycho-social factors of the patient into the class emphasized that medicine is a humanistic science. Furthermore, he said that the class has changed his view on medicine in the pedagogical realm.

Pre-med education trains you to think that medicine is a science, but its really not theres science in medicine and theres biomedical sciences, but medicine in itself is an art and a practice. When you look at pre-med education curriculum, you dont see that, he said. [In organic chemistry there is] always an answer, [and in] cell [biology] theres always an answer. But the one remarkable thing about anatomy is that each body is different.

Funk added that working on human bodies has demonstrated that much of the study of medicine relies on what is handed down from person to person, whether that be information or tangible bodies. She said that knowing that this is the type of scheme that she and her peers are a part of made her feel connected to the people who came before and after her. She also said she realized the importance of actually touching and feeling body parts in studying medicine.

Damianos echoed a similar statement, saying that holding a brain in his hands was the most impactful part of the process.

To actually hold a human brain in my hands this is the brain that is formed by this persons experiences and emotions, this brain enabled them to speak, enabled them to love, enabled them to cry that just blew my mind, he said.

To commemorate the impact the donors have had on the students studies and medical journeys, and to meet the families of the donors, first-year students plan and conduct a memorial service each year. Funk and Goddard are preparing reflections from families of donors and students, and Damianos will perform with the a cappella group the Dermatones, along with other student performers at the service.

Reed said that the group extends invitations to everyone who has been in the lab throughout the year in order to express the gratitude of the entire community to the donors families.

He also said that this service provides closure for the families that have been delayed for up to two years, given that they do not bury their loved one as most people do.

Its not the typical end of life procedure; youre not triggering what would be considered the societal norm of having a large funeral with a casket, Reed said.

Through the reflections, Funk said she and her peers hope to juxtapose the students reflections on what the learning experience meant to them with who the donors were in their lifetimes and how excited they were to be a part of the program. She said that knowing that every person in the program had specifically intended their bodies not just to go to science, but also to the Geisel anatomy program in particular was meaningful.

Hopefully [this] will bring together the families and the students in a way that they can be mutually grateful for each other, Funk said.

The Anatomical Gifts Program will hold its service at Rollins Chapel on May 25 at 5 p.m. The event is open to the entire Dartmouth community.

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Anatomical Gifts Program will honor donors at service - The Dartmouth

From Grey’s Anatomy to Giro’s pink jersey – Sport24

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Patrick Dempsey (Getty Images)

Alberobello - American actor Patrick Dempsey played a starring role at the Giro d'Italia Friday - when he donned a vintage pink jersey and rode with the peloton for the opening kilometres of the seventh stage at Castrovillari.

Dempsey, who played a doctor in the popular television series Grey's Anatomy, was appearing as a guest of the BMC team, who were celebrating on Thursday after seeing their Swiss rider Silvan Dillier clinch the fifth stage.

Dempsey appeared at the start line of Castrovillari and was also pictured on the riders' podium, where he was asked who his favourite cyclist of all-time was.

"Merckx," replied the 51-year-old American, referring to retired Belgian legend Eddy Merckx - generally considered the greatest stage racer of all time.

Dempsey then hopped on his bike, clipped into his cleats and rode alongside Luxembourg's Bob Jungels - wearing the real pink jersey as race leader - for the opening kilometres of the route which lead to the official start line.

Friday's stage is a 217 km ride from Castrovillari to Albrobello, close to Bari in the 'heel' of Italy's boot.

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From Grey's Anatomy to Giro's pink jersey - Sport24

The Shoddy Science Behind Fidget Spinners – TIME

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The latest toy craze comes with bold health claimsbut experts say fidget spinners dont deliverSigne Pierce for TIME

Sean Gregory is a TIME senior writer

Jenn Jarmula, an elementary- and middle-school teacher in Chicago, recently hung a sign outside her classroom. This Is A Fidget Spinner Free Zone, it read. Fidget spinners which dominate Amazon's top-selling toys and games list are nothing more than gadgets with three weighted prongs that spin, spin, spin on the fingers of sixth-graders like tiny ceiling fans. They've existed in some form since 1993, but lately they've grown so popular that retailers can barely keep them in stock. In order to keep up with demand, Toys "R" Us has chartered jets to ship spinners to its stores.

Jarmula says they've become disruptive in the classroom. She recently confiscated four spinners from a single student in one class period, stuffing them into the pockets of her pants, which she now favors wearing over skirts for their ample fidget-spinner storage space. She's just one of many teachers who are opting to ban spinners from classrooms, even as some manufacturers are touting their therapeutic benefits for students with autism, anxiety and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The alleged mental benefits of the toys have helped fuel their sales, but even a cursory look at the nonexistent science and the history of the spinners makes it clear that these claims are specious at best. Fidget spinners weren't created by behavioral scientists with a deep knowledge of intellectual disability nor were they created by experts in a lab; they were first patented by an inventor from Florida named Catherine Hettinger who wanted to promote world peace. She began imagining the spinner while visiting her sister in Israel. What if the young boys throwing rocks at police officers played with something calming instead? she thought. Hettinger's spinner never took off: Hasbro passed on it, her patent expired in 2005, and the spinner toiled in obscurity until earlier this year, when a series of YouTube videos featuring teenagers doing tricks with them went viral.

Soon, anecdotal reports emerged of special-needs kids benefiting from them. Cat Bowen, a lifestyle writer at Romper.com, a website for millennial mothers, says that since her 9-year-old son, who's on the autism spectrum, started using a spinner, he's been more focused. Math homework that used to take him an hour to get through now takes just 40 minutes, she says.

But anecdotal evidence from an individual child isn't the same as the scientific evidence required to support marketing claims like "Perfect for ADD, ADHD, Anxiety and Autism," as one fidget-spinner ad does. At least 10 other companies listed on Amazon market the product as a medical intervention.

Some scientific studies have found that fidgeting can, indeed, benefit young students with ADHD. Researchers suspect that movement helps kids maintain alertness during cognitive tasks. In her work, Julie Schweitzer, director of the attention, impulsivity and regulation laboratory at the University of California, Davis, has found that children with ADHD scored higher on an attention test while squirming in their seats and moving their legs, compared with when they sat still. Another study, published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, found that the more kids with ADHD fidgeted, the better their working memory. Such movement probably stimulates underactive regions of the brain, like the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which plays a role in attention, planning and impulse control.

Many children with autism also have elevated symptoms of ADHD, so it stands to reason that fidgeting could aid them too in theory, anyway. But experts say that playing with a fidget spinner, which does not require much physical activity, might not garner the same results as actual fidgeting. With fidget spinners, kids essentially outsource the action. "The spinner does the movement for them," says Mark Rapport, head of the Children's Learning Clinic at the University of Central Florida. "I imagine it would distract the heck out of kids."

Experts say that promising relief for a child through a $5 spinning ball bearing can have pernicious effects. "Many parents are desperate," says Rapport. "They're looking for magic. These claims raise their hopes, only for them to get dashed."

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The Shoddy Science Behind Fidget Spinners - TIME

New Behavioral Evidence Hub puts powerful solutions in the hands of the world's problem-solvers – Marketwired (press release)

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NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - May 11, 2017) - A group of leading organizations from the behavioral science community today launched the Behavioral Evidence Hub, a comprehensive resource that brings together some of the world's most promising innovative solutions into a single tool, putting them within easy reach of all those working to solve a wide range of intractable problems affecting the wellbeing and livelihood of people around the world.

The website, BHub.org, includes evidence-based initiatives that offer deep insight into tough problems negatively impacting people in the U.S. and globally -- from staying in college and increasing savings rates to improving medication adherence and vaccination uptake. The site also features solutions and implementation guidelines for practitioners interested in using the insights and innovations in their own work.

Backed by leading experts, the solutions featured on the B-Hub are focused on applying behavioral science for social good. The goal of the new site is to bridge the gap between promising academic research and large-scale deployment of behaviorally-informed solutions in products, systems and programs.

With the launch of the B-Hub, practitioners can now easily access potential new solutions across a wide range of problem domains including health, education, criminal justice, environmental conservation, and financial inclusion.

The B-Hub's easy-to-use format enables users to discover insights by problem domain, geography or solution format. Users can browse through the curated database of content, focus on specific insights that might be applicable to their own work, or run their existing programs through a checklist to determine how behaviorally optimized it is.

The site is open-source and supported by contributions from the researchers and organizations producing the innovations and solutions. It was built by a community of experts including ideas42, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), and the Center for Health Incentives & Behavioral Economics at the University of Pennsylvania (CHIBE). Ongoing content development is supported by a growing network of contributors including the Behavioral Insights Group at the Harvard Kennedy School, the OECD, and the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority. The site is made possible in part by support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and others.

In a joint statement, the founding organizations ideas42, IPA, and CHIBE said, "The path to expansive social impact through applied behavioral science is now clearer than ever. The B-Hub is an invaluable tool for researchers, government experts and other practitioners engaged in finding solutions to tough problems. This platform provides insights that can help drive change more effectively -- and often at low cost. The B-Hub was created with the core mission of centralizing knowledge, increasing social impact, and tracking the growth of applied behavioral interventions around the world. It's easy to use, contains effective solutions, and we hope it becomes a go-to resource for problem-solvers everywhere."

Visit BHub.org for more information.

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New Behavioral Evidence Hub puts powerful solutions in the hands of the world's problem-solvers - Marketwired (press release)

University graduations – Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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Here is a list of some commencement ceremonies at colleges and universities in Arkansas.

Today

Arkansas Tech University

7 p.m., Graduate College, John E. Tucker Coliseum.

Henderson State University

9 a.m., College of Business and Teachers College, Wells Center Gymnasium.

12 p.m., College of Arts and Sciences, Wells Center Gymnasium.

University of Arkansas

3 p.m., J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, Bud Walton Arena.

University of Arkansas at Monticello

10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Steelman Fieldhouse.

Saturday

Arkansas State University

10 a.m., College of Education and Behavioral Science, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Convocation Center.

2:30 p.m., College of Agriculture, Engineering and Technology; College of Business; College of Liberal Arts and Communication; College of Sciences and Mathematics; and undergraduate studies, Convocation Center.

Arkansas Tech University

10 a.m., College of Arts and Humanities, College of Education, Tucker Coliseum.

2 p.m., College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, College of eTech, Tucker Coliseum.

6 p.m., College of Business, College of Natural and Health Sciences, all associate degrees, Tucker Coliseum.

Hendrix College

9 a.m., Wellness and Athletics Center in the Event Gymnasium.

Ouachita Baptist University

9:30 a.m., Cone-Bottoms Hall.

University of Arkansas

8:30 a.m., All University Commencement, Bud Walton Arena. Speaker: the Rev. Becca Stevens, founder and president of Thistle Farms, Nashville, Tenn.

12 p.m., College of Engineering, Barnhill Arena. Speaker: Adam Monroe, '88, president Novozymes Americas.

1 p.m., Sam M. Walton College of Business, Bud Walton Arena. Speaker: Ed Wilson, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, '80, CEO and founder of Dreamcatcher Media LLC.

1 p.m. Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, Faulkner Performing Arts Center. Speaker: Cheryl Durst, CEO and executive vice president of International Interior Design Association of Chicago.

3:30 p.m., Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, Barnhill Arena. Speakers: Outstanding Alumnus John Paul Pendergrass, co-owner of Pendergrass Cattle Co. in Charleston; Outstanding Young Alumna Courtney Meyers, associate professor of agricultural communications, Texas Tech University.

5:30 p.m., College of Education and Health Professions, Bud Walton Arena. Speaker: Sandra Keiser Edwards, deputy director of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and former associate vice chancellor for development at UA-Fayetteville.

University of Arkansas-Fort Smith

10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Stubblefield Center.

University of Arkansas at Little Rock

9:30 a.m., College of Education and Health Professions, Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology, Jack Stephens Center. Speaker: Candice Hunter Corby, '94, CEO and president of Cobra Legal Solutions in Austin.

3 p.m., College of Arts, Letters and Sciences, College of Business, College of Social Sciences and Communication, Jack Stephens Center. Speaker: Corby.

7 p.m., William H. Bowen School of Law, Jack Stephens Center.

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

3 p.m., Pine Bluff Convention Center arena. Speaker: Phylicia Rashad, actress and director.

University of the Ozarks

10:30 a.m., campus mall.

Williams Baptist College

10 a.m., Southerland-Mabee Center. Speaker: U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.

May 20

University of Arkansas

2 p.m., School of Law, Fayetteville Town Center. Speaker: U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker, '96.

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

3 p.m., Verizon Arena. Speaker: UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, in his last commencement as UAMS chancellor. He is scheduled to retire in the summer.

NW News on 05/12/2017

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University graduations - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Why Anti-Aging Products Are the New Startup Frontier – Entrepreneur

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The movement to look -- and feel -- younger continues to be big business, with an endless supply of customers. According to Transparency Market Research, the global anti-aging industry will be worth nearly $200 billion by 2019. The reasons for that growth are clear: All adults have insecurities surrounding aging and thus are potential customers.

Related: 5 Ways New Companies Are Capturing the Growing Senior Market

What truly makes the anti-aging segment exciting is how much room it holds for growth. The reason is that for anti-aging technologies, unlike other categories, the gap between research and application is wide. Anti-aging solutions remain the focus of intensive research, and those eventual findings will create new potential.

Meanwhile, because no universal standard currently exists for these solutions, even the idea of what an anti-aging product is, is up for grabs. But, essentially, what industry observers can agree on is that anti-aging offers savvy entrepreneurs major advantages in both the health and beauty markets.

However, there is a caveat: Entrepreneurs who jump blindly into the anti-aging industry will surely gain a few wrinkles along the way. As in any industry, success takes specialized knowledge, skill and hard work. Here are a few ways to start down the path to creating a successful anti-aging business:

In any business, extra education is a competitive advantage. Special knowledge makes it harder for the competition to enter the market; and it helps entrepreneurs already there to stay on top, because knowing about the latest and best science is a vital part of success in the anti-aging market.

Another tip for success is knowing where the rewards are: I set up the Brighten Award for Entrepreneurial Gerontology at the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. It honors business students creating products and services aimed at older audiences. Hopefully, this opportunity will spark continued education in the gerontology field by academics and entrepreneurs alike.

Entrepreneurs in this field should also look for lectures and conferences and chances to enhance their education in the anti-aging field. The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine offers a number of fellowships, certifications, symposiums and graduate programs for those wanting to expand their anti-aging knowledge base. Anti-aging technology changes so often that continuously furthering your education is a necessity.

Related: 3 Ways to Encourage Your Employees to Keep Learning

While members of the younger generations will have some interest in your anti-aging product, baby boomers are your best investment source. People over 50 control 70 percent of the disposable income in the United States and are estimated to spend $52 billion globally each year.

It's no wonder then that the marketing of anti-aging products is on the rise -- so much so that the European modeling agency MOT Models has created a new division called RETRO -- featuring mature models -- tto help more companies attract customers over age 50 and bring in new streams of revenue.

Entrepreneurs in the anti-aging field need to find a need that their product can address, then hit it hard. For instance, anti-aging skin care is a robust market expected to eclipse $11 billion by 2018 in the United States alone. So, narrow in on a specific industry to position your company to benefit financially and become a market trendsetter.

Like anything that touches on medical needs, the anti-aging industry comes with a slew of regulations. Because many consumers are still skeptical about anti-aging products, it's in everyone's best interest that his market not be flooded with ineffective or unsafe products.

Each year, the Food and Drug Administration sends warning letters to companies marketing as cosmetics anti-aging products that are really drugs. The FDA defines a cosmetic as something designed for "cleansing, beautifying and promoting attractiveness or altering appearance," while a drug is something that will "affect the structure or any function of the body."

Understanding the distinction is key. That's why it's important to go through all the necessarary documentation and legislation at the state and federal levels to ensure compliance. This will prevent potential regulatory headaches and provide insight on where the anti-aging industry is headed. When new regulations pop up, opportunities for expansion may not be far behind.

Related: 5 Ways to Effectively Market to Baby Boomers

In sum, the anti-aging market is booming -- thanks to the boomers. For entrepreneurs looking for the next big thing, that next big thing may involve jolting the over-50 crowd with a shot of vitality. So, stay educated, focused and compliant, and your anti-aging product will enjoy a long and healthy shelf life.

Kevin Xu is the CEO of MEBO International, a California- and Beijing-based intellectual-property management company specializing in applied health systems. He also leads Skingenix, which specializes in skin organ regeneration and the resear...

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Why Anti-Aging Products Are the New Startup Frontier - Entrepreneur

Exercise Has Anti-aging Benefits and Makes You Years Younger on a Cellular Level – Newsweek

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Updated | Its not quite eternal youth but scientists have discovered how humans can slow down the aging process and shave almost a decade off their biological agevigorous exercise. In a study of more than 5,000 adults in the U.S., a researcher found those who exercise regularly are younger on a cellular level than those who lead sedentary or moderately active lifestyles.

Research published in the journal Preventative Medicine in April considered data on 5,823 people who had participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2002. The participants were asked demographic and lifestyle questions, including how often they exercised.

They also looked at telomere length. Telomeres are protective caps found at the ends of chromosomes that help keep them stablenot unlike how the plastic sheath at the end of shoelaces stops them from fraying. Every time a cell divides, telomeres get shorter. Eventually they become too small to protect the chromosomes and cells get old and dieresulting in aging.

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English women athletes training in Battersea Park, London, 21st September 1937. Regular, vigorous exercise makes people up to nine years younger. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Shorter telomeres are related to many age-related diseases, including cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease.

In the study, exercise science professor Larry Tucker from Brigham Young Universitycompared telomere length with levels of physical activity. His findings showed significant differences between those who did regular, vigorous exercise and those who did not.

Just because youre 40, doesnt mean youre 40 years old biologically, he said in a statement. We all know people that seem younger than their actual age. The more physically active we are, the less biological aging takes place in our bodies.

He discovered adults with a high level of physical activity had a biological aging advantage of nine years compared to sedentary adults. When compared with those who did a moderate amount of exercise, the difference for highly active adults was seven years.

A high level of physical activity was constituted as running between 30 and 40 minutes per day, at least five days per week.

Overall, physical activity was significantly and meaningfully associated with telomere length in U.S. men and women, he wrote. Evidently, adults who participate in high levels of physical activity tend to have longer telomeres, accounting for years of reduced cellular aging compared to their more sedentary counterparts.

He said exactly why exercise appears to preserve telomere length is not known, but added it could be linked with inflammation and oxidative stressexercise is known to suppress inflammation and stress over time.

If you want to see a real difference in slowing your biological aging, it appears that a little exercise wont cut it. You have to work out regularly at high levels, he said. We know that regular physical activity helps to reduce mortality and prolong life, and now we know part of that advantage may be due to the preservation of telomeres.

This article has been updated with the name of the university where Larry Tucker works.

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Exercise Has Anti-aging Benefits and Makes You Years Younger on a Cellular Level - Newsweek

Why humans lack an 'anti-aging switch' – CNN

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The researchers' conclusion that "the maximum lifespan of humans is fixed and subject to natural constraints" is sobering reading for those who dream that human ageing can one day be successfully hacked. But for evolutionary ecologists, it should not come as a surprise.

As well as striking a note of biological realism, this research also highlights how research on human ageing often neglects the insights available from evolutionary theory -- and particularly from a research field called "comparative life-history ecology".

This genre of research explains why mice and humans grow old at such different rates (more on why this is a problem for ageing research later). It aims to bring us closer to understanding the "ultimate" reasons why we age -- which in turn can tell us whether the hundreds of millions of dollars poured into ageing research are actually a good investment.

Strive as we might, an evolutionary perspective tells us that maximum lifespans will not be extended by simply solving one symptom of ageing after another.

Ageing -- or "senescence", to use the biological term -- is defined as a decline in physiological condition with age. You might wonder why natural selection allows this to happen at all. The answer is that senescence happens in a "selection shadow" -- that is, after organisms have already reproduced and passed on their genes. There is no real evolutionary penalty for failing to ward off the ravages of old age, because in animal populations relatively few individuals make it into their geriatric years anyway, thanks to predators, disease, hardship or bad luck.

Natural selection reaches a crescendo at sexual maturity, when most individuals in a population are alive and striving to produce viable offspring. This is the age at which the genetic baton is passed to the next generation. Unfortunately for those of us over 40, it's all downhill from here in terms of the evolutionary pressure to maintain a healthy body.

This knowledge -- that selection pressure changes with age in a way that depends not just on the expected lifespan but also on the timing of reproductive effort -- is fundamental to evolutionary theories of ageing. It is also fundamental to how we design and interpret the research that aims to help us prolong our own maximum lifespans.

Many of the species most frequently studied by biologists -- such as mice, flies and worms -- are chosen precisely because their short lifespans and fast generational turnover make them quicker and easier to work with. But their short lives and adaptable reproductive strategies actually make them unsuitable models for testing drugs or other anti-ageing interventions aimed at slowing human ageing.

In contrast, species with long expected natural lifespans (which have reduced their mortality risk by evolving to a large size, or being able to fly or hibernate, or having a large brain) have already invested strongly, and perhaps maximally, in protecting their cells from ageing. This suggests there is no "anti-ageing switch" available to flick for a species such as ourselves. Whether or not we have children, it seems we're already naturally geared to live as long as we possibly can.

If we take the ratio of a short-lived species like a mouse and apply it to humans, we would predict a maximum lifespan of about 400 years! But despite all of our efforts to push the boundaries through medicine and nutrition, humans (along with elephants and other highly durable animals) don't come close to these biblical lifespans.

If we are to break the evolutionary constraints on maximum lifespan in humans, we need to better take account of life-history ecology. This theory tells us that the causes of ageing are to be found not at the end of our lives, but at the beginning.

How our maximum lifespan is ultimately limited will be understood by research that seeks to answer why the pace of life varies so much among different animals. For me, this is the take-home message from this recent excellent research.

Christopher Turbill is a senior lecturer in animal ecology at Western Sydney University.

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Why humans lack an 'anti-aging switch' - CNN

Chemistry onstage makes Faith Hill and Tim McGraw a top tour … – Lincoln Journal Star

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LAS VEGAS The love story of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill started on a tour two decades ago and that sparkling chemistry onstage has made them one of the genre's biggest headliners.

The country couple with movie star glamour has sold over 63 million albums in the U.S. between their two careers, has earned two Grammys for duets they sang together and has three children. This year, they are releasing their first-ever duet album together and started their third installment of their highly successful Soul2Soul World (it launched in April).

"I haven't been on a stage like this in 10 years and that is no lie," Hill said of the tour. "I can tell you right now I am fired up."

During an Associated Press interview with the couple before their rehearsal at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas earlier this month, Hill and McGraw were giddy with anticipation.

"She's ready to turn it loose," McGraw said.

"Age is not an issue," added Hill, who together with her husband will be turning 50 during the tour that runs through October.

The Mississippi-born Hill and the Louisiana-born McGraw fell in love when she opened for him on his 1996 Spontaneous Combustion tour and they married that year.

In 2000, the first Soul2Soul tour grossed $48.8 million, making it the best grossing country tour in North America that year, according to Pollstar. The Soul2Soul II tour was even more successful, grossing $88.8 million in 2006, and made it the 3rd highest grossing North American tour that year.

McGraw credited their success on the road to the fact that they are very different singers who push each other to expand their ranges onstage.

"Faith, I would say, is more of an R&B, sort of gospel-inspired singer," McGraw said. "And I think I am more a '70s rock, arena rock, Merle Haggard meets arena rock kind of singer. She brings me a little bit more to the R&B side, and I bring her more to the arena rock side, and I think it creates a sort of magic."

Their first duet together, "It's Your Love," was on McGraw's 1997 "Everywhere" album, which was followed by "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me," from Hill's multiplatinum album "Faith." Since then, they have had several popular duets, including their latest, "Speak to A Girl," which jumped into the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot country songs chart after they performed it on the ACM Awards.

But they say they don't always agree in music, or in marriage, but McGraw said commitment is key.

"Look, there is no secret," Hill said. "Either you like one another or you don't. You want to stay married or you don't. You work at it, or you don't. Simple as that. It is not always easy and there are moments that are rocky."

"But you don't walk away," McGraw said.

"I would rather live a life in rocky road ice cream than vanilla any day of the week," Hill said. "Honestly, vanilla gets boring after a couple of days."

A smiling McGraw adds: "So I am not vanilla!"

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Chemistry onstage makes Faith Hill and Tim McGraw a top tour ... - Lincoln Journal Star

‘Snatched’ review: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn’s mother-daughter chemistry gets lost in Ecuador getaway – Chicago Tribune

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An action comedy about white women beset by brown men in Latin American countries portrayed by Hawaii, "Snatched" is Amy Schumer's second big movie, her follow-up to the very funny "Trainwreck," which introduced her to audiences unfamiliar with her stand-up or her TV work on "Inside Amy Schumer." The film co-stars Goldie Hawn, in her first major screen role since "The Banger Sisters" 15 years ago. Shrewdly, 20th Century Fox is positioning their product as a Mother's Day weekend offering; what better way to market it? Mother. Daughter. Kidnapped by Ecuadorean ransom-seekers while on vacation. They get stuffed in a car trunk; they harpoon a bad guy; they dance; they learn to take it easy on each other.

The movie does not take it easy. Director Jonathan Levine ("50/50," "The Night Before") has skill, but broad visual gags aren't really his strength. Screenwriter Katie Dippold wrote "The Heat," the one with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy (sequel coming), which pulled a successful variation on a familiar odd-couple theme. "Snatched," more about victimhood than women running their own show, is funny here and there, but in ways that make the bulk of the formulaic material all the more frustrating.

Stiffed by her boyfriend (Randall Park) on the eve of their nonrefundable Ecuador getaway, directionless, hard-drinking Emily (Schumer) invites her cat-obsessed suburban shut-in of a mother (Hawn) on the trip instead. Mother Linda's fears of abduction come true soon enough, though Emily's too smitten by the flirtatious Englishman (Tom Bateman) on vacation to sense trouble. "Snatched" engineers ways to get Emily and Linda in danger and then out again, evading their kidnapper (Oscar Jaenada, stereotypical swarthy menace incarnate) as best they can, while back home Emily's agoraphobic brother (Ike Barinholtz) nudges a skeptical U.S. State Department in the rescue of his family.

If you're going to write a movie like this one, you're going to try to invent ways and means of pushing the story forward without your audience getting that weary, back-to-the-kidnapping-stuff feeling. I had that feeling a lot during "Snatched." You sense the relief on Dippold's behalf every time she gets the chance to ditch what's "required" and focus on what's amusing, or offbeat. Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack make for entertaining side players as a couple of vacationers who come in handy plotwise; Christopher Meloni scores a laugh or two as a would-be adventurer who serves as Emily and Linda's guide through the jungles of Colombia. "Feel free to drink from any puddle you see," he says at one point. "All water in the jungle is safe." The jokes are sardonic 21st century variations on "Don't Drink the Water," sometimes literally.

It's extremely broad humor, for the most part, nervously edited, involving the extraction of a vicious-looking tapeworm from Emily's throat, or Emily makeshift-douching herself in a restroom, preparing for a possible hookup with her English friend. Hawn does not easily suggest a paranoid lonelyheart with bad knees, as the script dictates, but she and Schumer parallel-play together, affectionately. "Snatched" is too busy with everything around, and outside, this central relationship. In that regard it resembles the Tina Fey/Steve Carell action comedy "Date Night," which got by with audiences despite itself. We'll see about this one; it is, after all, opening on Mother's Day weekend.

Michael Phillips is a Chicago Tribune critic.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

"Snatched" 2 stars

MPAA rating: R (for crude sexual content, brief nudity, and language throughout)

Running time: 1:37

Opens: Thursday evening

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'Snatched' review: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn's mother-daughter chemistry gets lost in Ecuador getaway - Chicago Tribune

Anatomy of a Spinster: 6 Species of Cinematic Old Maids – Film School Rejects

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Each one greater and more terrible than thelast.

An important thing to know about me is that I own and cherish a 16 oz plastic wine glass that reads recently divorced. Ive never been divorced(let alone married), but I relish the premise: the simple pleasure of beingblissful, enthusiasticallyalone. To me, it isa triumphant vision: lounging in asilk bathrobe, in proximity to chardonnay, perusing the obits section.

In film, spinsterhood tends tofigure as an inscrutable, and distinctly feminine, brokenness. Plenty of moviessee hersolitude as something the plot must overcometo achieve ahappy ending: in Cactus Flower, the rakish Julian makes the once-prickly Miss Dickinson bloom; The Doctor Takes a Wife stages a similar scenario, as does The African Queen, Now Voyager, and Quality Street.In this way, the spinster hasno truemale peer. The staunchbachelor may be unwed, but he is never demonized for his singlehood; never dismissed asself-absorbed, unfulfilled,orabnormalfor choosing not to marry. The bacheloris regular, every day; he can never sublimate into myth.

I wontdenythat the cinematic spinster is wrought with problematic and negative connotations but Ireject them in favor of a more celebratory reading. Below, I have assembled a cohort of fictional women who sought definition outside of matrimony, who achieved the eternal joyofbeing left the fuck alone.

Because the spinster requires adegree of financial independence, youll find the list below runs fairly rich (and consequently, fairly white). Youll also note that, while at odds with my beloved wine glass, Ive disqualifiedfilms concerning liberateddivorcees (e.g. Auntie Mame, Living Out Loud, and An Unmarried Woman). These are not quite spinsters, but soft, milquetoast shades of the real deal.

Speaking of which

Top: (L) Katharine Hepburn as Jane Hudson; (R) Maggie Smith as Jean Brodie Bottom: Judy Davis as Sybylla Melvyn.

Jane is an Ohio elementary school secretary fulfilling her lifelong dream of vacationing alone in Venice. Along the way she has a fling with thirsty stereotype Renato, and observes the fragility of her fellow travellers marriages. Jane enjoys the affair, but knows nothing can come of it. Peacefully waving goodbye to mediocrity, she abandons her emotionally distraughtfuckboy at atrain station after which she presumably moves to Tuscany, buys a vineyard, and lives out her life as a legendary hermit.

Jeans not a regular boarding school teacher, shes a cool boarding school teacher. She strays from the curriculum, takes her students on unconventional field trips, and is transparently, enthusiastically, unwed. Unswayed by insipid marriage proposals to lackluster suitors who will never be enough, Jean is devoted, a-line collars and all, to tuning her students to her independent streakfor better or worse.

Sybylla wants two things: to write for a living, and to not marry Sam Neill. Filled with determination to get to know herself, Sybylla eludes monogamy, perfects her messy bun, and gleefully disappoints her parents. Presumably her Brilliant Career was finding creative ways to get men to go fuck themselves.

Top: Lillian Gish as Rachel Cooper Bottom: (L) Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest as Frances and Jet Owens; (R) Colleen Dewhurst as Marilla Cuthbert.

Rachel Cooper has no time for Reverend Harry Powells charismatic serial killer nonsense. Shes a tough old broad-armed with the fear of God and a Remington Model 10. Shes get off my lawn personified. While she considers children the best of humanity, men are shit in the wind to Rachel. And shell be there, alone, shotgun in hand, a strong tree with branches for many birds.

Witchy aunts Frances and Jet Owens are subject to a family curse: any man they fall in love with dies. Theyve had heartache in the past but have found unconquerable happinessin each others company; in midnight margarita parties, in floppy garden hats, and in mentoring the next generation of hermetical Massachusetts witches.

Marilla lives in rural P.E.I. and has no interest in being a mother but she does need some child labor to help with farm chores. Cool, formidable, and crisp were it not for her softy brother, Marilla would 100% have sent Anne packing. Fortunately, Marilla clocked a kinship with Anne a fierce desire for independence most properly edified by an elder spinster.

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Anatomy of a Spinster: 6 Species of Cinematic Old Maids - Film School Rejects

Anatomy of a deluge – The Globe and Mail

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The river

From its terminus at Montreal, with tributaries that reach deep into the heart of central Canada, the Ottawa River drains more than 146,000 square kilometres a larger footprint than many European countries, including Ireland, Hungary andGreece.

Yet the river is also one of Canadas most regulated waterways, with 13 major reservoirs and more than 50 major dams and hydroelectric generating stations along thesystem.

So how can a river with so many controls still manage to flood its banks, causing loss of life and what will almost certainly turn out to be many millions of dollars in property damage? The answer is that most of the controls and all of the reservoirs are on the upper third of the riverbasin.

Ile Mercier covered in floodwater is seen on the Riviere des Prairies on the north part of Montreal, on May 8,2017.

PAUL CHIASSON/THE CANADIANPRESS

The southern two thirds of the basin essentially has no substantial storage on it, says Michael Sarich, a senior water-resources engineer with the Ottawa River Regulation Secretariat, which oversees procedures related to water levels on theriver.

This means once water gets beyond the reservoirs and is running freely through the most populated regions of the Ottawa Valley, regulators have no capacity to hold water back at times when flows are unusually large or respond to rising levels due to precipitation that falls below thereservoirs.

Spring is normally a high water season because of snow melt that feeds the Ottawa River at this time of year. On top of that, accumulated rainfall in April was at its highest in at least two decades throughout the Ottawa Valley region inundating the river basin with more than double the amount of precipitation that falls in average years. Most of this rain fell in areas below the reservoirs, creating a growing and effectively uncontrolled potential for flooding that set the stage for what happenednext.

In the first week of May, two more bouts of heavy rain added still more water to the swollen rivers. At the same time, reservoirs upstream were already at capacity and discharging large volumes of water a necessary measure to avoid dams being overtopped anddamaged.

Data from Canadas RADARSAT-2 satellite was used to construct this view of flooding around Lac des Deux-Montagne in Quebec, where the Ottawa River encounters the island of Montreal. The blue in the image shows the extent of open water on May 7, 2017, while the outlines of flooded lands appear in lighterblue.

Natural Resources Canada, Canadian SpaceAgency

For example, on May 5, the Timiskaming Reservoir was effectively at its maximum level and discharging close to 1,900 cubic metres per second, far more than the entire Ottawa River at periods of low flow. A few days later, on May 8, outflow at the Carillon Dam at the bottom of the river had reached a record high of nearly 9,000 cubic metres per second. What happened between the top and bottom of the river during those three days is something that system managers say they were helpless to prevent ormitigate.

Its just an unprecedented event, says Mr. Sarich. So then it becomes a problem of people in the floodplain, and thats just a more difficultquestion.

As unprecedented as the rainfall was, scientists say residents can expect more of the same in the years ahead and its unlikely the outcome will be any different from a water management point ofview.

These are the types of events brought by climate change that climatologists have been predicting for 30 years theyre just starting to show themselves now, says Adam Fenech, who heads the University of Prince Edward Islands climatelab.

Flooded homes are seen on Monday, May 8, 2017 in Rigaud, Que., west ofMontreal.

PAUL CHIASSON/THE CANADIANPRESS

The thermodynamics behind the trend are well-established: for every degree Celsius that a parcel of air warms, the amount of moisture the air can hold rises by about 7 per cent. Average annual temperatures in parts of the Ottawa River basin have already increased by close to one degree in the past 60 years and the warming trend is only projected to accelerate due to greenhouse-gasemissions.

That means more water is being ferried up to the region when weather patterns carry moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, and the potential for periods of high precipitation is greater now than in thepast.

An additional factor may be the jet stream that some scientists say is more likely to take on a meandering pattern rather than a straight west-to-east flow as the Arctic warms. The bends in the jet stream can act as roadblocks that tend to keep weather patterns in place over a given region for longer stretches of time. In other words, when it rains it rains longer, putting more pressure onwatersheds.

As to whether this past weeks flooding can be attributed to climate change, Blair Feltmate, who heads the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, compares the situation to that of a baseball player onsteroids.

You cant say any single home run is due to the steroids, said Dr. Feltmate. But as the players total home run count starts to climb, its increasingly obvious that the drugs are having aneffect.

Patrice Pepin walks along a barrier of sandbags holding back the Ottawa Rivers waters at the home of his brother Christian Pepin and wife Marie-Pierre Chalifoux on Fournier street in the municipality of Saint-Andre-dArgenteuil, on May 9,2017.

Dario Ayala/The Globe andMail

If major floods cant be prevented and also show every sign of increasing in frequency in the coming decades, what does that mean for property owners and theirinsurers?

In a word, it means morerisk.

Flooding is the elephant in the room for Canada, says Dr. Feltmate. That is the most challenging aspect of climate change and the most costly to thecountry.

And increased flooding is not just a problem that will be restricted to major waterways like the Ottawa River. The phenomenon of microbursts sudden downpours that can overwhelm storm drains and sewer systems when they strike in a geographically localized area can affect homes and neighbourhoods that are far from any natural shoreline. In areas where drainage systems converge, some homes that never knew flooding are now in a position to be struck by repeated events, to the point where they become uninsurable. The problem, says Dr. Feltmate, is that both governments and homeowners are still very much in the mode of management by disaster, which means they tend to pay attention to the flooding problem only while a flood is underway.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of work that homeowners can do, starting with making sure that their homes are covered by the different kinds of flooding overland and sewer backup that can occur. To the extent possible, homes should be protected with features such as plastic covers over basement window wells and sump pumps with backup generators so that they dont shut down when the power goesout.

Municipalities, meanwhile, need to generate accurate flood maps so that high-risk areas can be identified ahead oftime.

And if theres one message that Canadians should be taking away from the Ottawa River flood of 2017 its this, Dr. Feltmatesaid:

These floods were realizing now are small compared to whatscoming.

FLOODS IN QUEBEC: MORE FROM THE GLOBE ANDMAIL

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Intense Exercise Reduces Cellular Aging by Nine Years – Anti Aging News

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Posted on May 11, 2017, 6 a.m. in Anti-Aging Research Science Exercise

Highly active adults have telomeres with a biological aging advantage of nine years over those who are sedentary.

Findings from a recent study show significant exercise is tied to nearly a decade of slower cell aging. Highly active individuals enjoy the benefits of a younger-feeling body. The study details were recently published in the popular medical journal Preventive Medicine.

The Aging Problem

Though scientists far and wide have been looking for a way to haltthe human aging process, none have succeeded. Sure, there are plenty of anti-aging creams on the market yet they merely improve the appearance and feel of skin.

Brigham Young University researchers may have pinpointed the best way to mitigate the aging process. Their research shows it might be possible to slow aging at the cellular level. However, slowing this type of aging will require plenty of hard work. Those who are willing to engage in demanding exercisecan slow their cellular aging level.

Though one's true age might be 60, it does not mean that hisbody is 60 years old in a biological sense. Consider individuals who seem much younger than their true age. These individuals are likely highly physically active. BYU researchers have determined such heightened levels of physical activity minimize the biological aging process within the body.

Study Details

The BYU research team determined individuals who engaged in demanding physical activity reaped the many benefits of elongated telomeres. Those who live comparably sedentary lifestyles have significantly shorter telomeres. It is interesting to note those who are moderately active have shorter telomeres than those who engage in high levels of exercise on a regular basis.

Telomeres are best described as theprotein endcaps on chromosomes within the human body. Telomeres are basically akin to the body's biological clock. They are strongly tied to age. Every time a cell within the human body replicates, a small portion of these endpoints is lost. As a result, the aging process gradually shrinks telomeres.

Data from nearly 6,000 adults who engaged in the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was analyzed for the study. This survey is revered as it is one of the few indexes that provides study subjects' telomere length. The index even includes information for 62 activities subjects may have participated in across 30 days. This data was also analyzed to accurately gauge subjects'levels of exercise.

Results Details

Adults who consistently engage in demanding exercises have telomeres with a biological aging boost of nine years versus those who live comparably idle lifestyles. Those who engage in high levels of physical activity enjoy a seven-year advantage over those who engage in a moderate level of physical activity. In order to be considered highly active, a woman must jog for half an hour five days per week. A man is considered to be highly active if he engages in 40 minutes of jogging five days per week. This means biological aging cannot be significantly slowed if one engages in minimal or even a moderate amount of exercise.

Sedentary individuals had the shortest telomeres, with 140 fewer base pairs at the endpoints of their telomeres than those who wereconsistently active. Yet there was no meaningful difference in telomere length between individuals with a low/moderate level of physical activity and those who were completely sedentary.

The Mystery of Lengthening Telomeres Through Exercise

The specific mechanism responsible for the preservation of telomeres resulting from exercise is unknown. Researchers believe the mechanism might be connected to a combination of inflammation and oxidative stress. Prior studies have determined telomere length is tied to these two factors. Furthermore, it is known that physical activity can suppress oxidative stress and inflammation as time progresses.

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Why Anti-Aging Products Are the New Startup Frontier – Entrepreneur

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The movement to look -- and feel -- younger continues to be big business, with an endless supply of customers. According to Transparency Market Research, the global anti-aging industry will be worth nearly $200 billion by 2019. The reasons for that growth are clear: All adults have insecurities surrounding aging and thus are potential customers.

Related: 5 Ways New Companies Are Capturing the Growing Senior Market

What truly makes the anti-aging segment exciting is how much room it holds for growth. The reason is that for anti-aging technologies, unlike other categories, the gap between research and application is wide. Anti-aging solutions remain the focus of intensive research, and those eventual findings will create new potential.

Meanwhile, because no universal standard currently exists for these solutions, even the idea of what an anti-aging product is, is up for grabs. But, essentially, what industry observers can agree on is that anti-aging offers savvy entrepreneurs major advantages in both the health and beauty markets.

However, there is a caveat: Entrepreneurs who jump blindly into the anti-aging industry will surely gain a few wrinkles along the way. As in any industry, success takes specialized knowledge, skill and hard work. Here are a few ways to start down the path to creating a successful anti-aging business:

In any business, extra education is a competitive advantage. Special knowledge makes it harder for the competition to enter the market; and it helps entrepreneurs already there to stay on top, because knowing about the latest and best science is a vital part of success in the anti-aging market.

Another tip for success is knowing where the rewards are: I set up the Brighten Award for Entrepreneurial Gerontology at the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. It honors business students creating products and services aimed at older audiences. Hopefully, this opportunity will spark continued education in the gerontology field by academics and entrepreneurs alike.

Entrepreneurs in this field should also look for lectures and conferences and chances to enhance their education in the anti-aging field. The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine offers a number of fellowships, certifications, symposiums and graduate programs for those wanting to expand their anti-aging knowledge base. Anti-aging technology changes so often that continuously furthering your education is a necessity.

Related: 3 Ways to Encourage Your Employees to Keep Learning

While members of the younger generations will have some interest in your anti-aging product, baby boomers are your best investment source. People over 50 control 70 percent of the disposable income in the United States and are estimated to spend $52 billion globally each year.

It's no wonder then that the marketing of anti-aging products is on the rise -- so much so that the European modeling agency MOT Models has created a new division called RETRO -- featuring mature models -- tto help more companies attract customers over age 50 and bring in new streams of revenue.

Entrepreneurs in the anti-aging field need to find a need that their product can address, then hit it hard. For instance, anti-aging skin care is a robust market expected to eclipse $11 billion by 2018 in the United States alone. So, narrow in on a specific industry to position your company to benefit financially and become a market trendsetter.

Like anything that touches on medical needs, the anti-aging industry comes with a slew of regulations. Because many consumers are still skeptical about anti-aging products, it's in everyone's best interest that his market not be flooded with ineffective or unsafe products.

Each year, the Food and Drug Administration sends warning letters to companies marketing as cosmetics anti-aging products that are really drugs. The FDA defines a cosmetic as something designed for "cleansing, beautifying and promoting attractiveness or altering appearance," while a drug is something that will "affect the structure or any function of the body."

Understanding the distinction is key. That's why it's important to go through all the necessarary documentation and legislation at the state and federal levels to ensure compliance. This will prevent potential regulatory headaches and provide insight on where the anti-aging industry is headed. When new regulations pop up, opportunities for expansion may not be far behind.

Related: 5 Ways to Effectively Market to Baby Boomers

In sum, the anti-aging market is booming -- thanks to the boomers. For entrepreneurs looking for the next big thing, that next big thing may involve jolting the over-50 crowd with a shot of vitality. So, stay educated, focused and compliant, and your anti-aging product will enjoy a long and healthy shelf life.

Kevin Xu is the CEO of MEBO International, a California- and Beijing-based intellectual-property management company specializing in applied health systems. He also leads Skingenix, which specializes in skin organ regeneration and the resear...

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After Mosquitos, Moths Are the Next Target For Genetic Engineering – Discover Magazine (blog)

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Diamondback moths. (Credit: Oxitec)

Though genetically modified crops may steal the spotlight, similarly reprogrammed insects may have just as big an effect on the agricultural industry.

Biotechnology company Oxitec is moving forward withplans to develop genetically engineered diamondback moths in an attempt to reduce populations of the invasive crop pest. Their plan is to release males that will pass on a gene preventing female offspring from reaching maturity and reproducing, eventually eradicating the moths in North America. Tests have so far been positive, although there are still worries about the prospect of releasing genetically modified organisms into the wild.

Currently, pesticides are used to control the moths, which are responsible for an estimated $5 billion worth of damage every year in the U.S. An invasive species, the diamondback moth originated in Europe, but has proved difficult to control since appearing the U.S. due to short gestation times and the large numbers of eggs females lay at once. Oxitec says that their technique is preferable to pesticides, as the moths have proven capable of evolving resistance to the compounds in the past, and most carry some risk to the environment and human health.

Oxitec cites a USDAanalysis that found no risk of significant impact in an earlier test of the GM moths as evidence that their technique is safe, but the prospect of GM insects raisesfears that the moths may proliferate beyond targeted areasand cause impacts on the broader ecology. Similar techniques have been applied before, reaching as far back as the 1950s when sterile screwworm flies were released in Florida, effectively eliminating the parasitic species there. Impotent mosquitos, also manufactured by Oxitec, have been used to combat Zika in South America, andplans to implement the same procedure in Florida are underway.

The successful screwworm campaign relied on blasts of radiation to sterilize the males. Oxitecs technique uses gene editing engineering to implant males with modified DNA that ensures female caterpillars dont survive to adulthood. In the case of the moths, males need not be targeted because it is only the female caterpillars who are responsible for damaging the crops.

They say that tests of the moths, including feeding them to various animals and releasing them in greenhouses, have revealed no ill effects as a result of the genetic modification. Along with the caterpillar-killing gene, the moths are also implanted with a gene that causes them to fluoresce red under UV light, the better to identify them in the wild.

The FDA found no issues preventing the company from moving forward, but because the moths are an agricultural pest, the USDA must weigh in as well.Oxitec is currently waiting on USDA approval to conduct expanded tests at a site in New York in conjunction with Cornell University. They hope to release the moths in a contained cabbage field to see how effective their modifications are.

Most opposition to genetically modified insects is based on the prospect of altered organisms spreading beyond the areas they are released. In the case of the diamondback moth, Oxitec says that the nature of the modification, which precludes breeding, should serve to limit the spread of the GM moths, and pesticides and freezing winter conditions should take care of the rest.

Kevin Esvelt, a professor at MIT and leader of the Sculpting Evolution Lab agrees: The wholepoint is to harm the next generation of organisms. And since they carry the relevant genetic construct, its necessarily going to decrease, he says. It will not persistin the environment over time as long as the genetic construct is doing what its supposed to do.

This marks a crucial difference from a gene drive, a technique often associated with genetically modifying populations. The hallmark of a gene drive is tweaking genes to increase the chances that a particular trait will be passed on to offspring. The odds are normally 50/50, but a gene drive can tilt them in favor of a particular set of genes,causing a trait to spread through a population. This is helpful when a trait is detrimental to an organisms survival and would normally be weeded out by natural selection. Gene drives havent yet been applied in the wild, though, and likely wont be for many years.

Oxitecs moths possess nosuch scale-tipping modifications that could cause the modified genes to spread across the globe, they merely pass on genetic material in the normal way. Part of this genetic material, however, has been changed to ensure that female caterpillars with the gene dont survive.

From a technical perspective its a perfectly sound approach, it probably offers fewer risks than current approaches using pesticides. In general I am a fan of usingbiology to solve ecological problems as opposed to chemistry, Esvelt says.

Still, he says that field trials are an important step in testing the efficacy and safety of any genetically modified organism. Along with careful tests, Esvelt advocates for more community involvement in the decision making process, as well attempts to reach out and communicate with critics. Although both the FDA and USDA have a period in place during which the public can comment, Esvelt says more communication should be done earlier.

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After Mosquitos, Moths Are the Next Target For Genetic Engineering - Discover Magazine (blog)

University initiative focuses on behavioral science to tackle campus challenges – Princeton University

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A new University initiative is bringing together researchers and administrators to apply insights from behavioral science to tackle campus challenges and advance research in that field.

Representatives from 24 administrative units and seven academic departments, programs and centers gathered in March to launch the Campus Behavioral Science Initiative (CBSI), a joint effort of the Office of the Executive Vice President and the Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science & Public Policy.

"CBSI aspires to foster collaboration between administrative units and academic researchers to use the campus as a research site, tapping behavioral science to develop innovative solutions to campus challenges," said Treby Williams, the University's executive vice president.

Eldar Shafir, the Class of 1987 Professor in Behavioral Science and Public Policy, professor of psychology and public affairs, and inaugural director of the Kahneman-Treisman Center, said the initiative offers researchers the opportunity to gather valuable data, further their scholarly work and contribute to the University in a new way.

"This campus has a group of very talented and hard-working researchers who try to use behavioral insights to produce better outcomes," Shafir said. "We love and care about this campus, and it is so close and available. Why shouldn't we turn our eye partly to what we can do here?"

Behavioral science focuses on scientific experimentation, controlled observation of real-life behavior, and systematic analysis of data to understand the motivations, limitations and biases inherent in human behavior. The Kahneman-Treisman Center brings together faculty members from departments including psychology, sociology, politics, philosophy and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs who pursue research in behavioral science.

Williams said the University can benefit from the application of behavioral-science insights as it tackles challenges from developing programs to reduce the number of cars driven to campus each day or reducing campus energy use to guiding employees toward appropriate health-care programs or helping students make better decisions related to healthy eating, sleep and alcohol consumption.

"Innovative solutions to these kinds of challenges require accurate insights into human behavior and decision-making. Without that knowledge, we won't succeed," Williams said.

Learnings from behavioral science have already been used successfully on campus, such as shifting default participation to "opt-in." For example, in the past, eligible faculty members had to take action to opt in to a benefit that gave them a reduced teaching load following the birth of a child. Shifting the benefit to one that faculty members automatically accrue unless they take action to opt out has increased participation on campus. A similar approach for a retirement savings program has increased the amount employees are saving for retirement.

The CBSI kick-off event included a brainstorming session where administrators and researchers offered ideas and suggested areas for potential collaboration. Khristina Gonzalez, associate dean in the Office of the Dean of the College, and Margaret Frye, assistant professor of sociology, expressed an interest in research about the experience of low-income and first-generation students at Princeton. Gonzalez and Frye have already met with colleagues from the departments of politics and psychology to chart their next steps and will be bringing other administrators and researchers into the project in the fall.

Gonzalez oversees the Freshman Scholars Institute and the Scholars Institute Fellows Program, which are designed to empower undergraduates to thrive at Princeton, particularly those from first-generation and low-income backgrounds. She said CBSI presents an opportunity to learn from research about what helps such students succeed and to contribute to additional research on the topic.

"I think it can be a valuable partnership because there is a lot of great, innovativeresearch in this field and working together will help us think about how to use that research to improve interventions to support our students," Gonzalez said.

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University initiative focuses on behavioral science to tackle campus challenges - Princeton University

Stopping the revolving prison door – The MIT Tech

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More than three out of every four individuals released from U.S. prisons are re-arrested within five years. Given the sharp negative effects that incarceration has on individuals and their communities, as well as the often staggering expense of jails and prisons to governments and taxpayers, addressing this revolving door has become a top priority for many policymakers.

Reentry interventions programs designed to help people readjust to society following their release from jail and prison are one promising strategy. Former inmates often face complex challenges after release and experience an increased risk of homelessness, unemployment, addiction, and trauma. Sixty to 75 percent of recently incarcerated individuals were unemployed one year after release, and when they do find employment, former inmates can expect to earn 40 percent less, on average, than they did before going to jail. Seventy to 90 percent of the 10 million people released from jail or prison each year are uninsured, yet this group experiences mental illness, substance use disorders, infectious disease, and chronic health conditions at a rate that is seven times higher than the general population. Difficulty accessing housing, jobs, and treatment services puts this population at a high risk of reoffending, creating a self-perpetuating cycle.

The research community has done an extensive amount of work documenting and exploring the challenges faced by formerly incarcerated individuals and the resulting effects on prison populations when those individuals reoffend. However, as policymakers face tough choices about which reentry programs to support with limited funding available, we dont know enough about which approaches work, which work best, and why.

The Milwaukee Safe Streets Prisoner Release Initiative

J-PAL North America, based within MIT's Department of Economics, is supporting randomized evaluations to rigorously test prisoner reintegration policies and programs so policymakers can direct their efforts in the most effective way possible. Looking at some past examples of research is helping to guide our thinking on what still needs to be tested. In one study, researchers Anthony Braga (Harvard University), Philip Cook (Duke University), Songman Kang (Hanyang University), Jens Ludwig (University of Chicago), and Mallory OBrien (Medical College of Wisconsin) evaluated the impact of the Milwaukee Safe Streets Prisoner Release Initiative (PRI) on improving employment prospects and reducing recidivism. The PRI provides intensive, comprehensive services such as vocational and soft-skills training, remedial education, restorative justice circles, substance use treatment, and assistance finding housing, transportation, and employment to inmates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, both before and after release with the aim of improving their chance of finding a job and staying out of jail.

Within the first year of release, the PRI program increased the likelihood of former inmates finding employment from 55 to 80 percent. However, while the treatment group was more likely to earn an income, their wages were still very low leaving many in poverty. The PRI program also decreased the likelihood that former inmates would be rearrested (63 versus 72 percent), though there was no discernible difference in recidivism rates.

A different approach to recidivism: Behavioral interventions

A cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program used in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) in Chicago, Illinois, offers a potentially more scalable model for policymakers to adopt. The therapy sessions, studied by Sara Heller (University of Pennsylvania), Anuj K. Shah (University of Chicago), Jonathan Guryan (Northwestern University), Jens Ludwig (University of Chicago), Sendhil Mullainathan (Harvard University), and Harold A. Pollack (University of Chicago), generated small but significant and sustained reductions in recidivism at a much lower cost than the PRI.

As part of the experiment, trained detention staff led group CBT sessions twice a day for members of the treatment group. The sessions were targeted at reducing impulsive and harmful behaviors that can lead to criminality, and the curriculum was created by surveying other CBT programs and adapting them to the JTDC context based on behavioral science research. This allowed for an extensive understanding of the key elements necessary for successful implementation of CBT in a juvenile detention center.

This CBT program helped high-risk youth avoid being readmitted to JTDC after their release. Juveniles who complied with the treatment were 13 percentage points less likely to be readmitted to JTDC than their control counterparts within two months after release, and 16 percentage points less likely after 18 months (an overall 21 percent reduction in readmission to JTDC).

While both the CBT program and the PRI intervention proved successful by some measures, the PRI intervention cost about $5,000 per participant, whereas the CBT program cost approximately $60 each. Intensive programs like the PRI may need to have a greater and more sustained impact on recidivism to justify the high cost. On the other hand, investing in cognitive behavioral therapy programs like the one used at JTDC can produce returns ranging from 5-to-1 to 30-to-1 in averted recidivism costs.

Moving forward

Governments, service providers, and researchers are continuing to develop innovative projects aimed at finding scalable, effective solutions to close our criminal justice systems revolving door. With support from J-PAL North America made possible by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Jennifer Doleac (University of Virginia) and Benjamin Castleman (University of Virginia) are testing a tablet-based reentry module in two county jails that aims to strengthen inmates transition back into society. Through this module, inmates create a personalized transition plan prior to release, and after leaving jail receive support and reminders to encourage them to adhere to their plan. If effective, this highly-scalable, technology-based and behavioral-science informed strategy may be a promising tool for successful reentry reforms.

With a renewed wave of political attention and practitioner innovation in this space, there is much more to learn about how best to support formerly incarcerated individuals to make communities safer and reduce the burden of the criminal justice system. J-PAL North America invites prospective partners interested in expanding the evidence base on reentry policy to reach out to J-PAL North Americas crime sector manager, Ben Struhl, with ideas for evaluations.

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Stopping the revolving prison door - The MIT Tech

Recommendation by operational working group to impact structure of combined Armstrong-Georgia Southern University – The George-Anne

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The consolidation implementation committee (CIC) for the new Georgia Southern institution will vote on proposed a recommendation by an operational working group that will result in the division of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences into two different colleges, the College of Arts and Humanities and the College of Behavioral Sciences.

The committee is expected to vote on the recommendation at their meeting on Wednesday, however, some faculty members at both campuses are opposing the recommendation, according to Savannah Morning News.

According to Savannah Morning News, over 100 faculty members of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences have signed a petition to oppose the recommendation of splitting the college into two.

If approved, the consolidated institution will have nine total colleges: Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing, College of Arts and Humanities (new), College of Behavioral Sciences (new), College of Business, College of Education, Don and Cindy Waters College of Health Professions, Jiann-Pin Hsu College of Public Health, College of Science and Mathematics and the J.N Averitt College of Graduate Studies.

According to the official agenda for the consolidation committee, the proposal would move several departments around, but cites that dividing the liberal arts and social sciences into two new colleges would be more manageable across the three campuses.

The recommendation was reviewed and supported by Jean Bartels, provost and vice president of academic affairs for Georgia Southern, and Robert Smith, provost and vice president of academic affairs for Armstrong State.

Other items

In the committee meeting on Wednesday, faculty welfare, faculty processes/resources, first-year programs, research, communication and marketing issues, along with other topics are expected to be discussed, according to the agenda.

The committee will discuss over 30 recommendations about the different topics and how to proceed. As of Tuesday, only eight recommendations by the CIC have been approved.

This meeting comes days after seven appointments were made to the senior organizational structure on Friday.

Following the meeting on Wednesday, the committee will meet again on May 24, 2017 at Armstrong State University. For a full schedule of the meetings, click here.

For the full agenda for the May 10 meeting, click here.

The meeting will take place at the Military Science building from 2 to 4 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.

Correction:The recommendation was made by an operational working group as part of the consolidation process, not by the CIC.

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Recommendation by operational working group to impact structure of combined Armstrong-Georgia Southern University - The George-Anne