Forever young...

I want to live forever young!! Do you remember the song? I think everyone at some point of our lives  think about this, and one of the most important aspects to look forever young is to have a healthy and good looking skin but, would it be possible over 50’s. Well, maybe now it is.

Scientists have studied marine animals for years, and a recent study published in the online journal PLOS ONE could be the answer to our prayers. The study showed that sea cucumbers and sea urchins have the ability of changing the elasticity of collagen inside their bodies which would be the key for maintaining a vigorous appearance. And although they seem to be totally different from us, scientists have confirmed that our skin may work pretty similar to theirs.

The thing is: sea cucumbers and sea urchins contain genes encoding peptides that cause accelerated softening of collagen in their body wall, and as soon as scientist can understand how this process works specifically, they will be able to isolate these peptides and try them in humans’ skin.

But this is not the only benefit we can get from these creatures; the study also showed the existence of another peptide pretty similar to a hormone called calcitonin, which regulates our bones to remain them strong.

So now you choose, would try these peptides?

Credit Cards: Great Invention or a Dead End?

There are many inventions which have changed our lives in a major or minor way. Some of them have become necessities, and some others, just luxuries disguised as necessities. For me, one of the inventions which is a luxury disguised as necessity is the credit card. Credit Cards are small pieces of plastic which allows us to buy or pay for whatever we want without money. We are not afraid of being robbed and it is not necessary to save money for long periods of time in order to buy something. Yes, they may be a big help whenever people needs to afford something without having the cash. It sounds amazing, but we have to accept that not all people use credit cards just for matters of need. When we enter a store, we are banged by a spectrum of stuff which tempts us to own them: marvelous cell phones, colossal LED televisions, sophisticated clothes, luxurious furniture, etc. For the middle class (the bulk of the people) it is impossible to afford them with the salary they have. Any solutions? You know the answer! Evidently, companies can’t lose; on the contrary, they have to take advantage of this immense of opportunity to make money: Interests! That’s the key. For instance, you use a credit card to buy a laptop. It originally costs 300.000 pesos. The cost is divided into 24 payments. Each month, because of interests and charges of the credit card, 7.000 pesos are added to the total of your monthly bill. At the end, you pay almost 168.000 pesos extra, apart from the cost of the laptop. This amount may be larger, depending on the interests imposed by each company. And you have been finally caught. Is it possible to get rid of credit cards or have we entered a dead end? Consider that consumerism has become part of our lives.