Research on Lithium Shows Potential To Treat Alzheimer’s Disease

A new Harvard study on mice revealed that small doses of the metal reversed symptoms.
Posted on September 2, 2025 by Ariana Barnes (Magazine Writer)
A plastic physical diagram showing the internal components of the human brain

New findings suggest a lithium deficiency in the brain might be linked with Alzheimer’s. Credit: Robina Weermeijer via Unsplash

At Harvard Medical School, research scientists may have found a key ingredient that could have a major impact on ways to detect and treat Alzheimer’s disease. As a bonus, it’s a cheap and accessible metal that naturally occurs in the body and has already been used in medicine: lithium.

The study, published in August in the medical journal Nature, suggests a lithium deficiency in the brain might be associated with the increase in the plaques linked with Alzheimer’s disease. 

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“Death Canoe” Poetry Review: Grief Is a Vessel Carried Away by a Current

The innovative and deeply vulnerable Maggie Nelson explores the transformational nature of inescapable grief.
Posted on August 31, 2025 by Maria Mocerino Magazine Writer
An aerial shot of a canoe traveling through water

In the poem, grief becomes a current that keeps on transforming. Credit: Andrew Draper on Unsplash

Grief flows from Maggie Nelson in sensuous prose meshed up with time passing in blood. Take the first lines of “Death Canoe”: 

“Surprised by blood passing, a large clot for morning, surprised later on in the day by the ice cold commitment to dispersal in which I am drowning.” 

There’s nothing neat about grief. 

This poem from one of the most celebrated writers of her generation is included in her 2018 collection, “The Latest Winter.” The anthology “charts intimate landscapes,” publisher Bloomsbury wrote. 

As Nelson lived in New York before and after 9/11, one can imagine that this work comes out of a time of immense loss and grieving. 

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Posted in The Next Chapter | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Our Monthly Tip: Add a Personal Touch to a Cremation Ceremony

Make a cremation viewing more meaningful by bringing sentimental items to place in the casket with your loved one.
Posted on August 29, 2025 by Caitlin Manner (Blog Writer) SevenPonds
Close-up of white flowers and wheat on a casket for a cremation ceremony.

Cremation ceremonies allow people to place in the casket something that holds special meaning. Credit: Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels

Our Tip of the Month: Bring a Meaningful Object To Be Included in the Casket During the Cremation Ceremony

Saying goodbye during a cremation ceremony, or cremation viewing, can feel both profound and overwhelming, and many families look for a way to make the moment more intimate. One way to do so is to place a special object — something that reflects the life, passions or values of your loved one — into the casket.

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14 Quotes About Time, Life and Death

Live for the now, but appreciate the passage of time as well.
Posted on August 27, 2025 by JamieAGold

Puffy white clouds float against a faint blue sky.

We should live in the here and now, say many. As a former president of Uruguay put it, life only gets shorter. An actress called time “priceless.  Your time is limited, said the founder of Apple. In fact, Steve Jobs thought a lot about time; he’s quoted twice in the list below of contemplations from great minds about how to live and learn in that short span between birth and death.

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Family-Directed Home Funerals Are Having a Resurgence

Heidi Boucher discusses how an age-old practice has been revived for our modern world.
Posted on August 25, 2025 by Caitlin Manner (Blog Writer) SevenPonds
A family surrounds a wooden casket in a room at home, preparing to lift it.

A family prepares to lift the hand-made casket holding their loved one.
Credit: Heidi Boucher

Heidi Boucher is a home funeral guide who has helped more than 100 families say goodbye to their loved ones, in their homes. It’s a practice that emphasizes a hands-on approach guided by intimacy, love and spirituality. She began learning how to care for the dead as a teenager while living in Sacramento with Nancy Poer, a legend in her own right in the family-led funeral practice. Together, they helped pioneer the grassroots movement that has grown into a national phenomenon. 

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Increased Demand for Organ Transplants Leads to Frightening Deathbed Scenes

Investigation finds instances of premature attempts to harvest organs from potential donors.
Posted on August 22, 2025 by Caitlin Manner (Blog Writer) SevenPonds
Three organ transplant surgeons huddled over an operating table, holding instruments and lit from below.

A New York Times investigation into some organ donation practices has led to hearings in Congress.

The New York Times in July reported a rise in disturbing cases of organ donation after circulatory death, in which would-be organ donors were prepared for organ harvesting under questionable circumstances.

In addition to numerous harrowing stories detailed in the article, 55 medical workers in 19 states said they had witnessed at least one “disturbing case” of organ donation after circulatory death. Examples include tales of patients being inappropriately prepared for organ donation — a few even undergoing surgery before doctors realized that they were still alive.

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Posted in Something Special | Leave a comment