Learning

"In the United States, as many as half of today’s 5-year-olds can expect to live to the age of 100, and this once unattainable milestone may become the norm for newborns by 2050. Yet, the social institutions, norms and policies that await these future centenarians evolved when lives were only half as long and need updating. In 2018, The Stanford Center on Longevity launched an initiative called The New Map of Life, believing that one of the most profound transformations of the human experience calls for equally momentous and creative changes in the ways we lead these 100-year lives, at every stage." more »

"The negative effects of past policies and a lack of economic opportunity have impacted Indigenous people for generations. I would like to acknowledge this history, but also to acknowledge that no great nation can prosper when its people are left behind. The Federal Reserve, with all of the powerful tools at its disposal, can't fully succeed unless Native people, and others that have existed on the margins of the economy, have the opportunity to become full participants. The discussions today, including those regarding access to credit for Indigenous communities, can advance this goal." more »

"While developing a rapid test that detects the coronavirus in someone’s saliva, Blink Science, a Florida-based startup, heard something startling: The Food and Drug Administration had more than 3,000 emergency use authorization applications and didn’t have the resources to get through them." "The U.S. produced covid-19 vaccines in record time, but, nearly two years into the pandemic, consumers have few options for cheap tests that quickly screen for infection, though they are widely available in Europe. Experts say the paucity of tests and their high prices undermine efforts in the U.S. to return to normal life. more »

"This analysis of new daily cases of COVID-19, acute incidence of OD [Olfactory Dysfunction], and rates of recovery suggest that more than 700,000, and possibly as many as 1.6 million, US individuals experience COD because of SARS-CoV-2. To put this number in context, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders estimated that, among US adults 40 years or older, measurable OD was found in up to 13.3 million adults.6 Notably, the age-specific prevalence of OD is 4.2% for individuals between age 40 to 49 years and 39.4% for individuals 80 years and older." "The loss of olfaction has been associated with decreased general quality of life, impaired food intake, inability to detect harmful gas and smoke, enhanced worries about personal hygiene, diminished social well-being, initiation of depressive symptoms." more »