Just two decades in, scientists had already made some intriguing breakthroughs, from the discovery that less emotionally stable men were more likely to be diagnosed with heart disease to the revelation that our problem-solving abilities decline only slightly with age.īut one of the most striking findings confirmed what people had long suspected: how youthful you look is an impressively accurate expression of your inner health. The research followed thousands of adult men (and later, women) for decades, to see how their health developed – and how this was affected by their genes and the environment. But this time, subjects would be scrutinised somewhat earlier, while their hearts were still beating and their bodies were very much alive. The Baltimore Longitudinal Study was to be a scientific investigation of ageing with a daring and rather unorthodox premise.īefore then, it had been standard scientific practice to attempt to glean insights into the physiology of living people from donated cadavers – a practise with roots in the 19th Century tradition of graverobbing. In 1958, the same year the US passed the law that led to the moon landings and the creation of Nasa, another major project was quietly conceived. This is a strange new reality where wrinkles, dry skin and sunspots cause ageing, instead of the other way around. No, in this new upside-down-world, the body's largest organ is an active participant in our physical wellbeing. The latest research suggests that our skin is not just a mirror for our lifestyles – reflecting the effects of years of smoking, drinking, sun and stress – and hinting at our inner health. But could there be other, hidden benefits to these extreme measures? In fact, is it possible that my obsession with maintaining healthy skin is a stroke of accidental genius? The answer to both these questions, it turns out, is yes. However, my vanity knows no bounds, and I am determined to avoid further sun-related ageing. As my companion delights in telling me at 10-minute intervals, I am dressed like a large baby. The final touches are several coatings of high-factor suncream, so my exposed skin has the pallid, sickly glow of titanium-white, and a pair of sunglasses. My arms, hands and torso are completely covered with a long-sleeved top with built-in SPF protection – ordered over the internet from ozone-depleted-Australia, no less – while my head is shaded beneath a floppy fishing hat complete with its own fabric face shield. The ensemble, my boyfriend remarks, is "extraordinary" – and he doesn't mean it as a compliment. And I am taking no chances I have chosen my outfit with the seriousness of an explorer trekking off into the Sahara. Its rays have turned the surface of the water into a winding path of scintillating light, so bright it blinds you to look at it. Though the river is sheltered on either side by towering cliffs and limestone escarpments up to 300m (980ft) high, the sheer irradiating power of the sun has never been more visible to me. It's early afternoon on a blazing July day, and the sky is a perfect canvas of cobalt blue. I'm canoeing through the Ardèche gorge in southern France – and attracting some peculiar looks. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines. These links have no influence on our editorial content. Written by Andrzej Lukowski, Oliver Keens, James Manning, Alim Kheraj, Ed Cunningham, Liv Kelly and Ella Doyle. So as a gift, we've rounded up the very best Christmas songs going. Festive cheer has found its way into pop, hip-hop, R&B, metal, punk, indie… you name it. There are plenty of keepers from the ‘40s-‘70s heyday of the Christmas record as an art form, for example, but even more cynical later generations of pop have produced plenty of gold. And although there’s been a fair amount of disposable novelty rubbish written over the years, the reality is that a lot of Christmas songs are bangers. Love them, hate them, or just accept them as a sort of immutable fact of life, it's officially Christmas song season in 2023.
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