All posts by She Seeks Serene

My Journey of Reimagining Life, Love and Education

Top New Travel Books: “Wanderlust USA” Edited By Gestalten (2019)

Wanderlust USA 2019Experienced outdoor enthusiasts and those lacing-up their boots for their first time: prepare to hike the diverse American landscape. Whether aiming to conquer epic expeditions, or simply complete a day hike to recharge, paths of every size await the intrepid wayfarer in Wanderlust USA, a book that serves as a blueprint for adventurous souls in search of new summits.

Stunning photography and insightful tips from veteran long-distance hiker Cam Honan bring many bucolic treks to life, including the unmissable California ancient redwoods and misty waterfalls of Yosemite Park, as well as Utah’s dramatic canyons, and the Atlantic cliffs of Maine.

Website: https://us.gestalten.com/products/wanderlust-usa?utm_source=Gestalten+Standard+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ba394937b0-COVARC2+REGLAM+HIKUS+KINARCO+US&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_280558bba4-ba394937b0-3992541&mc_cid=ba394937b0&mc_eid=d0c83e52f7

Top New Remodel Books: “The Home Upgrade” Edited By Gestalten (2019)

The Home Upgrade GestaltenThe Home Upgrade looks beyond big budget projects and explores homes where the seemingly impossible has been achieved. For architects striking out on their own, such projects offer the opportunity to flex their muscles and lead a project for the first time. A home in Brooklyn, featured in the book, was refurbished after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the Eastern Seaboard in 2012. The living space was raised above the high-water line, an answer to the grim fact that once-in-a-generation occurrences are a new reality.

Historic conversions celebrate the unexpected relationship between old and new, and adaptive reuse projects reinvent the buildings around us. Exploring the most extraordinary transformations of recent years by leading studios, The Home Upgrade is an exhilarating look at the boundless possibilities of reimagining a home.

Website: https://us.gestalten.com/products/home-upgrade?utm_source=Gestalten+Standard+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ba394937b0-COVARC2+REGLAM+HIKUS+KINARCO+US&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_280558bba4-ba394937b0-3992541&mc_cid=ba394937b0&mc_eid=d0c83e52f7

Health Studies: Eating After Exercise Found To Burn “Twice The Fat”

From a New York Times online article:

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & MetabolismThe riders who had pedaled on an empty stomach, however, had incinerated about twice as much fat during each ride as the men who consumed the shake first. The riders all had burned about the same number of calories while pedaling, but more of those calories came from fat when the men did not eat first.

Those riders also showed greater improvements in insulin sensitivity at the end of the study and had developed higher levels of certain proteins in their muscles that influence how well muscle cells respond to insulin and use blood sugar.

Working out on an empty stomach could amplify the health benefits of the activity, according to a well-timed new study of the interplay of meal timing, metabolic health and moving. The study, which involved sedentary men and moderate cycling, suggests that whether and when we eat may affect how exercise affects us.

To read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/27/well/move/eating-food-exercise-fasting-insulin-weight-loss-fat.html

Health Podcasts: Which Drug Prices Should Medicare Negotiate? (NE Journal Of Medicine)

From a New England Journal of Medicine article:

New England Journal of Medicine podcastMedicare negotiation of prescription-drug prices would bring U.S. government policies in line with those of other high-income countries, and the idea is popular with both the public and policy analysts. But it would represent a sea change for pharmaceutical firms, which will maintain that any threat to their pricing power will slow innovation. 

Negotiating prices of 10 too-little drugs and 10 too-late drugs to levels currently paid in the United Kingdom would produce about $26.8 billion in savings in 2019 alone, most of which ($25.9 billion) would come from savings on drugs in the latter category. Over time, the drugs included could change. For instance, in 2020 this category might include Revlimid (lenalidomide), which generated $6.5 billion in 2018 U.S. sales; its price in the United Kingdom is 32% of that in the United States.

Americans all along the political spectrum favor allowing Medicare to negotiate the prices it pays for prescription drugs.1 In September, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) introduced what is now called the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 (H.R. 3), and the bill would have Medicare do just that.

Although there are draft pieces of legislation and regulation that take aim at the rising cost of drugs, H.R. 3 is the legislative tip of the spear for price negotiation. If it became law, Medicare would target drugs that claim the largest share of the health care budget and that face limited competition from generics or biosimilars. I propose an alternative set of drugs for price negotiation: those that have too little evidence to support full approval or are too late in their life cycle to justify continued high prices.

To read more: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1912736?query=recirc_inIssue_bottom_article

New Travel Videos: “Deep Sea Exploration – 360” (National Geographic)

In the final installment of National Geographic’s “Into Water” 360 series, dive into the midwaters off the coast of California with bioengineer and National Geographic Explorer Dr. Kakani Katija. She conducts deep water research at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, developing technologies that can go deep below the surface to observe wildlife and collect data and specimens.

National Geographic Deep Sea Exploration 360 She aims to study all aspects of life in the deep ocean and see how that knowledge can translate to technology and innovation. “Into Water: California” is the final stop on an around the world 360 tour that documents the work of female Explorers who’ve dedicated their careers to water related issues.

Politics: “Baby Boomers Versus Millennials” Battle Brewing In Great Britain

From a The Atlantic online article:

Willetts had stumbled onto one of the great divides of modern politics: young versus old. In Britain, age is now a better predictor of voting intention than social class. Overall, the Boomers voted for Brexit in 2016 and the Conservatives in 2017; their Millennial children voted Remain and Labour. The single biggest error that Theresa May, the prime minister in the lead-up to the 2017 election, made during that process was to float the idea that older people might have to contribute more to the spiraling costs of their own retirement care. The “dementia tax” prompted an immediate, ferocious response, and May backed down.

 

That is not an isolated example. A guiding principle of politics in Britain, and elsewhere in the West, is: What Boomers want, Boomers get. Working-age benefits, for example, have been frozen since the 2015 budget, but the state pension has consistently risen. (At this election, Britain’s two main parties have both promised to keep increasing pensions; Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour has also pledged £58 billion ($74.7 billion) to Boomer women affected by the rise in the female state pension age from 60 to 66.

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The debate is also about so much more than abstract disagreements over policy and government funding. Caring for the elderly, for example, becomes wrapped up in assertions of “just deserts”—I’ve worked hard all my life and paid my taxes—and fears about money-grubbing children selling off their parents’ houses. It is also, like taxes on inheritance, a subject that prods at many people’s deep desire to pass something on to their offspring.

To read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/11/britain-election-boomers/602680/

Short Films: “Being British – A Film By The People Of Great Britain” Directed By Simon Mulvaney (2019)

Directed by: Simon Mulvaney

Produced by: Simon Mulvaney & Emily Brinnand
VFX Artist: Michael Nixon
Music: Borrtex (“Snowflake”)

Being British - A Film By The People Of Great Britain Directed By Simon Mulvaney (2019)

BEING BRITISH is a short-form documentary created independently by the filmmakers of Great Britain, to answer the question, ‘WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BRITISH?’

Website: https://www.smulvaney.tv/

Top Political Podcasts: Mike Bloomberg Enters Crowded, And Skeptical Field (The Economist)

The Economist Intelligence PodcastMICHAEL BLOOMBERG, the billionaire former mayor of New York, has announced he is running for president. But he is late to join the race and not very popular with Democratic primary voters. We also look at TikTok, a wildly successful video-sharing app that some see as a threat to security in the Western world. And much of Switzerland is up in arms—about the reliability of the country’s coffee supply. Runtime: 20 min

 

Top Science Podcasts: 2019 PhD Survey, Older Women In Sci-Fi And Mummified Remains In Egypt (Nature)

Listen to the latest science updated, brought to you by Nick Howe and Shamini Bundell. This week, delving into the results of the latest graduate student survey, and assessing ageism in science fiction literature.

In this episode:

00:45 The graduate student experience

The results of Nature’s 2019 PhD survey are in. David Payne, Nature’s Chief Careers Editor, takes us through them. Nature’s PhD survey collection

06:45 Research Highlights

Giant tortoises are quick learners, and colour-changing magic mushrooms. Research Article: Gutnick et al.Research Highlights: Why magic mushrooms turn dark blue when picked

08:52 Where are the older women in sci-fi?

Author Sylvia Spruck Wrigley has been looking into the number of older women that appear in sci-fi novels, and the roles they play. Essay: Space ageing: why sci-fi novels shun the badass older woman

16:45 News Chat

A trove of mummified remains causes excitement in Egypt, and Italy plans a new science funding body. News: Rare mummified lions add to Egyptology buzzNews: Italy’s plan to create €300-million research agency draws fire

Travel: “Courmayeur”, An Italian Ski Town That Foodies Love (WSJ)

From a Wall Street Journal online article:

Super G hotel, home to two restaurants overseen by Milan chef Andrea Berton. PHOTO FRANCESCO LASTRUCCI FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Super G hotel, home to two restaurants overseen by Milan chef Andrea Berton. PHOTO: FRANCESCO LASTRUCCI FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Courmayeur, both a town and a ski resort, boasts nearly as many ambitious, full-service restaurants as it does lifts on the slopes. Even on bright sunny days with powdery trails, the big question tends to be, “What’s for lunch?” The village, nestled in a snug valley on the south slope (the Italian side) of Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest peak, is a typically sleepy mountain town for much of the year with around 3,000 full-time residents. But when the ski season kicks into high gear, its restaurants, bars and cafes all come roaring to life. It’s a favorite winter escape for residents of Italy’s fashion capital, Milan, a straight two-hour shot up the highway. 

For the urbane crowds in from the city on winter weekends, Courmayeur is as much an epicurean as snow-sports destination, known for its mountain cheeses, wild game and cured meats, and for its increasingly serious restaurants. Top tables on and off the slopes can book up weeks in advance. The region’s minerally white and earthy red wines come from some of the highest altitude vineyards in Europe. The sparkling Cuvée des Guides is made 7,000 feet above sea level on the slopes of Mont Blanc, with a tasting room atop one of the state-of-the-art Skyway Monte Bianco cable car stations.

To read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/an-italian-ski-town-where-the-food-rivals-the-views-11574791692