"It is remarkable that it is so common for cells from one individual to integrate into the tissues of another distinct person."

"We are accustomed to thinking of ourselves as singular autonomous individuals, and these foreign cells seem to belie that notion, and suggest that most people carry remnants of other individuals. As remarkable as this may be, stunning results from a new study show that cells from other individuals are also found in the brain. In this study, male cells were found in the brains of women and had been living there, in some cases, for several decades. What impact they may have had is now only a guess, but this study revealed that these cells were less common in the brains of women who had Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting they may be related to the health of the brain."

The coming scourge of Baby Boomers with Alzheimer's disease.

Get ready. We're being softened up. Pay attention... while you still can.

"[M]ale DNA — likely left over from pregnancy with a male fetus — can persist in a woman’s brain throughout her life."

"Although the biological impact of this foreign DNA is unclear, the study also found that women with more male DNA in their brains were less likely to have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease...."

Romanticizing suicide. [AND: Murder!]

In the NYT.

Expect more propaganda of this kind, my friends, because in the future, it is hoped, you will be your own death panel.

Glen Campbell, despite Alzheimer's disease, gave a concert last Thursday.

And it was quite beautiful, and not in any kind of maudlin way:

Campbell was the same funny, relaxed, charismatic guy he's always been, and his fingers still rolled out those smooth Stratocaster lines that took songs along winding instrumental roads before graceful resolution. Or, as Campbell humorously acknowledged after a particularly nuanced solo, “I've got a few licks left — I've been practicing.”



Those roads were rockier, though; throughout the hour-and-a-half set, his fingers at times stumbled, as did his mind, which on a few occasions lost track of lyrics on the TelePrompTer, and, in banter between a number of songs, absent-mindedly dwelled on a particular quote from Minnie Pearl. “I'm proud to be here,” he said, before adding, “I'm proud to be anywhere.”

Those details are offered not to shine light on the darkness, but to offer an environment in which to illuminate the beauty and warmth at the heart of the evening, and to better appreciate the inexhaustible spirit that runs through certain mortals, despite the odds. The fumbles on Thursday didn't detract from, but added to, the wonder of it all, because the misfires were inevitably followed by long runs of chrome-toned solos... It's a real thing, the superhighway that connects Campbell's muse to his fingertips....

The magic was in the way Campbell, his family, and the crowd, many of whom had grown up with the singer, respected the muse despite its decaying state. How they defiantly, beautifully kept that conduit to the sublime open wide enough to deliver a clear, honest message about both the important and unimportant things, about how one becomes another as time passes.

ADDED: I thought this was extremely interesting, in People Magazine:

"I have Alzheimer's?" he asks Kim, 53, his wife of 29 years... "Well, doggone ... what's that?" Kim gently reminds him that it's the reason he's been having trouble remembering things, but Campbell prefers a different explanation.... "God just cleared a lot of things out... It was crowded up there. I've been trying to get rid of that crap for years."