3 Good Things: Fountain of youth, pursuit of Cheetos and lifesaving drones

‘Anti-aging’ taken to the extreme

What frontier will humans conquer next? Scientists have had some success now with turning back the clock on skin cells that show signs of aging. This “reprogramming” of cells changes their structure and their behavior, shaving off about 30 years’ worth of aging by some measures. They even apparently heal faster. The science isn’t there yet, but this could point the way forward for regenerative medicine.

Javelina happy ending

This is one of those animal stories that I tend to read with a rising sense of dread: When residents of Yavapai County, Ariz., found a javelina inside a Subaru on their block, police responded — but not a single bullet was fired. The sheriff’s office later reported that the javelina, a pig-like wild animal, had jumped into the Subaru’s open hatch in pursuit of Cheetos and had become trapped in the vehicle when the hatch closed behind it. The responding deputy opened the vehicle, and the animal hopped out and returned to the wild. And yes, it had licked up every crumb from the Cheetos bag.

The Cheetos-loving javelina.

(Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office)

One pint of O negative to go, please

Rwanda has found a modern solution to a chronic and deadly problem: Because most of the population lives in rural areas, and because many of the nation’s roads are mountainous and rough, hospitals often struggled to get blood delivered quickly for emergency transfusions. That is, until the nation got involved with a San Francisco startup in 2016 that has been using drones to deliver blood by air. A new study finds that with this technology, half of orders reach their destination in 41 minutes or less. Saving time is saving lives.

And one more ...

A wave of dietitians have taken to TikTok to preach a message that many of us need to hear. Fed up with “diet culture” and its emphasis on food shame and body size, they want us to think instead about balance, sustainable lifestyle changes and health, including mental health. That means cutting out the morality talk. As one TikTok dietitian says, “You are not a better or a worse person if you happen to eat a Snickers bar over an apple.”