Ted Talk Video: The Oldest Living Things in the World

"Artist Rachel Sussman has spent years researching the science behind each shot, tracking down researchers to find out what they know — and then figuring out exactly where she needs to head next. “I try to approach them as portraits,” she says of her images. “I want to differentiate them from landscapes or straight documentary; these organisms have so much character and in some way they are all individuals.” In these often quiet, calm images, it’s the story beneath the surface that counts."

Neil deGrasse Tyson: 'You need a tandem social moral code to go along with it'

"Renowned astrophysicist and StarTalk Radio host Neil deGrasse Tyson has some pretty wild ideas for how we should improve the human body, but he turns serious as he explains how we should appreciate the fragility and finiteness of life."

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A Short Guide To A Long Life

From the book of the same name written by David B. Agus, M.D., and available through the Amazon portal here on Lem's blog.  I suggest you read this book.

Dr. Agus is one of the world's leading cancer doctors and cancer researchers.  He is a professor of medicine and engineering at USC.  He heads USC's West Side Cancer Center and the Center For Applied Molecular Medicine.

At least twice a week, Dr. Agus has to tell a patient that he has nothing left in his arsenal to combat the patient's cancer.  It's over, and in most cases the end of life is near.  It's a gut-wrenching conversation that Dr. Agus has never gotten used to.

That we are no better at treating cancer today, with a few notable exceptions, than we were fifty years ago is maddening.  More infuriating still is that many of my patients could have prevented their cancer or other life-altering disease had they done a few things differently earlier in life.

I'm pretty certain that most people could delay or totally prevent a vast majority of illnesses we see today - including not only cancer but heart and kidney disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders - if they just adopt a few healthy habits early on and avoid the ones that lead to illness.

The best way to fight disease and other ailments that develop over time is to prevent them.  A staggering seven out of ten deaths among Americans each year are from chronic diseases, with heart disease, cancer and stroke accounting for more than fifty percent of American deaths each year.

Dr. Agus offers sixty-five rules he believes take the confusion out of knowing how to live to be healthy and feel wonderful at any age.  They aren't terribly exciting or difficult, but taken together they embody a recipe for healthful living.

The rules are below the jump.  Don't look if you don't want to. Carry on with your normal activities.