How to feel young and small

TPP's old friend Stan has been doing some traveling and he writes an interesting commentary, things that few people think about when visiting sequoias or bristle cone pines.  Go give him a read, and say TPP sent you.

Good news, everyone! Drink coffee and live longer and better!

Not that this information actually means anything to the addict, but it appears that not only is the modest imbibing of coffee not harmful, caffeine may actually help you live a longer life.  Back when coffee was being panned as unhealthy by really unhappy people, the Phactor figured that the people who didn't drink coffee didn't really live longer; it was just that their miserable existence seemed longer. One does wonder about all the factors involved.  Perhaps the socializing in the convivial company of coffee house patrons improves your outlook on life, which in turn provides a positive impact on your health, if only everyone didn't talk so fast.  But even if such studies did not exist, a true caffeine addict is not easily guilted into quitting their morning upper.  Such a study also should not be used as an excuse for over indulgence so as to increase your chances of living to 120.  So, to Mr. 4 shots, straight up, you're probably near the limit.  HT to Scientific American blog.  And a wag of the finger for their stupid commercial delay.  None of that stuff here, folks! 

Longevity & Booze

Good news, everyone!  Every now and again a scientific study reports something that really cheers the Phactor up, and a 20 year study of longevity and drinking habits found that moderate drinkers had a greater longevity than both heavy drinkers and abstainers.  How about that?  That glass of shiraz with your dinner not only tastes good, but you may live longer as a result.  More likely people of a moderate habit disposition live longer period, but why not just enjoy the fact that this study has handed you an excellent argument for a daily glass of wine.  Is there a wine grower's think tank out there that funds this type of research?  Inquiring minds want to know.  The young fellow in the office next door to me has claimed that a daily nip, or two, have increased the longevity of his research career which is in its 6th decade now.  His colleagues did have to get him to dial back the killer margaritas used to celebrate each publication a bit.  He was fine, but they were killing everyone else!

Oldest species on Earth is a fern

The antiquity of very few species has been documented, but most paleontologists estimate that species on average only persist for a few million years. Every now and then the fossil record provides direct evidence of a species with great antiquity, and the current record holder for the greatest antiquity of any living species is a fern. Here is the good part, you can grow this historic plant in your garden.

Fossils of Osmunda cinnamomea, cinnamon fern, were found in 70 million year old rocks! This discovery was published about 10 years ago, and no differences could be found between the fossil and the fern as it is today. So cinnamon fern was alive and well in the Late Cretaceous where it undoubtedly got stepped on and eaten by dinosaurs. Think about how many changes this fern has endured, the rise and diversification of both mammals and flowering plants. The cinnamon fern family is even older with a fossil record going back into the Carboniferous documenting a 300 million year history for this group of ferns.

The "cinnamon" in both the scientific and common name refers to the color of the fertile fronds (seen upright in the center of the image) and the spores they shed.

What a great plant to grow in your garden! It doesn't mind some shade, or wet areas, but is quite tolerant in general. And it is a big handsome fern too. How hard can cinnamon fern be to grow if it has managed to survive on its own for so long? First, prepare the soil with some well-composted dinosaur dung,....