Nikolay's Genetics Lessons

There’s growing evidence that weight loss might reduce the risk of some types of cancer, such as breast cancer (after menopause) and endometrial cancer. Some body changes that occur as a result of weight loss suggest it may, indeed, reduce cancer risk. For example, overweight or obese people who intentionally lose weight have reduced levels of certain hormones that are related to cancer risk, such as insulin, estrogens, and androgens. While we still have much to learn about the link between weight loss and cancer risk, people who are overweight or obese should be encouraged and supported if they try to lose weight. Aside from possibly reducing cancer risk, losing weight can have many other health benefits, such as lowering the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Losing even a small amount of weight has health benefits and is a good place to start. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR0ztF0wLgY

A study looking at tone deafness in large families found that people who are tone deaf tend to have relatives who are also tone deaf. The authors of the study concluded that tone deafness is largely determined by genetics. The fact that tone deafness runs in families could have other explanations than just genetics. For example, consider a family that lives near a toxic waste site. Many family members may get cancer, but shared genes are not the reason for the cancer-- the toxic waste site is. Families tend to share houses and lifestyles as well as genes. To get around this problem, researchers often turn to fraternal and identical twins. Identical twins share 100% of their DNA, while fraternal twins only share about half of their DNA. Both types of twins usually grow up together and share most of the same environment. If a trait is determined completely by genetics, identical twins should more often share that trait compared to fraternal twins. This is because they have the same DNA and fraternal twins only share half their DNA. On the other hand, if a trait is determined mostly by the environment, both types of twins should be equally similar to each other. This is because they share pretty close to the same environments. Researchers used a “twin study” to look into the genetics of tone deafness. They measured the ability of both identical and fraternal twins to pick out wrong notes in popular songs. They found that identical twins were more likely to both be tone deaf but it wasn’t 100%. There were plenty of cases where one identical twin in a pair was tone deaf and the other wasn’t. With some number crunching the researchers concluded that between 71 and 80% of tone deafness can be explained by genetics. The remaining percentage is likely due to things like how much the different families listened to music or if the kids took music classes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hs0yyIC244

Scientists know that genetics is important in tone deafness (also known as congenital amusia). They’ve done some twin and family studies that show that. They also think that the genes involved are pretty specific to not being able to tell when a wrong note is played in a song. This is because being tone deaf isn’t associated with any other trait. For example, you can be tone deaf but have good hearing, a sense of rhythm and a good memory. You just can’t tell one pitch from another very well.1 Studies also show that genetics are not the only factor that determines whether you are tone deaf. Listening to a lot of music, playing an instrument, or singing can help people get better at telling wrong notes apart. What scientists haven’t figured out yet are the actual genes that are involved. Nor can they easily predict the chances that a tone deaf parent will have a tone deaf child or that two parents that aren’t tone deaf will have a child that is. All we can say is that if tone deafness runs in your family, then you are more likely to end up with it as well. What I thought I’d do for the rest of the answer is go a bit deeper into some of the evidence that genetics is involved in tone deafness. Then I’ll end by showing that having perfect pitch is probably not simply the opposite of tone deafness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed4tQAOVKMw

Is it possible that your ancestry, religious affiliation, or ethnicity to determine your intellect? According to USA Today, “Ashkenazi Jews comprise 2.2% of the USA population, but they represent 30% of faculty at elite colleges, 21% of Ivy League students, 25% of the Turing Award winners, 23% of the wealthiest Americans, and 38% of the Oscar-winning film directors.” Wait, that’s not all! 22% of the Nobel awards have gone to Ashkenazim, even though they represent only 0.25% of humanity. Ashkenazi achievement in this arena is 117 times greater than their population." Jews have been awarded all six of the Nobel Foundation's awards: Chemistry: 36 (19% of total) Economics: 38 (41% of total) Literature: 16 (13% of total) Peace: 9 (8% of total) Physics: 56 (25% of total) Physiology or Medicine: 59 (26% of total) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC6BA4yFMMU

Which eye color is the rearest? For example brown eyes are the most common: Over half the people in the world have them. In fact, about 10,000 years ago, all humans had brown eyes. Scientists speculate that their elevated levels of melanin helped protect people from the sun’s damaging rays. But as people moved from the sweltering climates of Africa and Asia to the cooler environments of Europe, there was less need for this protection. About 75 percent of eye color is due to one gene, OCA2. It makes melanin, a substance in your body that produces hair, eye and skin pigmentation. If you inherit two nonfunctional copies of the OCA2 gene from your parents, you will go on to develop blue eyes. But if you have at least one functional copy, your eyes will be darker, on the spectrum of green, hazel or brown. At some point, you’ve probably wondered what the rarest eye color is. The answer is green, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). Only about 2 percent of the world’s population sport this shade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FE9Xn8eRvA

As you know, viruses can transfer from animals to humans - this also applies to bird flu. Vaccines to defend poultry from flu exist, but the tactic is expensive, and the virus swiftly adapts to evade that protection. The virus can rapidly spread among birds on poultry farms, sometimes with devastating consequences. last year, an outbreak hit the global poultry industry hard, pushing farmers to cull millions of birds in the United States alone. The gene, known as ANP32A, provides the instructions that tell chicken cells how to make a protein that flu viruses rely on to successfully hijack cells. Scientists made two changes to this gene so that the gene’s protein could no longer interact with avian flu viruses. Disrupting the avian virus’s ability to commandeer the protein stopped most genetically edited birds from getting infected. Ideally genetic editing would completely stop the virus from replicating, so it can not pose a risk to birds, or people, at all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQu6blbNWhg

Aromatase excess syndrome is a condition characterized by elevated levels of the female sex hormone estrogen in females which leads to increased breast growth (macromastia) and irregular menstrual periods. Rearrangements of genetic material involving the CYP19A1 gene cause aromatase excess syndrome. Th gene provides instructions for making an enzyme called aromatase. This enzyme converts a class of hormones called androgens, which are involved in male sexual development, to different forms of estrogen. In females, estrogen guides female sexual development before birth and during puberty. In both males and females, estrogen plays a role in regulating bone growth. The condition can result from several types of genetic rearrangements involving the CYP19A1 gene. These rearrangements alter the activity of the gene and lead to an increase in aromatase production . This condition is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, which means a genetic rearrangement involving one copy of the CYP19A1 gene in each cell is sufficient to cause the disorder. In some cases, an affected person inherits the mutation from one affected parent. Other cases result from new genetic changes and occur in people with no history of the disorder in their family. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFUJxYrtgyI

There is a lot of debate on the Internet - since there are many Nobel laureates and outstanding scientists among Ashkenazi Jews, are Jews genetically superior? Well, It depends on how you look at it.. As you know, the Ashkinazi Jews lived in small communities In central and Easten Europe, and as a result of this, there is a lot of inbreeding among them, plus add founder effect? as well as they went through many bottle necks (when jews were litteraly killed).. As a geneticist, I will tell you - this is all very bad for the health of the population. Among Jews, many genetic diseases are much more common than among other groups living in Europe. Look at this table - here is a list of 11 serious genetic diseases - from this table we see what percentage of the population are carriers of defective alleles. If we put all these diseases together, then every 4th Jew will be a carrier of a serious disease.. In total, screening is now done for 47 diseases, if we take into account other diseases, then every second Jew is a carrier of a serious genetics disease.. Now you can draw conclusions: are Jews genetically or inferior, no offence - just face the truth. But thanks to genetic screening, which more and more Jewish couples who decide to get married are going through, it is possible in 100-200 years to reduce the frequency of these harmful alleles to the average European level and even lower.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oco3wMLk2jU

Bloom Syndrome Individuals with Bloom syndrome have short stature, sun-sensitive facial skin lesions, an increased susceptibility to infections and respiratory illness, and an increased predisposition to gastrointestinal cancers and leukemia. Some individuals with Bloom syndrome also have intellectual disabilities. Individuals with Bloom syndrome usually die at an early age, but some have survived until their forties. Men with Bloom syndrome are usually infertile, and fertility appears to be reduced in women. Bloom syndrome is a rare disease that is most common in people of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Approximately 1 out of every 100 people of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry is a carrier of this disease, which is caused by a change in a gene located on chromosome 15. Bloom syndrome is considered a "chromosome breakage" disease. This means that affected individuals have an increased rate of breakage and rearrangements of their chromosomes. Chromosomes are the structures in each of the cells in our body that contain our genes. Genes produce proteins and guide the development and maintenance of the body. Early diagnosis of this disease can be helpful in monitoring and treating the manifestations of Bloom syndrome. Affected individuals should have increased cancer surveillance and should also decrease their exposure to sunlight and X-rays, which may cause damage to their chromosomes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4lZ5MT-J-I

In contrast to the oppression and torment it has met in every other part of the world, the Jewish community in India has never faced any kind of persecution throughout the hundreds of years of its presence th. They were one of the first foreign religions to arrive on Indian shores about 2500 years ago and seamlessly merged into the Indian culture. The Bene Israelis (Sons of Israel) dominate the Jewish population in India today and have settled down in Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Ahmedabad. The Bene Israelis were said to be travelling in a ship that crashed on the shores of Navgaon in the Kolaba District of Maharashtra. Legend says only seven couples survived the crash while the rest were buried at a burial site that exists even today in Navgaon near Alibag. So jewish population here is due to what in genetics we call founding effect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3xyZ3uBuIA

The Lemba people, a Bantu-speaking population residing in southern Africa, have long intrigued researchers and historians with their claims of Jewish ancestry. This remarkable connection between a southern African group and one of the world's oldest and most well-documented ethnic groups, the Jews, has led to extensive studies to uncover the genetic evidence supporting this fascinating link. In this article, we will delve into the genetic evidence that strengthens the bond between the Lemba and Jewish heritage. Historical Background The Lemba have a rich oral tradition that includes stories of their migration from the north, their observance of Jewish customs, and the presence of a sacred object known as the "ngoma lungundu," often identified with the Ark of the Covenant. These historical narratives serve as a foundation for their claims of Jewish lineage. The Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH) One of the most compelling pieces of genetic evidence supporting the Lemba's connection to Jewish ancestry is the presence of the Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH). The CMH is a specific set of genetic markers found on the Y-chromosomes of Jewish priests, the Kohanim. It is associated with a shared male lineage among Jewish priests and is considered a distinctive genetic signature of Jewish ancestry. Astonishingly, a significant portion of Lemba men carry this unique haplotype, suggesting a common genetic heritage with Jewish populations. Y-Chromosomal Studies Genetic studies focused on the Y-chromosomes of Lemba men have identified genetic markers consistent with Jewish lineages. This supports the claims of a shared paternal ancestry between the Lemba and Jewish groups. These studies indicate that a meaningful genetic connection exists between these two populations. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) Studies In addition to the Y-chromosomal evidence, researchers have conducted mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) studies among Lemba women. Analysis of mtDNA, which is maternally inherited, can reveal shared maternal ancestry. These studies have offered further support for the Lemba's claims of Jewish heritage. The presence of certain mtDNA markers has indicated a connection to Jewish populations in their maternal lineage. Genetic Diversity and Population Structure Researchers have studied the genetic diversity and population structure of the Lemba to compare them with various Jewish and African populations. These comparisons aim to identify similarities and differences in genetic markers, helping to corroborate the claims of Jewish ancestry among the Lemba. The presence of shared genetic markers with Jewish groups strengthens the genetic evidence. Conclusion The genetic evidence supporting the Lemba people's claims of Jewish ancestry is a significant aspect of their remarkable historical narrative. The presence of the Cohen Modal Haplotype, shared Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA markers, and genetic affinities with Jewish and African populations collectively contribute to a compelling argument for their connection to Jewish heritage. However, it's important to emphasize that genetics alone cannot provide a complete picture. The Lemba's historical, cultural, and oral traditions also play a crucial role in establishing their ties to Jewish heritage. The genetic evidence, when combined with these other forms of research, offers a more comprehensive understanding of the Lemba's complex and diverse ancestry. Their story serves as a testament to the fascinating interplay of genetics, culture, and history in our diverse world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkX_zhJl2Ag

The Jewish Autonomous Region, situated in the Russian Far East, is a unique and culturally diverse part of the world. Established in 1934, this region was envisioned as a homeland for Jewish people, where they could preserve their heritage, culture, and language. Over the years, the Jewish Autonomous Region, or simply "Birobidzhan" as it is often called, has evolved into a remarkable place that beautifully encapsulates the essence of coexistence, diversity, and history. In this article, we will explore the history, culture, and significance of this intriguing region. Historical Background The idea of creating a Jewish homeland outside of Palestine was explored in the early 20th century, and Birobidzhan was chosen as the location for this unique experiment. The Soviet government under Joseph Stalin saw the establishment of the Jewish Autonomous Region as a way to win the support of the Jewish population and to promote the development of the Russian Far East. The region was officially founded in 1934, with Yiddish as its official language. Cultural Diversity Birobidzhan's population consists of a mix of ethnicities, including Jews, Russians, Ukrainians, and more. The Yiddish culture, once dominant in the region, has influenced the local culture significantly. Visitors to the Jewish Autonomous Region can experience a rich blend of traditions, cuisines, and languages that reflect its multicultural composition. Promotion of Yiddish Language and Culture While the Jewish population in Birobidzhan has declined over the years, efforts to preserve Yiddish culture and language remain strong. Yiddish schools and cultural centers exist to promote and celebrate Yiddish heritage. The region hosts various Yiddish cultural events, such as theater performances, concerts, and festivals, all aimed at preserving and promoting the language and culture of the Jewish people. Points of Interest The Menorah Square: The centerpiece of the Jewish Autonomous Region, Menorah Square, is adorned with a massive menorah sculpture, a symbol of Jewish heritage. This square is the hub of cultural activities and gatherings. Birobidzhan Synagogue: The region boasts an active synagogue that provides a place of worship for the Jewish community and is a testament to the enduring spirit of Judaism in Birobidzhan. The Yiddish Center: This institution plays a vital role in preserving the Yiddish language and culture, offering Yiddish language courses and cultural programs. Museum of History and Culture of Birobidzhan Jews: Visitors can explore the rich history of Jews in the region, the establishment of Birobidzhan, and its development through exhibitions and artifacts. Challenges and Opportunities Despite its historical significance, the Jewish Autonomous Region faces challenges. The Jewish population has dwindled, and maintaining the cultural identity remains a struggle. However, Birobidzhan is also a place of opportunities. The unique blend of cultures and its historical importance make it an attractive destination for travelers interested in exploring a lesser-known part of the world. Conclusion The Jewish Autonomous Region, or Birobidzhan, stands as a testament to the enduring spirit of cultural diversity and the preservation of heritage. It is a place where different cultures coexist, and the Jewish culture is celebrated and remembered. Birobidzhan remains an intriguing destination for history enthusiasts, cultural explorers, and anyone interested in the unique tapestry of human history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3WC9wjBemU

The Jewish people are renowned for their rich cultural and religious heritage, with a long history spanning continents and millennia. One intriguing aspect of this diverse community is the wide range of physical appearances among Jewish individuals. From the fair-skinned, red-haired Ashkenazim of Eastern Europe to the darker-skinned, curly-haired Sephardim of the Mediterranean, Jews display a remarkable spectrum of features. This article explores the reasons behind this diversity and dispels common misconceptions. Historical Migrations One key factor contributing to the diversity of Jewish physical appearances is the historical migrations of Jewish communities. Over centuries, Jewish populations have settled in various regions, adapting to local environments and sometimes intermingling with local populations. For instance: Ashkenazim: The Ashkenazi Jews, whose ancestors hailed from Central and Eastern Europe, often exhibit fair skin, light hair, and blue or green eyes. This distinct appearance can be attributed to the genetic mixing that occurred within Eastern Europe over time. It's essential to note that their appearance does not indicate a lack of Jewish heritage. Sephardim: In contrast, the Sephardic Jews, with roots in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, and the Middle East, may have darker skin, hair, and eyes. These characteristics reflect their historical connections with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions. Genetic Diversity The genetic diversity among Jews is a result of numerous factors, including both historical and genetic influences. Within Jewish communities, there has been a propensity for endogamy, or marriage within the same group. However, Jews have also interacted with non-Jewish populations throughout their history, leading to a rich genetic tapestry. Recent genetic studies have shown that while Jewish communities share common ancestry, they have also incorporated genes from the regions they resided in. The Impact of Environment Environmental factors also play a role in the physical appearance of Jewish individuals. Climate, diet, and geographical location influence various features, such as skin color, hair type, and eye color. Jews settled in diverse environments, from the Mediterranean's sunny shores to Eastern Europe's cooler climate, resulting in adaptations to their surroundings. Common Misconceptions It's important to address common misconceptions about Jewish physical appearance: "Jews all look the same": This stereotype is far from accurate. Jewish communities encompass a broad range of physical characteristics. "Red hair is a sign of Jewish heritage": While some Ashkenazi Jews may have red hair, it is not a defining trait of Jewish identity. Red hair is a genetic trait found in many populations worldwide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I28WoDsoh7Q

The occurrence of red hair is primarily influenced by genetics. Red hair is a result of specific genetic variants associated with the MC1R gene, which is responsible for regulating the production of melanin, the pigment responsible for hair, skin, and eye color. To have red hair, an individual typically inherits two copies of the MC1R gene with these specific variants. While red hair is less common among Jewish populations, it's not unique to any specific ethnic or religious group. The prevalence of red hair varies widely among different populations, with the highest occurrence in people of Celtic or Northern European descent. Jewish populations are genetically diverse, with Ashkenazi Jews originating in Eastern Europe, Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East, and other Jewish groups with their own distinct genetic backgrounds. The occurrence of red hair can be influenced by genetic diversity within these populations. It's important to note that the occurrence of red hair is not specific to any religious or ethnic group, and it's determined by a combination of genetic factors that can be found in various populations around the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDaDdUtr8c0

Four “founding mothers” who lived in Europe a thousand years ago were the ancestors of two fifths of all Ashkenazi (European origin) Jews. This is the conclusion of a team of researchers at the Technion&;Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, after they compared DNA sequences from nearly 2000 Jews with those of 11 500 non–Jewish people in 67 different populations around the world. The remaining 60% were found to have much more heterogeneous genetic origins. The team, led by doctoral student, Doron Behar, and his supervisor, Professor Karl Skorecki of the Technion’s medical faculty and Rambam Medical Centre in Haifa, published their findings online ahead of print publication in the American Journal of Human Genetics on 11 January (www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJHG/home.html). The article will appear in print in the March edition. Professor Skorecki, a nephrologist who also conducts genetic research, is known for his 1997 discovery of DNA marker evidence showing that most modern day Jewish men of the paternally inherited priestly caste (the Kohanim) are descendants of a single common male ancestor. The latest discovery, which will be followed by genetic studies of the Druze minority in Israel and other communities, has important implications beyond its inherent historical interest, said Professor Skorecki, as it adds to understanding of the mechanisms of genetic health and disease in different populations around the world. Because of its relative isolation over many centuries the Ashkenazi population, which accounts for most of the world’s Jews today, is also known to have accumulated some 20 recessive hereditary disorders (such as Tay–Sachs disease) that are rarely found in other populations. The team, which studied mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) passed on solely by mothers to their children, found evidence of shared maternal ancestry of Ashkenazi and non–Ashkenazi Jews, a finding showing a shared ancestral pool that is consistent with previous studies that were based on the Y chromosome. This evidence pointed to a similar pattern of shared paternal ancestry of Jewish populations around the world originating in the Middle East. They concluded that the four founding types of mtDNA—likely to be of Middle Eastern origin—underwent a major overall expansion in Europe over the last thousand years. The “four founding mothers,” he added, “are from lineages that originate long before the launching of the Jewish people some 3400 years ago. They probably came from a large Middle Eastern gene pool. “As consistent with the Bible, in which the founding Jews were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his sons, and the matriarchs were ‘imported’ from non–Jewish peoples and then converted, the haplotypes of contemporary Jewish men are much less varied.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xHKR9k1dSo

Over the last 15 years geneticists have identified links between the world’s Jewish communities that point to a common ancestry as well as a common religion. Still, the origin of one of the most important Jewish populations, the Ashkenazim of Central and Eastern Europe, has remained a mystery. A new genetic analysis has now filled in another piece of the origins puzzle, pointing to European women as the principal female founders, and to the Jewish community of the early Roman empire as the possible source of the Ashkenazi ancestors. The finding establishes that the women who founded the Ashkenazi Jewish community of Europe were not from the Near East, as previously supposed, and reinforces the idea that many Jewish communities outside Israel were founded by single men who married and converted local women. The study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, is based on a genetic analysis of maternal lineages. A team led by Martin B. Richards of the University of Huddersfield in England took a fresh look at Ashkenazi lineages by decoding the entire mitochondrial genomes of people from Europe and the Near East. Earlier DNA studies showed that Jewish communities around the world had been founded by men whose Y chromosomes bore DNA patterns typically found in the Near East. But there was a surprise when geneticists turned to examine the women founders by analyzing mitochondrial DNA, a genetic element that is separate from the main human genome and inherited just through the female line. Unlike the Y chromosomes, the mitochondrial DNA showed no common pattern. In several of the smaller Jewish communities it clearly resembled that of the surrounding population, suggesting a migration pattern in which the men had arrived single, perhaps as traders, and taken local wives who then converted to Judaism. But it wasn’t clear whether or not this was true of the Ashkenazim. Mitochondrial DNA tends to change quite rapidly, or to drift, as geneticists say, and the Ashkenazi DNA has drifted so far it was hard to pinpoint its origin. This uncertainty seemed to be resolved by a survey published in 2006. Its authors reported that the four most common mitochondrial DNA lineages among Ashkenazis came from the Near East, implying that just four Jewish women were the ancestresses of nearly half of today’s Ashkenazim. Under this scenario, it seemed more likely that the Ashkenazim were the result of a migration of whole communities of men and women together. But decoding DNA was still quite expensive at that time and the authors of the 2006 survey analyzed only a short length of the mitochondrial DNA, containing just 1,000 or so of its 16,600 DNA units, in all their subjects. Editors’ Picks I’m an American Living Abroad Permanently. Should I Vote in U.S. Elections? How to Break Up With Your Therapist A Deep-Fried Pho Sparks Scandal at the State Fair of Texas The four mitochondrial lineages common among Ashkenazis are now very rare elsewhere in the Near East and Europe, making it hard to identify with certainty the lineages from which they originated. With the entire mitochondrial genome in hand, Dr. Richards could draw up family trees with a much finer resolution than before. His trees show that the four major Ashkenazi lineages in fact form clusters within descent lines that were established in Europe some 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. The same is true of most of the minor lineages. “Thus the great majority of Ashkenazi maternal lineages were not brought from the Levant, as commonly supposed,” Dr. Richards and colleagues conclude in their paper. Overall, at least 80 percent of Ashkenazi maternal ancestry comes from women indigenous to Europe, and 8 percent from the Near East, with the rest uncertain, the researchers estimate. Dr. Richards estimates that the four major lineages became incorporated into the Ashkenazi community at least 2,000 years ago. A large Jewish community flourished in Rome at this time and... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP8nTQZFwSY

The Aryans or “Noble Ones” were thought to have remained together on the Caucasian steppes from about 4500 BCE until about 2500 BCE when groups began to migrate. Their single language, known by linguists as Proto-Indo-European, evolved into many of the Asiatic and European languages such as Sanskrit, Persian, German, Gaelic, Latin, Greek, Russian, and English. The Indo-European language family has the largest number of speakers of all language families as well as the widest dispersion around the world. Recent ancient DNA studies indicate that the Proto-Indo-European language likely traveled first with the Yamnaya steppe pastoralists when they migrated from the vast grasslands of the Eurasian steppes into Europe around 4,000–3,000 BCE. They were one of the earliest peoples to train horses and to have wheeled carts that allowed them to manage large herds comprising sheep, goats and cattle. Bringing their Corded Ware Complex culture with them, they spoke a language linked to Proto-German, from which all of today’s 400 Indo-European languages spring. They interbred with local Europeans, descendants of local hunter-gatherers and farmers who had come from Anatolia. Within a few hundred years, the Yamnaya contributed to at least half of central Europeans’ genetic ancestry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBQxchm9Ln0

Current smokers faced nearly three times the risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease compared with people who never smoked, with the risk being higher among those who began smoking during childhood, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access journal of the American Heart Association. Smoking continues to cause an estimated 100,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease every year in the U.S. Currently, there are about 25 million people who smoke daily including 5 million who became regular smokers before the age of 15. Earlier research in Cuba found a correlation between childhood smoking and a higher risk for premature death overall. In this new study, investigators set out to determine if the findings were generalizable in other populations by conducting a similar analysis of U.S. data focused on death from cardiovascular disease. “It was surprising to see how consistent these findings were with our earlier research and with other studies from around the world, including from the U.K., Australia and Japan, among others, both in terms of the substantial risks associated with smoking and with the health benefits of quitting smoking,” said lead study author Blake Thomson, M.Phil., D.Phil., an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. “The age at which a person begins smoking is an important and often overlooked factor, and those who start smoking at a young age are at especially high risk of dying prematurely from cardiovascular disease. However, quitting can substantially reduce that risk, especially for those who quit at younger ages. Getting people to quit smoking remains one of the greatest health priorities globally.” Using data collected between 1997 and 2014, from the annual U.S. National Health Interview Survey, researchers examined the medical histories, lifestyle habits and demographics of smokers and nonsmokers. The study included 390,929 adults, ages 25 to 74 years (average age of 47), 56% female. Occasional smokers were excluded from the study. Current smokers were grouped by the age at which they began smoking. During the follow-up period, 4,479 people died before the age of 75 from heart disease or stroke. After adjusting for potential confounding variables, such as age, education, alcohol consumption, region and race, researchers found: 58% were never smokers; 23% were ex-smokers; and 19% were current smokers; Among current smokers, 2% had started smoking before age 10, and 19% began smoking between ages 10 and 14; and Those who quit smoking by the age of 40 reduced their excess risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease by about 90%. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpcoZUKJQrk

Did you know that some of the animals are truly immortal? Here is one such animal - Backward-aging jellyfish - it is a tiny variety of jellyfish known as Turritopsis doohmii, or more commonly, the immortal jellyfish. It has found a way to cheat death by actually reversing its aging process. If the jellyfish is injured or sick, it returns to its polyp stage over a three-day period, transforming its cells into a younger state that will eventually grow into adulthood all over again. This remarkable ability has fascinated scientists and researchers for years, as it challenges our understanding of the aging process and has raised hopes for potential breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. Studying these unique creatures may hold the key to unlocking new insights into longevity and regeneration, offering hope for advancements in human health and longevity research. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yvn8XIvGxE

Whales/dolphins and elephants have the largest brains, with weights up to 10 kg; the human brain, with an average weight of 1.35 kg, is of moderately large size. At the same time, brain size relative to body size tends to decrease with an increase in body size, resulting in the fact that small animals have relatively large and large animals relatively small brains. In shrews, brains comprise 10% or more of body volume, while in the largest mammal (and extant animal), the blue whale, the brain occupies less than 0.01% of the body. In this context, the 2% for the human brain is very high given the fact that Homo sapiens belongs to the larger mammals. This becomes evident when we calculate the EQ or residuals of brain–body regression, which, for a given taxon, indicates how much the actual brain size of a species deviates from the average BBR in this taxon. It turns out that humans have a brain that is roughly eight times larger than expected from average mammalian BBR, closely followed by some dolphins, which have a fivefold larger brain than expected. There is no clear correlation between absolute or relative brain size and intelligence. Assuming that absolute brain size is decisive for intelligence, then whales or elephants should be more intelligent than humans, and horses more intelligent than chimpanzees, which definitely is not the case. If it were relative brain size that counted for intelligence, then shrews should be the most intelligent mammals, which nobody believes. If we take the EQ into account, some inconsistencies are removed; then humans are on top, but many other inconsistencies remain, for example that gorillas have a rather low EQ, but are considered highly intelligent, while capuchin monkeys and dolphins have unusually high EQs, but are not considered to be as intelligent as gorillas. Thus, other factors have to be considered. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59F35avphxI