Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
The next time someone calls you a fathead – assuming anyone still uses this playground epithet anymore – your retort should be something along the lines of: “I should hope so!”
You could even say: “Of course I am, and so are you,” though that might be misconstrued as a return insult, even though it’s not at all meant to be. It’s merely a statement of fact.
The truth is that the human brain is fatty by design – 60 percent fat, to be exact (the rest is a combination of protein, carbohydrates, water, and salts), making it the fattiest organ in the human body. Unlike other organs – the heart, for example, where fat is a operational detriment – the brain NEEDS fat, and, in fact, cannot perform optimally without it.
This is not to say, by the way, that being overweight is healthy for the brain. Quite the contrary. Prolonged obesity can actually cause a host of brain-related problems, even putting one at a higher risk of dementia, studies have shown, though scientists to date haven’t figured out exactly why that is.
The brain is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma (as a certain British prime minister once famously said, though he was referring to the Soviet Union at the time). Though scientists certainly have made strides when it comes to figuring out what makes us tick as humans, they still don’t know a whole heck of a lot about the brain.
Is the brain more like a computer or a telephone switchboard? A vast network of interconnected roads – like an interstate highway system – or a water clock, as the ancient Greeks believed? A house with different types of people living on every floor?
Yes to each of those, and also no. Such is the fascinating complexity of the human brain, which weighs in at about 3 pounds, on average, for an adult human. Yet, somehow, something so relatively small is in charge of so much, has virtually unlimited storage capacity, and a seemingly endless ability to achieve amazing – and sometimes terrifying – things.
The brain is made up of approximately 86 billion neurons, each forming a connection to its neighbors and colleagues, which could add up to 1 quadrillion (1,000 trillion) connections. This brings new meaning to the term “mind boggling,” no?
The saying that you only use about 10 percent of your brain is actually a myth – one of many brain misconceptions. You use ALL of it, and it is always “on”, so to speak, even when you’re asleep. (Or, in my case, especially when I’m asleep – should I be lucky enough to get there).
The deeper I go down the rabbit hole on this subject, the more fascinating it becomes. But I will stop here because I want to leave some things for you to discover for yourselves.
And when better a time to do it than during Brain Awareness Week, which started yesterday and runs through Sunday, March 17. (This seems like a good time to inform you that while alcohol does not directly “kill” brain cells, it does inhibit the formation of new ones, so be mindful when you’re out celebrating on St. Patrick’s Day).
Brain Awareness Week is “the global campaign to foster public enthusiasm and support for brain science,” according to its organizer, the Dana Foundation, which “advances neuroscience that benefits society and reflects the aspirations of all people.”
You know what’s good for your brain? Sunlight, which is thought to increase the release of the feel-good hormone serotonin. Today will present ample opportunities for you to get out and bask your brain (and the rest of you), as skies will be mostly clear and temperatures will be in the mid-to-high 50s.
In the headlines…
House GOP leaders are moving to pass legislation that would force the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell the platform or face being barred in the US, even after former President Trump came out against targeting the social media app he once vowed to ban.
“Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people,” Trump said, adding that “there’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad” with the platform.
Although the bill has broad bipartisan support, it’s also facing opposition on both sides of the aisle that could pose hurdles for lawmakers — along with a fierce opposition campaign launched by TikTok.
President Joe Biden is hosting Poland’s president and prime minister for White House talks today with the Polish leaders looking to press Washington to break its impasse over replenishing funds for Ukraine at a critical moment in the war in Europe.
Senior intelligence officials warned yesterday that without additional U.S. aid, Ukraine faced the prospect of continued battlefield losses as Russia relies on a network of critical arms suppliers and drastically increases its supply of technology from China.
Biden released a budget proposal aimed at getting voters’ attention: It would offer tax breaks for families, lower health care costs, smaller deficits and higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
The budget, which would cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade, reinforces Biden’s efforts to counter Republican tax proposals that Democrats deride as giveaways to the wealthy.
The proposal for 2025 also includes a $4.7 billion emergency fund for border security to enable the Department of Homeland Security to ramp up operations in the event of a migrant surge.
Biden is beating his Republican rival, Donald Trump, in multiple polls as the presidential election campaign begins in earnest.
Trump opened the door to “cutting” spending under Social Security and Medicare, drawing swift pushback from Biden and elevating a key policy battle in the 2024 election.
“There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements,” Trump said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“Not on my watch,” Biden said in a social media post on X in response to a video of Trump’s comment that was posted by his reelection campaign.
Trump also said among his first actions if he is reelected in November would be to free rioters imprisoned for their actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Trump attorneys asked the judge overseeing his New York hush money case to delay the start of the upcoming trial as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs his claim of presidential immunity.
Days after allies took over the RNC, Trump’s advisers are imposing mass layoffs on the party, with more than 60 officials, including senior staff members, laid off or asked to resign and then reapply for their jobs, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Lawmakers will grill special counsel Robert Hur today, weeks after his report into Biden’s handling of classified documents shook Washington. The report found the president had “wilfully” retained troves of files, but declined to charge him with a crime.
Republicans will undoubtedly question Hur over Biden’s mental acuity after his report painted a damaging portrait of the president’s memory, which it called “significantly limited” and “hazy” at times.
As their hopes for a vote to impeach Biden fade, House Republicans are looking at upcoming testimony from Hur as a consolation prize.
Biden visited New Hampshire yesterday for his first trip to the Granite State in nearly two years, where he spoke with supporters at a YMCA in Goffstown, New Hampshire about efforts his administration has made to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
Biden “absolutely did not apologize” for his use of the term “an illegal” during last week’s State of the Union address, principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge announced that she would resign her post, effective March 22, saying she was leaving “with mixed emotions.”
Fudge, 71, a longtime congresswoman from Ohio, attributed her decision to a desire to spend more time with her 92-year-old mother and suggested that major policies were unlikely between now and the election anyway.
Plenty of New Yorkers have their doubts about Biden, polls show. But Gov. Kathy Hochul isn’t among them.
The 750 National Guard soldiers who Hochul deployed to New York City’s subway last week to do rider bag checks are ill-equipped to respond to the crimes New Yorkers are actually concerned about, former law enforcement and police officials said.
Hochul announced a $2 million expansion of the CUNY Associates of Applied Science College Apprenticeship program, which will add new employers to its list of companies providing paid apprenticeships to students pursuing associate degrees.
Democrats in the state legislature want to scrap Hochul’s proposed reductions to education funding and embrace aspects of an agreement to incentivize more housing as part of state budget negotiations.
The state Senate’s wide ranging budget proposal released late last night would be paid for by raising taxes on New Yorker’s making more than $5 million as well as an increased corporate tax.
One house budget resolutions from the state Senate and Assembly, were each expected to pledge the same amount of funding for New York City’s migrant crisis as the governor’s blueprint.
A major post-Cuomo reshaping of the state’s powerful utility regulator is underway.
A new bill is intended to ban the sale of e-cigarette products that resemble school supplies, toys, or are packaged in a way to appeal to minors.
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is again raising concerns over New York’s diminishing tax base due to a population outmigration.
New York state lawmakers are pushing for $90 million in funding for religious schools to combat hate crimes amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Republicans in the state Assembly unveiled an expansive package of tax credits and other measures to increase child care access as they seek to address New York’s dearth of affordable providers and return more parents to the workforce.
A poll released last week by a left-leaning research group indicated that New York voters are generally opposed to planned cuts in a Medicaid program that allows those with long-term medical needs to receive care at home from friends or family members.
Lamor Whitehead, a Brooklyn preacher known as the “bling bishop” for his flashy luxury possessions, was convicted in Manhattan federal court of defrauding a parishioner and trying to extort a businessman while boasting about his ties to Mayor Eric Adams.
Jurors found Whitehead, 46, guilty of five counts, including wire fraud, attempted extortion, lying to the FBI and related charges stemming from three separate schemes after deliberating for just a few hours in Manhattan Federal Court.
Adams touted another all-time high for the total number of jobs ever in city history – a major bounce back since the height of the pandemic, but said there’s more work to be done – particularly in the Black community where the unemployment rate is still high.
The Robin Hood Foundation and the New York Community Trust – two of New York City’s most prominent charitable organizations – are spearheading an effort to help raise money from wealthy donors to aid the ongoing migrant crisis.
The city is currently spending more money on housing and services per migrant than it did last summer, despite projections from Adams showing the total price tag for the crisis is dropping thanks to reductions in the number of asylum seekers in the city’s care.
Dozens of faith leaders from NYC plan to travel down to Washington DC and urge lawmakers to take action on the asylum seeker crisis.
Less than 2% of adult migrants per day are accepting free plane or bus tickets to leave the Big Apple once they are booted from the city’s overflowing shelter system, newly released data shows.
A progressive coalition launched yesterday will advocate for including $2 billion in the coming city budget to build much-needed affordable housing in the Big Apple over the next four years.
Big Apple pizzerias and other businesses that use coal- and wood-fired ovens should be given public dough — in the form of a tax break — to comply with a new emissions rule, pie-loving Brooklyn Councilmember Justin Brannan says.
More than 130 businesses will be impacted by the law, including many famed pizza joints. Businesses can apply for an exemption from the mandate – which goes into effect on April 27 – but they must prove they can not financially meet the requirements.
A New York City landlord could face jail time in connection with “dangerous conditions” at two of his Manhattan apartment buildings, the city announced. Property owners almost never face criminal consequences over neglect in their buildings.
The police said racist and antisemitic vandalism found in a boys’ bathroom at Beacon High School in Manhattan was being investigated as a potential hate crime.
In an ever-changing Downtown Brooklyn, high-rise apartment buildings nearing completion are a familiar sight. But there’s something a bit different about the one at 505 State Street. It is to be the first all-electric residential tower in New York City.
Big Apple firefighters are now dousing Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh with boos for apologizing over New York State Attorney Letitia James getting jeered by pro-Trump attendees at an FDNY promotion ceremony.
LaGuardia Airport, which before its $8 billion transformation was long derided by air travelers, has been awarded the 2023 Airport Service Quality Award for best airport of 25 to 40 million passengers in North America.
A tiny forest is set to be planted on the southern end of Roosevelt Island, in the East River, this spring. According to its creators, it would be the first of its kind in the city and would consist of 1,000 native plants, trees and shrubs, covering just 2,700 square feet.
State Sen. James Skoufis is calling for Orange County residents to be added to a toll discount program for crossing the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge to offset fares they could incur under the MTA’s congestion pricing plan.
Almost two years after voting to unionize, and even as the company and unions have reached something of a truce, a group of employees at the Stuyvesant Plaza Starbucks is seeking a vote to decertify the fledgling union that was created in June 2022.
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy said recently that he has good news about Plug Power, even though the company isn’t doing well financially. What the news is remains a mystery.
RIP Malachy McCourt, 92, who fled a melancholic childhood in Ireland for America, where he applied his blarney and brogue to become something of a professional Irishman as a thespian, barkeep, best-selling memoirist, and one-time candidate for governor.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
