FRIDAY, enough said. A big weekend is on tap.
The human body is really a marvelous thing.
The intricacy of how we’re made and the fact that the whole mess actually WORKS on a daily basis – more or less – is nothing short of miraculous. I was never really a big science person – too much math involved. And the dissections we did in Biology left me cold. I couldn’t get past the horrible smell of formaldehyde and feeling bad for the worms and rats.
But as an adult, I’m increasingly fascinated by how the body works. Maybe it has something to do with grappling with my own mortality and a desire to maximize my time on the planet in as healthy a manner possible. Or maybe it’s just the improbability of it all and the downright bizarre nature of our existence that I find endlessly interesting?
For example, consider this: You can’t live without your kidneys, two bean-shaped organs that lie on either side of the spinal column in the abdomen and serve as a filtration system, siphoning off waste from the body.
However, unlike most other organs, we aren’t coming close to using all of our kidneys’ capacity – in scientific terms, the kidneys are “over-engineered“. In fact, we can live perfectly well with just one of them operating at about 75 percent. In short, if just one kidney is present – either due to an anomaly at birth, disease, or donation – the other steps up and takes over, even expanding its in size to reach the combined weight of two kidneys (around a pound).
How amazing is that?
The kidneys’ regenerative capabilities are not as significant as another critical element of the human filtration system – the liver – which, if damaged or even reduced in size is able to grow back and resume operating just as before.
Kidney disease impacts one in seven U.S. adults, and the number one underlying cause of this is diabetes. Kidney disease is divided into five stages, and the further along one progresses the more likely it is that there will be a need for either dialysis, and, as a final step, transplant.
Some simple steps to take to guard against kidney disease – and improve overall health – include maintaining a healthy weight by eating a balanced diet, getting regular exercise, not smoking, monitoring your blood pressure, and limiting salt intake. The key to successful treatment and maintenance is early diagnosis, so make sure you’re getting your urine and blood tested at least annually – more frequently if you’re at a high risk of developing kidney problems.
March, by the way, is National Kidney Month, which serves to raise awareness not only about good kidney health, but also the dire need for kidney donation at a time when some 90,000 people in the U.S. alone are in need of a donor, the average wait for which is three to five years. No pushing or judgment here, but if you’re interested in learning more about live donation, click here.
I can’t wrap up this post without putting in a word about the late former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, who was instrumental in bringing the difficulties of kidney disease and donation to my attention when I was a reporter. Brodsky, who was a feisty, brilliant, and incredibly contentious guy – in a good way, in my opinion – died in 2020 after suffering a heart attack.
RIP, Richard. I miss you.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden came out in opposition to the planned sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan, saying that the U.S. needs to “maintain strong American steel companies powered by American steel workers.”
In a statement, Biden added: “U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.”
Biden mourned Nex Benedict, a nonbinary Oklahoma teenager whose death by suicide after a school fight sparked widespread outrage and calls for change.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders encouraged his progressive supporters to back Biden’s reelection in November, in a direct-to-camera pitch yesterday.
For the second time this year, Biden visited Michigan without any in-person meetings with members of its Arab American or Muslim communities as he faces protests at campaign events and at the ballot box over Israel’s military action in Gaza.
A political operative and two companies involved in an AI-generated robocall impersonating Biden should pay damages and be barred from taking future actions, a group of New Hampshire voters and a civic action group said in a federal lawsuit.
Two top Kansas GOP officials face internal calls to resign over a viral online video showing fundraiser attendees beating a mannequin with a Biden mask, underscoring the party’s deep divisions and its struggles to win over voters outside Trump’s base.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for new elections in Israel, saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way” — a major rebuke of the embattled conservative leader from one of Israel’s staunchest allies in Washington.
The speech by Schumer, the nation’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official, amounted to the sharpest critique yet from a senior American elected official — effectively urging Israelis to replace Netanyahu.
Israel’s military said it supported new initiatives to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza by land, air and sea, just hours after the military’s chief spokesman said it was trying to “flood” the enclave with sorely needed aid.
At least 20 people were killed and more than 100 injured while waiting for food aid in Gaza City last night, according to the Gazan Ministry of Health.
President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority appointed a longtime insider within the authority’s top ranks as prime minister, rejecting international pressure to empower an independent prime minister who could revitalize the sclerotic authority.
Vice President Harris visited a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota, a significant and symbolic stop as she advocated for reproductive health care access for women in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Harris described the flood of laws restricting abortion access as a “health care crisis” as she visited with abortion providers and staff members at a clinic in St. Paul, Minn.
The judge presiding over the federal criminal case in Florida involving Trump’s handling of classified documents denied one of his two motions to dismiss the case, saying the motion was premature.
It was the first time Judge Aileen M. Cannon has denied a legal attack on the indictment, and it came after a nearly daylong hearing during which Trump’s legal team and prosecutors in the office of the special counsel Jack Smith argued about the Espionage Act.
Manhattan prosecutors said they will not oppose delaying former Trump’s upcoming hush money trial by 30 days after receiving thousands of new documents in recent days.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin in less than two weeks, which would mark Trump’s first criminal trial — and the first criminal trial of any former U.S. president.
The district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, said his team was prepared to begin the trial in the hush-money case against former President Donald J. Trump on March 25 as planned.
Gov. Kathy Hochul heralded the launch of New York state’s first offshore wind farm off the coast of Long Island, which she said will have “national ramifications.”
Hochul’s administrative scrapped a controversial rule that critics said made it easier for New Yorkers to get an abortion than to adopt babies from birth mothers in other states.
Protecting New York’s adult-use cannabis industry, especially after a tricky rollout, remains a priority for Democratic state lawmakers as they prepare a new budget.
New state legislation that would make it easier to padlock New York’s unlicensed pot shops has wide support — but the state assembly’s top Democrats have refused to put the plan in this year’s budget.
As part of a $45 million plan to combat retail theft, Hochul wants to stiffen penalties against retail theft and anyone who assaults a store employee. But Democrats in the State Legislature are pushing back.
Transparency advocates are pushing two new bills in Albany that would make government records in New York more accessible to the public.
A man was shot in the head at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station in Downtown Brooklyn yesterday evening, the authorities said.
The shooting occurred inside a northbound A train around 4:50 p.m., when two men – a 32-year-old and a 36-year-old – became involved in a physical confrontation, police said. The victim was in surgery last night, according to the NYPD, in critical condition.
The shooting came a week after Hochul sent the National Guard into the subway system to help police search people for weapons after a series of high-profile crimes on city trains.
Biden’s administration has approved the release of nearly $107 million in migrant aid for New York City in response to Mayor Adams’ office finally submitting the required paperwork last week after months of application delays, local and federal officials.
Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams joined forces to announce the city is pumping more than $740 million into raises for tens of thousands of nonprofit human services workers, many of whom live at or near the poverty level.
Adams is getting grief online for comparing The Big Apple to the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, which has been inundated in recent weeks by deadly gang violence.
New York City Department of Education boss David Banks declared he has “no interest” in keeping his job if Mayor Eric Adams doesn’t have the power to oversee local public schools.
A new boots-on-the-ground survey from Councilmember Gale Brewer’s office found more than twice as many illicit cannabis shops operating on the Upper West Side as in late 2022, the last time her staff canvassed the area.
New York’s controversial plan to enforce a $15 toll to drive on some of Manhattan’s busiest streets will just favor Midtown’s wealthy elite — and increase pollution in Staten Island’s minority neighborhoods, local pols claimed.
Days after a confrontation in which the police struck and used a stun gun on a Venezuelan migrant at a city-run Queens shelter, that man’s family and three other families staying there received unexpected news with little explanation: They had to move out.
Stalled contract negotiations between UnitedHealthcare, the health insurance giant, and Mount Sinai Health System, a leading New York City hospital system, are forcing tens of thousands of New Yorkers to switch doctors or risk paying out-of-network prices.
The US Military Academy at West Point has opted to remove the “Duty, Honor, Country” motto from its mission statement.
A new report includes scathing criticism of the Albany Police Department for a series of missteps around the department’s decision to remove a protest encampment outside of South Station on Arch Street on April 22, 2021.
The preliminary $274.5 million Schenectady school district budget calls for keeping taxes stable and maintaining the current roster of program offerings, faculty and staff.
The state’s second-highest court unanimously upheld the conviction and 90-day jail sentence of former Cohoes police officer Sean T. McKown, who fired his service gun while off duty in the Adirondacks and lied to State Police that a Black male shot at him first.
Voting is on Tuesday, March 19 in several villages in the Capital Region and Hudson Valley, but very few have contested races. Voting is from noon to 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. In most cases, candidates are not affiliated with a major party.
The third try turned out to be closer to the charm for Elon Musk and SpaceX, as his company’s mammoth Starship rocket launched yesterday and traveled about halfway around the Earth before it was lost as it re-entered the atmosphere.
Lawyers for Alec Baldwin filed court papers seeking to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter indictment against him related to the fatal “Rust” shooting, arguing prosecutors didn’t properly present the grand jury with evidence that could have supported his case.
Ira M. Millstein, a venerable lawyer who crusaded for greater independence by corporate boards of directors and vigilantly helped New York City evade bankruptcy in the mid-1970s, died on Wednesday at his home in Mamaroneck, N.Y. He was 97.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
