A genetic study of worms has challenged the prevailing theory of aging, which holds that organisms eventually break down and die as a result of wear-and tear on their bodies. Researchers have found that certain genes in the worms are genetically programmed to stop functioning as the worm ages; while there's no guarantee that a similar process takes place in humans, the results nevertheless give hope that science eventually may find a way to stop or reverse the aging process [HealthDay News].

Researchers have thought that aging is due to damage inflicted on our cellular DNA (genetic material) by factors such as smoking, disease, the sun's ultraviolet rays and chemically reactive molecules called free radicals, which are produced when our cells make energy. [This study] suggests instead that a combination of factors is at play — that in addition to [environmental factors], there are also certain genes that may carry instructions to start the aging process [Scientific American].
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As I often mention, the divine flow continually guides you, leads you, directs you, and supports you in the fulfillment of your heart's desires. But it doesn't live your life for you. To get where you want to go, you still have to row — you have to make decisions, and you have to act on those decisions.

Sometimes, however, the best decision you can make, and the best action you can take, is to decide to do nothing at all . . . at least, for the moment.
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As awareness of the consequences regarding the use of plastic bags grows, more people are ditching them for reusable bags or paper. Plastic bags are made of polyethylene, derived from crude oil, and with the recent increase in U.S. fuel prices, the desire is even greater to lessen our reliance on plastic bags, and ultimately our foreign oil dependency. It is believed that, except for the 3-5 percent being recycled, all the plastic that's ever been created since the 1950s still exists in its original form on the planet. Because of its inability to completely break down or recycle easily, and due to its lightweight nature, the proliferation of plastic bags means quite a few fly or float into habitats that cause a great deal of permanent harm to native wildlife.
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A new study of a pair of neutron stars has proven that Albert Einstein got the details right on his theory of general relativity, which describes the interactions of gravity, space, and time in our universe. A team of astrophysicists examined two newly discovered neutron stars, the small and dense stellar bodies formed after a supernova collapses, and found that Einstein accurately predicted their movements more than 90 years before the unusual star system was first sighted.

In Einstein's relativistic universe, matter curves space and slows down time, and the speed of light remains the only constant. But those are the big effects. The theory of relativity also includes some more esoteric details, one of which is called spin precession. The idea goes like this: Two massive bodies orbiting near each other will warp space enough to disturb the central axis around which both are moving, causing them to begin wobbling just like spinning tops. Strong gravity creates this so-called precession, and the more massive the objects, the easier the precession is to observe [ScienceNow Daily News].
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Medical research is getting a little groovier. In a new report, scientists declared that the active ingredient in hallucinogenic "magic mushrooms" had beneficial effects on test subjects who took the substance under a doctor's supervision. What's more, the effects lingered; 14 months after the experiment, more than half the subjects reported still feeling an increase in well-being or life satisfaction, in terms of things like feeling more creative, self-confident, flexible and optimistic [AP].

The experiment was one of the few conducted in the four decades since the government cracked down on hallucinogens, banning most research and listing them as a dangerous drugs. Researchers say the study marks another shift in policy, which could yield research with dramatic insights. "These drugs are no longer being confined to rats in test tubes," said David Nichols, a Purdue University pharmacologist who was not involved in the study. "What we're looking at is a largely unexplored technology for brain science — it was discovered in the 1940s, set the psychiatry world ablaze in the 1950s, and was aborted by widespread recreational abuse, the reaction of the media and its confluence with the Vietnam war" [Wired News].
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