Thursday, February 6th, 2025

Good Morning! 🌞 

Hey there, it’s February 6—National Valentine Shopping Reminder Day! If you’re still holding off on picking out that perfect gift, here’s your gentle nudge to get moving. With just a little over a week until Valentine’s Day, it’s the ideal time to skip the stress and snag something special. Trust us, you’ll thank us later for reminding you 😉

Health Sciences

A Breath Away from Alzheimer’s Cure

A general anesthetic may do more than lull patients to sleep—it might also offer protection against Alzheimer’s disease. Recent research in mice suggests that Xenon, a colorless, odorless noble gas, can activate the brain’s immune system, reducing neuroinflammation, limiting brain atrophy, and safeguarding neurons. Since Alzheimer’s disease involves toxic tau and beta-amyloid protein buildup, the discovery that Xenon boosts microglial cells—key immune cells responsible for clearing these proteins—holds particular promise.

In experiments at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, researchers administered Xenon gas to mice engineered with either tau or beta-amyloid accumulation. The gas crossed the blood-brain barrier and appeared to improve the animals’ behavior, including increased nest-building activity. Post-trial analysis confirmed enhanced microglial activity and more effective protein clearance. “This is a novel discovery showing that simply inhaling an inert gas can have a profound neuroprotective effect,” said senior author Oleg Butovsky, PhD. Co-corresponding author David M. Holtzman, MD, added that Xenon exhibited protective effects in both tau and amyloid models.

A phase 1 trial is now underway, enrolling healthy volunteers to determine the optimal dosage and assess safety. With Xenon being relatively expensive, researchers are also investigating ways to use it more efficiently and potentially recycle it. If proven safe and effective in humans, this gas could transform the approach to Alzheimer’s prevention and treatment, capitalizing on the body’s own immune mechanisms to ward off cognitive decline.

Sports

Fans Return the Favor

Baltimore Ravens fans have launched a GoFundMe campaign supporting the Summit Center for Autism, a charity backed by Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid. The gesture mirrors a similar effort by Bills fans, who raised money for a diabetes charity supported by Ravens tight end Mark Andrews after Andrews dropped a critical pass in his team’s playoff loss. In this latest instance, Ravens fans decided to “return the favor” following Kincaid’s missed catch in the Bills’ 32-29 defeat against the Kansas City Chiefs—a loss that kept the Bills from advancing to the Super Bowl.

Organizers from the Ravens Flock explained their motivation in the campaign description: “As many of you know, Bills TE Dalton Kincaid made a phenomenal attempt to catch Josh Allen’s last pass of the season but couldn’t haul it in, upsetting a lot of Bills fans. We want Ravens Flock to donate to Summit Center for Autism, the charity Dalton works with, and try and return the favor Bills Mafia did for us and Mark Andrews. Let’s raise what we can—please repost!” The Bills Mafia has a long tradition of contributing to charitable causes supported by opposing players. Last week, they raised an impressive $147,000 for Breakthrough T1D, an organization close to Andrews, who lives with type-1 diabetes.

The Ravens fans’ initiative has already garnered $17,000 of its $20,000 goal, demonstrating once again how sports rivalries can be set aside in favor of a good cause. While the teams may clash on the field, these cross-team fundraisers show that fans can come together to uplift organizations in need—no matter what colors they wear on game day.

Culture

Life in the Mountains

If you’re into culture and history, then this documentary is definitely worth a watch. In this 13-minute video, we take you to the Ifugao Mountains in the Philippines, a place where life still follows ancient rhythms and traditions—but with a modern twist that keeps everything feeling fresh. Far from the city hustle, Ifugao is a world where the land, culture, and food have been intertwined for centuries, and yet, they’ve found ways to blend in a bit of the present without losing touch with their roots.

With breathtaking visuals and stories from the people themselves, this documentary shines a light on a community that’s kept its heritage alive through generations. From the famous rice terraces to the delicious, traditional food, you’ll get a taste of what makes Ifugao so special—where history and culture aren’t just preserved, but are still living and thriving today.

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Mind Stretchers

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Yesterday’s Answers to the Mind Stretchers:

I stand in silence, dressed but not alive,
Watching the world as the seasons arrive.
I have no voice, yet I chase away,
Those who come to steal the day.
What am I? — Scarecrow! Debbie Ettinger got this correct first!

Be the first to send us the correct answer for today’s mind stretcher for a shout-out with the answer tomorrow. Just send us the answer and your name to[email protected]or reply to email.

If you have any uplifting stories and experience you might want to share, send those over to [email protected] for the chance to be featured.