Good Morning! 🌞

If you’re exploring life beyond 50, you will love Notes from the Road.

It is a fantastic newsletter with stories, insights, and tips for everyone navigating the second half of their life. We highly recommend checking them out and subscribing for free.

Health Sciences

Ultra-Fast Cancer Treatments

Flash radiotherapy, a new cancer treatment developed through experiments at CERN, delivers ultra-high-dose radiation in under a second, sparing healthy tissue while effectively targeting tumors. Originally focused on discoveries like the Higgs boson, CERN’s expertise in high-energy particle acceleration is now being adapted to revolutionize cancer care. First demonstrated in rodents by radiobiologist Marie-Catherine Vozenin in 2012, this ultra-fast approach has since inspired global research and clinical trials aimed at improving patient outcomes with fewer side effects than conventional radiotherapy.

Unlike traditional treatments that unfold over weeks and risk damaging healthy tissues, Flash radiotherapy concentrates its dose into a brief but potent burst, reducing collateral harm and allowing higher radiation levels to be used. Early studies on animals have shown encouraging results, including less tissue damage during repeat radiation. These findings have led to pilot human trials worldwide, especially for complex or metastatic cancers that are difficult to treat with standard approaches.

Despite its promise, significant hurdles remain. Particle accelerators required for Flash are costly and not widely available, with only a few specialized centers offering advanced radiotherapy like carbon ion therapy. Efforts are underway to develop more accessible machines, including X-ray Flash systems, to bring this innovative treatment into regular hospital settings. Beyond improving therapy for advanced cancers, Flash also holds potential to address disparities in radiotherapy access—particularly in low-income regions where equipment shortages are acute. Projects like Stella aim to create robust, affordable accelerators, offering hope that this pioneering technology may one day reshape cancer care on a global scale.

Culture

National Archive Volunteer

The National Archives is marking America’s upcoming 250th anniversary with an ambitious effort to make our nation’s handwritten legacy more accessible. Through the Citizen Archivist project, volunteers are invited to transcribe and digitize historical documents penned in cursive—a style that’s become increasingly unfamiliar as many schools have dropped it from their curricula. Millions of handwritten records in the Archives remain difficult to decipher for those who never learned cursive, creating an urgent need for volunteers to help bring these pieces of history into the digital age.

Central to this initiative are Revolutionary War pension files, once reserved only for Continental Army veterans serving under George Washington, but later expanded to include militia members and widows. These records total more than 2.3 million pages, preserving personal stories of service and sacrifice. So far, over 4,000 volunteers have contributed to transcribing more than 80,000 pages, with 2,300 records now fully digitized. Anyone interested in joining can visit the Citizen Archivist project website, sign up, and choose an untranslated document from the “missions” section, which includes Revolutionary War pensions, WWII submarine patrol reports, and noteworthy legal cases like one involving the Choctaw Nation.

While the project moves ahead, some states are also renewing efforts to teach cursive in the classroom. Kentucky and California, for instance, have made cursive instruction a required component of their curricula, reversing a trend that focused almost exclusively on typing skills. By reconnecting students with this once-common style of handwriting, these states aim to ensure the next generation can navigate vital historical documents—both in their original form and through modern digital platforms.

Good News

268 Mile Race

A 42-year-old podiatrist named Mel Sykes has defied the odds by completing the 268-mile Spine Race in under a week, just 18 months after surgery for a rare brain condition. Diagnosed in 2023 with Chiari malformation, Sykes experienced balance issues, slurred speech, and double vision—symptoms that threatened her longtime passion for ultrarunning. The condition, which forces part of the brain into the spinal canal, often leads to serious neurological complications, yet she refused to let it end her racing career.

Sykes conquered the grueling route from Edale, Derbyshire, to Kirk Yetholm, Scotland, in 132 hours. During the first two days, she trudged through snowdrifts up to her thighs and later battled hypothermia by sheltering in a mobile toilet. Near the finish, a fall on icy terrain cracked her ribs, but she pressed on to complete the race—something she once feared would be impossible.

Reflecting on her remarkable feat, Sykes noted her swollen ankles and utter exhaustion, but marveled at finishing blister-free. Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Ian Anderson of Leeds General Infirmary, called her achievement “extraordinary,” given the severity of her original symptoms and the urgency of her surgery. Sykes’ journey underscores her unyielding determination to return to ultrarunning, cementing her status as one of the sport’s toughest athletes.

Mind Stretchers

⁉️ 

I’m often with you, but not quite a treat,
I last a while, but you can't eat me.
I stick around, but don't leave a mark,
What am I?

Yesterday’s Mind Stretchers:

Square Dance—Debbie Ettinger got this early! 🌞 

Be the first to send us the correct answer for today’s mind stretcher for a shout-out with the answer tomorrow. Just send us the answer and your name to [email protected]or reply to the email.

If you have any uplifting stories and experience you might want to share, send those over to [email protected] for the chance to be featured.