remnant 26: nerd intuition, soulmates, & the Fountain of Youth

Science, science fiction, fandom—these are often the domains of nerds. So it may be self-fulfilling and self-serving, but the Fountain of Youth appears to be hidden within books, writing, and sex:

Staying Mentally Stimulated Throughout Your Lifetime Could Lower Cognitive Decline Risk:

Researchers from Rush University Medical Center found that people who reported doing brain exercises such as reading and writing throughout their lifetimes — from childhood through adulthood — had slower memory decline later in life.

“Based on this, we shouldn’t underestimate the effects of everyday activities, such as reading and writing, on our children, ourselves and our parents or grandparents,” study researcher Robert S. Wilson, Ph.D., said in a statement.

Sex is the secret to looking younger, claims researcher:

Dr David Weeks, former head of old age psychology at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, said people need to be aware of the benefits of having a healthy sex life, particularly in their later years.

He said sex has a number of health benefits which can make men and women look between five and seven years younger which includes; it causes the release of endorphins, the ‘feel good’ chemical which acts as a natural painkiller and reduces anxiety aiding sleep; exercise boosts circulation which is good for the heart; and it also causes the human growth hormone to be released which makes the skin look more elastic.

Dr Weeks said: “My message is that lovemaking is good.

It appears, then, that we would all be served well to seek out our soulmate, and be sure to consider if our dearest Other shares our love of words. That may well be what Kurt Vonnegut imagined in Cat’s Cradle, the duprass (see pp. 90-91 here):

They were lovebirds. They entertained each other endlessly with little gifts: sights worth seeing out the plane window, amusing or instructive bits from things they read, random recollections of times gone by. They were, I think, a flawless example of what Bokonon calls a duprass, which is a karass composed of only two persons.

…Bokonon tells us, incidentally, that members of a duprass always die within a week of each other. When it came time for the Mintons to die, they did it wintin the same second. (pp. 86, 88)

And, thus, those who find this union are considered “The Luckiest”:

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Inspired by Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man, I muse about this possibility here:

let’s (lover’s request)