Top of the World
Though technically not the hardest mountain to tackle, scaling the world’s highest peak remains one of the world’s deadliest climbs. No one knows for certain how many bodies rest, frozen, on Mount Everest, but the number is believed to be north of 200 – the vast majority in the ‘death zone’ above 8,000m. A far less hazardous – and less frostbite-inducing – method of similarly testing your endurance is by way of the Everest Challenge which doesn’t even require you to leave the country (and maybe not even your home or gym). The concept is simple: climb the equivalent height of Mount Everest (8,849m) using whatever method you choose – and preferably while raising money for charity. People have previously used everything from their home stairs to climbing machines while others have made multiple climbs up Mount Maunganui (38 climbs, to be precise) or made the most of Marlborough’s many walking trails. And don’t worry, you’re not expected to do the challenge in one go!
AI New Dawn
In an effort to slash waiting times, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has recently announced that its first AI-run physiotherapy clinic will open later this year, with patients referred to the Flok app by their GP or primary care provider. Finn Stevenson, co-founder of the app compares the experience to a “structured video call with a physiotherapist”. The technology will allow every patient “a constantly individualised experience” by way of a digital physio prescribing pain management techniques and exercises. In another UK artificial intelligence first, an AI candidate was on the ballot for the recent general election which saw Labour leader Keir Starmer elected prime minister. “We’re launching a party, we’re going to be recruiting more AI candidates across the country after this election, and we see this as the launch, building block for something big and something democratic,” the businessman behind the stunt, Steve Endacott, told Reuters. But it hasn’t been all AI positive however, with OpenAI and Google DeepMind workers recently signing an open letter warning about the risks posed and lack of safety oversights within the industry.
Proper Grub
Typically found in decaying wood where they feed on the decomposing material, the huhu beetle is a native New Zealand bug that grows up to 7cm in length – and its larvae, known as huhu grubs, are being touted as a food source that could provide Aotearoa with better food security. Always one of the most popular items at the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival – where they are plucked from freshly chopped wood – the bugs pack a higher percentage of protein than beef and, when lightly toasted over a barbecue, are said to taste quite like peanut butter. Alternatively, they can be eaten raw. “In many parts of the world, other insects which are similar to huhu grubs are currently being farmed,” senior food science lecturer at the University of Otago Dominic Agyei, tells the Newsable podcast. “As long as food has a really good nutritional value, I say, why not?”
Sock It
Sticking with strange trend news, new generational battle lines have been firmly drawn, not in the sand, but around the mid-calf or ankle areas, depending on your age. Yes, the latest intergenerational war is not over politics or the price of houses or avocados, but how you should wear your socks. According to gen Z trendsetters, crew socks are the only types of coverings that should grace our lower legs – paired with everything from slides to formal shoes – while millennials are sticking with their ankle or no-show ‘invisible’ ones. Such is the severity of this fashion spat, that Jennifer Lawrence was declared ‘brave’ by Vogue for recently stepping out in ankle socks. While gen Z say that hiding your socks is a surefire way of giving away your age and the fact that you’re just not with it, millennials argue that crew socks are more associated with geeks and grandparents.
Flying Raw
Most of us have at some point tried to find ways of saving a few bucks when booking flights, but there’s a new trend that takes no frills flying to the extreme – and not for financial gain. It’s been termed ‘rawdogging’. Rawdoggers choose to test the limits of their mental powers by shunning anything that makes flying any less painful (think in-flight entertainment, food, and even water) with the only ‘pleasure’ allowed being to watch the flight map. While many are aghast at the torturous trend, others argue that an aeroplane is one of the few places in the modern world that can allow you to sit in (relative) peace and be lost in your thoughts while allowing your brain a digital detox. “Think about it like a candle wick meditation,” Will Schneider, host of the podcast Men Talking Mindfulness tells Condé Nast Traveler, “where you watch the flame burn and burn and that’s all you do.”
Treatment Breathes Hope
Though incidence of lung cancer has been declining – mainly due to reductions in smoking rates – it remains the most diagnosed cancer around the world, with more than two million new cases each year, and causing 1.8 million deaths. Survival rates are better for early-stage diagnoses but the overall five-year survival rate for the disease is 20%. However, a highly promising new drug called Lorlatinib has been described as “off the charts” by doctors, with 60% of the patients who took it still alive after five years. Though most patients experienced side effects such as swelling, high cholesterol, and raised lipid levels, after the five years, the cancer had also not progressed. Just over half of the participants were women, and in around a quarter of those the cancer had already spread to the brain when the study started. “To our knowledge, these results are unprecedented,” says lead study author Dr Benjamin Solomon of Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
