The benefits of caregiving have come as a surprise to researcher, Dr. Lisa Fredman and Rosanna Bertrand.

Although stronger women may be the type of individual predisposed to taking on this kind of work, the unquantifiable benefits both spiritual and from an inner sense of peace and purpose impact the lives of caregivers in a positive way, as well.

Along with what’s called “caregiver burden,” gerontologists and psychologists use the phrase “caregiver gain” to reflect the fact that this role, which often exacts such high costs, can bring rewards. But they’ve typically described those rewards in psychological, emotional and even spiritual terms: growing confidence in one’s abilities, feelings of personal satisfaction, increased family closeness. That caregivers can walk faster or recall more words on a memory test — that’s news.

A grey hair pill could be the answer to all your hair woes.

Bottles of color and peroxide no longer need clutter the bathroom.
The pill, scheduled to become available in 2015, contains an undisclosed fruit extract that mimics the chemical tyrosinase-related protein or TRP-2, an enzyme that protects pigmentation production, the company has said. The goal of the fruit extract pill is to prevent oxidative stress, a process that occurs when hair cells succumb to antioxidants and turn gray, L’Oreal officials say.

What we consider as normal signs of aging could actually be indicators of brain damage.

Signs of brain damage can go undetected by normal scans.

When brains were examined under a microscope for signs of damage which would be invisible to normal brain scans, they found 29% of patients with no previously detected sign of stroke had clotted or narrowed blood vessels.

“Often the mild motor symptoms are considered an expected part of aging. We shouldn’t accept this as normal aging. We should try to fix it and understand it.

“If there is an underlying cause, we can intervene and perhaps lessen the impact.”

Dr Kieran Breen, director of research and development at Parkinson’s UK, said: “We know that as people get older they are more likely to develop mini-strokes, so tiny that they cannot be detected by normal scanning techniques.

A study reported in The Lancet makes it pretty clear that growing your own spare parts may be a real possibility in the near future!

Growing technology is allowing science to put stem cells hard at work growing those hip and knee joints that we’re wearing out as we age.

In a decade or so, people now clamoring for metal and ceramic replacement joints may instead be able to have a fully functional biological replacement — a joint grown within their own bodies to their specific physiology.

To date, researchers have successfully grown replacement shoulder joints in rabbits, using an implanted biological “scaffold” upon which new cartilage developed, according to a study reported in The Lancet.