Health & Science NEWS 21
Socializing to stave off dementia
If you want to reduce your risk of devel-
oping dementia in later life, stay socially
active during your 50s and 60s. That’s the
conclusion of a new study by researchers at
University College London, who examined
data from more than 10,000 people tracked
from 1985 to 2013. The participants under-
went regular cognitive testing and answered
questionnaires about their social activity.
Researchers found that people who at age
60 saw friends almost daily were 12 percent
less likely to develop dementia later on in
life than those who saw friends only every
few months. Seeing relatives regularly did
not appear to have the same beneficial
effect. Using the brain for memory and lan-
guage during social interactions could help
build new connections between brain cells,
creating so-called cognitive reserve. “While
it may not stop their brains from changing,
cognitive reserve could help people cope
better with the effects of age and delay any
symptoms of dementia,” senior author Gill
Livingston tells ScienceDaily.com.Postponing menopause
British scientists say they have developed a
surgical procedure that can delay menopause
for up to 20 years, a potentially life-chang-
ing breakthrough for millions of women.
Menopause can trigger symptoms including
anxiety, hot flashes, a reduced sex drive, and
in extreme cases, heart disease and bone-weakening osteoporosis. The procedure—
offered only to women under 40—starts
with a 30-minute operation in which tissue
is removed from the patient’s ovaries. The
sample is then frozen at minus 238 degrees
Fahrenheit. When the patient begins meno-
pause, the tissue is thawed and grafted back
into the body— triggering the release of
hormones that put menopause on hold. Ten
women in the U.K. have undergone the ini-
tial procedure; one had the regraft immedi-
ately because she was having a hysterectomy
and wanted to avoid premature menopause.
“Being able to delay menopause has been
life-changing,” Dixie-Louise Dexter, 33, tells
The Times (U.K.). How long the procedure
holds off menopause depends on a patient’s
age when the tissue is extracted: Tissue from
a 25-year-old could postpone menopause by
20 years, while a sample from a 40-year-old
might delay its onset by five years. A similar
procedure has been used to preserve fertility
in girls and women who are receiving treat-
ment for cancer.Tardigrades on the moon
There could now be life on the moon,
thanks to a botched mission launched from
here on Earth. When the unmanned Israeli
spacecraft Beresheet crash-landed on the
moon in April, it likely spilled its unusual
cargo: a few thousand tiny tardigrades, the
toughest animals on Earth. Only a milli-
meter or so long, these microscopic “water
bears” become almost indestructible when
they enter a state known as cryptobiosis,
in which they expel all moisture from their
bodies and mummify themselves in a pro-
tective coat of sugar. Dormant tardi-
grades can survive without food
and water for up to three
decades, in temperatures
as low as minus 328
degrees Fahrenheit
and as high as
284 degreesFahrenheit, even in the vacuum of space.
Beresheet was carrying thousands of dehy-
drated tardigrades that had been taped
between DVD-sized etched nickel discs that
contained a “library” of human civilization.
The creator of that library, Nova Spivack of
the nonprofit Arch Mission, tells Wired.com
that the discs were probably safely ejected.
“Our payload,” he says, “may be the only
surviving thing from that mission.” There’s
no danger of the tardigrades colonizing the
moon; to reproduce, they’d need to return
to Earth and rehydrate.Health scare of the week
Osteoarthritis and NSAIDs
People who take nonsteroidal anti-
inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to relieve the
pain of osteoarthritis may be increasing their
risk for cardiovascular disease. Researchers
have long known of the association between
osteoarthritis and heart problems. To exam-
ine this link, scientists compared the health
records of 7,743 osteoarthritis patients with
23,229 people who rarely or never took
ibuprofen, naproxen, and other NSAIDs.
Compared with the control group, the osteo-
arthritis patients had a 42 percent higher
risk for congestive heart failure, a 17 percent
elevated risk for coronary heart disease,
and a 14 percent increased risk for stroke.
Once they had controlled for other factors—
including socioeconomic status and body
mass index—the researchers calculated that
41 percent of the patients’ elevated risk for
heart problems was due to NSAID use. That
could be because NSAIDs can raise blood
pressure by causing the body
to retain more sodium and
water. Lead author Aslam Anis,
from the University of British
Columbia, tells The New York
Times that osteoarthritis patients
should discuss NSAID use with their
physician. “Sometimes,” he says, “theAP,^ treatment is worse than the disease.”
Ge
tty
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ew
sco
m
The heat wave that sent temperatures to
record highs in northern Europe in July is
now turning much of Greenland’s ice sheet
to slush, in yet another troubling sign of
climate change. An astonishing 12.5 billion
tons of the island’s surface ice melted into
the Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 1, according
to satellite and other data, the highest
single-day loss since records began in- The summer heat surge has caused
temperatures in Greenland to increase by
up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit above aver-
age. At the island’s Summit Station, which
is located 10,551 feet above sea level and
rarely experiences temperatures above
freezing, the mercury briefly exceeded
that mark. In July—the hottest month ever
observed worldwide—Greenland’s ice
sheet lost some 197 billion tons of ice. The
melt in July was about 36 percent more
than scientists expect in the entirety of an
average year and enough to raise sea lev-
els globally by 0.02 inches. Even small sea-
level rises can heighten the risk of coastal
flooding and extreme storms across the
world. “These are records we don’t want
to see broken,” Ruth Mottram, a polar
scientist at the Danish Meteorological
Institute, tells NationalGeographic.com.
This summer’s melt is on course to matchor surpass the most extreme season
recorded, in 2012, when 97 percent of
Greenland’s surface ice experienced some
sort of melt. Such events typically occur
about every 250 years.Greenland’s fast-melting ice sheet
Hanging out with friends is good for the brain.Rivers of melt water flow across the ice.